Pastors Conference

A small group of pastors, missionaries and one lay leader traveled (just over a week ago) to Chile for a pastors retreat. Since bus tickets and plane tickets were practically the same in price, we were all able to fly over and that was a big blessing. We had a wonderful view of the Andes mountains as we crossed over to Santiago, Chile.
The facilities at Camp Pirque were better than I remember them. The property was purchased when I was a high school student living in Santiago. I spent many weekends and several summers working at the camp property: laying brick, pouring floors, roofing, etc. The camp is still underdeveloped and has yet to reach its potential.
The conference was a blessing to all. In the morning we heard from Pastor (and former missionary) Jim Christian on: The Pastor--his life, his home, & his ministry. In the evenings we heard from missionary teacher Mark Rubin on Old Testament interpretation (and appreciation). The classes were very profitable and the books we received will continue to bring blessing as we tackle these topics on our own.
On Friday some of us were able to do a little sightseeing around Santiago. It brought back a lot of memories for me. The city is much more modern than it was 17 years ago when I left to study at Bible college in the US.

The group I traveled with got back to Uruguay around midnight this Saturday. We were tired but blessed.

Installation Service

On Friday evening our church family together with local and out-of-town visitors celebrated an installation service. It was an exciting, well-attended event.

The event forced us to clean up a empty hall at the rear of the property because our "auditorium" can't comfortably fit more than 60 people. It was encouraging to have the core group of believers come out each evening to make preparations.

We've committed ourselves to the challenge of preparing the way in Salto for a national pastor and we've now been officially commended to His sufficient grace. We're not worthy to serve but we would serve worthily.

Young Adults Retreat

This weekend's young adults' retreat was a blessing. Though we had hoped that more could come, those that came made all the effort worthwhile. The theme of the retreat was "Discipline to Godliness" & it seemed to be exactly what some of them needed to be challenged on. Kolette and I had the privilege of giving the challenges from the Word. I had two general sessions and one split-session with the guys and Kolette had a split-session with the ladies. She was nervous but did very well! We pray that the committments made were sincere and, that by God's grace, will prosper.