Day 4

Hey folks, sorry this post has taken even longer to get up than all the others combined! I have been running into some technical difficulties which makes it hard to update on a regular basis. 

Well, here are some of the things that happened on day 4 while in Uruguay. 

The work projects on this day were the same as before. Sanding and staining 20 boards of wood that would eventually be campfire benches, working on the Fort, and other random projects.

It was a little cooler this day and somewhat rainy to start out with, so we decided it would be easier to move all the boards we were working on to a shed where we had a little more space to work and could stay dry.

Some of the others worked on cutting and gluing PVC that would eventually be a 4-square-in-the-air game.

All finished gluing the bases on. 

 Most of the boys continued working on the play fort, but since it was rainy outside they put the pieces together inside.

 Later in the day they decided to dig some holes and work on installing some low ropes initiatives for the camp.

Throughout the course of the day we even saw a tarantula! 

Later that evening after dinner some of the group had the opportunity to travel into Argentina, while the others went piranha fishing. 

After much work they finally caught two ...

... and fed them to the cats!

After dinner when people went their various ways I took the opportunity to spend some time alone to think and pray. The one topic that kept coming to mine was unity. I think overall this was one thing our group struggled with throughout the trip. God was specifically showing me, though, that I needed to love and forgive others no matter what. 

So far it has been a good trip, but the best was still yet to come...

Day 3

Hey Friends,

Sorry it has taken me so long to post the next update of my trip. Life has been pretty crazy around here with finishing up classes here in the next two weeks. But here is what happened on day 3.

DAY 3

This was the day we started out work projects. We ate breakfast outside

and then went into town to experience purchasing hardware in a different country. Once we got back to camp they gave us our different assignments.

Alisha and Vanessa worked on building a 3-D spider web initiative.

The men (with the exception of my dad) worked on remodeling a fort they had at the camp. This project took all week.

My dad, Sarah, Kaitlyn, and I worked on sanding and staining 20 boards. 

Vanessa and Alisha came and joined us when they were done with their web. 

We worked on projects until about 6pm, and then were all hot and tired so we jumped in the pool for a little bit and played a game of water basketball. 

We then ate dinner and played some volleyball before dark. 

By this time, I was ready for a shower, so we got cleaned up and then enjoyed some relaxation and a game of Dutch Blitz with partners

Here is something that I wrote in my journal this night and wanted to share with you. 

"Each day I am thankful for the opportunity I have to come here, enjoy the weather, and serve the missionaries. I am also very thankful for everyone who made this trip possible and is faithfully praying. The Lord is good! He answers prayers!"

Day 2

On the second day, Sunday, we spent 4 hours of the day driving from Montevideo to Paysandu. There was not much for houses, cities, population, or anything between the two cities. It was pretty much flat with an occasional city here and there.

Here are some pictures of the camp:

Once we arrived we dropped our stuff off at the Couto's house, ate lunch and left for the Hot Spring, about an hour and a half away.

After the Hot Springs we went to a church in the area where Ethan, one of the members of our group spoke. 

Then we went out to eat around 9:00pm.

Here we had the privilege to try some....guess what...?

...cow tongue.

It actually did not taste that bad, I kind of enjoyed it.

Then we traveled about an hour back to camp and got settled into our rooms for the night.

Here is where the girls stayed for the week. 

and I even got my own room

I think the thing that has stood out to me the most at the this point in the trip after going to two church services is the fact that even though we couldn't speak their language and communicate very well with the natives there still seemed to be a bond - brothers and sisters in Christ - that brought us together and it was okay that we couldn't understand each other. The church service was nice on Sunday, because there was an American missionary family there, Andy and Collette Thompson, and then a Uruguayan family that spoke English as well, so that was helpful.

So far the trip has been full of fun and relaxation, but that was the last of it (for the most part)  for the rest of the week, the work was beginning the next day....but that was still fun too, just in a different way. ;)

Day 1

Here is a picture of the team that went to Uruguay. This was taken just a few minutes before we left. 

We started the trip by driving down to Charlotte, NC where my grandpa drove us to the airport and we flew from there to Miami to Montevideo. The trip went very smoothly, without any complications. When we arrived we were greeted by 

Danny Vallette 

and 

Bruno Couto 

the two missionaries we were working with. 

Here is a picture of us once we arrived at the airport after 24+ hours of traveling.

We spent the first night at the Vallette's house and then traveled four hours north to Paysandu, where the camp was and where the Couto's lived. 

Saturday when we arrived we were able to go to the beach and relax for a little bit before the youth rally that evening. The youth rally was a success, and it was fun to interact and get to know the teens there, even though none of them spoke English and none of us spoke Spanish. Here are a couple pictures of the event. 

The church the youth rally was held at.

Mike, one of the guys on the trip spoke at the service through an interpreter, Danny Vallette.

These are some of the games we played. Most of them were name games. Not sure what the first one was, but the second was the game of swat. 

Our group with the teens. 

All of this was the first day, when we first got there, so we were all pretty tired and worn out from the trip, but it was a lot of fun.