So, it is hard to believe that I have been in South America for over a month! It does not seem like that long at all, but at the same time it seems like I haven't seen my family and friends in FOREVER! I survived the end of winter in Montevideo... I had to purchase a couple sweaters to layer with the two I brought, but all is well now. Today, I got to wear short sleeves for the first time since leaving a beautiful week in Buenos Aires.
Friday after returning from La Obra, I went to a Murga with Sebastian and his girlfriend, Andrea. What is a murga? I had no idea until after I went, but I looked it up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murga While I had no idea what was going on and didn't really understand much, I enjoyed the singing and environment. However, I am old and go to bed early and this lasted until 3am, so I was quite tired.
Yesterday I spent the day with Wilma. She took me to a produce market in the morning, then we had lunch and later went to an artisan fair. It is the best artisan fair in Uruguay apparently. There were so many beautiful things, but I decided it was too early to start buying things. We went back to Wilma's house and she made bread (I watched) and that is what we had for communion today.
Today with the beautiful weather, I had a beautiful day. I understood pretty much all of the worship service and sermon today. Wilma preached on the parable where a father asks his two sons to work in the field and one says he will not and ends up doing it and the other says he will and does not. Since the worship attendance rarely is over 20 people, it is a comfortable setting and there are good discussions during worship. It is a new way to worship, but I am enjoying it. I am really starting to feel like part of the Nuestro Salvador family... Everyone in the congregation is so friendly and welcoming. I am very blessed with the placement here. Thursday was Wilma's birthday, so after worship we had cake to celebrate. Also there was a man who was celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife this week, so we celebrated that as well. A young boy, Lukas (about 15 years old), who attends church and Tuesday Bible study without encouragement from his parents, asked me if I could tutor him this week in Math! I am happy to get involved with the congregation outside of worship.
After church, I got on the bus to go to Milton and Carla's house for lunch. On the bus was José, the secretary/treasurer of the church. I was looking at my bus guide to make sure I didn't miss the stop, so he asked me what street I was looking for, and I told him. Three other people near me were very quick to speak up and say they were going in that direction and could point me where to go- even though I was pretty sure I knew, I thought it would be nice to be sure. We had a nice conversation and I told them where I was from and what I was doing here. They were all very friendly. One girl, Cecilia, was getting off at the same stop, so she got me to where I was going. So I got to their house with an enjoyable bus ride. I just cannot ask for more friendly and welcoming hosts. Milton and Carla have already made me feel like a part of their family. Milton is the coordinator of La Obra. Agustine, their 2 year old son, is opening up to me and plays with me when I go over there. He even understands me when I talk to him! We had lunch and then ice cream and coffee. Milton showed me a photo album of a trip he took to Europe when he was 18. Milton even let me use his phone to call home... but no answer :(
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2 comments:
It is so exciting when we can see God in the everyday events and the people we contact and interact with during the day. It sounds like you are getting more comfortable with the people and your surroundings.
Dad
Hey Mary!
Interesting that you mentioned the parable for Sunday's lesson, as that was the sermon theme for us too.
I can remember my first bus ride in a strange city (San Francisco) and being afraid the bus wouldn't stop (I didn't know they had pull-cords you were supposed to pull a block ahead that sounded a buzzer signalling you wanted to get off). So as the bus drove right past my stop I got up in the aisle and yelled "That was my stop." Everyone of course just stared at me, with no empathy from anyone.
Fall is just around the corner here. It's still unusually warm, with daytime temps near 80 deg. But by end of this week it is supposed to dip down to 40 deg at night, which will start the fall colors.
Can't imagine what it would be like to have a kitchen without a microwave! You seem to have no trouble logging in to the internet, however. How prevalent are computers where you are?
Well, take care and enjoy the spring weather!
Doug
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