2000 Uruguay Mission Trip

4-1-2000 Somewhere over Bolivia
Today begins at 33,000 ft. over the eastern tip of the Andes. I slept fitfully, spread across three seats in a Boeing 767. I hope and pray that as we seek to glorify God in Uruguay that my Spanish will return quickly. What an incredible adventure is life! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me next.

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4-1-2000 Montevideo, Uruguay (10:20pm)
We've been here all of 8 hours and already things are happening, the mission is taking shape. BL [I can't in good conscience reveal missionaries' names], the missionary we are assisting, is a nice guy, young too. I am pleased to see how much he loves the Lord, it will be a joy to serve with him.

Evidently B is not much of an administrator. Wisely, he is aware of that. We know where we are going tomorrow, but don't know where we will be sleeping. Since it will be Sunday, we have total freedom to share with the kids who up for our baseball clinic about Jesus Christ. Monday and Tuesday, the same will not be true as we will be teaching high school phys. ed.

Mandi is still struggling with leaving Aly behind w/ my folks, but she'll be okay. From a human perspective, this trip is going to be hard. We gave up our baby and don't even have a clear itinerary of what we are doing. It's hard for me, but I know Mandi is really torn up. She has cried for days about this. The only thing that makes it better is the eternal perspective.

From that vantage, this trip is a blessing. Our first love is supposed to be God Himself. He guards that jealousy. His ultimate goal is to be glorified, and if we fail to love Him first, then we thwart His glorification. This trip makes that crystal clear. It does not ease the burden of giving up our daughter, but nothing can now come between us and God.
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After reading that last paragraph, I don't think I communicated my thoughts well. What I mean is, Mandi and I gave up a lot to come on this trip. It is hard for both of us to be here. We did anyway, however, in order to glorify God. We have made ourselves available to Him, and I believe He is honored by our sacrifice. Should anyone ever doubt our commitment to Christ (and I hope there is never cause to do so) I will point to this trip and say, "HA! What have you done?"

It should never come to that though. Ultimately, we are not here to serve God anyway. He cannot be served. He is entirely self-sufficient. That is what separates Him form other gods. No, we are here to be served. I believe God has our best interests at heart, and I believe that for that reason He brought us here to Uruguay. Likewise, He loves Alyssa more than Mandi or I will ever be able to. He has her interests at heart as well. He is consistent. He will use this time to our benefit, to her benefit and to His glory. If we love God first, the last should be enough. If we trust God, the rest should be enough. Either way, it is enough.

May our hearts not doubt him, may we only love Him more.

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4-2-00 La Charceada, Uruguay
Lord, I'm tired. We drove 3 hours in a cramped truck and taught baseball for four more hours so I could give my testimony to a group of about 44 students. Then we ate a quick dinner and drove another hour and a half, dropped Jayne and a translator off at a missionary's house, and went for another half hour to a church where the rest of us will spend a short night. We've got 8 hours of teaching to do tomorrow, but it should go well, there's no reason for it not to.

Did you know that there are wild ostriches in Uruguay? Now you do. And the stars are amazing. Now I'm going to bed. I'm too tired to write or think anymore tonite. Morning will come way too early.

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4-3-2000 La Charceada, Uruguay
Mate. A tea-like substance poured directly into a wooden cup, then water is added. You drink the water, usually only a mouthful, through a filtered metal straw. [Its a fairly common drink from Brazil to Argentina, and I've seen it drunk from a thermos and in family-sized bowls which many people will share.] It tastes terrible, but has a kick to put espresso to shame. Our room last nite reminded me of Romania, only smaller, more rustic.
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Cebollati, Uruguay
Well, I have done it again. I have burned myself to a crisp in the Uruguayan sun. Still, it was worth it today because our mission saw four people trust Christ...

The day started out normal, except that there was no hot water in the church where we are staying. We taught baseball all day long with a two-hour break for lunch. We had four two-hour sessions of instruction and twice were able to share the gospel at the end of the session. Scott Flippin [our group leader] shared the first time and Mandi shared the last time. Although several people indicated an interest in spiritual matters, there were no decisions at those times. They were not, however, without fruit.

At lunch time I was sitting with Andres (Kyle), our MK interpreter, when a boy asked me about an evangelism bracelet I was wearing. As I began to share with him, with Andres' help, several other kids came and listened also. In the end, Vanessa, Fernanda, and Pablo prayed to accept Christ. We did everything in our power to make sure they understood what their decision meant, explaining that it was a relationship and a friendship. We gave them tracts also with Bill's [our Missionary] address on them. Afterwards they came to our four o' clock clinic. Bill explained to me that he is excited because they have heard the gospel before from him, but failed to respond. They are young, 12-14 years old, but old enough to understand.

After dinner we all went to a Bible study here in town. There were several of the boys we played ball with earlier and Cesar who was with us yesterday as well. Cesar did not know Jesus Christ even though he heard the gospel from me, Mandi and Scott each today and yesterday. Then in the study CC (the local M) asked one of the boys to share what he had learned on a trip the boys had taken earlier. The questions was loaded because C organized the trip and knew the answer.

Several boys shared what they had learned through an evangelistic tool called "the cube." Before long, the gospel had been clearly presented una otra vez para Cesar. Luego varios de nosotros compartimos versiculos favoritos y cosas que nos han impactado hoy. Cesar no pudiera escapar. No queria escapar. Por fin, oramos en grupo y Scott dijo que pudia ver a Cesar visibly shaking while we prayed. After the prayer we broke up and began charlando, talking while Andres invited Cesar to accept Christ. He prayed to receive Christ after the most amazing tag-team display of impromptu evangelism I have ever seen. I wish we had it on video. This is an important step foreward for the Christian community here because Cesar is very popular, a real key leader.

Finally, on the predictability of Satan... Just as it looks like great strides are being made, Maria Selia was approached today by an angry parent upset that she would allow us to teach her child about God. All she accomplished was to make Maria mad because the program here is squaky clean. We teach ball only during class time and make it a point to tell everyone that they are in no way obliged to stay afterwards to hear about Jesus. We are not making a secret of our ministry, that is not the goal. We are not ashamed. I just pray that this negative pressure does not increase and only serves to drive Maria closer to making her own decision for Christ. [Later reports indicated to us that she did pray to receive Christ some months after our departure.]

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4-4-00 Rocha, Uruguay
Seven hours of clinics, a fifteen minute gospel presentation, four decisions. Un dia excellente. Mi espanol esta mejorando tambien. Hoy vi Cesar y el me ayudo mucho cuando jugabamos partidos. I wonder where he works. Anyway, he caught because my legs are too burned to squat. Also, he helped teach batting. When we had a chance to talk about spiritual matters, he was open and warm. I believe he genuinely accepted Christ.

After our presentation tonite, I talked with a boy que se llama Laurelinio. Me dijo que quisiera parte del grupo de Cliff. Cinco minutos despues le vi orando con Guillermo y el grupo de C. He had mentioned to someone else earlier that he was interested in becoming a Christian. It was exciting to watch as that group welcomed its 2d new member in 2 days through prayer.

Finally, we returned to Rocha. Its a two and a half hour drive which isn't so bad except that the road isn't paved about half the way and we had so many people and so much luggage that we had to strap five bags on the roof. Mandi and I rode back in the bed [of the truck] the whole way. Uncomfortable? Yes, but it gave us a chance to talk privately which we haven't done since we got on the plane.

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4-5-00 Montevideo, Uruguay
Today was a good day for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that another person made a decision for Christ today. We are back in Montevideo now which is also nice (the accomodations are much better). Also, I lightened my load in a considerable way, if you know what I mean. [A reference to the fact that I hadn't yet had a bowel movement since we left the US.]

We parted with CC and family today, which is sad because he's a great guy, fun to work with and an authentic Christian. I hope to stay in touch w/him and send him some grip tape for a couple of baseball bats. Before we left he gave me a Spanish Bible, new and old testament in an NIV format.

It has been interesting this trip to see how God is working through us. We give testimonies every day, but leave the invitations with C and B. They evaluate the contacts we make and it is they who will follow up any decisions that are made. It feels like we have to take people to the edge, but not tell them they need to choose. It makes sense from the relational standpoint because we want authentic decisions, not obligatory ones. At the same time, it just doesn't seem right.

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4-7-00 Montevideo 9AM
Yesterday began wet and ended soaked. We got to the field and stood around while Bill drove through the neighborhood trying to round up kids. Eventually we had 6 or 7 show up. It rained all the way through, but no one flinched and we finished with a testimony. Although we didn't see any decisions, B says we made an impact on several kids who needed to hear the gospel. In the afternoon it rained even harder and we had to give up the second clinic early and cancel the third. Its the first break we've had since we got here. The schedule we've been keeping since we got here puts the army to shame, except for the firewatch of course, we don't spend two hours a night watching for sparks or badguys.

We're supposed to go to our 1st clinic in about 20 minutes, but its been raining heavily and is still raining now. We'll see...

Something else that ought to be remembered is how Mandi's translator stirred things up in Cebollati one afternoon. Evidently she was just beginning to work with a new group of guys, teaching them how to field gorund balls, when Andres noticed that they weren't interested in her at all. So, she gave her 1st introductory speech and instead of giving a direct translation, Andres said, "Boy, you sure are the ugliest group she's had to work with," referring to Mandi's intro. It took a moment for what he said to be understood, but they were totally shocked. Then thye figured out it was a joke and everyone laughed and the clinic proceeded.

Tonight we went to a Bienvenido for an ISC couple who just arrived in Uruguay. It was nice to see the missionary turnout for the event. It was a potluck and we were invited to share our experiences from the week. Mandi is getting desperate to see the babies, she's called home 3 times since we got here. Anyway, it rained hard all day long, so we didn't get to do our clinics all day. In lieu, we went for a couple of prayer drives; driving from place to place around the barrio where B is working, praying for various people and events.

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4-8-00 Buenos Aires, Argentina (Airport)
Going home. Finally. I am tired and grateful to have come on this trip. Today was a Sabbath, we spent most of the day just sightseeing.

Mate Part 2. In Paraguay it is taken cold (so I’m told), but in Uruguay it is taken scalding hot. It is so common down here that you can hardly walk down the street without seeing someone slurping away, cup in one hand and thermos of water under an arm. Often they will share their cup and straw, but etiquette demands that you drain the cup ‘til the straw slurps. That way they know there’s no backwash when it’s passed.

As far as sightseeing went, there’s not much to say. Montevideo is somewhat like Lisbon, a rundown port-Capital whose glory is long past. It’s sad really. The most interesting thing we saw was the Baptist Theological Seminary. B gave a devotional there this morning and we got to watch. Just before we left for the airport we were interviewed by a guy named Pedro who writes for several publications including the Uruguayan Baptist Convention’s paper. He wants to do a piece on our trip since it was “successful.” By the way, we made it on TV in Chuy. Now Mandi and I have been on TV in 2 countries – (we were on in Romania also, same reason exactly).