San Geronimo: Yeah you guessed it -- by Becky

During lunch, we left the house waiting for the spackling and concrete to dry. (It had nothing to do with the fact that Uruguay was playing Italy in The World Soccer Cup.)

Side note: The World Soccer Cup means Soccer teams from all parts of the globe will play various teams who are also from all over the globe, unlike certain countries who have "The World Series," when it is really, "The State's Series."

In order to get an accurate flavor and charm we go into town to a small community building to eat and watch the game. Upon arriving we are greeted by one brown, black and white dog that sits by the door wagging his tail and squeezing between our legs in an attempt to enter the building.

Inside their are several men watching soccer on a t.v. We join in and order ravioli, and pizza, cokes and fanta (The pizza here is similar to toast with tomato sauce and a slice of mozzerala cheese cut into rectangles.) After taking a few sips from my soda a large fly appears out of no where (its winter time for pete's sake) and immediately begins swimming in my soda bottle. Do I need a new bottle?

Phil grabs a fork and manages to nab the drenched bug. I decide soda is too expensive and I'll drink it floating bug or no floating bug.

We continue watching the soccer game until Uruguay bites their way to victory.

San Geronimo once again by Becky Hess

Tuesday we hope to prep and patch the walls in the main room in order to begin painting. 

We move all the furniture into the middle of the room which requires big muscles. Which one of us has the muscles? Phil, the teacher, with the mind of an engineer helps us stack all the items as though we are completing a puzzle. Afterwards he brings in a tarp which he found in the work room. This fits over the piled furniture as though it was custom made. We do a jig and a high five.  

Hoping to get the spackling and concrete to dry Phil tries to get the fire place going. < All you boy scouts would be proud of Holly's wood carrying skills.> Along with Phil's ability to get wet trees to burn. On a side note someone with the initials of MP threw a dry gourd into the fire creating a blast that made my guitar sing and me scream. Will the concrete ever dry?

Life in San Geronimo by Becky

Monday night, 11:15 pm time for bed, unfortunately the bathroom began spurting water all over the floor, fortunately Marilyn is a get-her-clean- type of woman. 

Fill up warm water bottles as our bedtime heat source and try to begin snoring. Awake before the sun, which isn't difficult as the sunrises at 7:45 am. 

Will we have water and a working shower?

No. Grab a bucket. It works just like a good Haitian shower. 

For some team members it becomes the first shampooing in a sink. 

This trip has been good for exercising creative problem solving.   

San Geronimo: A Note from Becky Hess

Monday's here. Time for San Geronimo. Awoke before the sun, packed up, checked out the ATM for pesos. For you banking folks, the ATM's in Uruguay are inside a small room. Once inside the door locks.  Imagine needing to take out $3500. My hands shook as I typed! (Don't worry Jack it's basically $150 US.)  Transaction completed? The switch at the side of the door is key to get back to the car.    

After exchanging money we stopped for groceries for a variety of foods. Around here we have enjoyed lots of roasted meat minus vegetables. The idea of 5 fruits and vegetables a day isn't characteristic for Uruguay. Yes Mom, we grabbed broccoli, carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes, bananas, mandarins and apples.

Here's one of the meats for an Asado (barbecue). 

 At the grocery store one can buy rugs, electronics, and earrings along with all the food. After loading the groceries we high tailed it to San Geronimo (Phil's driving so he's not afraid of all the local drivers who decide stop signs are optional).

Eucalyptus trees shedding their bark line the driveway, Holly and I hop out of the car to smell the flowers, and take pictures. In the midst of winter, arrays of colors catch my eye. Yellow, pink and  red pops out from the green background. A German shepherd barks protecting her pups and the house. I keep hoping she won't decide to take a bite out of me. 

Today we began prepping for tomorrow's work, moving furniture, made beds, cleaned the kitchen, and bathroom, cooked and cleaned again. Sang, prayed and ate together. What will happen next? 

Demolition Begins. Good night!

Hospitality in Uruguay

Day 1: Hospitality in Uruguay by Phil Hostetter, 
traveling team from Neffsville Mennonite Church, Lancaster, PA

We arrived in Montevideo yesterday, mid-morning and have been surrounded by Marilyn's friends and co-workers (Matt and Toni Daniel's family) since we landed.  Friendly faces welcomed us at the airport giving us an enthusiastic beginning  for this leg of the trip. 

This morning, we gave the gifts of the tools from our Vacation Bible School children to Matt & Toni Daniels, and Ms. Marilyn. Wish you could have seen all the joy and smiles. It was like Christmas morning! Or hitting open a candy filled piñata and all the love falls out. Thank-you VBS kids!  Matt picked up the tools, showed his children these "new toys," inspecting them, and started talking about all the projects we will be able to do this week. Starting with VBS kids giving. Thanks for caring. Your dollars and coins last week helped buy these gifts. Pat yourself on the back - as Matt says a, " BIG THANKS!"

When we arrived at Marilyn's apartment yesterday, we met her neighbor who owns the store downstairs (Angela). Later on Matt spent some time with us giving an overview of the work of missions in Uruguay and Christian Associates' part in God's work here.  This is a widely secular and un-churched area of Latin America. 

Which accentuates the connection we had through the wonderful experience of worship with Marilyn, Matt & Toni's set of friends, listening to their spiritual journeys and sharing their personal struggles, singing and praying together.   We had to adjust to their pace of life since most evening meals and activities start after 9:30 or 10:00 pm!  I (Phil) went to bed this morning at 12:30 a.m., after spending hours talking with everyone in the group along with Matt and Toni after everyone left!

This morning we had the opportunity to worship with Marilyn again at the English-speaking international church that she attends, and listened to Becky preach to our group about the openings hospitality provides to allow God to speak in our situations.  Christ's Church was a very welcoming group, and we found them reaching out to a group of sailors from Ghana and Sierre Leone who were stranded in Uruguay due to an unfortunate situation where they were treated badly. 

We have received overwhelming hospitality from Marilyn and her friends here, and we have graciously become part of her community in such a short time.  Marilyn's friends have helped us feel right at home and loved, even though we don't speak the same first language. Thanks for praying! 

Tell me about San Geronimo House!

Several years ago, my colleagues Matt & Toni Daniels had the opportunity to purchase a beautiful home about 45 minutes outside of the city. (We all live in the capital city of Montevideo.) The former owners were Christians and their children were hoping that the home and property could continue to serve as a place for people to spend time with God. And that was Matt & Toni's vision, too!

San Geronimo house is located in the middle of a eucalyptus forest. You have to take a dirt road off of the highway to get to it and then you drive in a lane that is lined by these big trees.

By the time you pull up to the front of the house, you feel like you're in another world!! And that's just the feeling that people often need as they leave their work, their home and the many things that might be heavy on their minds and come away for a day, several days or even a week!

We've had some really fun birthday parties at the house! There's lots of space to go for a hike in the woods, play games on the grass and eat cake with ice cream!

We also hold retreats and workshops at the house as well. There are three bedrooms with lots of bunk beds and two bathrooms so up to 15 people can sleep in the main house. 

But the house set empty for several years and so there are a LOT of repairs that need to be done: the bathroom and kitchen plumbing, painting the walls, fixing the leaking roof...  All of that takes money and people to do the work...

Several people from my home church in the States will be arriving on June 21st, 2014 and we're looking forward to painting the living room, entry, hallway and hopefully one of the bathrooms as well. Also, we hope to finish the plumbing changes that were needed in the one bathroom. I'm looking forward to having them here!  They'll be staying till the 29th in order to celebrate my birthday with me!  (yeehaw!!)

San Geronimo House is a great place to rest, play, hike, pray, learn, grow and spend time with God. We want to make the property ready for all of these things! Thanks for your interest!!

I want to see faces!

I came to Uruguay because I sensed a real love for the people here. And I think God gave me that love...

When I arrived at the end of February 2013, I only knew a handful of people... but in the past 16 months I've met a lot of really neat people and made some really great friends.

Let me share them with you now:
Matt and Toni Daniels and their children Allie, Matt and Anne

I work with Matt and Toni and I like to play "aunt" to their children. Just last week I spent two days with Allie, Matt and Anne while their parents went away to celebrate their anniversary. :)

There are three young couples who I have grown to love very much. Two of them have had babies in the past year and one of them should be giving birth in August!  Yes, three little girls in total all within a year and a half!

Craig, Alejandra and Emma

Ignacio, Stephania and Maria Pia

Eva, Diego and the soon-to-be born Sophia

And then there's a hodge-podge of other people who have become like family to me:

Anna Ruth has adopted me as her daughter - which makes her my Uruguayan mother. I lived with her my first three months here and I appreciate being able to spend time with her - she always listens to my stories and responds with lots of love and wisdom.

Alison and Diego are like my older sister and brother. They live in the same neighborhood as I do and so we sometimes meet for lunch or run errands together. I enjoy spending time with them because they make me feel loved!

Angela is my neighbor and I get to see her every day. She looks out for me and has given me lots of information to help me adjust to this new place. I am grateful for her friendship!

I met Silvia during my second week in Uruguay and we become close friends almost immediately!! Her son Michael is 10 years old and he's a lot of fun to hang out with.

There are a lot more people I could tell you about but I'll stop there for now. :)

I came to Uruguay because God gave me a love for the people - I am so glad He did!

But what I hadn't anticipated was that God would also give other people a love for me.

These people are now very dear to my heart... and I hope they experience God's love for them through me.

Tell me more!!

Now that you know where Uruguay is located, let me share some other details with you.

Everyone speaks Spanish here. 

They say "hola!" to say hello,

and "adios!" when they say good-bye.

When they are ending a phone conversation they say "besos!" (which means "kisses")

and when they want to say I love you, they have to say "te amo!"

And the money is different, too. They use pesos instead of dollars. And 1 dollar = 22 pesos. 

Since a lot of cattle are raised here, Uruguayans eat a lot of beef.  One of their favorite dishes is a chivito.  It's kind of like a hamburger but it's thinly sliced beef instead of a beef patty.

Another favorite dish is the milanese - similar to a German schnitzel. You can order a milanese made of beef, pork or chicken.

And Uruguayans don't have gas grills in their backyard like a lot of Americans do. Instead they have a parilla - it kind of looks like a brick fireplace. And the meat is grilled over wood coals from a fire. It takes a lot of skill to get the temperature just right to cook the meat slowly yet keeping it tender. 

Uruguay is in the southern hemisphere - that means it's on the opposite side of the equator from Pennsylvania. It also means that our seasons are opposite from what you have. So, while you are enjoying the summer right now and spending days at the swimming pool, we are experiencing the beginning of winter and I am wearing a scarf and heavy jacket when I leave my house. It also means that when you are celebrating Christmas around a fireplace in the winter, Uruguayans are spending the holiday at the beach in their swimsuits because it's summer here! Imagine decorating your Christmas tree in your shorts and flip flops!  

Tomorrow I'll tell you more about why I came to Uruguay and about the people here. So check out what I share with you then!

URUGUAY? Where's THAT??

Uruguay...  

Where's that?

What part of the world are you talking about?

And how do you pronounce it?

I admit that I needed to look at a map to find this small country when I first heard of it. I guessed right that it is in South America --

-- just below Brazil and to the right of Argentina, with the Atlantic Ocean along its southern border. In fact, Uruguay has some beautiful beaches...

And it's known for its ranches and cattle, too.

I'm looking forward to telling you more about this beautiful country and my wonderful friends here!