Coming to an end

Our time in Uruguay is coming to an end, the last 9 months seem to have flown by really quickly, it’s incredible. It’s interesting to look back over the time we’ve spent here and see what’s happened. Firstly, I’m amazed at how my Spanish has improved in the time we’ve been out here - well I say Spanish, more like Rio-de-la-plata-ish. When we came out here, I could only understand a few words of spanish and speak about the same, where as now, I have had conversations with people, taught the communion group, and preached (well writing it in English and translating it first!). God has definitely helped me to get to this point - I couldn’t have done it on my own I’m sure. I still find myself falling into the same mistakes in the language though, particularly when praying in church!

Looking at the work we’ve been involved with, the Youth group appears to have the most obvious changes - when we first started it, the kids were all very shy, and didn’t like to take part in discussions or to pray at the end of the session. Now most of them are taking part, and last week all of them prayed aloud at the end of the session. Also the homegroup in the parish has grown in confidence and are now meeting more frequently.

I’m certainly going to miss the people we’ve met out here, especially the kids. It’s going to be quite strange to go back to my old routine. Going back to living in a bigger city, having to get up and drive an hour to work every morning.

To be continued as I think of other things…