Uruguay on Ricky Moorhouse

Coming to an end

Wed, 16 Jun 2004 13:00:50 +0000

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!

Changing flights II

Thu, 03 Jun 2004 13:42:37 +0000

So I arrived in Montevideo at 6.30 on the overnight bus from Salto, to go to the American Airlines office where I thought it would be just a case of them telling me the options and prices for them, and me selecting the one we wanted. I was wrong! I got to the office, and showed the lady in there the tickets, and she looked them up on the computer. Aparently there wasn't anything to tell her whether or not I could change the route, it just said I could change the dates for free - If I wanted to do anything else I had to speak to the original travel agent (in England), and get them to get the airline office in London to put the details on the computer system! So I went to an internet cafe and phoned our travel agent (Key Travel), who took a few details from me, and then said "you're a purple, I'm going to have to transfer you" - whatever that meant! Once she found that the other department was busy, so decided to try and help me herself, so I found out that we couldn't change the route - so what would have been the point of transfering me? In the end I got the dates changed so we don't have a stopover in Miami anymore, so that we can get through Miami before it gets too close to 4 July.

Escuelita and Icons of Uruguay

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 20:19:45 +0000

This morning at Escuelita some of the kids were terribly behaved! It's been a long time since they have been, but I guess this week with it having rained a lot, and there being a lot more kids there it probably made quite a difference. We were looking at the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and how they had a contest to prove which god was real. They each prepared a bull to sacrifice and then put it on the altar and prayed. After the prophets of Baal had been praying for a day, nothing happened. When Elijah set up his altar to the Lord, they tipped water on it, and then he called out to the Lord. The Lord answered by fire, and the sacrifice, wood, stones and soil were burnt up.

Kites in the park

Sat, 10 Apr 2004 20:17:01 +0000

This morning we took the kids from the Escuelita upto Parque Solari as an Easter treat. It was a really nice time, as it was cooler than it has been - so not too hot for running around. A lot of them had home-made kites with them, made from plastic bags and sticks- which flew very well. It's a common thing for Holy Week here in Uruguay, for people to fly kites.

Artificial Beaches

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 01:26:10 +0000

We had an early start today, and headed out through the town to a place called Santa Helena, on the edge of the reserviour We had a picnic lunch there and then went to have a look at some of the artificial beaches along the edge from there before heading back. In the evening we had dinner at the hotel, which was nice, although the 'Brazilian wine' turned out to be a not to nice Uruguayan wine, and the food seemed to cool off too quickly with the air conditioning But the food itself was really nice.

Politics and Religion

Thu, 11 Mar 2004 10:58:24 +0000

We had a nice chat with Marcelo yesterday, and learnt a few more interesting bits about Uruguay. The conversation started of with whether or not there is freedom of religion in England, and then went on to Politics, Computers, Voting and various other bits and pieces to compare. Here voting in the elections is compulsory, and if you don't vote there are financial sancions - loss of social benefits. It was also interesting to here how in the financial crisis here a couple of years ago, all the political parties joined together to sort things out, before seperating again once things were sorted.

Back to school

Wed, 10 Mar 2004 10:55:39 +0000

It's back to school time here in Uruguay, most of the kids go back to school today, but some went back on Monday. They've just had their summer/Christmas holiday and it's time to start the next school year, assuming they passed the last one -as here they have to repeat the year until they pass it. As it's back to school time, there's lots more stationary around in the shops, and school uniforms in many windows. But the number of people in the office shop yesterday was crazy - 4 queues to the counter filling the shop, and they'd employed 3 or 4 security guards especially for the occasion. Everyone was getting their supplies! At the weekend, we gave the kids from Escuelita books for school, and on Monday it was nice to see some of their work in their books.

Miuerhi = Moorhouse?

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 10:04:38 +0000

The other day we had some sheets washed at the Lavadero (Launderette), and they will deliver them to you once they've been washed and dried. When I dropped the sheets off, they took my name - which I said and then spelt for them, but the lady there stopped me before I'd finished. On Wednesday, they delivered them and I had a bit of a chat with the deliverey guy, who was intrigued as to where we were from because of an unusual surname, which I thought nothing of, as it is unusual for Uruguay. He asked us if we are from far away, and whether we are Mormons, as there are lots of Mormons here and it's a usual assumption for foreigners.

Uruguayan children - observations

Tue, 02 Mar 2004 00:25:05 +0000

In the last week, we've had a few of the children round from the barrio, and it's quite interesting to see the differences between them and children back home (in general!). The children that we've had round love to clean and wash up - which I was surprised at. However we had a bag of packaging foam pieces from a parcel that we'd received and they thought that it was sweets or some other type of food - and asked where to buy them.

Uruguayans and rain

Sun, 01 Feb 2004 08:13:50 +0000

It's interesting to see how differently people here react to rain than those in England. Here everything stops when it rains, people stay in their houses and there's no-one on the streets. A lot of the smaller shops close because of rain as well. So after talking to Gilberto, Youth Group was cancelled yesterday, because there wouldn't have been anyone there. If everything stopped when it rains in England, the country would come to a standstill!!

Day in Santiago

Sun, 11 Jan 2004 22:02:00 +0000

We met Alf Cooper - pastor of Trinity church in Santiago, who invited us to got to their newest church plant at Cantagallo for the service. What they have lots of different activities at the main church that bring in lots of people and they let it grow till it gets too big(700 is considered a reasonable size). Also alongside there are lots of ways of training up leaders, including theology courses run from the church. Once the church is too big, they'll take a group of people including leaders to form the new church plant. At Cantagallo - they normally have about 70 people, but they were expecting it to be less because it's holiday season - although it seemed to be near to that number anyway! Before the service, we helped to get things ready and convert the school hall into a church, and we prayed with a group in preparation for the service. They also prayed for us, the church in Uruguay, and the youth group that we'll be starting. After the service, we went to the bus station and got our tickets sorted out to travel to Mendoza and went for a look round Santiago. In the evening we had burgers and mashed potato, and watched Phone Booth with the others who were staying at the church

People we know!

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 16:19:00 +0000

I've just added a people we know section onto samespirit so that if I mention someone in my blog, or we mention someone in our updates, you'll be able to see who it is! It will be linked properly from here soon, but for now here you go: on this site or on samespirit

Christmas in Uruguay

Sat, 27 Dec 2003 09:28:00 +0000

Well we've survived Christmas in Uruguay -actually it was really nice. On Christmas Eve we went to 2 services -one in the barrio and one at the parish, which were both really nice. Although quite exhausting particularly with playing guitar for 2 songs (Cristianos vayamos - to the tune of "Oh Come all Ye faithful" and Nochede Paz - "Silent Night") in each and trying to lead a song when I'd got different words + number of verses to everyone else!! Then we went with Jose and 2 of his grandchildren to his house before going on to the party at their house. The party was nice as it was just us, Jose, Pablo,Carmin and the two children. We watched the children open their presents and then ate party food until it got to midnight. Then we went outside to watch the fireworks which were amazing! Looking over the river to Concordia we could see fireworks going off all across the city. After the fireworks, we went back in for dessert. On Christmas Day we opened our presents and phoned our families first thing in the morning. Then we went to Alba's for Christmas lunch which was: a starter of a sort of swiss roll - but instead of Jam had Olives and Ham (the Uruguayans tend to like combining sweet and savory) followed by chicken with salad and the dessert was lovely - it was strawberry's and pieces of cake in a syrup with some sort of spirits init topped of with cream!

We're going to Chile!

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:58:00 +0000

While we were in Montevideo, Jorge invited us to go to the provincial youth congress in Chile - a 5 day event for youth leaders. We will be travelling by bus via Buenos Aires and will be a long (The section between Buenos Aires and Santiago is 22 hours) but very scenic journey !The event should be really helpful for us both in language, leadership and spiritually. When we get back, we're going to be starting a youth group here along with a girl who approached Gilberto about one while we were in Montevideo. Tonight Gilberto mentioned the youth group and we told him about the congress and he was really encouraging.

Back from Montevideo

Wed, 17 Dec 2003 08:59:00 +0000

After a nice (but busier than expected) few days in Montevideo, it's nice to be back to Salto. We've got loads of photos from the Synod, some of which will probably be online later on. We managed to meet up with lots of people through the 5 days we were there so it was good. We went to the Noche de los Luces which was a big firework display down by the river.

Going to Montevideo tomorrow

Wed, 10 Dec 2003 22:20:00 +0000

Well we're off to Montevideo tomorrow for the Synod (A sort of AGM for the diocese as far as I know) It's a 2 day meeting -well 4 on Friday till sometime on Saturday - Hope we get some time to sleep. I probably won't be able to update this till we get back.

Uruguay makes BBC News!!

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 23:02:00 +0000

BBC News: Uruguay vote rejects oil policy: Unusually, there's an article on BBC News about something that happened in Uruguay!! Everyone here has been talking about the referendum for the last few weeks and there's been graffiti around saying to vote "Si" ever since we arrived! Here in Salto there were 2 processions, the first one with the tambores (see picture) and the second one with hordes of pedestrians with flags chanting something that sounded like an anti US chant followed by cars hooting away. We got the perfect view from our sixth floor balcony over looking the main street.

Reading

Sun, 07 Dec 2003 00:02:00 +0000

I did the reading in church for the first time in Spanish today. It went ok, however Gilberto had originally told me a different reading, as he'd got the wrong page in his book of readings. So I'd prepared to read 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13and then when it came to the reading he realised it was a different one! So I ended up reading Philippians 1:1-11instead. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I think I only made one major mistake!

Football crazy!

Sat, 06 Dec 2003 08:09:00 +0000

We were on our way back from the cinema, and found ourselves surrounded by football fans - and they filled the whole of the main street - cars, bikes and pedestrians. The most popular team in Salto had won the championship -so the fans were celebrating big time! Even the traffic lights were flashing!

Diocese of Uruguay site up!

Wed, 03 Dec 2003 19:24:00 +0000

We've got the initial version of the diocese website up and running - it's been a fun day getting it all sorted. It's only got the basic information there, but will grow once we get some replies toe-mails! Have a look: Iglesia Anglicana

Home group was cool!

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 23:49:00 +0000

We had a really good home group tonight, looking at three little verses from Johns gospel on the subject "Accept Jesus as Lord and Friend" - For the first verse, I asked if we could read the verses just before and after it. With having a little bit more to look at we had a really great discussion and everyone seemed to contribute at some point. This is a great improvement from the previous weeks, where the study has been very short and not gone into much depth. We touched on all sorts of cool bits which people had seemed to have had a bit of a misunderstanding about - so that's promising! Here's a some verses that I was thinking of part of during home group when we were talking about the difference between society, and Jesus' instruction to love one another as he loves us: If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. I might add a bit more on this tomorrow, but I'm tired now!

Annoying Uruguayan Advertising &Christmas shopping!

Tue, 02 Dec 2003 22:13:00 +0000

There's an unusual form of advertising here in Uruguay - the little trucks and bikes that drive round and round the same block every few minutes all day long! They play the same advert through a speaker on top of the vehicle as loud as they can manage - or it seems that way! So we can here it right from our flat on the 6thfloor. Today we were treated to the Pink Panther theme, with random Spanish voices that we couldn't make out as it was so distorted! I wonder what it will be next time, or if we've got that for the next month! But I still managed to get my Christmas shopping done today (earliest ever I guess!) which is cool!

Advent is here!

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 18:53:00 +0000

Yesterday at church they lit the first advent candle on the wreath, and changed all the green coverings and decoration in the church to purple (apparently the liturgical colour for the season), and stopped singing songs containing Alleluia, or saying it in the liturgy of the service! Which is a bit different and seems strange -particularly avoiding songs containing Alleluia. But the idea behind it is that Advent is a season of preparation for Christmas. It's been quite interesting to see how different things are here - both in the culture of the country and the culture of the church. Gilberto encouraged people at the service to remember the real reason for Christmas and Advent, and not to let giving cards, giving presents and decorating distract from Jesus. Here they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) and by the sounds of things they party all night.

The early church

Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:50:00 +0000

Yesterday we went to a talk about the early church over at the Methodist church based on the book of Acts. It was really interesting, and surprisingly I managed to follow most of what the guy was saying (in Spanish) which was cool. Although I found the people asking questions difficult to understand, and when we were in smaller groups it was difficult. A very tiring day in all, but well worth it!

Concordia

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 22:54:00 +0000

We just got back from Concordia, after spending a couple of days there to renew our visas and have a bit of a break. It's amazing how different it is to Salto, there seems so much more stuff in the supermarkets (mainly in the line of cheap booze) and it seems much busier. We also felt a lot less safe there than we do in Salto - but nothing happened. We stayed in a cheap (-ú10 for a double room with breakfast) but lovely hotel, and wandered around the sites there. At some point I'll probably add some photos of the castle we went to see, and the cathedral, which looks quite different to any other Catholic cathedrals I've seen.

Our power supply is here at last!

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 05:57:00 +0000

This explains the gap in blog entries - we were without a power supply for our laptop for quite a long time since being in Salto - so we've been just about keeping up with e-mails using Gilberto's computer, and the internet cafe. But I've not got round to updating this - hopefully I'll be able to fill in a few of the major events, but things should get more interesting from now on!

Double service and guitar chords

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 16:04:00 +0000

Today we went to the 'double service' at Espíritu Santo, which is a service in Spanish, followed by a service in English. It was really helpful to be at both, and interesting to see the differences. We then went for lunch with the Carters. After lunch, Steve taught me how the guitar chords are done differently here. All the chords have different names as follows: C is DO, D is RE, E is MI, F is FA, G is SOL, A is LA, B is SI. For minor chords, sometimes lower case is used, and sometimes an 'm' is added. I'm starting to get used to it, but it's very tricky.

No Content Found

Sat, 11 Oct 2003 16:04:00 +0000

In the morning we went shopping at Montevideo Shopping - we found it this time with the map - it was much easier by foot. In the afternoon, we watched Bad Boys 2 at the cinema there. It was really empty and we thought we were going to be the only people in there, but another couple came in part way into the film. It was so different watching a film in such an empty cinema!

Colonia

Fri, 10 Oct 2003 16:03:00 +0000

Today we went to Colonia (an old town opposite Buenos Aires) for the day. It was a really nice place to visit for a day, but there wouldn't have been much more to see if we'd been there much longer. The sea views were really nice.

Trying to go shopping

Thu, 09 Oct 2003 16:04:00 +0000

We went to visit Heather in the hospital this morning - she still seemed to be quite weak, but should be going home tomorrow. Then we tried to find one of the other shopping centres nearby - either Portones or Montevideo Shopping. We caught a bus, which was going to one of them, but missed the stop, and ended up at the Rambla. We then walked along for 3-4km before we got to a bus stop where we could get a bus back home.

Spanish lesson and alpha course

Wed, 08 Oct 2003 16:01:00 +0000

This morning we had a time of prayer in the chapel, which I found very difficult. After this we went for a Spanish lesson with Gerry, which was really helpful and we did a lot. We then helped him to get things ready for the Alpha course. We stayed for the start of the Alpha course and then went home. It was interesting to see the way they ran it here - they started of with the food, then had a couple of songs before the talk and afterwards split up into smaller groups to discuss things.

No Content Found

Tue, 07 Oct 2003 16:09:00 +0000

We had another Spanish lesson with Daniel and then we went for lunch at McDonalds. After lunch we went to Tres Cruces to have a look round, but there didn't seem to be much there.

Flights changed and languages!

Mon, 06 Oct 2003 16:02:00 +0000

We got our flights changed first thing at the American Airlines office by the seafront, so we will now be travelling back at the start of July and having a one-night stopover in Miami on the way back to break up the journey. We then went down to CASA to meet Daniel and have a Spanish lesson - which was interesting as he was teaching one person English, and 3 of us Spanish at the same time! After the lesson we went for lunch together.

No Content Found

Sun, 05 Oct 2003 16:01:00 +0000

We went to the English service at the cathedral this morning - it was strange, as it seemed to take more effort than the Spanish ones we've been to! We got the bus back home, and then had lunch with Miguel, Martha & Gonzalo. In the afternoon we went to the dedication of the new church building for Espíritu Santo. It was a really nice service, with so many people that there were lots of people standing outside!! After the service, there was a reception with lots of food where we met Gilberto.

No Content Found

Sat, 04 Oct 2003 16:10:00 +0000

We got up early this morning ready to leave with Miguel at 9 o'clock to Espíritu Santo Ô?? we were ready quite early, so I went to get the bread for us all. We went by bus to the church, and when we got there only the workmen were there. Miguel showed us around. Gradually more people arrived to help with the preparations for tomorrow and we joined in helping. We then caught the bus back down to the cathedral to have lunch with Paulo before going to San Esteban. San Esteban is a house where the church looks after people with AIDS and today they had the introductory session of a course about looking after people with AIDS (which was very hard for me to follow, but interesting still).

Met the Ambassador, ate at soup kitchen

Fri, 03 Oct 2003 17:09:00 +0000

We went to the British Embassy with Steve & Miguel, as they had a meeting with the ambassador, and so that we could register as being in the country. After we'd registered, we waited downstairs forthem to have finished their meeting Ô?? when they'd finished they camedownstairs with the Ambassador, whom Miguel introduced us to. After thiswe went down to the diocesan offices, where we waited for Paulo to take us to CASA Ô?? where we went to meet the team there at their weekly team meeting. After the meeting finished, he took us to the soup kitchen??, where they were currently serving pasta, which we had forour lunch. We then went back to the offices where we joined in with thecelebrations for Lillian's birthday. Afterwards, Ana told us thedetails of the apartment that Gilberto had found for us in Salto. In theafternoon, we went with Liz to Espíritu Santo to help them with thecleaning ready for the dedication of the new chapel on Sunday. We alsodelivered some leaflets to the neighbouring blocks inviting them to theservice.

Arrival of the Bishop

Wed, 01 Oct 2003 15:08:00 +0000

Today I went on an errand with Fabio to move some plants from someone's garden to church of the Holy Spirit Ô?? They were big plants!! Then wewent on to the airport to meet Miguel and Martha as they arrived backfrom Cuba. Their flight was delayed for about 30 minutes and then whenthey arrived, we went via Espíritu Santo, and the British Hospital, as Miguel wanted to see how the building work was doing and to visitHeather in the hospital. We then all had lunch together back at thehouse.

Day off (almost)

Tue, 30 Sep 2003 15:08:00 +0000

Went to Punto Carretas Shopping with Tricia, Jonathan and Isaac. We had a chat and a drink with them Ô?? I had a Licuado, which is liquidised fruit, topped up with fruit juice, milk or water. We then went shopping on our own for a bit and got lost on the way back. This turned out to be good for ourSpanish though!!In the evening we cooked dinner for Daniel and ourselves. We were goingto make pasta bake, but ended up with just pasta in sauce.

Old city and C.A.S.A

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 16:07:00 +0000

Today we wentto the old city (Ciudad Vieja), we visited the church of the Most Holy Trinity (Santísima Trinidad) and the diocese offices, then went to see C.A.S.A (Anglican Centre for Solidarity & Help) where we met Billy, who Daniel is teaching Spanish. We did a bit of Spanish together, and then we went for lunch with Paulo & Sandra. After lunch, Paulo showed us some photos, we rested for a bit and then I drew a dove for them to use with the Alpha course. In the afternoon Luis showed us round the old town. In the evening we prayed together with Luis & Daniel in the chapel which is part of the house. We went through the service for daily prayer from the Book of Common Prayer in Spanish and it was really good.

No Content Found

Sun, 28 Sep 2003 15:07:00 +0000

Today we went to Church of the Holy Spirit (Espíritu Santo) in Carrasco Ô?? it was much easier to follow, with Steve being English. For some reason it just makes his Spanish easier to understand. The church meets in a room in what used to be a house, but is moving next week to a chapel next to it, which is beingbuilt where the garage was. The service was fairly lively and all of thecongregation speak English, but the service is in Spanish. For lunch, wehad a barbecue at Ana (The bishop's secretary)'s house with herfamily. They were really nice, and the food was all really tasty.In the afternoon, we went along to a youth group which was made up ofChristians from the British and American schools Ô?? We talked aboutfears, and how we as Christians should deal with fears. Then we wentoutside and had some food, and played with various balls and animals! I spent most of the time learning how to throw an American Football using a rugby ball. In the evening we went to see Bruce Almighty at the cinema, which was cool as it the cinema here is in English with Spanish subtitles.

First day - very busy already!

Sat, 27 Sep 2003 16:34:00 +0000

For the day after arriving, 8 o'clock was a very early start, but we had to get the bus with Daniel to Colon ready for the Escuelita?? (a bit like Sunday School) at 9 o'clock. When 9 o'clock came suddenly a hoard of kids turned up - 14 in all. They sang songs, did some drawing, and we gave them milk and biscuits Ô?? then they went off to play. After this Daniel took us through the "Feria"??, which was a bit like a big car boot sale Ô?? without the cars! There was allsorts of junk for sale, along with caged birds and pretty much anything you can think of. We had lunch together at a restaurant. In the afternoon, there was a confirmation class and a youth alpha group?? and we met the members of each group Ô?? which turned out to be mostly the same young people. Alpha was cancelled, so we played games instead Ô?? which was great fun! After this, there was a service "Misa"??, which was very difficult to understand, as the guy who was leading the service and preaching had a strong accent, seemed to run his words together and it was Spanish! We had communion at the service with no wine because the bishop was away, and there was no consecrated wine left.

After 36 hours travelling!

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 17:05:00 +0000

After along journey we arrived in Montevideo around lunchtime where we were met at the airport by Daniel (from Texas) and Fabio. We got through the airport so quickly that we had left before Steve Carter (one of the other SAMS missionaries) got there. When we got to the Bishops house, Fabio cooked lunch for us. In the early evening, we went to the beach with Daniel and Luis and had our first "Maté"?? inUruguay!

First flight!

Wed, 24 Sep 2003 21:01:00 +0000

We left Devonat about 6 in the morning in order to drop Greg off on the way to theairport. Got to the airport in plenty of time, and we were allowed tocheck in straight away Ô?? without having to queue much! Got boardingcards for all the planes for our whole journey! The British Airwaysflight was good, had a choice of 13 different channels we could watch with about 6 different films! I watched X-Men 2, Anger Management and the last section of Italian Job.

Going to Uruguay tomorrow!!!

Wed, 24 Sep 2003 18:05:00 +0000

We're flying out to Uruguay tomorrow afternoon- well we don't get there till Friday lunchtime their time! I'm a bit nervous, but very excited!! I'm looking forward to getting there, and looking forward to some of the travelling, but don't really fancy 36hours travelling!!