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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

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.

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!!