Our Adventure to Uruguay

On Sunday, July 23rd, it was announced at the Florida Discipleship Conference that in the Summer of 2007 we would be going to Montevideo, Uruguay with a mission team to help the small group of Christians there. In this post, I want to share the story of how we've made this huge decision for our lives.



From the beginnings of our friendship in Mexico City in 1997, Kay and I have both wanted to do great things for God. Part of her childhood included three years spent in India with her parents as missionaries there. I have always had a fascination with Latin America.

When we got married we talked about possibly one day being missionaries. At that point we were just starting out with our marriage and our career in the ministry. In 2004 we were able to take a small group of teenagers from our ministry in South Florida to visit our sister church in Santiago, Chile. We had an incredible time there and began to fall in love with the church there. We were able to return again with a different group in 2005. Both times our friendships with the brothers and sisters there grew deeper and our hearts grew more for South America.

In May of this year we were planning for our third trip to Santiago, this time with a group of campus students and some married disciples from Gainesville. To help us prepare for our trip, Martin Bentley who is the Missions Evangelist for the Florida Missions Council came to Gainesville. After our midweek church service on May 18, Martin asked if we could spend some time together.

After a few minutes of chatting, he expressed that there was something he wanted to talk about. At that point he began to explain that there was a small group of hurting Christians in the capital city of Uruguay. He asked if we would like to go there with a group of disciples and begin leading that church and helping those brothers and sisters.

To make a long story short, we began praying alot. Kay and I discussed all the various aspects of us going from her health to the baby to whether it was really the right time in our lives.

After about two months of praying, some fasting and getting much advice, we decided that this is what we wanted to do. We feel very humbled that we would even be considered for such an opportunity. Though it will mean a lot of sacrifice, we believe that God will work in amazing ways and we pray that he will use us to help the small group already in Montevideo and many, many more who do not yet know about the Gospel.

Though we are young, we feel that God has prepared us in many ways for this task. I speak some Spanish and Kay is learning quickly. We've both been to South America a few times now and feel a special love in our heart for the people there.

We are most likely going to leave in the Summer next year. Please be praying for us.