Conference in Carmelo

SO thankful for the opportunity to learn, to grow, to share...

We’re thankful to have spent most of last weekend in Carmelo, just north of the city of Colonia, on the western side of the country, on the Río Uruguay.

The drive in the spring sun was beautiful, with fields in bloom and turbines turning in the wind...

The huge clouds were warning of the severe thunder storm that was going to break that evening. We found out, after arriving, that tornado watches were also in effect!

That cloud in the middle looks like an inverted funnel!

The sky right before the storm actually broke...

I love being in cities in the interior of Uruguay, where a major portion of my childhood memories were formed. Though I also love living in MVD, part of my heart will always be in these areas of Uruguay that seem to have remained largely untouched by so many of the daily challenges in the capital...

Thank you, Becky, for the pictures!

Our main reason for the weekend trip was speaking in the conference at the church plant there, where some of our co-workers in the FEBU project are working.

We’re thankful for you all!

Opportunities like these force me (to make more time) to do what I need and want to be doing anyway – studying (on a deeper level) in order to be better able to share Truth that I’m learning...

E and DJ loved the opportunities to make new friends. DJ even informed me that we need to move to Carmelo now: “Because I made two friends here!” 😊

On the drive back to MVD...

We stopped to enjoy the wildflowers...

Nature Boy was in his element...

So thankful!

Expo Prado 2018

Spending most of an afternoon at one of MVD’s versions of a county fair has become almost “traditional” for our family – and a welcome break in the middle of the constant educational juggling act!

The sheep are always a highlight – with this year’s assortment being more interesting than usual!

DJ: “He looks like he’s on the phone!”

“He looks like a Dr. Seuss one!”

The interactive displays are always fun...

And we enjoyed eating there this year!

JM found a “rustic” wall hanging for our “rustic” wall!

It summarizes our family philosophy!

And we came home with a great educational project, too!

Pictures of memories made at the Expo Prado during the past several years (2014, 2015, 2017) are a fun way to gauge growth – and a great reminder that time is slipping by and that we need to redeem opportunities to invest in making memories as a family!

SO thankful!

¡Un dúo!

Three years ago today, E and I sang our first duet at the Annual Spring Ladies’ Meeting here in Montevideo. This past Saturday, we participated for the third time with my translation of “Jesucristo, Amigo Fiel” (music and lyrics in English by Deborah Govenor).

Without our knowing it, Florencia was taping us with her cellphone. (¡Gracias, Flor!)

“Jesucristo, Amigo Fiel”
(Click the title to go to the video clip.)

So thankful!

“Diez horas con tus libros, ¡de rodillas!”

“A veces escuchamos decir que diez minutos de rodillas te darán un conocimiento de Dios más verdadero, profundo y operativo que diez horas con tus libros. “¿Qué?” es la respuesta apropiada, “¿que diez horas con tus libros, de rodillas?” ¿Por qué te apartarías de Dios cuando te volteas a tus libros, o sentirías que debes apartarte de tus libros para volverte a Dios? Si el aprendizaje y la devoción son tan antagónicos como eso, entonces la vida intelectual es en sí misma maldita y ni se podría hablar de una vida religiosa para un estudiante, incluso de teología”.

“Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. “What!” is the appropriate response, “than ten hours over your books, on your knees?” Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must turn from your books in order to turn to God? If learning and devotion are as antagonistic as that, then the intellectual life is in itself accursed, and there can be no question of a religious life for a student, even of theology.”

(B.B. Warfield)