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| This is the view from the guys apartment! |
Before telling you what I have been experiencing here, I want to give you a picture of the city of Montevideo, Uruguay!
It is one busy city! There is a lot of traffic and the driving is crazy! When the light across the street from you turns yellow, you better make sure you are off that road or you will be run down!
The city is like old and new mixed together. Some buildings, shopping centers, churches, and buses seem fairly new. The streets, houses (Every door to a house is different!), most cars, and other buildings look quite old! Things are ran down but they still function well!
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| A bunch of doors I collaged together! |
There is graffiti everywhere, but it makes the city an art and gives it a contrast. There are garbage bins on almost every block but it never seems to make it there. Speaking of garbage bins! There are men from the outer city/country that come in to the city on horses and a buggy to dig through the trash bins and see what they are able to find for themselves and their families. There are a lot of strikes that happen, but we never really know what they are for!
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| Most walls in the city |
Just like any other city, there are the homeless on the streets. Many of them are mentally ill so it would not be safe to talk to them.
La Rambla is the coastline. It is by the ocean and is a beautiful, peaceful place. There is a park nearby that is a relaxing place and has beautiful trees. We have only been there once so far, but it will probably be where most Saturdays are spent!
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| The Park |
Enough about what the city looks like! The people are wonderful! The culture here is very warm. They greet each other with "besos", which is like a kiss on the cheek. Everyone is friendly and is very social. When in a social situation, usually "Mate" is being drank. "Mate" is like a tea. Most Uruguayans carry around a thermos and a gourd with their Mate.
Uruguayans love Fútbol. They joke that it is the national religion of Uruguay. There are two main teams- Nacional and Peñarol. I am not sure who I like yet. We are going to a Nacional vs. France game next Wednesday!
This past week and a half has been crazy, but super good. Each day we go to a faculty (university) and get to know students. We start conversations usually with an "encuesta" or a survey. It has five questions asking about their life in general and their spiritual life. It is really fun getting to know each student on a deeper level right from the get-go. Our main goal is to share the gospel.
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| This is the group of people I go to faculties with. |
Here in Uruguay, it is a financially and spiritually dark place. A lot of strikes are for wanting fair wages. We can look at the amount they make working and say that it would be average pay in the United States, but because it is very expensive here..it is hard for them to even get by.
Spiritually- A majority of the people dislike the church very much. The Catholic church here is known to make people pay for things such as: forgiveness, miracles, and even entry. Because of this, many students haven't even taken time to think about their beliefs. We have had great conversations because of this.
The hot topic here is the legalization of gay marriage and abortion. It seems like everyone already thinks that it is normal and right. It is very accepted across a lot of the people we encounter.
Other than going to the faculties, we have outreach programs such as: Vida Estudiantil large group on Mondays, and Vida Estudiantil soccer on Fridays.
Vida Estudiantil is the organization here in Uruguay for helping students in all aspects of their lives (financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically) This is the organization we are here with.
We also got to go to church for the first time on Sunday. It was quite an interesting experience. The church was very small, my team took up a majority of it. It was really cool to listen and learn how they did things there.
That is a little bit about what is going on here. God is doing great things and I can't even believe how much I have learned already.
We are already making an impact on these students and it is only the second week.
I am excited to build relationships and try to take them out of the dark place they are in or experiencing.
Thank you so much for the support! I am unbelievably grateful to be here!
