#531 Trip to Uruguay - International meeting

In the month of October we traveled to San Gregorio del Polanco, a city of about 3500 in rural central Uruguay. It was here where the Church of God in the country got started some 40 years ago. Since the city sits by a beautiful river and lake, the summers are busy with tourists coming to get away from the big cities. The city boasts to be the first open museum city in latin america. It all began in 1993, when house and buildings - some 70 - offered their walls for a mural. Now you can find a painting of some sort in almost every city block.

The occasion for this meeting was el Foro de Obreros del Cono Sur (South American Forum of Ministry Workers). This is an initiative that began with missionaries David’s and Barbara Miller. According to David, the idea of a forum was conceived in 2005. The vision for the Foro or ministers and leaders forum is to come together to be equipped and deepen scripture knowledge for kingdom work.

The Uruguay Foro brought together nine South American nations. Nancy and I participated in three sessions. Nancy lead a powerful devotion on the importance of a good root system one of the mornings. I led I workshop on the history of the Church if God in South America. The dialogue ensuing the workshop was rich. Here we had a mesh of cultures and customs discussing cross cultural missions. This event and the experiences shared need to be stored and will be cherished for a long time.

As we drove the almost one-thousan miles back to Paraguay we had a lot to think about. It was raining hard. We also realized how much more we need to connect with our south-american brothers and sisters. We learned that we can help each other better as we share what works and does not work from our local experiences.

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