A little Information on the Country of Uruguay...

The Name...
The conventional long name for the country is ORENTAL REPUBLIC OF URUGUAY, or in Spanish, REPUBLICA ORIENTAL DEL URUGUAY. The short form is simply Uruguay.


The name given to Montevideo, Uruguay's capital origiantes from 1520 when Ferdinand Magellan made his visit to the region. According to folklore, a sailor on board saw land and shouted, "I see a hill," or in Portuguese, "Monte vide eu." Also, the phrase in Spanish on early maps of the area have: "Monte VI de E.O.," or "The sixth hill from east to west."

Thanks to Ron and Carla Roy for this information. All this information can be fond on most country profiles.
I'm studying more and more of the cultural background of Uruguay. I'm also praying more here lately on what my role will be or better yet what role God has planned for us when we return in June of 2009.

Some Vacation Time with Garrett....

Well Garrett and I made it back safely. This past week Garrett and I struck out on a little adventure to La Cumbre, Argentina. We were invited to go with about 48 Uruguayans to participate in a 75 kilometer challenge. This challenge was an mountain bike race across some of the toughest down hills with one that descended about 5oo meters (1600 feet) in 5 kilometers. We continued through very arid conditions with water crossings along the way but that, was not the challenge. After we arrived at kilometer 45, the challenge started. Climbing over 3000 feet in 10 kilometers. Then traveling through rolling hills to the finish. In total it was approximately 75 kilometers.
The results were not what we were hoping for but the key word was that we all finished safely. Garrett had two flats, which did not allow him to finish on the podium. We are guessing if he had not flattened he would probably have finished in the top three. he finished 13th out of 49.
As for me, I finished. I wasn't sure how would do coming off of 4 weeks of racing then trying to do this. I went into the race to just finish and see what it was that drew over 3000 racers to participate. My finish was 172 out of 450. I was pleased considering that I did not train specifically for this race.
It was impressive how they started all the categories and just a few mishaps. I saw many cramping and many crashes but to what I understand there were no major crashes that required hospitalization.
Garrett and I was able to share our faith with many people along our way and touch people that we wouldn't have touched if had not gone.
I was blessed with the time that I got to spend with my son. And on that note, I have talked a lot about how things went but I forgot the biggest blessing of the whole trip. The morning of the race as we were making final preparations. Garrett came out of the bathroom and asked to pray with me. I was overcome with joy and pride as I had spent an hour or so prior praying for us both and that God would protect him from harm. I am proud of Garrett as he is taking the steps to becoming a man (spiritually). Garrett is not perfect, nor are any of us, but thank God we have a perfect Saviour.