We Are Still Alive

 

 

It has been awhile since I checked in.  We have been extremely busy and we did have to go to Uraguay and you all know why, to get our passports stamped.  And we did.  There are many pictures of Uruguay and a lot to tell.

First of all, we stayed at the Uraguay Bethel.  It is closed and all activity is being handled by Argentina and Brazil.  It is on the same property as the Assembly Hall and a Kingdom Hall.  The brothers want to keep the Assembly Hall and the Kingdom Hall and sell the Bethel.  Usually there are about eight brothers and sisters working there but the weekend we were there it was only the Assembly Hall Overseer and his wife, Daniel and Rosorio.  What a wonderful couple.  They were both born and raised in Montevideo, the capital and have been to Brooklyn Bethel and now here.  They took great care of us although neither of them speak a word of English.  Our Spanish got a work out.  But I will start at the beginning and the pictures are all messed up on here because I am new at this.

 

We arrived in Cologna, UR and we were going to take a tour but it was pouring down rain so we decided to head to Bethel right away.  Well, we had to get tickets and run outside in a downpour and when we got in the ticketing area, there were these two couples there that looked unusually nice and they were speaking English.  I told Neil, "They're Witnesses."  But too busy to run over there as we had to get the tickets.  Well, we had a two hour wait and when we went to sit down and have some lunch, they were sitting at a table and a conversation ensued.  Guess What?  Yep, from S.C. on vacation.  You can spot JW's anywhere when they are acting like JW's.

We had a great time with them and moved on to Bethel.  We were picked up at a bus stop called Plaza Cuba.  Very exciting place and off to Bethel.  Wow, was it beautiful.  We were in there all by ourselves so we got to look at the library which was impressive and all the offices.  It was so strange to be there all by ourselves.  Daniel and Rosorio live a little jaunt across that green grass.

 

That afternoon Rosorio made lunch.  It was steak sandwiches with ham, cheese, bacon and a sunside up egg on it.  Well, I avoided the egg but the rest was wonderful.

And this was our room.  Out the window was a wonderful view,

 

They have German Police dogs that they let out at 10:00 p.m. and they wanted us inside by 10.  No problemo.  But Neil got to be friends with them, I stayed away.  Also, they have dive bomb birds that come right at you and Neil actually took a photo of one coming at me.  What a guy.

 

 

 

This is one of those photos you take of yourself.  We are on the little bridge over the water.  We took so many photos and its hard to know which ones to print.  So I will show a few of their assembly hall and then we left after two days to go back to Argentina but spent five hours in the quaint town of Cologna.  Before coming here, we had heard of Uruguay but had no idea how nice of a country it was to see.  We are so happy to have met our brothers and sisters from here.

 

 

There are the Brother and Sister.  So nice.

 

 

This is one section of where the brothers eat lunch at the conventions.  There is so much to show you but not enough time.  So we sadly said goodbye and are anxious to see them again in Paradise.

 

 

 

Entrance to the Kingdom Hall attached to the Assembly Hall.  It is only used now as auxilliary seating for assemblies.

 

 

Beautiful port city of Cologna.

 

 

This is a view from the lighthouse.  Neil wanted to make sure we got enough photos for Mom since she loves the lighthouses.  It is operational.  More steps than we counted on.   But we need the exercise.

It was a perfect day and the weather was fabulous.

 

Our home overseer Daniel and his wife Claudia were there at the port in Buenos Aires to pick us up.  Again, what a fabulous couple.  They will be the new assembly hall overseer and wife for the assembly hall we are working on in Ezeiza.  This is when we were almost back to Buenos Aires.  You can see Buenos Aires from the lighthouse but the picture wasn't too clear.  It took about one hour on the boat to get from Cologna to Buenos Aires.  It took two hours to get from Cologna to Bethel which is in a suburb of Montevideo.

 

Uruguay.  On Sunday I want to add to the blog photos of the assembly hall site.  Things are really changing quickly.  If we had not been extended, we would be coming home on Sunday.  Man does time go by fast.

 

Love to everybody.

 

Oh, and Gaston, well, I'm learning more Spanish and he's not learning more English.  He is a crackup.  His wife is lovely and tolerant.  This week was their 11th anniversary so they took a few days off.  Yesterday they gave me ice cream to take home since I was there today.  They treat me good.  I think it is because I'm old.