We hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. We have so much to thank God for! An Atheist cannot be truly thankful like a Christian, because thankfulness requires Someone to receive our thanks (God). Although Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, we still enjoyed taking some time as a family to have a nice dinner together.
Permanent Residency Interviews
I want to thank those of you who prayed for our permanent residency interviews, which we had on November 11 & 12. We went to a city about a three-hour drive west of where we live to do them since there weren’t any openings in Montevideo until January. I had spent a lot of time preparing our paperwork for those interviews, and a fellow missionary drove an hour to translate for my interview. We are thankful that the interviews went well, and we are now considered “residents in process.” The blessing with that is that we are now allowed to stay in Uruguay indefinitely! Praise the Lord! We should receive permanent residency after two years. Please pray that we can get the remaining paperwork that is needed. One specific area I would ask you to pray for is that we will be able to obtain permission to be able to continue homeschooling our children here. They do not have any homeschooling system in Uruguay, but we have been told that it is possible to get special permission to do so.
“Trunk-or-Treat”
We had the opportunity to be involved in a unique opportunity to try to at least begin reaching people with the Gospel. We visited a church on the other side of our city, which hosted a “Trunk-or-Treat” event as an alternative to a Halloween celebration. Many of you are probably familiar with those. It’s where people put candy or different items in their trunks for families to have. The church also rented a couple of large inflatables, as well as a donkey with a wagon for rides. Hundreds of invitations were given out in the local area, including at the schools. Around 70-80 people came, with the vast majority being people who had never been to that church. In Uruguay, relationships with people are very important in order to give out the Gospel and invite people to church. This was a great opportunity for people, who would otherwise not normally come to church, to be introduced to the church and Christians. We praise the Lord for all those who came!
Missions Conference
A missionary in the town of Nueva Helvecia invited our family to come to their Missions Conference. I enjoyed going soul winning with them on Saturday morning in a nearby town. They had services that Saturday night and Sunday. I had the privilege of preaching through a translator during the first hour on Sunday. I was grateful to see all that the Lord is doing in that town and for the opportunity to learn from another missionary.
It’s hard to believe another year is almost over. We want to wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Praise
- Our residency interviews went well!
- Opportunities to witness
Prayer
- Our continued growth in learning Spanish
- The upcoming Christmas program
- Our family to be approved for homeschooling
Your missionaries to Uruguay,
Tim, Christa, Ethan, Evan, and Emmalynn Simmons
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- Ethan and Evan enjoyed the donkey ride at the “Trunk-or-Treat.”
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- I had the opportunity to witness to this man at a park.
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- Preaching at a Missions Conference at a church in Nueva Helvecia
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- Practicing for the Christmas program, which will be presented four times