Your Questions Answered

Last Sunday in BGMC, we learned about Uruguay and the "Club de la Aventura" where Uruguayan children learn about Jesus. You came up with a list of questions to ask missionaries Steve and Jill McCarthy. They have answered you! See the questions and answers below.

1. How long have you been missionaries?
   We are new missionaries, so this will be our first time going to Uruguay. Last May we were given the official title of “missionary” and since then we have been visiting churches like yours to share with people about what we will be doing in Uruguay.
2. How many countries have you ministered in?
   Between the two of us, we have been to Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina on short missions trips. Steve also spent some time in Spain and Italy so that would be six different countries total.
3. How many children have accepted Jesus?
   When we were in Ecuador and Mexico, we did children’s outreaches, similar to vacation bible school, that lasted for one week, In Ecuador, about 300 children accepted Jesus, and in Mexico about 200 children accepted Jesus. On the last night of both outreaches, the children brought their parents, and some of them raised their hands to accept Jesus too!
4. Do children play any sports in Uruguay?
   YES! They love sports, especially soccer! We are going to do camps and clinics, and play in the park with the kids so that we can hang out with them and it will give us a chance to tell them about Jesus. They also like basketball and volleyball.
5. What language do they speak? Do they speak English? Was it hard to learn their language?
   Most people speak Spanish. They get to learn some English in school, but their main language is Spanish. We are working on learning Spanish, and will actually go to school in Costa Rica for a whole year just to learn their language!
6. What kind of money do they use there?
   They use money called pesos. (For every dollar you get 23 pesos).
7. Do people go to church often?
   The Christians go to church regularly like we do. The sad thing is that most of the people who live in Uruguay don’t believe in God at all, and so they hardly ever go to church.
8. What kind of houses do they live in?
   In the capital city, they mostly live in apartments. They are similar to ones that you would see in a big city like New York City. In the country, a lot of people live on big ranches or farms because they raise cattle for their jobs. We will start out living in a small apartment.
9. How many children go to the camp?
   We are checking with the missionaries currently there and will let you know as soon as we have a number.
10. How can we pray for you and for the children of Uruguay?
    Thank you for saying you would pray for our protection and that the children in Uruguay would come to know Jesus. You could also pray for us to learn the language quickly and that God will be with us when we say goodbye to our families.

About the Club de la Aventura:

Club de la Aventura (Adventure Club) is our ministry to children here in Uruguay. We start children's ministries, conduct kids camps, children's outreaches and children's leader training throughout Uruguay. Our ministry is part of the national Sunday School department here in Uruguay.

Our club de la Aventura kids camps have been some of the most incredible children's events in the nation. Our first kids camp was in 2004 with 135 children. The BGMC story was from that first kids camp. Since then our camps have grown every year. We conducted 4 kids camps this last summer, 2 in November and 2 in January. At the Montevideo camp alone we had over 600 children attend. Through the 4 camps we had just under 1000 children accept Christ as their Savior and over 150 baptized in the Holy Spirit! Some incredible things are happening with these camps.