Colonia Valdense, a quiet little Swiss settlement between Montevideo and Argentina.

8am Sunday…0° outside and in!  When there’s nothing but a thin brick wall separating you from that white frost outside, the room gets pretty frigid I tell you! You don’t need cold plunge pools, just come and stay the night in these uninsulated little houses. 

The chilly room still didn’t take away from the enriching little fellowship meeting with these two ladies who live in this home.  Edith and Nelmara are sisters whose husbands moved on long ago.  Up till recently they also looked after their elderly mother, however she passed away recently.  

Daily life for many people is not easy, comfortable nor especially pleasant.  They get up in their freezing houses, and set out while it’s still dark, crunching over the frost to catch a bus for an hour or so to work.  Home the same way.  There is a bad water shortage in southern Uruguay at the moment, and they are taking water out of the River Plate, which is slightly salty! 🤢.  Drinking water must be bought in bottles, which is an added expense.  The salty water makes washing machines and hot water cylinders break down!  🤷‍♀️

Both these ladies have drug-addicted sons, who sometimes live at home with them, and bring all their issues there.  Like one of them took someone else’s motorbike home from a party, and the irate owner came storming around to find it.  (this was 

Saturday night).  When noone came out the house, the motorbike owner lobbed a big rock through the kitchen window and there was a great uproar.  

So, these two ladies, Sunday after Sunday faithfully have their little meeting together.  Just the two of them.  And it’s just like any meeting, anywhere in the world, two ladies not bemoaning their lives, but saying thank you to God for all they have…

6pm, it’s getting frosty again as we walk off to catch the bus back to Montevideo