It's only days now till we leave Salto; time seems to have flown by, particularly these last weeks. We're definitely going to miss all the people we've met here, particularly the kids.

We've seen some really encouraging answers to prayer recently too – we've resolved the situation with Graciela and Silvia not being able to make Escuelita by moving it to 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoons - starting from this week. So this Saturday we had a handover, as we were all there. Aldo has started helping with the youth group, and thats going really well - he loves it and the kids love him!!! Yesterday we had our last youth group, a trip to the coast / port with some games and the service that we'd planned with them. We had a really great time with them and it was very sad to say goodbye. Please pray for both the youth group and the Escuelita, particularly the leaders, that God will encourage and support them in the coming months and that the kids will enjoy the groups and want to learn. Also there's been a growth in confidence in the homegroup in the parish, and they've started meeting every week, whether or not Gilberto is going to be there.

In some ways it seems like things here a really starting to take off just before we head home! Ricky has preached twice up in the barrio on weeks when Gilberto has been away. The second time we also had to lead the whole service ourselves, as the lady who was going to do it was ill. It was quite a daunting task, although I think we handled it quite well!

The other week, Richard Crofts, the SAMS South East Area Secretary came to visit us for a day. We had a really nice day with him, showing him the projects around Salto and being able to chat about things. He was really encouraging and supportive and in some ways it felt like we'd been de-briefed already, which was good in that it helped us to appreciate the time we've had here and all we've learnt before leaving, and he also helped us to think about things we would have to deal with when we go home. When we said goodbye at the end of the day it was like saying goodbye to a friend we'd known for ages.

We've changed our return flight, so as to avoid being in Miami for as long, and to avoid being too close to Independence Day. So now we're flying out from Montevideo on the 30th June and arriving at Heathrow on the 2nd July. We were hoping we would be able to change it for a shorter route going through Brazil instead, but that wasn't possible with our tickets.

We're looking forward to coming home and seeing you all, but it still feels like we've got lots to do here before we come back. Yesterday was the last day working, and we had 2 farewell services, one in the morning in the barrio and one in the evening at the parish. There are some photos from these and other new ones in the gallery!

We've started packing our stuff and have got one suitcase and half a rucksack packed, so we should have enough time to finish packing and sort out the flat before travelling down to Montevideo on Wednesday night. Please pray for our travelling, that it will all go smoothly, and that once back we'll have a good time with our families and for the readjustment period.

Thanks for all your support over the last year we look forward to seeing you all soon!