By Missionary to Buenos Aires Jason King

Just over a year ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Uruguay. It was a quick trip that my family and I took to renew our visas to be able to continue living here in Argentina. While we were there, we got into a taxi with a driver named Jose. As I got into his taxi, I recognized a popular Christian song in English, and I asked him if he was a Christian. I told him that I was a missionary in Argentina on a visa run. He then gave me a beautiful testimony of salvation, and he began to tell me of the lack of a gospel witness in his country.
Uruguay is a small country, but it is a country that is well known throughout the world. It is famous for blue skies, gauchos, and like many other South American countries, soccer. But perhaps Uruguay is best known for its secularism, liberal social laws (gay marriage and marijuana is legal there), and well developed social security, health, and education systems. Due to this, it is often called the Switzerland of South America. In 2013, The Economist named Uruguay their Country of the Year for the legalization of cannabis. Unfortunately, the secularism doesn’t stop with the laws of the country.
The Uruguayan government is a direct reflection of the Uruguayan people. Uruguay is the least religious country in South America. 17% of the population identify as either atheist or agnostic, and 47% identify as Catholic, but of that percentage, 32% identified as non-religious. Like most people without Christ, the Uruguayans look toward education, money, and drugs to fill the void they have in their lives. So what is the answer?
The answer is simple; Uruguay needs missionaries that will train national leaders to see that small country reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Uruguay has absolute freedom of worship and freedom of speech and relatively liberal immigration laws. That means that the door to share the gospel is wide open. So I leave you with the same question Jose left me with, “Would you consider Uruguay?” The need is there, and the door is wide open, so why not Uruguay?