Mildew on the walls inside of older homes is a big problem here in Montevideo. This was our first winter here and we were hit hard by the mold. There is a layer of black mildew on the walls on our second level and some places on the first floor. Apparently, one is supposed to keep the windows open to get plenty of fresh air and sunlight regularly during the winter. With cold weather and a house with no central heat or even a wood burning furnace, I’m not sure how we would be able to do that without being miserable. It doesn’t make sense to open the windows and then run electric heaters when they aren’t even that effective and power comes at such high rates (our electricity bill this winter has skyrocketed).

Some of our friends have asked about how this is going. As of now we are waiting for the owners to find someone to fix cracks on the outside walls that are allowing moisture to soak in and cause additional mildew. Once that is done, we will have the walls cleaned and painted with mold-resistant paint. Hopefully that will help, but there is no guarantee that we will not face this each winter. Our Uruguayan friends tell us to wait until spring to clean the walls, but that doesn’t seem healthy. I did clean the walls, but the mildew keeps growing back every couple weeks.

Please pray that the landlord will find someone to fix the outside walls and that we can slow down this mold problem. We give thanks the the Lord that spring is finally here! But it will be a while until really warm weather comes and of course it has been raining more lately. We are told that it rains off and on all year here – a contrast to where we grew up in southern California where it hardly rains at all and mostly during winter and early spring.

Thanks to all you who have been praying about this and have asked about it!