THE PAULICHEN FAMILY
Bringing the hope of Christ to the people of Uruguay
URUGUAY
A land of rolling hills and lush pasture, where cattle and sheep outnumber people and old-fashioned gauchos still roam the countryside. Set between Argentina and Brazil, Uruguay is home to nearly 3.5 million souls. Italian last names, Italian food, and a language shaped by Italian influence give Uruguay a distinctly Italian character within the Spanish-speaking world.
Uruguay is the most secular nation in the Western Hemisphere. Pew Research estimates that 52 percent of Uruguayans are without religion—the only unaffiliated majority in the Americas. Evangelicals and Protestants make up 5 percent. Unlike much of Latin America, the Catholic Church was never the cultural power in Uruguay. At the same time, biblical Christianity has never had a strong foothold in the country.
That secularism is evident in public life. Uruguay has some of the most liberal abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia laws in Latin America, and it was the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana. It also has the highest suicide rate per capita in South America.
Behind the statistics are people living without hope.
Uruguay needs the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
We are the Paulichen family, church-planting missionaries serving in the South American country of Uruguay.
In 2009, our family spent two months in the southern cone of South America, asking God where He would have us serve Him full-time. During that trip, God began laying the interior of Uruguay on our hearts. After graduating from Canadian Baptist Bible College in 2016, we returned to Uruguay and spent a month in the northern city of Salto. It was during that visit that God clearly directed us to minister there, giving us a Macedonian call to “come over and help us.”
After completing missionary training at BBTI in 2018 and being ordained by our sending church, Pembina Valley Baptist Church, we left for Uruguay under our church’s missions ministry, CanAmera Baptist Missions International.
What began with a Bible study in our home in 2018 has grown, to the glory of God, into a self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating church. By God’s grace, we were able to train a national pastor and turn the work over to him. He was ordained in April 2026.
In June 2026, God led us to relocate to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay, to help lead a newer church plant while the missionary pastor is away on furlough. In January we will return to North America for our 2027 furlough/home assignment.
Our desire is to see Uruguayan nationals equipped to reach their communities, train their own leaders, and carry the Gospel to others.
Expect great things from God.
Attempt great things for God.
William Carey
MARCO
I grew up in a Christian home, the youngest child of an Argentine mother and Uruguayan father. Spanish is my first language. I realized I was a sinner as a young child. One day after Sunday school my teacher asked me if I was saved. I knew I needed to be and was born again that day. I 2002, I surrendered to preach. After that, while working for Canada's largest energy company, God called our family to serve him overseas. In 2012 we moved across the country to attend Bible college in obedience to His will.
PATRICIA
I grew up in a home where God was not known. This led to a life of sin. When I was 20, a street preacher gave me a tract. I read it and knew I was a sinner bound for hell. Not knowing anyone who could tell me the Gospel, I tried to work my way to heaven after that. It didn't take long to realize my efforts were fruitless. In hopeless despair, I wanted to end my life. God heard my cries and brought along a soul winner. Marco showed me that what I was looking for was salvation in Jesus Christ. I was born again 4 days before my 21st birthday.
NEVER MISS A THING!
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