IT was only a brief prayer, but it transformed Laura Moorhouse’s life.

She was 16 and in hospital suffering from food poisoning when her mum’s pastor offered to pray for her. Amazingly, the next day she was allowed to go home. That answer to prayer led her to become a Christian.

Her husband Ricky also originally came to faith as a result of answered prayer. When he was 15, he prayed for a friend who had threatened to commit suicide. God heard that prayer too and his friend didn’t go through with it. Ricky has not stopped praying since.

Now the couple, who go to St Luke’s Church in Southsea, have moved thousands of miles away to spread God’s word. They are in Uruguay with the South American Mission Society (SAMS), spending 10 months on an Anglican church project there.

It’s not something Laura, now 21 and two years into a three-year Latin American studies course at Portsmouth University, imagined herself doing five years ago.

“When I was 16, I was going through a rough patch,” she said. “I got involved with a bad set of friends, got into quite a bit of trouble and ended up with food poisoning.

“My mum had started going to a Baptist church and her pastor came to see me in hospital and prayed for me. At the time I was depressed and didn’t really care if I got better, but by the next day I was well enough to go home.

“I didn’t think any more about it until I went to church with my mum at Christmas. People were really open and friendly and seemed to have something that was missing in my life. My attitude changed at that point - I had been feeling depressed, but I found something to live for.”

She went on a youth Alpha course, at the end of which she committed her life to Christ. Then before university she spent a gap-year working with disabled children in Ecuador with the Christian organisation Latin Link.

“They were mainly three and four year olds but there were some up to the age of nine,” she said. “It was amazing, but also very difficult and very challenging. I saw God working through the people out there.” 

For Ricky, 22, an IT specialist at IBM, it was more a step into the unknown. He’d also originally turned to God at a time of need.

“I’m from a non-Christian family and had no interest in Christianity at all,” he said. “But when I was 15, one of my friends was talking about committing suicide. That made me turn to God in prayer. The friend got better and I continued to pray from then on.

“I knew there was a God and I could pray to him, but it wasn’t until I got to university that I discovered who I was praying to. There were a lot of Christians on my course and one was running a course similar to Alpha. It was through that that I learnt more.

“In January 2000 I started going to St Luke’s and in the March of that year I was baptised by full immersion. Since then all sorts has changed. It’s been quite incredible.

“It’s not just about getting involved in church, but also how I feel about life and death. Before I became a Christian, I was quite scared of death, but now I feel more prepared for it.”

So why Uruguay? “The reason for going to South America was that we both had it on our hearts,” said Ricky. “As for Uruguay, it was more to do with the things that they offered there than anything else.”

They are working for one Anglican church in Salto, a small city on the border between Uruguay and Argentina, but the project has links with a couple of churches. It involves working in a day centre for children, a youth group and a soup kitchen as well as helping out elsewhere if necessary.

“There are no other missionaries in Salto so it will probably be pretty lonely until we get a bit more fluent in the language and make some friends,” said Ricky.

“This is obviously going to be a very big step for us as relatively newly-weds and we know it’s not going to be easy. We’re certain we’ll come out stronger as a couple and as Christians.”

To receive regular e-mail updates on their progress and to see photos from their travels, see www.samespirit.net