Saturday Post -- 17/07/10

It’s always nice to get away now and again and this week we certainly managed to do that, as we took the five-day club on the road. Every morning, a team of about 25 volunteers set off from FT at around 8.15am and headed 60km north to the remote village of San Pedro, originally a Jesuit mission station founded in 1697. We had a great time and we thought we’d share some of our pictures with you.



This is the tollbooth which sits just outside Trinidad on the road north. About half of the journey to San Pedro was on roads such as this, and the latter half on dirt roads – hence the brown with a hint of burgundy look to my car. Having only picked it up a couple of weeks ago, it certainly earned its stripes this week – a baptism of dust, if you will!


And this was the scene which met us in San Pedro. This photo is taken in the main ‘plaza’ (essentially a field with some pigs and chickens running around), with the church, as usual in Latin America, taking pride of place. Our excitement was dampened a little upon discovering that this church is, in fact, a reconstruction of the church the Jesuits built, going up a mere five years ago. Nevertheless, a great example of the Jesuit architectural style. Churches like these can be seen all around the Beni region.


A health team from FT, which included Amanda, went on ahead of the main five-day club team every morning, to carry out routine examinations on the locals. Over the five days some 170 patients were assessed. The club took place in a school building, enabling the medical staff to make use of the classrooms.


After an opening game with the children, we would sing songs together, with me on the guitar. The songs, which are generally old staples in Trinidad, were largely unknown to those in San Pedro – a great opportunity, then, to share, and an important reminder of how blessed we are here in Trinidad with such resources.


Then, it was the turn of one of the other leaders to share a Bible story – again, most of the children would be hearing these for the first time this week. San, one of the workers in FT’s sports ministry, is telling the story of the prodigal son in this photo. Over the week, around 50 children came to the club at various points.


One of the children enjoying a good run-around during the games time.


The team this week included a number of short-term volunteers. A group from Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh have been here for a fortnight and their veritable myriad of talents – including health – were put to great use. Pictured with Amanda is Esther Wilson, a medical student at Dundee whose home is Peebles. She’s here for the whole month of July and celebrated her 22nd birthday with us last Sunday (graciously sharing the spotlight with a certain sporting occasion).

All in all, we felt really blessed to be part of such an opportunity. With so little previous exposure to the gospel in the village, our approach had to be a lot simpler than last week in Trinidad, but we hope that, at the very least, the ground is being prepared.

So, with such a busy week behind us (with our usual work continuing apace in the afternoons) we’ll be glad of the rest this weekend – though not before a visit to a local car wash!

PS -- The year's biggest sur to date has hit Trinidad this week and temperatures have fallen to a calamitous 11C. Given the usual climate, it might as well be -11C. I'm wearing the five layers to prove it.

Prayer
• For the people of San Pedro, that they would consider the things they have seen and heard this week.
• For Fundación Totaí, that we can find ways to build on the witness of this week in the future.

Praise
• For a great opportunity to share the good news with a hitherto unexposed audience.
• For safety on the roads to and from San Pedro.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda