Saturday Post -- 27/11/10

With summer now very much upon us, football season in South America is drawing to a close (though, as in most of the world, that doesn't necessarily mean a break from football). We're entering the final weekend of fixtures here in Bolivia, with Trinidad's Real Mamoré travelling to Sucre, where a point would guarantee them survival in the league. This comes hot on the heels of a heroic home victory over third-placed San José on Sunday afternoon, or a sobering insight into the darker side of South American football, depending on your point of view.

A John Major-dull first-half gave way to explosives in the second, with a penalty being awarded to the home side for a spectacular, non-contact dive in the box. 5.9 for technical accuracy etc. In spite of this, the ref didn't even think twice. And no wonder. The past weekend, a Mamoré-incited riot on the pitch, as a response to some poor refereeing calls (in their opinion) had almost caused that game to be suspended. The added sweetener of a red card for the player who didn't make the tackle confirmed that this particular match official was in no mood to be hounded from the field of play. Penalty successfully converted, Mamoré went on to romp it 3-0. Hard to begrudge them the victory, but the circumstances made it harder to applaud.

Things have mostly returned to their normal pattern at FT now that the Campaña has come to an end. I've been spending some time taking in the classes which are held for children in the Community on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. These are groups of children who live nearby, or in, Trinidad's men's and women's prisons. Convicts in Bolivia (I stop short of calling them all 'criminals' due to the imaginative criminal justice system in place here) get the added bonus of taking their families with them to jail, should they so choose. Thus, many children find themselves living in these atrocious conditions. They go to school, but the state schools are pretty useless here and, given their family background, many have very much missed the starting gun as it is.

So, FT sends a bus to the prisons, which ferries them here in the afternoon. The classes have a mix of Bible teaching, English teaching and homework assistance as part of each lesson, but at the moment a curriculum isn't in place. So, once the classes finish for the year in the next couple of weeks, I'll be sitting down with Sammy (who is currently taking the classes) to set out a vision for 2011. They're very poor kids but they love the input of the Community classes -- they represent something of a refuge for many of them -- and I'm looking forward to playing a part in that.

Amanda has been back into the regular nursing rhythm of things, carrying out vaccinations in the community and visiting schools for health checks. She's taken on more administrative tasks recently and she's really enjoyed the extra time she now has in the mornings, having finished her Spanish classes, to see to those tasks. She and I got some great news this week in the shape of our first family visit! Jessica, Amanda's younger sister, is coming in mid-January to spend some time with us.

Tomorrow lunchtime we're looking forward to hosting Omar & Lucy and their two children, whom you may remember me mentioning in previous posts. They're a great young couple who can definitely be filed under the 'seeker' category. Our co-worker, KC, has been meeting with Lucy regularly to study the gospel of John and Omar is showing similar enthusiasm. They threw a surprise birthday lunch for Amanda in September and we've long been looking to repay the compliment. Please pray for our time with them.

Prayer
• For our time with Omar & Lucy tomorrow.
• For Amanda as she takes on more administrative work in these next few weeks.

Praise
• For confirmation of Jessica’s visit in January.
• For the opportunity for Craig to use his educational gifts in the community classes.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda