Saturday Post -- 15/01/11

There we are at the wedding, last night, of Asalia, one of Amanda’s nursing colleagues at FT. We certainly enjoyed ourselves, though the evening was not without its responsibilities. I was asked by Asalia and her husband to be the official photographer, something I am hopelessly under-qualified for, but nonetheless, I was happy to pitch in. Amanda had the honour of being asked by Asalia to be an official witness at the marriage ceremony, an important role here. And in the run-up to the wedding, Amanda had also provided her talents in an area she has had plenty of practice in (not least for our own nuptials): making the invitations. It was a pleasure to provide such support to Asalia, a great friend to both of us.

Yesterday’s celebrations capped a busy week for us in which we’ve been occupied with a range of tasks at work. I led the meditations in the mornings, dealing with Paul’s vision of heaven, his ‘thorn in the flesh’ and, well, those silly Corinthians – and by extension, you and me! Some ripe passages for good teaching this week. I also turned my attention to the Education section of FT’s six-monthly report, which will be with sponsors in the coming weeks.

Amanda, meanwhile, has spent the mornings enhancing her audiology skills as part of a two-week course which is being held at FT. FT’s former audiologist and speech therapist, Maricarmen Fernández, has come back to take the course and Amanda has benefitted immensely from the teaching, with a week still remaining.

Her afternoons have been spent in nursing. That is, apart from Thursday, when we drove to the airport and picked up Jessica, whom we are pleased to say arrived in one piece. Just as excitingly, so did the various Zip-Loc bags stuffed with top-quality European chocolate! A few other surprises were in store and it’s fair to say we enjoyed something of a late Christmas on Thursday evening (well, they do say Christ was really born in January!).

Know what else happened in January, indeed, on this very January day a year ago? We left the UK for Toronto and, ultimately, Bolivia. Wow! Where did that year go? I guess at this rate, it won’t be too long till our first furlough. We look forward to seeing you then, but till then, you’ll just have to content yourself with this week’s prayer points.

Prayer
• For Jessica as she begins her two weeks of voluntary work this week at FT.
• For our time with Jessica as a family, that we’ll make the most of the next couple of weeks with our sister/sister-in-law (delete as appropriate).

Praise
• For the opportunity to serve our work colleague at her wedding on Friday.
• For Amanda’s course and all she is learning there.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda