Saturday Post -- 12/11/11

The above pictured are four girls from the Wednesday Community class at FT, which Craig runs along with a fellow Bolivian worker (from left to right, Tirza, Ailin, Litzi and Joselin). Shortly before we left here for Canada, we received word that our missionary organisation, LAM Canada, had received a substantial donation specifically earmarked for the purchase of Bibles. We were able to tap into the funds ourselves and bought 50 of them in Santa Cruz upon our return to Bolivia. These four children are the first recipients of them. Two of them, Ailin and Joselin, are also regular church attenders at El Jireh, so having Bibles to hand should be of use to them at church services. But more than anything, please pray with us that they would grow to study and know God's Word, that they would be changed by it, and that they would hold fast to it. They come from a very poor village just outside of Trinidad, where some pretty desperate domestic situations are played out on a daily basis. They are in particular need of the unshakeable foundations of Scripture.

On the same note, last week I blogged on my impending session with the youth group on the necessity of regular Bible reading. They seemed to appreciate what I had to say, particularly when I used the anecdote of finding Irn-Bru in La Paz to illustrate the precious nature of Scripture. Furthermore, they all made a firm commitment to read their Bibles every day. Pray for them as they undertake this endeavour, which certainly requires discipline in the early days.

Our FT work this week continued to be dominated by planning for 2012, with various departmental meetings taking place to discern God's will and hammer out solid targets for the next 12 months. I'm particularly excited about a potential new endeavour as part of the Education programme. Amanda and I certainly enjoy teaching English classes here. It's been a great way of establishing relationships with people in the community. However, of late we had been questioning the long-term value of the classes when it came to reaching people with the Gospel -- it had not immediately appeared to be the most natural avenue.

However, while we were in Canada, Amanda's aunt Dorothy (who herself is an ESL teacher) encouraged us to get online and seek out materials which use English to teach Scripture (and vice-versa). I had not quite realised the sheer abundance of useful materials out there, and the extent of their use throughout churches, particularly in North America. A visitor from Scotland is due to land in Trinidad today, and she should have with her a couple of textbooks I ordered on the subject. Our hope is that, by next year, through the use of such materials the English classes will have a significantly greater evangelism and discipleship focus.

Finally, an update on our building plans. The landowner was in town this week and we managed to conclude the lion's share of the land transfer documentation which pertains to her. Indeed, in order to start building, we just need to take care of a few small details ourselves. So having been so galled by events a fortnight ago, this really was a huge encouragement for us. Thank you for your prayers.

Prayer

• For a series of seminars which are taking place at El Jireh this weekend, chaired by Pastor Juan Antonio Maldonado, on Christian family life. Juan Antonio, from La Paz, is an old friend of the church's (he helped me immensely in acquiring the band equipment earlier this year) and gave his first talk last night, where a number of new faces appeared. Pray for more of them!
• For all the young people we work with, that the Bible would become a key tool in their daily struggles.

Praise

• For progress in planning for 2012 this week.
• For significant advances in the last few days as we have sought to finalise the land transfer.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda