Saturday Post -- 24/08/13

That's more like it!

Another sur (our third in the space of a month) has just blown in and, while the south winds are an immense source ofjoy to us white people (temperatures had been averaging mid-30s over the past few days, for any sake), they can have a somewhat disruptive impact upon the various ministries we’re involved in, not least with young people, with many parents reluctant to let their darlings leave the house and catch a cold (not that the average home here provides much protection from a chill wind).

That’s certainly been the case with my old Emmaus course buddy, Alfredo. During the day, Alfredo works as a cobbler in a market and, depending on the extent to which business is a-booming, he’s usually happy to sit and talk about his current book there and then. However, Alfredo also has a minor disability and can only walk with the aid of crutches. When the south winds career through Trinidad, they provide another unwanted obstacle to getting to work.

So the last few Wednesday mornings (our agreed weekly meeting time) I’d shown up only to find a closed shop (Alfredo doesn’t have a mobile phone to contact me beforehand – very unusual in this town, where text-messaging is the paramount non-oral form of communication). The surge in temperatures over the last ten days, however, meant Alfredo could get to work this past week and we had a productive time of it on Wednesday morning as we discussed his book, which focuses on the doctrine of the Trinity.

The week has provided several such opportunities to dig deep into Scripture and uncover life-changing truths, not least in the classroom. You may remember that last year, having studied John’s gospel with my R.E. classes in the local high school, KC and I spent some time talking to individual students about their responses to some personal questions at the end of their textbook (this, again, is material from the Emmaus course); through this process, many of the young people put their trust in Jesus. This year’s book had a similar set of closing questions, and KC and I are once again sitting down with the students.

This year, we have once again had the privilege of praying with some students who have made a decision of faith – though some of them, it has transpired, had already taken that step themselves earlier in the year. However, there are, of course, a decent chunk of students in the classes who became Christians last time around, and so the last few days have given us an opportunity to assess how they’re progressing in their faith. Many come from homes where their parents are reluctant to let them come out to church (particularly for the Saturday night youth meeting – understandable given our relatively isolated location on the edge of town) and so we’ve been pointing them in the direction of good core Bible books to read, while encouraging those who are able to attend church to make the effort if they wish to grow.

Whereas many of these students had some idea of the gospel message, the majority of people in the English class were confronted with it for the first time this week. This year we are once again using the text ‘What Christians Believe’, a purpose-built guide to the basic tenets, written in a simple, short-sentence style, with English students in mind. This week’s lessons looked at why it was necessary for Jesus to die and what his death means for us. On Tuesday, for example, I put it to the students that we’re all familiar with the idea that we’ll go to heaven if we’re good people. And, of course, they had all heard of this. When I then told them that there was zero biblical basis for this belief, the majority of faces in the room performed contortions that the Cirque du Soleil’s troupe would be proud of.

One student, in fact, came to me at the end of both reading lessons this week to tell me (in as nice a way possible!) that the teaching this week had ‘messed with her head’ but that she’d be really keen to sit down and discuss these things in greater detail. Please pray for this woman, Teresa, whose two children also come to the class – Amanda knows her well as she has some hearing issues, and so she will hopefully have the opportunity to talk with her soon, it being more appropriate for a woman to meet privately with her.

In between all this, I’ve been faced with the daunting task of preparing the teaching this week at church on Philippians 2:1-11; daunting in the sense that, well, the passage itself read 20 times over would make for a far better teaching spot than anything I could say. Nevertheless, I’ve got something vaguely resembling a sermon awaiting my attention on the desktop post-Post. I’ve also been able to make some headway on a sermon on the end of the chapter (on Timothy and Epaphroditus), due in a couple of weeks’ time. By that point, Amanda’s family will be here, hence my desire to get it polished off ASAP.

Amanda has been a little under the weather this week, having been hit by a viral infection over the weekend. Recovering surely but slowly, she returned to work to find that her Audiology partner in crime, Odalys, had travelled to La Paz to address a health concern of her own, and wouldn’t be back till the end of the month. So she’s been (wo)manfully working through the Audiology caseload while doing her best to get back to full health. A tough old week.

And in her position as youth group coordinator, shared with KC, her afternoons have been dominated by preparations for the next couple of weekends, in which we will be touching on what the French surely don’t call les oiseaux et les abeilles. Yes, our focus this time around is on Sex & Relationships, a topic of great importance in any society and particularly in a culture where promiscuity and teenage pregnancies are as much a part of everyday life as the rice consumed with every last meal (even the pasta-based ones). So please pray for wisdom and discernment for all of us as we navigate these choppy waters.

You’ve made it this far? You’re made of stern stuff, my friend. Before signing off on this relative epic, we thought you might be interested to know that Amanda has made a decision as to her own course of studies next year, this being a requirement of LAM Canada for our furlough year. She will be enrolling in a distance-learning ‘Certificate in Christian Studies’ course provided by St John’s College in Nottingham. The course meets several important criteria: 1) it’s cheap; 2) it enables her to study ‘at’ a different institution to my own (something which, weirdly, she says she’d find far too stressful); 3) did I mention it’s cheap?; and 4) she can take the course at her own pace, with no time-limit, meaning she can pick it up again the next time we are on furlough.

We’re glad that we can now both, at long last, start preparing for next year’s studies and what I’m sure will be a great opportunity for growth for each of us. But there’s still some way to go here until we head for home (16 weeks, not that we’re counting) and we’d appreciate your prayers for us to keep focused on the work here in the meantime. As you can see from today’s post, it’s not as if we’re lacking in things to do.

Prayer

• This time next week, Amanda’s mother (Selene) and aunts (Cathy & Sally) will be airborne and headed for Santa Cruz. Pray for their, and our, preparations for what, if I were a boxing promoter, I would simply have to label ‘The Asian Invasion’.
• Pray for all the people with whom we have contact through evangelism (the English/R.E. classes) or discipleship (Alfredo, most of the youth group, the church) activities.
• Pray for sensitivity and clarity tonight as we discuss Sex & Relationships with the young people.

 Praise

• Give thanks for so many opportunities to share our faith with others this week.
• Give thanks for further clarity for next year, and for having the resources to be able to plan ahead with confidence.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda