Saturday Post -- 30/01/16

"How on earth am I supposed to concentrate on this putt with the referendum
looming on extending Evo Morales' presidency?"

Yesterday afternoon, while driving through the streets of Trinidad, with people going about their lives all around me, I began to wonder if Rory McIlroy could actually reclaim the world number one spot.

On Thursday, while putting out the chairs at church, I mulled over the pros and cons of a summer referendum on EU membership.

On Wednesday, while walking through my neighbourhood to work, I thought about the dangers of an overabundance of bespoke Bibles in western culture. 

My thoughts were consumed with such matters due to my weekly diet of podcasts. Podcast listening is one of the main things I enjoy doing here to relax, while also staying in touch with the world beyond Bolivia. Yet little of it, if any, touches on the day-to-day realities of life in Bolivia. To take just the three examples cited above, golf is the reserve of the super-rich, you'd do well to find any Bibles in Trinidad's stores, and David Cameron is somewhat inconsequential (OK, maybe that last one isn't quite so culturally specific!). 

In the past, I have sought to rectify this by engaging with Bolivian culture, but find myself hesitant to go back there having seen too much corruption in politics, too much play-acting on the football field, and too many items on Miss Bolivia/Santa Cruz/La Paz/Wherever on the national 'news' bulletin (seemingly a daily feature).

We believers are in the world, but not of it, we like to say, yet, as an overseas worker, if you want to be addressing genuine needs as opposed to those that exist in the west and that you hope exist here, you really must seek avenues of connection.

Yet, here, we most certainly have a great advantage over many other missionaries in Latin America. Over these past six years, we have had opportunities to visit missional contexts in other countries and areas of Bolivia, where the potential to simply form a western enclave -- often around English-speaking schools -- has been obvious, even if not everyone falls victim to this. In Trinidad, we don't have English-speaking schools, motor-mowers or Starbucks. But we also lack fellow overseas workers, a deficiency which has, in the end, been very much to our advantage, forcing us to form deep and abiding friendships with the locals. We get all the news we need not from the weather report, but from our daily chinwags with a small yet beloved group of Bolivian families who, in times of trouble, will be there for you in a split-second. And all because each one of us has, in God's grace, responded to -- with apologies to Rory McIlroy -- the only news that really matters.

Now, please excuse me while I watch Colchester United vs Spurs live on ESPN.

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Before moving on to the prayer points, just another reminder about those funds required for updating FT's accounting software (click here to read more). We're delighted to report several generous offers of support so far, but there is still a shortfall. If you feel led to contribute something, please don't hesitate to get in write to us at cramandham@gmail.com.

Prayer

• The new school year is now upon us, and that means that much of the church's weekly activities are slowly emerging from hibernation (if that's possible in summer). We are hoping to launch a new format for the youth ministry, and Amanda and I will be attending a training course all this week in the evenings. Prayer appreciated.
• The Zika virus has really hit the headlines, and we know that there are a few cases in Santa Cruz. However, over the past couple of months, several people we know have been victims of Chikungunya, another mosquito-borne virus, with dengue-like symptoms. Two of them are Craig's two fellow church leaders. Pray for Elías, Miguel Ángel and others.

Praise

• Our visit from the social worker on Monday went really well. Thank you for your supplications here, and keep praying for the adoption process in general.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda