Saturday, February 27, 2016

Saturday Post -- 27/02/16

You, this time next Saturday. Six whole years, eh?
Our final Sunday morning in Scotland before coming out here way back in 2010 was spent not at our commissioning service (we'd had that the week before at Shettleston) but at the dedication of our friends' baby. There, over a coffee in the service's aftermath, I had a chance conversation with the proud grandpa. He complimented us on our early efforts at communication (we'd begun sending out our email updates as our preparations intensified), while encouraging us to not let that slip once we were out here. In fact, he told me, his own church had recently hosted a missionary couple who, in order to maximise communications and accountability, maintained -- of all things -- a blog. 

The arrival in Bolivia was still a few weeks away as, for some reason (I seem to remember it was family-related), we had decided that Canada in January would be ideal preparation for tropical Bolivia. In between the various appointments with friends and relatives (many of whom simply couldn't bear to see us only once before parting), we had plenty of time to mentally prepare ourselves for what was coming. And I seem to remember it was while sitting bored on the living room couch one morning that the blog conversation came back to me. Rather than waiting till we got to Trinidad, I simply posted away.

Looking back now, there were a whopping twelve posts before we even got here (I must have been really bored), but for what we were to lose in prolificity, we quickly made up in regularity, getting into the rhythm of sharing updates on Saturday mornings -- and that despite an internet connection the likes of which I thought we'd left behind in 1999. And come rain or shine, with the exception of home leave periods and vacations, we've pretty much been at it ever since. Some weekends have been more difficult than others for carving out a couple of hours, but that hasn't stopped us.

Over the last few months, however, a major new component has been incorporated in our lives (I'll give you a clue: it starts with 'S' and rhymes with 'ham'), and free time -- heh! -- is increasingly a thing of the past. Weekends were already fairly busy for us with our church commitments, but things have intensified considerably with the new addition, even causing us to -- the shame! -- overlook the blog completely a few weekends ago. This morning, with the weeks's groceries to be bought, a youth meeting to plan, a baby room to decorate, Amanda facing a veritable avalanche of clothes to be ironed, and, oh yeah, a ten-month-old to keep two pairs of eyes on, my first thought was: "How on earth will we manage to write a blog post today?"

Well, turns out I managed in the end. But, with heavy hearts, we have today decided to approach the blog with a little more flexibility for the foreseeable. We will endeavour to share a full post at weekends where possible. If not, we will, at the very least, share our prayer points for the week gone and the week ahead -- that is, after all, what got us into this game in the first place.

So it's not so much a case of 'goodbye', and not even 'au revoir', but simply 'here's an extra five minutes in your weekend that you hadn't been expecting -- go outside and kick a ball around or something'.

Wouldn't work in Canada in January, mind.

Prayer

  • Yesterday, Craig visited the family of the teenager who died recently. Naturally, they are still coming to terms with his suicide, the mother being especially upset. However, unprovoked, they have both expressed a desire to come to church, starting tomorrow (their children already attend the children's and youth ministries). Please pray for healing and for a significant revelation of God in their lives.
  • Keep praying for wisdom for Amanda and the other Fundación Totaí board members, who are facing a number of headaches right now.
  • Craig is speaking to the youth tonight where the theme is, er, Pepsi, and its 'Live for Today' advertising campaign. You can probably see where he's going with that one.
Praise
  • There have been a number of illnesses of late in our community, but the three of us are have been (so far!) relatively unscathed. Give thanks for the strength to be able to pitch in where others cannot, and pray for these cases too.
  • Plans are progressing well for the re-launch of the youth group next weekend, with a constructive meeting this past week. 
¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

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