Saturday Post -- 26/03/16

Their first verb. I envy them.

The more I mull it over, the more I warm to Justin Welby's proposal of a fixed date for Easter, not least as the mooted date is in early April, giving us all a little more wiggle room between the two biggest dates on the Christian calendar. It's really snuck up on us this year.

Indeed, even the weather here has strangely resembled March back home, with an unexpected (and unseasonal) sur blowing into town overnight on Thursday. Temperatures have plummeted to a mere 22 celsius. Don't laugh: on a short outing to the plaza yesterday afternoon, there was barely a square-inch of flesh in sight.

Yesterday's day off was a welcome break in a busy week, details of which follow.

Praise

• The English class is progressing well. There is a steady group of around 15 students attending class, and this week was the first in which we were able to have two consecutive lessons (the general strike put paid to that last week; as if Bryan needed any more excuse to despise socialism). For all that the culture here is generally more relaxed, education can be rather po-faced in its delivery, and the students seem to be slowly adjusting to the very relaxed environment I like to foster in the class. Pray for deepening relationships and commitment to the class from the various attendees.
• Speaking of Bryan & Amanda, they finally arrived home on Monday evening. They did very well considering the great disappointment of the general strike on their scheduled departure day, and while it would have been a great burden for them to not see their children as early as they had hoped (something we increasingly appreciate), they certainly didn't show it; we also appreciated the unexpected opportunity to let them see the church in action at the weekend. 
• Give thanks for the discipleship opportunities afforded us. We are currently meeting weekly wth four young people: Amanda with Milly, and Craig with Diego, Daniel and Daniel. All of them are relatively young Christians with leadership responsibilities in the ministries for children and teenagers in the church.
• Give thanks, too, for what appears to be a genuine growth spurt in the church. The last few weeks have seen numbers go up dramatically; we haven't experienced such consistently high attendances on Sunday mornings since arriving here in 2010. That's not only down to the usual increase of children in attendance now that the children's ministry has begun (pretty normal for this time of year), but several adults and couples as well, from a variety of backgrounds. Pray for consolidation and commitment.

Prayer

• Craig is teaching tonight at the youth group; the subject is the Bible as a tool for helping us make correct decisions in life.
• On Monday, we are hoping to submit papers for the adoption proper. The process should last about a month, i.e., we should be done and dusted a couple of weeks after Sam's first birthday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda