Saturday Post -- 26/08/17

The base of the old tower (left), the old tank itself (right)
and the beginnings of the new tower (centre). Hard hats optional.

A very tangible display of God's goodness to us is slowly but surely taking shape round the back of Fundación Totaí's headquarters. Late last year we were advised that FT's water tower, the delivery system for water to the building, was in bad shape, and dangerously so. The harsh climate here had caused parts of the structure to erode, causing parts of the piping to rust and a potential disaster to ensue, given the decreasing strength of the high tower and its proximity to the building itself. 

But finances were already tight as a drum, rendering any future attempt at a repair a, er, pipe-dream. So, as a Foundation, we took a step of faith and did something we'd never done before: appeal for funding for a repair -- or, if possible, a replacement tank -- from FT's friends and supporters around the world.  

Over the past nine months, that funding has come together, with various churches and individuals from both North America and Europe giving generously -- so much so, indeed, that we have been able to knock down the old tower and start from scratch. The construction team are currently two weeks into an eight-week schedule and things are already coming together nicely. We are encouraged and humbled.

We're also excited about the recent resumption of the men's and women's Bible study groups in the church. That old adage that Christians enjoy judging may be unsubstantiated at best, but the evidence that Bolivian Christians enjoy Judges is all around, with the girls doing a study of Gideon, and the boys a study of the book of Judges as a whole. Us guys had our second study last night and some great, gospel-driven conversations to boot (I was especially challenged by author Tim Keller's point on sin and our excuses for it, when, "I can't" in actual fact usually means, "I won't"). It's particularly thrilling to have one or two young-adult youth group members in attendance at the study, which is being led by our "brother, co-worker and fellow soldier", Carlos. Amanda came back with similarly glowing reports from the women's first meeting last Sunday evening.

I'm thankful for a few weeks out of the preaching game after a busier spell of late, taking charge of four of the past five Sunday sermons. Indeed, this proved to be providential this week under some challenging circumstances, namely some car issues and Sam catching a fever and being off nursery for most of the week. Yet God's hand was so visible even here. A healthy Sam would have gone bananas without some means of transportation to get him out of the house; as it was, he was quite content with cuddles and Dora the Explorer.

Next weekend sees our third annual Langham preaching conference take place, a little later in the year than the first two conferences due to my time out of Trinidad. The group is a little reduced at this point, but the longer wait means that those of us who have stuck with it are particularly excited for this year's edition. This year one of our speakers is Igor Améstegui, who is based here in Bolivia and oversees Langham's preaching programmes throughout all of Latin America. As you can imagine, he is a gifted preacher himself, and we will be having a special service at our church next Sunday evening so that the members of the various churches involved can hear him speak too.

So in the unlikely event of another maratón de Dora next weekend, I'd imagine Amanda will be unable to provide a further update. Furthermore, we are travelling to La Paz the following weekend for a retreat with our Latin Link cohorts. What's the name of that Depeche Mode song again? Oh yeah: enjoy the silence. 

Prayer

• Pray for a stimulating weekend of teaching and equipping next weekend and that, above all, our churches would reap the benefits.
• La Paz is not always the most relaxing of destinations. But we're looking forward to meeting with the Latin Link team again for a weekend of refreshing and encouragement. Pray for safety in our travels there and renewed vigour for the task ahead.

Praise

• Give thanks for the funding for the water tower, and the progress being made on its construction.
• Give thanks for the positive start to the new session of men's and women's Bible studies.
• Give thanks for the Lord's providential ordering of circumstances this week, and his abundant grace to endure. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 12/08/17

Lunch-avoidance for beginners.

This coming Monday marks four weeks since the Strathaven team set off for home at the end of their stint here. Their legacy continues to be felt, not least in the shape of the expertly-crafted mural and banner that festoon the church walls, though it pains me to say that the last embers of their Obligatory British Chocolate Package ran out during the week.

This also means, though, that we've now had roughly one month, since returning, of living a 'normal' existence here (teams, while always welcome, present their own unique challenges every day, and even the two weeks we had here before their arrival was largely taken up with team preparation or sorting out the house). In other words, it's as good an opportunity as any to reflect, and give an update, on the targets we set ourselves for life and ministry earlier this year. I'm delighted to say that, by and large, we see progress here, and are feeling the benefits immensely.

Working from a place of rest

Following a year of essentially juggling two full-time jobs and parenthood (and paying a heavy price for this!), we knew as we left Bolivia in early January that something had to give. This year, as happened during our 2014 furlough, we sought the Lord's guidance as to which ministries it would be best to leave in the Bolivians' hands. But unlike 2014, this time we made the Bolivians aware of these changes some time before we even arrived back in the country, meaning they were both well prepared and less likely to cajole us to change our minds (which, by and large, in January 2015, we did!). 

For Amanda, this has meant scaling back her HR responsibilities at work a little in order to better attend to the practical needs of her 'boys'. The Lord really provided in this respect, as the administrator who started with FT in December was quite happy to take on much of this work, and has continued to do so with aplomb. For a couple of mornings a week, then, Amanda has not only been able to get through mountains of ironing, but also have uninterrupted time with the Lord in prayer and Bible reading. As an onlooker, I'm encouraged.

One of the tasks I stepped down from myself was youth ministry, which takes place on Saturday evenings. This was certainly a case of mind over matter, as the youth group has grown considerably since we left, and more male leaders would be welcome, making it all the more tempting for me to backtrack and play the knight in shining armour (after all, the Lord's work depends solely on us anyway, right?). But I've kept to the original plan, and this has given me the time and space on Saturday evenings to continue in an online theological training course I began on furlough. I've found this not only to be great nourishment for myself, but also of great benefit, already, in church leadership. All in all: good move.

Putting family first

With a slightly reduced workload, we now have increased flexibility to adapt to situations as they arise. During the week, for example, Amanda might ask me to take Sam out for a couple of hours just to get a break, or I might ask her to give me the chance to go out and get some exercise. We are now much better equipped to help each other in this respect.

However, the three of us do still hang out together (occasionally!) and these times have been all the more special for the lack of exhaustion. Additionally, I have begun leading family devotions every day just before Sam's bedtime, and we're delighted by how much he's already embracing this. For Amanda and I, date nights (or 'mornings', in the case of Mondays), have been re-prioritised, and we feel we are working so much better together during the week as a result, both as parents and as spouses. 

Craig's pastoral work

By and large, I'm enjoying my increased role now in the church leadership. I've set aside one evening a week for visits -- an area that had been neglected for many years -- and I've had some great conversations, not only with members, but also with parents of some of the children and young people who attend at weekends. Part of my aim is to make them feel comfortable in the church on those rare occasions when they accompany their children -- and, indeed, encourage them to come more.

My Bible teaching workload has increased significantly. I'm preaching at least three times a month, I take turns with another guy to lead the bi-monthly Bible study, and I'm also making the usual contributions to Communion services and prayer meetings. However, this area is a strength, and so I know my energies are not being wasted in any way. 

Staying with preaching, the Langham group are looking forward to the Level 3 workshop at the end of this month, and I'm praying about starting a new group. There is a lot of interest among people from the churches currently involved, including our own. I'll be looking to get a little more guidance on this when the Langham workers arrive here in late August.

Finally, I'm getting back into some one-on-one discipleship and just this week I had a great time with one of our young people in the church, Diego, who supports the children's ministry. I'm hoping to start this soon with a young man who became a Christian just a couple of weeks ago.

Amanda's work

Though she's cut back on her hours a little, with the delegation of her HR duties, Amanda has had a lot more time to sit down with staff and find out how they are getting on; this pastoral side to her work was something she was looking to improve on, so this is a great start for her. She's also enjoyed being back on the board of directors at the Foundation and has driven a couple of key initiatives just in the last month. The prayer room is still a work in progress; please pray! 

Sam's schooling

Sam continues to thrive in his new environment in the mornings. The only issue we're having is that he arrives home so exhausted that lunch -- the main meal of the day here -- is, well, challenging! It's essentially a race to see how much food we can get in him before he raises his white flag with 'BED! NOW!' written on it. His Spanish is really starting to come along now too; he even addressed me with an 'Hola' at the school gates yesterday. 

Prayer

• Pray for the preparations for Langham Level 3, taking place from the 31st of August till the 3rd of September. 
• We're beginning a new series in Galatians this week in the church to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (it was Mr. Luther's favourite book). Pray for Craig tomorrow and next Sunday as he preaches, and on Thursday as he takes a session of the Revelation Bible study.

Praise

• Amanda and the youth committee were finally able to meet this week to start planning for this year's camp. 
• Give thanks for the great time of discipleship this week with Diego.
• Give thanks for the many ways we are seeing God bless us in life and ministry when we simply follow his guidance.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post - 05/08/17

We have spent the last six months living with other people all around the globe and, as of yesterday, we are once again on our own for the foreseeable future. And I (Amanda) am kind of sad about it. Maicol, KC and Caleb Rivero had been staying with us for the last six weeks as they came back to Trinidad for their niece Milly's wedding to Mauro, and to visit family. For those of you who don't know, Maicol and KC were missionaries here for about 15 years, but moved back to KC's home town near Seattle two years ago (Maicol is Bolivian and his family is here, hence the family visit). They left yesterday on their return trip and the house is now strangely quiet. Sam absolutely loved having Caleb around, who is two years older, and I think he misses his friend already.

We've thought a lot about hospitality and sharing living space with people over the last six months. We've been really challenged about sharing what we have with others and not hoarding what we think we have a right to, whether that be space, time or material possessions. It's not really ours. I think everyone has one thing that they really struggle sharing. I think Craig's is popcorn. You see, he would get really upset that I ate popcorn faster than him, and he felt that I was getting more than 50% of the bowl, so a long time ago we had to start eating our popcorn out of separate bowls. True story. However, more seriously, Craig and I both have had trouble sharing our space. Material possessions (well, you can't take it with you) and time (sharing our time is kind of in the job description) have never given us too many problems, but our space is precious (my home is my oasis). So, I think God kind of decided to really challenge us about this over the past six months.

We moved around a lot while on home assignment, and we stayed with a lot of different people, all with their unique way of doing things and their own reactions to having us there. Sometimes we stayed in one place a month or more at a time, and sometimes it was one night, but I think we calculated that Sam slept in 18 different places overall. Generally, I never felt bad about it. I kind of have an attitude that goes like this: "I live in Bolivia; if you want me to come visit you, you need to provide a bed. Thank you." I can be more subtle than that, but I never felt guilty about putting people out. It kind of comes with the lifestyle. But I don't think I ever made the connection between how I expect people to put me up, and how we can be precious about our space.

Maybe the term "being precious about our space" is a bit vague. It is not like we've ever decided not to accept friends and family from visiting us in Bolivia. We love having visitors. Come one, come all!...but only if you plan on going home at some point before we feel you've worn out your welcome. And that is what I mean by being precious. Everyone is on the clock because eventually you're going to inconvenience me and that's not OK. And that is the attitude that I feel God is challenging right now in our lives. What happens if someone needs to stay indefinitely? Can I handle that? How do we treat that person? When I say, "You can stay as long as you need!", do I really mean that?

I used to think that if someone is hospitable, they are good at having people over for dinner or that they are good at having people stay for the weekend. But I think hospitality has more to do with how they make their guests feel, regardless of if they are there for the weekend or for six months. Do their guests feel welcomed? Do their guests feel like they are being asked to join the family? Well, I have been that guest and I know what it feels like to be made to feel completely at home and to be made to feel...not completely at home. And this is where attitude is so important, because no one ever went out of their way to make me feel unwelcome or less than included, but the attitude that people have about their space permeates the home. It is something that hangs in the air and says to a guest, "Make this your home too", or it says "This is not your home, so be careful what you do in it". I don't want to subtly give out that second vibe because I don't like how someone stacked the toilet paper rolls. Craig and I came back to Bolivia determined to address this in our lives. We have no idea if we've gotten it right, or if we still have some work to do, but it is something we're really conscious of. You'll have to ask Maicol and KC if they felt welcomed or if they felt we couldn't get them out the door fast enough. :)

Now, if you're reading this and you hosted us while we were on furlough, please don't start analysing everything you said and did while we were there. This post isn't about our experiences, because we are truly grateful for every single person and place that accommodated us. This post is more about what has come back to mind over and over again as we've moved from place to place. The truth is that being a guest can be hard, especially for people who have been away from home for a while, and that being a host can be hard, because our private spaces are being exposed, therefore the attitude that we have going into the experience can dramatically affect the outcome.

So, we've gone from being the guests for six months to being the hosts once again. And as mentioned above, we love having people visit. So, please feel free to get in touch if you want to experience life in Bolivia.

I wanted to share this because it has been on my heart and mind a lot recently, but aside from thinking on this subject, Craig and I did have a normal work week. I am loving my job just now, as I feel I am being productive in helping people to do their jobs better, without any of the nasty, complicated paperwork I was doing before. Win/win. It really has been a pleasure to go into work and feel good about what I am doing. Craig had a Langham meeting this morning, where he was preaching. He then had to chair and facilitate the critique of his own sermon because the other group coordinator had to leave early. No one critiqued him at all, but I guess we'll never truly know if it was an amazing sermon or if they were all too intimidated to share. Sam loves daycare and grabs his teacher's hand once he arrives and waltzes off without saying goodbye now; that's a knife to my heart. But it was quite clear to us that we had gotten quite used to daycare as well when we learned that there were no classes yesterday and that there will be no classes on Monday either due to a national holiday. What? Four days straight where I have to look after my child myself? Are you joking? How will we cope?

Classes start again on Tuesday! Yes!!!

Prayer

• Maicol, KC and Caleb Rivero as they travel back to the States
• Our work in the Foundation and in the church - that we'll be able to pick up momentum now that we're without a visiting team or house guests.
• We're planning to start construction on FT's water tower this month - please pray we can get the contract signed
• For Sam, as he gets used to being the only child again in the house
• We're trying to get Sam's second next follow-up visit organised, but the social workers don't seem to have it on their list of priorities right now - pray that it gets done soon

Praise

• For a really great time with Maicol, KC and Caleb - a friendship forged on the battlefield, so to speak, that'll last a lifetime. It doesn't matter that we're not even that similar - 

KC: "Amanda, what are you reading?" 

Amanda: "A novel. It has dragons in it." 

KC: "Why are we friends again?"

True story! 

¡Que Dios les Bendiga!

Craig, Amanda and Sam