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The children in the above image are, in fact, both of us on our way to
Trinidad five long years ago. |
If
you’ve read our blog in the past, or have some awareness of developing world
contexts, you will know that the only thing you can predict on any given day is
its sheer unpredictability! So it is with a fair dollop of caution that we
offer up these insights into what may be on the horizon upon our return to
Trinidad. In fact, we know that the very worst thing we could do is to throw
ourselves straight back into a load of activities, without having first of all
taken the time to assess things; so much will have changed even in the space of
thirteen months.
Nonetheless,
we know that you, our friends, are keen to know how you can be praying for us.
We greatly appreciate this, and hope that the following will help you to get a
very rough idea of the coming months.
Craig: Staying Focussed on a Better 'Yes'
In
any situation, you will never be useful if your efforts are engaged in
providing a need that simply is not there. It is with that in mind that, as
stated above, we are keen to take stock of the current situation in Bolivia
before rolling up our sleeves.
However,
commendable though this is, a further refinement of resources must take place.
Because, as human beings, we each bring very different talents to the table,
and the danger is that we find ourselves attempting to address specific needs
while not necessarily being equipped for the task. Taking this a step further
still, we might well have the abilities to meet a need, yet still be wasting
our energies as this is not the role that the Lord has for us.
I
was certainly guilty of this at times during our first term in Bolivia. As the
years went by, I gradually took on a vast array of tasks. These were all ‘good
things’; indeed, they were by and large kingdom things! But I found I was
scraping by in them, doing many things sufficiently, but few things really
well. Worse, I was too proud at times to admit this to myself, yet the last
year has certainly confirmed it; by the time we’re finished with our standard
40-minute church report, it’s hard to tell whether we are more exhausted in the
telling, or our audience is more exhausted in getting their heads round all the
different plates we’ve been spinning.
An
extended period of home assignment like ours has its fair share of challenges.
But at the same time, something really positive has been taking place out in
Bolivia, which I was probably too proud to have foreseen a year ago. While we
have been at home, being built up and prepared for the next stage in our
ministry, things have not collapsed in
Bolivia. In fact, in our absence, the Bolivians have taken on their fair
share of things that we used to do. In 2014, our long-expressed desire that the
work in Bolivia would decrease in its missionary dependence has taken a big
leap forward.
This
has been as true in the Education area of the Foundation – my own traditional
stomping-ground – as it has been elsewhere. And yet, even up until a few weeks
ago, I was in a bit of a fight with God over this.
You
see, for some time I have known that God wants me to channel my energies into
the work of the church, which is not quite at the same stage of maturity as the
Foundation. In particular, there is a tremendous need for disciples to be
raised up, for those who are Christians to be equipped to understand the
Bible’s message for their lives and ‘set an example for the believers in
speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity’. And, naturally, I’m
humbled and excited to be a part of this.
But
part of me just could not let go of the education ministry. What about those
dozens of people each year who had so enjoyed the English classes I had taught?
What about the students in the local schools who, as teenagers, have heard the
gospel for the first time in their lives? The possibility of leaving behind
these primarily evangelistic activities concerned me, and I don’t think there
was anything inherently wrong with this.
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| Another happy bunch of English graduates. |
A
few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in a Cornhill class taken by a
much older visiting missionary, who has long wrestled with such questions.
Indeed, it is only in the past few years that he has truly begun to understand
what his gifts are and what God wants him to be engaged in. Yet since then, he
claimed to have been much more effective in the Lord’s service. What did he do
when presented with the opportunity to become engaged in something that, while
great, was not what he had been called to? He remembered the following mantra:
It’s easier to say ‘no’ when there’s a better ‘yes’.
That
afternoon session may just have been the most important couple of hours for me
in my preparation for going back. All of a sudden, two startling realisations dawned
on me. Firstly, my utter lack of faith. How arrogant of me to presume the
Lord’s dependence on me and me alone to bring the gospel to these people. Secondly,
my failure to see the practical ramifications for our church of such
evangelistic ministry, were it to prove ‘successful’. If, as a church, we’re
not quite the finished article when it comes to getting alongside people on the
path of discipleship – as I believe is the case right now – then welcoming new
believers into our midst will, until that time, prove challenging.
Having
thus been stopped in my tracks, I feel emboldened and unashamed to focus my
energies solely on the church, and specifically on discipleship. And I will do
so as part of a much-depleted leadership. When I joined the eldership in
mid-2012, there were five of us; now, only I and the pastor, Elías, are left.
With so many needs in the congregation, and only a couple of us to deal with
them, it probably will not do to simply meet every two to three weeks as we had
done previously as a leadership. Indeed, I would hope we can create regular
time(s) during the working week (Elías is employed by the church part-time) to
meet together and prayerfully address the needs of the church on a more
day-to-day basis.
The
year at Cornhill, of course, will have some bearing on the coming months. I
have been assisted greatly in developing my preaching abilities over the last
year, and I’m really looking forward to getting to grips with some new texts
from the pulpit.
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| With good friend and shameless mickey-taker, Wilson Menacho. |
However,
important though that is, I can’t help but feel that it is especially vital
that I look to equip others in Bible teaching ministry in the church – be that
from the pulpit or the playpen – with the necessary tools for better
understanding and communicating the truths of the word of God, tools which I
had mostly gone without myself until this year.
Ideally,
such equipping would go beyond the four walls of El Jireh church. In Bolivia, we continue to be saddled with a
copy-and-paste education system which encourages a great deal of accumulation
of disconnected facts and learning by rote, and not much in the way of engagement
with information or independent thought. If our pews are largely filled by the
products of such a system, it is of huge importance that preachers communicate
the word faithfully. I have been in touch with a renowned international
organisation that seeks to equip pastors to teach the Bible in a more
responsible manner. My hope is that we can begin such an initiative in the Beni
region sooner rather than later.
But,
more than anything, I am convinced that such a work has to begin in our church,
and for this reason, I’ll be seeking to have regular, one-on-one contact with young men in our congregation, in
the hope of raising up more disciples and, I pray, some leaders of the future.
What form this, or any of the above, will take, I’m still not sure, but I know
these needs exist today, and I know that God has graciously given me the
resources this year to address them. I would value your prayers as I continue
to discern the right path for me in Bolivia, and the right path for El Jireh church.
Amanda: Keeping things Personnel
People
who have read the blog before, or know me personally, will know that before our
year in Scotland, I spent my mornings in Bolivia working in Audiology in the
Foundation. When we first thought about serving in Bolivia, I wanted to use my
Health Sciences degree and my experience as a medical secretary/health care
support worker experience in my work in Trinidad.
I
started out in nursing and after a year was trained as an audiological
technician. I have enjoyed all the time I spent in those two areas as well as
the relationships I made in them. I learned so much about ear and hearing care
and I liked being able to put that knowledge to practical use in a missions
context.
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Amanda providing a routine hearing check as
part of FT's health check-ups for every
school child in Trinidad. |
However,
closer to the end of our first stint in Bolivia, I felt that what I was doing
maybe wasn’t the wisest use of my time. I felt that there were a number of
Bolivians who could do, or could be trained to do, what I was doing, and maybe
even do it better. This sense continued
to grow as 2013 was drawing to a close, and I knew with a large degree of
certainty that I would not be returning to audiology upon our arrival in
Trinidad again. I was not quite sure what I would be doing instead, but I felt
confident that there would be a better use of my time and skills.
Craig
and I have spent at least the second half of our furlough year praying and
sharing with each other about what we think God might have in store for us in
Bolivia. From early on in 2014 I knew that the board of directors at the
Foundation had taken on the job of human resources on top of their already busy
schedule, and the concept of lightening this burden for Mariana and Miguel
Angel was bouncing around in my mind.
I
also felt strongly about the need for more overt evangelism amongst our own
staff. Staff unity has also been a problem in the past and I have wondered in
the past five years or so if someone needed to focus on building unity amongst
all the staff through team building events or socials. Throughout the second
half of the year, as we’ve been praying, I felt God leading me to the
conclusion that I could address the majority of these issues if I left
audiology and moved to human resources. I want to focus primarily on developing
staff unity and a sense of team amongst us all, and evangelism to staff and
patients in a more obvious way.
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| Amanda with FT audiologist, Odalys Arce |
God,
who has been so good and gracious to us in all things, once again proved to me
how it was really Himself leading me to this conclusion. Mariana, at the
beginning of September, wanted to have a Skype conversation to talk about what
Craig and I were thinking of doing once we returned. I met her online and
shared with her first about what Craig was thinking and then went on to outline
my own thoughts. After hearing what I had to say, she answered with, “Oh good,
that is exactly what we were wanting to ask you to do.” The confirmation that
God had been working in both my heart and the other board of directors’ hearts
on both side of the ocean was such an encouragement to me. I can return with
the confidence that the leadership of the Foundation is supportive of the need
for staff unity and evangelism.
Please
pray that God gives me the wisdom to perform the tasks necessary. I am
confident about getting alongside some people and developing friendships, but I
am less confident about conflict resolution and problem solving amongst staff.
I have some ideas for developing unity, but I also know that if I really want
this to work I need to think outside the box and be creative and I am nervous
about this particular challenge. I am so not as familiar with legal matters
that might arise and I know I will be leaning heavily on other board members
for advice in these cases. And as much as I would like to jump in and make
changes, I know I need the sensitivity to move at the pace that the people
around me are comfortable with and to follow God’s leading.
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| Amanda and Elías (centre) with their team at 2013's youth camp. |
In
terms of my involvement in the church, I am still praying through a lot and am
adopting a wait-and-see approach. I feel the need to spend a lot more time with
people one-on-one. I feel that a lot of programmes have been running perfectly
fine without my involvement this year, so I would like to step back from a lot
of programme work and focus on individual or small group discipleship.
Depending on what we see when we join the church once again, I would like to
take a step back from children’s work altogether and focus on supporting, but
not running, youth work. I would like to be an active member of the women’s
group in our church, but again, not necessarily organise the group.
However,
I feel very strongly about supporting Craig in his church work. I know how hard
and challenging this work is and I know he is going to need my help. I want to
be there as prayer partner with him, and I definitely want to be available to
listen to him and emotionally deal with the issues that are going to come up. I
would like to help him practically as well; if this means cooking meals for
leader’s meetings, or doing pastoral visits with him to families, couples or
women, then I need to be able to fit these things into my schedule.
Although
what I have written seems relatively well planned out, the truth is that we
will not know exactly what we will be doing until we arrive and settle in. We
want to take the time to integrate ourselves in the church and Foundation
community before asserting ourselves or stepping on people’s toes. We know that
relationships are central to what we do, and we also need to make time to
re-establish old friendships and make new ones as well. We appreciate all your
prayers as we seek to do these things with Christian love.
Both: Family Planning
One last thing, Columbo-style, which
really applies to us both as a couple, and that is the possibility of adopting.
We’ve been praying about this over the last couple of years and, now that we
have something of a clear run of things for the next year or two (i.e., we
probably won’t be leaving Bolivia for extended periods any time soon), we’re
ready to begin actively exploring this possibility pretty much as soon as we
get back.
In Bolivia, as with many things, the
process of adoption tends to be a little more informal. We will first of all
register with social work to be able to adopt, and then it’s quite simply a
case of keeping an ear to the ground for any possible unwanted pregnancies;
putting out the word through friends, making maternity nurses we know aware of
our situation – a child could surface within a few weeks or many months, or
even years later. We just don’t know.
Then would begin the next stage, of
adopting that particular child, which can take a few months. And finally, we
would begin looking into citizenship in the UK or Canada.
As you can see, then, much patience
will required of us, both in the initial waiting period, and then as we take on
the vast paperwork which will follow. Please remember this situation in your
prayers.
