Saturday Post -- 08/06/2013

For a good number of reasons, I, Amanda, am typing the blog this morning. And I don’t know what to say…I think I shall start with bagels. I made bagels…finally. I said I would months and months ago and I don’t think too many people had faith in me…but I did, I believed. It was about a week and a half ago, and although Craig seemed to enjoy the end product he obviously didn’t think it special enough to include in last week’s blog. He asked me what he should include in the blog last weekend and I said, “My bagels” and then he didn’t. It was sad.

If anyone were to ask me what my favourite breakfast is, my answer would be Tim Horton’s sesame seed bagels with herb and garlic cream cheese (especially from the drive-thru) with a large green tea. The green tea offsets the quantity of calories in the amazing amount of cream cheese that Tim Horton’s applies to its bagels (in my mind it does anyway). I also grew up eating bagels for lunch…I disliked home made sandwiches for lunch because by the time lunchtime at school arrived the tomatoes and mayonnaise had soaked into the bread and made it soggy…and I couldn’t eat soggy sandwiches. I still can’t eat soggy sandwiches. So, my mom switched to bagels and cream cheese for lunch…and later we learned that sandwiches on bagels didn’t get soggy like normal bread, because of their chewiness. So, yummm…bagel sandwiches.

When I moved to Scotland we didn’t buy bagels as often because Craig told me they were more fattening than normal bread (not true -- well, kind of true -- the bagel itself is not more fattening, it’s the shocking amount of cream cheese that goes with it). But in Scotland, when I felt like it, I had the ability to buy bagels. There are no bagels in Trinidad. Three-and-a-half years I have lived here and I have not seen bagels. They might be available in Santa Cruz, but I have not seen or bought any. I have gone three-and-a-half years without bagels. Sometimes I look at the Philadelphia cream cheese in the speciality store sadly and think, “You’re just not worth it without bagels”. And then the Great British Bake Off taught me that bagel-making is not that hard. So last week, when there was time and I could be bothered, I made bagels.

I looked up two separate recipes online and made them both to compare and contrast, trying to find the recipe I liked the best -- and I think I have a pretty good idea of how I would go about making the bagels next time. I made a batch of cinnamon raisin and a batch of plain (although I egg-washed half the plain and added chopped garlic) and they were good. The cinnamon raisin ones were boiled for too long, but the taste was still good. And we had bagels and cream cheese and the next day we had bagel sandwiches. At one point I was so nostalgic for home I almost cried. And that’s my bagel-making story.

Okay, so after four paragraphs of bagels I’ll talk about some ministry related events -- I don’t know, maybe people find that more interesting.  Last Saturday was the Wii Night with the Youth Group. They had earned enough points to have a night playing Wii, so we set up two Wiis and a ping-pong table: one Wii had Mari Kart and Just Dance on it, which the kids lined up for, while the other one had a tournament with Wii Play mini-games which all the kids entered into.  They all seemed to have a good time. The next thing they can earn with another 5000 points is a “food party”. At the beginning we wanted to call it a pizza party, but then someone told us that the youth here don’t like pizza. Okay?!?! So, we said “food” and told them they could tell us what they wanted when they earned it. That’s going to be months away though -- it took them four months to earn their first 5,000 and we calculated they could do it in two. But we are having to deal with that lack of motivation that is inherent in adolescence. At 20,000 points, Craig and Elias (the church pastor) were going to get their heads shaved...never going to happen.

Tonight at Youth Group we’re starting a new series on worship, which Craig has organised. He’s also taking the first session on it -- the history of worship through the Bible -- and next week will be about worship nowadays and why we do what we do. That will be followed by small groups looking at 1 Samuel 15 and a worship night in early July full of various ways and activities in which we can worship God. Please be praying that the youth really understand that how we worship God is not culturally dependent, but it’s in our actions and in our obedience that transcends culture.

Today is really busy -- Saturdays always are. It is not helped by the fact that we have to water our garden every morning, which takes about 35-40 minutes, and no we don’t have a sprinkler. But there does seem to be growth, although I can’t tell if it is grass or weeds (this is why I shouldn’t be involved in things like this). And we have a mango tree now (and what I think might be two crab apple trees), however, we will have wait at least two years before there will be fruit... minimum. So I will still have to go to the fruit stall and buy mangos (when they are in season), but I shall refrain from buying crab apples as I do not know what to do with them (sigh). But before that, I have grocery shopping, kitchen organising, lunch, discipleship, Bible Explorers' Club and then Youth Group to deal with, so better get moving.

Prayer

• Craig as he speaks tonight at Youth Group on worship.
• Craig tomorrow morning as he visits another church to speak about and distribute more Emmaus distance-learning books.
• The kids in the youth group with whom we’re working, that they would take their faith seriously and grow to be strong men and women for Christ.
• For the family of our friends, Jerry and Georgina, who are mourning the recent loss of Jerry’s grandmother.

Praise

• For bagels!
• For how well Elizabeth and Grecia’s Mom (see last week's post) seems to be doing post-caesarean.
• For a successful Wii Night.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 01/06/13

It's been one of those classic Trinidad stop-start holiday weeks. Monday was Dia de la Santísima Trinidad, the city's annual holiday (i.e., the annual holiday in honour of the city, not the only holiday of the year -- let's not get ahead of ourselves here!) while Corpus Christi fell on Thursday. A rather truncated working week, then, and not too much to share on that front as a result. So instead, I thought that today, our regular readers might be interested to know about how certain members of the recurring cast are getting on.

First up, the missionaries. A couple of weeks back, Maicol and KC received notification that their adoption of Caleb was, at last, fully approved and legally watertight. Over four months of uncertainty, then, came to a happy end, and they now have the legal and psychological freedom to raise their son without fear of the authorities stepping in. Furthermore, like us, they are hoping to be able to take a furlough soon (in this case, to KC's native Seattle) and will be free to do this by mid-November, at which point Caleb will have been in the country for the required six months post-approval. 

Kenny and Claudia, meanwhile, have flights booked for their own furlough, leaving Bolivia for six months in mid-July with Emma, Sara and Joshua, with Kenny's church visiting schedule pretty much fully occupied already. Kenny is in the process of crossing 't's and dotting 'i's both at FT and the church as they prepare to head to Scotland.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Vaca, our co-worker both at FT and in the church, has a new baby sister. KC (named after the aforementioned, though the family may have changed the spelling for ease of Spanish pronunciation) arrived safely on Wednesday. We're praying with particular urgency for her, as you may remember that the family last year lost their youngest daughter (and sixth child overall), who died, tragically, at just three months old, due to heart complications. This pregnancy then, naturally, has been greeted with a mix of hope and trepidation by the community and we'd really appreciate your own prayers for Elizabeth and her family, who live on relatively meagre means.

This morning we are tidying up a little, having last night played host to a new family who have turned up at the church over the last few months: Javier and Sandra, and their four children: Josué, Valeria, Javier Jr. and Efraín. The family are proud Paceños (i.e., La Paz natives) but have lived here for around five years now. Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham's humanitarian organisation, has a big presence in Bolivia and Javier oversees the Trinidad office. Javier and Sandra 'joined' the church a few weeks ago (inverted commas required here as we technically don't have a membership structure -- something we're working on as part of the internal review process at the moment) and have come in with a real servant attitude, and lots of insights as to how we can better serve one another and our community. 

In a church dominated by children and young people who attend unaccompanied by their parents, it's been an encouragement to welcome another family to the congregation. From my own experience, committed couples tend to form the practical backbone of a church (at the moment, we have just over half-a-dozen in the entire congregation), and so we're looking forward to working alongside this new family and pray that God would be glorified in their presence among us.

A lot to be encouraged by, then, and a lot to be praying for. On that note...

Prayer

• For Elizabeth's new sister and for the family as they welcome the new arrival into their home.
• For our fellow missionaries and their various travel plans. Pray that Maicol and KC might be able to get a visa for Caleb without too many hitches. Pray also that we would all be more pro-active in delegating over the next few weeks and months, so that the Bolivians can manage without us (which is, in the end, the long-term goal) in our various absences.
• It's Wii night at youth group, having earned enough points (through such endeavours as memorising Bible verses and brining their Bibles to church) to win themselves an evening of videogamery. Pray for safety and a good time together tonight.

Praise

• For the arrival of a new family in the church and the various gifts they bring to the table. 
• For Caleb's adoption and the resulting peace of mind for Maicol and KC.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 12/05/12

We're back home in Trinidad now, delaying our return till Wednesday, under doctor's orders.

Amanda is recovering well from her surgery. She was discharged, as expected, on Sunday lunchtime and has spent most of her time since then resting (with the exception of a brief shift on Thursday morning in audiology -- not a great idea!).

On Tuesday, we had our post-surgery sit-down with the doctor and it all boils down to one crucial fact: we can't get pregnant by traditional means. This leaves us with a decision to make as to whether we pursue non-traditional methods of conception, and based on the diagnosis, the doctor believes this is a decision we need to make sooner rather than later.

Tuesday could have been a day of real emotional devastation for us. But we faced the appointment with calmness, considered its implications in a composed manner, and went to bed that night with an overwhelming sense of peace, that God is in control and that he has a great plan for our life as a couple and as a family. I share this not to draw attention to our emotional fortitude (would that we had it!), but rather to the very real impact of your prayers for us over the past week as friends and family. We felt truly 'uplifted' throughout and it is our own prayer that God will draw near to you all in a similar vein in whatever trials you currently face.

Since coming back, my stints behind the desk have been as few as they have been brief, with a lot of bureaucracy still to sift through for our land purchase. Thankfully, things are just about there now and we met our architect yesterday, who is raring to go on the house. 

You may remember my band-mate and work colleague Wilson Menacho, with whom I have been meeting once a week for the past couple of months to pray together. Wilson, who is not much younger than me, is the father of two young children, and someone who has increasingly grown in confidence over the past few months, not least due to his capable chairing of the musical slots at church. Unlike a lot of guys in this culture, he takes his faith seriously and reads his Bible with reflection, evidenced by the devotional times he has chaired with us as his fellow band-mates.

A few weeks ago, as youth leaders, we were drawing up the teaching schedule for the following two months, and it became clear to us that this would be a great opportunity to invite Wilson to contribute and encourage him in his growth. So, tonight, Wilson will be speaking on the theme of 'The Nature of a Servant' from The Purpose Driven Life. Please pray for Wilson tonight. We could do with more guys like him in the church, and we hope this will be an important step for him along his spiritual path.

Prayer

• For continued post-surgery recovery for Amanda, and energy for myself, as I temporarily see to the multitude of tasks she so ably tends to in the house!
• For wisdom and guidance as we work through the post-surgery implications.
• For Wilson (see above).

Praise

• For the overwhelming sense of peace we are experiencing in the face of these difficult circumstances. 
• For continued progress in our housing project.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 05/05/12

Writing from Santa Cruz this morning, where we travelled to on Wednesday evening to attend to 'a couple of important matters', as I put it in last week's post. At the same time, we were keen to keep those motives to ourselves. However, there comes a point when it's useful to give prayer partners a better idea as to what to pray for, and this morning, that time has most certainly come.

For the first couple of years of marriage, we didn't much give having a family a thought. Perhaps it was something to do with our urban locale, or our friendship groups at that time. However, almost as soon as we arrived in Bolivia back in early 2010, that desire to have children increased significantly (maybe it's something in the water!). 

However, in the last two years or so, we have learned that we are one of those couples for whom having children is not all that straightforward. And yes, while two years is a relative drop in the ocean for certain couples, we have been curious as to why it hasn't happened at this relatively fertile stage of our lives.

An exacerbating emotional factor is added to the mix in Bolivia. Back in the UK, we have contemporaries who have had children for a few years now, but that is in a culture where people increasingly wait well into their 30s to conceive, and we know that there would be zero peer-pressure from our friends. But here in Bolivia, having children at times feels like the national pastime. Indeed, one of the sadder aspects of our ministry is that, when we hear the word 'pregnant', it more often than not carries with it negative connotations of promising young lives going to waste. People here, in the church as much as anywhere else, simply cannot conceive of an inability to conceive, and barely a month goes by without someone asking us, with nothing but good intentions, "Why aren't you pregnant yet?"

We don't need the interrogations -- it's a question we've been asking ourselves for a long time. So in March, on our way to Costa Rica, we decided to do something about it, visiting a urologist we know in Santa Cruz, who went over the diagnostic treatment which could be carried out. In the end, we opted for a fertility clinic which we learned about largely through word-of-mouth. Amanda booked an appointment for Thursday morning, and that's why we're here.

But while I write to you from our guesthouse, Amanda has just woken up at the clinic, where she is awaiting exploratory, diagnostic surgery at 11.45am (4.45pm UK time, 11.45am in Toronto). It turned out that she has some complicating factors and what the doctor wishes to do is address those and, while he's at it, see if there are any more. I could go into a lot more detail (you should have seen Amanda's email to our parents!) but I reckon that's enough for you to be praying with. Like any surgery, complications could arise, but we're confident this will be a relatively straightforward procedure.

I will leave it at that for now as I have a clinic-bound bus to catch. We really appreciate your prayers at this time and thank you all so much for your interest in us.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!


Craig & Amanda


Update: While I was travelling over to the clinic, Amanda texted me to tell me she'd been moved up the queue, so she's in surgery right now (9am in Bolivia) meaning you can pray right away!