Saturday Post -- 01/08/15

Amanda with the other youth group leaders last Saturday night.

July, she will fly.

I shan't go into too much detail here with regard to our all-too-fleeting return to Scotland, our Facebook pages certainly providing more than enough photographic documentation. Suffice it to say, Willows were Stripped, putts were missed, and just as one sister flew the nest, another was flying into Glasgow Airport. In the week preceding the wedding, we managed to squeeze in 13 separate catch-ups over six days. Before touchdown in Scotland, we had been very much aware of our limited time; by the time we collapsed into bed on wedding's eve, we were all too aware of our limitations in general. We probably overstretched ourselves, but each meeting proved well worth it.

Writing from a dependably hot and sticky Trinidad, the whole trip already feels somewhat surreal and distant. The final goodbyes at the airport are naturally times of great sadness; this time was relatively Kleenex-free, as there was a tangible acceptance by all concerned that it was high time to return to normality. Our sojourn having been so brief, we felt none of the nerves that gripped us at the end of our 13-month sabbatical in January, just thankfulness for the opportunity to have spent any time at home at all.

Since arriving in Trinidad on Saturday, we have endeavoured to ease our way back into things ever so gradually, but only to the extent possible with a full complement of volunteers. About a week before our own return to Bolivia, Swindon's Tom and Josh Pike arrived in town, with the American trio only halfway through their own stint at that point (they leave in mid-August). Amanda has been sharing responsibility with KC for this summer's volunteer programme, and so with KC's enforced family trip to Cochabamba this week (this post is increasingly resembling an arrivals/departures board), we picked up the volunteer slack as a couple; only fair, I suppose, given KC was essentially flying solo for three weeks. That essentially meant ensuring they had enough food supplies, having them round to the house, and dealing with requests for British chocolate on a case-by-case basis.

Tom and Josh are on the right, for the avoidance of doubt.

Most importantly, we were tasked with meeting with the volunteers individually, which Amanda will continue to do with one of the girls, and I shall, of course, be touching base with Tom and Josh during the remainder of their time here. My initial meetings were certainly encouraging, as the brothers each shared their testimonies (which I reciprocated), and I was reassured to discover rock-solid faith in ones so young.

My very first encounter with the Pikes (they used to get a lot of "Don't tell him" references at school -- see below, non-Brits) took place at the youth group's second annual friendship gala, taking place to mark International Day of Friendship (which, like most Hallmark holidays, is a surprisingly big deal here). The evening essentially resembled the usual youth group meeting, except it was a dress-up affair, food was served, it was double the length, and we had about double the attendance! Despite being a tad bleary-eyed from our journey (we'd only just arrived that morning), we had a great time, and we're hoping that a lot of the 'strays' who came back will still be around in the coming Saturdays.

That aside, it was a reassuringly normal working week, with Amanda catching up on HR tasks, and I getting warmed up for a month in which I have responsibility both for preaching in the church and the morning devotions at FT. 

It's as if we never left.

Prayer

• For Craig as he preaches and teaches all this month.
• For the adoption process. Things necessarily took a bit of a back seat this week, but we're planning on pestering our lawyer as to the next steps in the next few days.
• For our pentad of volunteers, that their remaining time here would be one of great growth in Christ.

Praise

• For a hearty supply of happy memories from our time in Scotland, and safe travels there and back again.
• For a great night with the youth group last Saturday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 29/01/11

(written on Friday -- another delayed post due to continued internet problems)

Hadn’t been expecting to post this weekend due to our impending departure to Santa Cruz for a few days’ in the city but, this being Bolivia, a couple of things have happened which we weren’t anticipating. Firstly, this week has seen the first day-off-nobody-warned-you-about of the year (to be fair, it’s taken them four weeks). The Beni department, in their wisdom, opted to declare a Paro, i.e., an enforced shutdown, in order to allow us all to, literally, get our houses in order. This is due to the recent spate in the region of Dengue, the deadly virus carried by mosquitoes, fairly prominent during rainy season. So today, everyone has the opportunity to well and truly ditch the mosquito welcoming mat in their homes. Have to say, I have approached the crisis by watching tennis (Come. On. Andy.) and, looking out our window, it doesn’t look like many families are overly-concerned. Mind you, our side of town is a little less affected by the whole thing.

The second reason for writing is that, on Wednesday, we got our Interpol certificates, about a whole two months sooner than the office had been anticipating – with hindsight, they were probably protecting their own backs. Anyway, we had included this as a prayer point, so we thought we should update you on that. Visa-wise, it’s the tip of the iceberg (and one that would cause the Titanic's conqueror to blush), but a significant first step and the green-light to proceed with the remainder of the visa documentation when we return from Santa Cruz.

At work it’s been a productive week all round. Jessica proceeded with various nursing support tasks and on Tuesday afternoon had the chance to observe the first surgery session of the year at FT and, like many young health students/professionals who come here, came away having seen lots of stuff she’d never experienced before. Amanda started putting her new-found audiology skills to practice at work, really feeling the benefit of the course. And I put the finishing touches to preparations for the first few weeks of Community classes, which resume on Monday, 7th of February (the day we come back to work after our break).


Jessica fishing last weekend (Maicol in the background). The excursion was short-lived as a torrential downpour turned up five minutes later. Buckets were required.

So we’re looking forward to a relaxing few days in Santa Cruz. Jessica flies home on Tuesday and we’re planning on staying one more night before returning here on Wednesday, which really means Thursday. Long-distance bus travel in Bolivia mostly takes place at night, as it minimises the risk of engines overheating and tyres getting damaged. Sensible, though it doesn’t really chime with my complete inability to sleep on anything that moves.

Prayer
• For safety in our travels to and from Santa Cruz, and Jessica’s flights home on Tuesday.
• For a relaxing time as we enjoy our first real break since September.

Praise
• For a productive week for the three of us at work.
• For the successful granting of the Interpol certificates.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

(Post-)Saturday Post -- 22/01/11

First up, apologies if this week’s update arrives later than usual – we know a lot of you make a habit at the weekend of reading our update. I’m typing this up offline as we’ve now gone about two days without internet. Another severe deluge of rain on Thursday/Friday may have played its part in that – the networks here not yet robust enough to cope with adverse conditions. I will post as soon as possible.

Jessica has been settling into the pace of things nicely here. On Monday morning she had her volunteer’s induction (does that mean she was induced?) with Kenny and immediately settled into various nursing tasks. Mostly, she has been taking care of basic needs, such as cutting giant rolls of gauze into small strips, but now and again she’s provided assistance to Amanda in the afternoons in treating patients. And we’ve made sure she’s put to good use at home too! It’s been great to have an extra pair of hands to help cook, wash dishes etc. Most of all, it’s been really wonderful just having a familiar face around and we look forward to the remainder of the time we have with her.

Amanda has successfully managed to juggle her sister’s visit with her Audiology training course. This week, the participants applied the theory they’d learnt in the first week to FT patients. In addition, there was a closing exam. No prizes for guessing who got the highest score – though her mother may be curious as to where the other 10% went.

I’ve managed to compile all the main English class teaching materials for the year this week. This year, we’re hoping to run two classes simultaneously: one for absolute beginners and one for last year’s participants, as well as anyone else who feels capable enough to join at that level. The classes will also start alongside the school year in mid-February this year, which will give us a lot more time and flexibility (a crucial commodity in this society). Additionally, we learned over the course of the last year that a big incentive for Bolivians is simply receiving certificates – few things make them happier than a bit of paper saying they attended a particular class. So this year the classes are divided into four smaller modules which will last about six weeks each. I spent a lot of time last year chasing my tail when it came to English materials, so it’s great to be able to have the year in place so early, allowing me to concentrate, God-willing, on other matters such as FT’s library and the website.

Another noteworthy accomplishment this week was booking flights to Toronto for Jessica’s wedding in August. Though we have always planned on returning for this important family event, we had been dithering over this, waiting to see if there were any big shifts in the market in January. Sure enough, prices plummeted this week, so we made a move. The wedding is our main motivation for travelling but we’re looking to kill a few birds with the one stone. My family will be travelling to my uncle and aunt’s home in Virginia for two weeks to have a little reunion with us, which I’m obviously quite excited about. And we’re hoping to use the time to visit churches with which we have links, to update them on our ministry here in Trinidad.

By next weekend, that ministry will, unbelievably, be a year old. However, we’ll not be in Trinidad but in Santa Cruz, where we’re going to spend a few final days with Jessica before seeing her off the following Tuesday morning. No update, then, next weekend, but then again, depending on how long it takes the internet folk to sort themselves out, you might not even get this till then!

Prayer
• For Craig and co-worker Samy as they put the finishing touches to preparations for the resumption of the Community Classes on 7th February.
• For Jessica’s last week here and for safety as we travel, by road, to Santa Cruz next Friday evening.

Praise
• For Amanda’s successful completion of her course.
• For having the English class preparation out of the way.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 19/01/13

Amanda (left) conducts the children's choir at the Christmas service, a long
time ago in a holiday far, far away.

Feliz año nuevo! Like January football fixtures, the NHL season, and Prime Ministerial keynote addresses on Europe, our return from a self-imposed sojourn into the blogging wilderness is a little delayed but hopefully worth the long, dark hours of three consecutive weekends without our company, which no doubt all of our readers to a man have endured over the last month.

So, what's been happening since we last posted? Too much to detail here (indeed, our web-hosts may not permit us the space) but I'll have a stab at an extended highlights reel.

In the style of an end-of-season cliffhanger, we left you all in a state of unbridled suspense as our last post detailed the forthcoming church Christmas service. Well, you'll be pleased to know that it was a great success, with a whole host of family and friends of the participants turning up to enjoy it. More details are in our latest newsletter, sent out yesterday (send us an email at cramandaham@gmail.com if you'd like a copy).

As usual, Christmas Day itself was a pretty relaxed affair with our missionary friends, tempered by the fact that we had to go back to work the next day. But by then our thoughts were already turning  what was effectively our Christmas present to each other, the upcoming week's break in Santa Cruz, which straddled the end of last year and the beginning of this.

Those who have visited Santa Cruz will know that it's one of the more aesthetically-challenged places in the world, definitely the Glasgow to La Paz's Edinburgh. Indeed, 'sprawl' is a more appropriate monicker than 'city'. Nevertheless, it has, for us, become something of a haven over the last few years as Hollywood blockbusters are caught up on, clothes stocked up on, and good food feasted on; and all in a context of something which comes at a premium in little Trinidad: urbanonymity.

That said, we stepped out of our Santa Cruz comfort zone this time and made contact with acquaintances from our last visit. In August, when Joanne was visiting, we were browsing in a tourist shop in the city. I was doubtless staring at my hundred-and-first set of llama coasters when I heard a familiar brogue. I approached the gentleman and asked where he came from. Sure enough, I'd met my first Ayrshireman in Bolivia. We proceeded to enjoy some hot beverages with Steve Paterson and his wife, Dilys (from Durham), with the invitation extended to get in touch any time we were in town.

Well, we did just that on our second day in the city, partaking of a curry in what an Indian restaurant we would never have found ourselves (Steve has been posted by a British company to Santa Cruz and he and his wife have had plenty of time to sniff out the better eateries). We were then invited to join them, along with some friends of theirs, for a late-night dinner and drinks at their home the following day: December 31st. Technically, Steve and I were the only Scots there, but it was easily the closest that Bolivian Año Nuevo has come to Hogmanay in our time here.

In the two weeks since our return we've been reacquainting ourselves with that strange period of limbo we call January. Here in Bolivia, with the schools still off, and with most people having half an eye on February's upcoming Carnaval festivities, this is a strangely muted time of year. It does, however, provide important opportunities if you know where to find them.

For example, we were not long back when I received a call from one of my English students alerting me to a national convention for English teachers, taking place this year in Trinidad. So on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week (hence the lack of the promised blog-post) I attended said convention. The seminars on English teaching were generally pretty basic -- nothing there that will cause me to make sweeping changes to the courses I teach here -- but I did pick up on a few things which will hopefully complement my teaching, not least on the technological side. Among other things, I learnt to design my own class webpage, where I have now posted all of my Powerpoint lessons, hopefully saving precious classroom time which is otherwise devoted to putting files on the flash-drives of the previous week's absentees. In the spirit of 1980s Glasgow Evening Times television commercials, my response to such requests shall henceforth be: 'Get your own!'

More than anything, January is the month to take advantage of the spare time and get ready for the coming year. For example, I've spent much of the past week making purchases for educational needs this year. A similar approach applies to church, where things are quieter in the absence of youth ministry over the school holidays. The members of the youth fellowship leadership, including Amanda and me, have been meeting on Saturday afternoons to draw up a proper, all-singing, all-dancing, year-plan for 2013, including social events, trips and fundraising events (for the end-of-year camp, when our youth always need a little assistance in covering the cost). With a couple more such sessions remaining, including this afternoon, we're excited about how things are already coming together.

Finally, the January weirdness continues this weekend, with a key gubernatorial election in the Beni region tomorrow, meaning all public meetings are cancelled, meaning no church. Politically, that's a fascinating situation, which I was planning to go into here, but I reckon that's quite enough for one day. We do, of course, have all year to talk about it.

Prayer

• For the Lord's continued guidance in our planning for the year both in the Foundation (Craig planning for Education year; Amanda working with her fellow board members) and in the church.
• For our visa situation. It feels like only yesterday that I was last writing about it, but our two-year visas expire in March. This means that we now qualify, at last, for the permanent residency visa (which allows, among other things, for extended periods of travel outside of the country). We have started to get the necessary documentation in order for this year's application. Mercifully, the process seems to have simplified greatly since 2011, but prayers are appreciated nonetheless.

Praise

• For the many new faces present at the church during Christmas.
• For a restful week away from Trinidad for us as a couple.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 01/01/11

A happy new year to all of you, first of all, and while we're all pondering the difference a year makes, we're sitting here reflecting on the difference a day makes. You may already have read that on Boxing Day, the government removed, at a stroke, its energy subsidies, thus effectively raising petrol prices by 70% and diesel prices by 80%. The government's stated line was that this would help to prevent the smuggling of oil across the border to Brazil and Peru, where prices have been significantly higher for years now.

Whatever the reasons, the execution has left a lot to be desired. One could perhaps understand a steady increase over a two-three year period, but to impose such a hike within the space of 24 hours is curious, particularly with the majority of citizens living well below the breadline as it is. And, as ever, Trinidad will get it harder than most, owing to our isolated position within the country. The nearest major city, Santa Cruz, lies some 300 miles away by road and Trinidad relies heavily on goods transported from there. So the impact felt by motorcycle and car drivers is the mere tip of the iceberg.

Needless to say, unrest is brewing, with a civil strike called across the Beni region yesterday and several marches having already taken place nationwide. Furthermore, the President came out on Wednesday evening and announced that the blow will be softened by a 20% increase in public sector wages by the end of 2011. This will help few at national level, where the majority work in the private sector, and presents an obvious challenge for 2011 to Fundación Totaí where, with healthcare playing a prominent role, public sector workers abound. Please pray!

Tough medicine, then, but we won't allow it to tarnish our memories of our first Christmas here in Trinidad, where we enjoyed a special couple of days over last weekend. Work finished at lunchtime on Christmas Eve and we marked the official end of 2010 for FT (though the services have, of course, continued apace since) with a closing ceremony and staff lunch at which we enjoyed, for the first time this year -- and, indeed, for the first time in many of the Bolivians' lives -- roast lamb! Given that lamb and not turkey is the plat du jour in the Kearon household on the 25th, Amanda was particularly excited. Not a big lamb man myself, have to say, but this stuff put a lot of supposedly high-class UK restaurant kitchens to shame.

The afternoon of Christmas Eve tends to be the time in the holiday when, for me, the reality of the impending celebrations truly hits home. This year the young people of the church had spent the best part of a month preparing a service to be held that afternoon, though with rainy season threatening to explode into life on the 24th (it has since rained furiously), it was touch and go for a while as to whether it would go ahead in its original format, particularly as space in the auditorium is so limited, making it preferable to stage it outside. As you can see from the picture, taken that afternoon by our neighbour Kenny Holt, the skies threatened to wreak havoc -- indeed, there was a brief shower early on -- but we managed to get through it and clearly the rainbow was the Lord's own special way of telling us we were doing the right thing.

As mentioned last time, the big celebration here is around midnight on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed a lovely meal with the family of FT dentist Miguel-Ángel to bring in the 25th. I was to pay for my excesses, however (non-alcoholic, I hasten to add!). As ever the week before Christmas had been an exhausting one and, if we were being totally honest, but for the prospect of celebrating with friends, the thought of staying up so late on the 24th seemed neither appealing nor, indeed, achievable. So I did what anyone else would do: I glugged down Coca-Cola by the bucketload. As far as dinner was concerned, it served its purpose -- I was in an uncharacteristically jolly mood come midnight. But let's just say that getting any sleep that night was challenging to say the least. Indeed, I think I managed about 2 hours!

Nevertheless, I woke up on Christmas Day, bright as a button and determined to slog on through the day in as positive a manner as possible. We enjoyed a morning of meeting family members for various Skype sessions and then headed over to Kenny's for something of a culture clash: a Christmas dinner for around 30 people, made up of the missionaries and their families, and some of the locals. Christmas Eve here isn't simply the big celebration, it's pretty much the only celebration of Christmas. If anything, the purpose of the 25th is serious R&R. So it was something of a shock after the main course (of an eventual three) to hear the local guys rounding up the troops for an impromptu game of footie! By this stage, I had managed to metamorphose into a human beach ball, rendering any physical activity not only impossible but almost certainly fatal. I politely declined, bracing myself for Amanda's trademark pumpkin pie. So yeah, no post-meal snoozing in front of the Doctor Who special round these parts. I ended up heading home almost immediately and crashing, as did the majority of guests. All things considered, the whole event probably didn't last longer than 3 hours. A brief but certainly memorable meal.

Since then, we've been back behind our respective desks. A fair number of the staff have taken holidays but we're waiting until the end of January when we're hoping to take a few days off to travel to Santa Cruz with Amanda's sister (her arrival here being a prayer point in itself given the civil unrest). But it's been nice, for once, to have our working days punctuated by generous quantities of Christmas chocolate -- some of it from Europe! We trust you had a blessed Christmas and our prayers are with you for the coming year -- looking forward to your company again in 2011.

Prayer
• For the country in these fragile days, particularly for ordinary families, who will feel the effects of the fuel increases in a very real way.
• For both of us in our day-to-day work. Though a little quieter right now, it's a great opportunity to get a lot of the groundwork for 2011 in place.

Praise
• For a really enjoyable and restful Christmas weekend.
• For God's faithfulness to us in 2010 and so many opportunities awaiting us in 2011!

¡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 -- 01/05/10

You’ll remember that last week, as I was typing our weekly entry, Amanda was sitting her exam at the conclusion of the course in primary care of the ear and hearing. And that we’d been really encouraged by her progress in the language as the week had gone on (the course was completely in Spanish). Well, Pine Ridge’s star pupil wasn’t about to let a foreign tongue stand between herself and academic achievement and, sure enough, she came out on top, with her score of 98.5% the best in the group of seven, five of whom are native Spanish speakers. Of course, true to form, frustrations soon surfaced (“what happened to the other one-and-a-half percent?!”). But we can complain not; in the face of difficult questions, Amanda kept her cool. She could teach the Prime Minister a thing or two…

There is not too much to report regarding our work, but there is certainly a palpable feeling of change in the air – and I refer not just to the welcome bout of sursthis week. Firstly, Matt, a volunteer in health and sports this month, left town on Wednesday evening; indeed he should be arriving back home in Texas around about now. Matt’s a Spanish graduate who is currently in medical training, so he was ideally suited to the work here, and equally suited to having someone around to chew the fat with. On Tuesday evening we went out to Estancia, Trinidad’s finest steak restaurant, so that Matt could sample some cut-price carnivory one last time. We wish him well in his studies and hope he’ll come back to the Fundación one day.

Secondly, being May bank holiday weekend (though, alas, the ‘holiday’ here is on Saturday), we’re rolling up our sleeves and upping tools as we prepare our new apartment for inhabitation. We’re hoping to move in within the next couple of weeks and the main challenge is the new kitchen, which is in need of a lick of paint. But calm down there, Dad – not without a good sanding down of the walls. Be still thy beating heart.

And more significantly, next Friday afternoon we’ll be having our meeting with the directors of FT to discuss our future work here, now that our first three months are up. We’re looking forward to having the opportunity to define our roles a little better but we would really appreciate prayer over the coming week, that we would feel a sense of confirmation of these roles, that the directors would be receptive to our desires and that we would be sensitive to theirs. We’ll let you know how things proceed in our next update.

One last thing. Those of you who know me well will be aware that the area of fashion-consciousness is some way down on my list of priorities – wedged between ‘Tidy your room’ and ‘Remember to leave the toilet seat down’, I seem to remember. Perhaps Bolivia is putting an end to that, but only because I’m terrified of the alternatives. Quite simply, Trinidad is devoid of suitable hair styling products for my Barnet Fair. Indeed, rare is day that I don’t look in the mirror and see a missing carwash brush luxuriating atop my head, particularly after a brisk trip on a moto-taxi. And so, it has come to this: if you’re wondering if there’s any way you can practically help us down here in the Amazon basin, you could do a lot worse than send a tub of this stuff down now and again.


Shock Waves Ultimate Effects Matt Clay. It’s just as exciting as it sounds, or for me at least. Happy hunting!

Prayer
• For our meeting next Friday afternoon with the directors.
• For patience as we begin the process of moving house for the fourth time in three years!

Praise
• For Amanda’s really encouraging test result.
• For Matt and the benefit he’s brought to us all, both as a Fundación and as individuals.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 07/01/12

Pleased to report that since the last entry my hip-hop career has begun and ended in some style. Some weird, highly disturbing style.

Last weekend’s church Hogmanay shindig was based primarily around a games night, in which we were divided into three teams and asked to nominate participants for a series of mini-games. The final, deciding round was based on one’s ability to verbalise in a rhythmic fashion and, seeing as no-one else was forthcoming, I took up the bait as the self-styled Choco Loco (Crazy White Guy). It seemed to do the trick and, happily, Facebook is currently devoid of the incriminating evidence. Currently.

The whole night, organised by a group of young people here, was a great success, 2012 being seen in with much gusto.

Though in reality, nothing much else has changed. The working week has been typical of school holiday period, with much preparation and limited interaction. However, I’m preaching on Sunday on John 15:9-17, and so I’ve had something a little more immediate to focus on too. So much of what I’ve been taking in over the last few months seems to centre around obedience and the blessings to be gained from it, and this passage is certainly no exception to that. Perhaps somebody’s trying to tell me something.

We would appreciate your prayers not just for my sermon, but for all of the church activities this weekend, as a fairly major scheduling overhaul is about to take place. Until now, the church has had its Sunday School at 9am, followed by the family service at 10.30am and, immediately following that, the Communion service at 11.45am. This schedule served the church fairly well initially, but it hasn’t been without problems, particularly in the final slot, the Communion service. There has been a big increase in visitors coming to the church in the last few months, many of whom are not yet believers. Such people joyfully come to the family service but have to leave immediately after, so that the Christians in the congregation can participate in the Communion service. There is an inherent problem here, in that we want to be impacting our community for Christ, yet there is no opportunity on Sunday morning to have meaningful conversation with visitors.

Additionally – and this is more of a cultural consideration – the big meal of the day here is lunch. Most people prefer to avoid cooking on a Sunday and buy from various vendors in town, but Sunday lunches are so in demand that they are often sold out by the time church is finished. Lunch has therefore become something of an impediment to worship, with many Communion regulars either having to send a family member out to pick it up, or spending the service worrying about it. It also means that most folk do a runner for the door as soon as the service is over.

The last thing we want to be doing as a church is putting barriers between people and Christ. And so, from tomorrow, the church will meet at new times. The Communion service will take place at 9am and the family service at 10am, allowing us some important fellowship time together afterwards as a church community, and giving people plenty of time to get lunch. Additionally, ‘Sunday School’, from the beginning of the school year in February, will take place on Saturday afternoons.

It’ll take the church a while to get used to, particularly as Bolivians are not punctual people, but we’re really looking forward to the new opportunities this will give us to impact our community. We’ll let you know next week how Week 1 went.

Prayer

• For a smooth adjustment to the new church schedule.
• For Craig as he preaches this Sunday on John 15:9-17.

 Praise

• For the opportunity to bring in 2012 together as a church.
• For the Lord’s provision to us in various small ways this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 01/09/12

The Intermediate English class: certifiably talented.

No doubt about it, missionary work is far from straightforward. Actually, I’d go as far as to argue that if all is running smoothly at one’s mission station, then there’s probably something wrong. Because, ultimately, ours is a field which deals in that most inconsistent of commodities: human lives. We minister to a vast patchwork of needs, failures and hurts. It sure can be a messy business.

Throw a place like Trinidad into the mix, where in any given day technology will break down, institutions will shut down and people will let you down, and you can see why, for us, such a concept as a ‘typical day’ doesn’t really exist. I have surely at least once referred on this webpage to George Verwer’s warning not to become involved in missions work if one is not prepared to have one’s heart broken – this is a regular, sometimes daily, occurrence for us. We bear our fair share of burdens – and are honoured to minister to broken souls.

Nonetheless, one of the great pleasures of the English class this year has undoubtedly been the opportunity to work alongside a mature, responsible and largely independent group of people, with ages ranging from 12 to 52. While Amanda and I strive to create a warm, fun learning environment, there’s no question that the homework demands in the first few lessons have a way of separating the wheat from the chaff. What remained was a core group of a dozen or so students who came regularly to class (consistency of commitment is, in itself, a rare quality in Bolivia), learned to speak a language, heard the truth about the Christian faith, and, in the process, developed into not only fine students, but great friends.

On Wednesday evening, then, we rounded off the year with a dinner in one of Trinidad’s fabled steak restaurants, where everyone received their final certificates. However, the prevailing mood was not so much ‘adios’ as ‘chau’, as we investigated how to keep up English practice together – my hope is that we’ll be able to meet as a group once a week to converse in the language, using news articles, songs and other stimuli.

Meanwhile, the more chaotic side of our ministry was very much in evidence yesterday in the outlying village of Maná, where we staged the first ‘off-campus’ community class this year. Eagle-eyed readers may remember that last year we decamped to this village for a few weeks, however, we’re hoping to run the class every Friday until Christmas. A similar curriculum – of Bible teaching and literacy development – to the one at the Wednesday class will be taught, though part-time education worker Elizabeth, volunteer teacher Porfidia, and I will have to revise our execution a little over the coming week. In the end, 30 kids turned up, but the first of these arrived some 30 minutes after the scheduled start-time and we were well into the second-half of the afternoon’s teaching when the final kids made their appearance. Compared to sleepy Maná, the Trinidad mentality is positively New York-esque, and we will have to adjust accordingly.

Porfidia teaches the kids with Elizabeth (in black) looking on.

However, we all had a lot of fun reaching out to a whole new set of children. Which brings us neatly to Amanda’s major activity of the week: preparing name-tags for the children who’ll be coming to a new kids’ club the Sports department of FT are launching next week. But how, pray tell, do we even know the names of the kids? Because, wonderfully, a local school has allowed us to take two whole year-groups out of class for two hours each Tuesday for their ‘R.E.’ time. But there won’t be much time for ‘chalk-and-talk’ as the programme includes singing, team games and interactive Bible lessons. Our friend and fellow missionary KC Rivero is spearheading the operation and Amanda was only too happy to get involved this week as she eased her way back into work.

Must dash, for reasons outlined in the prayer points, below. Token house construction-progress picture to finish.

Prayer

• For the kids’ club, starting next Tuesday. Pray for all the FT workers who will be involved and for preparation of the children’s hearts to hear the Good News.
• For wisdom and discernment as we seek to refine our approach to working with the Maná kids.

Praise

• Give thanks for a great year with the Intermediate English group, and pray for the Basic class, starting on the 18^th of September.
• We’ve been thrilled upon returning from our stint in Santa Cruz to have seen the youth group so rejuvenated by a programme of activities inspired by the recent Olympic Games. A fair few new faces were in evidence last weekend. Give thanks for that and pray for our watersports activity this morning out at the local lake resort.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

P.S. Next weekend I’m rendezvousing in La Paz with my good friend Dan Wynne, who arrives next Saturday for a fortnight’s trekking in Bolivia and Peru. Indeed, I’ll be accompanying him for a few days to the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt-lake and just about the last major tourist attraction in this country I haven’t yet experienced. I hope to share some striking photography in a couple of weeks’ time (I'm not showing off -- it's not hard to take great pictures when this is your canvas) – in the meantime, hopefully I can convince Amanda to put in a shift next Saturday. TTFN.

Saturday Post -- 17/01/15

This time last week.

Writing from Santa Cruz, where we arrived yesterday in the late afternoon, luggage and sanity just about intact after 30 hours of travelling. Our plan is to be here for a couple more days. Bolivia’s biggest city offers most of the conveniences of a developed world context, while still being unmistakably oriental – i.e., typical of eastern Bolivia and its people. In other words, a few days here en route back to Trinidad tends to ease us back into things a little more gently.

Round about this time last week, we were putting the finishing touches to the sanctuary and coffee area of Strathaven Evangelical Church, where our farewell event was about to take begin. Having received responses to our invitation from far and wide, we had a feeling the numbers would be high, and any doubts regarding this were dispelled when our first visitor came in and took a seat; we had never even met her before!

In all, we reckon the best part of 150 friends came and went over the course of the afternoon, during which we twice gave a short presentation on our return (essentially a more compact version of last week’s blog post), and endeavoured to say cheerio to as many as we could – though this was some task! Indeed, as the afternoon progressed, we became increasingly aware of what a difficult position we’d left ourselves in. We’d long looked at the occasion pragmatically, considering it an efficient way to touch base with, and say goodbye to, as many as possible. But we were probably guilty of overlooking the emotional ramifications of this. With some friends, a quick two minutes simply did not feel like enough. Nonetheless, we can take comfort from the fact that such sadness simply reflected the many happy times we had been afforded with them over the course of the year. We have no cause for complaint.

And, above all, we draw great strength from last weekend’s very tangible reminders -- at Strathaven and at our re-commissioning service the following day at Shettleston -- of our great privilege, to have these people, and several times more around the world, lifting up our needs and our ministry to the Lord in prayer.

Mercifully, we were just about finished packing when
our luggage scales came to an untimely (if inevitable) end.

A good thing, too, because, if we’re honest, in those moments this week when we’ve been able to think about something other than whether the Nintendo (Craig) or favourite pair of jeans (Amanda) will make it into the case, we have felt a little vulnerable. Indeed, I’d go so far as to say that this has been harder than 2010, when the novelty factor kicked any niggling concerns into touch. A good friend of ours pointed out this week that we’re probably feeling a little like Moses by the burning bush – an astute analysis.

We think of how little support there will be for us on the field, relative to the past, and like Moses, we are nervous to go back. We think of the great needs that exist in the Foundation and the church; we then look at ourselves and, like Moses, we feel utterly inadequate to address them. But most of all, we know that God has not yet indicated another path for us, and so, like Moses, we simply must return, knowing that it is not about our faltering efforts, but the God who works through them and despite them.

Still, this is no easy lesson to take on board. On Wednesday evening before bedtime, as is our habit, we took these things to the Lord in prayer, and I’ll admit that I had to stifle the odd sob, as more than once I somehow managed to string together the following words: “Lord, I just do not get this.” No doubt, this is a test of faith, perhaps the most profound we have yet experienced. Yet, for reasons I can’t quite explain, there was an undeniable sweetness to those tears, which spoke at one and the same time of the great uncertainty we felt, and the great joy of doing what we know is the Lord’s will.

Prayer

• For safety for the last leg of our journey back to Trinidad, on Monday afternoon.
• For self-discipline over the next few weeks. It will be extremely tempting to dive right back into things, especially where we see need. Pray that we might resist this, and prayerfully work out what God wants from us, and where we might best use our gifts.
• For patience as we re-adapt to a developing world culture; a big adjustment after a year in the UK and Canada.
• For abundant reserves of faith!

Praise

• For a pretty much hitch-free journey so far. No overweight baggage, a good sleep over the Atlantic, and half price on excess baggage for the flight to Santa Cruz – just because the guy was in a good mood!
• For the many people (like you!) who take a prayerful interest in our ministry, as evidenced by last weekend’s event.
• For an encouraging, stimulating, challenging and (we hope!) maturity-enhancing home assignment year.