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