(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