Saturday Post -- 08/01/11

Last weekend I mentioned that the outdoor Christmas Eve service a couple of weeks back had been something of a test for the fingernails as storm clouds lurked overhead throughout. The worst of it, in fact, had been a mild sprinkling early on, followed by the rainbow, of which I included a photo last week. Indeed Christmas Day was, weather-wise, one of the most pleasant I can remember. The rain never came but the temperatures stayed cool with some pleasant sunshine to boot.

Oh, but doesn't Christmas seem a mere relic of the dim and distant past today! Rainy season well and truly began this week with two major deluges wreaking havoc. We live in one of the higher parts of town, but the FT headquarters got a slight mediaeval spin with their very own moat protecting the portcu--sorry, front door. And as for altitude, we reckoned we'd got it made, living in an upstairs apartment and all. Not so! Yesterday lunchtime we came back from work to discover a giant puddle on the surface of our bedroom floor. Water had managed to come in from the balcony, entering under the patio doors. So we did full justice to the phrase 'working lunch' while making the pleasant discovery that our balcony has a drain, which blockage had caused the water trappage in the first place. Shows what careful homeowners we are. Anyway, that made quite a difference and we were able to deal with the consequences without any major damage.

Of course, our minor annoyance was as nothing compared to what will face many homes around Trinidad, many of which are simply made from sticks and often built on stilts so as to avoid the worst of it. For many, it's a losing battle and FT's healthcare team will deal with a fair few cases who have endured its ill-effects over the coming months.

The other main development this week is that we woke up one day and realised that it was time to start making headway on our next visa application. Regular readers may be forgiven for thinking we only just finished off our last one -- and yes, it feels like that to us as well. But the one-year visa will be up in early March and so we need to start getting together the mountains of documentation required for the new two-year visa application (this is the maximum visa we can obtain at the moment and then in 2013, we can apply for permanent residence), particularly as there is a hefty daily fine for each day we stay in the country sans visa. So this week we made a start on our Interpol administration, just one of several certifications required for the two-year visa but one that will take at least a few weeks to process. When we have that and everything else in place, our passports will then be sent to La Paz to be granted the new visas. Clearly a good drenching of prayer would be welcomed, not only for the process itself but our attitudes throughout. I particularly find my patience draining in these many hours of sitting around in offices, most of the time being told that the last guy sent us to the wrong place. Nevertheless, having started the process last year in early February, we've made something of a head start this time, so that's a little encouragement.

Work has been busy for both of us, Amanda ploughing away at the survey results and audiology; I preparing meditations for next week and my sermon for this Sunday, which will be on 2 Samuel 7 -- those of you who know the passage will realise what a challenge it is to limit oneself to a 40-minute sermon. We're also looking beyond the weekend, however. On Monday Amanda will begin taking a two-week audiology training course at FT and then on Thursday it's off to the airport to, God-willing, collect Amanda's sister, Jessica, who will be flying down from Toronto via Miami on Wednesday/Thursday. The final leg of the trip, as for all international travellers to Trinidad, is from Santa Cruz to Trinidad on a 12-seater plane. She needs to get from one airport to the other within Santa Cruz in order to do this and Spanish is by no means her forté. However, our friend and co-worker Maicol has a brother in Santa Cruz who is going to do us a big favour and transport her between the airports and on to her flight. Prayer, nonetheless, would be much appreciated.

Prayer
• For patience and the Lord’s guidance as we begin the long and winding visa road.
• For Craig as he preaches this Sunday and takes the morning mediations at FT next week.
• For Jessica’s travels to Trinidad and our time with her over the following few weeks.

Praise
• For a full recovery for Craig from a very brief stomach upset on Sunday/Monday.
• For the arrival of a key computer hardware package from Canada this week (it was sent in November so we’d been growing a little concerned).

¡Qué Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda