Saturday Post -- 26/02/11

Increasingly appreciating the opportunity the blog presents us to stop and take stock every Saturday. The weekdays here are hectic. But, more than anything, this being Trinidad, they are entirely unpredictable.

Take yesterday morning, for instance. Rainy season has naturally caused a build-up of excessive mud in grassy areas, making it pretty precarious at times for driving. A few of us guys were attending to official business when we got a call from one of the nurses, who couldn't get the ambulance (a 4x4, no less) out of one of these ditches. 6 chaps, 2 spades and 90 minutes later, we eventually rescued the trapped vehicle from this particular slough of despond. Job done. Morning gone.

Flexibility is key here. Expect the unexpected. Anticipate disaster. A hard lesson for one so set in their ways as myself -- my diary, unfortunately, can, at times, become my gospel, making Trinidad a most unlikely venue for my missionary skills. The Lord sure ain't finished with me.

Indeed, the week was constantly moved and shifted by the unpredictable. Yet amongst this, we made progress on a few things. Amanda has been hard at work in Audiology testing some new equipment which they have there and her meticulous approach to her work is being very much appreciated by both patients and staff. The English classes continued this week with a few new faces and enthusiasm undimmed, even when faced with the challenge of the first verb.

I've also been afforded the opportunity by the board to look at my weekly schedule and consider what changes could be made to give me more educational opportunities. When we got here over a year ago, we were advised to take things slowly for the first few months and we largely observed this, while picking up small, generic tasks in the meantime. For myself, however, since I took on the role of Director of Education, these activities have not always been conducive to making progress on educational tasks. In many ways, they have kept me humble -- abandoning my office to drive the ambulance a couple of times a week to pick up physio patients, for example, has taught me a lot about what it means to serve -- but the time has come to start prioritising.

To this end, I'll be using my gifts in teaching a little more. From this week, I'll be running a drop-in guitar workshop for an hour on Thursday afternoons. And I'm hoping to meet the head-teacher of the local high school on Monday to offer support in English teaching. The standards of teaching and discipline at state-run schools here are pretty abysmal, so a challenge certainly awaits, but it will be a good reminder of how life is for the majority of children here, how blessed I've been to have had the education I had, and another little awareness-raiser of FT in the community.

Amidst the busyness of the week, we got a little complacent with the visa application, giving it no attention whatsoever, and we now have just four working days next week to get it together before the deadline. Technically, we have just about everything we were asked for ready to submit, however, I refer you to the first three paragraphs; it would not surprise us in the slightest if the government had completely changed the rules within the last month. God-willing, by this time next week our applications will be winging their way to La Paz -- passports included. Yikes!

Prayer
• For our visa applications, that we would achieve what we need to this week and that the Immigration office would look kindly upon them.
• For Craig as he takes on the new educational tasks in the coming weeks.

Praise
• For the positive impact Amanda is making in Audiology.
• For the Lord’s help in preparing meditations this week (on Galatians and The Jerusalem Council).

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda