Saturday Post -- 21/05/11

Though the school holidays are still a couple of months away, thoughts are steadily turning to July’s Five-Day Holiday Bible Clubs, which, as they did last year, will take place at FT’s headquarters the first week and in the remote village of San Pedro in the second week.

Excitingly, the make-up of the team looks set to have a radical overhaul, with a group of ten young people in the church having been approached to play a part in the running of the clubs, with a particular focus on working with small groups.

Though the Five-Day club in San Pedro took place nearly a year ago, FT has sought to maintain the contact, with three afternoon visits taking place towards the end of last year (though remote and accessible only by dirt road, the village is nonetheless just an hour’s drive from Trinidad). And earlier this week, we made the first of two afternoon visits, the next being in June, ahead of the club in July. Now I personally am relatively uninvolved, the bulk of the planning and preparation being carried out by FT Sports staff. Nonetheless, they’re always in need of someone to play the guitar, and that someone is usually me. However, I also chipped in in various other ways, such as leading a small group – a real eye-opener, I must say, both in terms of Biblical knowledge and literacy levels. Anyway, here are some pictures.


The team, which included four of the ten youth volunteers (the other six are coming next month)


Sing-song time


This is my impromptu small group (the standing kids are the high-schoolers who came to investigate what was going on during their break)

Back in Trinidad, the annual complex ear microsurgery campaign is in full swing, having started on Thursday and finishing this Tuesday. However, this time round, Amanda isn’t at the coal-face, instead covering rudimentary nursing tasks while the other nurses are in theatre, though she’s had a couple of Audiology patients to attend to at the same time. Needless to say, she’s spinning the plates with characteristic. We also got some news on the river trip which Amanda will be embarking on with three other FT health staff and a team from Canada. She’ll now be going on a later trip, from the 22nd of June until the 3rd of July. Though a little later, it still leaves us with plenty of time afterwards to get ready for our trip to Canada the following month. And most importantly, she’ll be back just in time for our anniversary – yes, I may be a bloke but I am fully aware of their existence, thankyouverymuch.

As you’ll be aware, a couple of months ago some younger guys in the church and I began a weekly practice with a view to forming a worship band. Well, at our practice on Monday, in order to prevent lethargy from setting in, we opted to go for broke and set a date for our first Sunday morning service. Sunday 5th of June, then, is the day, and at long last it appears the church congregation will finally be free of boring old me.

Prayer
• For Amanda as she juggles nursing and Audiology work during the surgical campaign.
• For the worship band as we seek to have everything in place for our debut Sunday.

Praise
• For safety and encouragement during Tuesday’s visit to San Pedro.
• For an enjoyable afternoon with Elizabeth (Amanda’s young Sunday School assistant) and her siblings on Sunday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda