Saturday Post -- 15/10/11

We all know the feeling. You’ve quietly gone about and provided assistance in some important, sacrificial way. You set out not to draw too much attention to yourself. You hear others commenting positively on your efforts and battle with yourself not to say anything. But most of the time, you end up ‘confessing’ to your kindness – quietly, subtly, but leaving no doubt in the listeners’ minds. Being thanked en masse isn’t exactly the least awkward of outcomes, but it doesn’t stop you from doing it over and over again.

If you, like most of us, are the kind of person who thrives on a little dose of recognition for your hard work now and again, then for goodness’ sake, stay out of Bolivia!

Last week I alluded a little to certain facets of our culture-shock. This week, the big challenge has been switching back into full service mode. I used to think I was fairly resilient in this sense. I’d thrown myself into a number of such endeavours back in the UK and had been quite sure that I wasn’t looking for any praise. But the thing is, in Western culture, it seems there’s always someone out there who appreciates what you’re doing, be it your church pastor/elder or the recipient of the action itself.

Now you may be aware that I’m not someone who takes compliments very well. Verbally, at least, I’ll sooner deflect the attention from myself than lap up the attention. But I hadn’t realised just how attention-seeking I was till I came here. Some of the locals, upon getting the gist of what Amanda and I do down here, quickly assume that we will drop everything at any moment to provide assistance. This includes the evenings, which we tend to guard as family time. There was one situation in particular this week when this happened and we quite happily met one need after another. And you should have seen me. I was mentally hanging on this person’s every word for that ‘thank-you’ that seemed like it was never coming.

I assume such situations will become easier as the weeks and months go by. But it’s definitely another way in which spending time back in a Western context hasn’t necessarily helped me. ‘You deserve…’ is a common refrain in advertising. Church bulletins aren’t exactly awash with opportunities to sacrifice one’s time on behalf of others. Shopkeepers virtually fall over themselves to help you (consumer rights haven’t quite taken root down here).

It’s a tough adjustment. But we press on, sounding no trumpet and forbidding our left hand from knowing the right’s whereabouts. Because the one who so commanded us didn’t anticipate a single utterance of gratitude for the greatest sacrifice of all.

In our 9-to-5, we’ve been hard at it. We’ve arrived back in Bolivia just in time for another surgical campaign at the foundation, and so Amanda has been (wo)manfully covering the day-to-day nursing work single-handedly while the other nurses support the surgeons. As for me, most of my educational activities are back in full swing now, with the first English classes taking place, both at the foundation and in the local secondary school.

Additionally, the Community classes have resumed, though with a subtle twist. Although there is no shortage of kids in our immediate neighbourhood, the majority of children who come to the classes come from far enough afield that the foundation has paid for a minibus to pick them up, with most of those coming from a small village called Maná, which sits about four miles outside Trinidad. For a while, we had been discussing the possibility of taking the class ‘on the road’ as a possible template for the future. Well, an opportunity has presented itself this month. With four weeks of surgical campaigns taking place at the foundation, the Community classes were faced with a potential month-long shutdown.

So, instead, we decided to give the experiment a try. On Wednesday and Friday, in Maná’s main school building, we taught the same familiar faces while making some new acquaintances at the same time. The usual format of the class when at the foundation is a short English lesson followed by a short Bible story. This month, aware that not all of the kids might ‘come back’ with us to the foundation when the programme of classes is over, we’ve opted to simply give ’em the gospel! This week the children responded positively to what we had to say about heaven and eternity – pray that they’ll grasp the significance in the coming weeks of what it cost Jesus to open heaven’s door to them.

Prayer

• For our attitudes as we continue to deal with change in ways we hadn’t always expected.
• For a positive response to the message we’re sharing at the Community classes.

Praise

• For a successful resumption of the educational work.
• For the privilege of serving others here in Trinidad and having very opportunities to put God’s Word into practice.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda