Saturday Post - 14/01/12

The view from our apartment on Friday morning.

Our resident model poses on an abandoned scooter.

Roads become rivers very quickly at this time of year.

Well, so much for annual blog posts... as I (Amanda) have had the more exciting week, I once again am writing the weekly update. I have to admit that my week was not so much exciting, as encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed all that God was teaching me and where He was leading me, and I hope I am able to communicate just a bit of that enthusiasm to everyone reading.

This week saw us begin our new 2012 schedule. The first Monday of the year was a national holiday so we were unable to exercise our new free, personal day of the week. But this Monday was a work day, and it seemed a lot of people at work had forgotten that we would not be working, as I got a lot of concerned people worried that I was sick when I didn't show up. I don't know how many people were so bothered that Craig didn't show up. Just joking!!! 

Anyway, we really enjoyed our day off and it was rather productive. As it is now quite damp because of rainy season, our poor dog Arturo had developed a fungal infection which resulted in a bald spot on his hip... so we were able to take him to the vet and leave him there for a full disinfecting bath. We got to treat ourselves to salteñas for breakfast without a care in the world. However, the cares returned as got back to the house... because in a lot of ways free Mondays are really cleaning Mondays... and we got busy all afternoon cleaning the apartment. In the evening we enjoyed the company of our friends as we attended a surprise birthday party for one of our neighbour's mothers. They actually had it set up as a children's party and she thought she was attending a party for one of the neighbourhood kids... to the point where she didn't want to go and she had to get coaxed out the door. 

My interesting week, however, really started on Tuesday. I have no idea if Craig has mentioned before on the blog about my schedule change during the working week, but that change came into effect on Tuesday. I am now working half-time in Audiology and my goal with the other half of my time is to dedicate it to ministry work, whether that is one-on-one discipleship, youth group prep and planning, Sunday School (now "Saturday School)" prep, or visitations. But I had not really organised anything specific for this week... I wanted to use this week to do the organising, so I entered Tuesday afternoon with a bit of trepidation. I didn't want the nurses to think I was abandoning them. I wanted them to understand that I was doing this for them... because I think their spiritual wellbeing is more important then anything else. And so far, so good. They seem to accept and understand why I am doing it, and are very good natured about it. I did spend that Tuesday afternoon writing lists... ministries I felt passionate about, ways to tackle them, and I even wrote a list of things that I am good at and enjoy doing in order to think of ways of incorporating them in to service here. I wrote our questions and suggestions to discuss with other people about possible ways of altering things or about how we're going to work as a group. In all I was encouraged by the progress... 

Wednesday afternoon was the health area's monthly meeting, so I joined them for that... and that was encouraging in its own way. I participated!!! Usually during these meetings I sit there and listen and don't share that much. At the beginning this was because of my Spanish... later on it was because I didn't really have that much to say. But I felt that we were at the beginning of a new year and we had the opportunity to address a few things in health and I was going to speak up... and I did! Firstly, I got to share about the trip that Odalys and I took to Cochabamba and then I wanted to encourage people to strive to do their monthly health reports well. I am even organising a little workshop for this Wednesday afternoon to help everyone get their reports off on the right foot this year. We are also hoping to organise an Excel training course for the nurses especially. Every month they have to do these monthly reports on Excel and, well,  in one of the nurse's own words, "I only know how to turn the computer on and off...". Most of them want to learn these practical skills as well... so it would be an encouragement to them to be able to help them in this way. 

Thursday was a really encouraging day... firstly, Odalys asked me when we're going to arrange a time to meet every week. I have been saying this over and over to the nurses that I want to meet with them one-on-one... and it was so encouraging that Odalys wanted to arrange something and that she was taking it seriously. We've decided on Saturdays, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get that going. I was so excited. 

Thursday afternoon I went to visit one of the nurses in hospital. Kleider is about one month pregnant, but was admitted to hospital on Wednesday with some bleeding. Thankfully, they stopped the bleeding and she didn't miscarry and is on order bed rest just now (though she has every intention of coming back to work on Monday... sigh...). I went to visit her, as coming along side people is something I really want to do as well... I want to be able to help and support people through whatever they are going through, not just stuff at work. I was very nervous though because I don't have much experience with hospital visitation... I brought a deck of UNO cards to play if she was bored... because I can imagine bed rest can be boring. Her parents were there and after chatting for a bit, I said I had brought these cards if she wanted to play... I think everyone was really uncomfortable until they realised that they weren't a normal deck of cards and it was another special game. Good thing to remember culturally, that one... cards don't go down too well here. But Kleider really got into it and started winning some hands quite quickly. She got discharged later that night and is now resting at her sister's house. I am praying really hard for the health of her and her baby... as her and her partner have being trying for 5 years for this baby. 

Thursday was also interesting because it rained ALL day... driving to and from the hospital was actually quite dangerous. Trinidad was essentially flooding... please see posted pictures. It was quite dramatic... an annoyance for us, but a crisis for some people who do not live in elevated housing. One of the nurses said the water was about as high as her bed in her room. Roads became rivers... just going from the house to the church, the water rose to the top of my calves. I was worried that my wellies were not high enough, but I just got away with them. This did mean that none of the kids from the neighbourhood or Maná were able to come to prayer meeting... there were still seven of us in total though, and it was nice to have a meeting with adults where we had a really good sharing time and were able to encourage one another in a way that is difficult when there are lots of younger ones; not that we would ever want the younger ones to stop coming. Craig also joked that maybe God sent the rain so he didn't have to spell out the more physical aspects of the story of Judah and Tamar, in which he was leading a Bible study, to the younger kids. 

I also enjoyed Friday because KC and I finally were able to get together again. I think it had been over a year since we had schedules that allowed us to do so... and I really felt the benefit of just opening up to someone else and sharing items for prayer and praise. We shared plans and ideas we had for youth group, Saturday School, and one-on-ones with the Foundation staff. We shared how we were managing emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and were able to encourage each other. It was a huge blessing!

And now, here we are again... Saturday, and with no youth group till the end of the month, Craig and I are going out for a nice dinner... might even get a little dressed up too! Though with the water levels still high in some places, and nothing but mud in other places, heels will not be making an appearance tonight. 

Prayer

• For all the families which have been affected by the flooding.
• For FT nurse Kleider's health during her pregnancy.
• For Amanda as God opens more doors for ministry here.
• For patience for Craig, who is due to meet once again with the owner of our plots of land this week as we hope to finalise the ownership documents.

Praise

• The encouragement that Amanda has felt from her new schedule and the response to it.
• Getting to spend time with each other on our Mondays off.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda