Saturday Post -- 03/03/12

That's us in Trinidad's zoo with a family of kids who attend FT's Community classes and various church activities. In December of 2011, they found out they wouldn't be seeing their mother again for many years to come, for reasons best unmentioned in the blogosphere. Anyway, on Monday, which is our day off, we took them out for ice cream and a visit to the local animal hangout. With alligators aplenty (literally crawling around in a marshy area in the middle of the park, cage optional), there was certainly reason for mild trepidation for certain visitors. As it happened, the snappers kept themselves to themselves, leaving Bambi to wreak havoc instead. That's right folks, Amanda was frantically pursued by a deer. I wonder if it was the odour from the dogs.

Methinks all this japery calls for a classic Simpsons moment.

Anyway, we certainly made the most of Monday's break, with a busy working week ahead, featuring the launch of this year's R.E. and English classes. I introduced myself to my three new classes and we had an introductory discussion on religion, evangelical Christianity and the Bible. Here, there is relative freedom to teach what you like, so long as you frame it as your own personal belief. It proved to be a lively discussion and it turned out there were a few believers in there too. We'll continue on the same theme this coming week before launching into our study of John's gospel. My classes were just three of 8 in total which took place through FT educational workers this week, meaning over 250 kids in the neighbourhood will be getting a weekly diet of sound Bible teaching in 2012.

As for the English classes, things started a little slowly with just 8 in attendance at Tuesday's launch class. But it turned out one of them is a lawyer and local TV presenter, with a show here every weeknight from 9pm till midnight. So I inquired as to the prospect of a free plug that very evening. Sure enough, on Wednesday morning, I spoke to around a dozen people about signing up (seemingly he'd been going on about it the whole show), and by the time Thursday's class came round, numbers had more than doubled. Most importantly, though, 18 people got the chance to read and translate a simple English passage about God and his granting of freewill to us. 

Another new facet of our day-to-day work this year is also well underway, with Amanda and I holding several one-on-one sessions with FT staff members, whom we meet and pray with. This week I met with Wilson, who works in administration at FT but is also a fellow church band member. Wilson is a couple of years younger than me, but already has two school-aged kids with his wife, and they live with his parents and other family members in a fairly diminutive property. Such living arrangements are not uncommon here, but his extended family are not believers, and so encouragement can be hard to come by once church is over for another week. 

Amanda, meanwhile, met with a fellow nurse and an administrator, neither of whom are believers, but who are both really open to sharing with her. As Amanda dug a little deeper, it turned out that both are by no means uninterested (indeed, we see the administrator at church now and again) but they have some challenging obstacles to overcome to get there -- unsurprisingly, in a church culture where accountability can be sorely lacking, the behaviour of other Christians has proven to be a big stumbling block. An important reminder to us both of the fact that, as missionaries, we are constantly under scrutiny -- a heavy burden to bear, yes, but at the same time, what an opportunity!

Prayer

• For the various staff members mentioned above. Pray too that we would be good listeners and would steer clear of glib, easy answers.
• For Craig as he preaches on John 18:28-40 this weekend.
• For the church's children's ministry which launches this afternoon, with the Sunday School having shifted to Saturdays.
• For Amanda's study in Esther for young women in the 18-25 bracket, which begins tomorrow evening.
• For safe travels for Amanda's cousin, Rebecca Chee, who will be making her way down to Trinidad from Toronto on Friday and Saturday, and who will be joining FT as a volunteer in the educational ministry for a few weeks.

Praise

• For a wealth of encouragements this week as the English and R.E. classes began.
• For the opportunity to minister to our fellow workers and church family this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!


Craig & Amanda