Saturday Post -- 26/10/13

Better late than never: a picture from the annual dinner on Thursday the
17th of October, marking the end of this year's English classes.

We're a little short on time today as we have an especially busy Saturday coming up. Tuesday is Fundación Totaí's ninth anniversary (regular readers will know that any annual milestone is celebrated here with no shortage of enthusiasm) and so, two important things are happening. Firstly, and most excitingly for me, everyone is getting the day off on Tuesday, resulting in an extra-long weekend for Amanda and I, who already have Mondays off. And secondly, we're having an event for staff and family members out at the lake today. Barbecued steak is on the menu and let's just say that if you had any idea what the steak is like here, you a) would renounce your vegetarianism and b) would certainly have no desire to spend your morning writing a blog post.

The event kicks off at 9am, so I have just enough time to share some extended prayer points.

Prayer

• Craig has his fortnightly church leaders' meeting tomorrow afternoon. Pray for wisdom for Craig and his fellow leaders Elías and Jerry as they seek to make the right decisions. We are often faced with some very murky situations, so this is not always easy.
• Pray for Amanda, who is more-or-less in charge of organising our church's first-ever youth camp, taking place on the weekend of the 16th of November. We have only just been able to settle on a final budget, so the costs will finally be announced at tonight's youth group (these vary depending on each member's attendance throughout the year).
• Keep praying for positivity for us both; the closer furlough gets, the longer and more stressful each day seems to become! The enemy seems keen that we leave here with every last modicum of enthusiasm for Trinidad and its people sapped out of us, thus rendering us less likely to ever return. Pray for divine protection as we take our share of the hits in the war of the ages.

Praise

• Give thanks for Craig's largely productive visit to Santa Cruz last weekend. He had initially planned on picking up some air conditioning units for the church, but at the last minute we were informed of a cheaper solution through a contact in Trinidad (highly unusual, as things are almost always more affordable in Santa Cruz). Nevertheless, he was able to pick up some much-needed equipment for the music ministry.
• For some really beneficial time together this week as a couple. Our evenings can disappear very quickly here, but we made a conscious decision to say "no" to one or two things and we feel refreshed as a result. As the only missionaries now left here, methinks we'll need more of this in the coming weeks.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda