Saturday Post -- 30/11/13

Church band night out (see below).
Wilson in Roman-emperor-at-Collisseum mode. The tease.

Crazy, crazy day ahead. Amanda and I are both tasked with overseeing 'clausuras' (closing ceremonies -- Bolivians love to pomp it up) in FT and the church, and I also have a sermon to polish off for tomorrow. To that end, Amanda had kindly volunteered to write this morning, but last night she received an invitation to a kindergarten graduation from a family whose children attend the church, and then this morning we get word that one of the young women in Amanda's Bible study group has had an emergency C-section, four weeks ahead of her due date -- good job Amanda had the baby-shower last weekend!

It never rains but it pours, as they say. If only that were really the case -- it's been hotter than a Shanghai sauna over the past week.

So, you'll permit me to head straight to the prayer points this morning. Well, OK, maybe you won't, but tough cheese. 

Prayer

• You know the familiar saying: "It ain't over till your plane's left Santa Cruz". As well as tomorrow's sermon (on Christmas-themed prophecies in the Old Testament) Craig has had plenty more to keep him busy in the church. Last weekend, one of our leaders resigned from his post, very much out of the blue. And over the past couple of days our pastor, Elías, has come down with dengue fever and has been ordered by the doctors to go on bedrest for two weeks. Tomorrow was technically going to be Craig's last day of work in the church, and we know fine well after four years here that things rarely go to plan in Bolivia, but the timing of these twin blows is certainly hard to stomach, when we both have so much still to do to get ready to go home. So please pray for perseverance and that Elías's recovery would be swift.
• Pray for new mother Maye and her baby, who is currently in an incubator.
• Pray for a course which is taking place in the church tomorrow afternoon, called 'The Culture of Blessing'. It's being run by two of our members and the material, which focuses particularly on encouragement, looks like it could be of real benefit to us as a church. Pray for good attendance and a positive response from the church.
• With FT now more-or-less done and dusted (see below), we now move into leaving preparation mode. Lots of stuff to do still: some minor repairs in the house, car maintenance, packing (not only for Scotland but also clearing space in the house for Rachel, who will be looking after it in 2014). Oh, and we still have to put together our presentation for churches, which we'd really like to polish off before travelling so we don't have it hanging over us over Christmas. Pray for energy and patience.

Praise

• Yesterday was our last day at Fundación Totaí. We are so thankful to the Lord for what he has done through us, and very much in spite of us, over the last four years. Given the financial difficulties of the last couple of years, we're especially thankful that FT is still standing and continues to provide such high quality services to our community and beyond.
• Craig took the church band members out for dinner on Wednesday night as a thank-you for all their hard work over the last three years, and they had a special time together. Give thanks for the amazing growth of these guys and girls as musicians -- most couldn't play a note before coming to the church -- and for the unity the Lord has forged between us as a music ministry, both technically and spirtually.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda