Saturday Post -- 5/12/15

A mere 24 hours following our last missive, we awoke to a dramatically different Trinidad, with heavily-wind-assisted rain battering our house on all sides. The wind was uncharacteristically southerly for this time of year, but that aside, the impression was that rainy season 2015/16 had fired its opening soggy salvo. Indeed, the torrential conditions persisted well into the afternoon, making for a cosy gathering at church in the morning. I suppose we like to think of ourselves as something of an island of hope in our community, and as the rain came down and the floods came up, things went way beyond the metaphorical.

The rain could not, however, put a dampener on this year's surgical campaign, taking place all this week at Fundación Totaí. Dr. Richard Wagner from the USA and a team of specialists here in Bolivia oversaw 20 surgical cases, with another 100 people seen as outpatients. The surgical campaigns always bring hundreds of people to the Foundation, with the patients' families tending to hang around in the corridors outside the operating theatres and out-patient ward. So this year, Elías (the church pastor) and I had the bright idea of giving short evangelistic talks to the assembled masses, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Unlike much of Europe and North America, people here remain pretty receptive to such ventures, even shifting seats in the waiting area so they can hear you better (no small hurdle during an ENT campaign, admittedly); it certainly eases the mind to know that people are at least listening rather than looking up the number of a human rights lawyer. All in all, the message was well received, and it's got us thinking about perhaps doing something similar throughout the year. 

That aside, we as a couple are fairly removed from the campaign goings-on, and with the year's end nearing, the week has been largely taken up with the kinds of activities they never told you about during the 'missionary of the week' slot at Sunday school -- activities largely brought to you by Microsoft Office. 

Things are rarely truly 'routine' here, though, and accordingly, we've had to deal with a couple of difficult situations involving families in the church, including a Priscilla-and-Aquila tag-team effort one afternoon. And while the parties concerned are by no means out of the proverbial tree collective, we felt we were able to bring healing to both situations, with God's grace. As an elder of the church, I was particularly encouraged. In recent months, we have re-prioritised the ministry of visiting which, quite frankly, was being neglected. Both of these families had received recent visits, and so the foundations had already been laid for an open, secure dialogue, which was what resulted. 

Oh yeah, and this thing went up in the final hours of November. 

Call it a few hours of good, clean distraction. And boy, do we need it these days (see first prayer point).

Prayer

• This week, we were informed that a decision on a possible adoption will be made on Monday week, the 14th of December. To put it bluntly, parenthood could be a mere nine days away. We would really appreciate your prayers for patience during this time (maybe we'll find another tree to put up).
• For the church's Christmas programme. This week, the youth and children's ministries will begin rehearsals for the special service on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Many parents and other family members come to this service (in many cases it's the only time we'll see them all year) presenting us with a tremendous evangelistic opportunity.
• For all those who heard the gospel message this week during the campaign.

Praise

• For God's help during those difficult visits this week, and for positive outcomes.
• For the great freedom -- social as well as legal -- to preach the good news here.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda