Saturday post -- 24/06/17

After a full week back in Trinidad, we’re enjoying being home and having a more settled family life again (how many people have to come all the way to Bolivia to do that?!). The house increasingly resembles our home (i.e., the mess is ours and not someone else’s) and we’ve been able to catch up with a good number of friends and colleagues, with some very initial conversations about ministry thrown in. Furthermore, Craig was able to tie up the paperwork on the car’s registration yesterday, after a week spent mostly driving from one office to the next; we sure haven’t missed Bolivian bureaucracy.

More on the present-day in the prayer points, below. For now, time to pick up where I left off last week, with a little more detail as to our prospects this time around.

Craig: Building a Church

As 2016 drew to a close, we were making our preparations to leave Trinidad and begin our journey back to Scotland for home assignment. Meanwhile, our former pastor, Elías, was preparing to step down from his position, according to a timetable agreed some months earlier. So I have known for some time now that this new term in Bolivia is likely to see my church commitments increase and intensify.

Elías was preaching about twice a month and teaching Bible studies every other Thursday. He was also at the forefront of visitation and represented the church at a local level. My workload in all of these areas was somewhat lighter, and is now likely to pick up considerably. This will be particularly pronounced in the first few months, as the other elder, Miguel Ángel, has asked to step back himself from the pulpit until the end of the year.

Though I will be taking on a lot more of the pastoral load, I will not be assuming the title of ‘pastor’ any time soon. Our vision, as ever, is for the Bolivians to gradually assume the work that the missionaries began – not just ourselves, but those other couples who have gone before us. Having a foreigner take on the role of pastor would surely hinder such progress, especially in a culture which is at times has no qualms about putting its feet up while other people get their hands dirty.

Moreover, our church has always been a very collaborative enterprise, and we have been delighted in the past week or so to hear about the great strides that have been made in gospel ministry, driven primarily by the laity. We may come to a point where we wish to appoint a pastor again, but for now (not least in a church with strong Brethren roots), we are happy to see how things progress, and I will be delighted to play my own part in this.

However, along with the additions will have to come subtractions, particularly if we are to live by the principles mentioned here last weekend. I have prayerfully decided to step back from youth ministry for the time being (though I will continue to disciple individuals in the group), and I will be winding down my responsibilities in the music ministry, with the aim of stepping down in January. Against my better instincts, I resurrected the English classes last year as a way of raising funds for Fundación Totaí. Well, by and large, it turned out my instincts were on to something; they, too, will be shelved.

Other jobs will continue for now, including my supporter communications work for FT and overseeing Langham Trinidad, which has also made great strides in my absence – a recurring, and humbling, theme developing there.

Amanda: Becoming more of a people person

As long-time readers will be aware, Amanda’s main role for her first few years here was as an audiologist at FT. She loved the work, but felt the door was closing on it by the time we had our first home assignment in 2014. During that year, God directed her towards the work of human resources in the Foundation, to which she dedicated a great deal of time and energy.

Above all, though, Amanda had planned on using the HR position as a way of getting alongside staff members on a pastoral level, and deepening relationships with them; several of our health staff are not yet believers, and most face challenging circumstances at home. While there were occasional opportunities in this area, Amanda largely found that it was hard to make great headway due to the copious paperwork that her role also entailed; naturally, Sam’s arrival complicated things here too.

Well our last home assignment saw FT’s new Director of Administration, Hernán, take on the HR role as part of his own work, and we prayed that there might be scope upon our return for Amanda to leave that with him permanently with a view to a greater pastoral care focus. Hernán and FT’s board members feel the need for this too, and they have been delighted to let Amanda go ahead with this.

She will essentially be making up her role as she goes along, but her goal is to be a presence in the Foundation as much as possible and to spend meaningful time with staff and patients; a ‘prayer room’ for patients has been a dream of ours for some time, and Amanda will finally be free to get this up and running at the Foundation with those patients who wish to be prayed for.

Like me, Amanda hopes to do some more discipleship work with youngsters in the church, and she will continue to support the work of the youth ministry – though this is, again, an area where she has been able to relinquish the role of leader since we have been away.

Sam: “Ring ring” goes the bell

“Hang about!,” I hear you cry, “I thought you guys had no time these days because of that Energizer Bunny also known as your son.” And in this you would be right: indeed we did not.

However, the decibel levels round here are about to take something of a downturn, as Sam sets off on his latest adventure: Day Care.

If you’ve met Sam, you will know just what a sociable little boy he is, and we’ve long felt his need of companionship, particularly of children his own age. Not least as Mummy & Daddy are running out of ideas fast: there are really only so many times you can play chucking-toys-up-the-stairs-then-back-down-again before even Sam starts looking at his watch.

The day care Sam will be attending feeds into a local school, and takes place on weekday mornings. In other words, by sheer coincidence, Sam will be otherwise occupied at the time of the week when we are generally at our busiest (this also paves the way for the aforementioned Monday morning ‘date nights’).

In all seriousness, while we are a touch nervous about dropping His Lordship back into the Spanish-language deep end, we are delighted to afford him the opportunity to spend more time with other little people, and get to grips with the accompanying social skills. We’re sure he’ll have a great time.

Meanwhile, of course, we hope to see him cement already-existing relationships with our friends and our church community here. Last Sunday morning, in church, he danced incessantly while the band played, and we pray that his joy in the Lord would only grow in the coming years.

Prayer

• For patience, wisdom and self-discipline as we seek to put these plans into action.
• Next weekend sees the wedding of a young woman who has grown up in the church and is well known and loved by many who are associated with this place. Consequently, a veritable horde is making its way here over the coming week, including several ex-missionaries. Pray for safe travels for all.
• Said horde will also include a seven-strong team from Strathaven Evangelical Church (including Craig’s Mum), who are due to arrive here next Saturday morning for two weeks. Pray for preparations for this visit, for the team and for ourselves.

Praise

• For progress this week on little jobs like the car documentation and the house.
• For great encouragement in catching up with old friends and learning of so many positive developments over the last six months, both at institutional and individual levels.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 20/08/16

Have you ever stopped to wondering how much you've changed over time? Do you think your former self would recognise who you are now? I (Amanda) had a week which really highlighted to me how much I've changed, not in good or bad ways, but I saw how I was now different.

Instance 1

On this week fell Day of the OANSA Leader -- OANSA is the Bolivian version of the AWANA children's and youth programmes, which originated some years ago in the USA. I'm not sure about which day specifically because I don't actually care about these things, but being the OANSA youth ministry coordinator in our church, I was supposed to be celebrated at some point this past week. The OANSA ministerial team for Trinidad organised a dinner for all OANSA leaders on Wednesday night at 8pm. Craig and I looked at each other, and I decided to bite the bullet and go on our behalf, thus allowing him to stay in, because he might die a slow death if forced to actually celebrate a Hallmark holiday (he made an exception for Mother's day this year, me being a new Mom and all, but we've become quite unromantic with Valentine's Day, it being overly corporate). 

So a whole pile of leaders from our church went to this organised dinner, where we arrived on time, and proceeded to wait for almost another hour before anybody else showed up from any other church. Even, our own church members were getting antsy about this time. And then there was still a whole programme to get through before we could eat. The food came out about 10:40. I don't think we left until 11:30, and we still had to drive some of the youth home to the village of Maná, about 20 minutes away. 

The most revelatory aspect of this evening to me, however, was the fact that I had fun. I suddenly remembered that when I was younger I liked going out and being in large groups, laughing and joking, but that due to business, tiredness, and a lack of a social group in our stage of life [you can start playing your violins around now, folks -- Craig] we just don't do that any more. And I had fun! It was fun! And I got dropped off at my door in a large carpool, just like when I was at Uni coming back from a youth event. I felt young again... until I realised it was past midnight and I was about to turn into a pumpkin. Seriously, I remembered why I had changed: my body is falling apart and I am old. Okay, I'm only 30, but it is true -- my body is falling apart and I am old. So, great to be reminded of who I was in my glory days, but I think I get more excited now about early bedtimes than a long night out on a the town. But thank you, Trinidad OANSA Ministerial Team: the chicken was lovely!

Instance 2

This week we finally organised another FT staff training morning. The Board had been meaning to organise one since June, but people kept scheduling surgery over the mornings I had fenced off, apparently thinking that emergency surgery was more important. As if. Okay, maybe it is. But finally on Thursday morning we got all the staff together in one place and made them say nice things to each other. In all seriousness, that was the first activity Mariana pulled out of her bag of tricks. Everyone had to say something positive or something they were thankful for about the person sitting on their right. The activity was supposed to highlight how much easier it is for us to think of negative things to say about each other, and to really force us to try and be positive. It was generally a success, with a few minor hiccups. One person ended her positive comment by saying, "But I would also advise her to try harder with her personality." Someone else started by saying, "Well, he's a lot better now than he was at the beginning." And finally, someone said, "I like how she wants to do everything right. People may think she has an ugly and hard personality, but it's because she wants to do everything right." My jaw hit the floor when that was said. Obviously the PC brigade never got this far into the Amazon jungle.

But being the HR Director, these staff mornings are generally my show, so I chaired the morning and led people through the activities. Our morning GP, Dr. Vargas, organised a seminar on the purpose of and how to properly put together a Procedures Manual, because FT doesn't have an updated one. We need to get it organised by the end of the year and most staff looked at me funny when I asked people to write in point form how they go about their jobs. So, we had a training morning. And Dr. Vargas did a really good job. Even I feel more confident about sitting down and writing out the details of my job (which I haven't started to do yet).

But as I was sitting through the seminar and my mind started to wander to other things (hey, I said Dr. Vargas did a good job, I didn't say the material was gripping), I kind of thought about how I would never have dreamed of being able to do my job when I was in University. My insecurity always killed my confidence, and while I never shied away from standing up in front of people, I always had intense nerves. Now, I just do it and move on to the next thing, and sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and say, "Who are you? And where were you in grade 7 when I was supposed to be Patty in Charlie Brown's Christmas play?"

Instance 3

Our new volunteer arrived this week, Roseanne Sanders from England. And she's really nice. We're going to be friends. And right there is another change. I have never made friends really easily. I have always been too insecure and worried about what people thought to really give myself to friendships easily. It has always taken time with me to really becomes friends with someone. But it has become easier and easier to just give myself to people and make friends in recent years.

So, Rosie and I are going to be buddies for the next three weeks. I mean, she brought shortbread for everyone to share at FT. Who doesn't want to be friends with someone like that? And she is up for anything. I'm sure there are some things that she didn't come out her to do, like intense manual labor, but she hasn't said no to me yet...I wonder what else I could get her to do. I wonder how she feels about babysitting. Can you say 'Date Night'?

And I have never seen anyone less stressed and polite after losing their suitcase, which did not leave Brazil when she did. Thankfully, she has her suitcase again. I'm pretty sure I would have lost my cool at some point, but she was really relaxed about the whole experience.

We're all looking forward to spending more time with her over the next three weeks and I know that Odalys and Maye, in our Speech Therapy and Audiology Department, are especially excited to have the extra help.

Conclusion

Craig mentioned that we had attended a one day conference on mentoring while in Sucre by Rick Lewis. Rick highlighted that the purpose of mentoring is identifying and promoting the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And he asked us all to think of the ways that we knew that the Lord was currently working in our lives, possibly convicting us of specific sin or challenging us in certain circumstances. Yet he said that mentoring had to do with all the ways in which God was working in us, but that we couldn't specifically identify. That's why we need the help of mentors. Because the reality is that God is doing so much more than we are actually conscious of at any given moment. God is changing us, moulding as, and growing us and the truth is that when I look back on my life, I can see some evidence of specific change, but the rest has just kind of happened slowly over time. And for this I am grateful: that God knows and me and loves me enough to want to change me where I need to most, without me even noticing sometimes. I like being more confident. I like being able to come alongside people without a lot of insecurities getting in the way. I like making friends. And, while getting excited about early bedtimes might not be an overly spiritual change, I know that I know myself more now than I did before, and I know how I need to take care of myself...and sometimes it is an early bedtime. And I am sure that in another 15 years I am going to be a completely different person again, and that's kind of exciting.

Prayer

• For Rosie and her three weeks with us at FT.
• Craig is preaching on Sunday from 2 Kings 2; please pray for him as he shares God's word.
• We tried to apply for Sam's passport this week, after successfully applying for his Bolivian ID Card, and we hit some obstacles. So, please pray that we get his application submitted on Monday.
• For some delicate pastoral care situations that Craig and the other church leaders are involved in right now.

Praise

• For Sam's ID card and updated birth certificate being processed
• For Rosie's safe arrival and the arrival of her bag two days later.
• For a really beneficial staff training morning
• For a good time out with the other OANSA leaders on Wednesday night

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig, Amanda & Sam

Hopes, Dreams and Educated Guesses

The children in the above image are, in fact, both of us on our way to
Trinidad five long years ago.

If you’ve read our blog in the past, or have some awareness of developing world contexts, you will know that the only thing you can predict on any given day is its sheer unpredictability! So it is with a fair dollop of caution that we offer up these insights into what may be on the horizon upon our return to Trinidad. In fact, we know that the very worst thing we could do is to throw ourselves straight back into a load of activities, without having first of all taken the time to assess things; so much will have changed even in the space of thirteen months.

Nonetheless, we know that you, our friends, are keen to know how you can be praying for us. We greatly appreciate this, and hope that the following will help you to get a very rough idea of the coming months.

Craig: Staying Focussed on a Better 'Yes'

In any situation, you will never be useful if your efforts are engaged in providing a need that simply is not there. It is with that in mind that, as stated above, we are keen to take stock of the current situation in Bolivia before rolling up our sleeves.

However, commendable though this is, a further refinement of resources must take place. Because, as human beings, we each bring very different talents to the table, and the danger is that we find ourselves attempting to address specific needs while not necessarily being equipped for the task. Taking this a step further still, we might well have the abilities to meet a need, yet still be wasting our energies as this is not the role that the Lord has for us.

I was certainly guilty of this at times during our first term in Bolivia. As the years went by, I gradually took on a vast array of tasks. These were all ‘good things’; indeed, they were by and large kingdom things! But I found I was scraping by in them, doing many things sufficiently, but few things really well. Worse, I was too proud at times to admit this to myself, yet the last year has certainly confirmed it; by the time we’re finished with our standard 40-minute church report, it’s hard to tell whether we are more exhausted in the telling, or our audience is more exhausted in getting their heads round all the different plates we’ve been spinning.

An extended period of home assignment like ours has its fair share of challenges. But at the same time, something really positive has been taking place out in Bolivia, which I was probably too proud to have foreseen a year ago. While we have been at home, being built up and prepared for the next stage in our ministry, things have not collapsed in Bolivia. In fact, in our absence, the Bolivians have taken on their fair share of things that we used to do. In 2014, our long-expressed desire that the work in Bolivia would decrease in its missionary dependence has taken a big leap forward.

This has been as true in the Education area of the Foundation – my own traditional stomping-ground – as it has been elsewhere. And yet, even up until a few weeks ago, I was in a bit of a fight with God over this.

You see, for some time I have known that God wants me to channel my energies into the work of the church, which is not quite at the same stage of maturity as the Foundation. In particular, there is a tremendous need for disciples to be raised up, for those who are Christians to be equipped to understand the Bible’s message for their lives and ‘set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity’. And, naturally, I’m humbled and excited to be a part of this.

But part of me just could not let go of the education ministry. What about those dozens of people each year who had so enjoyed the English classes I had taught? What about the students in the local schools who, as teenagers, have heard the gospel for the first time in their lives? The possibility of leaving behind these primarily evangelistic activities concerned me, and I don’t think there was anything inherently wrong with this.

Another happy bunch of English graduates.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in a Cornhill class taken by a much older visiting missionary, who has long wrestled with such questions. Indeed, it is only in the past few years that he has truly begun to understand what his gifts are and what God wants him to be engaged in. Yet since then, he claimed to have been much more effective in the Lord’s service. What did he do when presented with the opportunity to become engaged in something that, while great, was not what he had been called to? He remembered the following mantra: It’s easier to say ‘no’ when there’s a better ‘yes’.

That afternoon session may just have been the most important couple of hours for me in my preparation for going back. All of a sudden, two startling realisations dawned on me. Firstly, my utter lack of faith. How arrogant of me to presume the Lord’s dependence on me and me alone to bring the gospel to these people. Secondly, my failure to see the practical ramifications for our church of such evangelistic ministry, were it to prove ‘successful’. If, as a church, we’re not quite the finished article when it comes to getting alongside people on the path of discipleship – as I believe is the case right now – then welcoming new believers into our midst will, until that time, prove challenging.

Having thus been stopped in my tracks, I feel emboldened and unashamed to focus my energies solely on the church, and specifically on discipleship. And I will do so as part of a much-depleted leadership. When I joined the eldership in mid-2012, there were five of us; now, only I and the pastor, Elías, are left. With so many needs in the congregation, and only a couple of us to deal with them, it probably will not do to simply meet every two to three weeks as we had done previously as a leadership. Indeed, I would hope we can create regular time(s) during the working week (Elías is employed by the church part-time) to meet together and prayerfully address the needs of the church on a more day-to-day basis.

The year at Cornhill, of course, will have some bearing on the coming months. I have been assisted greatly in developing my preaching abilities over the last year, and I’m really looking forward to getting to grips with some new texts from the pulpit.

With good friend and shameless mickey-taker, Wilson Menacho.

However, important though that is, I can’t help but feel that it is especially vital that I look to equip others in Bible teaching ministry in the church – be that from the pulpit or the playpen – with the necessary tools for better understanding and communicating the truths of the word of God, tools which I had mostly gone without myself until this year.

Ideally, such equipping would go beyond the four walls of El Jireh church. In Bolivia, we continue to be saddled with a copy-and-paste education system which encourages a great deal of accumulation of disconnected facts and learning by rote, and not much in the way of engagement with information or independent thought. If our pews are largely filled by the products of such a system, it is of huge importance that preachers communicate the word faithfully. I have been in touch with a renowned international organisation that seeks to equip pastors to teach the Bible in a more responsible manner. My hope is that we can begin such an initiative in the Beni region sooner rather than later.

But, more than anything, I am convinced that such a work has to begin in our church, and for this reason, I’ll be seeking to have regular, one-on-one contact with young men in our congregation, in the hope of raising up more disciples and, I pray, some leaders of the future. What form this, or any of the above, will take, I’m still not sure, but I know these needs exist today, and I know that God has graciously given me the resources this year to address them. I would value your prayers as I continue to discern the right path for me in Bolivia, and the right path for El Jireh church.

Amanda: Keeping things Personnel

People who have read the blog before, or know me personally, will know that before our year in Scotland, I spent my mornings in Bolivia working in Audiology in the Foundation. When we first thought about serving in Bolivia, I wanted to use my Health Sciences degree and my experience as a medical secretary/health care support worker experience in my work in Trinidad.

I started out in nursing and after a year was trained as an audiological technician. I have enjoyed all the time I spent in those two areas as well as the relationships I made in them. I learned so much about ear and hearing care and I liked being able to put that knowledge to practical use in a missions context.

Amanda providing a routine hearing check as
part of FT's health check-ups for every
school child in Trinidad.

However, closer to the end of our first stint in Bolivia, I felt that what I was doing maybe wasn’t the wisest use of my time. I felt that there were a number of Bolivians who could do, or could be trained to do, what I was doing, and maybe even do it better.  This sense continued to grow as 2013 was drawing to a close, and I knew with a large degree of certainty that I would not be returning to audiology upon our arrival in Trinidad again. I was not quite sure what I would be doing instead, but I felt confident that there would be a better use of my time and skills.

Craig and I have spent at least the second half of our furlough year praying and sharing with each other about what we think God might have in store for us in Bolivia. From early on in 2014 I knew that the board of directors at the Foundation had taken on the job of human resources on top of their already busy schedule, and the concept of lightening this burden for Mariana and Miguel Angel was bouncing around in my mind.

I also felt strongly about the need for more overt evangelism amongst our own staff. Staff unity has also been a problem in the past and I have wondered in the past five years or so if someone needed to focus on building unity amongst all the staff through team building events or socials. Throughout the second half of the year, as we’ve been praying, I felt God leading me to the conclusion that I could address the majority of these issues if I left audiology and moved to human resources. I want to focus primarily on developing staff unity and a sense of team amongst us all, and evangelism to staff and patients in a more obvious way.

Amanda with FT audiologist, Odalys Arce

God, who has been so good and gracious to us in all things, once again proved to me how it was really Himself leading me to this conclusion. Mariana, at the beginning of September, wanted to have a Skype conversation to talk about what Craig and I were thinking of doing once we returned. I met her online and shared with her first about what Craig was thinking and then went on to outline my own thoughts. After hearing what I had to say, she answered with, “Oh good, that is exactly what we were wanting to ask you to do.” The confirmation that God had been working in both my heart and the other board of directors’ hearts on both side of the ocean was such an encouragement to me. I can return with the confidence that the leadership of the Foundation is supportive of the need for staff unity and evangelism.

Please pray that God gives me the wisdom to perform the tasks necessary. I am confident about getting alongside some people and developing friendships, but I am less confident about conflict resolution and problem solving amongst staff. I have some ideas for developing unity, but I also know that if I really want this to work I need to think outside the box and be creative and I am nervous about this particular challenge. I am so not as familiar with legal matters that might arise and I know I will be leaning heavily on other board members for advice in these cases. And as much as I would like to jump in and make changes, I know I need the sensitivity to move at the pace that the people around me are comfortable with and to follow God’s leading.

Amanda and Elías (centre) with their team at 2013's youth camp.

In terms of my involvement in the church, I am still praying through a lot and am adopting a wait-and-see approach. I feel the need to spend a lot more time with people one-on-one. I feel that a lot of programmes have been running perfectly fine without my involvement this year, so I would like to step back from a lot of programme work and focus on individual or small group discipleship. Depending on what we see when we join the church once again, I would like to take a step back from children’s work altogether and focus on supporting, but not running, youth work. I would like to be an active member of the women’s group in our church, but again, not necessarily organise the group.

However, I feel very strongly about supporting Craig in his church work. I know how hard and challenging this work is and I know he is going to need my help. I want to be there as prayer partner with him, and I definitely want to be available to listen to him and emotionally deal with the issues that are going to come up. I would like to help him practically as well; if this means cooking meals for leader’s meetings, or doing pastoral visits with him to families, couples or women, then I need to be able to fit these things into my schedule.

Although what I have written seems relatively well planned out, the truth is that we will not know exactly what we will be doing until we arrive and settle in. We want to take the time to integrate ourselves in the church and Foundation community before asserting ourselves or stepping on people’s toes. We know that relationships are central to what we do, and we also need to make time to re-establish old friendships and make new ones as well. We appreciate all your prayers as we seek to do these things with Christian love.

Both: Family Planning

One last thing, Columbo-style, which really applies to us both as a couple, and that is the possibility of adopting. We’ve been praying about this over the last couple of years and, now that we have something of a clear run of things for the next year or two (i.e., we probably won’t be leaving Bolivia for extended periods any time soon), we’re ready to begin actively exploring this possibility pretty much as soon as we get back.

In Bolivia, as with many things, the process of adoption tends to be a little more informal. We will first of all register with social work to be able to adopt, and then it’s quite simply a case of keeping an ear to the ground for any possible unwanted pregnancies; putting out the word through friends, making maternity nurses we know aware of our situation – a child could surface within a few weeks or many months, or even years later. We just don’t know.

Then would begin the next stage, of adopting that particular child, which can take a few months. And finally, we would begin looking into citizenship in the UK or Canada.

As you can see, then, much patience will required of us, both in the initial waiting period, and then as we take on the vast paperwork which will follow. Please remember this situation in your prayers.

Saturday Post -- 09/11/13

Craig teaching from John 21 at Samaritan's Purse on Monday morning.

First up, a huge answer to prayer.

In last week’s prayer points, I shared our frustrations over the visa for Odalys, FT’s audiologist. It was increasingly looking likely that Odalys would not get the required documents to travel to Guatemala this weekend for an audiology course that FT had put up substantial funds to send her to. Most frustrating was the fact that the visa application was sent to the Guatemalan embassy in Peru (a neighbour of Bolivia’s) via a world-renowned courier service two-and-a-half weeks ago, and by the time last week’s post had been written, some nine days later, it was in Argentina, having previously visited Miami and Montevideo. Worse still, the embassy in Lima were not answering our emails or phone calls.

Well. We received word from Lima on Tuesday that the visa was being processed and would be ready by the following day. They would send it to La Paz. We got one of our contacts in La Paz (a former FT worker) to pick it up in La Paz on Thursday and send it through to Santa Cruz. Odalys picked the visa up in Santa Cruz yesterday morning, enabling her to catch her flight at 6am this morning. Perfect timing!

There are probably a few important lessons for us as a Foundation in terms of being a little more prepared for these obstacles. But the Lord in his grace has once again proven to be our strength in our moment of weakness. Our God is an awesome God.

"Guten tag!" to Aline Sacher.

Of equal benefit to Odalys (and fellow audiologist Amanda) is a key piece of Audiology equipment donated to FT by House of Hearing in Edinburgh, and brought out here by Aline Sacher, our new volunteer from Germany. Like Ruth Young and Deborah Holmes before her, Aline has come out to Trinidad as part of the 'First Serve' programme, a joint initiative between Echoes of Service, Interlink and GLO (more information here), which allows young people to get a taste for the mission field as part of a year of training. Aline will be here till June, long after we're gone.

However, her arrival has brought about something of a neat bookending for us, particularly Amanda. Way back in the dark days of January 2010, we had barely landed when we were whisked off by KC to the police station, Interpol, the immigration headquarters and our fair share of lawyers' offices, in order to process our one-year visa (the haste is necessary in order to avoid a fine after your month's grace in the country). Well, four years later, with just over four weeks remaining in Trinidad, this time it has fallen to Amanda to do the, er, whisking. So she and whiskee Aline have spent a good chunk of the week observing the bureaucratic process at close quarters -- i.e., sitting on plastic chairs while government officials look for bits of paper they lost.

With Javier Ríos, of SP Trinidad. Eagle-eyed
readers may have noted that the sun was quite
strong that day.

Aline arrived on Sunday afternoon and she and Amanda were already knuckling down to the paper-chase first thing on Monday morning, so important is it to get a head start on these things. Meanwhile, across town, I was giving a talk on John 21 to the staff of Samaritan's Purse here in Trinidad. On the first Monday of each month, the staff lock themselves in to their compound and have a day of prayer and fasting. One of our church attenders, Javier (see picture), was in charge of putting together a programme last Monday, and asked me if I'd come and speak on missions. It was a pleasure to be able to be an encouragement to our fellow ministers.

I was also backed up by Alex Wann, from Wyoming, who led a time of singing on the guitar. Alex (who followed this blog for some time before his arrival in Trinidad) began a two-year posting with Samaritan's Purse a couple of months ago and has been a great source of encouragement to me. I have mentioned here previously that Bolivian males in particular are extremely reluctant to let their brothers in Christ scratch beneath the surface and ask the important questions, to the extent that my most meaningful Christian relationship here has been with my fellow missionary, Kenny. Kenny's absence since July, therefore, left something of a void in that regard. So I firmly believe that God placed Alex -- a guy who wastes no time whatsoever in getting down to the important subjects -- here with my own needs in mind, just as much as those of Samaritan's Purse. I'm actually writing this after having a time of sharing and prayer over breakfast, something we hope to do regularly in the short time before we leave.

Not next weekend, though! For we will both be part of the leadership team at our church's first ever campamento, now just seven days away. In our church's short existence, this is proving to be easily the biggest single logistical endeavour we've engaged in. We get exhausted just thinking about it. But we're really excited to see what the Lord has in store in a week's time. Blogging will be out of the question, but a full report will be included in the  23rd of November's Saturday Post.

Prayer

• Camp is by far the biggest prayer point this week. Pray particularly for the Lord's anointing on Jerry, who will be speaking throughout the weekend on the topic of family. Pray for Amanda and Mariana, who still have a lot of administration to wade through before the weekend, not least in collecting payments from the members of the youth group. Pray for energy for all us leaders. Pray for the 30 or so young people in attendance, particularly those who haven't yet made a confession of faith. And pray for the church, that the whole event would continue to bind us together; though it's really a youth camp, most of the adults from the church will be in attendance in a leadership capacity, and the church is invited to join us on the Sunday for a special service.
• Pray for Craig, who is doing the final teaching slot on Esther tonight at youth group.
• Tomorrow is a church leaders' meeting. Prayer always appreciated for wisdom for Craig, Elías and Jerry.
• Pray for Amanda and Aline as they continue to plough away in the visa application process.
• You've made it this far? One more then. Craig is looking to get some English-language sermons under his belt for the UK and Canada before we leave, so as not to be spending Christmas in front of MS Word. Pray that God would reveal to Craig the right topics and the right approach, preaching in the West being a very different kettle of fish to preaching in the developing world.

Praise

• Give thanks for Aline's safe arrival.
• Give thanks for opportunities for Craig to encourage (at Samaritan's Purse) and to be encouraged (by Alex).
• Give thanks for the Lord's perfect timing in the Guatemalan visa situation. Now that is what I call a lesson in faith.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 02/11/13

FT staff and assorted family members, last Saturday.

Another Saturday, another early exit from the house, this time a breakfast date with a friend, before the usual slew of church commitments this afternoon and evening. I commented to Amanda the other day that I don’t feel we’re taking things one day at a time so much as one weekend at a time, so busy are we now on Saturdays and Sundays. In any case, I will do my best to recount some of the major points of the past week in the short time available.

I posted last week’s update as we were leaving for Fundación Totaí’s anniversary celebration out at the lake. As it happens, the steak was not quite up to the standards we usually expect around here. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a relaxing day as a staff, playing games, paddling in the lake, and reflecting on the Lord’s goodness to us. Amanda spoke for fifteen minutes about what God has done in her own life through FT, as well as the tremendous growth she’d witnessed in the institution and the staff during the time we’ve been here.

The rest of Saturday and Sunday were taken up with our usual church commitments, including a church leaders’ meeting for me on Sunday afternoon. But a two-day ‘weekend’ lay in store, which served as a motivator; in addition to our usual Monday day off, with the anniversary falling on the Tuesday we enjoyed a whole 48 hours outside the FT building (which is also where our church meets, so it’s somewhat difficult to avoid): pancakes, reading marathons and extended Wii sessions ensued.

However, we did set aside a little of our time on the Tuesday to meet with our fellow youth leaders to discuss camp, now just two weeks away. There were a whole range of key points we still hadn’t finalised (the timetable, the transportation, the makeup of the teams) so it was worth sacrificing a couple of hours of everyone’s day off to emerge with a better idea of what we want to do. The week before camp, we will meet with those from the church who have volunteered to provide assistance. If nothing else, the whole endeavour should do wonders for church unity.

Another desired, if not essential, component to a good camp is good weather, and these are interesting times in that regard. Usually the winter winds die down by late August and September till November see temperatures and humidity soaring (40 Celsius is an achievable target) only for rainy season to come and ease the tension somewhat from late November onwards. Well, this year winter stretched out well into September, there were perhaps two weeks of heat and humidity in early October and since then, we’ve had nothing but heavy rain every day! As yet another storm broke during the night, I felt a strong urge to pray for this particular aspect of camp. We could really do with a couple of hot weeks to dry out the campsite in preparation for the invasion of El Jireh church.

Five paragraphs? I’ve had shorter posts on non-breakfast-date Saturdays. Here are our main prayer points.

Prayer

• For our latest overseas volunteer, Aline Sacher (Germany), who is currently enduring something of a travel nightmare – although unusually, Bolivia is this time in no way at fault! It seems her first flight (within or from the UK) was delayed, knocking everything back a few hours. She had been due to get the midday flight from Santa Cruz to Trinidad, but that won’t be happening seeing as she arrives in Santa Cruz at lunchtime. Worse still, no seats on internal flights are available until Sunday, so she has an overnight in Santa Cruz before arriving here at 11am tomorrow – or that’s the plan, at least! Pray for a safe arrival for Aline and for a good first week of settling in.
• Pray for the continued camp preparations.
• For another hectic weekend, particularly Sunday, in which Craig is preaching and Amanda has her Bible study group. Somewhere amongst all this, we also need to pick Aline up from the airport.
• …and then we some work to do on Monday! Amanda will (God-willing) be giving Aline her induction, while I have been asked to give a sermon on missions at the local offices of Samaritan’s Purse, who have a fellowship morning on the first Monday of the month. I took a missions angle in a sermon I gave on John 21 in the church last year, so it’ll just be a case of tweaking for my audience.
• These prayer points are getting almost as long as the post itself! We’re going through a somewhat nerve-shredding experience at FT right now. About a month ago, we registered Amanda’s audiology colleague Odalys for a training course in Guatemala next weekend, buying flights in the process. There were, however, two not insignificant obstacles. Odalys didn’t have a passport, and Bolivians require a visa to enter Guatemala. The passport came through early last week and on Thursday the 24^th, the visa application was sent to the nearest Guatemalan embassy in Lima, with the aid of a world-renowned courier company, to ensure that no time would be wasted
  
  
  . Well, let’s just say that the ability to track packages online is a mixed blessing. This has been the route of the application since leaving Bolivia for Peru (a neighbouring country, for the uninitiated):

o   Miami, USA

o   Montevideo, Uruguay

o   Buenos Aires, Argentina

We are, to say the least, lacking in confidence that the visa will be processed and sent back to Trinidad by next Friday, when Odalys is due to leave. Moreover, the embassy staff in Lima have thus far answered not a single phone call or email. Prayer is required for a mighty work of the Lord in this situation.

Praise

• Amanda is thankful that she managed to get through a pile of marking this week. She was correcting the ‘Kids Games’ exams, with this year’s session having wrapped up last week.
• For a good time together as a staff out at the lake last weekend. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda