Saturday Post -- 17/03/18

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Well, we made it out of Trinidad. All our paperwork is in order and a visa-stamped passport is in our hands. To be frank, the decision to take a time-out in the early days of January had since been backed up by so many little confirmations in the succeeding months that any other result would have seemed inconceivable.

But, my goodness, we're not half made to sweat these things out!

The UK's consulate in Bogotá (where South American applications are sent) have a three-week target time in which to process all applications. And this target is generally met -- we have enough experience to know! So it was pretty unnerving that on the morning of the 7th, exactly three weeks later, we'd heard barely a word. However, that afternoon, we finally received an email confirming that the application was now in the hands of an entry clearance officer. The following day, we were advised that the decision had been made and that the documents would be back with us in four working days.

And so it was that this past Tuesday -- one day short of four weeks since we'd submitted the papers, and one day before we were due to leave Trinidad for Santa Cruz -- we received word from our friend in La Paz that, yes, the visa had been granted. By this point we had very much 'packed in faith', with half of our luggage already on its way to Santa Cruz with one of the local bus companies (the best way to deliver large items in Bolivia is to use road or air travel operations). So, yes, exhalations all round.

That's better.

And, yes, more to the point, that Canadian passport could not come sooner!

The visa's granting was the final piece in our paperwork jigsaw, with both our national ID cards and driving licences pending the last time we filed. Amanda's were due to expire on Sunday -- a day before we leave the country -- while I spent over a week, er, driving without a valid licence (in fairness, in doing so, I was perfectly in step with the vast majority of Trinidad's motorists; curiously enough, the local fuzz only tend to check for licences when big national and local boozefests -- sorry, holidays -- are approaching).

Anyway, when the woman at the office confessed to us that she was still awaiting the outcome of applications submitted last year, our stress levels again took an upward trajectory. However, in this case, too, we made it by the skin of our teeth; on Monday, two days before we left Trinidad, we were handed our new five-year ID cards and driving licences. In truth, we could probably have just about managed without them before leaving the country; it was our re-entry later this year which would have become much more complicated.

Sam, Amanda and Jessica, who has the good fortune of sharing her name with
the classic Top Gear theme tune.

In hindsight, then, the calming influence in our midst over the past week or so was surely providence writ large. Amanda's old friend Jessica Morris arrived a week past on Thursday and proved an immense help, whether in the tedious practical chores required before such a big departure, or keeping an eye on His Lordship while we dashed from one government office to the next, or in simply helping us stay positive and distracted from these big concerns through stimulating conversation. Amanda had been commenting that, perhaps one reason we have come to this crossroads in our lives and ministry, is that there has always existed a temptation to prove to others -- and, by extension, to ourselves -- that we are 'doing stuff'. Certain platforms, if we're not careful, can encourage this mentality: this very blog, of course, is one; and visits from the outside world are often another. 

With Jessica, mercifully, that was never going to be the case: firstly, because, of course, our tanks were pretty much empty anyway; and secondly, because, like any friend or family member who has taken the effort to come out and visit us, our value to Jessica was in no way based upon what we do.

What's more, Jessica also falls within that very small bracket of friends whom Amanda would describe as, "Those people you can hang out with for the first time in years and just pick up from where you left off." No targets to meet, no big shows to put on, no judgement, no big deal. But yes, lots of exquisite beniano steak and fish to sample with abandon, per our guest's explicit instructions.

*                 *                 *

That, friends, is probably it in terms of our weekly/fortnightly updates for the time being. We are under orders to ensure these coming months will be a time not only of restoration, but of rest, and removing the regular pressure of coming up with something to riff on every weekend is certainly part of that (I know what you're thinking: we make it look so easy, don't we!). 

However, this impending season is likely to be crucial for us in terms of our future direction, and so we're hoping to keep regular readers appraised as to our progress, say, once a month or so. We'll see how that transpires.

We also intend to keep producing our usual quarterly email updates, so if you'd like to receive these regularly, please do send us an email at cramandaham@gmail.com. 

Until next time, then, here are our prayer points:

Prayer

• For our time in the UK, specifically...
• For Craig: That he would learn to rest properly and be enabled to make healthy decisions as to his ministry life.
• For Amanda: That she would be restored to a place where she is better able to serve others while taking better care of herself.
• For Sam: That he would have regular opportunities for play, learning and interaction with his contemporaries.
• For us all: That we would be built up and encouraged by our time with friends and family; that our treatment would enable us to be better equipped to return to Bolivia later this year; and that God would guide us as to the next steps we should be taking in our lives as a family.
• For smooth and safe travels over the coming week. Pray particularly for abundant reserves of patience and endurance, with a toddler in tow, an overnight transatlantic flight, and a seven-hour layover the next day in Frankfurt. A heady brew!
• Pray for the work in Trinidad, both of Fundación Totaí and the church (see our last entry) from which we are recusing ourselves in order to get a proper break, but which, of course, will continue in earnest in our absence. 

Praise

• Perhaps the strongest confirmation of God's will for our return to the UK has been the way he has so emphatically met our needs. We will have a car and we are a pen to about to put pen to paper on a flat for the next few months. Give thanks.
• For the great encouragement and refreshment of Jessica's visit (you can find Jessica's own reflections here). 
• For the various documents coming together in time for us to be able to travel with a great weight off our minds. We got there in the end.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 3/3/18

Church planning. Calm yourselves.

"It's getting tickly now – squeaky-bum time, I call it."

Wise words, indeed, from the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson, on the occasion of the closing weeks of the 2003 Premier League title race. And it's fair to say that, with all that's going on just now -- or, indeed, not going on, as the case may be -- the bums are a-squeaking.

We knew after our last experience that the visa wait would not be without its complications, though we are a little surprised not to have heard anything by this point. We are due to leave Sao Paulo for Scotland on the 20th of March -- and Trinidad a good few days before that -- so an answer of some kind this week would be most welcome.

However, things are a little stickier -- or squeakier -- this time, owing to other "events, dear boy". For our (Craig & Amanda's) government-issued ID cards are due to expire just before we're hoping to leave the country. These are required to perform most transactions here. Now our paperwork has all been submitted, though there have been some major delays due to IT problems in the relevant offices in La Paz and Trinidad. Now, if we had to travel before they were issued, it would simply be a case of a friend picking them up and somehow getting them to Scotland from Bolivia over the coming months, so we could have them when we return later in the year. No big deal then. Except that tied to our ID cards' expiry dates are our driving licence expiry dates. And our driving licences are a separate submission which can only be accepted once our ID cards are issued (and may itself take any number of weeks to process). So we can get the car to Santa Cruz, where we are hoping to leave it with a friend while we're in the UK, but there is no guarantee that we'll have even submitted the driving licence paperwork before we leave Bolivia, meaning we'd not be able to drive a car for a good few weeks upon our return!

It's all very complicated, isn't it. If you don't need a lie-down after reading all that, simply pray for "all that paperwork stuff" -- the Holy Spirit will doubtless fill in the blanks (Romans 8:26).

Amidst all the bureaucratic busyness, there's a lot to be excited about. 

Firstly, my Excuse Of The Week for last Saturday's non-post was a long-awaited church planning day, the first time we had embarked upon such a venture. It's par for the course for many churches at the beginning of the year, and we had been talking about it for a while. However, the need became more urgent when it became apparent that Amanda and I would be gone a good few months, leaving Miguel Ángel as the sole elder. 

So a couple of months ago, Miguel Ángel and I took the decision to appoint a group of capable young guys to come alongside us and, while not take on the role of elder as yet, at least provide a team that can give support to Miguel Ángel, whose plate is already very full in his role as a father and as president of the foundation. And we thought that we may as well dust down the planning day idea as a way of marking the occasion.

Trinidad is not the biggest of cities, and it can be difficult to be truly free of distractions within its boundaries. So we opted to head for the lake which, though just three miles outside of town, feels like another world. A friend of ours graciously offered us some space on the grounds of his hotel and we simply sat at a big table in a quieter spot, spending the day prayerfully mapping out the coming months. We were able to thrash out a new mission and vision statement (something we hadn't revised for six years as a church) and put together a strategic plan with three main targets: firstly, getting the message of the new mission and vision into the lifeblood of the everyday life of the church; secondly, giving clearer definition to the roles of people in various positions of responsibility; and thirdly, establishing better contacts with the families of the many under-18s in attendance every week (most of whose parents are not yet believers). 

Of course, I say 'we', but we all agree that it's pretty crucial for me not to get involved in the next few months. It's not great for the church to have someone helping to pull the strings from so far away, especially when there are other capable people here. And, more importantly, it's not helpful for us as a family at a time when we need the time and space to rest and re-assess things.

The other exciting development is that, at a time when understanding friends have been hard to come by, one of Amanda's very best friends, Jessica Morris, is due here on Thursday morning, for a week's stay (the idea is to drive her back to Santa Cruz the following week, before we fly out ourselves; but 'one day at a time' and all that). Visits are always good and friends are always doubly welcome. It's just a shame so many of them end up leaving these tropical climes with squeaky bums.

Prayer

• For "all that paperwork stuff" (see above).
• For a sense of peace as we prepare to leave while not being 100% sure when that will be.
• For the new leadership team at the church.
• For safe travels for -- and good times with -- Jessica.

Praise

• For God's guiding hand on a great day last Saturday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 17/06/17

These days, as sure as the day ends with a ‘y’, a tradition you can set your watch by in the British sports media is the annual league table predictions, particularly in the top flights. Most outlets wheel out their big-name pundits around early August, with the remit of looking in to their proverbial crystal balls and foretelling the order of the Premier League nine months later. A fool’s errand, if ever there were one, and thus one that, come May, tends to yield no shortage of fuel for wanton mockery; and that, of course, is a British tradition that predates football by centuries. The folly of such predictions was exposed most ferociously by the events of the 2015/16 season, as those who remember Gary Linker’s appearance on Match of the Day that balmy August evening will remember with no shortage of fondness/queasiness.

All of this comes to mind most forcefully as I look back on a blog entry from January 2015. Like this, it was the first for many months; also like this, we used it to outline our plans for our new term in Bolivia. To save you a long read, the main gist was that we were going to avoid getting sucked back into old habits of trying to spin too many plates at once; this we hoped to do by thinking more clearly about where our gifts and passions were better used, rather than where there was a need to be met at all.

Well, it was a good idea while it lasted. One of my own plans, for example, was to lay aside the music ministry, where I was certainly gifted, but where my enthusiasm was running low, and also where – to the best of my knowledge – there were plenty of others who had done a decent enough job without me during my year away from the field. This masterplan went out the window within, er, just a couple of days of setting foot in Bolivia. Indeed, we were not even back in Trinidad yet! We had been met by one of the church’s musicians shortly after getting off the plane at Santa Cruz, en route home. He wasted no time in telling me how greatly the ministry had deteriorated without me, and so I capitulated.

(As it happens, I’ve had a similar experience this time, though I hope I’ve demonstrated greater resistance. Within 24 hours of arriving in Santa Cruz, someone from Trinidad texted me to ask if the English classes – which God firmly closed the door on last year –  were beginning again. When I replied, saying, “Sorry, but I won’t be teaching English any more,” my contact said, “And why not?” I opted to leave that question unanswered.)

So I am mightily aware of the pitfalls of this endeavour. But I hope that, this time around, with lessons learned, this will not be so much an exercise in predictions, as plans (though I use that term with caution: there is, of course, much about the next few years that our gracious Heavenly Father, in his wisdom, has chosen not to reveal to us yet). A big reason for this is that, after a period of prayer and reflection during our time away, we informed the relevant locals of the main changes to our ministry some months ago, giving them time to digest these developments and plan for the future.

This is a little counterintuitive for our friends in Bolivia, as the response from one or two individuals to this news demonstrated. Regular readers will be aware that, as a culture, the Bolivians have much to teach us westerners about responding to the needs of others: in a crisis, no matter the seeming scarcity of resources, needs are met and no questions are asked. This is fundamentally a good thing. But in ministry, this becomes more problematic where there is no gifting; just because a new ministry that requires a dozen helpers is being set up doesn’t necessarily make you the right fit for it. Despite everyone’s best efforts, it eventually becomes exhausting for the one who makes the gesture, and discouraging for the intended recipient.

In our desire to bring only glory to God, then, and to be best equipped for his purposes, here are some fundamentals we wish to keep at the forefront of our thinking over the next two or three years. I was going to share all of this in a single blog post, but it got so out of control that we have decided to split this into two parts. Next weekend, we will outline what our individual roles are set to look like this time round; here, we will share a couple of fundamental goals we have this time around in our approach to ministry and family.

Working from a place of rest

Despite this culture’s laid-back attitude to principles such as commitment and organisation – or, perhaps, as a response to such attitudes – the evangelical church here takes commitment pretty seriously. Most churches have not one, but two midweek meetings for Bible study and prayer. Youth work tends to take place on Saturdays, and some churches will have special events on Friday evenings. Throw in planning meetings and other meetings for specific groups such as men and women, and it is easy to see how church and its activities can take up pretty much every day of the week. In many cases it does, and we know people who, if they could, would happily attend church, or help at a church event, every day of the week.

This is exacerbated somewhat in our own church, which is small, and therefore has fewer people to help run things. Nonetheless, recognising needs (see above), they often do just that, meaning that spare time for, say, family, is severely limited.

Now as outsiders to the culture, Amanda and I have been aware of these issues from the beginning of our ministry. And yet, also as outsiders to the culture, we have at times felt nervous about addressing such issues, not wishing to come across as superior or dismissive of the people here.

Yet, if we are honest, there have been times in the last few years when our involvement in Christian ministry has left us exhausted, barely functioning as we sleep-walk from one activity to the other, and harbouring a little resentment at the impact church work is having on our lives as individuals and as a family. And the reason for this is quite simple: for all our seemingly good intentions, we have neglected the model of rest that has been set for God’s people from Trinidad to Timbuctoo.

So it is our intention to sensitively, but firmly, establish boundaries in our lives that can better enable us not only to survive, but to thrive. This will include, for example, ring-fencing our devotional time each day, physically leaving the house and going somewhere we can’t be found on Mondays (our rest day), and leaving the goldfish bowl that is Trinidad on a regular basis for some proper R&R. Above all, it will mean that we politely say ‘no’ to certain things, something we have already begun doing in withdrawing from certain areas of ministry.

In doing so, our prayer is that others will not simply regard us as awkward, or work-shy, but as setting an example that is worth emulating, and all the more so because it is Biblical.

Putting family first

Overlapping with the goal of having proper rest is our desire to nurture a more healthy family life.

We will long look back at last year with a mixture of delight and regret. Sam came home with us at the tail-end of 2015, and we took the decision to look after him ourselves rather than sub-contracting this to a nanny; after all, we had a lot of catching up to do.

In practice, this meant that one of us would ‘have’ him in the morning while the other person worked, and then in the afternoon we would swap. And while we relished this focused time with our new addition, Amanda and I essentially became like two ships passing in the night. We would see each other briefly at lunch, and then by the time Sam had gone to bed in the early evening, we were both so exhausted that we would retreat into our own worlds just to get a semblance of ‘me time’. But the consequences of this were a little painful: inevitably, as we saw less and less of one other, we increasingly forgot how to communicate with each other, and how best to meet the needs of the other person.

We are determined not to make this mistake again. For this reason, over the last few months, we have drawn up a new schedule that will enable us to overcome these difficulties. In particular, we have ring-fenced a weekly ‘marriage time’ (I would call it a date-night if it wasn’t a Monday morning!) and committed to pursuing more common interests together in our spare time. Furthermore, we have ensured that there will be regular time during the week when the three of us can be together as a family, without the shadow of work hanging over us.

Conclusion: Adapt first

We never quite get ‘there’ in this life, which is for the most part a constant experience of making mistakes and making ham-fisted attempts to learn from them. This is no exception for overseas workers such as ourselves, and we know that, even if we successfully address the issues outlined above, others will surely arise. But we know from time spent with other, more experienced missionaries, that a better balance is possible.

We could have used this opening post to outline the various ministries and activities we feel God is leading us towards this time around. To a certain extent, that will come next weekend. But all this will be for naught if we seek power for these endeavours from within ourselves or fail to ‘manage [our] own family well’ (1 Tim 3:4). Putting it more bluntly: if we continue down such paths, we may as well not be here.

You have stood with us in the past in prayer, and we need this now more than ever. And while you’re at it, please also consider the following.

Praise

• Well, we made it. And we are so thankful for journeying mercies, especially for Sam. On the eleven-hour flight across the Atlantic on Monday/Tuesday, he slept for nine solid hours (count ‘em!). He held up well the rest of that day, despite the time-zone shift and not landing in Santa Cruz till late that evening. The boy positively scoffs in the face of jetlag. Equally, he held up well on the long car journey back to Trinidad yesterday. Not a case was lost, not a sleep was missed. Give thanks.
• Habemus auto. Back in January, we sold our fast-diminishing 1995 RAV4 with the help of a friend in Santa Cruz, and the same guy was able to source us a replacement, which we paid for a couple of weeks ago, and picked up on Wednesday from a reassuringly careful owner. It has a lot more space than our last one, which was a great help in the journey yesterday.
• Speaking of thriving, give thanks, too, for Mariana, our former colleague at FT, who is now studying at a seminary in Santa Cruz with a view to working in tribal missions in the longer term. We had a chance to catch up with her this week and she is doing great. She is a young woman with a heart that breaks for the lost of Bolivia. We are delighted for her.

Prayer

• This being Bolivia, there is still a little registration paperwork remaining on the car, some of which will require Craig to head back to Santa Cruz in the next week or two. Pray for a swift conclusion to all of this.
• Pray for our preparations for the team from Strathaven Evangelical Church, who follow us across the Atlantic in just two weeks’ time. Pray that we might be able to get our house in order (I mean that literally!) and attend to this and other matters fairly soon.
• Pray for a stress-free readjustment to this unique place. I might add that we have already noticed a big difference between returning after six months away, and doing so after a year’s absence; feels a lot more natural.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 27/08/16

"YOU'RE FORGETTING ABOUT THE BANK-SLIP!"

It's Saturday morning and Amanda has a flight to catch. In a few hours, she sets off for Cochabamba, where she is due to attend the wedding of a fellow Latin Linker this afternoon. Meanwhile, back home, cue mis-matched clothes, dirty-bottle-backlogs and bathtime shortcuts -- or, as it's otherwise known, 'father-son bonding time'.

Amanda returns tomorrow afternoon. But Sam and I aren't going to get too comfortable. Because before we know it, it will be Friday morning...and Amanda will have a flight to catch! This time, her mother's jetting in for an extended visit, and requires picking-up in Santa Cruz. Meanwhile, back home...oh, you get the drift. Please pray!

Still, at least we're in something of an adversity-overcoming frame of mind these days, not least having finally submitted Sam's Bolivian passport application this week. Here are the highlights, otherwise known as How Bolivian Officialdom Works.

A week past on Monday, we processed Sam's Bolivian I.D. card, a pre-requisite for a passport application here and so, thus armed, we swung by the immigration office. We did this, not to submit the application there and then, but to be given what I've come to call our Scavenger Hunt List. In the west these days, you tend to go online, print the forms, fill them in, send them in with a photo and your bank details, and a few weeks down the line a passport is delivered to your door. 

Not so here. Not for passports, not for I.D. card applications, and definitely not for visa applications (Amanda and I spent around 43% of our first three years here in the immigration office). Here you are given a slip of paper with several items you'd better present before you even think about getting a passport. Sunshine. As well as photocopies of various documents of our own as parents, they included:

• A bank slip, proving that you have deposited the money into the required account. This was introduced some years ago here, as a way of clamping down on government workers requesting, say, 'something for the wife's Christmas' in order to hasten applications.
• An original birth certificate, which you don't get back. Here, photocopied birth certificates are about as useful as a freezer in the North Pole. On the flipside, they will print a new 'original' for you there and then, for the required fee.
• Most curiously, a 'permission to travel' document (isn't that what a passport is?). Now that we live with a Bolivian, we've discovered that it's necessary to submit a separate document for the trip in question. Which, of course, is somewhat perplexing for us, as the only reason we needed the document was to get the passport, not to travel any time soon.

The problem is that there is always at least one document that, itself, generates its own Scavenger Hunt List. This time, that proved to be the permission to travel document. In the past, we had actually filled in a couple of domestic permission to travel documents in order that Sam could travel within Bolivia (a requirement here for travelling with children: they are valid for 30 days). Assuming that this was what they required -- as we could not currently leave the country without a passport -- we swung by the bus station (they are available there and at the airport) and picked one up. No, silly, we were told on our third visit to the immigration office, it's a permission to travel internationally. 

Off we went, then, to that office, and sure enough, another bundle of paperwork was required. It would take a full week for us to assemble this and then get the document.

So, on Monday past, with a spring in our step, off we went to immigration, brandishing said document, slamming it on the guy's desk and singing in unison, 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now' to the requisite dance-steps (I may have exaggerated parts of the last sentence). Billy Bureaucrat simply had to admit defeat. He couldn't send us away for the umpteenth time for a document he'd forgotten to mention (that did happen). We had met all the requirements and there was nothing he could do about it but process that application. 

Nothing he could do, that is, until, a couple of minutes into his entering our details into the system...there was a power-cut. "There's been a power-cut," he informed us, barely able to contain a grin (the nefarious so-and-so) and completely powerless, in a quite literal sense, to do much about it. 

As lacking in aesthetic qualities as it was, I can assure you that a pan-pipe-wielding llama chewing coca leaves with an Andean backdrop could not have made for a more Bolivian scene.

Untypically, however, the power surged back into life about fifteen minutes later, and our decision to hang around instead of coming back in the afternoon was vindicated. However, the immigration office in Trinidad is just the start. The application should now be in La Paz, and it won't be another couple of weeks, probably, until we see the passport.

While we wait for that, there's a fair amount of homework for us to do as we try to work out what is required for visas for the UK and Canada (and, further down the line, the USA) for next year. Only one problem with that strategy: my wife never seems to be here.

Prayer

• For no more bumps in the road for Sam's passport application (another quirk of the system here is that, because things get sent to La Paz, if the people there find any seeming inconsistencies, the documents get sent back, and we have to make the changes, re-submit, and wait another two weeks; hoping we can avoid that).
• Every two or three years, we spend a little time with the youth in the church addressing the topic of sex and relationships. Craig is speaking tonight on what the Bible has to say on the subject. Pray for Craig, for the other leaders as they discuss these issues with the young people in small groups afterwards, and for the young people themselves. A huge, highly sensitive topic.
• A new volunteer, Melissa Olmstead, arrives on Monday from Oregon, for an eight-month stint in Trinidad. Pray for her and for Amanda as she supervises her time here.
• For safe travels for Amanda both today and Friday, and an encouraging time in Cochabamba in the next 24 hours.
• For Craig and Sam as they hold the fort back in Trinidad. Pray that this would be a special time for them both.

Praise

• Amanda had an unexpected (and unexpectedly deep) chat with a member of staff at FT yesterday. Give thanks for the opportunity to minister to that staff member.
• For all the frustration, we are making good progress on Sam's documentation. Give thanks for that.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda