Saturday Post -- 08/12/12

I have to admit something a little sad to everyone - I unfortunately have not yet been able to attempt to make bagels (writes Amanda). I know it was something that everyone was looking forward to hearing about and I am very sorry that I have failed you all. Please be assured that it is still on my mental, and very long, to-do list. Sadly, every time I am presented with free time and I look at my mental to-do list (indeed it is - Craig), sleep seems to have jumped to the top. I don't know why that is. 

However, I have done some baking this past week, as I made cupcakes for my Esther Bible Study group. I think they enjoyed them as we had smaller numbers that night and yet there were only three cupcakes out of 18 left. Oh, a quick baking question... my cupcakes always come out a bit denser than I would like. How do I make them more light and fluffy? I already fold in whipped egg whites separately at the end, but they still come out too dense. Can anyone help me?

As for work this week... it was very busy. It was my last week in Audiology on a full-time schedule, which I am quite glad about. It has been a tad difficult to stay on top of my other work when I've been in Audiology mornings and afternoons. Odalys, the full time audiological technician, flew back into Trinidad this morning (or she was supposed to) and should be back at work Monday. I left her two little welcome back pictures on her desk. When she left to go away at the beginning of November she left me a to-do list and no little pictures. I think I am the better gift-giver based on that evidence. I will continue to work in Audiology in the mornings, helping out where I can. But am looking forward to getting back on top of my other work -- this would include house work, and maybe one day my house won't look like it threw up on itself. 

Actually, the biggest job I have this month, along with a lot of other people, is organising the Christmas programme. The script has been written, the parts of have been handed out, and the kids are practising (like later this afternoon), but there are still the questions of the costumes, backdrops, stage, seating, Christmas refreshments, prizes for the kids from the Bible Explorers' Club, etc. I have to make more donkey ears (like the ones we made for the youth group social night) and sheep ears... like 50 of them. But, thankfully, God has placed lots of people in the church who are wanting to lend a hand, and we are really looking forward to the finished product on the 23rd of December. We are praying that all these kids bring their parents, friends and neighbours to hear about how God provides for us every day, but especially through his Son Jesus. 

Big news -- we officially own both plots of land!!!!! The paperwork on the final plot came out of Derechos Reales (the equivalent of land registry????) yesterday... exactly one year and one month after we first started the initial, incorrect paperwork. Praise God. Unfortunately, the people who wanted to buy the land from us a while back are no longer interested, so we are praying that God would bring other interested buyers to our attention. We have to remember to continue to have faith that God is carrying us through this sometimes complicated process. 

Craig had a big week this week... he got to throw a party and eat cake (actually, I snuck upstairs and ate cake as well, even though I wasn't invited to the party... and there were left overs, so I invited all my work friends to eat Craig's cake as well). This past Wednesday afternoon was the end-of-year party for the community classes, both the one in the Foundation and the one off-site in Maná. It was held at the Foundation and there were games, a Bible quiz, balloons, loot bags (party bags) and cake. All the kids had a great time. Craig says party planning is not his gift and that now that the party is over he can get back to stuff he's good at, but I think the kids would disagree. I think they think he's awesome at party planning and maybe he should spend more time doing it. Please see below evidence of his natural ability (he did not bake the cake... this time).

Group Picture!!

No translation required here. Right? 

Prayer

• The planning and execution of the Christmas programme.
• The kids in the community classes who are now on vacation, and some will not have contact with the church/Foundation for two months.
• Education staff at the Foundation as they spend the summer holidays planning for next year.

Praise

• Receiving the ownership papers on our two plots of land.
• An enjoyable time for Amanda in Audiology full-time during the month of November.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 03/03/12

That's us in Trinidad's zoo with a family of kids who attend FT's Community classes and various church activities. In December of 2011, they found out they wouldn't be seeing their mother again for many years to come, for reasons best unmentioned in the blogosphere. Anyway, on Monday, which is our day off, we took them out for ice cream and a visit to the local animal hangout. With alligators aplenty (literally crawling around in a marshy area in the middle of the park, cage optional), there was certainly reason for mild trepidation for certain visitors. As it happened, the snappers kept themselves to themselves, leaving Bambi to wreak havoc instead. That's right folks, Amanda was frantically pursued by a deer. I wonder if it was the odour from the dogs.

Methinks all this japery calls for a classic Simpsons moment.

Anyway, we certainly made the most of Monday's break, with a busy working week ahead, featuring the launch of this year's R.E. and English classes. I introduced myself to my three new classes and we had an introductory discussion on religion, evangelical Christianity and the Bible. Here, there is relative freedom to teach what you like, so long as you frame it as your own personal belief. It proved to be a lively discussion and it turned out there were a few believers in there too. We'll continue on the same theme this coming week before launching into our study of John's gospel. My classes were just three of 8 in total which took place through FT educational workers this week, meaning over 250 kids in the neighbourhood will be getting a weekly diet of sound Bible teaching in 2012.

As for the English classes, things started a little slowly with just 8 in attendance at Tuesday's launch class. But it turned out one of them is a lawyer and local TV presenter, with a show here every weeknight from 9pm till midnight. So I inquired as to the prospect of a free plug that very evening. Sure enough, on Wednesday morning, I spoke to around a dozen people about signing up (seemingly he'd been going on about it the whole show), and by the time Thursday's class came round, numbers had more than doubled. Most importantly, though, 18 people got the chance to read and translate a simple English passage about God and his granting of freewill to us. 

Another new facet of our day-to-day work this year is also well underway, with Amanda and I holding several one-on-one sessions with FT staff members, whom we meet and pray with. This week I met with Wilson, who works in administration at FT but is also a fellow church band member. Wilson is a couple of years younger than me, but already has two school-aged kids with his wife, and they live with his parents and other family members in a fairly diminutive property. Such living arrangements are not uncommon here, but his extended family are not believers, and so encouragement can be hard to come by once church is over for another week. 

Amanda, meanwhile, met with a fellow nurse and an administrator, neither of whom are believers, but who are both really open to sharing with her. As Amanda dug a little deeper, it turned out that both are by no means uninterested (indeed, we see the administrator at church now and again) but they have some challenging obstacles to overcome to get there -- unsurprisingly, in a church culture where accountability can be sorely lacking, the behaviour of other Christians has proven to be a big stumbling block. An important reminder to us both of the fact that, as missionaries, we are constantly under scrutiny -- a heavy burden to bear, yes, but at the same time, what an opportunity!

Prayer

• For the various staff members mentioned above. Pray too that we would be good listeners and would steer clear of glib, easy answers.
• For Craig as he preaches on John 18:28-40 this weekend.
• For the church's children's ministry which launches this afternoon, with the Sunday School having shifted to Saturdays.
• For Amanda's study in Esther for young women in the 18-25 bracket, which begins tomorrow evening.
• For safe travels for Amanda's cousin, Rebecca Chee, who will be making her way down to Trinidad from Toronto on Friday and Saturday, and who will be joining FT as a volunteer in the educational ministry for a few weeks.

Praise

• For a wealth of encouragements this week as the English and R.E. classes began.
• For the opportunity to minister to our fellow workers and church family this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!


Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 28//1/12

I shan’t lie to you: this blog post will be briefer than a Marks & Sparks management briefing on the briefs department. With a sermon to finish, a discipleship slot this afternoon, band practice and the first youth meeting of 2012 tonight, time is in short supply. Oh, and a football match of some import is due to kick off any time now!

Amanda’s lunch with the nurses last weekend was a great success, and a mutually beneficial enterprise all round. Since moving here, we’ve become keen fish eaters, the fish here being chunkier than a ‘Celebrity Fat Club’ contestant. However, we had not yet mastered the art of buying and cooking fish. Indeed, the best fish is only available at a certain place in town very early on a Saturday morning – that is, 8am (well, Amanda describes it as very early).

So, killing two birds with one stone, Amanda reckoned if some of her nursing colleagues could instruct her in how best to source and prepare the fish, she would host a veritable fish-feast for them. And so it proved, with the nurses still commenting today on how much of a good time they had. And the flat doesn’t even smell of fish any more.

I thought it best to steer clear of the sisterhood, and so I met up with my old language teacher friend, Farid, who I know some of you have been praying for. He is still ploughing away at university here, though picking up interesting language opportunities here and there; he spent a week on a luxury tourist boat translating for Americans earlier this month. He still comes along to church now and again and is well aware of what is preached on a Sunday, but hasn’t quite made that all-important step of faith yet. Fertile soil there, though – please keep praying.

At work, we have been up to our usual, with preparations continuing for the English classes (with an agreed-upon start-date decided this week of Tuesday 28^th of February) and a raft of audiology patients. Amanda has also been helping in an Excel course for the nurses at FT. Each month, the nurses have to submit a series of reports, recording in statistics the work done in each area of health over those four weeks or so. However, very few of the nursing team have ever received any training in Excel, and so, a good friend of ours from church, Jerry, who is also a tech-whizz, has kindly volunteered his services over the past couple of weeks. Amanda, the one who usually has to tidy up the reports for everyone at the end of the month, is assisting. Hopefully the new insights gained will ease the burden on her shoulders – though I must say, I personally wasn’t expecting the ‘where is the start button in Windows’ conversation to go on as long as it did!

Oh, and I got out last night for my first proper kickabout for a year or so. I can barely feel my legs.

Prayer

• Craig is preaching on the second-half of John 16 tomorrow morning. Pray for guidance as he continues his preparation.
•  For the new session of the church youth group, which gets underway tonight. Pray for wisdom for us as leaders as we seek to minister to them as a group and as individuals with a whole range of needs.

Praise

• On that note, give thanks for safe travels and an encouraging week for Ivonne, Mariana, and Wendy, who are three of the, let’s say, ‘young adults’ on the youth committee. They spent last week at a camp for youth leaders and have come back with new ideas aplenty.
• Give thanks also for continued opportunities over the past week to nurture our friendships here.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post - 14/01/12

The view from our apartment on Friday morning.

Our resident model poses on an abandoned scooter.

Roads become rivers very quickly at this time of year.

Well, so much for annual blog posts... as I (Amanda) have had the more exciting week, I once again am writing the weekly update. I have to admit that my week was not so much exciting, as encouraging. I thoroughly enjoyed all that God was teaching me and where He was leading me, and I hope I am able to communicate just a bit of that enthusiasm to everyone reading.

This week saw us begin our new 2012 schedule. The first Monday of the year was a national holiday so we were unable to exercise our new free, personal day of the week. But this Monday was a work day, and it seemed a lot of people at work had forgotten that we would not be working, as I got a lot of concerned people worried that I was sick when I didn't show up. I don't know how many people were so bothered that Craig didn't show up. Just joking!!! 

Anyway, we really enjoyed our day off and it was rather productive. As it is now quite damp because of rainy season, our poor dog Arturo had developed a fungal infection which resulted in a bald spot on his hip... so we were able to take him to the vet and leave him there for a full disinfecting bath. We got to treat ourselves to salteñas for breakfast without a care in the world. However, the cares returned as got back to the house... because in a lot of ways free Mondays are really cleaning Mondays... and we got busy all afternoon cleaning the apartment. In the evening we enjoyed the company of our friends as we attended a surprise birthday party for one of our neighbour's mothers. They actually had it set up as a children's party and she thought she was attending a party for one of the neighbourhood kids... to the point where she didn't want to go and she had to get coaxed out the door. 

My interesting week, however, really started on Tuesday. I have no idea if Craig has mentioned before on the blog about my schedule change during the working week, but that change came into effect on Tuesday. I am now working half-time in Audiology and my goal with the other half of my time is to dedicate it to ministry work, whether that is one-on-one discipleship, youth group prep and planning, Sunday School (now "Saturday School)" prep, or visitations. But I had not really organised anything specific for this week... I wanted to use this week to do the organising, so I entered Tuesday afternoon with a bit of trepidation. I didn't want the nurses to think I was abandoning them. I wanted them to understand that I was doing this for them... because I think their spiritual wellbeing is more important then anything else. And so far, so good. They seem to accept and understand why I am doing it, and are very good natured about it. I did spend that Tuesday afternoon writing lists... ministries I felt passionate about, ways to tackle them, and I even wrote a list of things that I am good at and enjoy doing in order to think of ways of incorporating them in to service here. I wrote our questions and suggestions to discuss with other people about possible ways of altering things or about how we're going to work as a group. In all I was encouraged by the progress... 

Wednesday afternoon was the health area's monthly meeting, so I joined them for that... and that was encouraging in its own way. I participated!!! Usually during these meetings I sit there and listen and don't share that much. At the beginning this was because of my Spanish... later on it was because I didn't really have that much to say. But I felt that we were at the beginning of a new year and we had the opportunity to address a few things in health and I was going to speak up... and I did! Firstly, I got to share about the trip that Odalys and I took to Cochabamba and then I wanted to encourage people to strive to do their monthly health reports well. I am even organising a little workshop for this Wednesday afternoon to help everyone get their reports off on the right foot this year. We are also hoping to organise an Excel training course for the nurses especially. Every month they have to do these monthly reports on Excel and, well,  in one of the nurse's own words, "I only know how to turn the computer on and off...". Most of them want to learn these practical skills as well... so it would be an encouragement to them to be able to help them in this way. 

Thursday was a really encouraging day... firstly, Odalys asked me when we're going to arrange a time to meet every week. I have been saying this over and over to the nurses that I want to meet with them one-on-one... and it was so encouraging that Odalys wanted to arrange something and that she was taking it seriously. We've decided on Saturdays, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks we'll get that going. I was so excited. 

Thursday afternoon I went to visit one of the nurses in hospital. Kleider is about one month pregnant, but was admitted to hospital on Wednesday with some bleeding. Thankfully, they stopped the bleeding and she didn't miscarry and is on order bed rest just now (though she has every intention of coming back to work on Monday... sigh...). I went to visit her, as coming along side people is something I really want to do as well... I want to be able to help and support people through whatever they are going through, not just stuff at work. I was very nervous though because I don't have much experience with hospital visitation... I brought a deck of UNO cards to play if she was bored... because I can imagine bed rest can be boring. Her parents were there and after chatting for a bit, I said I had brought these cards if she wanted to play... I think everyone was really uncomfortable until they realised that they weren't a normal deck of cards and it was another special game. Good thing to remember culturally, that one... cards don't go down too well here. But Kleider really got into it and started winning some hands quite quickly. She got discharged later that night and is now resting at her sister's house. I am praying really hard for the health of her and her baby... as her and her partner have being trying for 5 years for this baby. 

Thursday was also interesting because it rained ALL day... driving to and from the hospital was actually quite dangerous. Trinidad was essentially flooding... please see posted pictures. It was quite dramatic... an annoyance for us, but a crisis for some people who do not live in elevated housing. One of the nurses said the water was about as high as her bed in her room. Roads became rivers... just going from the house to the church, the water rose to the top of my calves. I was worried that my wellies were not high enough, but I just got away with them. This did mean that none of the kids from the neighbourhood or Maná were able to come to prayer meeting... there were still seven of us in total though, and it was nice to have a meeting with adults where we had a really good sharing time and were able to encourage one another in a way that is difficult when there are lots of younger ones; not that we would ever want the younger ones to stop coming. Craig also joked that maybe God sent the rain so he didn't have to spell out the more physical aspects of the story of Judah and Tamar, in which he was leading a Bible study, to the younger kids. 

I also enjoyed Friday because KC and I finally were able to get together again. I think it had been over a year since we had schedules that allowed us to do so... and I really felt the benefit of just opening up to someone else and sharing items for prayer and praise. We shared plans and ideas we had for youth group, Saturday School, and one-on-ones with the Foundation staff. We shared how we were managing emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, and were able to encourage each other. It was a huge blessing!

And now, here we are again... Saturday, and with no youth group till the end of the month, Craig and I are going out for a nice dinner... might even get a little dressed up too! Though with the water levels still high in some places, and nothing but mud in other places, heels will not be making an appearance tonight. 

Prayer

• For all the families which have been affected by the flooding.
• For FT nurse Kleider's health during her pregnancy.
• For Amanda as God opens more doors for ministry here.
• For patience for Craig, who is due to meet once again with the owner of our plots of land this week as we hope to finalise the ownership documents.

Praise

• The encouragement that Amanda has felt from her new schedule and the response to it.
• Getting to spend time with each other on our Mondays off.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 08/10/11

Well, here we are again, back in Bolivia, and a warm welcome back to our blog readers. I must apologise for falling short of our promise to post sporadically during our time away, however, hopefully our recent newsletter gives a decent overview of our time in North America.

Last Friday we touched down in Santa Cruz following our overnight flight from Miami. You can probably imagine our feelings upon returning to Bolivia. Joyfully skipping through the arrivals area. Heading straight to a restaurant for some much-missed Bolivian cuisine. Rejoicing in a dose of overpowering heat after a few weeks of the Canadian autumn.

All of the above are things which certainly did not take place last weekend. Much as I'd love to tell you we came back here with a spring in our step, it was in fact one of the most difficult few days we've had to endure here. In our taxi from the airport, as we whittled past one scene of chaos after another, I silently, and repeatedly, posed a fundamental question to the Lord: what on earth are we doing here?

The following day we awaited our departing bus for Trinidad, leaving that evening -- again, an overnight trip. The reality that we would at least soon be 'home' certainly gave us cheer. And yet, if anything, coming back to Trinidad -- a strange place even by Bolivian standards -- was even more of an emotional juggernaut. Within hours, we were catching up on the local news, with much to be encouraged by, but also a fair few stories of fellow believers in the church who simply weren't getting their act together spiritually. The questions that surfaced in Santa Cruz only intensified as I had what can only be described as a 'Jonah moment': What was the point in leaving behind our comfortable, Western lifestyles just to come back here and put in all the effort of ministering to people who routinely ignore what the Bible has to say to them anyway?

Neither of us could take much more and, following a couple of Skype calls to the parents we'd so recently bid farewell, we both broke down.

Well, it's amazing what a combination of a good night's sleep and the word of God can do. As I came to the next morning, I reached for my Bible. My daily readings follow Robert Murray M'Cheyne's calendar, allowing me to read, in an annual cycle, the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice. My Psalm for that morning, as it happened, was Psalm 23, a lyric well known to believers and non-believers alike. This Psalm, which begins 'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want' speaks plainly of the Lord's protection of, and provision for, those who trust in him. It is a Psalm which is read and sung at many occasions of importance for Christians as a reminder of the Lord's faithfulness. It is an overwhelmingly positive Psalm, and is often sung or read with appropriate joy.

Yet as I considered the Psalm again that morning for the umpteenth time in my life, one phrase, from the third verse, wedged itself into my consciousness: 'He guides me in paths of righteousness For His name's sake'. It is possible to read this verse, as I have done many times in the past, and amidst the Psalm's generally upbeat tone, ignore the gravity of what is said here. The Lord does not promise to lead his faithful servants down paths of prosperity, nor paths of popularity, nor paths of peace. Rather he will lead us down paths of righteousness. And, all clichés aside, we know how difficult it can be to do the right thing. Slowly but surely, a blessed reassurance came over me that, though our path had taken us out of a 'civilised' context and into the utter confusion of Bolivia, we could at the very least be sure that, by leaving those comforts behind, we had followed what is perhaps the Lord's 'path of righteousness' for our lives right now.

Not that we are so naive as to believe that we've left a 'better' existence behind. We'd danced the culture-shift tango enough times in the past to consider ourselves well prepared for what would await us in Canada. Nevertheless, we frequently found ourselves caught out over those two months, particularly when it came to discerning the difference between necessities and luxuries, something we suspect is a growing problem for those in developed societies. There are few clothes shops of any real quality here (those that are charge eye-watering prices) and so there was a practical need, on our part, to stock up. But we soon found ourselves browsing other 'essentials'. Early on in the trip, we noticed the rubber skins which people had attached to their laptops, in order to give them an extra layer of protection. We quickly resolved that we, too, needed these accessories, at a price tag of around $60 each. It was only when we had a sit-down in the shopping mall and reflected that we had not at any point in our time in Bolivia thought to ourselves 'What my computer really could so with is a new skin!' that we realised our misguidedness.

It's the oldest trick in the advertising book: to convince someone they have a need of something. But the convenience culture appears to be taking ever-deeper roots and we had to be careful not to fall victim to it. I sometimes wonder if people look at Amanda and I and think to themselves 'boy, they must be great people to be able to live and work in such a poor place as Bolivia'. If anything, I wonder at times if God put us here precisely to save us from ourselves!

I have rambled long enough. Back at the ranch, we're now settled and have been working a few days. Amanda has pretty much gone straight back into her old healthcare tasks, while I decided to start my teaching duties next week in order to give myself a week to get my educational materials and lesson plans in order. More on our work next week.

For now, our main item of prayer that we would wish to share with you is for a nurse at the foundation called Asalia, with whom Amanda is particularly close. A couple of weeks ago, with just weeks remaining in her first pregnancy, she went to hospital with high blood pressure. One thing led to another and, in the end, she tragically lost her baby, a girl. Unfortunately, while Asalia and her husband were in the hospital, someone stole their motorcycle, their only means of transport.

Amanda has been meeting with Asalia over the past week to provide comfort and a listening ear, and will continue to do so. Please pray especially for Asalia and her husband, who are not believers, as they come to terms with their loss, and for Amanda, that she'll be given the right words when the time is right to speak, and self-discipline when it isn't.

Prayer
• For our friend and colleague, Asalia, and for her family.
• For patience and grace as we settle back into a very different culture.

Praise
• For a restful couple of months in North America, and particularly the chance to be reunited with loved ones again.
• For safe travels back to Bolivia.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 18/12/10

Here we are at what I suppose was our staff Christmas party for the year. Last night the workers at FT were invited to the home of María, who is part of the administrative team. It was a fun night and doubled up as the occasion upon which to unleash the Secret Santa presents. Unlike the UK, the Bolivians seem to take the present-buying pretty seriously.

Still hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner, though I'm sure that would be the case were I back home too. I remain utterly perplexed as to where 2010 has gone. The Lord has been so good to us, though, and we have spent a lot of time these last few days looking back, still wondering how on earth we got here, but excited about what has been done and what is yet to come.

And we're really looking forward to next weekend's celebrations. Christmas Eve is, if anything, the bigger event here -- think Hogmanay, but a little more family-based and you have the right idea. Families get together, share a meal and, at midnight, open their gifts together. So no spoilt brats jumping on their parents' bed at 4am so they can open their entirely expected PS3/Plasma combination round here. Just a pleasant, quiet, family affair. Our neighbours, Miguel-Ángel (the FT dentist), his wife Rut, and their five children, aware that this is our first Christmas away from home, have kindly invited us over to celebrate Christmas Eve with them. They're a great bunch, so generous and humble, and we hope to have a great evening with them.

On Saturday itself, all of the missionary families/couples are getting together at Kenny's home and we've decided to invite Miguel-Ángel's family and also the family of Elias, the church pastor. So Christmas Day may be quiet elsewhere in Trinidad, but not round our way! Turkey will be served but rumours of an additional stuffed pig are afoot (that'll make two of us then!).

This week, however, I received something of an early present myself. As I have mentioned before, FT is an official centre for the Emmaus Bible courses, a low-price distance-learning course, with a heavily evangelistic bent in the initial stages. I'm one of four people here who mark the books when students have completed them, and this involves one-on-one feedback, so as to ensure that the students (who are mostly children) understand what we are saying. And one of our principles is that, with any feedback, we always cite a Bible verse to back up what we have said. Without a doubt, the passage we cite more than any other is Ephesians 2:8-9, which says:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.

You can imagine, then, what we're often up against in the typical student's answers. A frequent answer to the question, "How do you know you're going to Heaven?" is "I'm not sure because I'm not always good." This comes as much from Christians as non-Christians. Real confusion on this point here.

Anyway, I was giving feedback to a young boy who had a 99% score but had answered such a question on faith and works incorrectly. Furthermore, he had asked in the 'any further questions' section at the close, why Jesus had to die. The Lord was able to help me explain the hopelessness of our works with regard to salvation and use this to then illustrate why it was that Christ died for us. I explained that the only thing we can do to be saved is to accept the free gift of his salvation. I then felt led to ask the boy if he wished to receive that salvation. He said yes and, for the first time in my life (that I am aware of) I had the honour of leading someone to the Lord. The boy's name is Ymer and he has an older sister who is really involved at church and very mature in her faith, which will be a great help for him, but they both come from a difficult family situation. Please pray!

Our final newsletter for the year has just been sent out -- if you wish a copy, write to us at cramandaham@gmail.com.

We may or may not be back with another post next weekend but, in any case, we wish all of you a very happy, Christ-centred Christmas and a God-honouring New Year. We're so grateful to know that so many take an interest in our work and excited to have made new friends through the blogosphere. May God bless you all this Christmas.

Prayer
• For the church’s events over Christmas, particularly the service on the afternoon on Christmas Eve. It will be held outdoors (can’t imagine that back home!) and lots of children and young people are involved. We rarely, if ever, see the parents of the majority of the younger folk and are expecting many of them to come along, so please pray for the evangelistic aspect of this service.
• For a sense of peace for both of us, far from home as we both are this Christmas.

Praise
• For the chance to share the gospel this week with young Ymer.
• For our ‘Trinidad family’ with whom we will mark Christmas this year –- would be very hard without them.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda