Saturday Post - 06/06/2015

Craig left me all alone this weekend… he also left me with a punctured tire, an almost empty water tank and an empty gas canister. It is not that I am incapable in anyway, these are just jobs that Craig normally deals with. So I stepped up like a big girl and got the puncture in the tire fixed and I’m monitoring the water level in the underground tank like a grown-up. I have decided to forego laundry to conserve water, therefore I might be able to get to Monday morning and leave Craig to deal with calling the water guy after all. See? I can make real, adult decisions. And if it comes down to it, I can get the water tank refilled without a problem. However, I refuse to try and change the gas canister. I have this image of all the gas leaking out as I faff around with reconnecting it to the stove and the whole house blowing up. So I am not going to do it.

However, this leaves me with a significant problem when it comes to feeding myself. I was quite keen to not make any meals while Craig was away… why cook for one person? I can live on crackers and cheese… if I had crackers. But the truth is I was really looking forward to my boxed mac n’cheese. Not quite KD, but close. I bought two boxes in Cochabamba and I have to save them for times like these because Craig thinks they’re vile. I keep telling him he can’t insult a North American staple like KD but he won’t listen to me. I even have Heinz ketchup to go with it… but I need the stovetop to boil the pasta. So no mac n’cheese for me. I couldn’t even make my porridge this morning and I had to eat some of Craig’s cereal for breakfast… eeek… cornflakes… not enough sugar. I seriously considered adding sugar to my cornflakes. My lunch has been a papaya milkshake, because I might not have water and I might not have gas, but I do have electricity, so my blender works! Yay!

Things for me have been really relaxed since Craig’s departure on Thursday. To be completely honest I was kind of excited to have the house to myself for the weekend, because some repressed part of me reared its head and said, “Party Time!!!”, and that’s exactly what’s happening here tonight… a whole pile of young ladies are coming over to hard core party with a… wait for it… movie. I know, I’m wild. Mariana is trying to angle for some Just Dance on the Wii so that might really kick things up a notch. But I was looking forward to regressing to my late teens, early twenties… staying up really late, watching girly stuff and not cooking… but then Thursday came and I just got really sad. I didn’t want Craig to leave. And when he finally left, I felt lonely.

I have expressed this sentiment to many people and they all have said, “That’s a good thing.” And yes it is… I love my husband enough to miss him when he’s gone! Though I am still having the party tonight. Actually, I hope my Mom finds this very reassuring. I think she’s been worried about the state of my marriage since Craig posted the blog entry about prioritizing one’s marriage while in ministry. While that blog post was quite general, I guess it can easily be inferred that we had a trying week back then, and my Mom keeps asking me how we’re doing because she’s still worried. That’s sweet of her, but thankfully unnecessary. Mom, I like my husband enough that I want him to come back!

And to be fair, I’m not missing him as much as I thought I would on Thursday because I saw him yesterday. He was trying to contact me all Thursday night and finally got me on Friday morning. The cable for the projector they brought with them didn’t work… and would it be possible for me to drive and drop off another projector? Pretty please? He was very reasonable and said if I couldn’t make it, it wouldn’t be a problem… but there is a good chunk of our medical staff at the same conference as him, so the Foundation was always going to be quiet yesterday. It was a big ask in the sense that the camp ground is almost 100 Km from Trinidad, but hey… the sun was out, the windows down, there was some fast driving – as I’m not entirely sure what the speed limit on Bolivian highways is, music on the stereo, and company! Deborah Holmes, who is visiting us again from England after her three-month stint here in 2012, joined me on the one-hour trek there and one-hour trek back. And it was kind of good times… not a chore at all. And they gave us lunch once we got there. Even better… and I got to see Craig.  Yay!

So it’s really just today I won’t see him, because he comes back tomorrow. Yay!

From what I heard during our stop over at the camp grounds yesterday the Langham course is quite intensive. They are working on the book of Philemon and they are pushing the participants quite hard. But I am sure Craig will regale you with all the drama that can be found at a Bolivian preaching conference next weekend.

Other than the crazy good times that are going to be had at my way too crazy party tonight, my weekend is the same from all our other weekends. I was up early this morning for the youth group leader’s prayer meeting and I have to go do the grocery shopping at some point before youth group tonight. KC is speaking on Rahab’s faith as mentioned in Hebrews 11, so I’m looking forward to hearing more about that. Tomorrow is the first Sunday of the month so there is no communion service at 9 am, instead we’ll be sharing communion during the family service. All of our leaders are at this preaching conference so the timing worked out well in that sense. They have asked Maicol to lead the time of sharing and communion tomorrow and then they should be back some time in the afternoon. There is some debate as to whether I have to drive out there again to help bring people back as they crammed way too many people into the transport for the outward leg of their trip. I said I was willing, but I have to wait and see if I am needed. Regardless, I am looking forward to seeing Craig again… and regaining the use of my stove.

Thanks for reading this and in your way keeping me company on my weekend alone.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Prayer:

• For Craig, Miguel Angel, Elias, Romina and those from other churches at the Langham Preaching Conference. Please pray for their time there, that they would be challenged and grow in their understanding of studying and communicating the Bible. And please pray for a safe and uneventful trip back tomorrow. 
• For various Foundation workers who have recently started coming to different events or meetings that the church has organised. It has been encouraging to see relationships being solidified and more connections being made between the church and the Foundation. Please pray for our evangelism efforts in a specifically Catholic context, that the Holy Spirit would work to convict people of salvation by faith. 
• I am trying to organise a FT Workers' Team Building Day before we return to Scotland at the end of June for a family wedding. Please pray for these preparations and that taking the time to invest in our workers in this way will bear spiritual fruit. 

Praise:

• For the support of friends here while Craig has been away. 
• For the safe arrival of the conference participants to the camp grounds on Thursday.
• For a bit more clarity in regards to the ENT Surgeon position at the Foundation - once we know more for sure, we'll let everyone else know too. 
• A really good turnout at the prayer meeting on Thursday night despite all our leaders being away - Daniel Ricardo presented Cuba to us and lead us through the prayer needs of his own country.

Saturday Post -- 09/07/11

First up, we hope everyone was finally able to get the newsletter this week. Apologies for the repeated attempts and inbox clutter -- hopefully, third time was a charm.

If you've had the chance to look at it yet, you'll have read, and seen, plenty related to Amanda's trip, which she has been hesitant to call 'fun', but it was certainly an eye-opener for her in terms of the potential of medical ministry.

Anyway, by Saturday evening, when she finally arrived, I was probably only in more need of a razor (her first words: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?!) and, pleasingly, while she found the trip beneficial, she confessed that a week was a bit of a stretch for her too. Perhaps if there's another trip I'll have the chance to tag along and join the ministry team. At least then she can keep me on beard-watch.

There was an extra special reason to look forward to our reunion in the shape of our anniversary on Thursday, which certainly had something of a developing-world-missionary spin to it. We wrapped up English class at 6pm, had a quick change and then drove across town to leave our laundry with a family we support. Off to the restaurant, where we enjoyed a great feed; a quick stop at our favourite ice cream shop (one of the few that use bottled water to make it); and back at the church by 8.30pm to drive home the kids whom we usually transport at the end of the Bible Study. If not quite a relaxing evening, we certainly did our bit for Bolivia's fuel industry.

The first week of the half-year school holidays is now at an end and, with it, the first week of the 5-Day Clubs. This week's club, which is a joint effort between FT and our church, El Jireh, took place at a school up the road from FT headquarters, and well over 100 kids came every day to sing, play games and hear the gospel explained clearly. It was a thrilling week on a couple of levels.


That's me leading the singing with some youth volunteers chipping in with the actions

First of all, the 5-Day Clubs in the past had generally been organised and run by a handful of willing adult missionaries and FT workers. But over the last year, regular visitors to the blog will probably have picked up on the real need for the discipleship in the community, particularly for the younger people. So the decision was taken three months ago to have a weekly training session for a group of 10 teenage believers, in order to leave far more responsibility in their hands, helping us older fuddy-duddies, but more importantly, training them up so that some day they'll be able to take charge of the club and other such ministries. It was terrific to witness at first-hand the growth of these teenagers as the week went on. People in this culture at all levels, sadly, simply flee from responsibility, making for a steep learning curve for the young people. Western expectations such as the importance of punctuality, for example, simply aren't a consideration for Benians. But after a shaky first day, they responded so well and we were greatly encouraged.


The facilities we had access to were packed out every day

And secondly, many of us had the privilege of praying with children as they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Right from the get-go, the prevailing mantra within the leadership team was that this week was completely God's work in which we had the privilege of serving, and we were greatly humbled to see him at work in spite of our weaknesses.

The whole thing, largely, went very smoothly, and the coming week offers an opportunity for lessons to be applied as we move on to the village of San Pedro, where the format of the club will remain the same, if not the demographics. A good education is hard enough to come by in cities like Trinidad -- in the country, forget it. So we'll be tweaking the teaching materials to suit. And as for punctuality, well, leaving Trinidad at 7.30am every morning will prove the defining test for any teenager!

Prayer
• For the coming week in San Pedro – particularly that we’d be guarded against complacency.
• For the children who accepted Christ as their saviour this week, particularly that they would be quick to tell others of their decision, that they would receive the support of their families and that we’d be able to maintain a contact with them.

Praise
• For the Lord’s work at this week’s 5-Day Club.
• For rest for Amanda this week following her river adventures.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 02/07/11

Well, that wasn't too bad, now, was it? Received word late last night that Amanda and the remainder of the boat team are due in to town this afternoon, one day earlier than billed, and my seven days of solitude are set to come to an end.

As expected, the week took care of itself with plenty of activity. I spent large chunks of the last few days preparing for my talk at this evening's youth group meeting and for the 5-day clubs (which start on Monday) as well as the usual lesson planning etc. More time was also available in the evenings to pursue pastimes. I caught up on reading, I continued with my rigorous piano practice regime, and I somehow managed to find a way to play N64 classic Zelda: Ocarina of Time on our Mac, a game that is just as rewarding (and time-consuming) now as it was when I was 16, acne-ridden and in study denial.

Oh, and I grew a big beard! Amanda hates 'em, so it'll be gone before sunset, but I felt I owed it to myself to take advantage of this week of solitude to see how I'm progressing in the man-stakes. Truth is, it's beyond shaggy now and the itch-factor has only increased over time, rendering sleep next to impossible. But I have achieved my goal, I now know the hitherto unknown, and perhaps one day, as I lie on my deathbed, I will be able to cast a dewy eye back, safe in the knowledge that after a week without a razor, I look a right numpty.


This is me pre-bedtime last night. A mere six hours' sleep ensued.

I bet I'm not the only person at this point thinking that I could really do with having Amanda back.

Meanwhile, Bolivia is still reeling from the shock of flirting with victory over Argentina in the Copa América's curtain-raiser, in what would have been a second consecutive win over its not-so-beloved, yet infinitely superior, neighbour down south. Messi, Tevez and co. had no answer for a delicious back-heeler that was guided into the net by one of the Argentinians. See video below. It was equalised on 77 minutes by Sergio Agüero. A much better start for the national team than anyone had expected. Anyway, I used the excuse of the game to catch up with a couple of guys from the youth group, one of whom, Alan, is leaving home this weekend to study in Cochabamba. He's a good friend of mine and I actually taught him when I was first in Trinidad back in 2000/2001. He's definitely a bit of a home-boy, but he's very able and could do with spreading his wings and seeing a world outside of Trinidad. Please pray for him as he settles there.



Prayer
• For safe travels for Amanda as she makes her way back to Trinidad today.
• For the fortnight of 5-day clubs, which begins this Monday. The first week is in Trinidad, the second week in the remote village of San Pedro. I’ll be in charge of music and will lead a small group. Obviously, it’s a very evangelism-focused programme, so would really appreciate all your prayers.

Praise
• For the Lord’s guidance as I preached last Sunday.
• For the Lord’s help to the boat team this week. There will be a lot more on that in our next newsletter, which is due out this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 25/06/11

That's me just back from town, having dropped Amanda off for her trip. If you've read last week's post and are currently double-taking, you read that correctly. The date for the boat trip had been pushed back from the Wednesday till the Saturday some time ago but nobody had gotten in touch with FT to notify us of the switch. It took some Bernstein & Woodward-like digging to get to the bottom of it all and and confirm the switch. Welcome to Bolivia! Anyway, the end date of the trip hasn't changed, meaning she'll only be away for a week now, thus our mutual suffering is somewhat eased.

That said, I have a packed week ahead: preaching tomorrow on the latter verses of John 5; preaching again next Saturday at the youth group; and a busy week at FT, including preparation for the 5-day clubs, which start a week on Monday. She'll be back in no time. And by then, there'll just be a month or so left for us here before our trip to Canada. Where's 2011 going?

As mentioned in the last post, this week was littered with holidays, making for a very stop-start rhythm. We didn't find out about the re-scheduled departure date till Monday, for example. Nonetheless, we had a very relaxed couple of days to ourselves and much reading was caught up on.

Right, apologies for the brevity, but I have a sermon to finish and a band practice to attend, so I'll leave it there for now.

Prayer
• For Amanda, on her journey there today and for the remainder of her trip on the boat.
• For discipline and openness to the Spirit as I prepare preaching material.

Praise
• For a refreshing break this week on our days off.
• For the Lord’s continued growth of our ministry as we reach the halfway stage in 2011.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 18/06/11

Here are some pictures from Día de la Santísima Trinidad, the big annual parade which was held yesterday. A few of these are of students from the school where I teach English on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was a pleasure to go along and encourage them. More of these on my Facebook page.









Yesterday, everyone in town had tolerancia, i.e., permission to leave work from 10am in order to attend the festivities. Holidays tend to come in all at once here and this week is no exception. Yesterday's festivities kick off a weekend of celebrations, so Monday is a local holiday, nicknamed Día de la Recuperacíon (no Spanish degree required to work that one out). Day off #1. The following day, Tuesday, is not only the winter/summer solstice, depending on where you live, but also Aymara new year (the Aymara being an indigenous race here). Day off #2. And Thursday is the Catholic holiday of Corpus Christi, so, inevitably, that's a holiday too. Day off #3. Must say, accommodating everyone else's belief systems does at times have its upsides.

Adding to the weirdness of the approaching week will be the absence of Amanda from Wednesday morning onwards. Indeed, she won't be back round these here parts for 10 days or so. This week, along with three health colleagues from FT, she'll be joining a team of Canadians and Bolivians on a boat. I've asked her for specifics and, well, she's none the wiser! I've been reliably informed that she'll fly some kind of small plane to the place where the boat will leave and that the boat will go up a river. And that's really all she can tell me right now. I tell you, it's like being married to a CIA operative. Hopefully by next week I'll have more useful information. Anyway, while voyaging on the good ship something-or-other, she'll be putting her audiology skills to good use among the villagers that live in these extremely isolated communities.

I would cook for myself -- I do a mean line in eggs and bacon -- but thankfully our neighbours Kenny & Claudia have stepped in and will be keeping a seat spare at the lunch table. So I'll be nourished, but it'll be a tough old 10 days or so, easily the longest period we'll have spent apart in our marriage, so please pray for us.

On Tuesday past, we both got to go on a trip of a far smaller -- though no less meaningful -- scale, back to San Pedro, where, in our latest afternoon visit in advance of July's 5-day club, we were accompanied by a full team of health workers, including Amanda, who provided a series of check-ups on people in the community. It was the final visit before the club itself and another enthusiastic bunch of kids turned up, a little smaller this time, though the presence of the health team probably contributed to that -- both because of kids attending the check-ups, and the primal fear which exists in such remote communities, and this is no joke, of doctors coming and sticking needles in you. Anyway, the gospel was clearly shared once again and good foundations have been laid for July.

Prayer
• For Amanda as she sets off on her river trip on Wednesday, that she and the rest of the team would be a blessing to all they encounter and that they would be protected in all they do.
• For us as a couple as we spend an extended period apart.

Praise
• For the Lord’s guidance (and personal application) for Craig as he led this weeks meditations in Galatians 6:6-10, on ‘sowing and reaping’.
• For another beneficial visit to San Pedro on Tuesday and the groundwork laid for the 5-day club.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 11/06/11

Yippee -- a symmetrical date!

Will have to be briefer than usual this morning as we have a car mechanic friend coming round shortly to deal with a few issues Pedro has been having recently. However, it's been a good week all round. On Sunday morning the worship band did its first family service at the church. The important thing, as I stressed to the guys over and over again, was gaining the experience. Mistakes would occur; the test was how each musician reacted. And, I have to say, they came through with flying colours. In many ways I was too caught up in the technicalities to gain a balanced perspective on the situation, but many people have commented on the visible lift it was to people to have a group of their own leading them in worship.

Of course, the longer-term issue is our two-month break in August and September, and the work towards that starts this morning, when we'll start practising a batch of relatively simple songs that they can use while we're away.

Hours later, the excitement over the band had died down somewhat, as Amanda picked up a virus and spent Monday in a poor state. However, she was brilliantly attended to by her fellow health workers and by Monday evening the change was visible, such that she felt able to return to work the next day.

Work this week has been dominated by the monthly meetings of the various areas of FT and some important decisions have been made as part of that -- we praise the Lord for his guidance. At Wednesday's Health meeting, it was confirmed that Amanda would be heading off on an Amazon boat trip with three other health workers and a team of Bolivians and Canadians from the 22nd of June till the 2nd of July. More on that next week!

Please accept my apologies once again for a relatively short update, but we hope that, above all, there's enough here to keep you informed in your prayers. For which, many, many thanks.

Prayer
• For the second pre-visit to San Pedro, which takes place this Tuesday, ahead of July’s 5-Day Club there.
• For Amanda as she makes preparations for her impending boat trip.

Praise
• For the Lord’s guidance in our various meetings at work this week.
• For a tremendous first Sunday morning service with the worship group.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 21/05/11

Though the school holidays are still a couple of months away, thoughts are steadily turning to July’s Five-Day Holiday Bible Clubs, which, as they did last year, will take place at FT’s headquarters the first week and in the remote village of San Pedro in the second week.

Excitingly, the make-up of the team looks set to have a radical overhaul, with a group of ten young people in the church having been approached to play a part in the running of the clubs, with a particular focus on working with small groups.

Though the Five-Day club in San Pedro took place nearly a year ago, FT has sought to maintain the contact, with three afternoon visits taking place towards the end of last year (though remote and accessible only by dirt road, the village is nonetheless just an hour’s drive from Trinidad). And earlier this week, we made the first of two afternoon visits, the next being in June, ahead of the club in July. Now I personally am relatively uninvolved, the bulk of the planning and preparation being carried out by FT Sports staff. Nonetheless, they’re always in need of someone to play the guitar, and that someone is usually me. However, I also chipped in in various other ways, such as leading a small group – a real eye-opener, I must say, both in terms of Biblical knowledge and literacy levels. Anyway, here are some pictures.


The team, which included four of the ten youth volunteers (the other six are coming next month)


Sing-song time


This is my impromptu small group (the standing kids are the high-schoolers who came to investigate what was going on during their break)

Back in Trinidad, the annual complex ear microsurgery campaign is in full swing, having started on Thursday and finishing this Tuesday. However, this time round, Amanda isn’t at the coal-face, instead covering rudimentary nursing tasks while the other nurses are in theatre, though she’s had a couple of Audiology patients to attend to at the same time. Needless to say, she’s spinning the plates with characteristic. We also got some news on the river trip which Amanda will be embarking on with three other FT health staff and a team from Canada. She’ll now be going on a later trip, from the 22nd of June until the 3rd of July. Though a little later, it still leaves us with plenty of time afterwards to get ready for our trip to Canada the following month. And most importantly, she’ll be back just in time for our anniversary – yes, I may be a bloke but I am fully aware of their existence, thankyouverymuch.

As you’ll be aware, a couple of months ago some younger guys in the church and I began a weekly practice with a view to forming a worship band. Well, at our practice on Monday, in order to prevent lethargy from setting in, we opted to go for broke and set a date for our first Sunday morning service. Sunday 5th of June, then, is the day, and at long last it appears the church congregation will finally be free of boring old me.

Prayer
• For Amanda as she juggles nursing and Audiology work during the surgical campaign.
• For the worship band as we seek to have everything in place for our debut Sunday.

Praise
• For safety and encouragement during Tuesday’s visit to San Pedro.
• For an enjoyable afternoon with Elizabeth (Amanda’s young Sunday School assistant) and her siblings on Sunday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 26/03/11

Much like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins (though without the dodgy cockney accent), regular readers will know that I've been our church's one-man-band for most of the time we've been here. Unlike old Dick, I keep it simple with just a guitar, which I endeavour to strum in as rhythmic a fashion as possible, so as to create some semblance of percussiveness. It's not great for the strings, but there you go. Anyway, a couple of months ago, one of my friends and co-workers from FT, Wilson, started learning the guitar pretty seriously and approached me about playing along with me on Sundays. A few weeks later, a new family arrived at the church, whose eldest son, Diego, is a keen keyboard player and is interested to learn more worship songs. So I asked him if he'd be interested in joining a worship band while he was at it. He said yes and so Wilson, Diego and I are having our first church band practice this Monday at 5pm. I'm not expecting instant results by any means, but the prospect of a little responsibility being lifted from my shoulders on a Sunday is an exciting one -- and after all, mission work is all about training the natives and, in the process, 'working yourself out of a job'. We'll be away for two months later this year, so I would at least like to have a small bank of songs that the guys can draw from whenever I'm out of Trinidad.

On the subject of travels, with the drier winter months approaching, thoughts are turning to work-based excursions at Fundación Totaí. A team of ear & hearing workers from FT are hoping to travel to the remote village of Santa Ana in May or June and Amanda may get the chance to be part of that, on what would be her first such excursion. Beans on toast for me that week then!

Meanwhile, back in Trinidad, we've been overseeing the exams this week for the first module of classes. Most students turned up for it (a far from insignificant occurrence here in Bolivia) and most got themselves a pass. There were a few who didn't quite manage and we'd appreciate your prayers for them, that they would continue to come to the class so that we can keep up the contact with them. We want students to appreciate the value of learning new skills above the value of an exam pass. This coming week we're having snacks and the presentation of certificates to all students, with those who didn't pass receiving a certificate of attendance. And the following week, we'll begin the second of the year's four modules.

I also feel I'm settling in well to the classroom English I'm teaching at the school up the road from FT. I'm gradually getting used to the sloth-like pace; of the hour or so available, I'm finding that I need the first 30 minutes just to remind students of what we've learned so far. But I'm developing a good rapport with the students and I feel that's starting to pay dividends when it comes to motivation and behaviour. Probably the most important lesson I learned while teaching in the UK was that you can vanquish a whole range of potential behaviour issues in one fell swoop by simply developing a positive relationship with students.

We've just sent out our latest three-monthly newsletter. If you haven't been sent a copy, be sure to let us know and we'll add you to our mailing list.

Prayer
• For our English students, that all would be encouraged by their progress in the first module and that we would be able to maintain a contact with them all.
• For the new worship band, that we would be able to play in church some time within the next few months and that we would grow together as brothers in Christ in the process.

Praise
• For new opportunities opening up for Amanda outside Trinidad.
• For Craig's progress in his English classes in the local school.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda