Saturday Post -- 02/05/15

Hernán and mother, Zonia.

If you subscribe to FT's Facebook page, you will have picked up on the news earlier in the week that Hernán passed away on Sunday evening.

As mentioned a couple of weeks back, the two of us had begun doing a Bible study together, with Friday afternoon being our agreed time. As it turned out, I spent most of the afternoon touring Trinidad's pharmacies in order to get my hands on some medicine that he needed. He had caught a fever, and was in no shape to cope with the rigours of study, lying on his side with his eyes glazed over in pain. I hoped to return the next day, but not for the first time in past weeks, as one medical worker after another passed through his room, I was struck by the dreadfulness of the condition this 19-year-old found himself in.

In the end, that turned out to be the last I saw of him. His mother let me know over the phone on Saturday that his condition was no better, and on Sunday morning Elías informed the church that things had deteriorated further. Amanda and I were relaxing in front of the TV on Sunday evening when we received word of his passing.

Here in Bolivia, the first thing to do in the event of a friend's death is to find out where the wake is, and head there directly; for a culture which can be laid-back at the best of times, such occasions are organised with remarkable haste. So at 11pm, we found ourselves gathered with friends and family in a small church, his casket front and centre, as the rest of us sat quietly while being offered refreshments (it's also customary to bring food here). 

Normally, the internment would go ahead the following day, but with many family members having to travel from the village of San Ignacio (about four hours' drive west), it didn't take place till Tuesday morning. Amanda and I had agreed to transport mourners to the funeral, which usually means turning up at the wake venue and then joining the caravan of vehicles which will trundle along slowly to Trinidad's cemetery. This time, however, the caravan took an unexpected turn into Trinidad's central plaza, with the hearse (or, more accurately, black flat-bed truck) parked outside the cathedral. It turned out Hernán's father had requested a Requiem Mass.

The non-Catholics among us sat on the benches for about 40 minutes before the casket emerged and was re-placed in the truck for its final journey. Upon arriving at the cemetery, I was handed a guitar that someone had sourced and asked to accompany some hymns, including 'When the Roll is Called up Yonder' and 'Because He Lives'. This would normally take place during the internment but, as it was raining heavily, we did this at the entrance to the cemetery where there is the shelter of a high roof. Finally, the party embarked on the ten-minute walk to arrive at the corner of the cemetery where Hernán's hole-in-the-wall was located. And, as is increasingly customary here, the silence was only broken by a strange mix of hearty wails and mobile phones being answered.

The official mourning process here takes place so quickly that it is only afterwards that one can really start contemplating what has just happened, and inevitably the, "Why, God?" questions have surfaced in our minds this week, with such a vital flame being snuffed out so suddenly. 

Of course, we may not know all the answers to those questions in the near future, or even in this life. But we trust there is a purpose, and have seen hints of that during the last three months. For a young church such as ours, Hernán's illness was a great proving-ground for the quality of our compassion for others (especially during the time he spent at FT) and Amanda and I were continually taken aback by the exceeding generosity of the church membership. But this wasn't simply a case of passing a bucket around to raise funds. Rather, our brothers and sisters were continually visiting Hernán and individually providing for specific needs, whether helping with his physio, or making food for the family.

Ours was not the only church to rally around the cause, and although Hernán had a casual church connection, he probably had more exposure to pastors and parishioners in his final months as he did in the 19 preceding years. We don't know if he had made a commitment before this stage, but it was clear from conversations that Elías and I had with him in the final weeks that his trust, by this point, was in the Lord.

The great sadness of this time, however, is that, as Amanda put it to me earlier this week, being on the receiving end of such an injury in a place like Trinidad is something of a death-sentence in itself. Never mind the total lack of societal infrastructure to cope with the reality of disability; accounts of Hernán's 'care' that have emerged from his time in hospital have been truly eyebrow-raising. Thus, we mourn his passing but we are also thankful that he is truly 'in a better place'. That's a phrase that we western Christians are at times perhaps guilty of uttering with a touch of glibness; some of us are so content with this life that we secretly worry about the 'quality of life' to come. No chance of that here.

Prayer

• Naturally, we would ask that you remember Hernán's family in your prayers. They, too, have had great exposure to gospel workers in this time. Pray that they would be comforted, and that they would feel the impact of such visits in the days to come.
• Sunday sees a second round of the by-election, meaning that we cannot meet as a church during the day. However, we will be getting together once again in the evening to share a meal together and give thanks for the Lord's faithfulness over the church's ten years of existence.

Praise

• After a month of waiting, the Langham committee finally received word this week that the retreat centre we had requested had been granted to us for the proposed four-day preaching conference in early June (the civil service here is intensely political, and so the recent spate of elections was a factor in dragging out this process). The planning committee, which Craig heads up, will be meeting this week to discuss final preparations; prayer appreciated for that.
• Finally, for the non-Facebookers, here are some pictures of the latest addition to the Cunningham clan. Genghis (who, like older brother Arturo, is named after a great warrior-king; it only seemed right) is six weeks old and enjoys car rides, taking power-naps on his Costa Rica towel, and chewing on fingers which he thinks are teats. We're looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 06/07/13

We have the busiest of days in the midst of the most hectic weekends coming up and so, for one week only, I must stay true to the age-old dictum: when life takes over, post puppy pictures.

This is Poppy's second batch in the space of a year (and, if we have anything
to do with it, her last!) 

Improbably, a mostly-white dog made its debut appearance from Poppy's
fabled womb. We call him 'The Cow'.

The father, as ever, was Arturo, a loyal friend to his owners, but not
without his insecurities. Let's hope they turn out more like mum.

One final thought: come on, Andy. Oh, and...LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIONS!!!

Prayer

• For our fellow missionaries and dear friends Kenny and Claudia Holt who, with children Emma, Sara and Joshua set off on Thursday morning for Santa Cruz, before moving on to Sao Paulo and, finally, Edinburgh via Heathrow. Their six-month furlough is almost upon them. They will be sorely missed. Pray for safety in their travel and for the Lord's blessing upon their time in Scotland.
• For Craig, who preaches on Nehemiah 12 tomorrow in church.

Praise

• For a great evening with the youth committee last night. We had everyone round to the house and enjoyed a meal together whilst planning the programme for the next couple of months. Pray for the execution of this.
• For safe delivery of the puppies!

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 29/06/13

Before the year's end, all being well, all three missionary couples working here will be taking to the skies for furlough periods, with the Holt family leaving Trinidad for Edinburgh a week on Thursday, Maicol & KC looking to be in Seattle by Christmas, and Amanda and I having already booked our flights home for December. There was no strategy behind our simultaneous departures, just the way things worked out. It won't exactly be a complete wipeout either, a six-week period over December and January being the only time that all three families will likely be out of the country.

However, it's fair to say that our impending exits have concentrated our minds somewhat on the job of handing over the work, a task which we hope will yield benefits not only in the immediate future. For in delegating the work we do to the locals for short-term periods, our prayer is that they will gain the experience necessary to carry on that work, or to at least expand into similar territory over the coming years, decreasing missionary dependence in the process.

And nowhere is that handover more vital than in the church, where our prayer is to see the community of believers here be in a position to stand on their own two feet. We want to see a church where the thinking and drive behind what we're doing comes from Biblically-rooted Bolivians.

So we were pretty excited last Sunday evening when we, our fellow missionaries, and the rest of the church received in impromptu invitation to a San Juan celebration, the 23rd of June being Bolivia's equivalent of Guy Fawkes' night. The event was hosted by one of the families here and organised by some of the young adults in the church. It was a 'school night', but this is Bolivia, so the whole thing didn't really get going till around 10pm (an increasing problem for old fogeys like us). But, far more importantly, the church had a couple of hours to enjoy a time of genuine fellowship, during which we spent an hour or so choosing songs to sing together to the accompaniment of a lone guitar, provided that the requesters shared a favourite Bible verse. 

As church events go, this was hardly on the scale of, say, our big annual Christmas extravaganza. But how exciting, nonetheless, to see the locals get a vision for church unity, taking the initiative and delivering with such aplomb.

The working week has been fairly routine, but in amongst things, we've been getting to know our visitor, Joe Sturman, a little better. Joe has brought a thoroughly professional attitude to his work here, taking advantage of every opportunity given him to increase his medical awareness. Furthermore, we have seen a real prayer warrior at work, taking the time to commit the particular situations and needs he sees each day to the Lord. Now and again, when you're bogged down in the day-to-day grind, God gives you an outsider to remind you of what's important in missions, and Joe has certainly been a gift in that respect.

The Tabernacle replica set: batteries/pillar of fire not included.

I also began a series of Bible studies on the Tabernacle this week, as part of our bigger study of Exodus. In contrast with my dear wife's rigorous ecclesiacademic training in her formative years, I didn't get the chance as a boy in Sunday school to learn about, say, the meaning of the shewbread or who gets to sit on a mercy seat. So I've relished digging deeper into these passages over the last couple of weeks and enjoyed sharing these fruits with the church on Thursday evening. And the Holt family have the pleasure of bookending this week's post; 'twas Kenny who very kindly lent me the family's toy Tabernacle -- for illustrative purposes only, I stress.

Prayer

• Craig is leading Bible studies and preaching pretty much throughout this coming month. Please pray for wisdom and openness to the Lord's leading as he prepares for these various duties.
• Pray also for Craig tomorrow morning, when he will once again be promoting the Emmaus course at a new church in Trinidad.
• Pray for rest over this weekend -- the dogs gave us a few headaches last week, pretty much eliminating any chance of rest. On which note, old Poppy is heavily pregnant and due any day now -- pray for a safe delivery of her puppies!

Praise

• Give thanks for the encouraging signs of initiative and independence from our brothers and sisters in the church this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 22/09/12

Amanda with one of the puppies, now two months old. This week
we bid farewell to two of the litter and the remainder will be heading
for kennels new in the next few days.

I may have mentioned in the past that birthdays play a lot bigger here than they do in Western cultures. In Bolivia, they have the big milestones like everywhere else – 15, for example, is a huge deal for girls. But it’s not unusual to receive an invitation to a fairly lavish bash for, say, someone’s 37^th birthday.

We have tended to steer clear of big celebrations ourselves, preferring to keep things quiet (and, as the years pile up, we have good reason to do so!). Nevertheless, it’s been nearly three years since we arrived in Trinidad and this year, realising it had been some time since we’d marked either of our birthdays with friends, both of us had an inkling to stage festivities of some sort. Alas, the more obvious occasion, my 30^th birthday, coincided with Amanda’s time in Santa Cruz – maybe next year – but Amanda turned 27 on the 4^th of September, by which time we had been back for some time, and set about testing the water for an event among friends and colleagues (as if we expected them to say no).

Well, it turns out Fundación Totaí has something of a September issue. For Amanda was quickly to discover that she is one of four female workers here whose birthday falls on the ninth month. Consequently, she felt it incumbent upon herself to organise an evening of revelry not only for herself but for those three colleagues (and the wife of another FT worker), which took place last night. The list of invitees consisted solely of those of the fairer sex. Luckily for me, however, Maicol needed a hand on the barbecue and let’s say that, having enjoyed more than my fair share of steak, I more than took advantage of my, ahem, ‘prime’ position. More to the point, though, after a week of rigorous preparation, Amanda was able to sit back and enjoy the company of her friends here.

It was a busy week, too, at work, where Amanda took sole charge of Audiology in the absence of co-worker Odalys, who spent the week in the outer reaches of the Beni region providing ear & hearing care to remote communities. It was, of course, a privilege for Amanda to provide cover so that Odalys could go about such valuable work.

Meanwhile, I’m growing increasingly appreciative of my week out west as I’ve had hardly a moment to myself since returning. Firstly, I’ve had a sermon to write for this weekend on Psalm 112. Our recent schedules have prevented me from doing much preaching lately and, having had a couple of months away from the pulpit, it’s taken me a while this week to get back into a rhythm. Secondly, the community classes continue to grow, with around 30 kids in attendance on both Wednesdays and Fridays. Elizabeth and I are embracing the new challenges which such high numbers present us with. And thirdly, the new Basic English class kicked off this week, where we have a keen, but small, group of students, with just five in attendance at Thursday’s class. Please pray for more attendees there.

Finally, I should make mention of something which took place a few weeks ago but which I’ve not been able to share due to my time away: I received a letter inviting me on to the eldership of our church, ‘El Jireh’, and I’ve prayerfully accepted that invitation. Amanda and I feel there is still so much the church could be doing to impact our local community for Christ and ‘make disciples’ of those already in our congregation. So perhaps there is an opportunity here to help influence the church in these directions. But before I can even begin to think on such things, I am all too aware of the immense responsibility which now falls on my shoulders and the higher standard to which I will, one day, be held accountable. More than anything else, I would ask you as friends to pray that I would live up to the benchmarks set by the Lord through Paul in 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

Prayer

• For Craig as he begins his service as an elder at ‘El Jireh’ church and as he preaches on Sunday.
•  For growth in the new English class.
• For my travelling companion, Dan, who should be on the final leg of his journey back home to Scotland later today.

 Praise

• For the special time Amanda was able to share with her female friends and colleagues last night.
• For the many new faces who have come to the Community classes in recent weeks.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 25/08/12

We are now back in Trinidad, having returned from our little adventure in Santa Cruz and, while we don’t wish to go into any real detail, the main development has been that the Lord has answered with a clear and unequivocal “no” with regard to the issues we shared in this blog back in May.

While it would be nice to report that our response has been consistently along the lines of Job 1:21, that obviously hasn’t been the full picture. Tears have been shed, questions pointedly asked of God.

But, for the most part, we can again confirm that God’s grace has been sufficient for the day. Though the answer was not what we had sought, we were at least glad to return home with confirmation, nonetheless, of the Lord’s will for us in the immediate future, following months of uncertainty. And while such a situation has been known to destroy marriages, we rejoice in the knowledge that our relationship has never been stronger. Amanda and I each have the privilege of getting to wake up each day next to our best friend; coupled with our shared faith, we have firm foundations for moving forward.

Above all, I have learnt that children really are a gift from God, far moreso than I had previously comprehended. In our case, he has chosen to withhold this particular blessing, but we have no doubt that greater ends are in mind.

The other big development of the past weeks has been welcoming Amanda’s youngest sister, Joanne, to Bolivia. And it’s a good job she decided to come for just shy of three weeks, for due to our circumstances, she spent two of those in Santa Cruz with Amanda. We’ve done our best, therefore, to show her the Beni’s various cultural highlights in the space of just a few days, while giving her a flavour of our work here.

While Amanda has taken some time off to be with her sister, I was back in the classrooms this week, with the intermediate English class coming to an end. I am hoping to get the basic class started by mid-September. I also had the privilege of teaching some really lively R.E. classes, where we touched on the cross, coming, as we are, to the end of John’s gospel.

Meanwhile, several of us in the church are looking into ways we can help to take the ministry of the church forward, particularly when it comes to making disciples. To prepare ourselves for this process, we’re reading books on the subject. I’ve just started studying ‘Healthy Christians Make Healthy Churches’ by John H. Oak, a megachurch pastor in Seoul (30,000 members and counting). The ‘megachurch’ label tends to bring out fairly polarised responses from people, but the refreshing thing about Oak’s approach is that his focus has never been on numerical gains but intensive discipleship among his congregation – the numbers, then, are simply the fruit of having taken such a Great Commission-inspired approach. I’m only just getting into it (it’s a Spanish version, which certainly adds to the reading time), but I like what I’m reading so far. 

A view of our house from the front, taken earlier this week.

Elsewhere, the puppies are growing quickly, though due to vaccinations etc., they probably have at least another two or three weeks in our care before we begin to allocate them to responsible owners. And round at our plot of land, the builders are putting in place the floor/ceiling in order to begin work on the upper floor. As we walk around the work as it currently stands, we can’t help but feel that God has so much more in store for us here in Trinidad, both as missionaries and as a family.

Prayer

• For Joanne’s return to Canada. She leaves Trinidad tonight at 6pm, flying to Santa Cruz. From there, she has a flight to Panama leaving at 2am (!), and is scheduled to finally arrive in Toronto on Sunday evening.
• For our re-adjustment back to life in Trinidad.

Praise

• For God’s help in bringing us to an acceptance of His will in recent days.
• For the privilege of having family visit in the person of Joanne over the past few weeks.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda 

Saturday Post -- 25/12/12

We are now back in Trinidad, having returned from our little adventure in Santa Cruz and, while we don’t wish to go into any real detail, the main development has been that the Lord has answered with a clear and unequivocal “no” with regard to the issues we shared in this blog back in May.

While it would be nice to report that our response has been consistently along the lines of Job 1:21, that obviously hasn’t been the full picture. Tears have been shed, questions pointedly asked of God.

But, for the most part, we can again confirm that God’s grace has been sufficient for the day. Though the answer was not what we had sought, we were at least glad to return home with confirmation, nonetheless, of the Lord’s will for us in the immediate future, following months of uncertainty. And while such a situation has been known to destroy marriages, we rejoice in the knowledge that our relationship has never been stronger. Amanda and I each have the privilege of getting to wake up each day next to our best friend; coupled with our shared faith, we have firm foundations for moving forward.

Above all, I have learnt that children really are a gift from God, far moreso than I had previously comprehended. In our case, he has chosen to withhold this particular blessing, but we have no doubt that greater ends are in mind.

The other big development of the past weeks has been welcoming Amanda’s youngest sister, Joanne, to Bolivia. And it’s a good job she decided to come for just shy of three weeks, for due to our circumstances, she spent two of those in Santa Cruz with Amanda. We’ve done our best, therefore, to show her the Beni’s various cultural highlights in the space of just a few days, while giving her a flavour of our work here.

While Amanda has taken some time off to be with her sister, I was back in the classrooms this week, with the intermediate English class coming to an end. I am hoping to get the basic class started by mid-September. I also had the privilege of teaching some really lively R.E. classes, where we touched on the cross, coming, as we are, to the end of John’s gospel.

Meanwhile, several of us in the church are looking into ways we can help to take the ministry of the church forward, particularly when it comes to making disciples. To prepare ourselves for this process, we’re reading books on the subject. I’ve just started studying ‘Healthy Christians Make Healthy Churches’ by John H. Oak, a megachurch pastor in Seoul (30,000 members and counting). The ‘megachurch’ label tends to bring out fairly polarised responses from people, but the refreshing thing about Oak’s approach is that his focus has never been on numerical gains but intensive discipleship among his congregation – the numbers, then, are simply the fruit of having taken such a Great Commission-inspired approach. I’m only just getting into it (it’s a Spanish version, which certainly adds to the reading time), but I like what I’m reading so far. 

A view of our house from the front, taken earlier this week.

Elsewhere, the puppies are growing quickly, though due to vaccinations etc., they probably have at least another two or three weeks in our care before we begin to allocate them to responsible owners. And round at our plot of land, the builders are putting in place the floor/ceiling in order to begin work on the upper floor. As we walk around the work as it currently stands, we can’t help but feel that God has so much more in store for us here in Trinidad, both as missionaries and as a family.

Prayer

• For Joanne’s return to Canada. She leaves Trinidad tonight at 6pm, flying to Santa Cruz. From there, she has a flight to Panama leaving at 2am (!), and is scheduled to finally arrive in Toronto on Sunday evening.
• For our re-adjustment back to life in Trinidad.

Praise

• For God’s help in bringing us to an acceptance of His will in recent days.
• For the privilege of having family visit in the person of Joanne over the past few weeks.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda