Saturday Post -- 20/03/10

The only way was down after last week’s heatwave and, mercifully, things took a turn for the better weather-wise this week. Most days have brought heavy showers, though thankfully nowhere near long enough to threaten people’s homes. As I write, it’s around the low 30s outside with a breeze to keep things balanced. But it will take more than that to stave off the power cuts and, sure enough, we’ve been hit another couple of times this week.

Thankfully, though there were cuts on Wednesday, they didn’t interfere with our evening frontón match, or at least, not to the extent of our generally atrocious play. At one point, trying to recall the word for ‘blind’, I asked Diego for the translation. “Ciego,” he replied, “like Diego, but with a C”. Given my team-mate’s less than exceptional vision in night games, that’s an easy word to remember.

This week I started drawing up a beginner’s English curriculum and devised some lesson plans. I’m determined to have a bank of materials on hand by the time I begin teaching. Interactive Smartboards haven’t quite reached Trinidad yet, but I’ll be looking to invest in a fair-sized whiteboard in the next few weeks. When I begin teaching in the Foundation, my classes will be in the upstairs auditorium which is also used by the church for its meetings. Conveniently, it’s right next door to the new Education office.

Within church, Amanda continues to make use of her Spanish in the Sunday school classes and I’m continuing in my efforts to expand the horizons of the music ministry. A week on Sunday, I’ll be giving my first full-length Spanish sermon, so I’ve started the preparation a week early in order to give myself enough translation time. I’ll be looking at 1 John 2:7-14 and what the ‘new commandment’ means in the light of Palm Sunday and the events which followed later that week.

That may, indeed, be the only opportunity to consider the events of Holy Week as a church as there are some local elections looming on Easter Sunday. For fully paid-up residents/citizens (of which we are neither) the vote is compulsory. And in order to ensure that impediments to the ballot box are kept to a minimum, the country is essentially shut down. For a few days on either side of an election it is impossible to travel between cities and public meetings of any kind are prohibited. However, given the importance of the date in the Christian calendar, the government has kindly agreed to allow churches to meet on Easter Sunday itself.

We’ll be mightily relieved when it’s all over. I’m not too down on ‘big government’ but I don’t appreciate being told what to do! Equally, I’m fed up of the propagandists around our neighbourhood with their helpful cut-out-and-keep guides as to how to vote for their candidate. And, frankly, the Fundación’s ENT work is sure to be in much demand in the coming weeks given the preponderance of motorcades blaring out ear-splittingly awful Latin pop tunes! Sadly the age-old link between politics and bad music is not restricted to Gordon Brown’s X Factor endorsements.

We endeavour, therefore, to keep our heads amidst the chaos around us and no better place to turn than the Bible. I’ve been reading ‘Pure Joy’ by the genius that is R.T. Kendall and thinking particularly this week about John 5:44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”. Hardly classic memory verse material, yet it has exposed so many basic areas of weakness in my life. As John suggests in 1 John, when you let the light of the Word of God loose in your life, be prepared to face up to the niggly stuff hiding away in the corners.

Prayer
• Craig's preparation for speaking a week on Sunday (28th)
• Our language learning. The basics have largely been dealt with -- it's getting all reflexive verbs now!

Praise
• The cooling-off in the climate this week.
• The government’s recent decision to grant exceptions to churches meeting on Easter Sunday.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 13/03/10

These days, energy saving's all the rage, with people increasingly looking for ways to cut their costs and do their bit for the environment. In Trinidad, it's a local hobby, though, like many things here, the people don't have much say in the matter.

Some years ago the head honchos in the local energy company decided they weren't being paid enough and proceeded to swindle the users of millions of dollars. Most of the offenders are now behind bars but the money was never fully recovered. So the energy company came up with a convenient method to recoup their finances: power cuts. Barely a week goes by without at least one four-hour power cut here in Trinidad. Indeed, it's to such an extent now that the weekly newspapers will notify citizens of upcoming cuts! The pattern is depressingly familiar here in Bolivia; corporate criminals gorging themselves at the country's top tables, but when the party's over, the average joes are left to pick up the bill.

I'm posting from an internet café in the centre of town as we have just been hit with our third power cut of the week (though conveniently I'll be able to finally catch the goals from Wednesday night)! The reasoning behind this recent spate is simple: it's absolutely roasting! During periods of extreme heat, people increasingly resort to their ceiling fans and air conditioning outlets, which devour more electricity than the Texan criminal justice system. Thus, vast fortunes are saved. And this has been a particularly hot week, with temperatures reaching the high-30s.

Mercifully, the skies had clouded over on Sunday afternoon, when I attended the football match with Farid, otherwise I'd have emerged looking like a lorne sausage. The match itself was a typically early-season affair, neither team looking particularly sharp but unfortunately the visitors were the least worst of the two, cruising to victory despite being a man down in the final 30 minutes. Still, it was good to be on the terraces once again, I had a good conversation with Farid (pictured), and there were a few surprises in store (see earlier post).


While Mamoré look to be regressing, Amanda's Spanish only gets better by the day. This week's milestones included helping to take a Sunday school class last weekend and sharing a request at Thursday's prayer meeting. (the request was for the mission evening that the young people back at our church in Glasgow, Shettleston New, are having this Sunday evening. They emailed some questions and we replied with answers and photos -- hope it goes well, guys!) Re. the English language, I have now come to the end of my online TEFL course and will look to use the next few weeks to plan classes. I won't be doing any teaching until at least May, as FT have dedicated the first three months of our time here to getting our Spanish sorted.

Finally, we took receipt of our newly-stamped passports this week. Hurrah! We can now stay in the country until the 3rd of March 2011, although we will of course be looking to extend our stay by then with a two-year visa. But we're not out of the bureacratic woods quite yet. This week we'll begin the process of applying for our carnets (identity cards). Despite the extreme temperatures, I'm considering investing in a pair of gloves. For the paper cuts.

Prayer
• Productivity/focus for Craig as he begins preparing materials.
• The carnet application.

Praise
• Friendships that continue to develop, both in and outside the Foundation.
• Amanda’s Spanish.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda