Saturday Post -- 23/02/13

This week’s post represents something of a departure from previous weeks’ entries (including last week’s chuckle-inducing contribution from guest-star Amanda – alas she reliably informs me that her contract stipulates she only has to blog when I’m on sermon duty) in that we have nothing lost or, indeed, found to report. Really sorry about that, peeps. I did leave my car key in the ignition overnight with the door locked, but if that were deemed newsworthy, there’d have probably been around 57 posts on that theme by now.

No, the only keys we’re concerned about these days are those for our new house, which grinds ever closer to completion. With Amanda’s uni room-mate Shona Blatch coming to see us in a couple of weekends’ time, we had a tentative aim of moving next weekend. Not entirely sure if that will be possible any more, with the house still lacking an entry gate, ceiling fans and a few other small, but essential, features. That said, we’re hopeful we can be in before Shona gets here, even if that means moving during the working week – the house is just three blocks from where we live just now, meaning a big weekend effort is not essential.

With that date in mind, we made a few trips into town this week to make some key purchases, with a guest-bed occupying top spot on the wish-list. No Ikea here, folks – wood here is of high quality but pricey, so it’ll probably take us a few years to properly kit out the whole house.

While in town, we also submitted our permanent residency visa application, an essential item because: a) it allows us to leave the country at any time for up to two years per exit (as opposed to the total of three months over two years we have currently), crucial with our furlough year in 2014 on the horizon; and b) it significantly reduces the pace of male hair-greying, as long hours which could be spent doing important things like watching ESPN will no longer be wasted sitting in immigration offices where there is every chance the staff could be botching up the paperwork anyway and as a result will require you to return a few weeks later and endure the same process all over again.

That said, the lady who dealt with our application on Monday seemed very nice. Her name was Veronica.

The school year properly kicked off this week and I spent an encouraging few hours teaching at the local secondary school, where I also taught R.E. last year. In 2012, with the three oldest classes, we worked through a textbook on the gospel of John and many children from all three classes came to faith in Christ during the year. Now, over the summer holidays, schools here have a pretty high turnover rate as parents are keen to move their kids to institutes they might have heard are a little better than where they currently attend, meaning the make-up of the year-groups can be vastly different from year to year. That doesn’t seem to have happened to anything like the same extent this time. And so, in the upper two year-groups I’m teaching probably around 80% of the students I had last year – and many of those, of course, became Christians in 2012. I now have a chance to move into discipleship territory and that’s exciting, particularly as the vast majority of the students haven’t yet been able to start attending our church.

Work is picking up again, the sun is shining, all keys/wallets are present and correct. Cannae complain.

Prayer

• Please remember the aforementioned visa submission in your prayers. It’s theoretically about a three-week turnaround, a lot quicker than before, however, as ever, all of the key documents are sent by post to La Paz in the process – including our passports. Yikes!
• During the week we put an ad in the local paper for our two, still unsold, plots of land. Pray that God would direct the eyes we need to that little square of information.
• Craig is teaching on The Prodigal Son tonight at the youth group, always a text so rich in truth, yet potentially challenging as many of our youth struggle to even comprehend the concept of a loving father. Pray for wisdom. 

Praise

• For the encouragement of this week’s R.E. classes.
• For the semi-confirmation of another visitor in the next few months, Carluci Dos Santos, LAM Canada executive director who, God-willing, will arrive in Trinidad for a short visit on the 2^nd of May, just a few days after Craig’s parents’ departure. With Amanda’s mum scheduled to come down in September, we’ll probably have at least four visits from friends/family members this year. Visits are always an immense source of encouragement.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 02/02/13

First up today, some pictures taken yesterday of the house, which, like their subject, have been a while in coming. 

The new entrance-way being added to the front of the house.

The kitchen, post-tiling, pre-fitting. No idea what our friend in the baseball
cap is up to.

A view from upstairs, outside the large window.

Unfortunately, the project has been beset for some time by a chronic lack of workers. People in the Beni region have something of a national reputation for sloth, and the traditional Christmas/January twilight zone has seen our contractor struggle to assemble enough guys to make headway.

Amanda and I hadn’t initially been too concerned about deadlines, but with our first visitors for the year – my parents – arriving in mid-April, we began to get a little anxious. So I spoke with the project manager a few weeks ago and, voila, the last couple of weeks have seen a major increase in workers and a hastening in progress. Indeed, it was nigh-on impossible to take pictures yesterday without workers in them.

More recently, we’ve put pen to ink on a couple of important contracts for the installation of the kitchen and security fencing – a necessary evil in this culture. Hopefully we’ll be able to report a moving-in date sooner rather than later.

One date we can point to with certainty is the official start of the school year this Monday coming. Well, theoretically at least. Because of course, here in Bolivia, and indeed throughout Latin America, there’s an unwritten rule that nothing really gets going till that granddaddy of all festivals, Carnavál, is out the way. This year’s celebration takes place relatively early – the 11^th and 12^th of February – and so it is fair to say that this week will be something of a write-off. Besides, many schools don’t even have their timetables in place by the time they return from the holidays. However, at least it’ll be out of the way fairly soon and my FT Education colleagues and I can begin the year’s R.E. teaching by mid-February (Carnavál can fall as late as early March, virtually wiping out a month of classes).

At the Foundation this week the main focus has been preparing for the latest surgical campaign, taking place next week in our operating theatres. Once again, we’ll be assisted by visiting ENT surgeons from Paraguay, who have brought a really positive attitude to the place in their recent visits. Like the Germans, Amanda doesn’t tend to get involved in campaigns these days, but she will again make an indirect contribution by taking sole charge of the audiology wheel in the absence of her colleague, Odalys. Indeed, Odalys has agreed to take on the role of nurse-in-charge at FT, meaning Amanda will be increasingly on her own.

Not so in the youth work, where we have both been involved with the youth committee in getting ready for the new year, which kicks off this evening, with just one ‘normal’ Saturday before next week’s traditional Carnavál extravaganza, which promises to be bigger, better and significantly wetter than anything we’ve done yet. More on that next week.

Prayer

• Since writing this entry yesterday afternoon, something of an emergency has arisen. On a shopping excursion, Amanda misplaced her wallet and turned around a few seconds later only to discover that said wallet had disappeared. Thankfully, I had her main bank card but all the rest of her major Canadian, British and Bolivian cards were all in there. So we need prayer, firstly, that a kind soul out there would return the wallet to us. And secondly, if that doesn't happen, that the road to replacing these cards is a smooth one, particularly here in Bolivia. As mentioned in the last couple of posts, we're in the process of renewing our visas. Once you have your visa, you are then expected to apply for a new I.D. card, which reflects your new visa dates. In other words, we are now so close to applying for our new I.D. cards that for Amanda to be asked to apply for a replacement for her current card would be pretty preposterous -- but stranger things have happened to us here. So please pray for understanding from the authorities. 
• For safety for patients and energy for staff during next week’s surgical campaign.
• For FT staff as the school year begins and for preparation of the hearts of those children and young people who will hear the Good News in their classrooms this year.
• For the new year at youth group, that the Lord would equip us to raise up a generation of disciples. 

Praise

• For an increased pace, after a long period of relative inactivity, in our building project.
• For the relative freedom we enjoy here in Bolivia to teach the Word of God in schools. 

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 17/03/12

Rebecca Chee: teaching some of Trinidad's educational
workers a few lessons

This will be the last post for a while as we have something of a break coming up. On Friday evening, all being well, we will take the overnight bus to Santa Cruz. We’ll be spending a few days there touching base with one or two friends and then, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, we board our flight to Costa Rica, where we are due to attend LAM Canada’s 50^th anniversary conference, which all LAM Canada’s missionaries are expected. We’re excited about what will be our first opportunity to spend time with our fellow workers from the LAM family. The conference takes place from the 31^st till the 4^th, so our early arrival in Costa Rica will allow us to get in a few days of relaxation. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the Andy Roxburgh statue in the main plaza.

We fly back on the 4^th but with two weeks’ leave from ministry, we’ll not be rushing back to Trinidad by any means. Anyway, I will hopefully be able to share plenty of stories and pictures when I next post, probably on Easter weekend. In the meantime, I’ll aim to keep the Facebook page updated.

It’ll be our first time away from Trinidad for nearly six months and we’re really feeling the need of a break. We’re pretty exhausted right now as we prepare for another Saturday afternoon and evening dedicated to church work.

So as we crawl towards the finish line, it’s been terrific to have some energy about the place in the shape of Amanda’s cousin Rebecca, who you’ll remember was due to land in Trinidad last Saturday. Rebecca is expected to report back to her university in early April with 90 hours of educational work under her belt, and she’s so far acquitted herself with aplomb. In the mornings, she’s mostly prepared lessons while accompanying me to my R.E. classes. But the afternoons are where she’s really proving her mettle.

Through one of the FT workers, who teaches afternoon school (schools have two separate sessions here for two different groups of students), we had arranged for Rebecca to teach a 6^th grade class. I accompanied Rebecca on Tuesday, her first day, where, lo and behold, the class teacher, unbeknownst to us, had disappeared to attend a training session. Rebecca was very much in at the end marked ‘deep’. I daren’t even think of how I would cope in such a farcical situation. Alarmed but unfazed, Rebecca simply reached for the chalk and started teaching a maths lesson. Immediately, her positive attitude shone through and the kids, though largely clueless as to what she was teaching them (a reflection on the poor standards of maths teaching here) were very quickly eating out of her hand. With my own classes to teach back at the Foundation, I left Rebecca to it, but she stopped by in the evening to tell us all about her day, which later included taking an impromptu basketball lesson when the P.E. teacher didn’t show up.

She got through the week in much the same vein and today she’ll be taking her educational skills to church, where she’s helping out with a Sunday School class, and leading one of the segments at the youth group tonight (where Amanda is chairing and I’m doing the teaching). Due to our upcoming excursion, we won’t be here to see Rebecca finish her three-week stint, but I have no doubt she’ll do herself proud. We’ve really enjoyed having her around this week in the evenings, Amanda particularly relishing in the chance to catch up on the family gossip. All is well. 

Prayer

•  For safety, rest and encouragement on our upcoming travels.
• For Rebecca’s final two weeks here.

 Praise

• For the positive attitude which Rebecca has demonstrated since arriving.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 26/02/11

Increasingly appreciating the opportunity the blog presents us to stop and take stock every Saturday. The weekdays here are hectic. But, more than anything, this being Trinidad, they are entirely unpredictable.

Take yesterday morning, for instance. Rainy season has naturally caused a build-up of excessive mud in grassy areas, making it pretty precarious at times for driving. A few of us guys were attending to official business when we got a call from one of the nurses, who couldn't get the ambulance (a 4x4, no less) out of one of these ditches. 6 chaps, 2 spades and 90 minutes later, we eventually rescued the trapped vehicle from this particular slough of despond. Job done. Morning gone.

Flexibility is key here. Expect the unexpected. Anticipate disaster. A hard lesson for one so set in their ways as myself -- my diary, unfortunately, can, at times, become my gospel, making Trinidad a most unlikely venue for my missionary skills. The Lord sure ain't finished with me.

Indeed, the week was constantly moved and shifted by the unpredictable. Yet amongst this, we made progress on a few things. Amanda has been hard at work in Audiology testing some new equipment which they have there and her meticulous approach to her work is being very much appreciated by both patients and staff. The English classes continued this week with a few new faces and enthusiasm undimmed, even when faced with the challenge of the first verb.

I've also been afforded the opportunity by the board to look at my weekly schedule and consider what changes could be made to give me more educational opportunities. When we got here over a year ago, we were advised to take things slowly for the first few months and we largely observed this, while picking up small, generic tasks in the meantime. For myself, however, since I took on the role of Director of Education, these activities have not always been conducive to making progress on educational tasks. In many ways, they have kept me humble -- abandoning my office to drive the ambulance a couple of times a week to pick up physio patients, for example, has taught me a lot about what it means to serve -- but the time has come to start prioritising.

To this end, I'll be using my gifts in teaching a little more. From this week, I'll be running a drop-in guitar workshop for an hour on Thursday afternoons. And I'm hoping to meet the head-teacher of the local high school on Monday to offer support in English teaching. The standards of teaching and discipline at state-run schools here are pretty abysmal, so a challenge certainly awaits, but it will be a good reminder of how life is for the majority of children here, how blessed I've been to have had the education I had, and another little awareness-raiser of FT in the community.

Amidst the busyness of the week, we got a little complacent with the visa application, giving it no attention whatsoever, and we now have just four working days next week to get it together before the deadline. Technically, we have just about everything we were asked for ready to submit, however, I refer you to the first three paragraphs; it would not surprise us in the slightest if the government had completely changed the rules within the last month. God-willing, by this time next week our applications will be winging their way to La Paz -- passports included. Yikes!

Prayer
• For our visa applications, that we would achieve what we need to this week and that the Immigration office would look kindly upon them.
• For Craig as he takes on the new educational tasks in the coming weeks.

Praise
• For the positive impact Amanda is making in Audiology.
• For the Lord’s help in preparing meditations this week (on Galatians and The Jerusalem Council).

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 12/05/10

Months of eager anticipation. Tactics being finalised. The excitement building as the big moment finally arrives.

Yes, you guessed it – I finally moved into my new office this week. Up until now, I’d mostly been working from home, a minute’s stroll from the FT headquarters. Hardly inconvenient, though not quite at the heart of the action. This week, however, we took delivery of a new set of bookshelves for the library (which is based in the Education office), which enabled me to clear up the legions of books spread across the floor and create working space. And, crucially, it provides a permanent living space for all the Emmaus Bible course materials (for which Education is responsible), which had taken up temporary residence in Kenny’s study – and with Kenny returning next week, ten suitcases in hand, the last thing he needs is a study littered with dusty books.

When Maicol & KC return to the States for a break in the next couple of weeks, KC will be passing control of the Emmaus materials to me. With well over 200 books distributed and corrected in the past three months – not to mention the verbal feedback required for each corrected book – the administrative burden is significant, though one which we’re obviously delighted to take on. With the English classes having started and the website update taking up my mornings currently, I’m certainly not looking for work, that’s for sure.

Elsewhere, FT has teamed up with one of the biggest schools in town in an extension of its School Health Programme and Amanda was part of the initial group of nurses who visited on Wednesday. She will continue to visit weekly, along with the visits she and another nurse carry out every Thursday morning to the local maternity hospital. She’s really enjoying getting out into the community and helping FT establish a greater presence among the town’s residents – and, thus, have more opportunities to share the good news.

Finally, we’ve included some pictures of the wallchart. Here is the finished article, all set for the big one. And in spite of Bolivian TV politics, so are we. One of the public channels (‘cooncil telly’ if you’re Glaswegian) bought up the rights to the entire tournament from FIFA. Except, it turns out that they went and sold all but the opener, the semis and the final to a cable company. The cable company duly promised to share the spoils among the wider population – and proceeded to keep the whole package to themselves. ‘Fair play’ indeed. The President likes his football almost as much as looking like the saviour of the people, so perhaps he can step in at the last minute. Whatever happens, I somehow can’t foresee a repeat of that hot, adolescent summer of France ’98, when Kenny Fisher and I set out with the goal of video-taping every minute of every game. If memory serves me correctly, I don’t think we even made it through the first weekend.

Prayer
• Carnets. We’re still waiting and the immigration people are still giving us the ‘mañana, mañana’ treatment. Pray for patience, yet movement at the same time. A national ID card is a must in many important areas here.
• For Craig as he takes next week’s morning meditations.

Praise
• For Amanda’s growing opportunities to work in the wider community.
• For workspace for Craig within the FT building.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda