Saturday Post -- 20/08/16

Have you ever stopped to wondering how much you've changed over time? Do you think your former self would recognise who you are now? I (Amanda) had a week which really highlighted to me how much I've changed, not in good or bad ways, but I saw how I was now different.

Instance 1

On this week fell Day of the OANSA Leader -- OANSA is the Bolivian version of the AWANA children's and youth programmes, which originated some years ago in the USA. I'm not sure about which day specifically because I don't actually care about these things, but being the OANSA youth ministry coordinator in our church, I was supposed to be celebrated at some point this past week. The OANSA ministerial team for Trinidad organised a dinner for all OANSA leaders on Wednesday night at 8pm. Craig and I looked at each other, and I decided to bite the bullet and go on our behalf, thus allowing him to stay in, because he might die a slow death if forced to actually celebrate a Hallmark holiday (he made an exception for Mother's day this year, me being a new Mom and all, but we've become quite unromantic with Valentine's Day, it being overly corporate). 

So a whole pile of leaders from our church went to this organised dinner, where we arrived on time, and proceeded to wait for almost another hour before anybody else showed up from any other church. Even, our own church members were getting antsy about this time. And then there was still a whole programme to get through before we could eat. The food came out about 10:40. I don't think we left until 11:30, and we still had to drive some of the youth home to the village of Maná, about 20 minutes away. 

The most revelatory aspect of this evening to me, however, was the fact that I had fun. I suddenly remembered that when I was younger I liked going out and being in large groups, laughing and joking, but that due to business, tiredness, and a lack of a social group in our stage of life [you can start playing your violins around now, folks -- Craig] we just don't do that any more. And I had fun! It was fun! And I got dropped off at my door in a large carpool, just like when I was at Uni coming back from a youth event. I felt young again... until I realised it was past midnight and I was about to turn into a pumpkin. Seriously, I remembered why I had changed: my body is falling apart and I am old. Okay, I'm only 30, but it is true -- my body is falling apart and I am old. So, great to be reminded of who I was in my glory days, but I think I get more excited now about early bedtimes than a long night out on a the town. But thank you, Trinidad OANSA Ministerial Team: the chicken was lovely!

Instance 2

This week we finally organised another FT staff training morning. The Board had been meaning to organise one since June, but people kept scheduling surgery over the mornings I had fenced off, apparently thinking that emergency surgery was more important. As if. Okay, maybe it is. But finally on Thursday morning we got all the staff together in one place and made them say nice things to each other. In all seriousness, that was the first activity Mariana pulled out of her bag of tricks. Everyone had to say something positive or something they were thankful for about the person sitting on their right. The activity was supposed to highlight how much easier it is for us to think of negative things to say about each other, and to really force us to try and be positive. It was generally a success, with a few minor hiccups. One person ended her positive comment by saying, "But I would also advise her to try harder with her personality." Someone else started by saying, "Well, he's a lot better now than he was at the beginning." And finally, someone said, "I like how she wants to do everything right. People may think she has an ugly and hard personality, but it's because she wants to do everything right." My jaw hit the floor when that was said. Obviously the PC brigade never got this far into the Amazon jungle.

But being the HR Director, these staff mornings are generally my show, so I chaired the morning and led people through the activities. Our morning GP, Dr. Vargas, organised a seminar on the purpose of and how to properly put together a Procedures Manual, because FT doesn't have an updated one. We need to get it organised by the end of the year and most staff looked at me funny when I asked people to write in point form how they go about their jobs. So, we had a training morning. And Dr. Vargas did a really good job. Even I feel more confident about sitting down and writing out the details of my job (which I haven't started to do yet).

But as I was sitting through the seminar and my mind started to wander to other things (hey, I said Dr. Vargas did a good job, I didn't say the material was gripping), I kind of thought about how I would never have dreamed of being able to do my job when I was in University. My insecurity always killed my confidence, and while I never shied away from standing up in front of people, I always had intense nerves. Now, I just do it and move on to the next thing, and sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and say, "Who are you? And where were you in grade 7 when I was supposed to be Patty in Charlie Brown's Christmas play?"

Instance 3

Our new volunteer arrived this week, Roseanne Sanders from England. And she's really nice. We're going to be friends. And right there is another change. I have never made friends really easily. I have always been too insecure and worried about what people thought to really give myself to friendships easily. It has always taken time with me to really becomes friends with someone. But it has become easier and easier to just give myself to people and make friends in recent years.

So, Rosie and I are going to be buddies for the next three weeks. I mean, she brought shortbread for everyone to share at FT. Who doesn't want to be friends with someone like that? And she is up for anything. I'm sure there are some things that she didn't come out her to do, like intense manual labor, but she hasn't said no to me yet...I wonder what else I could get her to do. I wonder how she feels about babysitting. Can you say 'Date Night'?

And I have never seen anyone less stressed and polite after losing their suitcase, which did not leave Brazil when she did. Thankfully, she has her suitcase again. I'm pretty sure I would have lost my cool at some point, but she was really relaxed about the whole experience.

We're all looking forward to spending more time with her over the next three weeks and I know that Odalys and Maye, in our Speech Therapy and Audiology Department, are especially excited to have the extra help.

Conclusion

Craig mentioned that we had attended a one day conference on mentoring while in Sucre by Rick Lewis. Rick highlighted that the purpose of mentoring is identifying and promoting the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And he asked us all to think of the ways that we knew that the Lord was currently working in our lives, possibly convicting us of specific sin or challenging us in certain circumstances. Yet he said that mentoring had to do with all the ways in which God was working in us, but that we couldn't specifically identify. That's why we need the help of mentors. Because the reality is that God is doing so much more than we are actually conscious of at any given moment. God is changing us, moulding as, and growing us and the truth is that when I look back on my life, I can see some evidence of specific change, but the rest has just kind of happened slowly over time. And for this I am grateful: that God knows and me and loves me enough to want to change me where I need to most, without me even noticing sometimes. I like being more confident. I like being able to come alongside people without a lot of insecurities getting in the way. I like making friends. And, while getting excited about early bedtimes might not be an overly spiritual change, I know that I know myself more now than I did before, and I know how I need to take care of myself...and sometimes it is an early bedtime. And I am sure that in another 15 years I am going to be a completely different person again, and that's kind of exciting.

Prayer

• For Rosie and her three weeks with us at FT.
• Craig is preaching on Sunday from 2 Kings 2; please pray for him as he shares God's word.
• We tried to apply for Sam's passport this week, after successfully applying for his Bolivian ID Card, and we hit some obstacles. So, please pray that we get his application submitted on Monday.
• For some delicate pastoral care situations that Craig and the other church leaders are involved in right now.

Praise

• For Sam's ID card and updated birth certificate being processed
• For Rosie's safe arrival and the arrival of her bag two days later.
• For a really beneficial staff training morning
• For a good time out with the other OANSA leaders on Wednesday night

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig, Amanda & Sam

Saturday Post -- 16/03/13

Amanda and Shona

This week, we not only moved into our new home but received a much-anticipated visit from Amanda's old university roommate, Shona Blatch, a speech-language pathologist. Shona was working with Amanda's fellow audiology worker Odalys Arce (who has some speech therapy training) as part of a week-long drive to give guidance to speech therapy clients and to give Odalys the tools to continue therapy. 

Shona with Odalys, outside FT's headquarters.

Around 20 patients had been identified by Amanda and Odalys for treatment in the previous weeks and Shona was able to see most of those patients in her short time here.

Why did you come to Bolivia?

Amanda invited me. I've always wanted to use speech therapy in a Third World context, in another country. So when the opportunity came, I jumped on it. 

This week's pictures were all taken by Shona, including this typical Benian
lunch (rice with dried beef and egg).

What were the circumstances that led you to decide to come here?

The day before Amanda invited me I'd asked somebody to pray for an opportunity for me to serve and the very next day, I got Amanda's email! And then everything just fell together. It was in January, so fairly short notice, but I already had my vaccinations from previous visits to Africa and Asia, which helped a lot. 

Amanda with Arturo and Poppy. Our pristine-white
exterior walls are already a distant memory with
those two around.

What have your impressions been of Trinidad?

I've only been here a week so still don't really feel I've had time to process it all! I felt like it was a cross between Asia and Africa. It's a busy place and yet everybody seems so relaxed. Even though I had very little Spanish, everyone made an effort to communicate, which I thought was great.

The view from Shona's bedroom window.

And the Foundation?

I had looked up the website beforehand so it was exactly as I'd expected it to be. I thought it was pretty neat to learn about how they can't do things the same way as back home because of the weather and humidity -- for example, with the hearing aid molds, they use an acrylic resin instead of the usual material. I found it difficult having limited supplies and no formal assessment materials, so basically everything we did was from scratch. Also, therapy really depends on follow-through at home, so I can see the long-term difficulties Odalys will have with clients if they don't show up to appointments regularly or practice at home. Speech therapy is not a quick fix! 

Shona making noises, with patient. She specifically requested that we not
post the image with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth.

So, what did an average speech therapy session look like?

An average appointment would take an hour. The patient would come in, we would chat a little bit about what concerns the parents have, with the child to see what they sounded like and how intelligible they were. We had a range of patients, for example, a three-year-old who hadn't started talking, as well as older children with speech delays. 

We would then carry out a structural assessment to see if everything looked normal in their mouth. And then I would have them do little tasks to see if their articulators (tongue, lips, etc.) functioned properly. It was at this point that I realised just how poor the dental care is here, and not helped at all by all the pop they'd been drinking [Trinidad has its very own Coca-Cola factory]. One night, for example, I saw an eight-year-old kid wandering about the street in his pyjamas with a bottle of Coke!

This patient, with Downs Syndrome, was
a bit of a player.

I would then carry out a speech test, by presenting a list of words representative of the various sounds in Spanish. The patients had to say each of the words back to me. We would see which sounds they'd say correctly/incorrectly. Then, we would see if we could teach them to say the sounds correctly and then finally, we'd choose our goals for therapy. And to finish, we'd have a question-and-answer session with the parents.

Amanda and Odalys.

Were all your patients children?

No, we had some adults. For example, we had a teacher with voice issues. We explained to her how to use her voice properly and look after it, i.e., drinking lots of water and avoiding coffee and Coke, and taking voice rests. We did some voice exercises, stretching her vocal cords, showing her how to produce voice gently rather than using it harshly. 

We also had a stuttering client who was an adult. With child patients, we taught the parents how to model slower speech and praise the child's fluent speech. But with the older client, I taught him some more direct therapy methods. I was a little shocked that the methods taught down here to address stuttering are methods that have been discontinued in Canada.

To bring the curtain down on a top week's work, we all went out for steak
last night with Odalys and her daughter, Karol, left (a recent addition
to the English classes, too).

Any funny stories? 

One day we were working with a little girl to expand her vocabulary. I pointed to her head and she replied, "lice"!

Finally, and at the extreme risk of sycophancy, did you have a good time with us?

It was great to be able to catch up with Amanda and it was great that, although I didn't always know what was being said in conversations with her friends and colleagues, I could catch a word or two and work it out from context, so I didn't feel entirely alienated from conversations. And Amanda did a fantastic job translating. 

I appreciate Craig and Amanda's hospitality. The visit was a great opportunity to experience what their day-to-day life is like so I can go home and have a better understanding of it. 

Amanda with ventriloquist's dummy.

Prayer

• For safety, energy and patience for Shona as she embarks on an epic journey home. She has a short flight to Santa Cruz at 7.15pm this evening, where she has to wait till 2am (!) to board a flight to Panamá, where she will spend pretty much all day tomorrow before flying to Toronto at 5.30pm. Yikes!
• For our kitchen, i.e., that it would finally arrive this week from Santa Cruz (there have been blockades on the road to Santa Cruz all week).
• For the speech therapy patients with whom Shona met this week, that they would be diligent in acting on the expert advice received this week.

Praise

• For an immensely fruitful week with Shona, both professionally and personally. We give thanks for her friendship and for giving up a week's holiday to provide such invaluable support to the Foundation.
• For a pretty smooth transition to the new house this week. No major problems to report.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda