Episode 13: Heidi! Hi!

Not sure why, but the usual episode player isn't loading. In any case, you can find our latest podcast episode by following this link, or in the 'Podcast' section on the right-hand side. Thanks!

Our latest COVID discovery: the local 'beach'; really a river that is dry for most of the year,
which also plays host to a large construction site. It seems that health & safety remain a
less than primary concern in the Bolivian construction sector; suits us just fine!

One of these guys is a tired old dog in need of a shower and shave.
The other is our Yorkie.

Sam's latest COVID hobby? Rugby!

A low sun, petals and a classic Bolivian dusty road. So much beauty in the everyday here.

"When through the woods and forest glades I wander..."

Craig's band now has its very own (personalised) face-masks!

"I don't wanna be the Prrrresident of America..."

We had a Bolivian-style barbecue for Craig's birthday on Monday. We forgot to take
pictures, but the aftermath tells its own story. Truly sublime.

Sam's stated motivation in learning to cycle was being able to ride a motorcycle some day.
Our good friend Lewis kindly gave him a flavour recently. 

Chau!

Prayer Points

• Give thanks for God's sustaining hand over these five months. Remarkably, they have flown by!
• Pray for wisdom and safety as the lockdown eases and the pandemic shows no signs of abating.
• Pray for Sam as he embarks on his new school year later this month.
• Pray for the country as a whole. Pray that we might begin to see reversals in the spread of the virus, and pray for an easing of the political tensions in the country, which among other things are severely hampering the efforts of the health sector.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig, Amanda & Sam

Saturday Post -- 14/10/17

Craig with fellow Mr. Bolivia contestants MCB new membership candidates.

During a dramatic week of World Cup qualifying, one of the big headlines was Panama's president declaring a national holiday the day after their first ever participation in the tournament was secured. The slapdash nature of this was certainly a key component of the story. I joked with a friend that, were the same thing to happen to Bolivia, we'd probably get a week! For spur-of-the-moment days off work are standard practice down here, so much so that we're struggling to remember the last time Sam attended school for a full five days.

(Utterly irrelevant tangent alert: Bolivia, like Scotland, share the honour of having played in the opening game of the World Cup, Bolivia against Germany in Chicago in 1994, and Scotland against Brazil in Paris in 1998. And Bolivia, like Scotland, have since failed to qualify. See also: Senegal, South Africa.)

Local holidays and the like, curiously, have taken on a strikingly different complexion since Sam started school, with things reaching something of a nadir this week. Two consecutive days went down the proverbial, with the added bonus of being announced only on the afternoon of the day before. Wednesday was international women's day so, naturally, all members of the fairer sex were entitled to an impromptu day off (at no inconvenience whatsoever to their employers, one would vouch), while a a maintenance mishap rendered the school unsafe for Sam and his toddler cohorts on Thursday. 

The circumstances were not ideal, not least for Amanda, who had flown solo on the parenting front from Thursday till Saturday of last week, thanks to a conference I attended. This was the annual national assembly of Misiones Cristianas Bolivia, our church's denomination, which, for the first time in its 57-year history, was taking place in Trinidad itself. This was my first time in attendance as a delegate (my membership was confirmed on the opening day), with two others in our church already among the membership. Essentially, the national assembly was an extended business meeting, with a significant chunk of time given over to reviewing the body's constitution (so long that much of it will have to be reviewed via email communications over the following year). A necessary evil, then, if not quite my idea of fun. 

That said, it was a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals from across the country. Like Mark and Carol, an older American couple who run a seminary in a rural part of the country. Or Mario and Helen, who are commended from the very first church I attended as a boy back in Hamilton. Or Felix, a Bolivian missionary who works with a tribe who are based 12 hours' from the nearest major city. No electricity + no internet + no telephone lines = a calling!

Helpfully, the fellowship opportunities were extended beyond the conference itself. In the evening, three special services were held for the Trinidad churches to attend, with a series of talks given on the Reformation. One of the main speakers was Canadian Jürgen Schultz (or 'Jorge' to Bolivians) whom attentive readers may remember as being our speaker at camp last year -- and a very good one at that! It was good to catch up with him, too, and his 40-minute overview of the life and impact of Martin Luther was soul-stirring.

At the Foundation this week, the annual ENT surgical campaign has been in full swing and Amanda has been helping to keep things ticking over. Meanwhile, I've been preparing more teaching materials for church: a sermon for this Sunday and, for Thursday, a new Bible study based on a book called 'Living in the Power of the Gospel'. It's a book that was recommended to me by a missionary friend as having had a powerful impact on pastors and laypersons throughout Bolivia recently. We began by reading the first couple of chapters and thinking particularly about Colossians 2:6, with its encouragement to the believers to live their lives 'just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord'. In other words, it is the same power that saved us that now sanctifies us, and not an ounce of this comes from within ourselves. If you've read the blog of late, you can see that this ties in nicely with some of the issues that have arisen in the light of our sermon series in Galatians.

Anyway, best get on with the rest of my day. After all, Sam never seems to have classes on Saturdays!

Prayer

• This week we met with a young couple called Cristhian and Milena, who are having some marriage difficulties. They have a three-year-old son. Please pray for them, and for wisdom for ourselves in counselling them.
• For our work as board members at the Foundation, where we are occasionally having to deal with some difficult staff issues.

Praise

• Craig and the rest of the Langham Preaching group had their first meeting this morning since the Level 3 workshop. Give thanks for a good start.
• For a great initial Bible study on Thursday.
• For a good first MCB meeting for Craig last weekend.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 09/07/16

From the get-go, Mum's chief aim in coming here has been to support us in looking after Sam. In spite of the higher costs of flying in mid-summer, she resolved to make the journey now to help us in the event of a visiting team being present, as is often the case at this time of year. As it happens, there has been no such team in 2016. Nevertheless, Mum has been nothing short of rock-like, and it's freed us up to attend to various long-festering matters at work (all too boring to mention here!).

Unfortunately, our neighbourhood is not the greatest for simply getting out the house and going for a walk, something that Mum loves to do (the climate is somewhat non-conducive as well). I (Craig) have been particularly conscious of this over the past week, my enjoyment of her visit a little tempered at times by my anxiety that she's not getting enough fresh air. Mum's view? No qualms. She's just happy to be here and to help. And Sam has more than appreciated it. 

Still, she's not been under total house arrest. On Monday (our day off) we drove out to the local lake and got some lunch while giving Sam some splash-time. Tuesday evening saw us hire a babysitter (one of our youth group stalwarts) so that we could go out for some prime Beni steak with Mum and Taylor, whose volunteer stint here ended on Thursday. On most days we have taken advantage of that window between 16:30 (when Fundación Totaí closes) and 18:00 (when Sam begins to wind down himself) for a gander into town. And, of course, on Sunday, she came to church with us, where she was pleasantly surprised by the number of translated English language hymns in the programme, and where the Bolivians were pleasantly surprised that she had remembered their names -- how typical of her.

We also had the pleasure of hosting the church on Thursday evening for the prayer meeting, which these days rotates around members' homes. We are in the midst of the mid-year school holidays, and rather than rush away at the end, everyone stayed, doubtless buoyed by the cake we bought to celebrate our wedding anniversary that day. Mum is in her element in such company, and is getting plenty of opportunities to practise her increasingly-fluent Spanish. 

Best of all, around the time Sam goes down for his morning nap, play is beginning on Centre Court at 'la catedral de tenis', as the commentators here describe it. We shall probably record tomorrow's men's final and switch off all celular communications during church. Not that we'll be able to hear much of it over Mum's customary nervous director's commentary from her default position of behind-the-couch.

She needn't worry. Murray in three. Easy.

Prayer

• We're off to Santa Cruz on Monday morning for a few days there before Mum's flight on Thursday morning. Pray for safety on the roads, productivity (we have a few small jobs to do there for FT), and a special final few days together.

Praise

• We are so thankful for nine years of marriage, and increasingly aware of our inability to have managed it without Jesus at the centre. 
• Give thanks for Taylor's time here, and the great encouragement and help she was to so many.
• The adoption hearing date was confirmed this week for the 18th of July, a week on Monday. So we have something to very much look forward to upon our return to Trinidad next week, and we hope that while bringing down the curtain on Sam's adoption, it will also get the ball rolling for our travel plans for next year.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 28/5/16

"Goanae no dae that?"

This is likely to be fairly short, as a busy Saturday awaits, due not so much to ministry as a certain football match. Every year, the guys from church and their families used to get together to watch the Champions League final, always a big deal down here no matter who is playing. And when the final was moved to Saturday evenings in Europe a few years back – mid-afternoon here – that very conveniently paved the way for the Champions League barbecue. 

Today, we resurrect that tradition at Casa Cunningham, not that I personally am too excited about the game. Real Madrid’s Francoist past, imperialist bluster and inability to operate fax machines means I’m dead-set against Los Merengues, but Atlético aren’t exactly easy on the eye. Still, given that I might have to get very used to such football fairly soon, I’ll reluctantly back the bus-parkers, not least as most of the guys in attendance are hardline Blancos, and I'd love them to stick it to Ronaldo after that simply appalling 'It's all about me' moment following his only meaningful contribution in 2014.

This week has been one of those extremely bitty weeks in which two public holidays magically collide (the profusion of such holidays here always reminds me of the debate over giving St Andrews day such status back home, and the agonising over the damage a single day away from the desk could do to the economy). Furthermore, yesterday was Mother’s Day (a very big deal), and, of course, mothers were free to take a half-day off work in order to see their kids perform a ditty or two at school. Something of a write-off, then.

In between all that, we have done what we can. If you get our email updates, you’ll have read/skimmed about Amanda’s appraisal interviews with staff. When she started out in HR here, her goal was to disciple/evangelise to personnel. That has somewhat been marginalised due to the administration, the disciplinary meetings, and, oh yeah, a one-year-old boy to look after. So a formal opportunity to speak one-on-one with staff and talk more about their personal situations has been a blessing.

Sermon-free this week, I’ve largely been taking care of church administrative matters. Not much to report there.

We also bid farewell to the Brass Tacks guys on Tuesday morning following their Herculean efforts here over the past couple of months. More on that, hopefully, in the Fundación Totaí email update, due next month (let me know if you would like to receive a copy of that).

There’s a steak with my name on it, so…

Prayer

• Remember Amanda’s staff interviews. Not all of those we work alongside are Christians (especially in the health work); pray for further opportunities to evangelise and show Jesus’ love.
• Keep praying for the adoption. I referred last week to some major issues at local level; these are holding up progress on this front as well (legally, it should have been completed within 30 days of the termination of parental rights, not that we’re expecting that to be enforced in a city where most motorists have no driver’s licence).

Praise

• Give thanks for the work that is going on in the youth group. As mentioned in our email update, we’re getting a lot more time with the young people in small groups this year, and several have made a confession of faith.
• For increased (and most welcome) time together as a family as a result of the holidays this week.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 07/05/16

Not the best of pictures, this, but you may be able to pick out a certain
striker.

No two weeks are the same in this corner of the world, but the past week has more unusual than most.

For a start, the good people of Trinidad are only just getting over a bracing south wind, which arrived in late April (normally the tail-end of the summer here), and whose effects were being felt well into this week; it was only last night that we ditched our rarely-used winter blanket. No complaints from our end, of course; tea is all the more pleasant when not diluted by one's own sweat.

Stranger still was a rare sighting of Amanda on a sports field, nay, a football pitch! Last weekend we had a one-off seven-a-side tournament for the youth group, and my dear wife (under no shortage of coercion, it must be said) made an appearance. Fleeing from the ball like Donald Trump from a Mexican, she made precisely zero touches, yet was to leave the pitch with the glory of a 100% strike:goal ratio, having done her bit for the team in the ensuing penalty shootout (not that it probably matters, but the goalie was a nine-year-old boy).

A little more frustrating was Sam taking a bad turn a few days later, with a high fever properly flooring him for 24 hours. Since then, he's generally been his usual chirpy self, but he can't quite shake it off. We're reliably informed that a seven-to-ten-day recovery is not unusual at his stage; patience is the order of the day. 

Of course, Sam is nothing but a heavy sleeper, so it's been something of an adjustment for us to be up at all hours ensuring he's getting his dosages and enough fluids. And how has His Lordship seen fit to compensate us for our efforts? Oh, only by inflicting us with the same illness! Mercifully, our recovery time has been a lot shorter.

Somehow, amidst all of this, we've managed to put in a fair shift. I've been teaching my English classes, preparing a pretty heavy sermon (see below) and getting ready for next weekend (see below too!), while Amanda has had her usual diet of administrative duties and meetings, including one with the local government yesterday to look into ways that FT and the municipality can better work together.

As for you, dear reader, you can work better together (always liked that phrase) with us by praying. So, without further ado...

Prayer

• The church is in the middle of a mini-series on the 'I am' sayings in John, and tomorrow morning, for the first time, it's Craig's turn. The passage is John 8:31-58 ('Before Abraham was, I am') and it is nothing if not hyper-evangelistic. Please pray for Craig and for those in attendance who are not yet believers.
• Amanda and her fellow directors at FT continue to work under great financial constraints, and require so much wisdom. We ask that you would pray for them.
• Next weekend is Langham Level 2! We've somehow managed to complete a full year of this preaching course here in Trinidad, and, God-willing, we'll be joined by Eduardo & Edwin for four days of intensive training (in other words if there's a blog post next weekend, it'll be Amanda's). Please pray for an encouraging time together.
• Keep praying for Paul and Aaron from Brass Tacks, who are doing an excellent job with the construction work at FT. They're only here for just over two weeks more and are beginning to feel the pressures of time. Prayer appreciated.
• Pray that we might all make a full recovery sooner rather than later!

Praise

• We were greatly encouraged this week by the arrival of several packages from our dear friends at Shettleston New. Give thanks for their safe arrival (no joke!).
• And speaking of safe arrivals, our old friend and house-sitter Rachel Peebles should be flying back to Scotland right about now following her latest visit to Trinidad. Give thanks for the encouragement of our time with her the last couple of weeks.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 30/01/16

"How on earth am I supposed to concentrate on this putt with the referendum
looming on extending Evo Morales' presidency?"

Yesterday afternoon, while driving through the streets of Trinidad, with people going about their lives all around me, I began to wonder if Rory McIlroy could actually reclaim the world number one spot.

On Thursday, while putting out the chairs at church, I mulled over the pros and cons of a summer referendum on EU membership.

On Wednesday, while walking through my neighbourhood to work, I thought about the dangers of an overabundance of bespoke Bibles in western culture. 

My thoughts were consumed with such matters due to my weekly diet of podcasts. Podcast listening is one of the main things I enjoy doing here to relax, while also staying in touch with the world beyond Bolivia. Yet little of it, if any, touches on the day-to-day realities of life in Bolivia. To take just the three examples cited above, golf is the reserve of the super-rich, you'd do well to find any Bibles in Trinidad's stores, and David Cameron is somewhat inconsequential (OK, maybe that last one isn't quite so culturally specific!). 

In the past, I have sought to rectify this by engaging with Bolivian culture, but find myself hesitant to go back there having seen too much corruption in politics, too much play-acting on the football field, and too many items on Miss Bolivia/Santa Cruz/La Paz/Wherever on the national 'news' bulletin (seemingly a daily feature).

We believers are in the world, but not of it, we like to say, yet, as an overseas worker, if you want to be addressing genuine needs as opposed to those that exist in the west and that you hope exist here, you really must seek avenues of connection.

Yet, here, we most certainly have a great advantage over many other missionaries in Latin America. Over these past six years, we have had opportunities to visit missional contexts in other countries and areas of Bolivia, where the potential to simply form a western enclave -- often around English-speaking schools -- has been obvious, even if not everyone falls victim to this. In Trinidad, we don't have English-speaking schools, motor-mowers or Starbucks. But we also lack fellow overseas workers, a deficiency which has, in the end, been very much to our advantage, forcing us to form deep and abiding friendships with the locals. We get all the news we need not from the weather report, but from our daily chinwags with a small yet beloved group of Bolivian families who, in times of trouble, will be there for you in a split-second. And all because each one of us has, in God's grace, responded to -- with apologies to Rory McIlroy -- the only news that really matters.

Now, please excuse me while I watch Colchester United vs Spurs live on ESPN.

*            *            *

Before moving on to the prayer points, just another reminder about those funds required for updating FT's accounting software (click here to read more). We're delighted to report several generous offers of support so far, but there is still a shortfall. If you feel led to contribute something, please don't hesitate to get in write to us at cramandham@gmail.com.

Prayer

• The new school year is now upon us, and that means that much of the church's weekly activities are slowly emerging from hibernation (if that's possible in summer). We are hoping to launch a new format for the youth ministry, and Amanda and I will be attending a training course all this week in the evenings. Prayer appreciated.
• The Zika virus has really hit the headlines, and we know that there are a few cases in Santa Cruz. However, over the past couple of months, several people we know have been victims of Chikungunya, another mosquito-borne virus, with dengue-like symptoms. Two of them are Craig's two fellow church leaders. Pray for Elías, Miguel Ángel and others.

Praise

• Our visit from the social worker on Monday went really well. Thank you for your supplications here, and keep praying for the adoption process in general.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Home Comforts -- Number Nine: Golf

Virginia, 2011: a rare opportunity to grip-it-and-rip-it.

Not for nothing have I been compared (by myself) with the late, great Severiano Ballesteros. Like dear old Seve, I am possessed of a furious desire to win and an uncanny ability to drive the ball pretty much anywhere. The comparisons, alas, end in the car park, whence I require rather more shots than the man from Pedreña to get the ball within sniffing distance of the hole.

Though I suppose we do share one other characteristic, perhaps the single most important weapon in one’s armoury in this harshest of sporting pursuits: an unbounded optimism. Boy, have I missed the intoxicating aroma of freshly-cut grass and its promise of new and better things to come. The open arms of an ocean-wide first fairway, beckoning me to come hither, before walloping one off the pro shop. The never-fading hope standing over every ball that this, yes this, will be the one. And that magical, once-in-a-round elation when it is.

I’ve only had four opportunities (two of them here in Bolivia) to open that door and step into that invigorating, dangerous unknown since landing here in 2010. I fully intend to make up for lost time. Motorists of Dornoch: don’t say you weren’t warned.