Saturday Post - 03/08/2013

When we left for Bolivia three-and-a-half years ago (says Amanda), I had absolutely no interest in ears, noses or throats. I knew we were coming to a ministry with a health focus in ENT, but I thought I would be doing other stuff; other stuff being this vague imaginary concept I had. Well, I tell you that 42 months on, my knowledge of ears has more than quintupled (new word). I mean, that probably wasn't a really hard feat because before coming to Bolivia all I knew was that people should have two ears and that ears were for hearing and balance, oh, and that ear infections are not pleasant. 

If anyone has been following this blog since we arrived here, they will remember a course I took in April 2010 that the Foundation ran. It was the intermediate level course in Primary Ear and Hearing Care. I was terrified because, well, the course was in Spanish and I had been in the country for four months. I studied ridiculously hard and practically memorized the manual, using my trusty English/Spanish dictionary, and was graciously allowed to write the answers to the Spanish exam in English. All's well that ends well; and I did just that on my exam. 

Well, the Foundation has since run that course at least once a year over the past three years and I have thankfully been able to watch from the sidelines as I smile while other poor people sweat through that exam. This year, however, the Foundation decided to run the intermediate course again, immediately followed by the advanced version. I was asked if I was going to participate. I felt that as I currently work in Audiology, it would be very unprofessional of me to say, "Nah, don't really want to." But I knew I was just too busy to study for it like I did the last time. I looked our admin staff directly in their eyes and said, "Is there an exam for the advanced course?" I was assured there wasn't, so I thought, "Sure... why not?" 

The Foundation has been in quite the tizzy the last couple of weeks getting everything ready for this course. For the first time it was decided to go big or go home... instead of advertising by word of mouth and invitation letters and holding the course on the Foundation's own premises (which are a bit out of the way for a lot of people), we (well... "we" in the collective sense, I was not involved in the decision) booked the auditorium at the big hospital in the centre of town, and the time was moved from the afternoon to the evening, when more people are free. Furthermore, the advertising campaign was significantly more aggressive. There was a lot of trepidation because we needed at least more than 25 to make the course viable, the ultimate dream was 50 people... and in true Bolivian fashion the week before the course there were about 5-10 people registered. There were some truly nail-biting times recently around these parts. Everyone was involved to try and make it the best it could be; even I spent my share of time sticking stickers on things and stringing string through things.

The basic and intermediate course was held from Monday to Wednesday evening this past week (with the famed exam on the Wednesday night) and the advanced course was Thursday and Friday evening. Yeah... I only had to go for two nights!!! God was really good, because the numbers were amazing; everyone showing up on the night to register... there were 52 people registered for the whole programme and ten more for the advanced course (and they had to send people away because the auditorium was not big enough). There were some birthing pains, as with all big events, and it took some  time for the participants to realise that they actually needed to attend and not just pay for the course if they wanted to receive credit, which really goes against the grain in the course-taking culture here (we actually had someone in La Paz who called to register and who wanted to send us the fee and then we were to send them their certificate... without them ever setting foot in the auditorium, let alone the city). Oh, and that they needed to achieve a 70 or above on the exam if they wanted to continue with the advanced portion. Uh-oh!!!!

So I showed up at 6pm on Thursday night for Day 1 of the advanced course. The women behind me asks Georgina, one of the coordinators of the course and a personal friend (who, remember, had assured me there was no exam) if there was going to be a second exam for the advanced portion. And Georgina in all seriousness says, "Si!" And I say, "No..." and she says, "Si..." and we go on like that for quite a while. She really had me going and I was tempted to get up and leave as I had no idea when I was going to be able to review the intermediate material, let alone study the new material... but she finally starts laughing. Phew!!!

The course was four hours each night and as my lift to and from the course was the people running the course, I crawled into bed on Thursday night closer to 11:30. And I was mad at the world when I had to get up on Friday morning, but I definitely felt it was worth it. Maricarmen, the Audiologist who used to work at the Foundation, but now lives in La Paz, and who flew back to be part of the course, assured me that as I work in Audiology currently, the advanced material would not be difficult for me. But, I really did learn new things and when Dr. Lopez went through the mechanics of dizziness and vertigo, (something I did not understand at all) I felt enlightened. Very interesting stuff... and on Friday morning when I had a patient with dizziness who had been sent for a hearing test, I actually said to the patient, "I understand why you're here." 

Friday was good as well, although a lot more clinical, and when Dr. Lopez continually asked which antibiotics we would prescribe in specific situations I had to keep mentally repeating, "No idea... no idea... no idea..." But the best part of Friday night was that all the people involved in the running of the course, and two of us from the Foundation that participated in the course, all went out for dinner afterwards. The course finished at 10pm and that's when we went out to eat... I was still eating my steak at midnight last night and crawled into bed about 12:45. I am a party animal. I am also ridiculously tired... so maybe a poor excuse for a party animal. 

Anyways, other things happened this week... like Craig leading the Bible study on Exodus 28 (the priestly garments), and KC and I starting to plan the material for the Sex & Relationships portion of the youth group curriculum, but that was minor stuff next to my party-animal experiences. Please come back next Saturday if you want to hear about priestly garments and the importance of abstinence before marriage. I cannot wait. 

Prayer

• Youth Leaders are having a planning meeting on Sunday afternoon; please pray for guidance as we finish discussing prayer and move on to relationships.
• We are sending our good audiometer that we use daily in Audiology to La Paz to be calibrated; please pray that it arrives safely and returns safely as well.
• Craig as he prepares and finishes Exodus 28 next Thursday.

Praise

• A very interesting and useful course these past two days and the success the Foundation had in running it.
• That we were able to furnish our second bedroom before the arrival of Amanda's mom and aunts at the end of the month.
• Mayerlin, for whose family we've been asking prayer, attended the course as well and passed her exam. I (Amanda) was especially encouraged to see that commitment from her in her attendance and attention to the material.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 27/07/13

Alas, Trinidad is still waiting on that first batch of TaunTauns from Hoth.

Browsing my usual diet of UK media outlets over the past few weeks, amidst the usual clutter of Murray-mania (yeah!) baby-talk (yah!) and cricket scores (yawn!), it’s becoming increasingly impossible to draw the following conclusion: Britain is having a summer-and-a-half.

The jubilation over George is all well and good, but the little lad isn’t the only thing that doesn’t come around in Britain every year. The sustained spell of sunshine has surely been welcomed with equal fervour. There’s no doubting it: the Americans have petrol prices, the French have port blockades, but the weather is surely our national obsession.

And that passion certainly doesn’t abate in a tropical climate. Indeed, I’ve visited the BBC Weather page more here than at any time at home. Because, being a true Brit, I must also be fickle.

Back home, the months of June, July and August are feverishly anticipated in the (usually vain) hope that, just for once, we might actually have ourselves a summer. And I can report from my rigorous research of the British population in Trinidad, Bolivia (Kenny and myself) that we too look forward to these months, only our longing is for a merciful break from those near-constant temperatures of 30 Celsius and over.

For at this time of year, the long-awaited surs (south winds which blow in from the Antarctic via Argentina) are due to make their appearance any day now. Only, just like in the UK, the results can be decidedly patchy. Not since 2010 had we been on the receiving end of a sur of substance.

But this week, for one week only, our patience was duly rewarded. 20mph winds began bellowing their way through northern Bolivia at around 6pm on Sunday evening, the mercury plummeting in the blink of an eye. Such is the power of a sur at its most potent: one minute you’re perspiring in shorts and a T-shirt, the next you’re making a beeline for your mittens. Indeed, hypothermia isn’t the only danger in this situation; one must be careful not to choke to death when donning winter woolies which have gathered a year’s worth of dust.

Such was the force of this particular gale that, unusually, the wind picked up in power over the next 48 hours. By this point, we were down to the low-teens. Now, no sniggering at the back. Our harsh, northern hemisphere winters are at least preceded by a few months of steady temperature decline. Not so here. We’re talking a difference of 20 Celsius within a 24-hour period in a climate where homes, if anything, are built to be as cold as possible.

Thus, we made our merry way to bed on Monday evening in about three layers of clothing (I find football socks particularly useful in such temperatures) and slept under a sheet, a two thick alpaca-wool blankets and a quilt. And we would have thrown more layers on if we had them.

Goodness knows how we’ll cope stepping out into that Paisley air in mid-December.

It was a bit much at times, but in those moments, we just shut our eyes, remembered what it’s like to live in an oven most of the year, and within a split second, all was well.

As it happened, a general strike had been called for Tuesday, requiring everyone to stay at home for the day. I doubt anyone was too bothered, to be honest. We watched Zero Dark Thirty on Sunday evening and clearly drew some sub-conscious inspiration, not venturing beyond the confines of our compound till Wednesday morning!

It all made for a weird old week, with the three available teaching days hampered by significant drops in attendance, with many hot-blooded locals seemingly fearful of their lives. However, the wind cleared the way for unsullied, sunny blue skies over the past three days and, though it’s taking a lot longer than usual, temperatures are slowly returning to their usual, dizzying heights. The only wind the Beeb are forecasting for the next few days is due to come from the north and I have little in the immediate-term to look forward to. Perhaps I could alleviate things by turning to cricket fandom.

Steady on there. I'm not that desperate.

Prayer

• FT is once again running its course on ear and hearing care this week. It’s been highly publicised and will be held in a venue in the centre of town, so we’re hoping for big numbers. Amanda will be taking the Advanced course (she’s already sat Basic and Intermediate) so pray for success for her this week.
• Please continue to remember the family of Yoselín and Ailín in your prayers (see last week’s post). That’s a very delicate domestic situation.
• Taking advantage of Joe Sturman’s journey to Birmingham last week, we handed him a stack of letters addressed to Christian trusts in the UK, with a view to securing some funding for Craig’s studies next year. Pray that, somehow, support might be forthcoming in what are tough times for many of these trusts.

Praise

•  For a refreshing (in a very real sense) break from the usual high temperatures this week.

We’ve just sent out our latest update, which you are more than welcome to print off and distribute, if you feel so inclined. If you’d like to be added to our mailing list, email us at cramandaham@gmail.com.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post - 20/07/2013

As I (Amanda) write this right now, I have to keep a nervous eye on the laundry room in the backyard, because today for the first time, it seems the puppies are interested in venturing outside their four walls. It's so adorable; they are walking now and playing with each other, but still learning how to do it so they keep falling over. Let's all say, "Awwww!" together! I want to keep them all, but seems less than likely to happen. Actually, even keeping one is not really in the cards. Especially because, just now, as Craig was taking pictures of them, one pooed on his foot. 

Sometimes I do not know where the time goes. Every time I look up from doing something, it seems it is Saturday once again. I cannot believe it is actually July... I want time to slow down so I can breathe a bit more. Or maybe time should speed up so we can go home and see you all again! Either way, that doesn't change the fact that it is Saturday again and another very busy one at that. Craig is preaching tomorrow and the church is starting a new series on Philippians, which means Craig has the problem of having way too much to say. KC has kindly asked that he not go till 1 p.m. because Caleb has started on baby food now and needs to eat on a schedule. I also ask that he not preach till 1 p.m. as I have been on solid food for 27 years and I also need to eat on a schedule. But joking aside, I know I am excited for this series in Philippians because, well, it is just an awesome book. I know Craig has also enjoyed preparing it, because he has been quite sick this week and yet worked from home on his sermon when he took a sick day. I remember waking up from my lunchtime nap one day and he was right back at it, working, when he should have been the one sleeping. 

Yes, poor Craig has been quite sick. I actually thought he was whining a bit and didn't give it much attention until the complaints started varying in severity and description. We have had a couple of very busy and demanding weekends recently, and I just thought he was tired and grumpy, but then a perpetual headache was only getting worse with Paracetamol, his throat started hurting, etc. So, finally he went to the doctor and he had quite an inflamed throat; he was given medicine, antibiotics and sent for some lab analysis. However, to compound the problem, after seeing the doctor his mouth started hurting a lot and I thought he might have a cavity (he says he has never had a cavity in his entire life). So the next day he went to the dentist and, to his great relief, he did not have a cavity (because keeping his record clean was obviously the most important thing). He does however have his wisdom teeth coming in on the left side of his mouth and will need dental surgery to remove them as a dental x-ray showed that they are partly impacted. Rut, the wife of Miguel-Ángel, FT President and a dentist himself, wanted to do it today, and he was fine with that as the sooner they came out they sooner they would stop hurting, but I commented that if he had his wisdom teeth removed on Saturday there is no way he would be able to preach on Sunday. So, the surgery is scheduled for some time this week... we will keep you posted. 

Our house guest for the past month, Joseph Sturman, left this past Wednesday and should be back in England now, settling back into life where I hear the weather is quite nice. Craig and I have both been so blessed to share this past month with Joe. We have been encouraged by his faith and his determination to serve God in as many ways as he can. He is a mature young man who we both enjoyed engaging in conversation on many topics. He was a great example to me especially as he showed an extremely professional work ethic. He would be most welcome here again for two reasons: 1) he baked cookies before he left to say thanks, and 2) he was also very complimentary of my cooking. For all future guests that stay with us... please take notes now. 

I mentioned that these past two weekends have been very busy for us and I know Craig shared the craziness that was two weekends ago, but last weekend was unexpectedly busy. We had the privilege to have two young girls stay with us for two nights as their family were working some issues out. They were wonderful guests, though Yoselin (one of the girls that I meet for discipleship) likes to leave crumbs behind her like a trail every time she eats anything; sometimes I follow her around the house with a broom and sweep up as she walks past. It was an interesting experience for us as we went from a house hold of two to three (with the addition of Joe) and then to five (with Yoselin and Ailin). I enjoyed kind of getting to be like a mother hen for a little while, though you do have to get up really early here to get kids to school on time. It felt even stranger going from five to three to two again once Joe left. Now we're just two people again... and ten dogs (eight puppies). But we pray that Yoselin and Ailin enjoyed their two-night sleepover with us and felt all the love we tried to show them. 

Well, off to do more Saturday stuff, like eat lunch (remember, I'm on a schedule). We will let you know how Craig's dental surgery goes next weekend. 

Prayer

• For Craig's dental surgery, if it happens this week - Miguel-Ángel, President of the Foundation and his wife, will be the ones doing it, so pray for guidance and wisdom for them as well.
• Yoselin and Ailin's family and their personal Christian growth.
• Amanda as she chairs Youth Group tonight - Elizabeth is speaking on the need for daily confession in our prayer lives. 
• Craig speaking on Philippians tomorrow.

Praise

• That Craig's throat and headache feel so much better after seeing the doctor.
• That we had the privilege to have Joe live with us for the month he was visiting the Foundation.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 13/07/13

I write with a mild headache following a glass or two of wine late last night in celebration of our anniversary. We enjoyed a lovely evening at our favourite fish restaurant, taking the time to reminisce on these past six years and reflect on God’s overwhelming care for us as a couple.

Of course, if you’re one of those sorts of people who has everyone’s birthday and anniversary stored away in a mental Filofax (in which case you’d be more than welcome here – Bolivians’ obsession with birthdays is all-consuming), then you’ll have worked out that we were five days late in marking the occasion. Not a case, I stress, of either of us forgetting the big day; simply that the day itself fell slap-bang in the middle of a pretty brutal weekend.

Friday: youth leaders’ meeting. We had invited our cohorts to the house for an evening of planning for the next couple of months, while enjoying some social time when that was out of the way. In the end, time prohibited us from letting our hair down (as only youth leaders can!). That said, we managed to make some headway on our programme for the year, while also making our initial forays into planning for what, we hope, will be our first ever youth group camp.

Saturday: The Usual. 9am-Noon: Grocery shopping (Amanda)/blogging & sermon preparation (Craig); 2-4:30pm: Discipleship session with Grecia (Amanda)/piano lesson and band practice (Craig); 4:30-6pm: Bible Explorers’ Club (Amanda); 6.15-9:30pm: pre-youth group leaders’ meeting, youth group, driving youth to their various homes around town (both); 10pm: Crash.

Sunday: The actual date of our anniversary, was pretty much same-old Sunday, with two exciting additions: watching the last set of Murray-Djokovic, and a church leaders’ meeting in the afternoon! Oh, and an anniversary celebration, albeit not our own. For we share the same date (though a year later) with our old friends Jerry & Georgina. Excitingly, Georgina’s family, for the first time ever, had opted to pay a visit to Trinidad from their home way down south in Tarija, a lovely little city near the Argentinian border. A knees-up was in order. So we were delighted to join with their family and many friends to celebrate their seven years. Doubly exciting for me (and this picks up on the theme from the post a couple of weeks back) was the fact that several members of the church band had gotten together, independently of me and without prompting, to produce a programme of music for the evening, much of which was centred around the One at the centre of Jerry & Georgina’s partnership.

Monday: Party planning. Our weekly time-to-ourselves day was taken up with preparing for a great celebration, that of Maicol & KC’s boy Caleb’s adoption. They had requested the use of our home for a small party with family and friends in the early evening and, of course, we were more than happy to oblige. Pippa Middleton was nowhere to be seen but I reckon we made a decent fist of it under the circumstances. It would be back to our work at FT on Tuesday, but we hardly even required that incentive to make it an especially early bedtime, that evening, our final exchange before sleep took hold being a look that conveyed a thousand (or, to be more precise, five) words: Where did that one go?

I tend to prize my personal space a little more than the average person but you know what? Sometimes it’s OK to be busy, especially when there is so much to be encouraged by and thankful for in the process. We were particularly thrilled to be able to support Maicol & KC in that way as well.

This weekend, then, represents more of an opportunity to re-charge the old batteries. I’ll let you know how that’s going once Saturday’s out of the way.

Prayer

• A fair bit of travelling going on this week. First up, the Holts are currently in Santa Cruz, having left Trinidad on Thursday. God-willing, they will catch their flight from there to Sao Paulo tomorrow morning. And then on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, they fly to Edinburgh via Heathrow. Pray for protection, both for the family and for their belongings!
• Secondly, our guest this past month, medical volunteer Joe Sturman, is due to take a somewhat less staggered route to Birmingham, leaving on Wednesday afternoon for Santa Cruz before catching a midnight flight to Miami, and then on to London on Thursday. Prayers appreciated for Joe.
• I’m due to visit a church tomorrow to give another Emmaus presentation (indeed, the same church I’d been planning to visit a couple of weeks back – before I was rained off). Pray that more people might take advantage of the course to enhance their personal Bible study and growth.
• Pray for Amanda’s young women’s Bible study group, who meet tomorrow evening for the first time in three weeks. 

Praise

• For the encouragement in the midst of our various activities last weekend.
• For six years during which the Lord has been so good to us as a couple, often, as Amanda pointed out last night, fighting for us while we have (usually with great difficulty!) kept silent (Exodus 14:14). We have so much to be thankful for. 

¡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 -- 22/06/13

This week, a saga twistier than a Swiss mountain road finally came to an end. Coronation Street itself can hardly have seen many more catastrophes, confrontations and cliffhangers (and they've had a 50-year head-start on us -- our soap opera lasted a mere three).

But, sure enough, on Thursday morning, we shook hands on the sale of the two plots of land we had bought back in June of 2010, upon which we never ended up building due to the previous owner's inability to supply us with the correct documentation (that particular episode taking up twelve months in itself). Just click on the 'housing' tab at the foot of this post if you have a spare weekend to read the full story.

Pretty much by necessity, there were some last-minute hurdles to clear. We had reached a verbal agreement with the prospective buyers over a month ago on the sale price. However, in the past couple of weeks, we had been contacted on a number of occasions to see if we would be willing to lower the stated sale-price on the documents transferring the ownership. The reason for this is that when you buy land in Bolivia you are legally required to pay a tax of 3% of the sale price to the council. Indeed, so terrified are people of this charge that telling fibs on the documents is pretty much par for the course. For us, however, as believers -- and, moreover, as missionaries with a testimony to protect -- we couldn't budge on this. Nonetheless, to help the buyers, we reduced the sale price slightly, effectively saving them the money they would need for the taxes.

I was called, then, at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning (the buyers having arrived on the overnight bus from Santa Cruz) and summoned to their bank in the centre of Trinidad, where I, er, collected my winnings (a hefty charge is applied to transfers here, so the best option is to carry your cash between banks!). But in the process, and despite our gesture of good faith, I was asked, yet again, to consider lowering the stated sale price. At this point I took out my mobile phone calculator and showed them what 3% came to, in US dollars. They seemed OK after that, and I was free to go to our own bank and deposit the proceeds, stuffed brown envelope under my jacket -- never before have I felt more like a Russian gangster. During this time, they headed to their lawyer's office to begin the paperwork.

There we met half an hour later, where the welcoming party was not in the best of moods. Our buyers had had a discourse with the lawyer's secretary, who explained to them in some detail the various fees which would be required in offices around Trinidad in order to complete the transfer (figures which we, like any other buyer, had been required to stump up ourselves, not to mention the lawyer's charges which mounted up for us as a result of the shoddy paperwork). But the real salt in the wound was my apparent coldness of heart over the stated price. Mental arithmetic not being a strong point in this society, it turned out that they hadn't fully grasped that the likely tax bill I'd showed them earlier was in US dollars and not Bolivianos (right now, you'll get nearly 7 Bolivianos for your dollar). 

For the next hour, then, I came under pressure from both the couple -- with whom we had had close ties when they lived in Trinidad -- and the lawyer himself to tell porkies on the transfer document. It was a bona fide 1 Samuel 2:30 situation. At one point they even tried to appeal to my faith, arguing that the Christian thing to do would be to help my neighbour by lying! What I was doing, in Bolivian terms, was positively barmy, but wholly necessary to protect our testimony -- and our buyers could hardly argue they hadn't been warned.

I held the line sufficiently to convince my interrogators that we were not for turning and, in spite of it all, our buyers agreed to go ahead with the documentation, warts and all. By noon, we had ourselves a land transfer. And happily, for all the morning's histrionics, we were able to invite the couple over for lunch, where the matter was quickly forgotten about. 

This was not the only encouraging development these past seven days. I'm pleased to be able to share that I have been accepted on to the Cornhill Scotland course next year. The Cornhill course, whose prime focus is on sound Bible teaching, was founded by the venerable Dick Lucas in London in 1991. Its Scottish sister course began a few years ago out of its base at The Tron church in Glasgow and has since become something of a production line for faithful ministers of the word. 

The full-time course is one year in duration and the administrators there have been kind enough to allow me to study from January till December, rather than follow the usual September till June timetable. This allows us to proceed with our furlough year plans, while meeting LAM Canada's requirement for us to enrol in formal theological training. It should also give me some invaluable input as I become increasingly involved with the church side of things here in Bolivia. Amanda is still looking into a few possibilities herself, and we'll let you know when a decision has been made on that front.

Prayer

• For Amanda as we continue to seek God's will for her next year.
• For Craig as he begins a new Bible study series this week on the Tabernacle.
• For Amanda as she is involved in complicated audiology testing this week.

Praise

• For the land sale, which will go a long way to helping us pay off our building costs, and for the strength to keep honouring God to the bitter end.
• For the good news re. Craig's studies next year.
• For the arrival of Joe (see last week's post), who has been a great guest so far and is already putting his skills to good use as a health volunteer. He's a really mature young lad and we're enjoying getting to know him.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda

Saturday Post -- 15/06/13

Involved as we are in a great variety of programmes, activities and services (ecclesiastical and otherwise), it can be easy to lose sight of the key commodity in missionary outreach: people.

Fortunately, one of the areas I’m involved in here in Bolivia gives us a great chance to touch base with individuals and develop Christ-centred relationships in the process.

FT, as I’ve probably mentioned before, is the official centre in the Beni region for the Emmaus correspondence course, in which students study the Bible, with the aid of course texts, and submit exams at their own pace. The whole course consists of around 40 texts, which go progressively deeper into Scripture. For example, the first two or three texts are steadfastly gospel-centred, communicating the Good News in simple language. But later texts focus on particular themes such as Baptism and Communion, particular books of the Bible, such as Galatians or John’s epistles. The texts are of particular use here, where daily Bible reading aids are sorely lacking; many students find themselves doing ‘a bit a day’ of their books.

Once completed, and the accompanying exams are submitted, it is over to KC (who oversees the programme), Elías and me to correct these – a fairly simple task, as they tend to be predominantly made up of true/false questions. However, most of the exams close with a series of open-ended questions, which usually apply the theory of the text to the individual. These questions, naturally, can throw up a whole variety of answers (some of which, occasionally, suggest a lack of real understanding of the text as a whole), and so our policy is to meet with each individual student when we return their exam.

On this basis, I’ve been meeting with a young man called Alfredo over the past few weeks. Well, not exactly. Alfredo, a cobbler in one of the markets here, is unable to walk without support and, naturally, struggles to get around. So instead of coming to us, we have been going to him – KC was visiting him until motherhood kicked in and asked me if I could take over this duty. It was hard to find a time that suited both of us, but recently we’ve been able to find a time every week that we can meet. This doesn’t give him nearly enough time to finish a text. However, it gives him regular contact with another Christian male and the chance to discuss what he’s been studying with someone who knows their Bible.

I’ve been greatly encouraged to meet with Alfredo and get to know him better. Despite having no support from family or friends, he has a real passion for his Bible and has spent a lot of time thinking about his faith – a rare commodity in this culture. His condition makes it hard for him to get to church. In our own church, which meets in an upper room (purely coincidentally, I might add) we are about to install a bannister (like so much in this culture, this depends on the guy who said he’d do it turning up when he says he will!) and I’m really hoping that once we have this in place, that we can bring Alfredo along to our congregation on Sundays where, God-willing, he can benefit from more support than he currently receives.

As Amanda mentioned last week, I made my own visit to a church on the other side of town to promote the Emmaus materials. Many of those who attend our church are ‘doing’ the course (though submission of texts tends to be somewhat infrequent) and so we’re keen to push the course, which is a terrific resource in evangelism and discipleship, into other faith communities in Trinidad.

This weekend is a relatively quiet one – for me, at least. Amanda is knee-deep in a weekend-long training course for the Kids’ Games programme at FT (which we ran last year between September and November – see posts from that time for more details), which is being supported by some visitors who have come all the way from Cochabamba to facilitate the training. So once this is posted, I must do for others as I so often have them do for me, and embark on the mother of all shopping trips. Nothing quite like Trinidad on a Saturday morning.

Which is itself complicated by the fact that we will soon have an extra mouth to feed. On Wednesday afternoon, our latest volunteer, Joe Sturman, arrives from the UK. Joe has just finished his second year of medical training at Birmingham and will be staying in our home during his month of volunteer work at FT. We’re looking forward to getting to know Joe over the next few weeks and, in particular, receiving his tribute of Dairy Milk bars. Godspeed, my friend!

Prayer

• For all those who have recently enrolled in the Emmaus course, that they would complete their texts promptly and would grow in Christ in the process.
• For Amanda and her fellow participants in the training course this weekend.
• For safety for Joe as he travels here on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• For Alfredo as he seeks to grow in his faith in challenging circumstances.

Praise

• For so many opportunities to get alongside people and share Christ with them, which the Emmaus course affords us.

¡Que Dios les bendiga!

Craig & Amanda