More News

Hello wonderful friends and family. As I'm sure all of you are aware from watching the news, the pound has been dropping like a stone in the last little while, with it now being at 1.35 to the dollar. It used to be two! So for all those who were jealous that i was living in a cheap country, while everyone else is struggling with the sky rocketing cost of living, I am beginning to feel the pinch! It hasn't left me penniless, but it does me that the university bursary which way back when I worked it out was supposed to cover all my accomodation costs and leave me with more than enough spending money is now not quite covering my accomodation on its own! I came here with a lot of savings so there are no problems, but it is extremely annoying. I would appreciate continuing prayers for the finances of the ministry which are really feeling the problem, and for the British missionaries here who have essentially just lost a third of their support through a poor exchange rate.

Last weekend the girls had the great experience of going to Kids Games, an event where various homes and churches come together to do a mini sports championship. Because there are not very many girls in the home who come in the under fourteen age bracket, four girls from the area came to play on our team, and it was lovely to have the girls interacting with different people. Despite not haivng done a great amount of training (we weren't sure until the very last minute if we were going to be able to go or not), the girls managed to come first overall in basketball, and second in football! I really liked seeing them encouraged by the knowledge that they can do something well and are able to win something through their skills!

Another enjoyable thing has been the presence of an outreach team from a Chilean school of counselling. Every morning they have been taking the girls through workships on inner healing, which is an obvious necessity for people who have gone through such difficult things in their very short leaves. It looks like they are learning a lot of things, and hopefully they will be able to talk more deeply with some of the counsellors in the week that comes. It has been really nice to have other people around, as ever, and on top of that having Emily and Caitlin settled into the home is really good. I don't know how to cope with having people about all the time to speak English with! But it has been wonderful having people to spend this weekend off with, and to be able to do normal friend-like things such as cook together. (Even if I did kill the macaroni cheese....)

I haven't been going to the dentist at the moment because we are now taking turns as staff to help out in the kitchen, and this week was my turn. It meant that I wasn't leaving so much, but it wasn't a problem as I enjoyed being able to learn a little bit more about how to cook Bolivian food. It also reminded me that I did learn how to manage a kitchen in Firestarters, and that I'm not as incompetant as I thought I was! Being there in the mornings also means that I've been able to help with their homework, which is another of my favourite things today: I have gone through the tables many times this week!

A piece of kind of sad news is that one more girl has left the home, putting us down to nine. However, it is not nearly as bad as the other times, as this was a thought through process and she has been reinserted into her family. She is going to live with her brothers in La Paz: who haven't seen her or her other brother since their parents died when she was very young. Prayers would be appreciated for her, that she will be able to use this as an opportunity to start again on a clean slate with people who don't already know her character faults.

I am aware that the week coming si going to be quite a stressful one, as Salustio and Yany are (finally) being forced to go on holiday, so I will essentially (with extensive support, obviously) be staying in charge of the home. Its always that bit more difficult when they leave, because the girls decide that that would be a good time to misbehave, but hopefully between the four of us we will manage to hold the fort well. I would really appreciate your prayers for this week though - I know that God is wanting to challenge me in more areas of leadership, but it is not a particularly easy challenge to take on. However, I do walk in the knowledge that God has always been faithful to me and will not leave me in the times when I need him most.

The most exciting thing that I have to look forward to is going to Peru next month! Much as I love being here, I am really looking forward to being able to take a bit of time off, and to be able to see the Herons again, and in their own land! Only twenty-four days to go. :-)

THats all for now, but keep in touch, and it shouldn't be too long until I update agian.