Dear Editor,Maybe I'm talking too soon, but when we see a spike in the numbers we become alarmists and when we see a dip in the numbers we downplay it. As of now we have 478 positive cases of the coronavirus in Jamaica.

Relationships formed between women in the impoverished neighbourhood of Las Tablas and the women of OM Costa Rica are leading to changed lives.

The OM Costa Rica team is starting a holistic ministry for women in the underprivileged community of Las Tablas in the country's capital San José.

More than 800 children were impacted by the Festival of Smiles 2011 that took place in the indigenous community of Talamanca, Costa Rica.

The Lord opens doors for women in Las Tablas, a slum near San José, to learn how to sew and make mosaics.

The experiences of Costa Rican OMer Yamileth Morales have given her God's heart for people isolated by HIV and AIDS.

Widowed, with two sons in wheelchairs, Doña Angela struggled to care for her 10 children, until the Lord brought OM Costa Rica into her life.

Meet Linda Villanueva, the first missionary sent out from the rural area of Talamanca, Costa Rica.

A team from OM Costa Rica hikes three days in the jungle of Talamanca to meet a witch doctor.

An OM worker and local team of believers visit indigenous Cabecar communities in the mountains of Talamanca, Costa Rica.

To try and make life a little easier for you when trying to navigate the minefield of skincare, we’ve compiled a list of some of the companies out there making an effort to have cruelty-free products.

SPENDING less on skin care products can be tempting. Aren’t all the products the same? Don’t they all just use the same ingredients? You’re basically just paying for the brand name, right? It’s far too easy to fall into this trap – the trap which leads us to try and convince ourselves that the dollar store brand stuff is just as good as high-end beauty products.

Choose a fragrant gift for your gardening mum, whether it's plants, flowers or botanicals. Hannah Stephenson sniffs out 10 ideas.

Prudence Wade chats to self-confessed 'skincare junkie' Dominic Skinner, one of MAC's top make-up artists.

THE people of Scotland have been offered a “light at the end of the tunnel” in the form of various potential relaxations to lockdown - but warned they will only get there if they double down on their compliance.

The nutritional and immunologic properties of human milk, along with clear evidence of dose-dependent optimal health outcomes for both mothers and infants, provide a compelling rationale to support exclusive breastfeeding. US women increasingly intend to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months. Because establishing lactation can be challenging, exclusivity is often compromised in hopes of preventing feeding-related neonatal complications, potentially affecting the continuation and duration of breastfeeding. Risk factors for impaired lactogenesis are identifiable and common. Clinicians must be able to recognize normative patterns of exclusive breastfeeding in the first week while proactively identifying potential challenges. In this review, we provide new evidence from the past 10 years on the following topics relevant to exclusive breastfeeding: milk production and transfer, neonatal weight and output assessment, management of glucose and bilirubin, immune development and the microbiome, supplementation, and health system factors. We focus on the early days of exclusive breastfeeding in healthy newborns ≥35 weeks’ gestation managed in the routine postpartum unit. With this evidence-based clinical review, we provide detailed guidance in identifying medical indications for early supplementation and can inform best practices for both birthing facilities and providers.

Farmfoods, a Scottish family business, has served the nation for over 60 years - and has never faltered in selling the finest farm  produce the country has to offer.

THAT potato paratha then, being freshly made as I stand by idly at the counter, spring rain pouring from those raised shutters above and streaming onto open decking right behind. It would be miserable waiting for it out here were it not for the following.

The ingenuity of Scotland’s independent food sector, and its determination to keep feeding us in these testing circumstances, is remarkable. Restaurants and cafés have gone down the takeaway route, small artisan suppliers who lost overnight all their catering customers have rapidly reconfigured their business around home delivery. Farmers who previously struggled to attract supermarket shoppers have never been so busy. Farmer’s markets have adapted to sell delivered or collected vegetable b

LEARNING from the hands of her grandmother in Italy, it was perhaps always going to be Giovanna Eusebi's destiny that she would go on to create culinary masterpieces of her own one day.

MARC Mazoyer is getting ready for the week ahead. He’s made soup, and a loaf of bread, and roasted a chicken and he’s thinking about what he’ll do with the food over the next few days. Some of the chicken can go into a dahl, and maybe a risotto, and he might make some quesadillas with it too. And the leftovers can go into a caesar salad. This is how Marc keeps physically well. But it’s how he keeps mentally well too.

Anna and Sarah knock boldly on brothel doors in Central Europe, requesting permission to speak to the ladies inside.

"In order to fulfil our mandate, there are several needs we must invest in," says Stephan Bauer.

Pamir Productions, formed in 1991, passionately uses all forms of media to spread the gospel to Afghans worldwide.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). A few in OM’s history have experienced this and are honoured as modern-day martyrs.

When it comes to reaching the least-reached, OM workers are using new technology to make ministry more effective—one byte at a time.

"If we are serious about planting churches among the least reached as how we do mission, we must always be willing to question, reconsider and reform our paradigms," says Shaun Rossi.

As a young organisation, OM challenged the status quo of world missions and has since evolved into a global movement seeking to share the gospel with the least reached.

"Today’s stark reality is that more than 2.8 billion people have not heard this message of hope and transformation—and 57,000 people are added to this number daily. When I heard this, I was deeply impacted, and resolved that I want to be part of changing that trajectory."

In a village in Serbia, OM workers see Roma believers reaching Roma, encouraging them to let God put a new song in their mouths.

"How can we honour these 'mothers and fathers' [of OM]," asks David Greenlee. "Inclusion is one way, encouraging their ongoing participation, not forgetting them in our concern."

"Everyone in the kingdom of God is essential to the mission that He has called us to," I'Ching says. "Unfortunately, while we may profess this, often we don’t practise it."

"Every time we communicate, there is potential to inform and inspire others for mission. Shall we not then covenant to ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’?" asks Greg Kernaghan.

"Do we sometimes feel uneasy that our business-as-mission and vocation models are so dependent on the very people that we are trying to reach? Does this make us feel powerless and needy?" asks Seang Pin.

Believers travel by snowmobile or helicopter to share a message of great worth with indigenous reindeer herders and fishermen.

"Indeed, the Christ-like patience which the church fathers extolled is much deeper than waiting quietly for a bus," says Arley. "Rather, it is a sacrificial and enduring compassion for others, which our Lord embodied in His life and ultimately on the cross."

According to Stephan Bauer, short-term mission teams are "less a problem to be solved, but more a tension to be managed, and the aim should be for STTs to have a credible impact on the ministry and be effective in mobilising long-term workers."

Inspired by the Good Shepherd who leaves the flock to look for the one, workers publish the Truth in Nivkh dialects though the people group is small.

Stephan discusses how new communities of Jesus followers become a witness to the transforming power of the gospel and make a tangible and sustainable difference in their societies. 

OM Ministry Leader, Lenna Lidstone, discusses how to use Discovery Bible Studies to see vibrant communities of Jesus Followers among the least reached.

Small outreach teams will share the life-changing message of the gospel with hundreds of women in brothels and on the street this Easter.

On the potholed drive home from the pub the other night, a creature ran into the beam of our lights. Long, low and lean, for a moment it looked like an otter. One has occasionally been sighted in our village, though like Loch Ness’s fabled monster this is a source of some dispute. But in another second it was clear that this beast was not from the riverbank but the woods.

I dimly remember a time when the subject of keeping a house warm would have left me cold. In a previous existence, my brother-in law would visit in the depths of winter and complain about how chilly the place was. The problem was not our thermostat, however, but that he chose to sit in a bay window overlooking the Firth of Forth, through which the wind would find him in his short-sleeved shirt.

When I first moved to the country, I anticipated taking long sturdy walks every few days, filling my lungs with fresh air, and gradually – proudly – achieving the weathered complexion of a Norwegian fisherman. Such is the variation in outdoor complexions in rural parts, Farrow & Ball could start a new range: shepherd’s sunburn, builder’s brick red, farmer’s frozen snout.

One of the loveliest towns in Italy is the walled city of San Gimignano, an hour’s drive from Florence. When I first visited it was bleak midwinter and all but a few shops and cafes were shuttered against the sleet. Its claim to fame is a profusion of medieval towers, hence its hyperbolic label as the Manhattan of Tuscany. When I arrived these fortresses soared overhead, making shadowy streets even darker.

In search of peanuts for the birds, I stumbled across an agricultural shop in a nearby village. From the outside it was unspectacular, but opening the door was like stepping into an episode of The Archers. They did indeed have peanuts, in sacks the size of whisky barrels. I wouldn’t have been able to drag one as far as the till, and I wondered if other weaklings had ever secretly slashed them open and let nuts pour into their pockets, gloves and wellie boots, before staggering out like overstu

There is little to like about the present predicament, but one thing I don’t miss is checking my diary every evening for a reminder of what tomorrow will bring. Our social life is not what you’d call a whirl, so usually memory can be relied on for the occasional gatherings. Here in Hoolet, socialising is often impromptu, a random encounter leading to a casual evening drink a few hours later, or a last-minute supper in a kitchen, so soon after the invite that nobody could possibly forget.

Sunday, April 19, 2020.

Strimmers, bonfires and netting are among garden hazards that can harm hedgehogs, so take precautions during Hedgehog Awareness Week and beyond.

Location: Littleferry, Sutherland