Youth camp and Independance Day

Youth Camp
Last Thursday afternoon, Olivia and I set out for Youth Camp. It is the only camp the Mennonite Churches offer all summer, and anyone from the ages of 12-25 may attend. We arrived in time for supper (which in this case means before 8:00) on Thursday, and stayed until Sunday mid-afternoon. There were 27 campers-12 girls and 15 boys. All the girls slept in one big (air-conditioned) room-including cooks and counselors. The same was true for the boys, except they had a different room from the girls. One of my favorite parts of Camp was Friday afternoon when we did games and swimming. In games, we started with an interesting version of football where there were 4 teams all playing at once in a tiny little area that didn't even have grass-it was just concrete! It was kind of strange also because I am not used to calling it football-I'm used to saying soccer instead! About halfway through it started pouring down rain, but we kept on playing just like nothing was happening! It was actually very fun to play in the rain! Then we played a game they called elephant trunk that I think was supposed to get us a little bit wet to cool us off, but we were all already soaking! Then lastly, we played cricket which was very interesting, because Olivia and I had never ever played cricket and had no idea how to! We told this to the people in charge and asked them if we should just watch for this reason, and they told us that we could watch the first 2 teams play and then when our 2 teams played, we could play with them then. We enjoyed playing, but both agreed that watching was still more fun. It was funny to watch when they hit the ball because there seemed to be no out-of-bounds, even if they hit it backwards, and it was really funny to watch the two people run back and forth between the two different spots! After all that, we went swimming, but it seemed to have almost no point because everybody was drenched anyways! But it had cleared off by that point and so the pool was very enjoyable anyways.
~Roxy

I thought one of the most interesting parts of Youth Camp was Saturday night. I had heard there was going to be a banquet then but I had no idea it was going to be a big fancy thing. Roxy and I hadn't brought any nice clothes because no one told us to, and we're used to going to Camp Mennoscah where they say specifically not to bring nice clothes because there will be no dress occassions. So, what happened was that the guys were supposed to ask the girls to go with them to the banquet. Everyone dressed up, except Roxy and I. Roxy did my hair so it looked pretty, though. And hers too. So, we all went out and met the guys under a little gazebo type area. When our guy came, they would escort us into the place where we had our meals. Everyone was there taking pictures and there was music in the background. After the meal, there was a slide show of pictures first from last year and then ones from this year at youth camp. Then we went for dessert. The funny part was that Roxy and I both got asked in the pool. After Roxy got asked, she said okay, but then had to go ask someone what his name was. I knew my date a little better than she knew hers. For one thing, his sister who was 7, really wanted me to go with him and had been making that clear to me over the course of the day. Plus I had gone to his youth group earlier. Some of the other highlights of the camp were: getting to meet other youth here, learning some new songs, and the talent show we had on the last day where I got the part of the gunman.
~Olivia

Happy Independance Day! That's what today is in Trinidad. So everyone has the day off. Tonight we are planning to go to the capital city and watch the fireworks. We made brownies today so we would have snacks to take. Luckily someone left a cookbook here. Richard and I spent part of the time at the youth camp. Richard was asked to preach there on Sunday morning. Part of the time we were at home. We've been trying to prepare for the clesses we will be teaching. Our understanding is that classes begin at the college on Wednesday. So far no word on what days or times we will be teaching. We'll call again tomorrow.
~Barb

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. We are very happy to say that our prayers for our house in Kansas to be rented have been answered! A family will be moving in this week. We also have our own high speed Internet access in our apartment now. We've had to make a few calls to get everyone set up right, but as of this afternoon, it seems to be functioning as it should.
The other prayer issues mentioned in our last post continue to be concerns. We had been told that the water line would be repaired by the end of last week, but it hasn't. Since today is a holiday, we hope to have it fixed in the next day or two.
School for the girls also continues to be a major concern. Classes start tomorrow, but they still haven't been accepted by the Ministry of Education to attend a government supported school. We are looking at some private school options as well right now. We hadn't budgeted for those costs, but with our house rented we would hopefully have finances available to cover such costs. We pray that we might hear from the Education Ministry soon and be able to make good choices for the girls.
~Richard

Last Sunday, Maracas Beach, WITC & FAQ

August 26, 2009
On Sunday, we visited Carlsen Field Mennonite Church, the 2nd church we've visited. There were lots of youth there. It's a pretty new church, so there were only a little over 20 people there, and probably about half of them were youth. It was also youth Sunday, (they lead the service once a month) so that was kind of cool. We went to Sunday School there, too. Afterward, we went to a neighbor's house for lunch. There were lots of cute puppies there, and a little baby, too. Plus they had good food! Then Roxy and I went to the youth group at Hope Mennonite Church. We wanted to get to know some of the other kids here, because we're planning to go to youth camp with them. While we were there, we sang, Roxy got wrapped up in toilet paper, we had a bible study time, and we played what I've heard called wink'em, but they didn't mention the name of it. We had supper at Babes and Ramesh's house with the work team. Avi, their son, showed us the art he does, the airbrush. That was the last night the work team was here.
~Olivia

On Tuesday, our family went to Maracas Beach. That is the beach that everyone has recommended to us as a really nice beach. There, they sell Bake and Shark. There were a million different stands with different names like Mona's Bake and Shark, Delsie's Bake and Shark, Mom's Bake and Shark...We went to Richard's Bake and Shark. Not just because Daddy's name is Richard, but when the work team went to Maracas, they recommended it to us! The bake is like fry bread, and then they give you a couple pieces of deep-fried shark inside the bake. Then you go through a long line and choose your toppings-they had lots of stuff, from ketchup to coleslaw to some sort of fruit. Even though I really, really, really do not like fish, the shark and bake was actually pretty good.
Then for a couple of hours, we just played in the ocean or on the sand. By the end, though, there was a really big undertow. It was a little bit scary, but the beach was still really fun. But the worst part was getting there! We had to go over a mountain since it is on the north coast of Trinidad, and there were a lot of switchbacks and up and down, and there wasn't always a fence thing on the side of the road! But playing at the beach made it all worth it.
~Roxy

On the morning of the day we went to the beach, we traveled to WITC where Richard and I will be teaching to learn more about our classes and explore their library. I had learned the day before that in addition to teaching a class on Marriage and Family they also wanted me to teach Theory and Practice of Social Work II. While there we learned that the Homiletics class that Richard was planning on did not have enough students enrolled and so would be canceled. Instead he was assigned to teach Intro to Philosophy. We are still waiting to hear what days we will be teaching and how many students we will have. Richard is also waiting for them to locate a copy of the text. Classes begin next week.

While preparation is requiring a fair bit of flexibility on our part, I am so pleased that the school wants to have us teach. The campus is near the mountains on the north coast. It is beautiful there. There are mango and avocado and almond trees there. I always seem to find a way to mention food.

Prayer requests for this week include getting regular water restored and remembering all those around the world without access to water, finding renters for our house in Manhattan, getting high speed internet at home, finding a school for the girls and that our ministry here can be fruitful.
~Barb

Several people have emailed questions to us. I'll try to answer them as best I can:

• Do you have to share your apartment with all those people for a year? No. The team that was here last week came for ten days to help with Bible school at one of the churches. It's possible that there will be other groups or individuals who come down to Trinidad for short-term assignments who will stay with us temporarily. However, most of the time it is just our family in the apartment.
• Is the lack of water a common thing or do you have to ration your water supply? Running out of water is not common. It is the result of a leak in the water main that supplies the church property. Once that's repaired, we shouldn't have a problem. Until then, we are very grateful that our next door neighbor has allowed us to run a hose from his place to refill the big storage tanks that serve our apartment.
• Is it beginning to feel like home or are you still feeling like you are on vacation? We are gradually adapting to life here in Trinidad. We are busy enough with getting ready for school and other ministry assignments that it certainly isn't "vacation." We are getting more comfortable finding our way around, shopping and completing other daily tasks. But every day also brings new learnings as well.
  
• Has your Manhattan house rented yet? No it hasn't. This continues to be a major prayer item for us, as we planned on having that income to cover our mortgage while we were gone.
• You mention rain a lot suggesting a lot of humidity. How does that compare with humidity you experienced in Kansas? This is the wet season in Trinidad, so it rains almost every day. Usually we only get a fairly small shower in the afternoon, but some days we've had pouring rain that caused flooding in areas. This does indeed make for very high humidity--much higher than we normally experience in Kansas.
• Your phone number looks like a regular US phone number. Can we call it just like regular, or are there international charges? The Caribbean is divided into area codes just like the U.S. & Canada. So you can call us simply by dialing 1 plus the ten digit number. Be aware, however, that international rates will apply.
  
• Did you get enough donations to cover expenses? Thanks to many generous people, our budget for the year is in pretty good shape. We have not yet, however, raised 100% of the support for the entire year. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so through either Virginia Mennonite Missions or Mennonite Mission Network.

It's great to hear from so many of you. I hope this helps explain a bit more about what's happening with us.
~Richard

Charlieville VBS Week

August 20, 2009
Bible School started on Monday evening. I have been in the youth class (13-19 year olds), which my mom is teaching. My dad is teaching the men and Roxy is in the 10-12 year old class. Each of the evenings starts out with some singing (I knew a lot of the songs, but they almost all seemed to be a little different than the way I know them) and the telling of a Bible story. The person telling the Bible story (both my parents have done that one time) has been using the felt board, which I think is very exciting! I like felt boards. The youth class has been very large (one night there were 16 of us) and lively with a small amount of girls in proportion to boys. But, Roxy's class hasn't had many girls either, in fact, some of the time she's been the only one. The men's class, which my dad is teaching has been extremely small. The first night he only had one person, but the second night he had 2, and by last night he had 3! Tomorrow night is the final night and each class is doing something to show what they've learned. There's been more people each night, so I think it's been going pretty well!
-Olivia

Bible school has been interesting and fun. This church with an average attendance of 35 on a Sunday morning had 45 the first night, 52 the second and 61 the third. With the work team still here we have enjoyed several meals provided to all of us on a couple of occasions. Last night we all went for supper to the home of one of the other Mennonite pastors, Richard (and Margaret) Keeler for supper. I love it that the avocados are 3 or 4 times the size of those in Kansas and that they just often slice them as the vegetable.
When we got home and were ready to brush our teeth before bed, however, we discovered that we were out of water - nothing came out when you turned the tap. After skipping the morning showers and consulting with someone we learned that a valve that lets water into our tanks had been switched off. Don't know how or when that happened. We'll have to keep an eye on that. Because water usage is so high in the morning there is not enough pressure for the tanks to refill yet. We plan to go shower at a neighbor's house soon and hope to have water by later in the day. Thank God for good neighbors.
Barb

We have been working on getting into St. Augustine's Girls High School some more this week. So far, everybody we've talked to has said that that would be a very good school for us to go to. But it has been very confusing! We talked to the school, who said that we had to go to the Ministry of Education, who said we needed three copies each of a bazillion important papers, then go back to St. Augustine's, where the principal would need to sign the papers, but she doesn't get back until Monday! So it feels like there's always just one more thing to do!
But my very favorite thing that's happened this week was discovering the Felt Board that lives just beneath our apartment in the Charlieville Mennonite Church!
~Roxy

Ten Days in Trinidad

Welcome to our family's blog! After years of considering service, we have discerned that the time is right and taken a one year service leave from our jobs as pastors of Manhattan (Kansas) Mennonite Church. We have just begun our year of service working for the Mennonite Church of Trinidad & Tobago. Here are some reflections on our first ten days here:

Thursday, August 6, 2009

We arrived in Trinidad this afternoon after more than 24 hours of travel. It does not normally take that long to travel here, but this time it did for us. We have been cared for warmly by the people we've met.

-Barb

Friday, August 7, 2009

This afternoon, we went grocery shopping for the first time. It was kind of interesting! Galen gave Roxy and I each $20.00. The thing is 20 Trini dollars isn't the same as 20 U.S. Dollars even though they use the same sign for dollars. I got 2 little bags of party mix and a little bag of caramel popcorn, and some Trini candy, whereas Roxy just got a big bag of crackers and cheese, but it was the same amount of money. There were a lot of interesting foods I'd never seen before in the grocery store, like for instance cow heel and chicken feet. Then in the evening we went to the “Youth Explosion”. That was cool, too. Each of the youth groups from the different Mennonite churches here did something, like a drama or song or something. We got to meet a bunch of people!

-Olivia

Saturday, August 8, 2009

So far we have mostly been unpacking, learning how to drive on the other side of the street, figuring out things like groceries and changing money and figuring out what is where both in our apartment and on the island. We also spent last night and today attending the annual church conference of the Mennonite Churches of Trinidad and Tobago. Last night the youth from all 6 churches gave a very enthusiastic program after which we all ate channa aloo roti - yum! Today we spent a long day at the annual business meeting which was an interesting opportunity to hear reports from all the congregations, but got very long during the constitution revision, the discussion of which managed to be both enthusiastic at times and tedious (especially on hard benches in an un-airconditioned room for about 8 hours). Actually, although it was long as are many business meetings, it was good to be there to get a feel for the issues the churches are dealing with and to meet lots of the people. The girls came with us last night, but today they stayed in our apartment which is the second story of the Charlieville Mennonite Church where we were meeting. The could literally pull our bedroom curtains and look down into the sanctuary to play "guess who's talking" and keep tabs on us. Tomorrow the conference ends with a big worship service.

-Barb

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Today's worship service was a joint service of all 6 Mennonite churches. It was held in a mall in Chaguanas with a special guest speaker.

This evening, we made our first trip into Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad & Tobago. We went with some of the church leaders and the delegates from Jamaica, with plans to look around some at the city and visit the Diego Martin Mennonite Church on the other side. However, on the way, our car died in a not-so-great neighborhood. Fortunately, there was a man by the side of the road who was a mechanic who was able to diagnose it as a broken alternator. At first, we hoped to be able to switch some batteries around or jump start the car so that we could at least get it back to our apartment. In the end, however, we had to leave the car in the driveway of the guy we met and take the battery with us to get it charged. Hopefully the car will still be intact when we come back tomorrow.

At the end of it all, we just had time for a late supper at a popular Port of Spain restaurant: TGI Friday's.

We've been in Trinidad for 3 days now. Some things that I've experienced for the first time include:
-Eating REALLY FRESH mangoes. (I may never be able to eat the ones in KS again)
-Driving on the left side of the road (The hardest part is remembering which side the steering wheel is on when I get in the car)
-Withdrawing $1500 from the ATM (equals about $250 US)
-Finding Cow Heel in the meat section at the supermarket (We didn't buy any)
-Sampling new soda flavors like banana, kola champagne & Pear-D

-Richard

Monday, August 10, 2009

Today, we visited a private, all-girls Presbyterian school that Olivia and I might be attending this year. Galen and Gloria, who work at Virginia Mennonite Missions, and Ganesh, who is one of the Mennonite pastors here, came with us. The school is called St. Augustine's Girl's High School. It seemed like a pretty good school in general, but my favorite thing was that they had a 'pan band'! A pan band is a band made up of steel drums, or steel pans. For lunch, we went to Pizza Hut, and learned a very interesting way that Trini people eat their pizza! On the table, where in the US you might find Parmesan cheese, instead there were bottles of Ketchup and Hot Sauce! Ganesh poured both all across his pieces of pizza. He said that once you eat it that way, you can never eat it another way again! While we were there, it started pouring down rain, and there was even lightning and thunder, and the power even went out a couple of times. So, on our way to the West Indies Theological College (WITC) we had to take a bunch of detours. When we finally got up on the mountain where the College is, the bridge that we were planning on crossing to get there was closed, so we had to take another detour. But up there, it was beautiful, both the landscape and the weather. So Mommy and Daddy talked to the President and the Registrar and another Secretary type lady, while Gloria took me and Olivia outside where we ran around (at least I did) and saw the quail they raise for eggs. Also while we were out there, I figured out how to put grass between my thumbs and blow on it to make a noise!!!

-Roxy

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

This morning we didn't do much. Daddy and Galen went to pick up the car and it was all fine, safe and sound.

This afternoon, we met Paul & Evelyn Kratz, VMM missionaries who have been here for two years. They were going to leave today, but Evelyn is flat on her back, so they're looking for a flight where she can fly on a stretcher. After that, we visited Hope Mennonite Church's new building, and met Dolly who lives next door and her three kids Polly Ann, Kerri Ann and Esther Ann. Then we went with Galen and Gloria to Colin and Sintra's (our neighbors) and saw baby Luke again! They gave us so much Mauby drink! Plus some orange juice.

-Roxy

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This has been an unusually free day for us. Richard and Galen spent a bit of time out picking up the now working car from the mechanic who fixed the alternator. The girls and I spent the day in, relaxing and tending to household and other loose ends.

Here are the abundant contents of our refrigerator door in Charlieville when we arrived: Mayo, dark corn syrup, tamarind chutney, something called “golden syrup” that says it can be used to flavor rum punch and coconut water, aloe gel, Caribbean chunky salsa, minced ginger, coffee, ketchup, green seasoning, hot chow, molasses (2), raisins, cream cheese, liquid garlic, barbecue sauce, taco sauce (1 hot & 1 medium), mustard, hot sauce, chili sauce, 2 bottles of unlabeled red to brown stuff and one of a homemade Trini hot condiment made of shredded green mangoes.

-Barb

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Today, Galen & Gloria went back home to Virginia. We will miss them greatly, but it's also time for us to start doing more things on our own. We are very grateful that we were able to spend so much time with them while they were here.

We spent some time today preparing for some of the teaching that we'll be doing this fall. I'll be teaching Homiletics I (an introductory preaching class) and Barb will be teaching Marriage & Family. We are hoping that our classes will be scheduled the same day so that we don't have to make too many trips up to WITC. We will also be helping out next week with the VBS here at Charlieville Mennonite Church. I'll be teaching the adult men, while Barb will be in charge of the “youts.”

We went into Chaguanas today to get copies made of the girls' school records. We had planned to stop at the supermarket, too, but it rained quite a bit again today and the street in front of the store was so flooded that we couldn't get into the building.

-Richard

Friday, August 14, 2009

This morning, we went to the market with Babes, who is our neighbor and also the wife of a Mennonite pastor. The market was very interesting. Mostly people sold lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was very crowded! But, then there was a smaller room where they were selling meat. Most of it was fish. I thought it was kind of creepy, because the fish were whole; they still had eyes and everything. The people selling the fish would just cut off the parts you wanted, well, at least I think that's what was going on. Who knows? There was a bunch of raw meat and whole fish and guys with big knives chopping things. Anyway, the fruits and vegetables were good, not creepy like the fish. Then we ate Doubles for the first time! They were good, but spicy! And we didn't even get the hot sauce! Trini people like spicy stuff!! This evening some people came to stay with us. There are 6 of them. They came to help with VBS at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church.

-Olivia

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Our apartment is often where short term work teams stay. Through a series of events, one got scheduled to stay here for 10 days shortly after we arrived. They will also be using the 5 person car we are allotted during that time. So today we all began to organize ourselves. Richard and I keep our bedroom while the girls move into a small bedroom that can only be accessed through ours. Another couple moves into their room. Another man sleeps on the living room floor which, if you push all seating to the walls holds his mattress. In the downstairs part of the church is an office where 2 other girls are staying and there is another small bedroom there behind the kitchen where the group leader is staying. All meals are negotiated around our kitchen table. The apartment is probably close to 850 sq. ft and also includes a room with a toilet and another with a shower. We will be helping with VBS at Charlieville next week and they at Carlson Field. We spent time today preparing.

-Barb

Sunday, August 16, 2009

This morning we worshiped at the Charlieville church since we'll be teaching VBS here this week and the work team took the car to Carlsen Fields. About 35 people were present for the 2-hour service. The sermon was presented by Deolal, one of the church elders, since the congregation is currently without a pastor. There are currently only four pastors for the six Mennonite congregations, which is why it is helpful to foreign missionaries like us come to help with leadership development and fill in where necessary. The ultimate goal is to have enough indigenous leaders trained that there will be a pastor for each church plus one to act as an overseer for all the churches.

This afternoon, we joined the work team that's staying with us on an outing to the Caroni Swamp, a major tourist destination that is very close to where we live. It was our first real tourist outing since we've been here. The swamp is one of the largest mangrove swamps in the world. We took a boat tour during which we saw several caiman, a couple of snakes, a few crabs and lots of birds—most significantly the scarlet ibis, which is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago.

-Richard