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.
~Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment