Yesterday morning, we worshiped at Esperanza, or Hope Mennonite Church, our last to visit of the 6 Mennonite Churches here in Trinidad. It was really nice to get to do that, especially since Olivia and I have been involved in Hope through the youth group. A lot of the Churches here, we noticed, seem to have really good youth groups that meet regularly and have a lot of people, but when we go to those Churches, none of these youths seem to really come! At Hope, though, we noticed that they had a larger age range than the others, from small babies to fairly elderly folks. Hope is in the process of building a church building, so right now it is fairly open, but when it was raining, it was open enough to keep us cool, but not wet! It felt nice. When they do finish, and if they achieve all their dreams, they will have the largest building of all the Mennonite Churches here! When we got there, Daddy asked us where we usually parked when we came to youth group, and we told him just somewhere on the grass. But we had already driven past the patch of grass we usually parked on, and little did we know that we were parking in a drain that one couldn't see from the road! So when the service was done, it took a long time, a long rope, help both from people from the church and some people passing by, and a plank of wood to get the car out. While we were trying and not getting anywhere, the wheel was spinning like crazy trying to get itself out of the ditch, and it made mud fly everywhere! Luckily once we got it out, we borrowed a hose from the people next-door to the church (who are also members) and we got help cleaning the car. So after all that, the car was looking better than it had since we'd first seen it.
~Roxy

Each of the churches has its own uniqueness and personality, but they all share some things too. All of the churches begin with lots of singing. On our visits, only Charlieville had any accompaniment other than percussion - they had a guitar. After singing and opening prayers, it is time for offering. Then there is a time for testimonies when people from the church may share anything from a prayer request to a song or a scripture that has been meaningful over the week. All of the churches have had lay people as music and worship leaders. Finally it is time for the sermon. The person presenting it (often the pastor but not always) comes up and reads scripture and then begins to preach. The sermons are a little but not a lot longer than at home. When the sermon ends there may be a closing song and some announcements.
The fact that these elements are present in worship consistently is not surprising. What is more surprising is that they are present in many gatherings. All youth group functions seem to follow the same basic template, although the sermon is more of a devotional. Yes, you should always come with offering even if you are a youth. We were at a small group that was the same basic order. Of course some youth group meetings and small group meetings include food as well. Even special events like birthdays that end in a 5 or 0 or big anniversaries are shared with friends in and out of the church but follow the same pattern. They are called Thanksgivings, and I'll let someone else tell more on that subject.
~Barb

Last night, we went to a Thanksgiving celebration for someone's 25th anniversary. There was a church service type thing, and about 4 people or groups of people were invited to do music during it. Our family was one of the people doing that. We sang Love the Lord Your God, with me and Mommy on one part, Roxy on the second, and Daddy singing the third part. There was a point during the service where they cut the cake, and I played some hymns on my flute during that time. There were lots of people there, many whom we knew from the churches. At the end, after the service, we ate a meal. They had 2 tables, one of which was for vegetarians. But, that wasn't enough room for everyone, so they had a group of people eat first, and then a second group, and it went on until everyone had eaten. We were noticing how even at a nice event in which everyone was all dressed up, people still ate with their fingers, using the roti to scoop up the other foods.
~Olivia