Random Reports

Yesterday we visited Pitch Lake, one of the island's main tourist attractions. Pitch is what asphalt is made out of. It is also what kerosene is made out of, and so when it first came out it was called Trinidad oil. Port of Spain (the capital of Trinidad) is apparently one of the first places kerosene was widely used. But our tour guide said that the majority of pitch is used in paving roads and airport runways. We got to walk out on the lake! It is mostly like hot tar, so it is more stable than I imagined it being, but you can't stand in one place for too long or you will sink in. But the best part (in my opinion) was that since we came in the wet season of Trinidad, there are great big pools of water (in some places up to my neck or above) and they have minerals and stuff in them and we got to play in them!
~Roxy

We've been enjoying reading the billboards along the highways. Some of them are written like people here talk, so it's really funny to read. Like, one of my favorites is one that says "Doh ketch your tail for Pigtail!" I think that one's for barbequed pigtail or something. There's one for Digicel, which is one of the two cell phone companies here, that's really funny too, but I forgot exactly what it says... something about "value fuh yuh money production" and "call meh on mih digi". Today I brought my camera on the way to take pictures of funny billboards and that sort of thing. There are also some differences in other signs they have here. Like, instead of Yield signs, they have Give Way signs and there are signs at most gas stations that say, "No Naked Lights", which pretty much means no open fires, I think. Or, "Stick No Bills" means don't put up any ads. Also, we found a restaurant on the way back from pitch lake that had a sign advertising that you could get cow heel soup, ox tail soup, or vegetable soup there.
~Olivia

Yesterday was the only Sunday this month on which neither of us was scheduled to preach in one of the churches. I had gotten a call on Friday afternoon asking if we could share some special music at a family thanksgiving service on Sunday evening in memory of the family matriarch. It is a Hindu tradition to have prayers at certain intervals following someone's death, I believe as a way of guiding the person's soul towards it's next incarnation. Many Christians who come out of a Hindu background have carried on this tradition by holding a service of thanksgiving for the person's life sometime around the first anniversary of the death. This service was for the grandmother of one of the women we've gotten to know fairly well who is currently attending Hope Mennonite Church. I agreed to have our family sing as part of the service. Then, on Saturday night at about 9:00, I got another call asking if I could also preach the sermon for the service. Pastor Rawl Gunpath, who is currently serving at two of the Mennonite churches here, had been scheduled to preach. But on Friday, his wife, Linda (who also teaches at WITC) gave birth to their second child. Due to some complications, Linda was still in the hospital, so Rawl understandably wanted to be available to her and their new daughter. So I agreed to preach. I am very grateful for the library of sermons that I have saved from all my years of pastoring! It all worked out well, and Linda was discharged Sunday evening.
~Richard

This is Spiritual Emphasis week at the college where we teach. During that week there are no regular classes, only special events. As a result, we have a bit more free time this week. On another note, we were invited to meet with the Diago Martin Mennonite Church leadership team tonight to begin planning for our interim pastoring there. It was a good meeting. It reminded me again of the difference between preaching, which is what we are doing a fair amount of now, and pastoring, which is what we will be doing again come January. I think the leadership team there will be a good group to work with. We will be filling in there from January to mid June while their pastor is on sabbatical.
~Barb