Joint Service and Advent

This morning, the Mennonite churches all gathered for a special service. Every time there is a fifth Sunday in the month, a joint service is held to which all the Mennonites in the country are invited. The last time such a service took place was the first Sunday that we were here, when the churches gathered for their Annual General Meeting. That gathering was held at a meeting room in a local mall. So this was the first time that we were able to be a part of one of the regular joint services. We continue to be impressed with the way that all of the churches here work together. Their cooperation and support for one another is very helpful given the fairly small size of the churches, and also provides a valuable witness of Christians working together rather than separately. The service was hosted by the Charlieville Mennonite Church (so we just had to go downstairs for worship), but the worship was planned and led by people from all six congregations here. In addition to the usual elements of a worship service, we heard reports from delegates who had gone to Virginia Mennonite Conference and to World Mennonite Conference this summer. There was also a baby dedication for the newborn child of one of the pastors (the first child dedication we've seen here.) A special guest speaker was invited in to preach. Our family was also asked to sing at the service. All of this totalled about a 3-hour service. And, of course, afterwards we enjoyed a delicious meal provided by members of all the churches. As we have been told many times here, the unofficial motto of the Mennonite church is "When we meet, we shall eat!"
~Richard

One of the fun things about attending our second joint service is noticing how many of the Mennonites here we know by now and perhaps even more who know us (we sort of stand out). Last time we went to one of these joint services we had only been here 3 days. Lots of people were introducing themselves to us for the first time and we were frantically trying to remember names. Now we sometimes still struggle to recall a name, but more often we are happy to see familiar faces. One of my favorite things here (speaking of name) is that when children get to know you, they often call you auntie or uncle. By now that is how we are addressed by several small children in the churches and by the school friends of our daughters. Sometimes when someone calls "auntie," it still takes me a bit to realize they mean me. But I love it. It makes me feel like part of the family.
~Barbara

Today is also the first Sunday of Advent! Once when we asked one of the local pastors if they celebrate Advent here, his response was, "Only at Charlieville." Since that is where the joint service was held today, they lit the first Advent candle! Meanwhile, our family is finding ways of celebrating Advent as well. We have always had an Advent calendar in which we add a piece to the Nativity scene every day from the 1st of December to the 24th. This was one of the things in the box of Christmas things we packed to bring here to Trinidad. However, that box got packed away somewhere and never made it here! So we were trying to think of something we could use as an Advent calendar, and we remembered the feltboard that we hadn't used since Bible School! We called a Charlieville church elder and asked if they would be using the feltboard at all during the Christmas season. He said that they wouldn't be, and was delighted that we could use it! (We were too!) So we found all the pieces we wanted (27) and today we set it up in our living room...along with a small Christmas tree! The tree was a surprise to me and Olivia when our parents pulled it out today! They had been planning some Advent activities as well. Each day of Advent, we light a candle and sing a Christmas song and do some sort of activity! There are small papers tucked into the candles (these candles have Christmas trees on them) saying the song and activity. Today we put up the tree and sang O Christmas Tree! Right now it is still bare, so we are expecting some decorating to be part of the activity someday soon. This is the beginning of the warmest (by FAR) Advent we've ever had!
~Roxy

It's so weird to me to have a Christmas tree in our house and then to step right outside in shorts and no shoes and be comfortable, if not a little warm. It's so interesting how many parts of celebrating Christmas are very much the same, but there are also some different things. A lot of the differences have to do with the difference in weather. Also, there's a type of music that I think we might have mentioned earlier in one of our blogs called Parang. There are some fun Parang songs, but if you listen to the lyrics, some of them are a little weird. They talk about all sorts of things. There was one we listened to earlier that would talk about drinking rum one line, and the the next line would say "Christmas only comes once a year" and the next would say "Christ is my savior" and the next would say "He rose again on the third day". I think they need to set their priorities. But, it's fun to drive around and see the Christmas lights, just like in Kansas. Another interesting thing is how many songs people clap too. We were singing Angels We Have Heard on High at youth group this evening and people were clapping. I thought it changed the mood a little, especially on the long glorias. But, I definitely like the enthusiasm about Christmas, and there are still many similar parts of Christmas.
~Olivia