April Coming to an End

Yesterday was supposed to be one of the days we would go out on a hike for youth group. However, the guy who usually leads that had been busy all week with a group of high school students that had come up from Virginia and he was in charge of planning the week for them, so he didn't have much time to plan for youth group. He ended up deciding just to invite the youth over to their house and order pizza and tell about the group that had come from Virginia. He said any of the youth could come, but it was only me, Roxy, his two kids and his daughter's friend. But, we had a nice time. Mostly we just played games and ate pizza. There was a video of the group from Virginia's trip playing so I saw little bits and pieces of it, but it was muted.
~Olivia

Olivia and I only have one more full week of school! Actually, it will be the only full week we'll have gone this term! The last 2 weeks we were only there for 3 days, and next week Tuesday Olivia will be taking the CXC exam. In some ways it will be nice not to be in school, because sometimes we get really frustrated with the school. But we'll also miss seeing our friends. We will figure out some homeschooling stuff to do until we get back to the States.
~Roxy

It is interesting to see how God works through events in our lives. A few weeks ago one of the church leaders contacted me to ask for some help finding a piece of equipment for a disabled person in one of the churches. She was hoping to order in the U.S. and have it sent here with some of our guests. As it turned out, the timing did not work to send it with some of our guests, but I agreed to help locate and arrange for the item. I decided to begin by exploring local options to see if I could find a local connection through whom to purchase it. I didn't, but through a series of calls I got to talking with a man who taught special education classes at a local university. The fact that I am visually impaired came up and he asked if I could speak to a class of educators about teaching people with that exceptionality. So, this week on Tuesday I went to speak to his class. I began by introducing myself and explaining that my husband and myself are missionaries here. I went on to discuss the subject at hand. After class a young woman came to speak with me. She had been feeling a strong sense of call to missions and wanted to discuss the process of discernment of call. When I agreed to help look for a way to get this equipment, who knew all the places it would lead.
~Barb

This past week turned out to be one of our busier ones here in Trinidad. In addition to our regular duties of preparing for class at West Indies Theological College and for worship at Diego Martin Mennonite Church, we ended up with some responsibilities every evening of the week. On Monday, we had our monthly get-together with David Yoder, the overseer of the Mennonite Church of Trinidad & Tobago. On Tuesday, we went to a cell group from the Mennonite Church of Chaguanas where Barb led the Bible study. Wednesday was our regular class night at WITC. Thursday was our monthly meeting with the Leadership Team at Diego Martin. And Saturday was Diego Martin youth group. Friday could have been a free evening at home, but we were invited to go to a cricket game where the brother of one of the girls' school friends was to be playing. Since we had recently identified seeing a live organized cricket match as one of the things we wanted to try to do before we leave Trinidad, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. All of the activities were good ones to be a part of, but we'd prefer to have some of them spread out a bit more. Soon, however, we know that many of our responsibilities will be winding down. We only have one more week of classes at WITC before finals, and only seven more Sundays at Diego Martin.
~Richard