Ministry, Music and Mangoes

Our time working at Diego Martin Mennonite Church is soon coming to an end. The regular pastor, Rawl Gunpath, will be returning from his sabbatical in just over a week. Today we celebrated our last communion with the congregation. (Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month.) This afternoon I attended the monthly meeting of Mennonite pastors for the last time as well. Next week will be our final worship service at Diego Martin.
This past Friday evening was to be the annual business meeting for the congregation. However, the official meeting didn't take place due to the lack of a quorum. There was still a great deal of discussion among those who were present regarding what needs to happen in the church to help revitalize it. It was an important time for people to express some of their fears and frustrations with the fact that numbers have been dwindling for some time. In the end, though, there was strong affirmation to continue working to create a vision that can be embraced to guide the church in its renewal efforts. Some of this work began a couple of weeks ago when Barb led church members in a brief visioning workshop immediately following the worship service. Today, it was decided to continue that process next Saturday in a day-long meeting at the church. So while our work will soon end at Diego Martin, it is our prayer that our efforts will assist the congregation in its mission for some time after we have returned home.
~Richard

On Friday, I took the second (and final) part of my exams. It was nice to go back to school and see people for that. Luckily this exam didn't take nearly as long as the first one had! In fact, I got there around 8:30, talked to my friends I hadn't seen for a while and then the test started at 9:00, and we were done by 10:00. The principal had e-mailed me some stuff to review since I hadn't been at school to do the review, so I looked over that and the test went pretty well. Although, I'm not sure I'll be able to get my results back since they're not supposed to come until August, and we won't be in Trinidad by then. So, I may never get back my results, which would be too bad. My friend said she'll get them for me and let me know, but we'll have to see. But, it was nice that this test didn't go nearly as long as the first one!
~Olivia

Last night (Saturday), we attended our first Trini wedding! We had hoped we'd be able to see one while we were here, and a couple from the Mennonite churches got married last night. They had asked Olivia and I to do some music, and we ended up doing 4 numbers (including the processional and recessional) during it. We kind of had to think on our feet, because we weren't sure how long anything would take. There had been a rehearsal a few nights before, but we weren't really sure how long things would take because they hadn't had all their things there. In the end I think it went really well. The wedding really wasn't that different from an American wedding. At the reception, we saw lots of music we wouldn't in the States, though. There was a man who played 3 songs on steel pan, a tassa band (which got very loud when we were standing right next to them), and a girl danced to some traditional Indian music. We also had a big meal afterward. It was really nice to see a Trini wedding and kind of fun to play in one too!
~Roxy

It's mango season in Trinidad! As the rainy season returned last month, the mangoes, which had been nesting in trees for months, finally came ready. One family in our church has many trees and knows we love mangoes. We recieved our first box of mangoes from them a couple of weeks ago. In it they noted were three types of mangoes: Julies (often thought to be the best and generally our favorite), longs and box & spice. We still had a few left when our guests arrived last week. But far be it from Trini's to let our guests run out. They brought us another box last week. So for almost 2 weeks we have been eating mangoes once or twice a day. Then on Thursday some other friends wanted to take us down south to visit a church camp owned by another missionary here. As we walked through the beautiful camp, we saw piles of mangoes all over - in the trees, on the ground, some rotting, some waiting just for us. There were 3 families on this trek and we all took home another box or bag of mangoes, plus some fresh limes. Then, at the church meeting on Friday, our first friends from church decided we would be ready for some new varieties of mangoes. We haven't even had the chance yet to try the starch and doloos mangoes they sent home with us. I never feel so rich as when I have a kitchen full of fresh fruit. I've never seen so many mangoes in my life, but I'm still loving them! They are definitely something I will miss.
~Barb