Farewell to Trinidad

As our last "official" duty here in Trinidad, we helped out with teaching Vacation Bible School at Hope Mennonite Church this past week under the theme of "Building Up God's House." It was an appropriate topic given that the church building itself is under construction. Barb taught the 10-12-year-old class, with around 10 students in it. I taught the youth class. On Monday evening, there were twelve students in my class, most of whom have been involved in the youth group at Hope. But for the next few evenings, I had 19 or 20 students each night, many of whom had no previous experience with church at all. One of them kept asking questions like, "Are we going to have lunch?" and "Will there be any field trips?" It was a wonderful opportunity for outreach. However, it was also a challenge to keep everyone's attention and stay focused on the lesson. Wednesday evening was particularly challenging since my helper for the week was home with a migraine. I ended up giving the class a big lecture on the theme of "respect." I was surprised when everyone was back on Thursday, and were on their best behavior as well. On Friday, each of the classes did a presentation for all the other students about what they learned during the week. One of the church members also invited a friend of his who plays steel pan to perform. Parents were invited to attend as well, although very few showed up. In addition, a rainstorm in the afternoon had knocked out power to the section of the village where the church is located. So we had to have the program by candlelight. It was a busy, but fulfilling conclusion to our service in Trinidad.
~Richard

In the evenings it has been a week of teaching. During the days, it has been a week of packing and of liming. (To lime is to hang out with others). We enjoyed several invitations for meals with friends here and received many words of blessing. People here have been very kind. So have many in Kansas who have helped manage our life there for us enabling us to be here. We truly are blessed to have an international church family. I have said several times that we have enjoyed our time here and we also enjoy our life in Manhattan. It is the transition between the two that we do not relish. But many have offered words and acts of kindness to assist in this area. In less than 36 hours we will be boarding a plane for the United States.
Barb

For the past month, and even a bit before, the World Cup has taken over media and conversation here. People are always discussing their favourite teams and players, and sometimes I feel very lost! However, we can always find out how everyone's doing from the electronic billboards that report the scores of the games, even if they've not yet concluded. When we were at the grocery store the other day, the TVs were set on the World Cup, and there was a group of people crowded around to watch. When a couple wanted to have us for dinner sometime this weekend, they had a hard time deciding when would work so that they wouldn't have to miss any of the matches, and when we went over to someone else's house for lunch, they had the game on and made sure they didn't miss the last 2 minutes. It's actually kind of fun, and we've been enjoying checking on the games periodically when they're on. I can only imagine what the excitement would have been like if Trinidad&Tobago had made it in, like they did last time, as the smallest country ever to have been in the World Cup!
~Roxy

Today we went to church at Diego Martin again. It was nice to see them again before we leave. I was happy because there were more people there than I think I've ever seen and especially a lot more youth/children. Friday was when I really started saying good-byes. That was the last night of Bible School at Hope and also the day Roxy and I limed with some of our friends. Today again was a day we said a lot of good-byes; first at church and then all afternoon. The pastors had a meeting downstairs and so we told them they could come up and see us if they'd like to. We spent the afternoon watching the World Cup, playing Monopoly, eating pumpkin pie (we had a bunch of extra pumpkin from our Thanksgiving) and saying good-bye to the pastors.
~Olivia

Our second last week in T&T

Last Tuesday, we left for Tobago. While last time we rode the ferry there, this time we decided to fly to save time. We flew there in the morning, so we still had time to settle into the apartment before lunch. Some friends of ours here own a townhouse in Tobago that they rent out to people, so they let us have it for the few days we were there. It was very nice - it had 3 bedrooms, 3 stories, 4 bathrooms, 3 balconies, a kitchen, living room and dining area. And we only had to pay for the cleaning lady to come! After lunch, we headed over to the beach and spent most of the afternoon there. There's a really good Arabic place we found last time that we ate supper at. The next day, we spent the morning at the pool across the street. It was all fancy and weirdly shaped! We went to the beach for lunch and spent a little while there but then the weather turned bad, so we went back to our place. That day was actually very rainy, but I had a lovely time sitting under the umbrella by the pool and reading.
~Olivia

We had from mid morning on Tuesday until supper on Thursday in Tobago. As Olivia said, the first half of that time we were able to really enjoy the water, a little ocean, a little hotel pool. But then the rain began to fall. It is, after all, the rainy season here. Since the ocean water is quite warm here and since rainy rarely comes with lightning, we continued playing in the ocean in fairly hard rain. The clash of water from sky and sea sparkled and splashed beautifully. But, after a while, with no end in sight, we retreated to our home away from home.
The second half of our vacation we planned around gray skies and rain. It was wonderful to have the treat of such a nice place to stay since we spent most of that second day inside. The place was bigger than the apartment we've been in all year and made us realize that our home, though quite moderate by American standards, is going to seem huge. And we had cable there too, which was a treat in the evenings. Since it's dark at 6:30 or earlier all year, most things really are not open in the evenings and lots of people just stay indoors then. The hotel pool, for instance, closed at 6:00.
Thursday the gray weather continued. So, we rented a car and explored the island of Tobago. After many wrong turns and closed restaurants, we happened on what I would categorize as a T&T diner for lunch in Scarborough. It served all the standards-macaroni pie, flying fish, fried rice, kalaloo, etc. Later we found both peanut and pineapple ice cream in the picturesque fishing village of Charlotteville. We had a little trouble finding supper near the air port since the electricity in the area had gone out. But, this being T&T, one is never too far from a fried chicken option that somehow keeps going.
All in all, in both rain and shine, it was a pretty nice last get away before returning home. Only 8 more days now.
Barb

The day after we got back from Tobago (Friday), we went to the graduation of the preschool that Charlieville Mennonite Church owns! The preschool is just behind the church, and someone from the congregation invited us to come to the graduation. The graduates were really cute, not only were they wearing their usual checkered uniforms, they had caps and gowns and corsages! They sang the national anthem and recited some poems, and then a bunch of adults talked. Near the end, they handed out little certificates to all the preschoolers. Then at the end, lunch was included too!
~Roxy

This morning we worshiped at Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. At the beginning of the week, it seemed as though this would be the first Sunday in more than six months when we wouldn't have a commitment to be at a specific congregation. Then I heard that Richard Keeler, pastor at Sangre Grande, was needing someone to preach for him. He has been diagnosed with a nodule on his vocal chords, and ordered by his doctor not to speak at all so that he has a chance to heal. So I indicated that I would be available.
This morning, as we were getting ready to make the hour-plus drive to Sangre Grande, I got a call from Richard's wife, Margaret, informing me that there was also going to be a baby dedication in the service that I would be responsible for leading as well. I had to quickly pull together some resources for parent/child dedications. (I didn't actually bring my Ministers Manual with me to Trinidad.) Thankfully, Barb and I have done enough dedications over the years that she was able to help me reconstruct a service. Flexibility is one of the virtues that I've had to learn over the past year!
Our prayers are with Richard and Margaret, that he will be able to resume his normal pastoral duties soon.
~Richard