Service in Trinidad

Farewell to Trinidad

2010-07-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-04T15:28:00.001-07:00

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

Our Thanksgiving

2010-06-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

Rather than blogging separately tonight, we gather weary but pleased to report on our Thanksgiving yesterday. A week ago Saturday, we began in earnest to prepare food for the Thanksgiving. We had sent invitations to all six Mennonite churches, plus a few neighbors and colleagues. We weren't sure at all how many people to expect, but we estimated up to 150 (assuming that it would somewhat less than that).
Here's how we spent the last week:

Monday - Cooked 15 turkey breasts & went to the market to buy a pumpkin. Practiced music with the Diego Martin Mennonite worship team in the evening.
Tuesday - Processed the pumpkin and finished making 13 pie crusts.
Wednesday - Decided we needed another pumpkin, so returned to the market to buy one, along with over 70 cucumbers and chives and celery for the stuffing. Baked 8 pans of stuffing.
Thursday - Processed the second pumpkin. Cooked stewed soya chunks as a vegetarian option for our vegetarian (Hindu) guests. Spent the evening again practicing with the DMMC worship team.
Friday - Decided we would be worn out, and needed a vacation after it was all over. Made plans to go to Tobago next week. We also looked at warmers we could borrow to keep the food warm.
Saturday - Called the AC repair man to fix our air conditioner that had quit working the night before. Mixed pumpkin pies, and realized the recipe filled two pies instead of one. We wouldn't have needed the second 17-lb pumpkin. Baked 13 pies. Peeled and sliced about 75 cucumbers for cucumber salad. Peeled 50 pounds of potatoes. AC was repaired.

On Sunday, we were able to attend Charlieville Mennonite Church in the morning before spending the afternoon finishing all the preparations and set-up. At 5:00 that evening we gathered for our 25th Anniversary Thanksgiving celebration. As Thanksgivings here do, it began with a worship service in which Roxy & Olivia participated in quite a bit of music. The service was a fairly traditional worship service, but also included cutting a cake and Barb & Richard it to each other. Almost 100 people joined us for the worship and the feast that followed. We got to visit many people, and received many hugs. We gave away many leftovers, and still may not have to cook again until we get back to Kansas!
~Roxy, Olivia, Barb & Richard

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T13:37:00.001-07:00

Now that our time at Diego Martin Mennonite Church has come to an end, we are taking the opportunity to visit several of the other churches here that we haven't had a chance to attend since December or earlier. Today, we worshiped at Hope Mennonite Church. I had been invited to preach there. Since it was Father's Day, there were gifts presented to each of the fathers in attendance. The worship leader invited various children to come up, one at a time, and present a gift (a bottle of cologne provided by the church) to their father. We will be spending more time at Hope in a few weeks when we will be helping out with Vacation Bible School, but today is probably the last time that we'll attend on a Sunday morning.
~Richard

For most of the time we've been here, we've been meeting with the Pasea (pronounced Pajay) cell group every 3rd Tuesday of the month. It is a small group of people mostly from the Mennonite Church of Chaguanas, although there are some who switched to Hope Mennonite Church, who meet every Tuesday for a Bible study. We met with them for the last time last Tuesday and got a second set of souvenirs. At church in Diego Martin last week, we got a wall hanging of an area in Port of Spain, a Trinidad&Tobago bottle opener and 2 Trinidad&Tobago spoons. In addition to that, on Tuesday my dad got a shirt with a T&T flag, my mom got oven mitts saying "A true Trini loves sweet pan music" (referring to the steel pan, the national instrument) and Roxy and I each got a Trinidad&Tobago bag. We might not have to buy any souvenirs ourselves!
~Olivia

We have written before about the celebrations people here have to commemorate important events. Hindus have prayers, Muslims have readings and Christians have thanksgivings. Each group begins with a time of religious observance - each in their own traditions - after which there is a time of feasting. We have been to prayers once and to many thanksgivings. We decided that it would only be right to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with a thanksgiving. So, with our other duties reduced, we are devoting our time last week and in the week to come to getting things ready for that. We concluded that for us to try to make the traditional Trini food would be scary. Although we love it and are learning to cook many delicious foods, our level of expertise compared to our guests would be like that of a typical first grader trying to read from a Dickens novel. So, instead, we have committed to an American Thanksgiving meal. On Friday Richard and I went to the Trini version of Sam's Club and bought 15 turkey breasts, 14 loaves of bread for stuffing, two spray bottles of whipped cream, 6 cases of soda or water, 20 aluminum roasting pans and 200 paper plates. We expect to have closer to 100 than 200 guests, but they sell things in bulk there. On Saturday we baked about 14 dozen rolls. Now my nightmares begin in which we either find that no one has shown up or that so many have come that we have not got enough food. Yikes!
~Barb

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday), there was a meeting downstairs in the church, and so Olivia and I decided to go also. There were youth from Carlsenfield Mennonite Church and Sangre Grande Mennonite Church who were there for a puppet seminar. Carlsenfield has already done some with puppets, and so they're very interested in a puppet ministry. A man named Anton was in charge of the seminar. For a while he talked about how a puppet ministry is a way of spreading God's love, and then he instructed how to use puppets and also what not to do with puppets. Then he handed out puppets to everyone and we all practiced using them, giving them voices and having them say something. At the end they had refreshments, but Olivia and I just came upstairs and ate supper!
~Roxy

One More Month in Trinidad

2010-06-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, when I went to school to take the exam, I had arranged with one of my teachers to work on something. However, she got stuck in traffic and by the time she got there, we had already left. Although it didn't work out that day, we still needed to go in and take books and stuff back, so I was able to arrange with her to work on it on Friday. I think there were 7 students, one teacher and the principal there that day. So, then after lunch we all played football (soccer). It was the three boys against the four girls. I did what I had hoped to with my teacher and had fun playing football!
~Olivia

This was a big weekend for us at the church we have been filling in at while we are here. Yesterday we led a visioning workshop for them from about 9:00-3:00. We had a good turn out and good participation. We felt very good about the whole day and hope we left them empowered and energized. Then today was our last Sunday there. They began the service by singing one of the songs we taught them - Praise, I will praise you Lord. - noting their appreciation for our work together. I found I had a lump in my throat. There were other words of appreciation and a few Trini souvenirs given to us. It was a good, full weekend.
Exactly one month from today we will return home to KS. In many ways we are really looking forward to that. We miss our families and friends there. We miss our church there. But we are also realizing how hard it is to say good bye. We are so blessed to have been touched by so many lovely people both here and at home.
~Barb

For a little while now, we have been thinking about having a Thanksgiving. I think we've mentioned those before, but they're basically a little service and then a meal in celebration of something. My parents' 25th wedding anniversary was at the end of May, and so this would be partly to celebrate that, and also partly to celebrate our time here in Trinidad. So we've officially decided to have a Thanksgiving on the 27th of June at the church we live above. So on Friday, while Olivia was at school, I went to Trincity Mall with my parents. We got invitations to hand out, a guest book for people to sign, and shiny purple balloons to decorate! While we were there, we ran into one of the pastors and his daughter! So we gave him the invitation for his church and talked to him for a little. My parents had to go to pick up Olivia from school, but Navin (the pastor) offered to take me with him and his daughter to see The Karate Kid. So I went along with him while my parents went and got Olivia. When we came out of the movie, my parents and Olivia were waiting for us. Then we drove home to realize we were out of electricity, as Daddy will explain.
~Roxy

After being gone most of the day on Friday, we returned home at about 6:30 to discover that we were out of electricity. It wasn't long, however, before we saw the crew arrive from T&TEC (Trinidad & Tobago Electrical Commission). We went to our apartment windows on and off over the next several hours to watch the workers as they removed and replaced a section of wire. We do have several candles, a flashlight and a nice battery-powered reading light that we were able to use to see as the evening went on. The biggest issue was that without electricity, we had no air conditioning or even fan to keep cool. It got quite warm in the apartment, especially as we burned several candles to keep the place lit. Meanwhile, members of Charlieville Mennonite Church gathered downstairs for their annual business meeting, which was also conducted by candlelight. Finally, about ten minutes before the meeting ended, power was restored. We were really glad to have power back so we could cool down the apartment before we went to sleep.
~Richard

Ministry, Music and Mangoes

2010-06-06T15:54:00.001-07:00

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

Family Visit

2010-06-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since our last entry because we've been busy with visiting family for the past week. My mother, sister and two nephews (ages 18 and 20) spent the last eight days with us. For my mom and nephews, it was their first time to travel outside of the U.S. and Canada. We enjoyed the opportunity to take a bit of "vacation" time as we explored a few new places that we hadn't yet visited in Trinidad, and returned to some of our favorite sites on the island.
They arrived on the evening of May 24, which was also the day of the eagerly-awaited election here. There had been some concern about some possible unrest and potential violence, but the election came off without a hitch. There were some long lines at the polls, and a few complaints of irregularities, but nothing more out-of-the-ordinary than the United States has experienced in recent elections. In the end, we witnessed the election of the first-ever female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Her election wasn't especially surprising, but the margin of victory was rather astounding. Her party nearly doubled the number of seats it holds in parliament as it moved from 15 members to 29. One of the notable differences between the parliamentary system and the American system is that she took office almost immediately, having been sworn in less than 48 hours after the polls closed. Her entire cabinet was in place by the end of the week.
~Richard

The day after our guests arrived was Richard and my 25th wedding anniversary. The group was interested in seeing the leatherback turtles nesting. Trinidad is one of the few places in the world you can see this. Since the best beach for this is quite a drive (about two and a half hours from us), we decided to celebrate our anniversary by going overnight to a charming Caribbean Inn in turtle country. Although we had seen the turtles once before with another set of guests, this time we went farther in, and because it was later in the season, we got to see, hold and release some of the tiny hatchlings. They stayed in our hands paddling with their fins as we listened in the rain to the guide describe their slim chance of survival. Then, after watching several adult turtles lay their eggs, we walked to the moonlit shore and released these babies into the ocean. It was both sad and hopeful. Mostly, it was sweet. We had such a good time that we said we just might have to return for our 50th anniversary.
~Barb

One of the fun things that we did with our family here (that we'd wanted to do but hadn't yet) was going 'Down D Islands'. There are some tiny islands off the far northwest tip of Trinidad. We got there right on time, but, as it is in Trinidad, everything took longer than we expected it to. First we had to go to about 3 different buildings just to get the tickets and everything to get on the boat. Then we got to the Chaguramas Port and waited for a long time more for another group that was joining us on the tour. Once we boarded the boat, the ride itself was surprisingly short. Then we tied up the boat at the edge of Gaspar Grande, one of the islands off the coast. There are others that we could have gotten boats to, also, but Gaspar Grande has this big cave, Gasparee Cave, which is where we were headed. One thing that surprised me, when we tied up the boat, was that Gaspar Grande really didn't have a beach. They said that lots of limestone was found on the island. Then we walked uphill for a while (following this cute little dog they called Pumpkin) until we got to a house that was owned by the tour organization. We rested there for a while (and ate) and then walked down to the cave entrance! Our guide was really good, because he grew up playing in the cave before they had steps and everything. He said that there was a tree sticking out of one of the holes, and they'd slide down the tree and then dive into the pool at the bottom of the cave! Then they installed steps and, our guide said, took all the fun out of getting down there. We hadn't brought swimsuits, because we hadn't heard anything about swimming, and in fact there were signs down there saying we couldn't. But our guide let some people swim anyways. I liked how he let us climb all over and there weren't really things in the cave we couldn't touch! When we got back out of the cave and sat on the balcony of the house I mentioned earlier, the breeze felt amazingly cool after the stuffiness of the cave! We just sat on the balcony for a while and watched the ocean (and ate). When everyone was out of the cave, we headed back to the boat and then back to Trinidad!
~Roxy

On Sunday there was another joint service, since it was the 5th Sunday in May. All six Mennonite churches met at Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. This was the last joint service we'll be in Trinidad for. Our guests were still here, so we all rode up to Sangre Grande in the van we rented. There was a church service and then a meal afterward. Since it was Indian Arrival Day (a holiday celebrating the arrival of Indians as indentured servants in 1845), they prepared an Indian meal. It included fried rice, stewed chicken, salad, macaroni pie and some Indian sweets: kurma, barfi and cake. It's very exciting because each time we go to the joint services, we know more people. Actually, at this one, there were more people from Sangre Grande since that's where the service was being held and I don't know those people as well, so maybe that's not so much true for this one. But, I was still somewhat surprised how many people I did know.
Our guests left early this morning, and we very much enjoyed having them here.
~Olivia

An Election, A Graduation, An Outing and A Funeral

2010-05-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

There are two major hotels in Trinidad; the Hyatt and the Hilton. We had heard about some of the places to eat at those hotels, so we decided to go try it out last Thursday. Of course, their main restaurants were really expensive; about $50 US. But, we also found out that both restaurants have poolside restaurants and the Hyatt has a tapas bar as well. So, we went to the Hilton first. We were going to get dessert or something there, and then swim, but they had finished serving and so we just went in the pool. The pool was actually very nice, and there aren't a lot of public pools here, so that was nice. Then, we went over to the Hyatt and got supper at the tapas bar there. That was really nice, too. It was expensive, but since with tapas you don't really order that much food anyways, it didn't add up to too much. We tried the plantain chips, lamp kabobs, quesadillas and chicken samosa. It was very good! There was music there around 6:30 and we were hoping to stay for some of that, but we finished too early. But, it was a nice day.
~Olivia

Yesterday was graduation day at West Indies Theological College. The ceremonies marked the formal end of the academic year, and a reminder that our time here in Trinidad is indeed drawing to a close. Eleven students graduated this year. Of those eleven, six had been in at least one of the classes that we taught. The graduation ceremony was held at a Church of God in Port of Spain. I was invited to deliver the opening invocation. When we arrived, we were also somewhat surprised to find out that we were to receive special awards during the ceremony. Barb and I each received a very nice plaque from the college in appreciation of our service over the past year. It was a really nice ceremony, although three hours in an unairconditioned building got a little bit long--especially for all of us in academic gowns.
Following the ceremony, we headed over to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Port of Spain (the other top hotel besides the Hyatt and the Hilton) for the banquet. The meal was a very nice buffet. There was also a program that included music (solos on steelpan and violin) and toasts of appreciation to various groups of people. Once again, we were toasted in recognition of our service to the college. I had been warned about this a few days in advance so that I could be ready with a brief response as well.
All in all, it was a lovely day, although somewhat bittersweet as we mark the closing of this chapter in our time in Trinidad.
~Richard

We mentioned in our blog last week that the father-in-law of one of the pastors had died suddenly, and that we had gone to the wake. When I mentioned to Trini friends that none of us had ever been to a wake before, they were surprised. I explained that wakes are not common these days in most communities in the U.S. "How do you support the family then?" They were concerned that people were left alone in their grief. While I was able to explain many gestures and rituals of support that still occur, it is a good question. Do we sometimes neglect the family in times of death? This family had wakes from the death on Friday till the funeral on Tuesday. We went on two nights.
The wake was not the only first I encountered related to that death. The funeral service was not unlike funerals to which I am accustomed. But this gentleman chose to be cremated. Some choose to be cremated in a crematorium. But it is more common to be taken to a cremation site. So, after the funeral we all got in our cars and processed to the cremation site where words of comfort and sending were spoken, just like those I have been part of at burials. Then, kindling was placed on and around the body along with ghee, a sort of butter common in Indian cooking. Ghee was also put in the pyre where the body was then placed and lit. Hymns were sung while this was happening. People stood for a while, then began to turn to one another and to the family and visit or share words of comfort.
There was one more first. As our carload was leaving, one of the people we gave a ride to wanted to buy us snowcones. So, yes, I had my first ever snowcone at a funeral. In the U.S. it probably would be considered crass to sell refreshments at a cemetery. But on this hot day, when the family and their friends were there for a while, a family quietly available off a ways to sell cool drinks, was a real service. For a very small fee, they kept the mourners hydrated. Having someone buy and bring you something cool was an act of compassion.
~Barb

Although we have been talking about the elections and campaigns for a while now, the actual election will be held tomorrow. The final rallies for each party were held yesterday, but this afternoon, all we could find on the local stations were just re-runs of yesterday's rallies. In some ways it will be a relief to have the elections over, partly because it'll be exciting to find out who won, and also partly because some of the songs blasting out of trucks that drive by adorned in either yellow or red (the parties' colours) are kind of getting on my nerves. If we turn on the radio, we're hearing political advertisements constantly! There are more than this, but here are some links to a few of the songs we've become accustomed to hearing multiple times a day.
Patrick Manning Have to Go Patrick Manning is the current prime minister, and Jack Warner is the Chair of the opposition party. This is a song campaigning for the opposing party, the People's Partnership.
Ah Cyar Vote Fuh Dat (I can't vote for that) This is also for the opposition party, saying that they can't vote for all the current corruption.
Patrick Leave an Go Nah This song is for the People's Partnership as well. Kamla is the leader of the opposition, so if they win the election tomorrow, she will become the first woman Prime Minister!
We Votin' PNM This one is for the PNM, which is the party who's in power right now.
We Stepping Up 'We stepping up' is one of the PNM's slogans for this election. This song is also promoting the PNM
Put Your X By D Balisier The Balisier is a flower--the red flower they show in the video. It is the symbol for the PNM.
While these were fun to listen to for a while, they get kind of old and we hear them a little too much. We will be excited tomorrow evening to hear who won the election, and also to welcome some of our family who will be visiting us and coming in tomorrow evening!
~Roxy

May Musings

2010-05-16T13:15:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, for our weekly field trip for home school, we decided to go up to Chaguaramas which is an area we've been wanting to look around more. It's just past Diego Martin, where we go to church. We had looked at some of the stuff to do in Chaguaramas and what looked the most interesting was a hike up to a waterfall they call Edith Falls. My mom talked to the tour guide, who said it was an easy hike and a common sense path. We parked at the golf course, and it was obvious where the hike started. The hike went into the rain forest and it was really pretty, although also extremely humid with not much breeze. For the most part the path was fairly "common sense" but then we got to a place where the path turned into a bunch of rocks. We didn't think we were at the waterfall, but it didn't seem like we were on the trail anymore. We had to climb over a bunch of rocks and finally we got to this place at the bottom of a huge cliff and there was water trickling down the side. It was really pretty! Once we got there, it was obvious. For a while, we just sat there and watched it. Then, we went down to the bottom and watched the tiny little frogs jump around. Roxy caught quite a few frogs actually. Eventually, we turned around and made our way back to the golf course. And right after we got in our car it started raining! We got back just in time.
~Olivia

A major highlight from this past week is that we got a NEW CAR! Actually, it's not really ours, it belongs to Virginia Mennonite Missions. But it's the car that we will use for the next couple of months. It's also not really new, but it's much newer and more reliable than the last one. It's a 2005 Toyota Yaris, with only 38,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles) on it; and it seems to be in excellent condition. Those who've been following our blog over the past several months know that we've faced a number of issues with the former car (a 1998 Mitsubishi Galant with more than 325,000 kilometers or over 200,000 miles). We never were able to find a gasket to replace the one that's been leaking oil since Christmas. We also finally gave up on actually getting the car repaired from the accident when I was rear-ended at a stop sign almost two months ago. The process of making the insurance claim is still ongoing, and we should still be getting a check from the insurance company.
This past Monday, I delivered the old car to a friend of one of the other Mennonite missionaries here. He buys damaged cars, fixes them up and sells them. So he was happy to purchase our old one. Then on Tuesday, I spent the entire morning waiting at the license office in Port of Spain to get the title transferred from the former owner of the Yaris. Most of that time, the workers were still finishing up paperwork from transfers they had started doing the day before. Finally, at about 1:00, all the paperwork was complete and I was able to bring the Yaris home. We are very happy to have the "new" car to drive. Besides being newer, in better shape, more reliable and using less gas than the old car, we also love the fact that it's PURPLE!
~Richard

During our time here in Trinidad we have been able to experience many firsts. Yesterday brought another first for all four of us. It was the first wake we had ever attended. The father of Linda Gunpath, one of the Mennonite pastors' wives, died suddenly on Friday. So, from that night until the funeral, people gather each night at the home of the family to sit with them and offer support. They believe that the cause of death was a heart attack, but would like to do an autopsy. Because autopsies are not done on weekends, they have to wait till Monday. So we will probably be attending the funeral early next week. That means that the family will have wakes for about 4 nights in a row at the house. Mostly folks just gather and visit. The gathering happens outside under a tent. The atmosphere was very nice and supportive. Small children ran and played happily. Last night the gathering was informal. Tonight they may have more of a worship service in their yard with singing and prayers. Extended families often live together in different levels or additions to one large house or in neighboring homes. So there are many hands to help serve coffee and Chubbies (a local brand of pop) and give help where needed. It was good to see Linda and her family so supported and to have the opportunity to be a part of that.
~Barb

In our homeschooling schedule, Friday is a day we just take our normal classes we chose. One of these classes is cooking, though, so we decided to invite someone over every Friday night for supper. Our first guests this week were David and Shirley Yoder, and Olivia and I made potato quiche, cucumber salad, and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and cut up some fresh mango. While they were here, a man from the Charlieville Mennonite Church (where we live) came up and shared cookies with us! We had a nice visit with everyone and it was fun to make the meal too! We learned, though, that when grated potatoes sit out for a while, they turn kind of gray. But they still tasted good, and that's what counts.
~Roxy

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T11:16:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday, I took the CXC test. It ended up being really crazy! I'm not necessarily sorry I did it, it was an interesting experience, but I'm definitely glad I'm not taking 9 different subjects (for most of them, there are 2 papers you have to do, too). So, we were told to be there by 7:30 (school starts at 8:00), so I got there at 7:40 (in Trinidad, 7:30 rarely means 7:30) and went up to my classroom and there were 2 other people from my class there. Even, by the time the bell rang for school to start, not many others were there. So, I waited for a long time up in my classroom and then finally, we were called down to the lab. At 9:00, the first group started their test, and the rest of us, who weren't in the first group sat around and talked in the classroom next door, which we weren't allowed to leave. You see, this was the practical part, which we had to do on the computer and there were only 14 working computers (which is actually more than there have been a lot of the year) so that's why we went in more than one group. By lunch time, no one had officially told us we could leave the classroom but me and some friends decided we could and went to get lunch and found a nice spot under the avocado tree to eat it. Then, at 11:30 our test started. The test itself wasn't so bad, although there were quite a few instructions to follow. But it was mostly pretty straightforward. I was done testing by 2:00. But, then I waited for over an hour and finally the principal came down to start printing it out. Then, that process took about 2 hours, so it was after 5:00 by the time I left the school (school usually lets out at 2:30) and then after 6:00 by the time I got home since it was rush hour so there was a lot of traffic. I have another exam in June, but hopefully since that's the theory part and doesn't involve computers it should be simpler.
~Olivia

At the beginning of this term, we weren't really sure how much longer we'd stay at our school. We decided to keep going until Olivia took this big test she mentioned. So Monday was my last day of school at PAWI! It was really funny, because apparently even if you're wearing a nice white button-down-the-front shirt as a part of your uniform, people still sign it on your last day! On Tuesday, I just stayed at home and started preparing for homeschool. The principal allowed us to keep all our textbooks (here, we have one for basically all our subjects), so I looked through those and decided which ones were worth using for our homeschool time. Then on Wednesday we really started our homeschool experience! My parents made up a schedule for us. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we have regular classes. On Tuesday, Olivia and I do some independent project. And on Thursday, we take a fieldtrip! Next week will be our first full week of homeschool, but we got it started this week! I think it's been working pretty well and I've enjoyed it (so far, at least). I'm really glad we've been at PAWI as long as we were, but I think it's the right time to leave, also.
~Roxy

Today is Mother's Day. It is as big of a holiday here as at home. The TV has been plastered with commercials for what you can buy mom. All of that is pretty much familiar. One fun difference is how big a deal the churches make about Mother's Day. In our congregation, the teenagers were called to the front and asked to bring in the gifts. Then all the mothers were invited up one by one and presented a small cheesecake all wrapped in pretty cellophane. It is worth noting that I have never been given cheesecake here. While you can order it in some fancy restaurants, it is not a common Trini food. It is sort of an exotic treat. People were given opportunities to share about what they appreciate about their mothers. A woman in the church who no longer has a living mother and who never had a Christian mother shared how much she appreciated the women in the church who have been mothers to her. Then, quietly after church was over, she gave me a pair of earrings for Mother's Day.
After church we came home. Our apartment is above one of the other churches. When we walked in to the church downstairs which we go through on the way to our apartment, we found four plates of cake with a note saying they were for our family. Right now, as I write this, Richard and the girls have banished me to the back while they prepare a surprise supper for me. It looks like this Mother's Day is going to be a real food bonanza for me.
~Barb

We had mentioned a while back that parliament had been dissolved, and elections would need to be held soon. It is now about two weeks until election day (May 24), and the political campaign is in full swing. Every night, both of the major parties hold a campaign rally somewhere on the island. All of them are carried live on local television, often on more than one channel. On one evening this week, I found three different rallies being televised live on five different TV stations.
The campaigns are quite negative, too. We've seen attacks getting worse in the U.S. in recent years, but this election is worse than any I've seen back home. For example, the other day there were reports that one of the party headquarters received a phone call warning of death threats against the party's leader. Rather than denouncing violence, however, high-ranking members of the other party immediately dismissed the reports as merely a hoax designed to gain attention and sympathy for their opponents. It has been really interesting for us to see how another political system works, but we'll be glad when the nasty campaign is over.
~Richard

Exam Time

2010-05-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

This week, I am taking a big test. They call it CXC which stands for Caribbean Examination Council. At the end of form 5, everyone has to take this exam. There are a bunch of different subjects that you can take the test in. Usually, students choose around (I'm guessing) 6-9 subjects to take during form 5, which they then take the exams in. However, I am in form 4. At my school, the principal is wanting all the form 4's to take a CXC exam in the subject EDPM (Electronic Document Preparation and Management). Ever since September, when school started, we have been working on our SBA (School Based Assessment). This is basically just a conglomeration of the work we needed to learn for the exam. Somehow that goes towards our grade, but our teacher grades it. Then, on Tuesday, I have the exam for the practical part. Some official examiner person will come to watch us and grade us, I think. But, it will still take place at the school. And then in another month, I will take the theory part of the exam.
For me, this is not that big of a deal, because I don't think it will really count for anything for me, but for the form fives, it is a very big deal. When people go to look for jobs, the employers will look at how well you did on the CXC exam. That and the exam that the form sixes take. But, after they finish form 5, they can graduate from school and they don't actually have to take form 6. Usually, those who are college bound do take form 6, though. So, anyways, there is a lot of pressure to do good on CXC. It's not as big of a deal for me, though. But, this exam is something that people all over the Caribbean take.
~Olivia

I taught my last class on Wed. night. I have had most of these 7 students in all 3 classes I've taught here and all of them in 2. They are all on their way to becoming social workers. I felt a little warm and fuzzy about the whole thing because I won't necessarily see most of them again. They, on the other hand were feeling stressed and a little afraid of me since I am giving them a final yet next week. Actually, the final is tomorrow. So I will have to finish editing it in the morning. But all I have to do is to e-mail it in. They have proctors who administer the test. I'll finish up this class in the next couple of weeks by grading their final exams and their final community project. It feels strange to see this part of my assignment coming to an end.
~Barb

Since the class I've been teaching this term is a preaching class, the "final exam" is for each student to deliver a sermon. With four students, we decided that trying to get all the sermons done in a single two-hour session would be difficult. It would leave hardly any time for the evaluation that we do all together. In addition, I've really stressed that preaching is an act of worship. So when the students preach, we try to set a worshipful tone by beginning with prayer and singing. In order to have sufficient time for all of this, we divided the final preaching into two sessions. Two of my students preached last week. The other two will preach on Wednesday. So I've had very little that I need to do in preparation for these last two classes. I will, of course, still need to give grades to each of the sermons. Some of the students have other assignments that they haven't turned in that I'll need to grade as well. So while I will have a fair amount of grading to do in the next week or so, the time spent on classes is down considerably and will soon be completely over.
~Richard

April Coming to an End

2010-04-25T18:19:00.000-07:00

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

Changing Seasons

2010-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's finally raining again in Trinidad! When we arrived last August, it was the middle of the wet season. For the first several months, we saw rain almost every day. Since the dry season began in January, however, we have seen very little rain. In fact, it has been the driest dry season the island has seen in more than 60 years. As a result, the capacity of the reservoirs that supply most of the nation's water has dipped down to about 35% of what it should be. The government has imposed a ban on using hoses for watering lawns or washing cars, and has been encouraging various water conservation measures. In addition, there have been many bush fires burning all over Trinidad. Most days in the past month or two, we have smelled smoke and have often seen it rising on the mountainsides. The air has grown increasingly hazy. At times, there have even been fires along roads where we've been traveling that have made visibility quite low.
In the past few days, however, the pattern has begun to change. We had a couple of days this week when there was a nice rain for significant parts of the day. We haven't smelled smoke in our apartment; and the air has been noticeably clearer. In some parts of the island, there have even been issues with flooding. It's still over a month until the wet season actually begins. It will also take quite a bit more rain to replenish the water supply, stop all the fires and cause the government to ease water restrictions. In the meantime, we are at least enjoying the "April showers" and looking forward to more rain in the next few months.
~Richard

Last week, I mentioned a teacher that was going to take me to get my ears pierced but did not show up. She has not been back at school this week and from what I've heard is not planning on coming back. She taught 3 out of my 8 classes, so this leaves me without a teacher for those 3 classes. However, there are these big tests coming up in a few weeks in one of the other subjects and so we're spending a lot of the extra time preparing for that. Meanwhile, one of my friends from school offered to take me to get my ears pierced, so we went and did that yesterday! We picked up her and another girl at her house and then went to the mall. We stopped at the ear piercing place first and then while my parents did some grocery shopping, the four of us girls walked around the mall. Afterwards, we went back to my friend's house and her mom was cooking us roti!
~Olivia

This week, school has also begun for all four of us. I'm not exactly sure how my parents' school is going, but I can at least tell about Olivia and my school. As Olivia mentioned, we know of 2 teachers who don't seem to be coming back this term. However, this week the attendance of the other teachers has been much better. We hope this continues! We are planning on being at this school for 2 more weeks until Olivia takes a CXC exam (the big test she mentioned) and then just doing some home-school stuff. Tomorrow and Tuesday are the Parents' Days. That's basically parent-teacher conferences, just they call it something different. We had heard a lot of people say they might not come back to PAWI this term, but so far this term has been better than the one before. Hopefully we'll still be able to say that in a few weeks!
~Roxy

It was good to have a week of play with our friends (although we continued at the church also during that time), followed by a more relaxed week without classes. It was also nice this week to get back into the routine of school for all of us. Roxy noted that they only have two more weeks of classes at their school. The same is true for us in our teaching. Classes go through April and then we will need to give and grade finals in the first part of May. Since I am also supervising a thesis, this will probably continue for the rest of the time we are here depending on how quickly the student gets it done.
As we note this part of our assignment winding down and also have a firm date for departure, we find ourselves beginning to feel the pull between our two worlds. On the one hand, we still have work here that we enjoy and are committed to. On the other hand, we are beginning to think ahead to the work in Manhattan that we also enjoy and are committed to. On the one hand, we have been hearing about how particularly glorious spring there is and we wish we could see our daffodils and smell our lilacs. On the other hand, the mangoes here are really beginning to ripen again after several months of being absent from the markets, and mangoes have become one of our very favorite things about Trinidad. On the one hand, dealing with all the car headaches here is getting pretty old. On the other hand, when we go home, we will have to buy a new car since we sold ours to come here, and car lots have never been our favorite place to spend time. There is much beauty and much struggle in the world, and it does not all exist in only one place.
~Barb

The last week of Easter Break

2010-04-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, one of my teachers was going to take me to get my ears pierced. She has been very disturbed by the fact that my ears are not pierced all year. Most people here just get them pierced when they are babies. So, we were going to just take the day and go to the mall and and then also get my ears pierced while we were there. Then, we got there and called her and it turned out she wasn't coming. Apparently, she still hasn't gotten her salary and so she didn't have money to get there. It is a lot more common here not to drive and just to use public transportation. So, this also means that although school begins again tomorrow, the teachers aren't going back until they get paid, so there seems no point in us going back until there are teachers!
~Olivia

We have decided that we very much like a 2-week break in Spring. The first week, we had guests, and we just kind of played all week. Then this week, we spent a lot of lazy time and also got some work (cleaning) done. We borrowed a really awesome vacuum cleaner from a friend to vacuum our curtains with! And it has a little miniature vacuum in it too! And we washed windows. We have enjoyed our time playing, resting, and (well, we didn't exactly enjoy cleaning, but it was good to get done) cleaning.
~Roxy

One of the tasks we set for ourselves this week was to make some decisions. The first was to figure out when we would leave. While our intention had been to give a year to serve in Trinidad, when we received our visas, they were until July 17. We began looking at plane tickets home for sometime that week. While we would like to stay as long as possible to help with the summer Bible school or other projects in the churches, we found that by leaving on July 13, we could pay a fraction of what it would cost to stay till the end of the week. We considered stewardship of time, money and responsibilities and decided to get the tickets for the 13th of July. We acknowledge that it will be both hard to leave and good to return.
The other decision we had to make was whether or not the girls would return for the final term of school. Since the school is financially struggling, there have often not been teachers there. We were happy to be able to speak to a counselor from Manhattan and be assured that the girls will have the credits they need whether or not they do their final trimester in school or at home. Olivia has been signed up to take the CXC exam in one subject on May 4. So our decision is to return to school until then and finish up at home assuming there are no major changes in the situation. However, after the conversation with the teacher Olivia reported, we will wait and see if the teachers are returning at all this trimester before sending the kids.
In terms of the car, Richard spent most of 2 mornings in and out of various offices getting the insurance paperwork taken care of. Now we wait for the adjuster to come out. We are grateful that we had a spacious week in which to give that time to this ongoing issue. We are also grateful that the car has remained drivable while we wait for the slow wheels of bureaucracy to turn.
~Barbara

One interesting aspect of living in a different country has been getting to know a different political system. Trinidad and Tobago has a parliamentary form of government very similar to that of Great Britain. It has been quite educational for us to compare this system to the one that we have been familiar with in the United States. While both are founded on the same basic democratic principles, the ways in which the government actually works are quite different. A key difference in the two systems was illustrated this past week.
On Friday, the parliament was scheduled to debate a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who has held that post for 12 of the last 18 years. If he had lost the vote, Mr. Manning would have been forced to resign and call for new elections. Given that his party held 26 of the 41 seats in parliament, however, no one really expected him to lose. But the debate could have been quite embarrassing to him as the opposition had the opportunity to highlight the many political scandals that have taken place under his rule.
Ultimately, though, the debate never took place. Instead, Prime Minister Manning announced on Thursday that he was dissolving parliament as of midnight. He now has 30 days in which to set a date for new elections. The election must take place in no more than 90 days, which means that we will still be here to see it. Right now, the political parties are busy choosing the candidates who will run parliament. One particularly interesting aspect of these elections is that, for the first time, one of the major party leaders is a woman. So if her party gains the most seats in parliament, she will become the next Prime Minister. Meanwhile, candidates in the U.S. are jockeying for position in a presidential election that is still more than 2 1/2 years away.
~Richard

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

We find ourselves enjoying Easter with a leisurely afternoon at home. We've had another fun and full week with guests. We got to spend time with family this week for the first time since last summer. My niece Rhonda and her son Robbie joined us a week ago today and were here until yesterday. Fortunately their spring break corresponded with our Easter break from school (both the girls' school and our teaching). That meant we could enjoy a little vacation time together. It seems the beach is always a good way to spend vacation. So we went to two different beaches on two different days. After over six months with only a few visits, this month our family has been to the beach nearly once a week. I suspect as our visitors diminish and we return to life and work as usual, it will be a while before we make it back again. But it has been a fun month in the sun.
Another fun thing we did was to participate in a cricket game this week. When I say we, I mean that Robbie, Richard, Roxy and Olivia got to play while Rhonda and I participated by cheering them on. The Carlson Field community was going to get a team together and play the Mennonite church there. However, after standing around for a while it became evident that the community team was not going to materialize. So, we all got to divide up into two teams and play a game. It was nice for our group because otherwise we Americans might not have had the opportunity. We had a good time even if they still are laughing about how we dropped the bat before running. What, did we think we were playing baseball or something?
~Barb

One of my favorite things we did while they were here was going to see the turtles. You see, around this time of year, these huge turtles come and lay their eggs on certain beaches. We know someone who goes out there a lot, so he took us one of the nights Rhonda and Robbie were here. We got there probably around 8:00 p.m. We didn't have to wait too long for the turtle to come out. These turtles are one of the oldest creatures still alive, and they've been doing this for thousands of years. They'll come out of the water and then dig a hole in the sand. They'll go into a sort of trance and then start laying eggs. While they're in this trance, they don't notice you, so our guide went and held up its flippers so we could see the eggs drop out and into the hole in the sand. There was a pretty big pile of eggs before the turtle covered the hole and went back into the ocean. It was pretty amazing! The turtles look kind of prehistoric, so it's really cool to watch!
~Olivia

Another highlight for all of us this week was going to Asa Wright. Asa Wright is a good place to see a lot of neat birds. We took a tour there, which was a nice little walk through the trees. On that little walk, I didn't see as many of the birds that the guide pointed out as I would have liked to, but I still enjoyed the walk and the birds that I did see. Also, I learned about these type of ants there. It's kind of weird, but that was one of the best parts of the walk, because it was just different, and the things I learned about the ants were things that I didn't know. But my favourite part of Asa Wright was when we were just on the veranda. The veranda was basically a huge porch where you could see lots of birds. They put out food for the birds and there were bird feeders for the hummingbirds. The hummingbirds were the best part! They would fly up right near the veranda and just hang in mid-air without moving at all! It was amazing, especially having them so close! We saw about 8 types of birds by the food right near the veranda, a few more on the hike, and I also saw some toucans flying when we were on the veranda. It was really neat there, and we stayed sitting on the veranda for a few hours after our tour was over; until Asa Wright closed! That was one of the best 'tourist' things we've done here, and if we have more guests we just might have to go back!
~Roxy

In the midst of all the fun tourist activities of the past week, we did also have some work to do. Diego Martin Mennonite Church has a tradition of a Holy Thursday service and an Easter sunrise service. We had the major responsibility for planning and leading each of these. On Thursday evening, we gathered at the Diego Martin church building for a light fellowship meal, communion service and footwashing. These activities have all been part of the church tradition for some time. We introduced something new this year, however, as we incorporated a Tenebrae service, or Service of Shadows. This tradition of reading through the entire passion narrative in sections and extinguishing candles after each reading has been a tradition we have often followed on Good Friday at home. But it was a new experience for our our Trinidadian friends. We received a number of very positive and appreciative comments from them after the service.
This morning, we gathered with church members at 6:00 am at Fort George on a mountainside overlooking Port of Spain and Diego Martin. The church has been gathering there for Easter for a number of years. This year, we were joined by members of the Mennonite churches in Charlieville, Chaguanas and Carlsen Field as well. Barb wrote an Easter drama that opened with the women heading to the tomb on Easter morning and ended with a group of modern day youth discussing their own experience of resurrection. The Diego Martin worship team performed the drama, interspersed with quite a bit of singing. In the midst of the service, Pastor Ramesh Jaimani from Carlsen Field Mennonite Church also brought an Easter devotion. Afterward, we all shared breakfast items that we'd brought. We were back home by shortly after 9:00, with the rest of the day to ourselves. Compared to our customary schedule for Holy Week (Thursday & Friday evening services, sometimes a Saturday evening or Sunday sunrise service and a regular service on Sunday morning that includes communion and often baptism), we found this year's schedule more relaxing.
~Richard

Not our Favourite Week in Trinidad

2010-03-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing week with the work team, but the last week has not been so great. First of all, our car got bashed. This happened when Richard was going to pick up Roxy and Olivia at their school on Monday. He was turning onto the highway and there was some traffic that went past, so he stopped and the car behind him didn't. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the car is still drivable. In the aftermath of that, however, Richard's had to go to the police station and report what happened, get an estimate on how much it's going to cost to repair the car, tape on the back light when it was falling off, and try to get the trunk opened and closed every time we need to, which has required wiring it shut. Roxy and Olivia's school has been having some issues as well. The teachers came even less than usual last week, and you could just tell that everyone was ready for Easter Break. Also, the tests that Olivia and Roxy had been planning to take on Monday didn't happen all week. On Thursday they went in and saw that, 15 minutes after school started, there were no teachers there, and less than 10 students. Even the security guard said they should have just stayed home. Fortunately, Richard had been waiting to see if they were staying, and was able to turn around and take them home. Barb spent a while on the phone with the principal on Friday, trying to figure out a way that the girls could take their tests, but ultimately figured out that they didn't really need to. We are trying to figure out what we will be doing next term. On top of all that, K-State lost their basketball game last night.
There were also, of course, good things that happened this week. At WITC, where Richard and Barb teach classes, there was a celebration yesterday called Harambee. They had barbecue pigtail from Barbados, pepper pot from Guyana, jerk pork and festival from Jamaica, and barbecue chicken and chips (fries) which we think was just from Trinidad. We tried some of all of this except the chicken and chips, which didn't seem as exciting. The barbecue pigtail was long and slightly curved. It was very salty and fairly chewy. Roxy thought it tasted a little too much like what it used to be. Olivia enjoyed the spices it had, but was a little grossed out by the bristly hairs. The pepper pot had cow heel, ox tail, and beef in it, and it came with rice and bread which tasted home-made. The jerk pork and festival was our family's favourite. Festival is like deep-fried dough in a little nugget shape. The outside is crunchy and the inside soft. There was face-painting and football going on then as well, and just as we were leaving, the people for the dog show were arriving. We might have stayed around longer, but there was a program at the Charlieville Church downstairs. There was an Easter play done by a Trini theatre company, and then there were four people/groups who did special music. Our family did two songs, and we were also with the Diego Martin worship team, who did two more songs.
This morning, Richard and Barb went to the airport to pick up some family of ours who will be spending a week with us! This week is Easter break at WITC and at the girls school, so we look forward to spending some time playing with our guests.
~Roxy, Olivia, Richard & Barb

Work Team Reflections

2010-03-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the last night our work team from Kansas is here. (Pictured from left to right: Janet, Sarah, Troy, Sara & Hannah) We had anticipated more guest blogging throughout the week, but we must have kept them too busy. Even now as I begin this, it is 7:00pm and several members are finishing painting the church downstairs. So tonight we will post a sort of collage of group comments.

What was your favorite part of the week?
I think my favorite part was going to the market. There are all sorts of different foods that I have never seen before or smelled before. It was one of those places where I really felt like I was somewhere other than Kansas - Hannah.
Getting to know the members of our church better: like when you're driving in the car or sitting around the table and you suddenly break into a song or something. Those are just really memorable moments-Sarah
I'm torn between the food and the people. Here is even more of a melting pot than the US. -Troy
The bats and the scarlet ibis- Sara
Oh, add the scarlet ibis to mine - Hannah
Meals with local families, the market, spending time with the Gehrings!!! - Janet

What surprised you most this week?
How there is a really high crime rate, and it's a really small area and how often I hear the ambulance go by. Our work project at WITC in which we catalogued old newspaper articles really made that more real. Also, that day we were supposed to be plastering at Hope church and we heard the roosters crowing. It is a sound I hadn't heard since I was on my friend's farm when I was little. - Hannah
That I didn't feel white - Sara
KFC and narrow, mountainous roads - Janet

official one word reflections of the week:
ouch (sunburn), yum, hot, spicy - Hannah
20-incomplete-social-work-hours-and-cultural-awareness - Sarah
mind-opening -Janet
Wow - Sara
Driving - Troy

Janet's Guest Blog

2010-03-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings from guest blogger Janet! Hey, I've never blogged before! Anyway, our group of 5, Troy, Sara, Sarah, Hannah, & myself safely reached Trinidad Friday evening on time. We left Manhattan at 4:45 am on our way to KC for an 8:35 am takeoff. Our flights were really pretty smooth & the transition in Houston went very well. We had time to explore the airport and eat. Right after we got in the air from Houston they announced they'd be serving the meal shortly - we thought the plan was just a snack. But the airplane food was so good I think we pretty much ate it all. Everyone made it through customs just fine & we found the Gehrings waiting for us all in Camp Mennoscah t-shirts!!! Of course lots of hugs followed (and some tears at least for my part!). One step outside of the airport & we knew we weren't in KS anymore, no more 40 (F) weather for sure!

Yesterday was our 1st full day here. We made a trip to the supermarket for some immediate supplies (we'll hit the open air market tomorrow). I really enjoyed going to the store! I was surprised to see how many brands I recognized. Their rice section is huge! In the afternoon we joined a Diego Martin youth activity. There ended up being about 34 youth and adults. We drove a couple of hours up into the mountains (that alone was a very interesting experience!) then took a hike up to the top to see the view. There was a cave part way up that we stopped at on the way back down. At dusk the bats began to leave - there seemed to be millions - it was so amazing!

This morning we are splitting up and headed to 3 different Mennonite churches, Charlieville, Diego Martin, and Hope. We'll all gather at Hope for lunch and then begin our service this afternoon working on the Hope church building.

In closing, I'd just like to say how good it is to be here and want to thank all who helped make it be possible. We'll share more as the week goes along.

P.S. Roxy is as tall as she looks in the pictures!!!

March Begins!

2010-03-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

We go to a private school, so therefore, there is a fee all students have to pay to get in. All payments were supposed to be due in January. However, there are some students who have not paid that fee. This means that there has not been money to pay the teachers. Last week, the teachers went on strike. Usually one or two would come to school, but most teachers weren't there. So, for most of the day there wasn't really anything to do. Then, on Thursday and Friday the teachers all came and had meetings. Yesterday seemed better. There was only one teacher who didn't come I think, but then today there were a bunch gone again. Not as many as last week, but still a number of them weren't there. I'm hoping that this situation will resolve soon, but we'll just have to see. It's very frustrating, though.
The other day a student handed out a survey for a project he was working on, and it was the first time I've ever filled out a survey and had to put 'other' for my ethnicity! I thought that was kind of interesting.
~Olivia

We are eagerly anticipating and preparing for the visit of several people from our home congregation in Kansas! Even before we came to Trinidad, there was interest in sending the youth group to visit us and do service during their spring break. In the months since then, plans changed somewhat as some of the youth who were hoping to come decided that it simply wasn't financially feasible for them. However, the group was opened up to the adults in the congregation, and several of them took advantage of the opportunity. The result is that, in just three days, we will be welcoming five of our old friends to Trinidad for a week.
We've been busy making arrangements for their stay here--planning outings, setting up service projects and working on various logistics. We are excited to renew these relationships, and to give them a taste of what our life in Trinidad is like. We hope that their presence and service will also be a blessing to the churches and other institutions to which we relate here. Perhaps next week we will have several of our visitors sign on as guest bloggers.
~Richard

We realized last week that we had been here 7 months. We do not see the weather or seasons change and it is amazing to realize how much of our time here is done. We have only a little more than 4 months remaining with a departure sometime in mid July. We are also beginning to hear from a couple of family members who may come and visit, which we are excited about. I think these last months will go by quickly.
~Barb

Last Saturday we went to the beach! It was a beach that we had not gone to, but had heard of. The most known beach here in Trinidad is Maracas beach, and Las Cuevas (the beach we went to on Saturday) is just beyond it. You actually have to drive right through the parking lot of Maracas to get to Las Cuevas. Anyways, we went in the morning when it was nearly lunchtime. There were a few things about this beach that we noticed made it very different from its neighbour. For one, the waves were much calmer. Also, the water is very clear, which sort of surprised us. It reminded us of the water in Tobago! And the land at Las Cuevas is very flat, so we could go pretty far out, like behind where the waves broke, and it was only up to my waist! Being flat is part of why the waves are calmer, probably. We spent a while there, playing in the sand and the waves. It was really fun, because you usually don't get to swim in the ocean because the waves are too rough. But if we got to a place past where the waves broke at Las Cuevas, we could just swim like fish! I definitely enjoyed my birthday on the beach!
On a different note, I had a class assignment to draw my house and label it in Spanish. The floor of our house (as well as many, many buildings in Trinidad) is made of large tiles. I assumed that all the tiles were square, and all the same size. I was wrong on both counts. First, I drew the house so that each line was a tile, but the rooms seemed kind of off, and the house very narrow. So I measured tiles in different rooms, and some of them were even 5 inches different from each other! Very few were square. I thought that was very strange.
~Roxy

Paria Waterfall Hike

2010-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the Diego Martin youth group went on a hike. We left our house around 6:30 a.m. to drive to Maracas Beach, where we met up with the rest of the group. Then we drove about another 30-45 minutes until our car and one of the other 3 vehicles wouldn't go any farther. There was an SUV and a pickup truck that could make it a little farther. So, everyone piled in the back of the pickup, except those that were riding in the SUV, and we went until the road completely ended. Then everyone got out, grabbed their bags and started walking. It took us about 3 hours, including some stops, to get to the beach where we stopped to play in the water. Then, it took us another 2 hours to get back. The hike included 7 big hills, and we stopped at 2 beaches, plus tried to find another one on the way there. By the time we went back to Maracas, got some bake and shark and drove home, it was 8:00 p.m. We all showered and went right to bed! Today, my legs are pretty stiff, and kind of sore, but I enjoyed myself on the hike very much yesterday!
~Olivia

Here is what I learned from the hike yesterday:
1. I am not as young as I used to be.
2. My children are in much better shape than I am.
3. I am grateful to have a husband who walked at my pace and offered me a hand on the depth perception necessary parts.
I am also grateful to have had the experience, the fellowship, the exercise, the beautiful views and the personal challenges that a hike like that offers. I am glad to have gotten to meet and begin to know still more youth. There were 9 youth and 8 adults on this particular outing. God is quite an extraordinary artist as seen both in the fabulous diversity of nature and of people!
~Barb

The north coast of Trinidad is where the best beaches on the island are located. There is, however, no road that runs all along the north shore. There is a road that goes along the western part of the coast, which includes Maracas Beach--the most popular beach on the island, and one that we've been to a couple of times. There is another road that covers the eastern part of the northern coast, an area that we have not yet visited. There is, however, no road that connects these two coastal roads. The only way to drive from one to the other is to go all the way around the mountains that run all along the north coast. It was into this area without roads that we hiked. The only way to access Paria Beach is by foot, as we did, or by boat.
The ultimate destination of the hike was the beautiful Paria Waterfall. After hiking several hours through the forest, it was amazing to come to this place where the water came cascading down the rocks. It was also a very hot day, even by Trinidad standards. My shirt was literally drenched with sweat by the time we arrived at the falls. So the opportunity to soak in a refreshingly cool pool for a while was quite welcome.
~Richard

Along with all the water, my favorite part of the hike was the detours we took. One of them was optional. Basically, the adults and a few of the youth stayed where they were on the hike and just took a rest, and most of the youth went down the mountain a little on a detour. You see, we were trying to find a beach that the leader of the hike had told us was there, but after a little while, the path seemed to stop. We chose to keep going, trying to follow the sound of the ocean. We decided to stop when there was a long drop off that went down very far, and didn't even seem to end on the beach. It went down to a couple rocks, then into the ocean. We were pretty sure that this meant that we were on the wrong path. We doubled back to where the path ended, then turned farther right, where we thought the beach was, and tried again. The same thing happened, and again the beach looked much farther off to the right. So we just decided that this was the wrong way to the beach, and climbed back up the very steep way we had just come. When we got to the top, we told the group leader what had happened. Then he told us that, after we had gone down, he had remembered that you couldn't actually get to the beach through that path. How convenient! It was a fun excursion, though. Another detour we took, which was probably my favourite, was out to "Turtle Rock". We took a turn off the path, and ended up on a very narrow path. At one point, I could see through the trees that there was water off to my left. A little while later, I turned to my right, and saw water on that side too! We were walking on a strip of land that led off to this "Turtle Rock". At the end of the path, there was a larger clearing which was essentially a large rock. All around it, on three sides, was water! It was almost a tiny island in the ocean, because of how thin the connection looked from there! They said that they called it Turtle Rock because sometimes you could see turtles swimming in the water around there, but I think only my dad saw one. The whole hike was nice, and I am actually surprised that by this afternoon I wasn't even sore!

~Roxy

Post-Carnival Roundup

2010-02-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, we weren't completely sure whether or not to go to school because no one really seemed to be going since it was the day after Carnival. But, we decided to go anyways, which I thought was a pretty good decision. There were only 11 students out of about 60, I think, from forms 1-6 (except there's no form 3), but there were a few teachers and it was nice and quiet which I thought was kind of nice. Then on Thursday, we went again and there were 17 students; most of the teachers were there. But, there had been a student who was suspended but kept coming to school anyways. He was "unsuspended" today, but on Thursday he came and had a bunch of stones and ended up breaking a bunch of glass and threatening some of the teachers. No one was hurt, and everything turned out okay, but it was a little worrisome at the time. Because of all that, combined with the fact that we didn't think anyone would actually come on Friday, Roxy and I decided not to go to school on Friday. When our parents got up and got in the car to go grocery shopping, it turned out the car wouldn't start, so we couldn't have gone to school even if we had wanted to!
~Olivia

Last Friday, our family attended a 1-year-old's birthday party! However, it was very different from what we had expected. In fact, it was very much like the 25th anniversary celebration and memorial services we've attended in Trinidad, and not as much like what I had expected. It was a Thanksgiving like the other services I mentioned were. It had songs, prayers, and a sermon, much like a regular church service. There was barely any mention of the little boy until the sermon was over. Then he and his cousin (actually, his cousin's daughter), whose first birthday had been the day before, went up to the table where they put the cake and we sang The Happy Birthday Song to them, as well as Jesus Loves Me. After that, they served a huge meal like they do at all Thanksgivings, with roti, channa alloo, chicken, curried mango, pumpkin, and there were also soya chunks at this one. The dessert was ice cream (as ALWAYS, whether it's just a church meal or a birthday, or a Thanksgiving, or any big meal of any sort!) and birthday cake. Speaking of that roti, I helped to make some last Thursday! A lady from the Mennonite Church here came over and showed Mommy how to make 'Buss-up-shut' roti, also known as oil roti or paratha roti. Once she and Mommy had each flipped one (roti is cooked over a stove top), the lady suggested that I might want to cook and flip one too, which I did! My favourite part, though, is when the cooking is over and you take it off the stove. At that point, you put the roti into a towel and you 'buss it up'! This essentially means you smash up the towel until the roti is good and busted. I really liked this part, but I might have gotten a little overexcited and buss' it up too much. That's okay, though, because it still tasted good, plus it was so much fun!
~Roxy

I agree. That roti is our favorite kind to make and to eat. There are many kinds of roti in Trinidad. There are also many kinds of music. One of the nice things about the carnival season is that you really get a flavor for a variety of indigenous forms of music. They pretty much each have their own competition. Of course we had heard of the steel pan music before we arrived and enjoy that very much. They have junior and senior competitions for all the music pretty much but also have pan classifications for single, small, medium and large bands. Other forms include chutney and soca (a combination of soul and calypso). During carnival they are combined as musicians compete to be the soca chutney monarch. But my favorite discovery was calypso. I had an American idea of what that was, but it did not bare much resemblance to what it means here. The Kaiso calypso is a kind of music sung to an energetic beat and horns in which the state of the country is examined and sometimes funny sometimes poignant social commentary is leveled. It sometimes includes props and costumes to draw attention to the situation it speaks about. It is thoughtful and entertaining performance art. The most entertaining is the extempo competition in which people draw a topic and have to sing about it on the spot. The finalists are called on stage in pairs and banter back and forth as they sing trading good-natured insults either toward politicians or toward each other. While I'm glad to get back to normal here, I could listen to pan and Kaiso all year - while eating roti.
~Barb

Olivia mentioned that the car wouldn't start on Friday. When I turned the key, there was just a single click, and nothing more. Some of our friends sent over someone who was able to get it started so that we could take it in to a shop to have the starter worked on. It was fixed and running by Saturday noon, so we were able to get to church yesterday morning without any problem. Barb, however, had been planning to participate in a Lenten retreat over the weekend at the Mt. St. Benedict monastery. Without the car, though, she wasn't able to make it to the retreat.
~Richard

Church activities and Carnival

2010-02-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, we had the first youth group meeting at Diego Martin Mennonite Church for the term. My parents led it. They will lead it every second Saturday of the month, and someone else will lead it every fourth Saturday of the month. Six youths came, as well as six adults. People were pretty quiet, and didn't talk a lot, but I still thought overall, it went pretty well. We had no idea how many people would show up, so we were glad at least some came. We started out with a prayer and some singing. Then, we had a little bible study and spent most of the time discussing the story. Although, the adults had more to say about it than the youths. And then people talked about what they had done previously during youth group and what they liked and didn't like and all that. For the first one, not knowing who would come or how it would work exactly, I was pleased.
~Olivia

As I write this, the Carnival holiday is winding down. For the past week, there have been events televised every evening. We watched some of the calypso, steel pan and costume competitions. For the past two days, the TV has been showing the constant streams of people parading through the streets of Port of Spain--some in very elaborate costume, and many wearing hardly anything at all. There are smaller celebrations in many other places as well. Many Christians stay away from the celebrations on Carnival Monday and Tuesday because of the heavy drinking, lewd behavior and violence that sometimes breaks out. We are told that the beaches are packed as people who don't want to be involved in that sort of thing head there to get away from the reveling. In fact, a number of churches schedule youth camps over Carnival weekend as a way of providing alternative entertainment. Tomorrow it's back to school for all of us, although we've been warned that there may be very few students who show up.
While Carnival has been on full display, it has been very difficult to keep up with the Winter Olympics here. Not surprisingly, Trinidad and Tobago has no team competing in Vancouver--although there has been a 2-man bobsled team at a couple of winter games. I guess they figured that since Jamaica had one, there ought to be a Trini team, too. None of the local stations are broadcasting any of the competition. We have managed to find some streaming video online, but it is inconsistent. Also, since we are four hours later than Vancouver, the event finals often go late into the night.
~Richard

Because our work happens mostly at home and because we still have classes tomorrow, most of our carnival has been spent working at home. That's been fine with us as the roads and crowds are generally deemed unsafe. With the girls home we have managed to find time for family fun here. Today we finished our preparations in time for a cricket game on the concrete slab between the church and the preschool. We bought the girls a cricket set for Christmas. Of course theirs is really a children's set, not what real cricketers would use and our version of the game with only 4 people and limited space was quite scaled down. But since we are all new to the game (not to mention my lack of depth perception and general inability to see flying balls), scaled down was just right for us. This is what Carnival Tuesday looked like for us.
Most of the Mennonite churches here do not really observe lent. We are introducing it at Diego Martin. But since it is a new concept to digest, we are not planning to observe Ash Wednesday tomorrow. Still, we are teaching our music group at church the song From the Depths.
~Barb

February Facts

2010-02-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

The dry season has begun here in Trinidad. There are basically two seasons here. The wet season runs from roughly June through December; and the dry season is roughly January through May. We are still getting occasional rains, but they tend not to be as heavy or last as long as they did in the wet season.
Unfortunately, the wet season was also drier than usual this past year. As a result, the reservoirs that supply water to much of the island are lower than usual. In order to make sure that the supply lasts through the whole season, the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) is encouraging people to conserve water and has issued mandatory restrictions on usage. From what we've been able to understand, the restrictions basically amount to not using hoses for watering lawns, washing cars, etc. "Water police" have been deployed to go around and make sure that people are complying with the order. Yesterday, the front page of one of the papers featured a picture of sprinklers running at the prime minister's residence. The PM announced later in the day that the contractor in charge of lawn care had been fired as a result.
What is frustrating about the apparent water shortage is that last month, when thousands of gallons of water that should have been coming into our tanks were running down the drain instead, WASA didn't seem at all concerned. Thankfully, our tanks have remained full since the leak was fixed several weeks ago. We are hoping that we will be able to keep them that way for the rest of the season.
~Richard

We enter this week with a praise and a prayer request. Let's start with the praise. On Tuesday, David and Shirley Yoder arrived from Pennsylvania to begin a one year term of work here. David will serve as overseer for the churches here. We first met them in Virginia last summer. They and the mission board there were very clear that they hope a local leader will fill that position. But we clearly heard local leaders asking for assistance at this point. The churches here are working hard to develop local church leaders and we have seen leadership grow even in our time here. But at this point there are 4 local pastors and 6 Mennonite churches. So they feel they need to continue to build their base of pastors for now. As a result, everyone is pleased to welcome David and Shirley. We were able to meet them at their apartment on their arrival and very much look forward to working more with them.
Our prayer concern is that the renters we had in our Kansas home will be moving out on Saturday. That means we really hope we can find new renters soon but know that will be difficult since we can only offer a 5 month lease. Anybody want a 5 month sabbatical in Kansas?
~Barb

Today we did not go to school--it was canceled. However, the first we heard of this was on our way out of the school compound yesterday when we were handed a note containing this information. This is Carnival weekend, and lately the number of school children killed has been kind of scary. To get to our school using the public transportation in Trinidad, everyone has to pass through Curepe Junction, where they transfer cars and buses. That has been a slightly dangerous place since last term even, but for this Carnival time the principal did not want anyone from PAWI High School in Curepe Junction. Thus, she canceled school. Next Monday and Tuesday are not officially public holidays, but nobody goes to work or school those days. Some people at our school have planned to take the whole of next week off, but the principal has made it very clear that she wants everyone in school by next Wednesday. So, we have a Carnival break from today (Thursday) until next Tuesday.
~Roxy 'n' Olivia

Our Weekend

2010-02-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

As Barb noted recently, we are in the midst of Carnival season in Trinidad. Carnival is the biggest event of the year here. Tourists come from all over the world to see and take part in the festivities. Carnival Monday and Tuesday (Feb 15 & 16 this year) are not "official" holidays, but there is no school and very few people go to work on those days. In fact, from what we're told, we can expect that many places will already be closed on Friday, and may not open until the following Thursday. We were told several months ago by some former missionaries that Carnival brings out both the best and the worst of the country. The best is the amazing music and culture on display in this season. Many Carnival costumes are truly works of art. Calypso features insightful social commentary. And steel pan bands feature the national instrument, which Trinis are proud to note is the only non-electrical instrument that was invented in the twentieth century. The worst is the incredible amount of drinking and overt sexuality that can be found at many of the Carnival parties or "fetes." More than one of our friends here have told us that the rate of HIV infection rises dramatically following Carnival.
This weekend, we again tried to find ways to explore some of the best parts of Carnival. We had purchased tickets for a Children's Carnival Fiesta that claimed to feature many different aspects of Carnival in a family-oriented atmosphere. By now we knew to call in advance to check whether or not the fiesta was still happening. We found out that it was not going to take place on Friday afternoon. In fact, they weren't sure yet exactly when it was going to take place. They suggested we call at the beginning of this week to find out. Instead, I returned the tickets for a refund today.
On Saturday, we again tried to find some good Carnival entertainment. We had been told that the best way to enjoy steel pan music is to go to the panyards where bands are practicing. But we never really knew where the panyards were or when the bands practiced. One of the members of our church in Diego Martin offered to take us to a panyard that he knew of. When we arrived there late Saturday evening, however, we found that they weren't practicing after all because a fete down the block was too loud for them hear themselves. We were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to be able to see any Carnival events while we were here. Fortunately, Sunday turned out to be much more successful for us.
~Richard

However, before we took part in any Carnival, we went to church. When we first came to Trinidad, the Diego Martin Mennonite Church had an adult Sunday School. Then around the Christmas Holidays, they went on break. Next week they will start up the adult class again. They were not having any children's Sunday School, though, and so Olivia and I were anticipating possibly being bored during those times. There is this newer family in the church, though, who have two daughters, ages 5 and 7, I think. We were thinking that they might be in the same situation on Sunday mornings. So Olivia and I offered to take them then, and do a Sunday School class with them then! We aren't exactly sure what to do for that, but we decided we've been to enough Sunday School classes to come up with something. Along with Sunday School starting back this week, youth group at Diego Martin will be starting this week too. My parents will be in charge of that, and they have asked us to help them plan the first one, which at least I am happy to do, since we have had some experience with Trinidad youth groups. I guess we have some planning to do this week!
~Roxy

On Sunday, after church, we went out to eat at Roxy Pizza Hut in Port of Spain. We heard that there would be a parade around that place and time. As soon as we walked into the Pizza Hut, we spotted some kids dressed up in elaborate costumes eating there. As we ate, a crowd began to gather right outside. When we were finished eating, we walked out and stood outside, thinking that those were people gathering to watch the parade. But, then we noticed that quite a few of them were in costume or getting in costume. We asked someone there, who told us that it was a gathering place for the people involved in the parade, and if we wanted to watch the parade, we should go up the road a little ways. As we were walking up the road to find the place where the parade started, there were many people in costume that we passed or that were heading the same direction. We were beginning to wonder if there was more to the parade than people walking around dressed up in costumes. Roxy suspected that maybe the parade was just people in costume walking along the sidewalk and that since we were also walking along the sidewalk, maybe we were in it too. But, then we found a street that was blocked off and where people were lining up. We found a place to stand that was far enough away from the blaring music that we could hear each other yell and then waited. Soon a group of children in brightly coloured costumes started walking. Some of the costumes had big things sticking out. Some of the kids were jumping to the music. I thought that would get tiring fast, especially in the hot sun. Plus, some of them had costumes that looked really hot! Each group walked for a little bit, then paused and the kids danced around for a while and people took pictures, then they started walking again. It was really fun to see all the creative costumes!
~Olivia

We watched the parade for a while and then decided to head out to the savannah to try yet again to hear steel pans. Sunday was the junior pan competition. Because this is happening a week before the actual carnival and because these events were centered around youth, they were a little tamer.
Well, we finally got our pan music. The competitions for the primary and secondary schools were already over, but we got to see most of the performers from the under 21 category. They were amazing! We had watched some of the pan semifinals last weekend on TV. To our untrained ears, the difference in quality between the adult and the junior groups was slight.
Since we had heard that hanging out where the bands are practicing is the way to hear pan, we left the competition for a little and went across from the savannah where an adult finalist band was practicing. It is amazing that we could walk right up to them and interact. I was close enough that I could have grabbed a stick, and believe me that was a temptation. Ah, but no one in the band offered me the chance to join in. The only connection I was able to make was to compliment one guy on his tee shirt, which had pictures of the Obamas on it. The finals are next weekend and these folks are in serious practice mode at this point.
After a couple of weeks of trying to find healthy ways to connect, it was great to finally have our day nibbling at the best of carnival.
~Barb

All About School

2010-02-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, coming home from church, our car broke down. Again. So, that meant that we weren't able to get to school Monday or Tuesday. We got it fixed Tuesday morning, actually sooner than we had expected. We still had time to go into Port of Spain that afternoon to get violin strings for Roxy and tickets for the Children's Carnival tomorrow. So, we missed two days of school. However, it doesn't really seem like we missed anything at all important. On Monday, I was told there were only 4 out of the 9 teachers who came to school, 2 of which are students at the college there, so live right on campus. So, my class only had one class session because the other teachers who came weren't even supposed to teach us. Then on Tuesday, my form teacher was still gone although more teachers were there, but only about half the students in my class came. So, missing two days of school didn't really mean anything.
~Olivia

Our school has entered a mural competition! The competition is that any school that wants to can choose a wall somewhere on the school compound, and paint it. The VAPA (Visual And Performing Arts) teacher at our school told me that most schools would have one big wall to the back of the school that would be tall, but ours doesn't. So instead, we are painting the wall next to the basketball court. Unlike most walls (which would be tall and so would only have a portion painted), ours is approximately the length of a basketball court and slopes up a hill to the height of about 5 feet at the top, so we have been painting the whole thing! Mostly it is a project for the form twos, but a few of the days, they have needed help, and so I have helped paint some of it too! They are mostly painting people; some fictional and others students and teachers from the school. One morning a student came around and took pictures of all the classrooms, and so they have painted a few of those on the wall too. The painting must be finished for tomorrow. With all the drips we have gotten on the court, we might as well be painting that too!
~Roxy

Our school (the classes we teach at the theological college) are also underway. Last night was our third week of classes. As I write that I wonder how it can be possible. I am teaching a class that is basically the next class for social work majors after one I taught in fall. That one focused on family and group work. This one focuses more on community work. I realize that I have probably used my community work social work skills as much or more in pastoring as I did in social work.
This semester I was able to find a text book on the island that I really like and is up to date. I found two copies of it only, though. I bought them both with the idea that I would use one and I would put the other on reserve in the library. But my students protested arguing that one copy on reserve would not be enough for all of them to share. One student has a copy machine at home. She offered to copy the book for everyone for the cost of materials. So far she has been managing to bring some of what I have assigned for the next week, but not always all of it. She thought it would all be done next week.
These students have so much happening in their lives. She, for instance, works during the day as a security gaurd, then teaches dance classes, is a single mom with a teenage son and is taking something like 5 classes - more than a full load. Another of my students is in a similar situation only she works at a bank. Another has a new baby. The students from other countries are more likely to live on campus and be younger. There are small dorms there which I would guess house no more than 10-20 students in all. I really admire the level of commitment many bring given all that they are juggling. I thought I had a busy crazy life when I was a student. I certainly did fill my time. But I have to say that I did not contend with all the things many of these people do. Teaching them has been such a great part of what I've gotten to do here.
~Barb

The class that I am teaching has been going well, too. This semester, I am much more comfortable with the subject that I'm teaching than I was last term. Unlike philosophy, which I hadn't studied formally for more than 20 years, preaching is an area in which I received an advanced degree less than a year ago. It's also something I do on a regular basis, so have much more real experience with the subject.
I had originally been told that I would have two students in class. When I received the roster on the first day, however, there were three students on the list--one of the two I had originally been told about and two others. I was also told that there was another student who really wanted to take the class, but wasn't able to since he was also enrolled in Barb's class, which was scheduled to meet at the same time. Since he is a Social Work major, her class was required for him to graduate. But since he is getting a minor in theology, he really wanted the preaching class as well. So after checking with the rest of my class, we moved the time up a couple of hours. I now teach from 3:00 to 5:00; then Barb teaches her class from 5:00 to 8:00. It means that we need to pick the girls up from their school a little early on Wednesdays to make it to WITC on time. But we still only need to go there one day a week; and the student who really wants to be in both of our classes is able to do so.
~Richard

Halfway

2010-01-31T10:18:00.000-08:00

It has now been nearly six months since we first set foot in Trinidad! Since we will probably not be here for an actual 365 days, we calculated that we are slightly over the halfway point. In some ways it has gone by really fast, but I also can't believe it's only been that long! I will be very glad to be back in Kansas, but I'm also sure I'll miss a lot of the people here that I've gotten to know. And I'm sure I'll be really cold!
~Roxy

The youth groups were taking a break pretty much since we performed the Christmas Programs in December, but they're starting up again this weekend. Last night we went to youth group at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church. Last term, they were having youth meetings every other Saturday and there's a family that is involved in both Diego Martin and Carlsen Field, so they decided that they would switch off. So, every first and third Saturday Carlsen Field would have youth group and every second and fourth Saturday Diego Martin would have youth group and anyone who wants to attend both is welcome! Tonight, Hope Mennonite Church is starting they're youth group up again, so we'll probably be going to that. The only reason I say probably is because in Trinidad, anything can happen. You never can make definite plans. So, we'll be going to 3 different youth groups, but it's only really 2 nights a week.
~Olivia

We have yet another mechanical issue to deal with on the car. Everything was fine when we left church and made our way through Diego Martin and Port of Spain. But somewhere along the highway, I noticed that the steering wheel seemed kind of stiff. It wasn't until we exited the highway, however, that I realized that the power steering was completely gone. It took all the effort I had to make the turn off the highway, onto the road that goes past our apartment and into the garage. After lunch, I checked under the hood to see if perhaps the power steering fluid was low. Before I could even locate the fluid reservoir, however, I noticed that the power steering belt was gone. I must have broken and come off somewhere along the highway. Thankfully, I didn't need to make any sudden turns along the way. I'm hoping that the belt won't prove to be as difficult to find as the gasket that is still leaking oil.
We have gotten approval to get a different car. However, we haven't yet been able to find a decent one in the price range that the mission board can afford to pay. In the meantime, I won't be able to take the girls to school tomorrow. It's not uncommon for people to miss school due to car troubles. In fact, the principal missed three days a couple of weeks ago when her vehicle was not working.
~Richard

It is carnival season in Trinidad. Carnival is sort of what most Americans think of as Mardi Gras. But its origin is in Trinidad. The history is that slaves were given the 2 days before Ash Wednesday off. They used these days to celebrate. Out of this came calypso, which I had always thought of as music but is originally social commentary that both took the form of music and storytelling.
Today carnival incorporates many things. We had first heard that the churches do not participate in carnival because it is mostly now about binge drinking and promiscuous sexual activity. However, as we are here longer, we realize that carnival is more than a 2 day celebration. That part we have not yet experienced. But it is a season. Within that season are many musical events.
We decided that we really wanted to hear some steel pan music sometime during the season. A couple of weeks ago we learned that there would be pan bands parading on Sunday afternoon. But our church music practice that day went long and so we didn't see that. Someone told us that they would take us with them this week to the pan yards to hear a band practicing. But it rained the day we could all go, so we didn't. Yesterday there was an event called the children's carnival which seemed to be oriented to families and feature school pan bands. When we called on Friday to see if there were still tickets available, we learned that it had canceled for yesterday (although there is another time set for next weekend we may try to catch). In the evening there was some music advertised within walking distance of our house we thought we might stop by and see. But a memorial service changed our plans for that. All in all, we are glad there are a month of events so that we can still hope to get in on some appropriate music.
The memorial service was an interesting event. We had attended the funeral of this woman earlier. She died on Christmas evening. She was a very important person in the life of the Mennonite churches here, even allowing one of the earliest churches to meet at her house for a while. Yesterday, about 40 days after her death, a memorial service was held This is common here across religious traditions. I asked a friend how long to expect the service to run. She said, "oh, it will be pretty short - not more than an hour and a half or two. Then they'll serve a meal, of course." The service started at 4:00 and ran the anticipated time. We finished eating, though, around 7:30 and headed home then. Earlier in the afternoon we got a call asking if we could please grab the tambourine from the church downstairs and bring it with us (because how can you be expected to have a memorial service without a tambourine?). The elements of the service were pretty much like the funeral, like a regular worship service, but there was less sadness. It seemed as if the idea was to give the family permission to let go of some of the grief and move on with life. Of course this was all while recognizing the ongoing challenge of letting go. I think this is a nice tradition.
~Barb

Joint Service, Parents' Day and Election Day

2010-01-26T04:49:00.000-08:00

[Note: The following entries were written on Monday, Jan. 25. Due to technical problems, however, we were not able to post them until Tuesday the 26th.]

As we mentioned earlier, yesterday a joint service was held for all of the Mennonite Churches of Trinidad and Tobago. (They call it MCTT, even though there are no Mennonite Churches in Tobago quite yet.) We had invited one of my friends to come along, and told the rest of her family that they would be welcome too. As of Sunday morning when we woke up, we still thought that we would only be picking up one girl. But, since it is Trinidad, there was always the possibility that they would call that morning and like a ride there. Sure enough, there was a call that morning before we left for church asking if we could pick up her parents and little brother too. Since our car is only supposed to fit five people (but in Trinidad that means six) we thought we could take her and maybe one other person in the car, but not four extra people. So we called some friends who would also be coming from Charlieville if they could help. They said that they could pick up Olivia and I, and my parents would bring the other family. The service started at 9:30 (or at least that's what it said), and when my dad drives, it takes about 45 minutes to get from our apartment to Diego Martin. It was a few minutes after 9:00 by the time they picked up Olivia and I. So we were worried we might be a little late, and since the worship team would be starting out the service with some singing, we didn't want to be too late. But it all turned out fine because of two things. One: even though this was a lot more on time than some other things we have attended, it still didn't start at exactly 9:30, so it was okay to be a couple minutes late. And two: it might take my dad about 45 minutes to get to Diego Martin driving legally, but apparently it only takes some Trini drivers about a half hour or so! The joint service was very nice, and they had a great meal afterward as always. We were noticing how different this was than even the last joint service. The very first joint service we attended was the first weekend we were here, and we were meeting a lot and lot of people. The next time (at the end of November) I felt like I knew a lot of people but didn't interact with a whole lot of them. But this time I felt like I really talked to people and knew them and it was good to see a lot of them again.
~Roxy

Last Friday was Parents Day at our school. So, the students were supposed to bring their parents to school with them to talk to the teachers and then we'd be done around 11:30. We went early so Roxy could finish building the model of a bridge she's making. It was supposed to be done for Parents Day but her group had some conflicts and it wasn't finished yet. Then, everyone assembled in the big upstairs room. This room is usually divided into 3 classrooms just by whiteboards, but they move them out of the way for certain events when they need a bigger space. First, the principal talked to all the parents and students. It was kind of like the chapel service we have every Thursday. Then the staff were introduced and parents could ask questions. After that, the teachers divided up and went to their own classrooms, where the parents could come see them and talk to them and get grades. Each class has a form teacher, who, in most cases, is the teacher they have the most classes with. So, the form teachers had the report cards for the students. I liked the way the report cards were set up. They had the grading scale, your final exam scores for each class, your course work scores for each class, and then your final grades for each class, plus some other information, like how many days you were absent and that kind of stuff. We ended up waiting forever to talk to the principal and we were pretty close to the last ones to leave.
~Olivia

We awoke this morning to hear the stunning results of the local elections here. The political system here is a parliamentary system of government. There is the ruling party and one major opposition party. There is a second opposition party which is largely a group that broke away from the major opposition party because of discontent with its leadership a few years ago. Well, yesterday was election day for internal elections in this major opposition party. The man who formed the party over 20 years ago and who had at one time been the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was, for the first time in party history, being challenged. And to everyone's surprise, he lost to one of two challengers. Not only that, but the person who beat him was a woman. She won by more than 10-1. The whole victory has a sort of Obama quality to it.
The system of government is different, but the politics is not so different from American politics. It was heated and nasty, with allegations of corruption and personal scandals. The media has been totally consumed by it only breaking to update on Haiti. This country has been an independent nation for a relatively short time compared to what I am used to. This is only the second generation of leaders really, though many have been around with concentrated power for nearly as long as the Bush's and the Clinton's. It has been interesting to watch a government without a real executive branch. Let's just say democrats and republicans are not the only groups that have a hard time working together and live within a political system that encourages adversarial relationships.
~Barb

One of the highlights of yesterday's joint service was the licensing of a new pastor, Navin Benny, to serve at Hope Mennonite Church. This is an important step for the church here. As we've probably mentioned somewhere along the way, there have been only four pastors to serve six congregations—and one of the pastors is an American missionary, Richard Keeler. The goal is eventually to have a local pastor for each one of the congregations, and another local person to serve as overseer for all the Mennonite churches. This licensing brings that goal one step closer to reality. There is also another individual who is in formal training for pastoral ministry, along with some others who are considering such a calling. We see our work here largely as supporting the development of such leadership. Even though we may not be teaching future Mennonite pastors in our classes, our service at WITC helps support the institution where those future pastors are trained. And our current service at Diego Martin Mennonite Church is allowing one of the current pastors, Rawl Gunpath, to have a well-deserved sabbatical so that he may hopefully be re-energized for further service.
In addition to the licensing, yesterday's worship time also included a commissioning for one of the current pastors, Ganesh Kalloo, to serve at Charlieville Mennonite Church, which has been without a pastor for quite some time. Ganesh will continue to pastor the Mennonite Church of Chaguanas as well, splitting his time between the two congregations. This, again, is a very important step since it marks the first time that all six of the current Mennonite churches in Trinidad have pastoral leadership.
We also found out yesterday that the work permit has been approved for the new overseer, David Yoder, who is now expected to arrive in Trinidad from Pennsylvania in a few weeks. That position has been vacant since very shortly after we arrived here. Finally, we continue to pray for the health of Richard Keeler, who has been back in the U.S. since just before Christmas for diagnosis and medical treatment. We are hopeful that he will be well enough to return soon and bring the pastoral team for the Mennonite Church of Trinidad and Tobago to full strength.
~Richard

January Update

2010-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

Earlier this afternoon, we went to the home of a family from Diego Martin Mennonite Church. We also had visited there the week before. They are a very musical family and have been wanting to get together with some other musical people from the Mennonite churches in T&T. Since January has 5 Sundays in it, there will be a joint service this month. Usually, the joint service is on the 5th Sunday, but since next week is Mennonite World Fellowship Sunday, they decided to move it to the 4th this time. The worship teams from the different churches take turns leading worship for the joint service. So this time the Diego Martin worship team requested to lead worship. So we have been meeting with music people mostly from Diego Martin, but a few from other churches. We taught a few songs (including harmony, which was mostly new) as well as learned a few new ones, including one African one (along with a dance) and one in Hindi. I think everyone's been having a good time working on this together!
~Roxy

School seemed to pick up a little more this week. For the first three days, nothing much happened and not many people came. Last week most people were back. There actually wasn't as much change over of students as I thought there might be. A lot of people, especially in Roxy's class said they were going to leave and go to a different school this term. Her class has stayed exactly the same, though. I had a new student in my class on Monday, but I haven't seen her since then, so I'm assuming she's not coming back. And there was another new student on Tuesday. One person who dropped out in the middle of last term decided to come back this term and another person who was in my class last term I haven't seen yet. But, the other 11 students have remained the same.
People in school have been talking a lot about Carnival, which is an extremely big and celebrated holiday here! It won't be until next month, but some people are starting to play music already. We actually wanted to go see some steel pans on the way home today, but the music thing went to long, and it was over by the time we got there. We're still trying to figure out what to do for Carnival, because it seems as though most of the Mennonites don't celebrate it because it focuses a lot on the drinking and that kind of stuff. But, we still think it would be fun if we could get in on some of the music. We haven't heard many steel pans live, so we're hoping to catch some between now and Carnival!
~Olivia

The good news of the week is that we finally have our water back! After nearly a month of calling nearly every business day (and spending virtually hours on hold) the water company came on Wednesday afternoon and patched up the line. They basically did the same thing that they did last August shortly after we arrived. We're hoping it lasts longer this time--at least until we head back to the U.S. in July. For now, we're just glad that we are able to do laundry and take showers without worrying about running out of water. The whole affair does make us more mindful of those who don't have access to running water at all.
The day after the water was repaired, we were faced with another reminder that we are living in a country that still is not as developed as what we've been accustomed to. Our car has had an oil leak for a while, and I finally was able to get the mechanic to take a look at it on Thursday. He discovered a leaky gasket. In the United States, it would be a simple matter of getting a new gasket and replacing the old one. The problem here, however, is that parts for the sort of car that we have (a Mitsubishi Galant) are not that easy to come by on the island. So the mechanic suggested that both he and I "keep an eye out" for a replacement gasket. Until then, there's not much that we can do.
~Richard

The day we got our water back was the same day we heard that hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti lost theirs. The local news outlets in Trinidad rarely spend time on world news. There is a fairly developed media network here of print newspapers, radio and TV stations and recording artists. But they are very local in their scope. Mostly we hear about local sports, local crime and dramatic local politics with little concern for the rest of the world. But the earthquake in Haiti has been distincly different. The news here is full of the coverage of it. People in churches are praying for the people of Haiti (and scoffing at Pat Robertson). Companies and individuals and even the government here are offering aid.
The fact that Haiti is also an island country in the general region, even though it may actually be closer to the U.S. than it is to Trinidad, creates a kind of bond. When we hear that there is only 1 airport and one sea port from which to get supplies and that they are badly damaged so that supplies are hard to get in, we know what that is like. When they talk about running out of the supplies that are on the island, we know that if that happens, you have nothing you can do but wait until someone brings more to you. When they talk about the massive death toll, we know that the relationships of people living on an island are so close. In some ways it's like living in a really big small town in which you are always learning that somebody is the cousin of somebody else. Generations have grown up together and most likely everyone has lost people who are very close. And so our prayers go out to you, Haiti. We personally feel closer to you than ever.
Barb

Back to school!

2010-01-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

We have all started school again! Once again, the term started out pretty slowly, with a lot of students absent. We aren't expecting too many people until Monday, at least. PAWI has gained another teacher! She was apparently here a couple terms ago, but last term she was on maternity leave. She is the science and Spanish teacher. Since everything seems to take more time in Trinidad, we have not gotten grades yet. However, the teachers have slowly been handing back tests. This is one of the most exciting things that has happened this term, because we can not expect all the teachers to be back in school and teaching the first week of the new term.
~Roxy

Like Roxy said, we have had 2 mostly uneventful days of school. Yesterday, I got 5 out of my 10 tests back. But, I only had one actual class (with the science teacher Roxy mentioned). Even that class was somewhat unclass like. Mostly the students were asking the teacher questions. I didn't use a pen or a notebook all day! Today, during math, we actually did some productive work, but then the teacher said he needed to go do something and to finish those 2 problems and he'd be back in 5 minutes. Well, it was probably close to a half an hour later when he actually came back. But, by that time that class was over. The teacher I was supposed to have was sitting in the chair she had been sitting in all morning which was on the other side of the board (which is serving as a wall since there is no actual wall there) where she had been teaching the form sixes. So, we didn't have anything to do for the rest of the morning. That teacher was still there when I came back from lunch. After lunch, we had just started Social Studies and the teacher for that was about to give us some notes when my parents came to get me and Roxy since they had a staff meeting at WITC and wouldn't be able to come pick us up when school was over. That's okay. I bet we didn't miss much! There was a girl who came yesterday but she was upset that they actually had to write something down and it was only the first day, so she didn't come again today. Why would you come to school if you weren't expecting to do any work? You might as well stay home then.
~Olivia

Our classes at WITC don't actually start for a couple of more weeks. I've been spending most of my time this week planning and getting my syllabus ready. Right now, there are a couple of classes being taught as "modules." These are intensive classes that meet every day for two weeks. We are not teaching any of the modules. However, we did go to the college for a faculty meeting today. We now know that we will again be teaching classes on Wednesday evenings. We also received our class rosters. I have only two students registered for my homiletics class, one of whom was in the philosophy class I taught last semester. They are the only two theology students in their second year, which is when homiletics is typically taken. This was information that I gleaned from the listing of all the students at the college that was also distributed at the meeting. Until now, I had never known for sure what the enrollment of WITC was. According to the full roster, there are right around 50 students this year. But although it is a theological college, only seven of them are actually getting degrees in theology. The vast majority of students will get their degrees in either social work (19 students) or psychology & counseling (16 students). The only other degree offered is in Christian education, which currently has only one major. The other students are pursuing certificates or are listed as "special" students.
~Richard

Beginning second semester for us all leads me to reflect on the difference a few months make. Looking back to August I mostly remember that as moving month. Every time I have moved in my life, even though they have all been places I chose to move, there is a certain amount of stress that accompanies the settling in period. Everything from figuring out the best place to buy groceries to building new relationships takes some effort that one doesn't expend so much in regular life. Add a new culture to the mix and it is both an exciting adventure and an exhausting maze of things to puzzle through. That's what last semester was. When the term began we did not yet know where the girls would be going to school in spite of much time and effort. They actually began a couple of days late while we were figuring it all out. Because of the typically slow starts here, that didn't turn out to be a problem, but we had not yet learned that. By contrast, this week we did know that. So, we gave them the choice of whether or not they wanted to go to school this week or start next week. They chose to begin. They chose this in large part because what had once been new and scary for them was now a place where they had friends and had come to enjoy being.
As for Richard and I, knowing what we are going to teach and attended a couple of faculty meetings and having a schedule of how many weeks are in our semester, having all this with 2 weeks to go before class begins feels like luxury. I too have been spending time this week choosing a text and planning my syllabus. It feels good to get back into the routine and begin this work again. I am teaching Theory and Practice of Social Work III, so all my students will be returning from the prerequisit class I taught last term. It is nice to know the students and rejoin them. I will also be supervising the thesis of one of those students. Although I am teaching material I have never taught before, I still feel so much more prepared than I did last term. Looking back it is nice to feel the difference. There is a coziness about where we are at the start of this term. Even the water situation is a return to what it was in August. Although it has gone on longer this time and although every day after waiting on hold they tell us they hope to have someone out to fix the leak in a day or two, our resources for handling it are so much greater than they were when we arrived. We know our neighbors better, we know places we can go for help and we can understand conversations and the meanings behind them better. We are so grateful to be able to spend the kind of time here that allows us those opportunities. It is a such a blessing to be able to really live here.
~Barb

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

The churches here typically hold services to mark the end of the year. Instead of referring to the time as "New Years Eve" as we would in the US, the day here in Trinidad is known as "Old Year." So we attended the Old Year Service at Charlieville. It was quite convenient for us since we didn't need to venture out late at night or be on the roads with all the folks who had been partying for a while. (The amount of drinking and driving in the country was reportedly down considerably this year due to the introduction of breathalyser machines last month.)
The Old Year Service started at 10:00 pm, and followed the same general pattern as most any worship service here--lots of singing, praying, sharing, a sermon and an offering. In addition, one of the church leaders read through a listing of significant events in the church over the past year. The report often focused more on what food was served at the gatherings than on any decisions that were made. There was also a special time for silent individual prayer. So at the stroke of midnight, while lots of fireworks were being set off in the neighborhood all around us, we prayed out the old year of 2009 and welcomed 2010. The service ended at around 12:30. Then we had sandwiches, cake and drinks before everyone headed home.
~Richard

The night before Old Year, our family was invited to my friend's house for dinner. They told us to come around 5:00. Apparently that meant that they started preparing the corn soup at 5:00. First, the women went into the kitchen and chopped potatoes, sweet potatoes, eddoes, carrots, chardon benit (pronounced shadow benny), chives, pamento, and corn. They put a big black pot over a gas burner that was sitting outside on the concrete to cook the soup in. They set out snacks while it was cooking. During the preparation time, the women and boys were doing most of the cooking. The girls were decorating with balloons, and then we played cards until the soup was ready. The men sat around and told jokes, most of which started out "A Trini, a Jamaican and a Bajan" (someone from Barbados) "went up to heaven. St. Peter greeted them at the gate..." The interesting thing about that is that pretty much all those men were Hindu! Then, their conversation turned into a discussion about religion. Me and Roxy taught some card games to the other girls there and they taught some to us, but for the most part we didn't know the same ones. Or some of them we didn't think we knew, but we realized that we actually did know it, or at least some version of it, but we knew it by another name. I'm guessing dinner wasn't actually served until at least 9:00, it could have very well been 10:00. The soup was difficult to eat because we had to take the corn out of the soup and suck it off the cob, because no one had bothered to take it off. They just chopped the whole thing, including the cob. Then afterwards, we stayed around and limed some more and played more card games. Then, the women came and watched us, while the men's religion discussion got more heated. And the boys went and limed by the savannah. After a while, my mom started to turn her Styrofoam cup inside out, which amazed us girls who had been playing cards. We spent a while trying to do the same, but no one succeeded. By the time we got in the car, it was 1:00 in the morning! We had no idea it was that late! And the next night was Old Year, so we had a couple of extremely late nights!
~Olivia

Yesterday we officially began our interim pastoring at Diego Martin. Richard preached and I lead communion. We have enjoyed being available to all the churches and getting to know so many people this first semester. When we were at the Old Year service at Charlieville I thought how I would miss meeting with the folks there. But on the up side it will be nice to have a regular church home again. The potential to deepen and make meaningful relationships really depends on regular and consistant contact. We look forward to that. We are still figuring out what it means to be a pastor here. Many of the things we do back home are not done here. There are no bulletins to prepare, no office hours to keep, only one committee meeting a month with the congregation and less clear instructions from others. At the same time, there are lots of potential areas in which to work. People seem pretty relaxed about the whole thing.
After church we went out to eat to celebrate Richard's birthday which is today. Happy Birthday, honey!
~Barb

Things are not always what they seem. Especially in Trinidad. For example, take our water situation. One of my parents has, for the past 17 days, spent a portion of the morning on the phone with WASA (Water And Sewage Authority). Every time the answer has been the same: We'll try to get someone out to look at it soon. Obviously, this has not been entirely true, seeing that we are on our 17th day of no water. Finally, today, when my mom was on hold on the phone with WASA, a WASA truck pulled up! A man got out of it and asked my dad some questions, then wrote a report. So at least now they have seen the leak and written a report! Another example: school. Technically, school started today. But over the break, the government decided that all of the government and government assisted secondary schools would not start until Wednesday. Our school is a private school, but they seem to run on basically the same schedule as the government schools do. So, first of all, we are not completely sure that we would even be having school, and even if we technically are, many of the students (and possibly teachers) would probably assume that we aren't, and so not go. Also, our experience here is that at the beginning of a new term, people rarely show up anytime in the first week. So when we do go on Wednesday, I am sure that there will still be a lot of people who won't be there. Since we were not having school today, we took this opportunity to go visit the preschool next door, which was started by Charlieville Mennonite Church. Even though the preschool is government assisted, they are definitely not a secondary school, so they were in session today. When we walked in the door, we saw 44 very quiet, well-behaved preschoolers sitting at tables and 44 pairs of very dark brown eyes staring at us. The teachers told us that they were having quiet time and they would be going outside soon, but some of the parents were coming to pick up their kids already. Some of the children were very friendly, like the girl who sang me a song, but some were very shy, and when I asked them their names, just shook their heads no. They seem to have a really nice program going on there, and I hope we can visit again sometime.
~Roxy

During Christmas Break

2009-12-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

Since we are on break, we have had some extra time on our hands. The other day, we decided to try out our new cricket set we got for Christmas. We do not have much yard space, but we do have a small concrete slab by the back of the church. Usually, we do not have much access to it because there is a preschool in the same yard and they use it, but now that both the preschool and we are on break, we can use it all we want. When we were playing cricket, we found an old rusty chair to use as a wicket. The wicket is placed behind the batter's bat. If the bowler (pitcher) hits the wicket with the ball, the batter is out. In real cricket, the batter runs after they hit the ball, but since that is next to impossible to play for runs with only two people, we did not. Instead, we counted up the number of hits the batter got. Once the batter got a wicket (or if the bowler caught their ball), we switched positions. Yesterday we passed a good portion of the day cutting out Biblical characters from felt. One of our neighbours had gotten a mini felt board set identical to the one at the church, except everything is a lot more tiny. She was overwhelmed by having to cut out the whole thing, so she gave it to us. We had forgotten about it until yesterday, but we got a lot cut out then. Some of our other neighbours gave us some games to play over break--Monopoly and Rummy-O. We haven't actually gotten around to playing those games, but we have played some others. We have been finding lots of ways to keep occupied.
~Roxy & Olivia

Today may not be the twelfth day of Christmas, but it is our twelfth day without water. That actually may sound a bit worse than it is, but the situation has been quite frustrating for us. They way the water system works here is that every home and business has their own set of water tanks. Here at the church there are two large tanks that hold, I believe, 1000 gallons between the two of them. These tanks are connected to the city water line that is supposed to refill them as they get low. However, since at least the 19th of December, there has been no water coming into the tanks. Instead, we can see the water that is supposed to be coming to us running out from under the road and into the ditch. We have called the water authority every day they have been open, but so far no one has even come to look at it. They did send out a truck to refill the tanks once, and another is supposed to be on order. In between, we were able to run a hose from the neighbor to refill the tanks once completely and another time partially. As a result, we actually do have water most of the time, but are very conscious of how much we use. We have also borrowed some large jugs that we keep filled for those times when the water does run out completely. The last time the tanks were empty, we took advantage of the opportunity to clean them out. It was pretty disgusting to realize how much sediment had collected in them. That became obvious when the fire truck refilled our tank, and the pressure of the hoses stirred everything up. The water was noticeably brown for several days. A load of laundry that we did without realizing how dirty the water was will probably never be white again. I've told many people that there are times that I can forget that I'm not in the United States. We have access here to many of the same things we would at home. But as we deal with the water situation, I am reminded that Trinidad & Tobago is still a developing nation. The infrastructure here is clearly not as developed as it is in America.
~Richard

Another thing that Richard and I have done this week is to attend two funerals of two different neighbors. We did not know either neighbor personally, but in both cases knew their family. The funerals were very different in many ways. One similarity is that they both took place at the homes of the persons who died. It is common here to set up tents outside the house beside the veranda which everyone has. Friends and family gather first for a night or two of a wake. Then finally for the funeral. In both cases during the funeral relatives came by during the ceremony and passed out water bottles to everyone.
The first funeral was for the brother of our neighbor Jameel. He was a young man who was found murdered. Only Jameel and his grandmother are left in the immediate family. They are Muslims. The Muslim funeral was brief. There were a few prayers in Arabic and a sort of homily by the Imam. There was no singing, no sharing about the life of the individual and not much emotion expressed outwardly with the exception of the immediate family. We did not accompany the body to the next house where there was to be another short ceremony before moving to the cemetery. The part of the funeral we attended took place at the grandmother's house. We were told that then the same would happen at the house where he had been currently living. We were also told that I would not be allowed at the cemetery because women were not allowed according to Muslim tradition here. I asked if that would be true even if it was my husband or child. I was told yes, but that I would not be sad about that because I would understand it.
The second funeral was for Joyce , who was a member of the Charlieville Mennonite Church where we live. In fact, before this building was completed, the church used to meet in her house. She beloved in her community. Her funeral was very much like those I have attended in the US. The amount of singing both by the group and by individuals sharing special music and the amount of sharing of memories about her was probably greater than most I've attended. But there was a lot of love and care expressed.
I doubt one can over-generalize from these two very different situations. I can only share what the two experiences were like for me. Our hearts go out to both families.
~Barb

Happy Boxing Day and a Merry Christmas, too!

2009-12-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

Today is Boxing Day--an official public holiday in Trinidad & Tobago, just as it is in most countries that make up the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the U.S. where the stores are busy today with shoppers rushing to cash in on after-Christmas sales and to return unwanted gifts, the stores here are closed. On Christmas Day, most people spend the day with families. Many attend early morning church services as well. Today, however, is a day to go out and celebrate. Beaches and parks will be packed with revelers who have the day off. Others will take the opportunity to take care of projects that need to be done around the house. It is common here for people to use December to do what many in the States think of as "spring cleaning." A lot of families try to get their homes thoroughly cleaned, replace old curtains and repaint rooms before Christmas. For those who weren't able to get everything done then, today is a good chance to still take care of things before the New Year.
~Richard

Let's work backwards on this list and I'll write a bit about some of our Christmas day. Originally we were invited to spend Christmas with some other missionaries, which would have included a traditional Trini family day and big meal at home. However, due to health problems, that plan was changed. Instead, we were invited to join another family on the beach. This family said it was their first Christmas to go to the beach. Most people do not go on Christmas. But they had relatives visiting and since it was the only day they were all able to work it out with their schedules, they decided to go then to the beach. And, we got to be included!
It was a bright, warm, sunny day here (sorry to all our dear friends in the cold). We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch of curried duck (a traditional Christmas favorite here), roti, fish cakes and egg balls. Our contribution to the meal was as many of our Christmas sweets as we were able to make here. We had to explain that peppernuts were not like the peppernuts they sell in the stores here that are literally nuts covered in pepper. They thought it was funny that ours were called that when they had no pepper and no nuts in them.
After lunch we enjoyed visiting, playing in the ocean, hop scotch drawn in the wet sand and a little cricket and American football by the 5 youth present. Cricket, curried duck and a palm tree lined beach on Christmas. What a lovely day.
Barb

Even before that, we went to a candlelight service early on Christmas morning. It started at 5:30, and since the one we attended was held in the church right downstairs from our apartment, that was very convenient. So we got up at 5:00 and went downstairs very soon. We didn't even need to eat breakfast because that was provided as a part of the service. It was still dark at the beginning of the service at 5:30 in the morning, but it got light pretty fast. There were candles set all around the church, but the overhead lights were on too. The service was basically like a regular church service, and for the rest of the day I kept thinking it was Sunday! My family did a special again, and we did the same song that we had already done at 3 Christmas Programs, so we have had plenty chances to get good at it, I guess! By the end of the service, the candle at the very front was only a pile of wax and it was dripping all over the floor. So I was very surprised when I walked to the back of the church at the end and the candles at the back were still really tall! After the service was over, they served 'breakfast' for us, but I thought it was more like any regular meal. They had bread, rolls, ham, turkey, and chicken along with condiments for a sandwich, plus some people brought breakfast things and some people even brought dessert. I think it's impossible to go hungry in Trinidad!
~Roxy

Well, we still are out of water. We've been out since last Friday, so this is day 8. Towards the beginning, someone called the firetrucks and they came and filled the water tanks for us. So, that lasted us a few days. We asked the person who did that for us if we could call the firetrucks and they'd fill our tanks again, but we learned that if we place a request it would at least be a few days before they come and with the Christmas holidays, it complicates everything. Luckily, we were able to talk to our neighbor who filled our tanks with his hose. It makes it harder, though, to have to share water with the church. Like, after the church service yesterday, we found that there was a toilet in the women's bathroom that was still running. We could have never noticed and it would have wasted a lot of our water. We're lucky enough to have found some sources of water, but we still have to conserve a lot. We're hoping that WASA (I forget what it stands for, but that's the water company in Trinidad) will come fix our leak on Monday. That's our next hope since today is Boxing Day and tomorrow is Sunday!
~Olivia

After Tobago

2009-12-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Hope Mennonite Church had their Christmas program. We also didn't have water at our apartment that day. So, we went and showered at some people's house who weren't there at that time. The youth leaders had told us that we should come around 4:30, so we could practice before it started at 6:00. They also asked us to do a special, so we decided to do "Mary's Boy Child" again. Well, we were just about to leave when they said that actually we should come around 5:30. So, we waited and got there around 5:30. Most of the youth were there by then, but the leaders still weren't there. Anyways, it didn't start until around 7:00. We were planning to have the program first and then the meal, but since it was so late and everyone was hungry, we had the meal first. After a nice meal, our family did "Mary's Boy Child". But, since our water jug was now full, my mom had to use my flute case to do percussion. After we were finished, Roxy and I had to hurry and get into our costumes for the Christmas program. They didn't have enough staffs, so I was the only shepherd without a staff. I liked how they had the meal, so people were able to talk more and spend time with each other. We were a little disappointed we didn't get to see the Charlieville Christmas program, though, which was going on at the same time. But, we still made it to 3 out of the 5 Christmas programs, and we were planning to go to the 6th but it got canceled.
~Olivia

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! It seems like so much more than only 4 days!! Yesterday after church, our family drove up a VERY winding and narrow mountain road to get to a place called Lopinot (but the t is silent). We took a picnic lunch to the savanna there and ate and (some of us) played on the tyre swings. (Tyre is the British spelling, so that's how it's spelled here, but it took some getting used to!) Then we took a little walk around the Lopinot historical site. There was a self-guided walking tour that we did. We had heard that we could hear good parang music up there, but the parang festival there had just ended. Parang is a type of music you hear around Christmas that comes from a Spanish background. Although we have been hearing parang on the radio for literally the last 100 days, we have only heard it once in person. So we were looking forward to hearing more, but as it turned out we didn't get to. But then we talked to one of the men in charge, and he said that he wouldn't disappoint us, and then he opened this cupboard and took out a quatro (what I would call a ukulele) and two rhythm instruments: a chak-chak (maracas) and a tock-tock (a block of of wood with a mallet). He gave the chak-chak to Olivia and the tock-tock to me. So instead of just listening to parang, we actually got to participate!
~Roxy

The girls have made reference to several events of the weekend. Let me fill in a few details. In our last blog we told of our lovely, lovely 3 nights in Tobago. It was such a sunny, relaxing time for our family. Unfortunately, when we returned we were greeted with a series of difficulties. Late on the night we returned we found a message that the other Mennonite missionary has been experiencing health problems that have become serious enough that he and his familiy needed to travel back to the states today for him to receive some tests. Richard Keeler called to ask if one of us could fill in for him on Sunday. Richard agreed to bring the sermon that day. We continue to hold Richard and spouse Margaret in our prayers and were happy to be of help in a small way as they prepared to leave.
The next item to deal with was our car. While we had successfully gotten the fender repaired while we were gone, we returned to find that the fan had gone out. After a hot weekend of travel without air conditioning, we got it fixed today. The issue was so small that the mechanic refused to even charge us, which was nice.
Later on Friday we again lost water. We've spent a fair amount of time trying to get someone to repair another leak in our line that prevents water from getting to our house and will probably need to spend more. The latest word is that they are hoping to get someone to assess the situation before Christmas, but can't promise anything.
On Saturday we learned that our neighbor Jameel's brother had died. Actually he had been murdered. Trinidad has an extremely high murder rate. It is 10:00 pm as I write this and Richard is with him, having given him a ride to the funeral home. We will attend the funeral tomorrow morning.
Our lives are very full indeed. We are grateful to know that we can be of service to those around us. We even found a little time today to begin (yes, I did say begin) our Christmas shopping. It is hard to believe that it is only a few days away.
~Barb

Tobago!

2009-12-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

With the school term over, our family decided to do as the Trinis do. We took a Christmas holiday in Tobago. The country we are in is called Trinidad and Tobago. It is mainly made up of the two islands after which it is named. About 95% of the population lives where we do on the island of Trinidad, and that is also where all of the Mennonite churches are. But when one wants a vacation, most people here go to the island of Tobago.
One can either travel there by small plane or by ferry. We took the ferry which takes about 2 1/2 hours. We were told that we should all take sea sickness medicine before we went which we did. The sea can get pretty rough, but we were all fine. On the way home the trip was much smoother because we traveled with the wind.
The two islands are quite different. Trinidad is very industrial. We learned recently, for instance that it is one of the top greenhouse gas producers per capita in the world. Tobago, on the other hand, is much more of the stereotype of a Caribbean island. It is laid back, quiet and absolutely picturesque. We took the ferry over on Monday evening and returned Thursday evening. It was a glorious several days and our big excursion for the year.
~Barbara

On our first full day in Tobago (Tuesday) we got to go out in the ocean in a glass-bottom boat! You see, we were on our way to the beach (we could walk to it) when we got confused and wanted to double-check that we were headed in the right direction. So we asked somebody, but he said that he didn't know because he was from Trinidad, not Tobago. But just then another man came up and told us that we were going the right way, and also that he had a glass-bottom boat! He was part of the crew of a boat called Miss Jo. There are a lot of different glass-bottom boats that you can get tickets for, and I guess people just own them and sell tickets. So an hour later our family all piled in the back of a pickup truck and headed from one beach to a dock where the boat picked us up. From there we rode out into the ocean a ways, then stopped a while and everyone assembled on the bottom floor of the boat. (We had been on the top deck of the boat.) There was a sort of well at the bottom where there was glass and we could look through. Then the captain explained about some of the "plants and fishes". Then we continued on until we got to Buccoo Reef. (When Trinis or Tobagonians say Buccoo it sounds more like boca or boco.) There they anchored the boat and threw out a rope with a floating ring at the end of it. Then they handed out snorkeling gear and sometimes life jackets to those who wanted to go snorkeling (which included all of our family). Then we got to go snorkeling!! We could follow along the rope and stick our heads under and see all the coral and everything! After everyone got back in the boat we proceeded to 'The Famous Nylon Pool'. This is a place that is out in the middle of the ocean, but shallow enough to easily stand in and warmer than some of the other water. All the sand there was made of coral that had been crushed up by the ocean. It was not very fine or soft, but apparently it was good for your skin if you rubbed it on (which was slightly painful, actually). Then we got back in the boat (on the top again) and rode back to the beach.
~Roxy

Most of Wednesday and a smaller part of Tuesday we spent at a beach near our hotel called Store Bay. It was really beautiful. If you looked out on the ocean, the water was a really pretty bright color of blue. I've never seen water so blue. It looked completely picturesque with the palm trees and the sand and the water and the waves crashing on the beach. The water was pretty rough while we were there, so we couldn't go very far out. Mostly we just stayed at the edge. One of my favorite things to do there was to sit down in the area just beyond where the waves crashed. I thought it felt like I was in a dishwasher. We also rented beach chairs with an umbrella, so we could just sit there and watch. And right before we left, we bought fun drinks there. Me and Roxy got a mix of pineapple, cherry and coconut cream. My parents got a punch made of sorrell (a fairly common soft drink here, made from a sorrell flower). For Wednesday lunch, me and my parents got the crab and dumplings which everyone told us we should try. Roxy got some roti with potato since she doesn't like seafood. I thought the taste of the crab and dumplings was very good, but it was very messy and it took a lot of work to actually get to the meat, which there wasn't much of. I got extremely messy eating it. I looked around and saw some other people eating the same thing who weren't nearly as messy as I was. I think some were staring at me. We spent a little time at another beach called Pigeon Point, but there was lots of seaweed and coral in the water. I kept stepping on the coral and it hurt and Roxy got so much seaweed caught in her hair. It was a mess! I preferred Store Bay, since it was so beautiful, even thought the water was kind of rough.
~Olivia

We had the option of taking our car over on the ferry, but decided against it. This was due in part to the cost, but also because I was looking forward to having a few days off of driving. As it turns out, leaving the car in Trinidad also provided an opportunity to get the fender fixed after the little accident we had a couple of weeks ago. Our friends the Jaiminis were kind enough to give us rides to and from the ferry terminal in Port of Spain. In Tobago, we caught taxis to our hotel on Monday, then back to the ferry on Thursday. On Tuesday & Wednesday, we simply walked where we needed to go. The hotel we had booked, on the recommendation of some of our other Trini friends, was easy walking distance to Store Bay beach. It was also close enough to walk to Pigeon Point, although that turned out to be a bit longer of a hike than we had anticipated (about a mile). There were plenty of restaurants and shops within walking distance to take care of what we needed, too. Our room included a small kitchen as well, so we didn't have to eat all of our meals out. There were also two pools where we were able to swim when we didn't feel like getting all sandy, or when the surf was too rough. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Tobago, and are hoping that we might have the chance to go back for another visit sometime while we're here.
~Richard

Christmas Programs

2009-12-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the Christmas program at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church. It was scheduled to start at 3:30, and we arrived around 2:30 to help get things ready. Mostly, people were putting together bags of treats for the kids afterward. Soon people started to arrive. The chairs filled up fast and soon there weren't enough chairs for everyone. I was surprised at how many people came considering that there are usually close to 20 people on a regular Sunday morning. We heard at the end that there were around 150 people, but we think that might have been a little high. The service consisted of the drama the youths had been working on, some singing of Christmas carols, our family performing Mary's Boy Child, my parents performing The Virgin Mary (on the spot, just to kill time), some people performing Away in a Manger and the preacher saying something. One of the things I noticed was that there was a very high proportion of children to adults. From what we heard, there were about 120 children and 30 adults. That means that mostly children came without their parents. But, they could walk because I think pretty much everyone except some of the members of the church were from the village. But, I'm still amazed in general at how many children come to church without parents.
~Olivia

We just returned from the Chaguanas Christmas program. We had been asked to sing a song there also. It seems that providing music in the churches has been a fairly major part of our work here. How fun. This morning we were at Charlieville Church where Richard preached and they needed someone who knew The First Noel well enough to lead it. They spontaneously called on me and all seemed so impressed that I could lead it.
Tonight I got to play the water jug again as percussion for Mary's Boy Child while Roxy played violin and Olivia played flute. But the really fun part was some of the other music we heard. Most of the time the music in the churches here is very American. But tonight we had one group that included a steel pan. That was the first time we really heard and saw it live. Another group performed another kind of traditional Spanish music called parang. While we have been hearing it on the radio, this is the first live group we've heard. All this happened along with skits by the 2 cell groups, the youth group and the kids club from the church. The program took place in the Savannah (park) under and around a tent. Several times during the program the rain fell hard and everyone had to try to squish together under the tent. Then it would stop and we'd wipe off the chairs and try spreading out again. I think by the end everyone was somewhat damp, but happy nonetheless.
~Barb

Just a few observations from the two Christmas programs the last couple of days:

Both of the programs were held outside since neither of the churches have enough space inside for more than about 40 people. This marks the first time for me that I've attended an outdoor Christmas program without having to really bundle up in layers. In fact, at the program yesterday afternoon I was wearing short sleeves and still sweating in the heat. The rain and darkness made things much cooler this evening, but I still didn't need even a light jacket.
Both of the churches also used the programs as a significant time to connect to the communities in which they meet. We had gone with members of the Carlsen Field Mennonite Church last weekend to hand out invitations in the neighborhood. I was amazed at how much response they got from this effort. A church that usually has about 20 people on a Sunday morning (essentially 3-4 families) ended up with around 150 for the Christmas program.

We look forward to another Christmas program at Hope Mennonite Church next weekend.
~Richard

School Ends

2009-12-10T13:28:00.000-08:00

Today, I had a Christmas party at school. My class has been doing something we call "Angels and Earthlings". Each person draws a name and that is their "Earthling". Then the "Angel" buys something for their "Earthling" every few days. So, today each person bought their "Earthling" a nicer Christmas gift today. We also had a lot of food and I am completely stuffed. After school, we stopped by my friend's house and they got us each a coconut off their coconut tree. Her brother used a machete to cut the coconut off the tree and her dad chopped the top off the coconuts so we could get to the jelly, also with a machete. My dad and I each had ours there. They cut a hole in the top and we drank the water out of it. It tasted pretty bitter and not very good, I thought, but it was fun because I got to drink out of a coconut with a straw. Then, they cut it in half. I was lucky, apparently, because I got jelly. So, they ripped off a little part of the coconut shell and I used that as a spoon to scrape out the jelly. The jelly was pretty much the same as the water just more slimy. We brought home Roxy's and one for my mom, too.
~Olivia

I also had a class party. Ours was smaller and less organized, but I enjoyed it anyways. In the morning, I brought 13 red balloons to decorate the class, but by the time the bell rang at 2:30 only 4 remained! For lunch, we ordered pizza, brought chips (of many types), and for dessert had cake and ice cream. Plus there were 2 kinds of soft drink. My teacher also brought a tree, a laptop, a projector and many movies. We ended up watching Superman and Batman; Public Enemies and Star Trek. Me and the two other girls in my class had a gift exchange, but our class's Angels and Earthlings game long ago got squashed. (People say things get squashed when they get canceled.) Today something happened that has not happened to me in a few years. There were more girls in my class than boys!!
~Roxy

While the girls were finishing up school for the year, we have been busy trying to finish up grades. In one of my classes I gave a final exam which meant that I had all the papers from that and was able to grade them. From my other class I have been waiting for final papers which I asked to have turned in by last Friday. However, the students technically have until tomorrow to get in assignments. So, I so far have 3 out of 12. That means I'll either have to work really hard this weekend to grade some from tomorrow or I'll be giving some very low grades to all those who do not turn theirs in.
I've been thinking lately about some of the things Americans say that make Trinis laugh at us. 1. "Americans often eat soup when it's cold outside." We got such funny looks when we relayed that piece of information. If they waited to have cold weather here, they'd never be able to have soup. 2. When asked the obvious question, "What color are oranges?" and we answered, "orange." Here they are bright green or pale yellow. It is orange season. 3. When we tell someone that Americans do not eat pizza covered with in either ketchup, mustard or hot pepper sauce. Sometimes Americans just eat it plain.
~Barb

This has (thankfully) been a less eventful week than last week. In particular, the drive to take the girls to school in the morning has been much shorter. I think many of the schools actually had their end of term tests last week. So a lot of students simply didn't go to school this week, which meant that there was significantly less traffic on the roads. Tomorrow is technically the last day of school for the term. However, the note we received from the principal last week stated in bold capital letters that STUDENTS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO ATTEND on Friday, 11 December. We took that to mean that, while the school will be officially "open," the faculty would really rather not have any students around to supervise that day. I have been happy for the shorter commuting times this week, and am looking forward to having a few weeks off of the morning drive.
~Richard

End of Semester

2009-12-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

On Friday we started end of term tests. Actually, Olivia had a few starting already on Thursday. We had two tests on Friday (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). And the same thing will happen Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Olivia is scheduled to have another test on Thursday morning, but Roxy is not and each class is also having a Christmas party that day. And the test Olivia has on Thursday morning, she took already on Friday. So, that seems a bit confusing. The tests are held in a big room with everyone in the whole school sitting together. People from different forms (grades) are put next to each other to prevent any cheating (e.g. someone in form 5 next to someone in form 2). The test in the morning was scheduled to be two and a half hours, but all the form ones and twos, including Roxy, finished before an hour and a half was up. But, they were not allowed to leave or talk or do anything except sit silently for the next hour or more. The form fours and fives, including Olivia, took most of the time. We think that the form one and two test should have been scheduled for an hour and a half, but the form fives and fours was about good for two and a half hours. Our school is so small that there are no form threes and we have not quite figured out what the 3 form sixes do all day (when they even show up in uniform). We are hoping that Roxy won't be so bored the next few mornings.
~Olivia and Roxy

While the girls are finishing up their term with tests, the classes that we've been teaching are already done. WITC has two weeks of finals, November 30-December 10, but the finals for all of our classes were this past week. So now we are busy grading final papers and exams. The semester ends with a luncheon this Friday, the 11th at the college. Final grades are due on December 17, but we are planning to turn ours in at the luncheon so that we will be able to enjoy our holiday in Tobago the following week. Teaching philosophy has been a very interesting and rewarding experience for me. I'm sure I learned more than my students did this semester. I'm looking forward to next term when I will be more familiar with how the school operates and will also be teaching homiletics (preaching), which is much more in my field.
~Richard

This week I gave one final, had a last class (which did not have a final, only a paper due) and preached today at the Diego Martin Church were we will be attending regularly next semester. It was good to be involved in all those activities, and it is good on Sunday afternoon, to enjoy the completion of them all for the week. Next week I grade final exams and papers.
The other activities dominating our week had to do with the car. Each day the traffic seemed to worsen this week stretching the normal one and a half hour morning commute for Richard to two and a half hours. It climaxed on Thursday morning when a truck refused to yield as he was changing lanes and hit the car. This was shortly after they had stopped to pick up one of the girls' school friends who has begun catching a ride in with us since her family does not have a car. Thankfully no one was injured. The speed at which this happened was a morning crawl. Still, Richard will have a fender to see to next week. Then this morning on our way to church we had our third flat tire since we've arrived. The one that was flat this time was one we had already replaced once. I don't know how much of the problem is the crazy condition of the roads and how much is the condition of the tires. In any case, that will also be something to attend to. When we finished changing the tire (and by we I mean Richard), I called the church to let them know that we would be late. By then the rain had started.. They thanked me for calling and then told me that they were still out of water (now they are in their third week of that) and were also out of electricity. When we did arrive the church service had already begun and the electricity had been restored. Our late arrival was not a big deal in any way to anyone. It's just part of how life works here.
~Barb

Joint Service and Advent

2009-11-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T19:10:00.001-08:00

It's been an interesting school week, although we weren't too surprised about that. Monday was a pretty normal day, but somewhat low attendance. It was also very rainy. It rained most of the day and most of the night, and was still raining when we went to school on Tuesday. Students and teachers trickled in, and by mid-morning, only 6 out of 12 students in my class were there but all the teachers were there. But, then the principal was afraid the bridge that you have to go over to get there was going to flood out, so she sent everyone home at about noon. Then, yesterday again only 6 of 12 students (but not all the same ones as Tuesday) in my class were there. Today Roxy and I just stayed home for Thanksgiving and helped cook and clean mostly. And there's no school tomorrow because of the commonwealth meetings happening here.
~Olivia

This morning was really fun! We noted that it might have been the first time Olivia and I really helped out with the cooking (well, at least with more than the pies)! We made turkey, stuffing, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and zwieback. We even bought whipped cream to go with the pies! Since we don't have any recipes here really, we found a lot online, except we called my grandma and asked her to email us the zwieback recipe. I had never made zwieback before, just eaten it! We also found that we could watch the parade online! We found a website online where an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan had streaming NBC where we could watch it! It was really choppy, though, especially when it was on full screen, so we had to watch it pretty small. But we were also excited to find that it was our favourite channel to watch the parade on, because since it shows from the end of the route, it has Broadway numbers that it shows too! So our morning was a pleasant mixture of cooking and enjoyment!
~Roxy

As the girls have noted, we are enjoying an American Thanksgiving holiday today. We had made the decision earlier in the week to keep the girls home from school to celebrate. Frankly, they are probably the only kids in their school who haven't already missed a lot of days. We've noticed that people here are more likely than in the U.S. to stay home from school or work if they're feeling just a little under the weather or if they have some sort of personal event like a birthday or minor religious holiday. We thought that celebrating Thanksgiving was worth missing a day of school. We've enjoyed all the preparations. For the most part, the fixings were not too hard to find. The one exception is the cranberries. We had to search a bit to find those, but we finally did!
It's also something of a celebration for me today as last night was my last regular class session. I do still have a fair amount of work to do, however. My students all turned in the big papers that they've been working on all semester, and which I now have to grade. I also need to finish writing the final exam that they will take on Monday. Then, of course, I'll need to grade those, too. But today is a day to take off from all that--to celebrate and give thanks for the many blessings we have. We again are grateful to so many of you reading this blog back in the U.S. for your support in helping us get here, and to everyone here in Trinidad for the ways in which we have been welcomed and made to feel home here as well.
~Richard

It's about 10:15 and our Thanksgiving guests recently left. Richard is finishing up some clean up. We've put all the food away. We had a wonderful evening, but we are glad that tomorrow will be a holiday and we can sleep in. Because today was not a day off for most, we weren't able to begin supper until around 7:00.
We have enjoyed the hospitality of many while we have been here, but one family in particular has really taken care of us. Ramesh is one of the Mennonite pastors here and Babes is known far and wide for her wonderful cooking. We have referred to them often in this blog. They live very close to us. Babes is always sending us food. Earlier this week when we stopped to buy eggs from her she gave us some plantains and also some five finger fruit (often called star fruit in the US) from her tree. So tonight was a great opportunity to share a meal with them and their two young adult sons, Avi and Arvin. We discussed how Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, explaining the food, family, football and shopping. They shared that in Trinidad Christians call a thanksgiving celebration whenever something good happens, an important marker in their lives or perhaps something they have been praying about that comes to pass. Then they throw a big party inviting all their friends and relatives, serving a large meal and having a time of worship.
Today we indeed have much to be thankful for. We are thankful to all those in Trinidad who have welcomed us. We are thankful for our wonderful family including the extended family we were thinking of especially today. And we are thankful for our friends in the US, many of whom have showed us your support and care in so many ways. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
~Barb

Church & Holidays

2009-11-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

Living above a church means that your life is intrinsically connected to the church. For instance, we are supposed to turn on the light for the cross on the outside of the building each night when it gets dark. The switch for it is in our living room. That also means that when I get up at night to use the bathroom, my way is lit by a huge cross nightlight that fills my living room.
Recently, we came home from our teaching responsibilities to find that the congregation was having a night of prayer. Since our bedroom overlooks the sanctuary and the sound from downstairs rises easily to our bedroom, we moved our mattress into the living room, where the cross kept things very light, but the enthusiastic prayers and songs were not so noticeable. Although we have preached a couple of times at this church, it is not the church to which we have been primarily assigned. So it is one of 6 congregations inviting us to its events. Last weekend they had revival meetings. Several of the Mennonite churches here have them in November. I think it has to do with preparing for Christmas. They had 3 speakers, one for each night. Friday, the first night, we were teaching. As we pulled in and went up our stairs, we could hear the evangelist preaching. The girls remarked that she reminded them of Martin Luther King in the way her voice rose and fell. On Saturday and Sunday evenings Richard and I joined the congregation. Roxy and Olivia spent both evenings at youth groups for 2 of the other churches. They did that again this weekend. Meanwhile Chaguanas Mennonite Church was having their revival meetings this weekend and asked our family to bring a song. So after the girls got home from one youth group last night we hurried to the savannah (park) there where we set up a keyboard and Olivia accompanied the other 3 of us as we sang Praise, I will praise you Lord.
~Barb

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. OK, not in the sense that one might expect back in Kansas where they've had their first snowfall of the year. With just over a month till Christmas, it's still 90 degrees Fahrenheit almost every day. But the continuous hot weather doesn't keep the Trinis from pulling out all the stops to celebrate the holiday. In fact, since there aren't particular markers to begin the Christmas season like changes in the weather or other holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween, people here are free to start celebrating whenever they want. We were in a mall four weeks ago that was already fully decorated for Christmas. It's not unusual to see houses blazing with Christmas lights, either. There are decorations along the highway near our apartment that have been there almost since we arrived, incorporating symbols for all the major religious holidays here: Eid (Muslim), Divali (Hindu) and Christmas (Christianity). And several radio stations are playing Christmas music all day long. One of them has been advertising their "100 Days of Christmas" for some time now. Since it never snows here, it's interesting to hear how the lyrics of some of the secular carols are sometimes adjusted. Christmas is also a time when the Spanish heritage of the island is more celebrated. Even though Spain claimed Trinidad for 300 years, and even though we are only seven miles from the coast of South America, there is usually very little Spanish influence evident in the culture. But Christmas celebrations include pastelles (a food similar to Latin American tomales) and parang (songs often sung in Spanish that exhibit a more Latin beat).
~Richard

School? We're not quite sure what this week is going to look like concerning school. There has been a 5-day strike going on which started last Friday. The idea is kind of vague, but it is sort of a general strike against the government, but maybe also about crime and the government's lack of response to that. On Friday and Saturday people were encouraged to wear red, today there was a big rally somewhere, and tomorrow and Tuesday people are encouraged to skip work. So there was some discussion and controversy both at school and youth group tonight about whether or not school was happening tomorrow. We decided that we would go tomorrow and if basically no one showed up we would not come Tuesday. We have, however, already decided to skip school on Thursday because of Thanksgiving. Some of our friends who are Hindu have already missed some school because of minor Hindu holidays that are not celebrated by the people as a whole, so we thought that this wouldn't be too big of a deal. Plus Thursday might be called as a national holiday later this week anyways because of the commonwealth meetings being held here. The meetings (including people such as Queen Elizabeth) will start on Friday, and the day that they arrive may be called a national holiday because one of the main roads may be shut down to everyone except the leaders of countries arriving! So we have been hoping that the day they shut everything down will be Thursday, and then we will be sure we don't miss anything! (But we probably wouldn't anyways...)
~Roxy

Roxy and I just got home from youth group. The youth groups have been practicing for their Christmas programs for a while now. At Hope Mennonite Church, where we were tonight, the Christmas play is written from the shepherd's point of view. It's more common here to not have any sort of script. One of the leaders just got the idea and he tells people what to do and if other people have ideas, they can contribute, so there's some improvisation involved. I'm playing one of the shepherds (the one who gets frightened easily). After we were done practicing for the play, we went out into the middle of the road and played some games. This is hazardous in many ways. For one thing, it was at least 6:00, maybe 6:30 by the time we went out there, so it was pretty dark already. Everyone was wearing flip-flops, so we just kicked them off in the grass and went barefoot. The road had lots of little rocks and bumps in it and wasn't the most comfortable surface to run on, but no one else seemed to notice that. There were a few injuries, however, including me tripping in a pothole and falling, but it was still mostly fun. Whenever a car came, we'd just stop our game, grab everything, run to the side, let the car pass and then continue the game as if nothing ever happened.
~Olivia

Baptism on the Beach

2009-11-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday, we spent much of the day at the beach with the members of Carlsen Field Mennonite Church. In addition to enjoying some time with the sand and the waves, we were there to celebrate the baptism of two new members. We headed out first thing this morning in a caravan of several vehicles. The plan had been to stop at a river for the baptism service. But after a few stops that proved to be unsatisfactory, we ended up at Salybia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean--about an hour and a half drive from our place. It was our first visit to the eastern shore of the island. We had our worship service right there on the beach. The climax of the service came when Pastor Ramesh and one of the elders went out into the ocean with the two young women who were being baptized and performed the baptisms. Afterwards, we all shared a meal together in celebration, then spent several hours swimming, kayaking and "liming" on the beach.
~Richard

Earlier this week Roxy said, "I'm really glad we'll be at the beach on Sunday because otherwise I'd be feeling sad about missing the fundraiser." I think she summed it up for us all. For those of you reading this who are not from Manhattan, this was our church's big weekend when we serve a soup lunch to between 550-600 people. It is a lot of hard work, but also one of everyone's favorite times. We all work together. So, we have been especially thinking about our friends in Manhattan this weekend. However, if one can't be there, the beach is a pretty good alternative. This was only our second time at the beach since we've arrived. One might assume we would go more often, but it is still a drive and most of our days just roll past with the things of ordinary life. Today was special, though. It was the first time for our children to witness an immersion baptism. That seemed fitting for an island church. It was also our first time in a kayak, our first time having a picnic centered around pelau and our first time witnessing a Spiritual Baptist group. This group is a local religious group with no connection to what we in the US would think of as Baptists. I still don't know much about it, but it seems to incorporate African tribal religions and pieces of Christianity. Their group was gathered in one area of the beach while ours was in another.
~Barb

I thought I'd mention also that two of the people getting baptized decided not to get baptized the night before, so they changed the location of the baptism. But, they didn't exactly decide where it was going to be until we got there. It was really nice to have the church service on the beach, facing the ocean, and we had the beach almost completely to ourselves. It was so pretty and peaceful. Although there were some vultures that were on the beach too, which I thought was a little creepy. After the baptism and everything, Roxy and I took quick showers and headed off to youth group at Hope Mennonite Church. We've been going there pretty regularly lately. And they're working on their Christmas program now, so we've been involved in that.
~Olivia

Like Olivia mentioned, the beach was really pretty. Actually, it was almost like a sandbar at a point. The waves of the ocean crashed against one shore of the beach, while on the other side a calm river flowed. Depending on how high the tide was, there was sometimes a small passage between the two. We played in the river for a while before we decided to try the ocean. We quickly chose to return to the river! The ocean (although being very blue and pretty) was very rocky, had sudden drop-offs that you could not see under the water, had an extremely big undertow, and washed lots of black gunk up on us! Another advantage of the river was that the group rented a 2-person kayak for a portion of the afternoon and all of our family got a turn on it at some point in the afternoon (although not all at the same time)! None of us having been on a kayak before, it was really fun to try! We were glad for the life jackets, though. Although the day started out calm and peaceful on the beach like Olivia said, by about 2:00 in the afternoon, there were party buses and it was starting to smell like alcohol and, in some places, smoking. That's about the time our group decided to leave!
~Roxy

Perceptions

2009-11-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

It's so interesting here, how there is such a variety of race, but very very few white people. Some people are very fascinated by us because we're white and they haven't really ever known someone who's white before. Like, one of my teachers doesn't seem to understand how my eyes can be hazel without colored contacts. Some people don't understand how Roxy and I can have different colored hair and eyes, yet still be sisters. Both my eyes and hair are lighter than hers and here, everyone has black hair and dark brown eyes no matter whether they're related or not. When we were at the water park last Sunday, there were some little pedal boats there. At one point we were in one of the boats and Roxy had a little girl who came with the group from Hope Mennonite Church sitting on her lap (she couldn't reach the pedal otherwise). I was sitting in the seat next to them and Roxy asked me if her face was red, because she was worried it was sunburned. Before I had a chance to say, "Yes, you look very sunburned", the girl looked up at her and said, "No, you still look white to me." Then, some people from school went to the same water park yesterday and my teacher who I mentioned earlier was there and she was very surprised that my hair got darker when it got wet. She asked me why my hair was brown and when I explained to her that it gets that way when it gets wet, she asked, "So, tomorrow, once it has dried and everything, it will still be blonde, right?"
~Olivia

This week, my class has been preparing for a Social Studies test on the geography of the Caribbean. So I have been learning the capitals and locations of countries such as Montserrat and St. Lucia, but my Social Studies teacher did not know that Uzbekistan (larger than any of these countries) even existed! And there is no world map or globe at our school to check this, only a map of the Caribbean! One day this week, my teacher had to spend half the time explaining how 2 different countries (Haiti and Dominican Republic) could both be on the same piece of land and still be 2 different countries. Some people in my class, when looking at this Caribbean map, were stunned to find that Cuba was larger than Trinidad! One time when we were over at the house of one of the local Mennonite pastors here (who is originally from Guyana), we were watching a documentary on Guyana. His wife (also originally from Guyana) made the comment, "You know, Guyana is a pretty big country. It's even bigger than Trinidad!"
~Roxy

As Roxy has noted, many Trinis have a difficult time grasping the size of the United States. Having lived their entire lives on an island that is only about 30 miles wide and 60 miles long with a little over a million people living on it, they simply have no reference point to conceive of a nation with more than 300 million residents. The kids have had to explain a number of times that, no, they've never met Miley Cyrus. (Hannah Montana is at least as popular here as it is in the States.)
Many of the people whom we've met here have visited the U.S. But for a number of them, their experiences have been limited to Florida and/or New York City. Quite a few seem to have family members living in those places. So their first question is often whether we've been to Disneyworld. Or they may start talking to us about where they went in Brooklyn or Queens. We've given up trying to explain that we've actually never been to NY ourselves, as that seems to be beyond many people's comprehension (just as it is for many New Yorkers). We also tend not to mention that our hometown is Manhattan, Kansas since that only confuses matters more.
~Richard

What does a mother do? Olivia and Roxy recently mentioned to their friends that their mom just learned to make roti. Instead of being impressed, they could not believe that their mother had never made roti before. Many women here may make roti every day or every other day. It is almost as strange as having a mother who does not know how to tie a sari. On the other hand, having a mother who does not drive is pretty normal. Some women drive here, but many do not.
When Olivia was asking her friend about how they celebrated Divali, after talking a bit about it, she asked Olivia, "How do you celebrate Divali?" She knew Olivia was Christian rather than Hindu, but many people here celebrate all of the 3 big holidays - Divali, Eid and Christmas. It is just a matter of which neighbor plays host. We are beginning to consider how we might host all of our neighbors at Christmas time. With the knowledge that America is a bigger country than Trinidad I suppose it seems odd that some people there live in communities in which they do not have regular contact with all of these religions.
~Barb

Spiritual Emphasis Week

2009-11-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

As we mentioned in our last post, this was Spiritual Emphasis Week at WITC, so we didn't have any classes to teach. Therefore we had a little more time on our hands. (I did still preach this morning at Charlieville, so needed some time to prepare for that.) One of the fun activities we engaged in was a visit to Mount St. Benedict for tea. Mount St. Benedict is a Catholic monastery located high on a hillside in the Northern Range that is noted for having one of the best views on the island. So on Friday, we picked the girls up from school and headed straight over to the Pax Guesthouse at the monastery where we had reservations for tea at 3:00. The formal dining room is currently under renovation, but we enjoyed our tea, scones and cake on the verandah overlooking the Caroni Plain. We also met another American family that was checking into the guesthouse. They are here for three years as the father teaches at the University of T & T. It was very peaceful up there above all the traffic that marks our daily lives. It was also rather interesting to look down at the airplanes coming in for a landing at the airport far below.
~Richard

In addition to Richard's sermon preparation for today, we kept busy with several other work related tasks. In addition to our leadership team meeting at the Diego Martin church on Monday evening, I spent some of my time grading papers for class. But another activity that marked our week was baking. If you asked our family what food from the United States we most miss, I think we might all agree that it is fresh milk. The milk we get here is not sold in the dairy case. It is reconstituted powdered milk and even that is very expensive. Most Trinis do not eat milk and cereal for breakfast as our family is used to doing. So, with more time on our hands this week, Richard and I decided to bake breads for breakfast more like Trinis this week. I had also been wanting to learn to make roti, the staple bread here. I finally arranged for my lesson with Babes Jaimani, one of the pastor's wives here and a woman whose good cooking I had heard about before we arrived. She said I had to start with sada roti which is the everyday roti. It is a flat bread, much like pita bread, made on top of the stove on a tawa or flat stone. While she was over, she also taught me how to make homemade fry bake, which is what you make for bake and shark, and pholourie from a mix. It was fun to begin my Trini cooking lessons. Adding up all the things we cooked this week we made homemade sada roti and fry bake twice (once with Babes and once later on my own), pholourie, 2 tea rings, granola bars, chocolate cake, pizza crust and peanut butter cookies for an event at the girls' school. It was good to have the time to enjoy these creative cooking ventures.
~Barb

'The event at the girls' school' was a gospel concert last night. (It occurred to us that it was Halloween, but that is a holiday not celebrated here, so no one else would have thought of that.) Each household was responsible for selling 10 tickets. As it turned out (although we tried) we only sold 4 tickets--one for each of us. So last night we were driving up to the school when we drove into rain. By the time we got to the school, it was still raining, and it was also apparent that it had been raining for some time by then. They had 2 small tents set up--one over the stage and one over the sound equipment. People were all crowded around under the tent for sound equipment, and any other place they could find shelter. Soon the rain settled down, and some of the teachers at the school came by all the chairs, dumped off the water, and wiped them down with rags. People started meandering over to the chairs, finally getting to sit and watch the concert, only to feel the raindrops again in a few minutes! We were excited to finally see a live steel pan though.
~Roxy

Today, our family was invited to go to a water park with some people from the churches. A group of people from the church in Chaguanas was going along with the Hope youth group, who Roxy and I have met with some. My parents decided not to go partly because my dad had to preach at Charlieville Mennonite Church this morning. So, Roxy and I got picked up around 7:40 this morning, and with a stop for doubles, made it to Hope Mennonite Church. Now, a water park here isn't exactly what I'd picture when someone says we're going to a water park. There aren't big rides. The one we went to had two big slides, which went into a small pool, about 4 1/2 feet deep, but just big enough for people to come off of the slides. Then there was a pool for smaller kids that was only about two feet deep but had a lot of small slides and was big enough to play around in. There was also just a big pool to swim around in that went from about 3-5 feet. The last thing they had was a big lake (that was dirty, you wouldn't want to swim in it) that had little pedal boats that you could ride around in. There were tires lining the edges to make it not as hard in case someone ran into it. On one of the tires, we saw a crab and two toads, one toad sitting on top of the other one. We spent all afternoon at the water park, and Roxy and I came home pretty sunburned even though I put on sunscreen 3 times. It was a fun afternoon, but I'm pretty exhausted, especially since I'm still recovering from a cold. My voice is pretty much gone after being sick, then going to a concert, where I had to yell to be heard, then singing a bunch in church today, and then spending all afternoon at the water park!
~Olivia

Random Reports

2009-10-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

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

News, Weather, Sports

2009-10-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

NEWS
People here, in Trinidad, seem at least as concerned about the swine flu as they are in the United States. There have now been 4 deaths from the swine flu now in Trinidad. In fact, some schools have closed down because of the swine flu, just as they have in the United States. The principal has been fairly clear that no one should come to school if they have any sort of symptoms of the swine flu. The other day, someone in my class came to school with a runny nose, and was sniffling all day, and the principal kept telling her she was going to send her home. She didn't, but she wouldn't let the girl share a textbook with anyone.
At school, we get free lunches from the government. People call them box lunches because they come in little white boxes. I think they are much better than the lunches that you have to pay for in the U.S. Well, people sometimes trash them all over the place and that sort of thing, and yesterday someone threw one at someone else. Then the principal used a lot of time and energy to figure out who it was, spending most of yesterday afternoon and I'm not completely sure she figured out who it was. But, anyway, so today, they made a rule that each person has to write his/her name on their box lunch, so they can find the culprit easier if that ever happens again. Personally, I think that is very funny.
~Olivia

WEATHER

Another hot day! We have found it harder to keep track of the month here, and there is no varying weather to act as a clue. It is hard to believe that it is nearing the end of October and still this hot! The all-time low in all recorded history of Trinidad and Tobago was 51 degrees Fahrenheit. Today was hotter than sometimes, with no rain. There is rain almost every day (this is the wet season) and while sometimes that can make it cooler, it can also make the whole day muggy for just one small bout of rain. But they are rarely small. However, as hot as I have found it, a couple days ago another girl in my class asked the teacher if she could please close the window because she was getting cold! I don't think I will ever be truly cold in Trinidad!
~Roxy

SPORTS
While sports fans in the U.S. are looking forward to the beginning of the World Series and are midway through football season, all attention here is on the nation's two favorite sports: cricket and football (what Americans know as soccer). In 2006, T&T became the smallest country to ever qualify for the FIFA (soccer) World Cup. This time, however the team had a disappointing showing in the World Cup qualifying round as they failed to win a single game over the last couple of months.
Right now, everyone's attention is on the national Twenty20 cricket team as they head into the finals of the Champions League T20 tournament in India. (Twenty20 is the shortest of the three versions of cricket played on the international level. A match is usually completed in a mere 3-4 hours.) The matches are carried live every morning on 2 of the 5 TV stations that we receive. They are then replayed in their entirety on both stations again in the evening for those who were working. This afternoon, I went to the supermarket just as the semifinal match ended. The TV screens that usually play ads were all tuned to the post-game show; and people were standing in the aisles all over the store watching it. No doubt TVs all over the country will be tuned in tomorrow as T&T takes on the New South Wales Blues for the championship. Hopes are high, as T&T already beat the Blues once earlier in the tournament!
~Richard

2009-10-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

So, last night was the actual Divali. My friend who invited me to the Divali celebration last weekend invited me last night to her house again. Yesterday was also her birthday. Daddy wasn't able to go because he wasn't feeling very well. We weren't sure what we should wear to it, but Roxy and I just wore pretty casual clothes. Then, when we got there, my friend went upstairs to change into something called a sari. It is a type of traditional Indian clothing that is very pretty and some Indian people here wear for special occasions. Her brothers were lighting little candle type things that they put all over their yard, called deyas. They let me and Roxy and Mommy light some, too. Then, my friend's mom came over and showed us where the food was and told us to eat supper. We ate supper with my friend's dad. Not many other guests had showed up yet. After a while, some people did start to show up. One of them was their neighbor who is in Roxy's class at school, and a friend of Roxy's. She also had on a sari. Then my friend and Roxy's friend decided they wanted us to wear saris too. So, they took us up to my friend's room where she had and extra sari, and something that is somewhat similar, but is called a salwar, I think, but that could be wrong. Anyways, that was really fun to dress up in those! I had a pink sari, and Roxy got the blue salwar. Then we went for a walk, which I will let Roxy write about.
~Olivia

Both of our friends from school who Olivia mentioned (My friend Stephanie in the red sari and Olivia's friend Dipika in the orange sari) live in a village called Bamboo 3. (Bamboo 1, Bamboo 2, and Bamboo 3 are all separate little villages.) The large majority of Bamboo 3 is Hindu, so there were a lot of deyas at almost every house we went by. They had a lot of packages of what we call sparklers but they call starlights, so we just lit them in the deyas by the side of the road. There were firecrackers being set off all over the road so we had to be careful not to step on them. (I don't think there are such thing as sidewalks in Trinidad...) On our walk, we also got to visit Stephanie's house and meet her family. It was nice to get to see a little of their village and their families.
~Roxy

There were many nice things about our experience last night. For one thing, the whole school system is very different here. We drive a long way to take our children to school as do others. They go to school with kids from a large area of the island. Therefore, we had not really gotten to meet any of the other children or their families. I feel like we are beginning to know Olivia's friend's family and had a chance to at least meet a family of one of Roxy's friends.
When we sat down to eat, the father of the hosting family came to sit and eat with us. As he began to explain to us the reasons for this Hindu celebration, we learned that he is a Hindu priest. So not only were we invited to a Hindu home, we were at the home of the priest of the village. I told him that I was a pastor. He was all about talking religion. He wanted to talk and talk. It's not every day that I get to share a meal with a Hindu priest and have a lively but friendly discussion of comparative religion.
The daughter came to me to get my permission for Olivia and Roxy to dress in the Indian garb. I gave it and she invited me up to help them change. She seemed to think that I, being a mom, would know how to tie Olivia's sari. I had no idea. She had only a vague idea even though she was wearing one. Apparently that is the job of the mother. She had to go get hers to show us all how. No, I still do not understand it. But I found a role as photographer.
Today Richard preached at the Mennonite Church in Chaguanas. After being with some of that group for a women's meeting on Sat and a cell group on Tues last week, we are starting to feel like we are getting to know some of the folks pretty well. All in all it was a good weekend of building relationships and discussing faith.
~Barb

One of the things that has impressed us in Trinidad is the encouragement for each of the various religious groups to take part in one another's celebrations. We were initially surprised when we arrived at how open Christians were to sending their children to either Muslim or Hindu schools, and vice-versa. When we met our Hindu neighbor Kishore, he made the comment to us, “with all the crime in the country these days, Trinidad needs people like you more than ever.” We understood this to mean that he was not only tolerant but also appreciative of the work of the churches here.
In our time here, we have witnessed the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Fitr and now the Hindu festival of Divali. Because it happened to fall on the same day that we visited the church in Sangre Grande, we were not home on the day of the Eid. We learned later, however, that one of our Muslim neighbors had stopped by to invite us to join in their celebration. We also received a Divali invitation from Kishore, but had already accepted the invitation to Bamboo that the girls already wrote about. These have been important opportunities for us to gain greater insight and understanding into the local culture.
We also participated in the 25^th anniversary thanksgiving service for our friends and neighbors, Ramesh and Babes. The thanksgiving was an explicitly Christian celebration, but also included a number of their Hindu and Muslim neighbors. We have been struck by the ways in which each of these groups is able to authentically observe their own traditions without worrying about offending others. Such openness provides both the opportunity to understand one another better and a greater possibility to share the message of the gospel to those of other faith traditions.
~Richard

Divali and Esperanza

2009-10-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

Divali season has arrived in Trinidad. Divali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, and is a major public holiday in Trinidad & Tobago. Hinduism is the second largest religion in the country, after Christianity. About a quarter of the population here is Hindu. In the area where we live, the percentage is even higher. In fact, the main Divali festival for the entire island takes place only about a mile from our apartment at the Divali Nagar grounds. While the day of Divali isn't until next Saturday, the 17th, the celebration began already this past week. Starting this past Thursday, the Divali Nagar grounds have stages of music, dancing and other festivities every evening until Divali. There are also many booths that sell various Indian products and foods (all vegetarian). While we have not yet had the opportunity to make it down to the big celebration, we did get invited to a smaller neighborhood celebration. But I'll let someone else tell about that. . . .
~Richard

One of the reasons American church workers are invited here is because there are not enough local Mennonite pastors to tend all the churches. One of the main goals for the churches is to train pastors so that there will be enough for all. One local pastor has been pastoring two churches now for some time. He will take a sabbatical in January. At that time we will fill in for him at one church. At the other, Esperanza, a new local pastor hopes to begin. This pastor and his family were part of the Mennonite Church of Chaguanas. But they have now been coming to Esperanza in hopes of stepping into the pastoring role. But their relationships at MCCh are still strong. For instance, this man's wife has been very involved with a women's group there. She decided that she would like to start a women's group at Esperanza also. So rather than leaving one to join the other, she invited them to form a new, joint group. And she invited me to come be a part of it and bring a devotional.
Like all church activities here there was lots of singing, tambourine playing and food. They asked me if I knew how to make pumpkin pies. They said they only get good pumpkin pies when missionaries come. So, I made some. Thank goodness for recipes on the internet. I also preached at Charlieville Mennonite Church this morning. So my week was pretty full with classes, sermon and devotional prep and pie baking. That's where I was yesterday afternoon until the Divali celebration.
~Barb

As was mentioned earlier, our family got invited to a Divali celebration. You see, I have a friend at school who is Hindu, and so on Thursday, I was asking her about Divali just because I was curious. So, she was telling me about it, and when she realized that I had never been to a Divali celebration, she invited me to come and bring the rest of the family to the Divali celebration in her village.
On Saturday night, after picking up Mommy from the women's thing, we headed over to my friend's house. After her brother rode his bike around trying to find us, but didn't, and we went down the wrong street which was a dead end and spent a while trying to figure out how to get back, my friend herself got the bike and came to find us. Then we followed her to her house. Her house was right next to a big savannah (savannahs are what we'd think of as parks). She introduced us to her family, including aunts and uncles and cousins who were there. Then she disappeared for a while to get ready. During that time, we talked to her mom mostly, and got to see her cow. When she was ready, she took us over to the savannah and we got some food. Then we sat down and watched the program. There was a stage and lots of folding chairs. There were 6 contestants to be the "Divali queen". Right as we sat down, the first one was introducing herself. After each contestant said a little about herself, there were some dancers. Then the "queens" were each asked a question, for example "If you could go back and change a moment in your past, what would it be and why?" The judges scored them based on their answers. Then there was more music. All the music, though was in Hindi. My friend's brother played in a tassa band. Tassa is a type of drumming. After we heard her brother, it was almost 10:00 already and we headed home. We never got to see who won the contest for being queen. But, I thought it was very interesting. Even now as I'm sitting here and typing in our apartment, I can hear music from some sort of Divali celebration, I think, and firecrackers too. There's a lot of things going on during this week for Divali. Someone even put Hindu flags all along the road right next to our house.
~Olivia

This evening, Olivia and I took our turn at Esperanza, meeting with their youth group (which I have called the Hope youth group also; the church goes by either name). Another youth group we have been meeting with (the one from Carlsen Field) has already started working on their Christmas play, but at Hope they are working on another play that will be performed at the end of this month before they start work on the one for Christmas. It seems like the youth groups here like to do a lot of dramas, which is something Olivia and I have enjoyed and also felt like that is something we can connect with! The youth group has also been planning to take a trip to a water park at the beginning of November, and instead of asking everyone to raise their own money, the offering they take goes towards that. It's amazing how active these youth groups are!
~Roxy

School Schedules & Logos Hope

2009-10-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Barb and I went to Port of Spain to visit the Logos Hope ship, which is basically a huge floating Christian book store. The girls had visited the ship with the Hope Mennonite Church youth group a couple of weeks ago, but we hadn't been able to make it down there until Wednesday. One of the issues faced by an island nation such as Trinidad & Tobago is that so many things have to be imported from someplace else. In planning for our classes, we have found that finding appropriate books on the island is very difficult. We could order from Amazon.com, but the shipping is rather expensive and takes a long time. Furthermore, the used books sold at lower prices through Amazon Marketplace affiliates cannot be sent here. The Logos Hope ship is one way that this need is addressed. It is a large ship in which one entire deck has been set up as a book store and sails around the world to various ports, selling books that otherwise might not be available to the local residents. Volunteers from about 50 nations around the world make up the crew. For the past three weeks or so, it has been docked at the cruise ship terminal in Port of Spain. Next week it sails on to the next port of call. It was interesting for us to be able to browse through the collection of books that is much larger than any bookstore we've found anywhere in Trinidad. We also took the opportunity to walk along the waterfront and explore a bit of the city on foot.
~Richard

No school tomorrow! We were very surprised to discover this afternoon as we were leaving school that we need not return until Monday. Our parents had their first faculty meeting at WITC this afternoon and so needed to pick us up early. When they arrived at the school office, the secretary told us that we needed to pick up our note before we left. We thought (or at least I did) that she meant that we needed to get the principal to sign a note or something for us to leave early. But then she showed us a note saying that there was no school tomorrow! It's amazing how such random things can happen and at such short notice here! But it just means we get to sleep in a little more tomorrow!
~Roxy

Speaking of days off school, Richard and I have been trying to figure out ours. Last week in classes some of the students informed us that in two weeks(which would be next week) we would not have classes because it was "spiritual emphasis week." We called the office to try to get an official ruling on this. They confirmed that and referred to a schedule. We were very excited to learn that someone had a printed schedule and asked for a copy of it.
So, we rearranged our class schedules and told our students about the changes in due dates, etc. Then, today we were invited to our first faculty meeting. While there, folks began to discuss spiritual emphasis week and decided to move it back two weeks. That means that we do have classes next week after all. But at least we did get a copy of the grading expectations and a tentative schedule for next semester including our potential classes. We had to trim things down quite a bit. They would love for us to teach more. At this point the plan is for us to step in for a local pastor who will be taking a sabbatical in January. So we told them that with doing that we can only teach one class each, although I have been asked to supervise a thesis project. I'm still considering that. Schedules and expectations are quite mobile it seems.
~Barb

This Weekend in Trinidad

2009-10-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

On Friday I walked to the fruit stand near our house. There are not many places we can walk from our house and with the heat and humidity what they are, I find I walk much less here than I do in Manhattan. But the fruit stand and minimart run by Null and his family are the most frequent trip I make. It is nice to have a farmers' market everyday. The neighborhood fruit stand is small, but when we want to buy more produce than we can carry, we go to the large open air market in Chaguanas. Anyway, on Friday I bought fresh lemons among other things and made lemon bars to take for a snack for the girls when we went to WITC. We placed the hot pan on two glasses turned upsidedown in two bowls of water. This is the local trick to keep the ants out of food while it is cooling. It works too. Since the buildings do not have screens and are rarely built for air conditioning, there are many places for creatures from outdoors to enter and depart.
We packed up the snack and other supper items and headed out around 2:00 to pick up the girls from school as we do every Friday. On our way we realized that our AC wasn't working in the car. Then the car started to sound funny followed shortly by steam coming out of the engine and the smell of something running very hot. We pulled over. The radiater was pretty much empty. Fortunately we had a thermos of water we had brought along to drink. We poured that and some other water we found in the trunk into the radiater. That got us on the road again and to the girls' school. When we got there we found a spigot and added more to the radiater. We also found a sizable leak in a hose. The car freshly watered, we drove up the mountain to the school. I taught my Marriage and Family class while Richard and the girls spent the evening hanging out. This week I will have to write a midterm exam for the class. It's hard to believe it is time for midterms.
On Saturday we got the radiator hose fixed. It cost TT$80 for the part and TT$20 for the labor. That's about US$13 for the hose and US$3.50 for the labor.
~Barb

Now that we have had the chance to visit and worship in each of the Mennonite churches here, we are starting to go back to several of them to preach and bring special music. This morning, we were at Carlsen Field, the newest of the churches in Trinidad. I preached, and we all sang a couple of songs with Roxy playing violin on one and Olivia playing a keyboard that was brought in for the occasion on the other. The church is only about a 15-minute drive south from where we live in Charlieville, and has been officially organized only within the past year. It started when an older man in the neighborhood of Carlsen Field (so named for the American air base that was there in WWII) wanted to have a church close by for his family to attend. Since there wasn't any other space available at the time, he simply added on to his house, and that's where the church is meeting now until they are able to find a place to build on their own. The photo above shows the outside of the house/church building. On the left is a picture of the interior, with Pastor Ramesh Jaimani preparing for communion.
~Richard

We've been here for almost 2 months. It's weird to think that it's already October and it's still so hot. Today seemed especially hot. We were at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church this morning and Daddy preached. The church isn't very well ventilated and the fans didn't seem to help much. Then this afternoon, for lunch we walked over to the mosque because one of our neighbours had sold us tickets for a meal there. The problem, though, is that even though the mosque is right across from us, there's a highway in between us and it and we had to walk over to the walkover (a bridge for walkers over the highway, there are also bridges like that for cars called flyovers). It's still not a long walk, but it does take longer than if we could walk "as the crow flies".
Last night we went to Carlsen Field youth group and started practicing for the Christmas program. We'll probably be in at least 2 Christmas plays, but they try to schedule all the Christmas programs on different Sundays.
On Friday, Roxy and I had KFC in Trinidad for the first time. In case you didn't know, Trinidad has more KFCs per square mile than any other country. They are very proud of their KFC too. My teacher ordered it for our whole form and a few other people, one of whom was Roxy, too. She was bragging to me about how their KFC actually had some flavour to it. Mostly I thought it was just more spicy, but then I did get the spicy kind.
~Olivia

2009-09-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, we worshiped at Esperanza, or Hope Mennonite Church, our last to visit of the 6 Mennonite Churches here in Trinidad. It was really nice to get to do that, especially since Olivia and I have been involved in Hope through the youth group. A lot of the Churches here, we noticed, seem to have really good youth groups that meet regularly and have a lot of people, but when we go to those Churches, none of these youths seem to really come! At Hope, though, we noticed that they had a larger age range than the others, from small babies to fairly elderly folks. Hope is in the process of building a church building, so right now it is fairly open, but when it was raining, it was open enough to keep us cool, but not wet! It felt nice. When they do finish, and if they achieve all their dreams, they will have the largest building of all the Mennonite Churches here! When we got there, Daddy asked us where we usually parked when we came to youth group, and we told him just somewhere on the grass. But we had already driven past the patch of grass we usually parked on, and little did we know that we were parking in a drain that one couldn't see from the road! So when the service was done, it took a long time, a long rope, help both from people from the church and some people passing by, and a plank of wood to get the car out. While we were trying and not getting anywhere, the wheel was spinning like crazy trying to get itself out of the ditch, and it made mud fly everywhere! Luckily once we got it out, we borrowed a hose from the people next-door to the church (who are also members) and we got help cleaning the car. So after all that, the car was looking better than it had since we'd first seen it.
~Roxy

Each of the churches has its own uniqueness and personality, but they all share some things too. All of the churches begin with lots of singing. On our visits, only Charlieville had any accompaniment other than percussion - they had a guitar. After singing and opening prayers, it is time for offering. Then there is a time for testimonies when people from the church may share anything from a prayer request to a song or a scripture that has been meaningful over the week. All of the churches have had lay people as music and worship leaders. Finally it is time for the sermon. The person presenting it (often the pastor but not always) comes up and reads scripture and then begins to preach. The sermons are a little but not a lot longer than at home. When the sermon ends there may be a closing song and some announcements.
The fact that these elements are present in worship consistently is not surprising. What is more surprising is that they are present in many gatherings. All youth group functions seem to follow the same basic template, although the sermon is more of a devotional. Yes, you should always come with offering even if you are a youth. We were at a small group that was the same basic order. Of course some youth group meetings and small group meetings include food as well. Even special events like birthdays that end in a 5 or 0 or big anniversaries are shared with friends in and out of the church but follow the same pattern. They are called Thanksgivings, and I'll let someone else tell more on that subject.
~Barb

Last night, we went to a Thanksgiving celebration for someone's 25th anniversary. There was a church service type thing, and about 4 people or groups of people were invited to do music during it. Our family was one of the people doing that. We sang Love the Lord Your God, with me and Mommy on one part, Roxy on the second, and Daddy singing the third part. There was a point during the service where they cut the cake, and I played some hymns on my flute during that time. There were lots of people there, many whom we knew from the churches. At the end, after the service, we ate a meal. They had 2 tables, one of which was for vegetarians. But, that wasn't enough room for everyone, so they had a group of people eat first, and then a second group, and it went on until everyone had eaten. We were noticing how even at a nice event in which everyone was all dressed up, people still ate with their fingers, using the roti to scoop up the other foods.
~Olivia

Happy Republic Day

2009-09-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Republic Day in Trinidad & Tobago--not to be confused with Independence Day, which was celebrated a few weeks ago. Independence Day marks the day in 1962 that the islands gained their independence from Great Britain. Republic Day is the celebration of the day in 1976 when the parliament met for the first time under a new constitution that, among other things, created the office of President to be the head of state. This means that, unlike many other former British colonies like Canada, Australia and Jamaica, Queen Elizabeth is not queen over Trinidad & Tobago. The nation is, however, still a member of the British Commonwealth. In fact, in just two months, the biannual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will take place in Port of Spain. The prime ministers and leaders of more than 50 countries will all be here, including Queen Elizabeth herself. Many people here are quite proud of the fact that this small country is hosting both the Summit of the Americas (attended by President Obama and many other leaders in April) and the Commonwealth Heads of Government in the same year. Others, however, are concerned about how much it is all costing and the strain that it puts on an infrastructure that is already stretched quite thin.
~Richard

Yes, this is the second holiday this week. The girls had Monday off school for Eid, then 2 days of classes, then today off for Republic Day, then class tomorrow. Since neither of the holidays fell on our teaching days, we still our full class load this week. However, our numbers of students were down. I only had 5 in class last night instead of my usual 8.
As our lives melt into routine here, there is perhaps less interesting to write about. Here are some random thoughts.

One nice thing about being in Trinidad is that Richard's sense of chivalry seems greater here with him opening my car door more often than at home. However the longer we are here, the less I find him unlocking my side of the car first.
The ICC tournament is going on here, so we can watch lots of cricket on TV. Why are they running back and forth?
We prepared our first batch of chana aloo this week to go with the leftover buss up shut that was given to us when we were invited over to our neighbors' for a Trini pumpkin cooking lesson earlier in the week. I'm anticipating roti lessons soon.
The school lunches here are free to everyone even in private schools. And, the girls report that they are better than the lunches at home - imagine replacing the pizza and processed chicken pieces in various shapes with chicken and rice.

We are so grateful for our time here, but still treasure all of our relationships with you at home. We love you and are thankful for your prayers and e-mails.
~Barb

If you are wondering what the buss up shut that Mommy mentioned is, it is a kind of roti. It apparently comes from the words bust up shirt, see the similarity? Apparently, you eat so much of it , you bust up your shirt, or something.
The other day at school, I mentioned that I play piano, and people were very excited about that. There is a keyboard at the school, and in the morning before classes, we have chapel. During chapel, there is lots of singing, so the principal invited me to play piano during that time and I said I would. So, then, yesterday morning, she had someone carry it up the hill from the office to the classrooms. When I saw it, I asked if there was any sort of sheet music, or if I just was supposed to figure it out by ear. Apparently, I was supposed to figure it out by ear. When I told the principal that I read music, and not play by ear, she seemed surprised, but said she would try to find some sheet music. People were very disappointed that I wasn't playing piano, and seemed to think it was a little strange to read music.
~Olivia

PAWI High School is actually on the campus of WIST, West Indies School of Theology (not where my parents teach, that's WITC, West Indies Theological College) and I think the college is pretty good sized...all of our classes are in one building (which is not used by the college at all) but the Technology classes have to be in the lab, which is in a building where the lab is the only room we use and we're not allowed to be in any others (but people are all the time). The campus is built on a hill, and so the main building is up the hill from the office, the cafe, and the building with the lab. And the basketball court scares me! Because it is on a hill, but the basketball court has to be flat, when the basketball court starts, it is even with the ground around it, but on one side, there's a drop off of about 3 feet! So when people are running really fast near the edge, they have to jump off sometimes and it's scary! Many schools here in Trinidad aren't co-ed, but PAWI is, and EVERY school in T&T has a uniform! Even public schools.
The main building has 5 classrooms--3 on the bottom floor, and 1 on the top that has 2 huge whiteboards in the middle, and so is used as 2 classrooms. You can't get from any one classroom to another without going outside, except the 2 with the big whiteboards in the middle.
~Roxy

Eid-al-fitr

2009-09-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Eid Mubarek!(which means "Blessed Feast") That is the greeting that is being heard all across the island today. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan in Islam. Muslims don't make up a particularly large segment of the population of Trinidad, but Charlieville has one of the highest concentrations in the country. We can see two different mosques from our living room, and a third is under construction just up the street. We also hear the call to prayer up to five times every day, although we usually are able to sleep through the first call that comes at about 5:00 am. For the past month, our observant Muslim neighbors have been fasting during daylight hours--nothing to eat or drink between sunrise and sunset. Each night, there have been big gatherings at the mosque where many have gone to break the fast together. Today is a day of feasting and celebration that the fast is all over. We've been hearing quite a number of fireworks as well.
The government of Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the major holidays of a number of religious groups represented here. So tomorrow (Monday) is an official public holiday. All schools, government offices, banks and many other businesses will be closed. One of the interesting aspects of the Eid is that it cannot be officially declared until the moon is sighted on a particular night marking the end of Ramadan. So while it has been known for some time that the feast would be held sometime around now, the government didn't publicly declare that tomorrow would be the holiday until last Monday. The Hindu holiday of Divali is similar. We know that there will be a public holiday sometime around the middle of next month, but will have to wait until a week or two before it occurs to find out the exact day.
~Richard

Happy Eid! Since today is Eid, tomorrow is a public holiday, so we have a long weekend and therefore done some fun things. We had heard that the ministry of health was doing a health fest, and part of it was a 5 kilometer run/walk around the savannah in Port of Spain. Olivia had been a little out of practice running, but still interested, and me and Mommy decided to try the walk. It felt good to walk, and I'm really glad we did it, but there was a little problem. Last year, they had about 2,000 people show up for the walk/run. So they planned for 3,500 this year, thinking that they would end up with extra t-shirts, water, and medals (the things they hand out to the participants). But they think that 10,000 showed up this year!! There were 3 places they were supposed to hand out water (2 stops and the finish line) but by the time me and Mommy got there, there was no water anymore, so we were really thirsty by the time we finished!
~Roxy

As Roxy just explained, there was a health fest yesterday and we decided to go. I joined the 5k run. The registration was from 1:00 to 4:00, and we got there around 3:00 or 3:30 but by that time, there weren't any registration numbers, but they let me run anyways. Around 4:15, we went out into the street and the people in the front were at the starting line. I looked, but in front of me all I could see was people and behind me all I could see was people, so I wasn't sure how far I was from the starting line. We stood around for a while and then all the sudden there was a horn, and I realized it had started. There wasn't any sort of warning. But then it was at least a minute or two before I got to the starting line since there were so many people in front of me and some were walkers, and it was hard to get past people, but then I was able to run. I'm not used to running in this humidity. It was hot, but the humidity was worse than the temperature. They handed out water at a few places, which was nice, but it meant that I had to stop and walk a few times, so I could drink, and I had to carry my water with me which made it heavier. My time wasn't very good, but I haven't run in a while and it was really humid, which made it harder to breathe. Plus there were so many people sometimes it got jammed up, and I stopped to drink water a few times. But I was at least in the top 3500 (out of around 10,000), because I got a medal, and they had planned for 3500 people, so they must have gotten 3500 medals. But the 10,000 also included walkers. It was nice to run again, even though I'm pretty sore today!
~Olivia

Today we visited a 5th out of the 6 Mennonite churches here. It is Sangre Grande Mennonite Church. It has a very different history from all the other Mennonite churches on the island. About 3 or 4 years ago this church was not a part of a denomination. The pastor was good friends with one of the long time Mennonite pastors here. When the pastor of the church was unable to contine in his ministry there, he said that the only person he could imagine being the next pastor was his Mennonite frined. So the Mennonite pastor agreed and the church became Mennonite. It is the largest of the Mennonite churches here with an average attendance of about 55. It is also quite far away from the others. We traveled much farther east today than we have been. It took us about 1 1/4 hours to get there without bad traffic.
The church was very friendly. I was greeted with kisses on the cheek which is not an uncommon greeting here, though that seems to vary. After church we were invited to the pastor's home for lunch.
We came back to the apartment and rested a bit. There isn't much on TV on Sunday afternoons. We could choose from the BBC series on ancient Rome, a sports story show that looks ahead to the Beijing Olympics and the Muslim call in show in which a scholar answers questions about things like what is permissible during Ramadan or how to celebrate Eid properly.
After a rest we decided to go to an Indian festival nearby. It turned out mostly to be vendors selling pretty Indian clothes and jewelery. We were disappointed not to find the food and music we'd hoped. But it was still full of color and style. Tomorrow we may just stay around home on the holiday.
~Barb

A Day in the Life

2009-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Since we have started to establish more of a routine, we thought we'd try to give a sense of what a "typical" day is like for us:

On a regular school morning, Olivia and I will get up at 6:00 in the morning to be all ready to leave for school at 6:45-ish. We eat breakfast, get dressed (in a uniform) and brush teeth before setting out. School starts at 8:00 (or at least says that it does) but with so much traffic going into Port of Spain (the capital city) it takes approximately 1 hour and a quarter. The school we go to is built on a hill, and so you park near the bottom and walk up the hill to the basketball court where they have 'assembly' every morning. In assembly, we all line up by form (there are 6 forms) and say The Lord's Prayer, then sing the national anthem, then say the pledge. Olivia and I have been trying to learn both the pledge and the anthem. We think we have the anthem pretty good, but feel mostly lost on the pledge. The schedule is not the same for every day, we have a 6-day timetable. There is only school Monday through Friday still, but there are 6 different schedules. This last week, we did days 1-5, so tomorrow we will just continue with day 6. There are 8 different 40-minute periods in a day--2 periods, then a 10-minute break, 2 more periods, lunch, 2 periods, 10-minute break, and then the last 2 periods. We will have a range of 4-6 classes (assuming the teachers show up) because about half of them are double or even triple periods. We have yet to see a day where all the teachers show up, and last Friday, one of the teachers left in the middle of a class (for good) to join the police!
~Roxy

Just to add to Roxy's entry, there are now 8 people in my form (3 girls, 5 boys) and 7 people in her form (2 girls and 5 boys). I think she's glad to have another girl in her form. People are very intrigued by my hair being blonde and want to touch it a lot.
It only takes about a half an hour to get back home in the afternoons without all the traffic. But, if it's a night when we're going to WITC, then we'll go there straight from school. It's not too far from the school, so sometimes we'll do some errands or something on the way, but still get to WITC around 3:00 or 4:00. The classes don't start until 5:00. Roxy and I bring clothes to change into from our uniforms and some games or something to occupy us while our parents are teaching. There's a lot of nice open grassy space there, and we don't have any sort of yard at home, so we usually bring a ball and play outside for a while. We also bring supper, but we usually try to be finished eating by 6:30 because it's dark by then, so we go into the library and do homework. The classes end at 8:00, so by the time we get home, which takes a little while, it's about bedtime.
When we aren't going to WITC, we come straight home after school. We do homework and practice instruments sometime after school. Last week, every night that was a non-WITC night, we either got invited to go somewhere or someone stopped by, so we kept pretty busy.
~Olivia

A lot of the day for Richard and I is spent in a combination of preparing for classes or other invitations, and in housework and errands. Housework and errands tend to take more time here than at home. Since we have lots of ants and no dishwasher, any use of dishes must immediately be washed. This lessens the ants somewhat, although around here, no building is ant-free. At least staying on top of things keeps away the big insects. Although the apartment here is much smaller than our home in Manhattan, we keep very busy with it. Laundry must be done almost every day because we only have a washer, not a dryer. In this humidity, most days it is difficult to dry more than one load on the line. Ironing is a much bigger deal here, especially for school uniforms. As for errands, well that is largely an issue of negotiating crazy traffic.
Our classes are going well too. It occurred to us that a load of 3 classes is usually considered a full load of teaching. So, here, like at home, it turns out that we are basically sharing one full time position. My classes grew this week. I gained one new student in my Wed. class and 4 in my Fri. class. I also was asked to present for one of the church small groups. So I explained spiritual direction and did lectio divina with them. That was fun.
~Barb

As you may be able to tell from the above posts, I spend a good portion of most days driving to and from school and running any errands that need to be done. While the school is only 10 miles from our apartment, it takes an hour and a quarter to get there each morning. Thankfully, it is usually only a half hour to get back home in the morning and a half hour or less each way in the afternoon.
I've gotten to the point where I can fairly easily find my way to and from the places where we go on a regular basis. Whenever I have to find something new, however, it is often challenging. There are relatively few street signs, and virtually no detailed maps. So far, I've been fortunate in that I haven't gotten completely lost.
~Richard

First Month in Trinidad

2009-09-06T12:32:00.001-07:00

Today marks exactly one month since we touched down in Trinidad. With school starting for all of us this past week, we are finally beginning to establish a routine and settle into "normal" life.
We are continuing to make visits to each of the Mennonite churches of Trinidad in an attempt to get to know them all better. This morning we worshiped at Diego Martin Mennonite Church. The worship leader for the morning happened to be one of the students in my philosophy class--the only Mennonite student who is in any of the classes that either Barb or I are teaching. Diego Martin is located just the other side of Port of Spain (the capital city). This is the church that we will probably be spending most of our time attending, especially in the latter part of our term here. Pastor Rawl Gunpath will be on sabbatical starting in January, and we've been asked to help out at the church while he's gone. For now, though, there are still three more churches that we haven't visited. I've also been invited to preach sometime here at the Charlieville church, and am expecting to get similar invitations from at least one or two of the other churches as well.
~Richard

Last night, was the first time the youth group at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church met and Roxy and I were invited to go. There is always lots of singing at those kind of things, so we're starting to get to know some of the songs better, because most of them I didn't know before we came here. When we first got to the youth group, someone gave me a green plum. I've had green plums one other time while we were here, but I thought they were kind of weird. This time, there was a plate of salt, with slices of hot pepper on it. People tend to like really spicy things here. Anyone could just dip their plum in, and someone convinced me to try it. I just barely touched it to the pepper, and it was extremely spicy! I shouldn't be surprised anymore how spicy things here are, but I still am always surprised whenever I taste something really spicy. The rest of the youth group time was fun; we sang, had some devotions and played a game. And I'm getting to know some of the youth here better, too, which is good.
~Olivia

The second day of school seemed much easier than the first for me. For one thing, halfway through the day, they gave me a 'timetable', which is just a class schedule. So that was very useful! One of the reasons that this might turn out to be a better school than some is that they have some art or music type classes, which is not completely a given. And on Friday, I spent 5 out of 8 periods doing a class called VAPA, which is Visual And Performing Arts. I think that 2 of those 5 were actually supposed to be tech ed, but the same teacher does both, and so I guess that she just decided she would rather do VAPA at that point! We're making tea towels soon, so I spent nearly 2 and a half hours embroidering on Friday, and have also been spending a lot of time doing that this weekend for homework!
~Roxy

On Friday I taught the first session of my second class. Yes, here I will be teaching class every Friday evening this semester. This was my Marriage and Family class. About half the students were in my other class and several were in Richard's. Out of 8 students, we had 5 countries represented. I am really enjoying the teaching.
When we look back at our prayer list, it is amazing to see how each of our prayers has been answered. Our water leak was fixed earlier this week, we have renters, our internet is up and running which is really helpful in a variety of ways including preparation for class, the girls have found and started school and our teaching here has begun. It is amazing to know that so many of you have been praying for us. So for this week, let's just let our prayers be thanksgivings.
Barb

First Day of School

2009-09-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

In the past 24 hours, all four of us started school!
After weeks of bureaucratic run-around, conflicting accounts of what we needed to do, and just plain waiting, we finally came to the conclusion that the only way that the girls were going to get into school at any time in the foreseeable future would be for us to enroll them in a private school. After calling around to schools in the phone book, we found one with very reasonable tuition that isn't too far away. It's a Pentecostal high school that is about a half hour drive away from here if the traffic is all right. This morning, however, we found that it took us about an hour and a quarter during rush hour. This meant that they arrived a little late for their first day of school. But, in true Trini fashion, that wasn't really a problem. I'll let the girls tell more about their first day below.
Yesterday evening was my first day teaching at West Indies Theological College (WITC). I had nine students in my Intro to Philosophy class, which is considered a rather large class for this school. The class included students from Barbados and Jamaica--and even one American--in addition to the Trinidadians who made up the majority. Although philosophy was not my first choice of classes to teach (and even though I didn't know I'd be teaching it until just over a week ago), I really enjoyed the class. I felt like I had something to contribute to the students. We also had some good lively discussions, which is exactly what I hope for in a philosophy class. I'm sure that I'll be learning a lot more than the students this semester.
~Richard

The school scheduled us so that Richard and I could be teaching a cless at the same time. In fact we teach in classrooms right next door to each other. Our classes run from 5:00-8:00 each Wednesday and then I have another on Friday evenings at that same time. We bring the girls with us and they spend some time just outside our rooms in the courtyard that all the rooms open to enjoying green space. There is no green space around our apartment, but the campus is really lovely, nestled in the mountains. Then, when it starts to get dark around 6:30, they spend the remainder of the evening in the library. They brought a DVD last night with the laptop.
The class I taught last night was Social Work Theory and Practice 2. The hardest thing about teaching it is that it is the second class in a series of 3. It is hard to get clear information about how far they went in the first section. So I spent last night getting to know my students and doing some assessment about what they had learned so far. My students are from Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana. I had 7 students. It was a good class. Everyone was very participatory in the discussion, which I loved. It is fun to dip my feet in the social work world again.
~Barb

Today was the first day of school for me. The school actually started on Tuesday, but there were other people coming in today. They said everyone should be there by Monday, so I don't think starting today really puts me behind. I think there are mainly 4 people in my form, at least today there were. More will probably come later. I got put into the business type classes mainly, which I'm not exactly sure why, but the business teacher is good, so I don't really mind. So, there were 2 boys and 2 girls including me. There were a few other people who were only in one of my classes, but those 4 people were in all of my classes. I'm still a little bit confused about what classes I'm suppposed to be taking. The classes the principal gave me don't completely match up with the classes that my form teacher gave me, so I mostly followed the other people in my class. I think in Trinidad, people tend to have a particular group of students they stay with, but different teachers instead of different students in each class, although there was a little of that too. Oh well. I'll figure it out after a while. But, I think it should be a good school if it's not too boring. It's very small, too.
~Olivia

Today I also started school at the same high school Olivia did. The name of it is PAWI (for Pentacostal Assemblies of the West Indies), and it is on the campus of a university that is called WIST-for West Indies School of Theology. (I think they pronounce PAWI sort of like pow-ee, but I can't be sure, because they seem to pronounce everything a little different than we do anyways!) I am in what they call form one here, and my class is me and 4 other boys. The boys are all 14, though. We had heard that there were going to be 10 people in my class, though, and we had also heard that school doesn't really start until Monday, so there may be more kids in my class by then! I was extremely confused all day, because they gave me no schedule, and in the afternoon none of my teachers showed up! So in the morning I had two long classes, but in the afternoon I just had one extremely long and fairly boring free time! It was interesting in math (which they call "mats"), because they seem to learn things in a different order than I did! There are some things that they were doing that didn't seem brand-new, but still stuff that they might have learned at the end of last year, but that I had done for much longer! But there were other things that seemed fairly new to them that were fairly new to me, too! It will be interesting to see how things are similar and how they're different! I hope that all my teachers are there tomorrow, though!
~Roxy

Youth camp and Independance Day

2009-08-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

Youth Camp
Last Thursday afternoon, Olivia and I set out for Youth Camp. It is the only camp the Mennonite Churches offer all summer, and anyone from the ages of 12-25 may attend. We arrived in time for supper (which in this case means before 8:00) on Thursday, and stayed until Sunday mid-afternoon. There were 27 campers-12 girls and 15 boys. All the girls slept in one big (air-conditioned) room-including cooks and counselors. The same was true for the boys, except they had a different room from the girls. One of my favorite parts of Camp was Friday afternoon when we did games and swimming. In games, we started with an interesting version of football where there were 4 teams all playing at once in a tiny little area that didn't even have grass-it was just concrete! It was kind of strange also because I am not used to calling it football-I'm used to saying soccer instead! About halfway through it started pouring down rain, but we kept on playing just like nothing was happening! It was actually very fun to play in the rain! Then we played a game they called elephant trunk that I think was supposed to get us a little bit wet to cool us off, but we were all already soaking! Then lastly, we played cricket which was very interesting, because Olivia and I had never ever played cricket and had no idea how to! We told this to the people in charge and asked them if we should just watch for this reason, and they told us that we could watch the first 2 teams play and then when our 2 teams played, we could play with them then. We enjoyed playing, but both agreed that watching was still more fun. It was funny to watch when they hit the ball because there seemed to be no out-of-bounds, even if they hit it backwards, and it was really funny to watch the two people run back and forth between the two different spots! After all that, we went swimming, but it seemed to have almost no point because everybody was drenched anyways! But it had cleared off by that point and so the pool was very enjoyable anyways.
~Roxy

I thought one of the most interesting parts of Youth Camp was Saturday night. I had heard there was going to be a banquet then but I had no idea it was going to be a big fancy thing. Roxy and I hadn't brought any nice clothes because no one told us to, and we're used to going to Camp Mennoscah where they say specifically not to bring nice clothes because there will be no dress occassions. So, what happened was that the guys were supposed to ask the girls to go with them to the banquet. Everyone dressed up, except Roxy and I. Roxy did my hair so it looked pretty, though. And hers too. So, we all went out and met the guys under a little gazebo type area. When our guy came, they would escort us into the place where we had our meals. Everyone was there taking pictures and there was music in the background. After the meal, there was a slide show of pictures first from last year and then ones from this year at youth camp. Then we went for dessert. The funny part was that Roxy and I both got asked in the pool. After Roxy got asked, she said okay, but then had to go ask someone what his name was. I knew my date a little better than she knew hers. For one thing, his sister who was 7, really wanted me to go with him and had been making that clear to me over the course of the day. Plus I had gone to his youth group earlier. Some of the other highlights of the camp were: getting to meet other youth here, learning some new songs, and the talent show we had on the last day where I got the part of the gunman.
~Olivia

Happy Independance Day! That's what today is in Trinidad. So everyone has the day off. Tonight we are planning to go to the capital city and watch the fireworks. We made brownies today so we would have snacks to take. Luckily someone left a cookbook here. Richard and I spent part of the time at the youth camp. Richard was asked to preach there on Sunday morning. Part of the time we were at home. We've been trying to prepare for the clesses we will be teaching. Our understanding is that classes begin at the college on Wednesday. So far no word on what days or times we will be teaching. We'll call again tomorrow.
~Barb

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. We are very happy to say that our prayers for our house in Kansas to be rented have been answered! A family will be moving in this week. We also have our own high speed Internet access in our apartment now. We've had to make a few calls to get everyone set up right, but as of this afternoon, it seems to be functioning as it should.
The other prayer issues mentioned in our last post continue to be concerns. We had been told that the water line would be repaired by the end of last week, but it hasn't. Since today is a holiday, we hope to have it fixed in the next day or two.
School for the girls also continues to be a major concern. Classes start tomorrow, but they still haven't been accepted by the Ministry of Education to attend a government supported school. We are looking at some private school options as well right now. We hadn't budgeted for those costs, but with our house rented we would hopefully have finances available to cover such costs. We pray that we might hear from the Education Ministry soon and be able to make good choices for the girls.
~Richard

Last Sunday, Maracas Beach, WITC & FAQ

2009-08-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

August 26, 2009
On Sunday, we visited Carlsen Field Mennonite Church, the 2nd church we've visited. There were lots of youth there. It's a pretty new church, so there were only a little over 20 people there, and probably about half of them were youth. It was also youth Sunday, (they lead the service once a month) so that was kind of cool. We went to Sunday School there, too. Afterward, we went to a neighbor's house for lunch. There were lots of cute puppies there, and a little baby, too. Plus they had good food! Then Roxy and I went to the youth group at Hope Mennonite Church. We wanted to get to know some of the other kids here, because we're planning to go to youth camp with them. While we were there, we sang, Roxy got wrapped up in toilet paper, we had a bible study time, and we played what I've heard called wink'em, but they didn't mention the name of it. We had supper at Babes and Ramesh's house with the work team. Avi, their son, showed us the art he does, the airbrush. That was the last night the work team was here.
~Olivia

On Tuesday, our family went to Maracas Beach. That is the beach that everyone has recommended to us as a really nice beach. There, they sell Bake and Shark. There were a million different stands with different names like Mona's Bake and Shark, Delsie's Bake and Shark, Mom's Bake and Shark...We went to Richard's Bake and Shark. Not just because Daddy's name is Richard, but when the work team went to Maracas, they recommended it to us! The bake is like fry bread, and then they give you a couple pieces of deep-fried shark inside the bake. Then you go through a long line and choose your toppings-they had lots of stuff, from ketchup to coleslaw to some sort of fruit. Even though I really, really, really do not like fish, the shark and bake was actually pretty good.
Then for a couple of hours, we just played in the ocean or on the sand. By the end, though, there was a really big undertow. It was a little bit scary, but the beach was still really fun. But the worst part was getting there! We had to go over a mountain since it is on the north coast of Trinidad, and there were a lot of switchbacks and up and down, and there wasn't always a fence thing on the side of the road! But playing at the beach made it all worth it.
~Roxy

On the morning of the day we went to the beach, we traveled to WITC where Richard and I will be teaching to learn more about our classes and explore their library. I had learned the day before that in addition to teaching a class on Marriage and Family they also wanted me to teach Theory and Practice of Social Work II. While there we learned that the Homiletics class that Richard was planning on did not have enough students enrolled and so would be canceled. Instead he was assigned to teach Intro to Philosophy. We are still waiting to hear what days we will be teaching and how many students we will have. Richard is also waiting for them to locate a copy of the text. Classes begin next week.

While preparation is requiring a fair bit of flexibility on our part, I am so pleased that the school wants to have us teach. The campus is near the mountains on the north coast. It is beautiful there. There are mango and avocado and almond trees there. I always seem to find a way to mention food.

Prayer requests for this week include getting regular water restored and remembering all those around the world without access to water, finding renters for our house in Manhattan, getting high speed internet at home, finding a school for the girls and that our ministry here can be fruitful.
~Barb

Several people have emailed questions to us. I'll try to answer them as best I can:

Do you have to share your apartment with all those people for a year? No. The team that was here last week came for ten days to help with Bible school at one of the churches. It's possible that there will be other groups or individuals who come down to Trinidad for short-term assignments who will stay with us temporarily. However, most of the time it is just our family in the apartment.
Is the lack of water a common thing or do you have to ration your water supply? Running out of water is not common. It is the result of a leak in the water main that supplies the church property. Once that's repaired, we shouldn't have a problem. Until then, we are very grateful that our next door neighbor has allowed us to run a hose from his place to refill the big storage tanks that serve our apartment.
Is it beginning to feel like home or are you still feeling like you are on vacation? We are gradually adapting to life here in Trinidad. We are busy enough with getting ready for school and other ministry assignments that it certainly isn't "vacation." We are getting more comfortable finding our way around, shopping and completing other daily tasks. But every day also brings new learnings as well.
Has your Manhattan house rented yet? No it hasn't. This continues to be a major prayer item for us, as we planned on having that income to cover our mortgage while we were gone.
You mention rain a lot suggesting a lot of humidity. How does that compare with humidity you experienced in Kansas? This is the wet season in Trinidad, so it rains almost every day. Usually we only get a fairly small shower in the afternoon, but some days we've had pouring rain that caused flooding in areas. This does indeed make for very high humidity--much higher than we normally experience in Kansas.
Your phone number looks like a regular US phone number. Can we call it just like regular, or are there international charges? The Caribbean is divided into area codes just like the U.S. & Canada. So you can call us simply by dialing 1 plus the ten digit number. Be aware, however, that international rates will apply.
Did you get enough donations to cover expenses? Thanks to many generous people, our budget for the year is in pretty good shape. We have not yet, however, raised 100% of the support for the entire year. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so through either Virginia Mennonite Missions or Mennonite Mission Network.

It's great to hear from so many of you. I hope this helps explain a bit more about what's happening with us.
~Richard

Charlieville VBS Week

2009-08-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

August 20, 2009
Bible School started on Monday evening. I have been in the youth class (13-19 year olds), which my mom is teaching. My dad is teaching the men and Roxy is in the 10-12 year old class. Each of the evenings starts out with some singing (I knew a lot of the songs, but they almost all seemed to be a little different than the way I know them) and the telling of a Bible story. The person telling the Bible story (both my parents have done that one time) has been using the felt board, which I think is very exciting! I like felt boards. The youth class has been very large (one night there were 16 of us) and lively with a small amount of girls in proportion to boys. But, Roxy's class hasn't had many girls either, in fact, some of the time she's been the only one. The men's class, which my dad is teaching has been extremely small. The first night he only had one person, but the second night he had 2, and by last night he had 3! Tomorrow night is the final night and each class is doing something to show what they've learned. There's been more people each night, so I think it's been going pretty well!
-Olivia

Bible school has been interesting and fun. This church with an average attendance of 35 on a Sunday morning had 45 the first night, 52 the second and 61 the third. With the work team still here we have enjoyed several meals provided to all of us on a couple of occasions. Last night we all went for supper to the home of one of the other Mennonite pastors, Richard (and Margaret) Keeler for supper. I love it that the avocados are 3 or 4 times the size of those in Kansas and that they just often slice them as the vegetable.
When we got home and were ready to brush our teeth before bed, however, we discovered that we were out of water - nothing came out when you turned the tap. After skipping the morning showers and consulting with someone we learned that a valve that lets water into our tanks had been switched off. Don't know how or when that happened. We'll have to keep an eye on that. Because water usage is so high in the morning there is not enough pressure for the tanks to refill yet. We plan to go shower at a neighbor's house soon and hope to have water by later in the day. Thank God for good neighbors.
Barb

We have been working on getting into St. Augustine's Girls High School some more this week. So far, everybody we've talked to has said that that would be a very good school for us to go to. But it has been very confusing! We talked to the school, who said that we had to go to the Ministry of Education, who said we needed three copies each of a bazillion important papers, then go back to St. Augustine's, where the principal would need to sign the papers, but she doesn't get back until Monday! So it feels like there's always just one more thing to do!
But my very favorite thing that's happened this week was discovering the Felt Board that lives just beneath our apartment in the Charlieville Mennonite Church!
~Roxy

Ten Days in Trinidad

2009-08-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our family's blog! After years of considering service, we have discerned that the time is right and taken a one year service leave from our jobs as pastors of Manhattan (Kansas) Mennonite Church. We have just begun our year of service working for the Mennonite Church of Trinidad & Tobago. Here are some reflections on our first ten days here:

Thursday, August 6, 2009

We arrived in Trinidad this afternoon after more than 24 hours of travel. It does not normally take that long to travel here, but this time it did for us. We have been cared for warmly by the people we've met.

-Barb

Friday, August 7, 2009

This afternoon, we went grocery shopping for the first time. It was kind of interesting! Galen gave Roxy and I each $20.00. The thing is 20 Trini dollars isn't the same as 20 U.S. Dollars even though they use the same sign for dollars. I got 2 little bags of party mix and a little bag of caramel popcorn, and some Trini candy, whereas Roxy just got a big bag of crackers and cheese, but it was the same amount of money. There were a lot of interesting foods I'd never seen before in the grocery store, like for instance cow heel and chicken feet. Then in the evening we went to the “Youth Explosion”. That was cool, too. Each of the youth groups from the different Mennonite churches here did something, like a drama or song or something. We got to meet a bunch of people!

-Olivia

Saturday, August 8, 2009

So far we have mostly been unpacking, learning how to drive on the other side of the street, figuring out things like groceries and changing money and figuring out what is where both in our apartment and on the island. We also spent last night and today attending the annual church conference of the Mennonite Churches of Trinidad and Tobago. Last night the youth from all 6 churches gave a very enthusiastic program after which we all ate channa aloo roti - yum! Today we spent a long day at the annual business meeting which was an interesting opportunity to hear reports from all the congregations, but got very long during the constitution revision, the discussion of which managed to be both enthusiastic at times and tedious (especially on hard benches in an un-airconditioned room for about 8 hours). Actually, although it was long as are many business meetings, it was good to be there to get a feel for the issues the churches are dealing with and to meet lots of the people. The girls came with us last night, but today they stayed in our apartment which is the second story of the Charlieville Mennonite Church where we were meeting. The could literally pull our bedroom curtains and look down into the sanctuary to play "guess who's talking" and keep tabs on us. Tomorrow the conference ends with a big worship service.

-Barb

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Today's worship service was a joint service of all 6 Mennonite churches. It was held in a mall in Chaguanas with a special guest speaker.

This evening, we made our first trip into Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad & Tobago. We went with some of the church leaders and the delegates from Jamaica, with plans to look around some at the city and visit the Diego Martin Mennonite Church on the other side. However, on the way, our car died in a not-so-great neighborhood. Fortunately, there was a man by the side of the road who was a mechanic who was able to diagnose it as a broken alternator. At first, we hoped to be able to switch some batteries around or jump start the car so that we could at least get it back to our apartment. In the end, however, we had to leave the car in the driveway of the guy we met and take the battery with us to get it charged. Hopefully the car will still be intact when we come back tomorrow.

At the end of it all, we just had time for a late supper at a popular Port of Spain restaurant: TGI Friday's.

We've been in Trinidad for 3 days now. Some things that I've experienced for the first time include:
-Eating REALLY FRESH mangoes. (I may never be able to eat the ones in KS again)
-Driving on the left side of the road (The hardest part is remembering which side the steering wheel is on when I get in the car)
-Withdrawing $1500 from the ATM (equals about $250 US)
-Finding Cow Heel in the meat section at the supermarket (We didn't buy any)
-Sampling new soda flavors like banana, kola champagne & Pear-D

-Richard

Monday, August 10, 2009

Today, we visited a private, all-girls Presbyterian school that Olivia and I might be attending this year. Galen and Gloria, who work at Virginia Mennonite Missions, and Ganesh, who is one of the Mennonite pastors here, came with us. The school is called St. Augustine's Girl's High School. It seemed like a pretty good school in general, but my favorite thing was that they had a 'pan band'! A pan band is a band made up of steel drums, or steel pans. For lunch, we went to Pizza Hut, and learned a very interesting way that Trini people eat their pizza! On the table, where in the US you might find Parmesan cheese, instead there were bottles of Ketchup and Hot Sauce! Ganesh poured both all across his pieces of pizza. He said that once you eat it that way, you can never eat it another way again! While we were there, it started pouring down rain, and there was even lightning and thunder, and the power even went out a couple of times. So, on our way to the West Indies Theological College (WITC) we had to take a bunch of detours. When we finally got up on the mountain where the College is, the bridge that we were planning on crossing to get there was closed, so we had to take another detour. But up there, it was beautiful, both the landscape and the weather. So Mommy and Daddy talked to the President and the Registrar and another Secretary type lady, while Gloria took me and Olivia outside where we ran around (at least I did) and saw the quail they raise for eggs. Also while we were out there, I figured out how to put grass between my thumbs and blow on it to make a noise!!!

-Roxy

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

This morning we didn't do much. Daddy and Galen went to pick up the car and it was all fine, safe and sound.

This afternoon, we met Paul & Evelyn Kratz, VMM missionaries who have been here for two years. They were going to leave today, but Evelyn is flat on her back, so they're looking for a flight where she can fly on a stretcher. After that, we visited Hope Mennonite Church's new building, and met Dolly who lives next door and her three kids Polly Ann, Kerri Ann and Esther Ann. Then we went with Galen and Gloria to Colin and Sintra's (our neighbors) and saw baby Luke again! They gave us so much Mauby drink! Plus some orange juice.

-Roxy

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

This has been an unusually free day for us. Richard and Galen spent a bit of time out picking up the now working car from the mechanic who fixed the alternator. The girls and I spent the day in, relaxing and tending to household and other loose ends.

Here are the abundant contents of our refrigerator door in Charlieville when we arrived: Mayo, dark corn syrup, tamarind chutney, something called “golden syrup” that says it can be used to flavor rum punch and coconut water, aloe gel, Caribbean chunky salsa, minced ginger, coffee, ketchup, green seasoning, hot chow, molasses (2), raisins, cream cheese, liquid garlic, barbecue sauce, taco sauce (1 hot & 1 medium), mustard, hot sauce, chili sauce, 2 bottles of unlabeled red to brown stuff and one of a homemade Trini hot condiment made of shredded green mangoes.

-Barb

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Today, Galen & Gloria went back home to Virginia. We will miss them greatly, but it's also time for us to start doing more things on our own. We are very grateful that we were able to spend so much time with them while they were here.

We spent some time today preparing for some of the teaching that we'll be doing this fall. I'll be teaching Homiletics I (an introductory preaching class) and Barb will be teaching Marriage & Family. We are hoping that our classes will be scheduled the same day so that we don't have to make too many trips up to WITC. We will also be helping out next week with the VBS here at Charlieville Mennonite Church. I'll be teaching the adult men, while Barb will be in charge of the “youts.”

We went into Chaguanas today to get copies made of the girls' school records. We had planned to stop at the supermarket, too, but it rained quite a bit again today and the street in front of the store was so flooded that we couldn't get into the building.

-Richard

Friday, August 14, 2009

This morning, we went to the market with Babes, who is our neighbor and also the wife of a Mennonite pastor. The market was very interesting. Mostly people sold lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. It was very crowded! But, then there was a smaller room where they were selling meat. Most of it was fish. I thought it was kind of creepy, because the fish were whole; they still had eyes and everything. The people selling the fish would just cut off the parts you wanted, well, at least I think that's what was going on. Who knows? There was a bunch of raw meat and whole fish and guys with big knives chopping things. Anyway, the fruits and vegetables were good, not creepy like the fish. Then we ate Doubles for the first time! They were good, but spicy! And we didn't even get the hot sauce! Trini people like spicy stuff!! This evening some people came to stay with us. There are 6 of them. They came to help with VBS at Carlsen Field Mennonite Church.

-Olivia

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Our apartment is often where short term work teams stay. Through a series of events, one got scheduled to stay here for 10 days shortly after we arrived. They will also be using the 5 person car we are allotted during that time. So today we all began to organize ourselves. Richard and I keep our bedroom while the girls move into a small bedroom that can only be accessed through ours. Another couple moves into their room. Another man sleeps on the living room floor which, if you push all seating to the walls holds his mattress. In the downstairs part of the church is an office where 2 other girls are staying and there is another small bedroom there behind the kitchen where the group leader is staying. All meals are negotiated around our kitchen table. The apartment is probably close to 850 sq. ft and also includes a room with a toilet and another with a shower. We will be helping with VBS at Charlieville next week and they at Carlson Field. We spent time today preparing.

-Barb

Sunday, August 16, 2009

This morning we worshiped at the Charlieville church since we'll be teaching VBS here this week and the work team took the car to Carlsen Fields. About 35 people were present for the 2-hour service. The sermon was presented by Deolal, one of the church elders, since the congregation is currently without a pastor. There are currently only four pastors for the six Mennonite congregations, which is why it is helpful to foreign missionaries like us come to help with leadership development and fill in where necessary. The ultimate goal is to have enough indigenous leaders trained that there will be a pastor for each church plus one to act as an overseer for all the churches.

This afternoon, we joined the work team that's staying with us on an outing to the Caroni Swamp, a major tourist destination that is very close to where we live. It was our first real tourist outing since we've been here. The swamp is one of the largest mangrove swamps in the world. We took a boat tour during which we saw several caiman, a couple of snakes, a few crabs and lots of birds—most significantly the scarlet ibis, which is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago.

-Richard