“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8Following breakfast, this morning began with an orientation from the TTUM administrator Jennifer. She gave us some pointers on what to expect when we are out and about as well as on the area’s religions. This afternoon, our entire group was granted a brief sightseeing trip of a couple of the “attractions” in Trinidad. Though we had to drive from the airport to TTUM last night, this is the first time we really get to see the island… and its traffic. The duo island used to be a British property – and it shows. Everyone drives on the other (not wrong!) side of the road, the opposite side of the vehicle, and they drive as fast as they wish, ignoring the speed limits (though I’m not sure that that’s very British). All of this took a little getting used to, especially when coming off exit ramps. One needs to be pretty brave to drive anywhere on this island we soon discovered. On route to the first destination, several times on the narrow road we were quite literally inches away from the oncoming vehicles – and this continued during the entire trip. This was particularly true as we passed by a wedding gathering that slowed traffic for a good long while.
Our first stop was at a Hindu temple, the first built in Trinidad. This temple is particularly interesting due to the fact that when the Hindu Sewdass Sadhu went to build it, the British told him that he could not build a temple on her Majesty’s land. So, he began building a bridge into the ocean with trash and other materials and constructed a Hindu temple. Beautiful flowers and vibrant flags decorate the near-island of a temple. Also at the site are many statues of gods inside the temple as well as a few outside. One blue one is located behind bars and someone (not mentioning any names, Debbie) opened them to get a picture. An interesting sight we witnessed at the site was a pyre funeral adjacent to the temple where a stack of wood burning contained the remains of a Hindu. We had also passed by a funeral pyre area on route to this visit. An unplanned interesting sight witnessed was the minor accident of a vehicle going into a ditch due to his “being cool and peeling out” attitude. Good one, dude.
Our last stop was at another temple, this one much more ornate and detailed. Accompanying the large temple was a huge statue god of a red monkey and had us looking for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego – it kind of reminded us of the King Nebuchadnezzar statue in the Bible. A Hindu wedding on the last leg of its three day ceremony (!) was taking place and our large group was invited in to observe. Cautiously, we entered barefoot (as is the custom) and received several curious looks but none that were hostile. In fact, everyone seemed rather friendly. I spoke with a father and his small daughter for a few minutes quickly before we left. Among the other very interesting ceremony items are the vehicles. The couple’s "getaway” car,” was much more floral and colorful in design, showing off a gold-draped backseat, while the accompanying car contained two LARGE loudspeakers blaring out Hindu music (of which we heard at the previous wedding shindig) and sort of looks as though it could blast-off at any second. I’m so glad that, if God ever calls me to get hitched, I won’t have to go through all of that!
This evening our small group (we are split up into three groups at different times during the day for ministry purposes), the B Group, went to the area where we held our VBS-style Bible Club to hand out flyers in an effort to let others know about the event and to become a little more familiarized with the place. At once, it is apparent that we are in one of Trinidad’s poorest areas. The houses are literally made of appears to be discarded timber and rusted tin. There is no electricity. It’s a very rocky dirt road filled with bumps, nails – lots of nails – ducks, chickens, roosters, parrots, goats, timber, really rusted vehicles, really nice vehicles, trash, and plenty of kids running barefoot or thin-sandaled around us. Once we met with the pastor and his wife of the area, we begin walking in two directions – one, a more “adventurous” side – to begin to hand out flyers. Since a huge number had already begun walking on the “wild side,” I walked with the tamer side.
Though the Trinidadians speak English, we found that they also speak a much different language (a Creole based one) and quite rapidly at that. Many kids would come up, begin to speak speedily, begin laughing, and expecting you to laugh with them. Many times, if not saying “excuse me, please speak English,” we would weakly smile and pray that they we’re not telling us some vulgar joke. And even if they spoke in English, one needed to stop and concentrate very intensely to begin to try to understand what our counterpart was communicating to us. It felt as though we were in another country. Wait a second, we are, aren’t we! As we walked along the dusty road and passed out flyers for the coming Bible club, and trying our very best to communicate the theses poor but beautiful and energetic children, almost immediately, a had a small group of kids walking beside me and putting their arm around my shoulder, waiting for me to take their photograph. I felt a bit like I did in Taiwan.
Upon returning to the compound, we learned that the evening church service had already begun. After obtaining the room key, I rushed up to our room, jumped into church attire, and flew down the staircase to get to the service. Following an energetic worship service, Pastor Ashoke spoke to the congregation on Judges 12:13-15 and living a life that matters to God. While some thought it was an odd passage to use (not the sermon), I thought it was a marvelous use of Scripture to communicate a message of living a life of legacy, not of emptiness. He related how he had been outcast from his family for his faith but continued to pray for them until they came to know Christ.
We had a brief meeting with our VBS groups to prepare the final details before our first day of ministry. Our first real day here very exciting and there’s plenty in store for the next few days.
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