“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” John 16:7Each day that we were in Trinidad, it was very hot and sunny with a sporadic five minute shower to cool us down. Today, however, the five-minute shower turned into an all day event. No complaints, though. Remember those rubber bands! I would much rather have the rains today than on a ministry day. In fact, I wish at least half the day was spent on ministry verses sightseeing though it was nice to see a little more of Trinidad.
Our first outing was to do some souvenir shopping. Most of the group shopped in one souvenir shop while the highlight of this stop, at least for me, was the Starbucks-type of coffee shop where nearly every drink is about $24, or $4 in US. Of interest to me was a video store in a mall that we briefly went into. The entire DVD selection looked as though they were pirated films and they were showing some kind of horror film on the televisions with some very disturbing scenes. It’s definitely not America! The shopping excursion was made a little livelier by the fact that a man with a dirty rag came up to one of the guys in the band, handed him the rag, and walked off as though nothing happened. Everyone was in hysterics. As the rains began to pour again, our maxi-taxis arrived and we scuttled down the road to the beach. It was really nice to see more of the island, although we were told that we drove through some “rough” areas and if we had a flat tire, we wouldn’t want to stop.
While typically one would wish for a bright sunny day for the beach, it was kind of nice that the rain had set in because we were treated to an incredible array of mountains covered in fog as we headed into and over them. Absolutely gorgeous. Our two buses stopped at a snack stand so everyone could a nice view of the ocean. I bought a very interesting hot pink “sugar cake” of which the title is pretty self-explanatory. Once we finally reached our destination (it was a long ride), most headed for the changing room (where you had to pay a $1 TT) while others headed for the Shark n’ Bake stand. I felt like walking a little along the shore, taking pictures, and just admiring God’s creation for a while. I then headed over to the shark stand and grabbed a tasty sandwich. While mom and I were enjoying our exotic lunch, we heard the new s that one of the young ladies, Amanda, had an accident due to a wave and had to go to the hospital. The rest of us formed a circle and prayed for Amanda and spent a about another half hour on the beach. Many times, however, the rain and wind came or the lifeguards would call everyone out. I decided that, being a not so fantastic swimmer and being a slightly cool day already, I would be content to merely walk in the waves on the shore. Before take-off, we were able to visit with a man who was selling cool necklaces and jewelry. On the way back, I decided to count how many “maxi-taxis” I could count in 30 seconds since I witnessed so many throughout the week. I counted 17.
Arriving at TTUM, we had time for a quick bite and it was time for our last large group meeting. Some had time to take a quick shower – I didn’t get to due to the fact that I was speedily working on a short video to show the group from our site. It never was shown though I had about 2 minutes of footage completed. But it didn’t really matter because it was another great time of fellowship and sharing as each group presented their puppet shows or songs from programs presented at the schools during the week. We followed this with a time of reflection of what God had spoken to us or impressions of the week. I don’t normally like to speak up in front of groups that I don’t know all that well, but I felt like God was prompting me to say a “thank you” to my mom for coming on the trip since she probably wouldn’t get to go on her annual retreat. After I said my words, mom actually spoke for a little while (she talks in front of groups much less than I do) and received hugs from much of the group – it was a great moment to see mom getting love from so many people. It seems that our time of ministry had not ended after all.
The rest of the evening was spent fellowshipping, swimming, and packing. For me, it was spent downloading thousands (literally) of pictures from group members in order to make the DVD and enjoying the company of those that brought their pics to me. It’s hard to believe that this trip is nearly complete already!
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