“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” Acts 5:29Our first ministry stop this morning was at a preschool – the one that we thought we were going to yesterday. The children in the previous schools had been pretty excited and open and ready to party. This group, however, was wide-eyed and quite shy. We performed our program complete with music and puppets and spent time visiting with them. One of the ladies, Peggy, had a sloth-type puppet that she had and would go around the room so the kids could see it. One little boy, that was really the biggest of the group of children, was scared out of his mind by it. He sort of wanted to pet it but the second Peggy would come close, he would jump back in fright. She finally showed him that it was a puppet but he was still spooked.
Instead of visiting another school toady, we stopped at an elderly home. This was quite different than the nursing homes that we in the States are used to. It really was a home with several women residents. I felt slightly out of place as I was the only male… The basis of our program at this stop was mainly to spend time singing, praying, and visiting with these dear elderly ladies. One resident in particular, Ruby, was a joy to our group as she danced and sang with Kim Underwood of the Joy FM staff. Tocka-tocka-tocka, oh yeah, oh yeah! (It was interesting to hear about the other group’s experience with their elderly home visit. The residents stated that they knew our group was Christians because they would touch and hug them while other groups would just sing. What a telling statement.) We visited with the elderly ladies and gave them homemade foam bookmarks before we left.
This afternoon, everyone was a little apprehensive as half of our large team journeyed to the boy’s prison. We learned immediately before we left that we would be traveling to our VBS site following our visit at the prison – this put us about a half hour behind schedule. As a consequence, part of our time at the prison was cut short.
When we arrived, we entered through the fenced gate and were led by a very tall guard to a gymnasium where we anticipated the boys for about fifteen minutes or so. When the group of about 60 or 70 arrived, they sat down on the wood bleachers as the band led everyone in a few praise songs. Steve, who is a new part-time pastor gave a testimony and was followed by David who gave a powerful testimony related to the prodigal son. This, unfortunately, concluded our time and the boys shook our hands as they exited. Everyone was disappointed that we were not able to visit and share with the boys on a more personal basis. All of the boys, each of them between the ages of 12 and 17, that we visited with were not yet convicted of any crime and were awaiting court. Some of the boys were there due to theft, others to being at the wrong place, while a few others for more serious crimes. All, however, were hurting.
Our Bible club this evening felt a little more chaotic tonight than that of the previous night – by American standards. Of Trinidadian standards, however, it was considered to be a success. Our program was much like the preceding evening but somehow we ended a little early which wasn’t by any means a negative thing – it did, though, give an opportunity for the kids to do what they commonly do which is run around crazy. I think that some of the group felt a little stressed that we couldn’t “control the chaos” – however, we need to remember the setting and environment that they live in each day. We were able to visit more with the children because of the early ending as well as several new adults who came to the club. Another rather shocking though not entirely surprising fact appeared tonight – there are several young teenage mothers that attended, some barely teenagers at that. Several of the women in our group were able to talk with both the adults and befriend these young mothers while the rest of us (the more crazed, I suppose) worked with the children.
This evening after returning to the compound and eating, all anyone wished to go was straight to bed or hit the pool (I would usually vote on the first option and to download the couple hundred pictures I had taken throughout the day). We learned, however, that we instead were expected to attend a mini-concert and quick talk by Pastor Ashoke. Everyone put on a fake smile and came into the sanctuary. When the first note of the Steel Pan Band began, however, the phony smile immediately became genuine. To hear these musicians play is a true wonder to behold – listening to a CD or watching a video does not provide a hint of justice of the beauty of this instrument. Following two amazing songs we took a seat and the pastor related to our group his testimony of growing up as a Hindu. He had become a Christian at age 13 because of a group of 14 missionaries that preformed a week-long Bible Club as we are doing – in fact, all seven of the attendees became Christians and are in ministry today! His family kicked him out and he moved away for years but slowly, one by one, he led his family to Christ. What a powerful meeting time!
Our mini-concert sparked some creative juices among some of our team. A group of girls, led by a certain radio station manager, invaded our room and adorned one of our roommate’s bed with toilet paper and silly string. Meanwhile, another group of girls went around to the different rooms leaving toilet paper like the Easter Bunny after knocking and running off. All quite interesting and humorous. And our roommate with the trashed bed? He reacted as though nothing had happened. I suppose he’s used to that sort of thing.
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