Photos from Sunday (March 8th)...

A short update...

Everyone on the team is healthy and all are eating well. Tomorrow (Monday) we begin the 'Backyard Bible Club' (VBS in the USA) and we also will be visiting a Drug Rehab Center. The weather has been beautiful and our hosts and facilities have been wonderful. We will try to keep you up-to-date with our ministry here!
~Brian Tanning

Hello from sunny Trinidad!

Hello from sunny Trinidad! We are all having an amazing time and the Lord is at work! This country is absolutely beautiful, and the weather was a warm welcome!

To highlight some of our ministry…. On our first day, we started ministry by visiting a preschool followed by a cultural orientation. We visited a Hindu temple, a Muslim Mosque, and a Catholic Church to better understand Trinidad culture/religions. We concluded the first day by attending a youth group service and presenting skits, singing songs, and playing games. On our second day, we visited an orphanage in the morning and played with the children, had a puppet show, sang songs, and played games. Then, later in the day we visited a senior citizen home. This morning, we attended Church which was really good. Our team did a drama, shared two testimonies, and fellowshipped. The difference between this church in Trinidad compared to most church services in the states is that Church services here are much longer (about 2 ½ hours), church starts much earlier (7:45 a.m.), and everyone eats breakfast together after church. Overall, I know I have really enjoyed serving and getting to know the people we have met so far!

The Lord has been teaching us a lot and there is so much to say! I know all of us are blown away by the people here! They are so friendly and respectful towards us. They are awesome! Also, visiting the Hindu temple was a huge eye-opener. For me it was really sad to see these people praying to these idols for different requests and relying on their good works to get them to heaven. They burn sacrifices to offer to the gods on the altar, and sometimes the fire gets so big that the ceiling is burnt and black above the place where they have the offerings. It reminded me of the Old Testament and how the Jews would burn sacrifices. I was reminded that we have the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who has nailed all of our sins to the cross, has forgiven us, and continues to pour out His love despite our sin. It makes me sad to see these people who are lost in worshipping false idols and who do not know the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.



On a lighter note…we have been experiencing and trying a lot of new things! The food here is a lot different than from home, and it is so delicious! I have never tasted such good cooking, thanks to Lenny. Some of the things we have tried include: salted prunes, banana Fanta, swordfish, cow’s heel, roti on fig leaves, sugarcane, and aloo pie. We also went zip-lining, but I will let Kaitlyn write more about that! It was a HUGE rush!!! On a side note, I am even using my field biology skills and have identified Mimosa, a plant that reacts to touch.

Amanda Kaiser