WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?
WHERE ARE WE GOING NEXT?

June of 2007 marked 10 years (!) in Trinidad. Over those years we have done Medical missions, Vacation Bible Schools, Literacy Faires, Helps Ministries, Community Surveys, and all sorts of other projects. Our job has been to help the House of God Ministries become "relevant" to the community and to give MissionGuides a venue to expose ordinary Christians to God's extraordinary work.

Our project this week was to meet with the HGM leadership take a look at where we've been and plot a course for more ministry in the future.

BIBLE CONFERENCE

One of the ministry streams that has formed up over the years is a need to train people in Trinidad to study the Bible for themselves. Often a typical Trini in the congregation will act simply as a spectator to a Sunday service. Our partners at the House of God asked us to help them train their people in basic Bible study skills.

One thing we learned is that we all have a long way to go. What was planned as a week-long seminar could actually be turned into a whole semester of Sunday schools. More training to come... Thanks for your efforts Dr. Jim!

 

BUSINESS-AS-MISSIONS

A new/old mnistry idea is becoming a cutting-edge ministry model in the missions world. Many business people are Christians and want to know how their secular jobs can be used as a ministry tool. Is it only about profit and loss or is there something more we can bring to the regular 9 to 5?

Bruce is a corporate trainer and interviewed a spectrum of business people to learn how business people in the USA could help Trinidad answer this question of being a Christian business person. The result? Lots of ideas and a conference to prepare for in May!

CONNECTING WITH OLD
FRIENDS IN A NEW WAY

Zalaka is a dear friend from way back. She's even a two-time veteran of our Sri Lanka projects. We've known her for a long time but never really seen her in action.

Zalaka is one of the business people we are helping and getting help from. Her experience as a produce vendor in the Chaguanas market is helping us understand the needs of working people in Trinidad.

PROGRESS!

Last year our project was to lay the foundation for the expanding King's Kids Primary school at the House of God.

One year later, the structure is complete and hosting a growing population of children from the neighborhood. At last count, there were almost 50 kids enrolled and a need for two more teachers.

The teachers on this trip have identified ways they can help the teachers there. We are planning for a team of teacher advisors to travel again in July.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

The King's Kids Primary school can now accomodate pre-school and 1st grade students. As the school gets older, the grade levels will expand to care for them.

Thanks to careful forethought (and a deal on steel building materials) the new wing can expand further and eventually hold 5th, 6th and 7th graders.

ALL SMILES

Ten years ago the dream of having a school at the House of God was very far out of reach. But many people, many prayers and the strong, faithful, committment of our financial supporters and teaching experts has made these smiles a reality.

Thank You!

 

WOMEN'S MINISTRY

Yvonne is one of the key leaders at the House of God. She is responsible for leading the Prayer and Women's ministries.

She has been facing the common struggle of how to balance family, work, and church life while trying to engage in the needs of the women at the church.

A strong connection was made with Yvonne and some of our teammates who have continued to talk and plan to help her with Women's Bible studies and event planning.

 

INTRODUCING NEW
TEAMMATES TO OLD FRIENDS.

Ruth represented Lake Lundgren Bible Camp in northern Wisconsin. Another ministry stream that has arisen over the years is a need to connect the youth of Trinidad to meaningful goals.

Ruth and her husband, Mike, have been a blessing to MissionGuides and a answer to that prayer. Through their help, we plan to continue the training we started with our Youth exchange last year.

Having them meet our old friends is the cherry-on-top of a good week.

FOLLOWUP!

Matt was very instrumental in organizing a youth exchange in Green Bay last fall. He was able to join us again this year for a followup visit and a team time with those young leaders.

Next steps? There is talk of having them help with a Vacation Bible School in Wisconsin. There is also the hope that some of them will spend the summer at a Bible camp for more structured training to bring back home.

 

LET'S NOT FORGET, IT'S NOT ALL
ABOUT PROGRAMS!

One of the dangers of doing all this planning for Youth, Women, Schools, and Business programs is that one can forget about people!

So that we don't do that we make sure we connect with the relationships that give everything its color. Syrie and Hannifer are our good neighbors when we stay in Trinidad.

Seeing their kids grow up, enjoying fresh coconuts from their trees and catching up with their very interesting lives over the years is the real work we want to do.

We have many years of work ahead of us! We look forward to you joining us some day too. We hope it will be soon.