Reaching Out To The Village of Kernaham Trace

Sunday August 2, 2015

Day Two-  Team Trinidad split into two groups to visit homes in the neighborhood of Kernaham to invite families to the Vacation Bible School starting the next morning at 930 and the Crusades events starting on Tuesday evening.  This was the first experience for many walking in groups, singing with guitar and calling out to each home “Hello and Good Day!”  With the help of a couple of local people we were able to meet parents and children of most every house that we visited.  We certainly would not expect to be greeted with such warmness and curiosity if we walked the streets back home calling out to each house!

Team Trinidad praises with "To Our God" through dance and song at the Sunday evening community service at TTUM.

On Sunday evening we worshiped with the local church community at their weekly service, praising God as a choir with two songs that we had prepared for many weeks to share with the local church.  Pastor Clint provided a message about becoming one new man in Christ, a message that really linked our American and Trinidadian cultures to remind us that we are all in one temple in Christ.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Day One-  Team Trinidad successfully arrived in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago this afternoon with many details that God worked out for a smooth and safe trip.

Before we started our journey to Trinidad, I could hardly imagine a group of 33 team members of various ages and travel experiences smoothly traveling together to a small Caribbean island.  We thank God for his guidance in providing the leadership of Pastor Clint Shondelmyer and Lisa Hess, coordinating each detail and bringing us all together.

The first challenge occurred after we had checked in our 52 bags of personal items and ministry supplies by 430am at Dulles airport.  We were told that due to a “scheduling error” by American Airlines, the First Officer had not arrived and would cause the flight to be one hour late for departure.  We wondered how all team members would quickly cross the terminal in Miami to make our connecting flight that we would be late for when we arrived and how all 54 of our bags would be transported in time to make the flight. 

The team beams of happiness after finally arriving in Trinidad and Tobago, en route to the TTUM compound.

Through God’s blessing our Miami arrival gate was moved to be right next to our transfer gate to allow quick boarding of the flight.  We arrived in Trinidad only 30 minutes late and amazingly with each and every bag.  A great blessing since not all bags arrived in time on the previous Trinidad trip.

With over 2,500 pounds of bags loaded on a flat bed and each team member packed into one small bus we settled into our new home for the week at the TTUM compound.

I was inspired by each of the kids traveling in the group that showed so much excitement and energy for each stretch of the journey, with most only having a few hours of sleep the previous night.

That evening we rehearsed our praise hymns for the next day and made final changes to the dance routine. 

We pray that our song and dance worship would be pleasing in God’s eyes and that he would inspire many to hear his word and seek him. 

-Corey Henderson