Joseph and Cassandra Landaw, AIM workers in Trinidad

Greeting to all!!!

First of all we would like to say that we hope all is going well back home.
We miss everyone and can't wait for those of you who plan to come visit!

We have been here in Trinidad for about three (3) weeks and we are having a great time. It’s not that much of a change for me (Joseph) coming down here, since I did live here a third of my life. However it has been a bit of a transition for Cassandra. Everything has improved since I last lived here, but a lot is still very different that the good ol USA. When you go to another country for a while, you realize all the things you take for granted. It’s not like the country is backward or impoverished. Trinidad is actually doing very well for a small nation, partly due to the oil industry. Yes, Trinidad has oil. The economy is booming, and everyone has a job. Believe it or not, most people have a cell phone, many have two or three. The same is true with cars, there are too many for the roads, creating horrible traffic. All of the gadgets and gizmos however have not changed the people. They may have some technology, yet they live very simple lives, and do not think like Americans.

Some differences are:
They drive on the left hand side; the steering wheel is on the right…
They speak English… well a cool dialect of English anyway…
Their money is all different colours<--- that the “proper” spelling…
The exchange rate is hard to get use to… $120TT is close to $20US
They have great food!!! (It’s cheaper to eat out sometimes than to cook…)
The list goes on…

Customer service is horrible down here. Most of you know I worked a Chick-fil-A, and I can tell you, we would have fired all the people in the restaurants I’ve been to… All of the American based restaurants. On the other hand, the Trini places are not that bad. I guess they take pride in their stuff. Anyway, one of the things we get to eat is called doubles. That is the singular and plural for the name of the food. It is like two small soft pita flaps, with a chick pea soup sloped inside. Believe it or not, Cassandra loves them, and we have to go to town to get them. You can get them to go, or stand up outside on the street (that’s the only place you can get them, on the side of the road…) and eat them right there. It’s great.

Well that’s all nice you might say, but what about Church, have you even gone yet?

Well yes we have actually, thank you for asking!

We are helping in a Church in the town of St. James (there are only two Cities in Trnidad: Port of Spain, which is the capital, and San Fernando, everything else is like little towns, which go on one right after the other.
I am helping Pastor the Church, so pray for me. The Pastor recently relocated to another area, and we are helping fill the gap. Helping us is the interim Pastor, Bro. Urie Bejhue, a Trinidadian bibles school graduate as well as an interim assistant pastor, Bro. Philbert George.
I am also helping in the bible school, teaching the Session on Tue and Wed. We are currently going through the Epistles and a class on communication (Just finished I Corinthians… I seem to always forget how carnal that Church was… sort of reminds me of many of the problems that arise in our Churches today…).
Anyway… as part of the Bible School the Students are to be a part of what is called, “Bible School in Action” herein called BSIA. We go to a church and the students have to testify, sing, exort (which means Preach a 5 min sermon… at least that’s what it means here…) as well as Preach… Most of the time however, I am the one stuck (or blessed) Preaching. It is fun having special services, which is what the BSIA services are.

The First week we went to Valencia, which is on the North Eastern side of the country. It is in the “country” lots of trees and so on. The services are currently held at Bro. Ron Griffiths house, in the back yard. He has a lot of children and youth that come to the services. When we were there a young person asked if she could get baptized!!! Her sister also wants to get baptized, and they wanted to do it on the first girls Birthday, which is coming up soon. Pray for the Griffiths. They are a wonderful couple, working hard for God.

The Next week we had the BSIA in St. James where we are working. I had Bro. Griffith come and Preach, and he did a great job.
The Next night we had a street/parking lot meeting at a housing project. There were not many peoples (ok I won’t lie there were only two that I know for sure that were out side listening to us) but we could fell God in the service. We had a speakersystem set up, and it did look like a lot of people were listening though their windows.

We also made a Trip to Tobago, which was a lot of fun. We spent some time with the pastor over there, and had a great time talking… We even talked about the US elections… anyway…

I’m glad we are here, it’s been along time in the making, this trip, and I think God has great thing in store for us.

Pray for us whenever you can… And think very much if you do, or already have.

We Pray that everything is Going well in you life, and that God will help you get close to Him.

Love,

Joseph and Cassandra Landaw
AIM workers to Trinidad and Tobago