Well ... I'll get right to it. I do want to say, again, that the
food here is amazing. They do stuff with cilantro that is heavenly.
We started the afternoon out to go to the market, but were given a
tour of some of the local IPA church assemblies and ultimately a history
lesson. The founder of the IPA was a man named Peter Hosein. He was
born a sickly child, with an older sibling who had already died. His
uncles said that if he was to live, he could have a plot of land within
the family land. He lived and was given the land.
He was educated in the Muslim mosques being developed to be a
priest. By 12 he knew the Quaran by heart... word for word. One day,
while visiting his uncles store, he found a book on one of his uncle's
shelves. He asked his uncle what the book was. He was told that it's a
book of Christian teaching. Young Peter asked if he could have it.
The uncle told him that the book was worthless and no one would want it,
so he could have it.
Peter began to read the book ... the Bible ... and while reading the
book of John was overwhelmed with the love of Christ, surrendering his
life to him. Immediately he began to preach. He read in the Bible that
we were to preach the gospel to all creatures, so off he went ...
preaching to the cow in the back yard.... it qualified as a creature.
Peter was soon confronted by his family who demanded he refute this
teaching. They gathered at his house, spread a cloth on the floor, and
went to take his life with machetes when his mother grabbed him and ran
him outside into the wood.
Peter continued his ministry ... he was able to debate with the Muslims because he was so educated in the muslim religion. He had
opened a business by 15 and was doing well when God called him to leave
it and start a church. The land that his uncles gave him was still his
and he started the first of many churches there. What a testimony.
Everywhere he preached a crusade, he planted a church. Now the IPA
consists of 45 churches ... there is naturally much more to the story
... but that is a great start for you. Below I have some pics of
Bethel, the original church site. The building is new and in progress,
but the site remains. What a story of God's grace and power!
We eventually ended up at the market. It was getting close to
dinner. We spoke of going to eat Chinese afterwards. Of the market I
could only say this ... Americans ... you wish. The prices for fresh
fruit here are so amazing ... 5 lbs of beautiful tomatoes for $3!!! A
ten lb bag of real potatoes for $3+ ... the watermelon was expensive at
our standards but ... in large, the prices were wonderful and the
quality!!! We bought a huge selection of fruit and veggies. Some worth
noting are some wonderful mangoes and a variety of types of bananas. I
do also have to mention that we bought freshly made cheddar cheese ...
tastes so much better than the cheddar we know ... and is white, with a
slightly orange hue ... not overtly orange.
From there we went and visited a family that pastors one of the IPA
churches. Bro Daniel and Sister Melinda ... wonderful people. They
cooked an awesome assortment of traditional dishes including roti ... a
local form of flat bread, very similar to a mix between a pizza crust, a
tortilla, and pita bread. It was delicious. They made this fish
appetizer from this digusting looking smoked and dried fish that tasted
heavenly. There were other entrees as well .. but the soup. The
Trinidadians make soup fun! We had a wonderful night of communion ...
it was amazing. The people here have such great faith ... it is
overwhelming. Just to drive here takes faith.
We eventually made it home ... alive and safe. The roads here and
the people who drive them make our drivers at their worst seem like
angels...seriously.
That's all for now ... enjoy the pics and leave your comments!
No comments:
Post a Comment