Ministering in Trinidad

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, I can hardly believe it! Well, we arrived in Trinidad (the team and I) on Saturday night at about midnight. Our flight was delayed, so we didn't get to bed until almost 2... then up at 7 am. A lot of us had lost sleep the night before as well, but I think now we're finally feeling like ourselves!
I usually like to focus in on just one or two stories when I blog, but I feel like I have so many to tell.
We began the Vacation Bible School for kids on Monday, had 40 out (double what we expected for our first day), and had 45 today. The kids are so awesome, it only takes about 3 minutes for them to get into your heart. They are awesome.
Today we went around evangelizing and ministering to people. Natalie, Pam and I met this one lady in her 60's, told us she needed knee replacements and her back was really bothering her. After talking to her for a few minutes, we found out she had just moved there and still needed to unpacked, but she was in so much pain she couldn't do it on her own. Pam and I will go back later in the week to help her with cleaning and unpacking.
But what got me the most - more than her need for help, and more than her fear that people would steal from her if they came to help - was how lonely she was. I didn't care that we had spent more than a half hour with her, I didn't care that she talked our ears off. At one point she began to cry, and my heart just went out to her. We prayed with her, and I am believing that when we go to help her in the next few days we will hear a good report, but we'll also get a chance to visit with her and encourage her.
Which brings me to something God's really been speaking to me about lately - encouraging others. It astounds me how I can be discouraged about something myself, but the moment that I step out and try encourage others, the discouragement begins to lift. Recently I remember thinking "God how can I encourage this person, when I myself need encouragement?" And that's when I chose to lean on God, get my encouragement from Him, give myself a little pep-talk and I chose to stir myself up and get encouraged. Then, I was able to encourage others. Interesting, isn't it, how being encouraged sometimes is a choice?
I'm having a great time with this team - I love it when we get laughing and joking around - I mean, when we prayed for the joy of the Lord, He heard us. The joy of the Lord is our strength. It's an amazing thing.
It's also an amazing thing that I sit here, in Trinidad, and I need my sweater! lol. Obviously, we have the air conditioning on, so the moment I step outside in my sweater, it's brutally hot.
Note to self - sweaters should be left inside the house at all times while in Trini.

PS - we're having fun trying out the Trinidad accent as well. Maybe I'll see about making a short clip of us all, I'm sure it would get some laughs!