Photos

The Tunapuna Missionary Baptist Church is built into a hill, as you may be able to see from the size of the steps, with the photo being taken from the parking lot. If you cannot see the steps clearly, click on the photo to enlarge it.

The Lord was so gracious in providing the paving for the parking lot. It just 'happened' that a councillor for the area came to a funeral at the church, saw the scooped out place for cars, which was merely dirt, and ordered a truck to come and pave the lot while the road down below it was being re-paved. Now we have room for about 6 or 7 cars, and that is a big help to us in this hilly place. We are also finding that the people who live in the area like to use the parking lot for a turnaround spot, since the road (called a 'trace') is narrow and ends up in a dead end. So, it is a benefit to them as well.

This is Anna looking over the tables that were set up for a fellowship dinner that was scheduled recently after the Sunday morning worship service. A family lovingly did this as a surprise for all of us.

And you can see Sunshine (her real name) and Diana on their way up the steps to enter the building. The sun is bright, not so? (not so is a Trinidadian expression meaning "isn't that right?") Behind the girls, notice the razor wire on the wall of the church property. Sadly this type of property protection is vital these days due to a tremendous increase in crime in the country.

Please pray for Trinidad.










Until another time.....God bless,
Janet

Some background to being "His By Grace"

In 1992, I moved to Trinidad, West Indies, from Scarborough, Maine, USA...an enormous contrast in climate.

Trinidad is such a beautiful country that I thought I would like to share some photos from time to time with my friends and relatives who are scattered abroad. And probably I will tag along with some random thoughts as well.

Perhaps those of you in the colder climates will feel a little warmth on your faces when you look at the lush greenery and see the shimmering sunshine on the leaves of the trees. You may even almost feel the heat coming out of some of these photos and, for some of you, that would be just fine, wouldn't it? Especially when it is sleeting, snowing, hailing, or raining during the long Winter months! So, maybe these photos will even transport you (in spirit at least) to this tropical island to brighten your day during the coming storms of the season.

This is a view overlooking the village of Tunapuna, Trinidad, taken from the balcony of the Tunapuna Missionary Baptist Church located high in the hills of the Northern Range, on Achong Trace, at the top of Balthazar Street. This is where I meet with other believers to worship God for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men.

And that brings me to the subject of "some background to being His by Grace"...The Lord, in His marvelous mercy, redeemed me way back about 40 years ago, and what a journey it has been since that day I realized I was not pure in heart --and that some day I would have to give an account to a holy and awesome God. I knew He was real. Wow. That was an unnerving shock to my heart and mind! The Scriptures spoke to me, a proud skeptic and thorough-going humanist, in an unexpected, powerful way that day. And I have never been the same since.

I only read the Scriptures because someone had challenged me to read them. They said, and they were right, that I was always criticizing the Bible but, if I had never read it, how could I criticize it? That sounded pretty reasonable to me but I did nothing about it. Quite frankly, I was not interested.

Independently of that challenge and, providentially, I was given a Bible later on (out of the blue) by a Christian businessman in Pennsylvania, two States away, whom I had met only very briefly. I put the Bible on the shelf until the day I went to the hospital in Boston to give birth to my first child and, at that point, retrieved the Bible from 'under the dust' and took it with me.

Not knowing where to begin, I started at the beginning of the New Testament, the book of the Gospel according to Matthew. I soon came to Matthew ch.5, verse 8: "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." And that was the actual start of God's dealings with my heart.

Until another time....

Isaiah 63:9..."in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them..."