We outside for Borough! But not in the way you think...

Twenty-one years ago, a teenager from Point Fortin who had just dedicated her life to Christ a few months prior, approached an elder from her church to ask if she could spend the weekend with his family at his home in Dow Village over the Point Fortin Borough Day weekend. As a young believer, she had no desire to participate in the activities where there would be behaviours contrary to God's Word, so she was looking for a way to escape the festivities. When some of her friends from church heard what she wanted to do, they decided to come as well. This was the beginning of Borough Retreat, which became an annual tradition for the young people of Mahaica Gospel Hall in Point Fortin. At each Borough Retreat, we combine biblical sessions with fun activities, so it is usually greatly anticipated by all.

Throwback to when we spent the weekend turtlewatching in Toco

This year, however, was different. Apart from us not being able to host any retreats for the past 3 years due to covid-19 restrictions, from 2017-2019 there was not a significant number of teenagers attending Mahaica Gospel Hall, so for those years, the partipicants at Borough Retreat came from Bible Club - the community outreach we have to the children of Dow Village. God's Word is faithful and He continues to build His church, and we were excited to learn that in 2023, there is an active Sunday School class of teenagers at Mahaica Gospel Hall. After Easter I contacted their teacher, Candice, and together we started planning for this year's Borough Retreat. 

Most of the attendees at our last Borough Retreat are young adults now

We encountered one major obstacle - the current group of teenagers knew nothing about Borough Retreat. Most of them had only started attending the church within the past few years, so they had no idea what it was about. One young man informed Candice that he had already bought his jersey for J'ouvert, so he was not about to miss out from Borough Day this year. Only two persons indicated they were interested in attending, with a third saying maybe. We did not let the numbers deter us; we figured that two youths were worth having the retreat, and trusted that God would bring those who needed to be there and continued planning. Candice invited some young adults who had attended Borough Retreat as teenagers to share their experiences, and after they were finished, twelve children said they wanted to come. Candice contacted the parents to convince them to entrust us with their charges for the weekend.

                 Praise God that by Friday evening, we had 11 young people,
4 young adults and 3 of their children in attendance!

On Friday evening, I met with 4 of the young adults who attended Borough Retreat when they were teenagers. I told them that they had to start taking ownership of Borough Retreat from this year forward, so I wanted them to be a part of the process of developing the devotions. Together we studied the book of Jonah, and pulled out interpretation and application questions from chapters one and three that would help to challenge the teens to not shirk their responsibility to share their faith with their friends. It was such an encouragement to me to see these young adults leading the devotions on Saturday and Sunday morning!

See if you can recognize the leader who
was just a youth in the first photo in this blog ;)

Later on Friday evening a group from Wycliffe Bible Translators braved the drive down south to present a mini-workshop entitled "Taste of Translation" and "One Story". They shared about the number of people groups that exist in the world today that do not currently have a translation of the Bible in their language. Then the youths were taken through an activity to recognize the value in having the scripture in a person's heart language - the language that is most commonly used and understand by a people group. Finally they were able to practise telling a the story of Jesus calming the storm orally using Trini dialect. The session was very interactive and engaging, and the young people learnt a lot about Bible translation that they didn't know before, with a couple of them asking the facilitators questions long after the session was completed. We started watching a movie but had to cut it short when it was midnight because we had an early start the next morning.

The youths were fully engaged in this workshop

During the Saturday morning devotions, the youths were challenged to not be indifferent to the fate of those around them who do not know Christ. They were encouraged to know that even when we disobey God, He provides a way for us to be restored. After devotions, the team on Kitchen Prep headed to the kitchen to help with breakfast. We were provided with pancake mix from David, so all they had to do was to cook it. For some of them, it was their first time ever learning to flip a pancake. Others learnt about the need for cleaning the sink after washing wares. The parents were very impressed with the pictures we shared of their children doing chores over the weekend.

Proud of the finished product :)

After filling our bellies we boarded a big maxi and headed to Samsara Nature Park in Penal. There the children enjoyed petting a camel, holding snakes and turtles, and feeding horses, donkeys and macaws. After a delicious lunch of pelau and cole slaw lovingly prepared by Mummy, we drove over to Diggity Trace Mud volcano in Debe. The children had a ball here, immersing themselves in the mud, and sliding down the side of the volcano on the mud. I had brought five 5-gallon bottles of water for them to wash off afterwards, but after taking one look at the boys when we came down from the mud volcano, some men who were liming under a shed nearby said, "You know dais not enough right?" They were very helpful in directing us to a nearby standpipe, where I had to literally scrub the mud off of each child's body, one by one, before they were clean enough to enter the maxi. I thank God for the assistance of the men, because I did not know about that standpipe even though we had done a site visit earlier in the week.

You don't have to play J'ouvert to
have fun in the mud ;)

When we returned home, the children entertained themselves by climbing trees and playing charades while the team on Kitchen Prep made pizzas for dinner. After dinner, they went into their teams to come up with an idea to show what they had learnt for the weekend so far. One team acted out the Bible story of Jesus calming the storm in full Trini dialect - it was hilarious! Another team showed the danger of giving in to the influence of peers rather than listening to God. The last group demonstrated how doing your own thing might be enjoyable for a season, but there are negative consequences to be faced after.

One of the evening's skits

Sunday morning devotions encouraged the youths to not give in to fear, but to be bold and brave when sharing their faith with others. They spent time praying for each other to have the courage to obey God when they returned home. God graciously provided sufficient transport to take us to Majuba Gospel Hall in La Brea on Sunday morning where we fellowshiped with the saints there in communion, worship and ministry of the Word. After the service the youths wanted to come back by us for lunch, but it was time for them to go home. One young man who attended was not even a part of Sunday School, but was invited by a friend, and enjoyed it so much that he said he would come again. It was indeed a joy and privilege to be able to host Borough Retreat for youth from Point Fortin for the first time since 2016. We are indeed grateful to all who prayed and gave to make this experience possible for them, and we pray that the seeds of God's Word which were sown would grow deep roots and produce much fruit in the years to come.

They had so many first-time experiences this weekend,
including getting to pet and feed a camel!