Mamma Mia!

Hey everyone, sorry its been so long. I have been entertaining the very difficult creature that my mother is:) She did however make me aware of the fact that people probably still want to know what is going on. I only have to say that there hasnt been too much going on. I rode into Georgetown with Tom and Abi. It was a very short ride. Although I did have to wake up at 3 in the morning to get her, I think she hates me lol. She was supposed to have to wait for me, but I was the one doing the waiting. I stood outside the secured area for about 45 minutes. For all of you who know me at all, you know I am not very patient. So every white person I saw coming around the corner I thought was her, it wasnt. Finally the right white girl came around! To make a long story short, she is here and I am so happy to see my mom again.

Since then we have done lots of service and that has been about it. See out here we dont have much in the way of entertainment. So she has done a lot of reading. I took her into Skeldon one day to go and shop. It was a lot of fun. She isnt used to being in a market like this. We did lots of shopping and she figured out some of the Guyanese fruits that are delicious. Her first meeting was a true Guyana experience, the power went out about halfway through. In normal Guyanese fashion we continued the meeting as though we started in total darkness. It is very unusual for us Americans to not get all flustered when the power goes out and you cant see or hear what is going on.

Oh here is a good story for the end of this blog, Im sorry its so short there is just nothing all the exciting going on. But anyway... My mom was downstairs with my roomate Dana and they were getting dinner ready. All of a sudden my mom screams and takes off her jacket, hands it to Dana who has no idea what is going on, and procedes to start an examination of herself. At this point she tells Dana that the jacket she handed her had a spider on it only moments ago and she has no idea where it is now. That is when Dana screamed and threw the jacket on the floor:) It was sooooo funny, she doesnt like bugs too much is what I have learned.


Oh and to top it off this morning we had no power. It wasnt a regular blackout, this one was just our house and the front house. A guy driving a truck backed into the power pole, and caused it to spark. Thankfully we have electricity now, we dont like going without power all day. So I will be home in a week and a few days. I will be going into Georgetown on Monday with my mom and Dana:) It will be fun. Ok talk to you all later!

Berbice Special Day Assembly

Hey everyone, sorry its been so long. We are starting to wrap up our trip and getting things all setup for our new roomate! But I will get back to that later. So nothing really happened in between the Memorial and the assembly so I will just hit the fastforward button on my storytelling to this last weekend.

Sunday was our special day in New Amsterdam, we got up early and rode in with Tom and Michelle Sanches. We were some of the first people to arrive and quickly found the ASL section. It was a very large section of the auditorium right in the front on the right hand side. The assembly itself was held at a school in New Amsterdam with people filling every room possible. The attendance for morning session was 972 with 27 deaf in attendance. The afternoon attendance was 1,001 with 28 deaf in attendance. Another great highlight for this assembly was the 5 baptized including our new deaf sister:)

I know many of you havent had your special day yet but I thought I would include one or two points that I really enjoyed from the assembly. Actually I will just put in one from the Bethel Branch overseer, his name is Brother Hinds. He was talking about how prayer and Bible reading are linked. He said when we pray we are talking to Jehovah asking him for his holy spirit, but how do we get a response? He said that our Bible reading is when Jehovah talks to us through his word. Then he asked which is more important? Is it more important for Jehovah to listen to us, or for us to listen to Jehovah? Then he said the more we read the Bible the more we want to pray and continue that relationship with Jehovah. I really enjoyed that point, I havent ever heard it explained that way until now.

Another highlight was my roomate Dana was interviewed! She didnt fall off the stage or anything. She was sitting literally on the edge of the stage, its a tiny stage. So anywho after the assembly we helped with the cleaning. I got stuck with the disgusting job of cleaning the bathrooms...surprisingly it was much worse in the womens restroom than the mens. But I will spare you all the details.

After the cleaning was done we headed over to Ramon and Kali Buddens house for a gathering with a bunch of needgreaters from all over the place. They had lots of chinese food and then we played a game. Have any of you played would you rather? Well they changed it into Bible scenarios and made most everyone play. I went up against Abi. I was Abigail, and she was Rachel. I lost, I had the husband with a drinking problem and therefore nobody wanted to be me:)

After that they interviewed a couple from Skeldon named Ryan and Torrie. They are from Canada and will be going home soon. It is very interesting to learn about the other people down here and what they went through to make it possible to do this. There are some amazing people down here. After that it was time to leave, and we had a new addition to our group. We have our new roomate Amy here with us now. So we are starting to take her around the territory and get her used to the studies so she doesnt feel too lost or overwhelmed while she is here. Also we are getting ready for my moms arrival:) Next Tuesday she will be here and I will be dragging her around the coast as much as possible. Ok until later!

Guyanese Memorial

Hey everyone, this has been such a crazy week! We spent a week before the Memorial visiting all of our studies explaining how important it is to go to the Memorial as well as how important it is to not eat the bread or drink the wine:) There were some funny conversations but we wont go into that right now. So in addition to all that explaining we also arranged with all the families for pickup times and also got a few relatives to join us. We knew it was going to be a night to remember.

So I will start from the bus ordeal. We had arranged for the man to pick us up at 4. He called at 3:45 to say he would pick us up now, after about 5 minutes of Abi trying to explain that no we wanted to be picked up at 4 he finally understood. So he arrived at 4:10 instead, but that is Guyana for you! Fortunately for us all of our studies and their families were ready to go in their appointed spots, I was so proud. The Guyanese are normally late for everything, so we were shocked.

Ok so after being dropped off and getting settled in for the Memorial, that is where the fun began:) All of us have at least 1 study in English, a few are relatives of the deaf we study with. One girl named Radda who is studying with Dana is the sister of Sono, a young boy we have been talking to since I arrived here. Radda has 2 kids, one is 2 years old and the other is 6 months old. To start off with the opening prayer we found out these kids know exactly when prayers happen and they decided to cry during each of them. Yes both of them cried during every prayer. I am deciding if I should talk about things in order or if it should be according to the Bible study itself....I think by the studies themselves is best:)

Ok to continue on Radda there is a lot to tell. Ok so after Dana took one of the kids in the back with her, there was one left. He is a holy terror. He started hitting his mom, at which she started laughing. So he continued for 5 minutes, also throwing things on the ground and screaming when nobody gave it back. So I hid the cloth is was throwing on the floor, so he moved on. After a good while his mom looks back at me, at which point I gave her the look of she needs to control her child. She tried, and failed miserably. What she didnt fail at was making him scream more, he has got that down. To end the whole Radda experience I must end with the best part. So its a sign Memorial and they didnt make the announcement to turn off your cell phones, and we didnt think to tell them to turn phones off. Yea, hers went off. I should thrown in this little tidbit, we were in the front row. Her phone loudly played the birthday song. Not only did it play that, she proceeded to answer it and have a conversation during the talk. Dana tried to get her to stop, it didnt work. However it does make for a good story.

Now lets see...who else? Well we had many that were well behaved, so I will shortly list those. Sono, Pearol, Natalie, Niasia for the most part, and Annette. But lets talk about Niasia. She only did one thing really. She and Natalie decided that right before the prayer for the bread they had to go to the bathroom. I thought seriously about grabbing her and making her sit back down, but figured that would make too much of a scene. Thankfully she came back to her seat in time to pass the bread. Otherwise she was well behaved.

Hmm..how about Andrea's cousin Abianna that came. Well she decided that instead of staying in one seat through the whole meeting she would hop around. Once again it was a matter of causing too much distraction if I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside. Although I thought seriously about it. Then there was the issue in the bus. She had been acting up all night and I was done dealing with her nicely. I gave her one warning when she was causing trouble with the other girls back there. So when I turned around and noticed she was crawling on the floor trying to go under the seats I decided I had enough. So I told her in a loud voice that she was to sit in her seat like a normal human being or I would get back there and make her do so. I never saw a kid move so fast in my life. The funny part of that was Abi's reaction, she said I sounded really mean and she thought she should straighten up too:) Abianna was good after that.

Oh heres a note on Pearol. She came with her hearing cousin who is now studying with Abi. Before the Memorial started I went over to talk to her about how everything was going to happen. I explained to her that we dont eat the bread or drink the wine. Pearol saw me talking to her and became concerned that I didnt explain it properly. So she told me what to do in these words," eat drink no bad, Jehovah he think bad." We were all so proud that we finally got through to some of them! Especially this one considering recently Dana confused her to the point that she thought she shouldn't be Jehovah's friend anymore. Also now I am pretty sure she thinks getting married is bad, that or she really doesnt want to get married.

So last but certainly not least is Rebecca. She is one of my favorite studies. Her and her son and his girlfriend/wife came. I say girlfriend/wife because it changes everytime I see them, funny enough is the fact that her name changes from Paulette to Esther depending on the day as well:) So before the Memorial it was explained to the whole family that we dont eat the bread and we dont drink the wine. Rebecca was very serious about staying far away from that. So at Memorial brother Ramon Budden was getting to their row and he handed the plate of bread to her son Jacob. He grabbed the plate but Esther and Rebecca refused to touch the plate at all. At which point Abi quickly took it away from Jacob as opposed to them having a discussion about this in the middle of them trying to pass the bread. However the looks on the faces of the brothers that were passing th bread were priceless. After watching the brothers who had passed the bread at the front of the hall pass it among themselves, the girls understood and successfully passed the wine.

So that is all the craziness that happened here, needless to say we were exhausted after that. In fact I still am exhausted from this past week, but it was definelty rewarding to see 104 in attendance and among them were 57 deaf! In our group including ourselves we had 18, 7 of which were deaf. I hope you all were as entertained as I was by the happenings from Memorial. However I was amused after it was over, it felt like I was babysitting. Well that is all for now, I have 17 days until my mom gets here and 35 days until I leave for home. So I will see you guys soon! This is going to be a busy month. We have specail day in Berbice and special talk in New Amsterdam. Amy will be here soon, my mom is coming, and then I am leaving. At least the time will go by really quickly!

The Trench Smelled of Coconut

The subject line is cathcy eh? Ok well today was a day full of blog worthy moments, so I thought hey lets tell the people! Today is our Black Bush day, and if you didnt know this already, I love Black Bush. We took off for the polder, which is where the buses pick you up, and waited for the bus. It took about 20 minutes until a bus came around. As we were waiting a young girl came up and started talking to us. I knew that I knew her from somewhere but couldnt quite place her. I found out when she got off at the same stop as us to go to my Bible study Shabahna's house. Yes, it was her sister. I have only seen her about 15 times since my arrival, but why would I know who she is? So we had our study with Shabahna and then her lovely mother gave us custard. If you have never had custard, I am sorry. Its amazing! After that I started taking pictures, I tried to take a picture of Shabahna, but everytime I took a picture her eyes were closed. We tried about 20 different times, with no success. Also they have lots of young animals at their house, kittens and puppies. I really really want to take one home. If I was staying longer I would be the proud owner of a kitten right now. Dont know why but I have had the strangest urge to have something soft and cuddly recently.

So we made our way over to our new return visit, which is a school. Abi met a woman named Kay a few weeks ago who is a teacher there. She is very interested in having a weekly class with us teaching it, talking about the Bible. So today was our first day going over and talking to the kids. As we walked into the school yard all the kids came running up to us, asking our names. They are all so sweet and respectful. Very different from what you see in the schools in the States. So we found the teachers and they got us all set up in the classroom. There were about 35 kids that came, all different ages. So they did their normal introduction of welcome to our school, then all sat quietly and waited for us to talk. We asked them if they knew what God's name is, all of the kids answered by saying Jesus. So Abi had one of them come up and read Psalm 83:18, he read it and then we asked again. They all said that it was Jehovah. After that I had volunteers come up and pick animals from the pictures then I taught them the signs for it. We all had so much fun, they were so excited to learn signs. I really wish I could hear what some of their parents have to say when they go home and they tell their parents that God's name is Jehovah. I am sure there were some interesting responses:)

So we made our way to a woman's house that said she wanted to prepare lunch for us. We arrived in time to see the woman walk outside with a freshly washed cup with water still in it, she took it over to her husband where he was pouring coconut water into the glasses. Uhoh, what are we to do? Dont want to be rude, but dont want to get a parasite and die. So after we took the glasses from her, she walked back inside. So Abi thought ok I will take the glass over to the trench and try to get rid of the water sneakily. Anybody ever see Abi try to do something sneakily? Yea its pretty funny. So I hand her my glass as she walks over to the trench and dumps our water in the trench. The best part was how loud it was. She thought hey I will dump it in water and it will be something they wont notice. It was loud and she realized how loud as she walked back and saw Dana and I laughing. Then Dana got rid of hers by walking over to the flower pot and leaning over it pretending to smell it and dumped the water in the pot. She looked so proud as she walked back. Then the food came, it is something called belangie. It is strained eggplant, it has the consistency of snot, everytime I try to eat it I start gagging. So I forced it down with rice and water. So we finally got the food all down and headed out to more return visits.

We started the long trek to Johanna, we thought we would be walking for a while. Thankfully a man in a truck, that wasnt creepy, stopped and aksed if we wanted a ride. So we hopped in and he took us to our next return visit named Annisa. It is Dana's study so Abi and I sat back and watched the funny movie playing that had a man singing and dancing for his elephant. I want to find it and buy it before I leave. So we ate more there and then left. A few minutes down the road we noticed two young boys throwing rocks from one side of the river over to the other bank. We decided it looked like fun, so we joined them. We had a competition to see who could throw the farthest. They won...not surprising though. We are girls you know.

We finally got around to our last study of the day, we dont know their names. We thought they were deaf, we still dont really know. Last week the woman hid on the opposite side of the fence in the garden. It was one of those moments where I wish I had my camera out and ready. She didnt know her son was going to let us in the gate and didnt quite know how to react when she figured out that we knew she hid from us. So this week we stood in front of the gate and Abi waved her purple water bottle around so they would see her. The funny thing was that as we walked up we heard her talking! Yes she was having a real conversation with someone, who? We dont know, probably dont really want to know. So the woman saw Abi and she walked inside, she repeated this process about 5 times. Finally we understood that she was trying to ignore us and we were done trying.

So we started walking down the road when we saw little goats running over to us. I got to pet a baby goat! Its mother sat there and watched very carefully and when she decided we were done with them she called them back over to her. Funny that the next door neighbor noticed us playing with the goats, so the little girl brought out her own goat for us to play with. They were so cute, I am thinking about bringing a goat home with me. I thought I wanted a monkey, but I think its a monkey that I want now. Well as you know, we got home, otherwise I wouldnt be writing this blog. So I hope you enjoyed it:) Bye

Adios Lethem!

Ok so this is the last of the Lethem instalments, it was a great trip and there was so much to talk about. I left off at the end of our Kumu trip and the truck ride, which means I start at with us moving into the Kingdom Hall. The three of us girls moved into the Kingdom Hall to live with the sisters there for the last few days of our trip. We came early to help out with the cleaning of the Kingdom Hall. It was us and a few of the brothers that are serving as need greaters there. It was a fun night, I was given a motorcycle ride around Lethem, and then we had a movie night. This is after we watched in amusment at the boys trying to hang the speakers from the wall and almost falling off the ladder numerous times. The funny part was the brother up on the ladder telling them that they needed to catch him if he was to fall. Then the boys said that they would probably try to catch the speaker first and if they had time they would catch him then. They are a fun group. So brother and sister Perez came over to the Hall and put a movie on the big screen for us to watch.

The next day we had the day off, so I stayed at Hall with Desiree and the girls went to go and see the deaf girl. When they came back Abi and I took off for the internet cafe so we could let people know that we were alive. We had told everyone we would be coming home Tuesday, it was then Thursday and we had told our families, but there were other people we needed to let know. So we went and enjoyed high speed internet once again, I will never take it for granted again. We got back in just enough time to get ready for meeting. It was exciting because this was the first time that this congregation had interpreting. Yes the deaf woman, named Sharmaine came to meeting. She had come before but there wasnt anyone to do any interpreting for her at that time. So we set up in the back because the front of the Hall was literally the stage and it wouldnt work. It was so nice to see how excited the congregation was about having her there, they are a very supportive congregation. It was a lot of fun let me tell you when the power went out for the majority of the time I was interpreting. They have one floodlight that they can turn on when they have blackouts so the brothers can still continue the meeting. These blackouts happen frequently all over the country, so they have learned how to be prepared. Thankfully, the power came back on shortly before the meeting ended.

After pretty much everyone left us girls sat around outside with the girls who live there named Felecia and Lizzie. We had a nice time talking to them and hearing all of their experiences. Jonathan also stuck around for a while. During this time he decided to show us how he uses gestures to explain things from the Bible. I have it all recorded:) He just loves the camera, and he feels that the camera loves him back. It makes for good conversation. So we all hung aroud the Hall and finally we fell asleep and had to wake up to the reality that we were leaving Lethem:(

We made our way down to the bus station, reluctantly I went. I kept trying to find excuses to stay, however I knew we had left our studies alone for a long time and they needed us to come back. So we waited at the station for a couple of hours. We were supposed to leave at 9:30 in the morning. In Guyanese time it means 11:30, it was nice though because a few people from the congregation stopped by to say their goodbyes. So we grabbed some snacks from the store next door where the woman speaks Portugese, and only had the ability to tell me she likes my eyes in English. We all piled into the bus and we were all prepared for our long trek home. However we werent prepared for what happened.

About 45 minutes out of Lethem our bus broke down. I thought hey this means we are going back to Lethem, so I was getting all excited. After an hour Abi and I decided we couldnt sit on the bus any longer so we got out and walked around. As we headed back into the bus because we saw the mechanic pulling up, I asked the driver if we were heading back to town. He informed me that once you leave Lethem there is no turning around. So we are stuck on a bus that has just broke down and we are going to continue for another 15 hours into the jungle, where its harder to get ahold of someone to come and help fix the bus. Great thought isnt it? After another hour of working on the bus we were up and running again, and our bus driver felt it was important to make sure we arrived at the time that was scheduled. So driving down the torn up jungle road we are speeding along. We made very few stops except when one of the Brazilian men made the announcement he had to go to the bathroom and they needed to stop the bus so he could do so. This happened frequently throughout the whole trip, I think it was more for attention than anything else.

I finally was able to fall asleep, then guess what happens? The bus broke down again! An hour away from Georgetown, why would you want to make it all the way to your destination without any problems? So instead of staying awake I told Abi to wake me up once we reached town. So two hours later we were getting our stuff out of the bus, it is 2:30 in the morning now by the way. So we got a taxi and headed over to DC and Sarah's house. Poor thing, we woke her up so we could get into the house across the way and she had to wake up a few hours later to go to the assembly. So we all crashed in the house and enjoyed the short amount of sleep we got.

The next morning we woke up to no water, that meant no shower:( Oh well, I think its a bigger problem in Georgetown than it is in Brighton. We havent been without water at all. So after hanging out around the house for a while we decided to venture out. We called a taxi and had him take us to the bank and then back to the Oasis:) Oh was it nice to enjoy some more coffee and food. Not to mention the high speed internet as well. We were there for about 4 hours, then went back to the house so we could get our stuff together and head back into Brighton. We got back and had enough time to visit with DC and Sarah for a few minutes, then catch our taxi back to Brighton. We were greeted by tons of mosquitos, its like they knew we were gone. Well that is the end of our trip to Lethem, unfortunately for all of you this means back to the boring old Brighton stories. But who knows maybe something exciting will happen around here. We have memorial and special day in Berbice coming up. Not to mention the arrival of my mom! So I should have more to update you on soon. We are just keeping busy catching up on studies and making sure we get them all invited to Memorial. I look forward to seeing you all soon, its almost a month away until my arrival home.

Kumu Village

The preaching trip to Kumu was absolutely amazing! I should really start from the beginning, the story has really good highlights. So to start with I should explain the pick up arrangments. We were told that we would be heading out at 8:30 in the morning. This worked out perfectly because we were going with a group that included Michelle and Lara, their husbands Tom and Myke were supposed to leave at 6:30 for their interior preaching trip that was a week long. However the brother who's truck they were using was three hours late, or as he said, he will be there short while. So while they were waiting we sat with them, an hour went by and we werent picked up and hadnt heard anything. So finally we were contacted and told the great news, our driver was slobering drunk. So we had to wait another two hours until our new ride came. The boys finally left for their trip, I wish I could post pictures because the way it was setup was hysterical. Tom and Alton, the brother who owns the truck, were up front. Then in the back of the pickup sat Myke and Micaiah, they sat on a make shift bench with all of their bags and literature around them. It was a great picture.

Finally we were picked up by Paul, on the way to the village we made a special stop. We were able to say goodbye to brother and sister Hinds as they were getting ready to get on their plane and head back to Georgetown. After our goodbyes Lara and I piled into his truck with a family from the congregation and headed out to Kumu. Along the way Paul spent a very good amount of time encouraging us with his families story, he also tried to convince us to go back to Lethem. He wasnt aware that before this I had already made up my mind that I would be coming back. Yes for all of you who werent aware of that already, its about time I said it:) So we all discussed our plans, and talked a lot about the area and the needs there. It really did a lot to impress in my head the need there. So after a 45 minute drive he dropped us off and turned around to get the rest of the group. He is a very giving brother, he does so much for the congregation.

So once the whole group was there, we all realized that we wouldnt be able to get any real preaching done. So we all made the decision to go on a little hike down to Kumu falls. It was about an hour hike but we had beautiful scenery along the way. Lethem itself looks like the old western movies, but its surrounded by huge hills covered in jungle. It is beautiful, it again is one of those things were I wish I could post pictures because really descriptions I give dont do it justice. So along the way, the local family decided that it was a good time to tell stories of jaguars and anacondas that have been seen in the area. Doesnt really inspire confidence, so we just kept Jonathan in the front and hoped for the best:) The hike itself was uneventful, one of the little boys brought their monkey with them. His name is Sampson, and he loves me. If I didnt have to quarrantine him I would have tried to bring him home with me. We reached our destination after crossing two different streams and logs, it was a fun hike. Lots of laughing and hoping that nobody fell in.

At the falls itself, its not very deep. You can touch the ground most of the time. We played in the falls and found a spot behind the falls that you can sit on the rocks and look down the river. Its a great place to take pictures, it is very beautiful. We all played in the water and watched the boys try to swim upstream, they are like little fish. We all sat around and talked for a while. Then we made the decision to not walk home in the dark so we all took off, reluctantly of course. As we made our way back we ran into a small group of kids playing with bows and arrows, it didnt look very safe to me. They were having fun though and who are we to take away their fun? We all made it home safely, took lots of pictures along the way and looked forward to eating something.

Once we got back to the camp we all got out of our wet clothes and pulled out our non perishable food. It was mostly tuna and crackers:) After that we all sat around the campfire, then we got the great idea in our heads to make Jonathan pull out his guitar and play something for us. Michelle pulled out her songbook and we spent an hour picking songs and singing along as he played. Then we realized how gorgeous the stars looked. It was a big change for us, because on the coast there are so many people that leave their lights on all the time. So we are never able to see the stars very well, unless we have a black out. Then you can really see them, but nobody is too happy with a blackout. So we took advantage of the oppurtunity and laid on our backs and looked at the stars while we listened to the guitar in the background. It was a very peaceful night. The highlight of it was definetly the sleeping in hammocks. There were 8 hammocks hung outside of our friend Elizabeth's mothers house. People always say how uncomfortable it is to sleep in a hammock, I disagree. It was the best sleep I had in months.

We all woke up at about 6:30 and got some breakfast, then all the girls piled into the tent that Michelle decided to sleep in and we read the text and some of the yearbook. We called it our clubhouse, and only girls were allowed in. Jonathan took offense to this, as we all knew he would. He sat outside pouting until we invited him, at which point he claimed he didnt want anything to do with our club and he was going to form his own. After our version of morning worship was over we got ready and sat down for our service meeting. After assigning everyone into groups we headed out. The arrangments were myself, Lara, and a young sister named Veronica. She is 9 and wants to be a single pioneer when she grows up. She has two older brothers named Junior and Jesse. Both of them want to be ciruit overseers. Jesse wants to be a single co, and Junior has decided that he would like someone to take care of him when he is doing co work. That is how it was explained to me, I thought it was very funny. Very important for you to know that this family came into the truth in the last 5 years. The mother was baptized 3 years ago and is well on her way to becoming a regular pioneer, and is really encouraging her children to do the same. They have a lot of wonderful examples in the congregation to help them.

So how we did the assigning of houses was we followed the one road through and one group would stop at a hut, yes they have huts:) and the rest would continue until everyone had reached a hut. This would continue until we had all passed each other and were back at the original house. My groups first stop was an unusual one for me, we went to a school. We talked to the teacher and explained what we were doing. She is a Bible study herself so was very excited to let us in and talk to the kids. The classroom was divided into two sections. One side had the kids that were 5 to 7 years old and the other side had the kids that were 8-12. Lara took the side with the older kids and I took the side with the younger ones. This is an experience I will never forget.

Normally when you go in service you go to a persons house and talk to them there. I have never preached in a school and was therefore very nervous about it. I know it doesnt seem intimidating to preach to a bunch of 5-7 year olds, but when you dont know what to do with them its a little awkward. So after a brief introduction, I asked them if they knew what God's name was. One little boy raised his hand and said," miss Faith, God's name is Jehovah." These little kids knew who Jehovah was! I am sure the look on my face was funny, but thankfully Lara had the same look on her face as me when the older kids answered correctly too. So I decided that it would be fun to teach them a little sign language. So I took the God's Friend brochure around to every kid and had them pick their favorite thing about the picture on the front cover. Almost every kid said that the fox was their favorite, so once I knew what their favorite thing was I would teach the class how to sign that word. Eventually we finished with every kid and I quizzed them. They got every sign right, then it started raining outside. So we learned rain, then I asked who made the rain? Once again they said Jehovah. So I taught them how to sign Jehovah made rain. They figured out that they could use that for all the things they learned. After that we learned about Jesus being Jehovah's son, they knew this before I could tell them:) It was time to start wrapping that up, so I gave all the kids their own brochure. They were so excited to have something of their own with picutres in it. They were even more excited to show the older kids that they can sign a bunch of the pictures. I have a great picture of them all holding up their brochures in front of the chalkboard before shcool closed. I will never forget that experience.

As we continued walking I was able to get to know the young kids I talked about a little better. They told me some of their problems in school, and what they were doing to reach their goals. A lot of the kids in the Lethem congregation are doing really well and have great spiritual goals. We switched up the groups a little and I set off with Michells, Dana, and Jesse. As we approached the next house, we decided it was Michelles's turn and we did our normal clapping outside the gate to call into the hosue. A young woman came out and told us to come in. So we sat down on her bench and Michelle had a nice discussion with her about Jesus being the Son of God, not God himself. The woman listened attentively and accepted Michelle's offer to have someone bring her a Bible for her own use. It was nice to watch someone with so much experience in the ministry as Michelle has. She and her husband Tom are Gilead graduates, the 104th class. She used pictures to explain the idea, she is learning a little bit of sign to help out Niasia.

That was the last house in the territory so we all headed back from a long productive day in service to go and breakdown our camp. We all were sad to have to leave that place, we knew the end of our trip was getting closer and closer everyday, and we were all dreading it. So our ride came and we found out we were all sitting in the back of the truck surrounded by our bags on the ride home. It was a great way to end the trip. I wont talk about what happened the rest of that day, it is the next entry. It will talk about that day until the end of our trip. Until then love you all!

Preaching Trip to Nappi

Once again everyone, sorry that I am so slow at posting about our trip to Lethem, we have been trying to get all caught up here. We are starting to wind down our trip so we are working really hard to get things in order for the sister that is coming down next month. That way she wont have a bunch of extra work to do after arriving here. Ok so something that I have always wanted to do was village preaching. On this trip I was able to accomplish that goal twice! This is a description of our first trip out to a little village named Nappi.

So we headed to the Kingdom Hall Monday morning to go and get on a bus to head out for our first village preaching trip. Once we arrived we were greeted by the branch overseer Brother Hinds, and his wife. Also there were a few locals and then some people who had come from Georgetown for the assembly. Then our leader was brother Paul Donlan, I talked about his family a little in the previous blog entry. Also in attendance was Micaiah, I have talked about him before too. He is young brother from Hopetown who goes on the preaching trips with Tom. After a nice meeting for service Paul tells us that he is taking brother and sister Hinds with him to another village and he is putting us on the bus under the care of Micaiah. Good for all of you to understand that Hopetown isnt near Lethem, but we trusted that Micaiah would take care of us.

So we all piled into the bus and took off on our first adventure. It was about an hour ride in and very bumpy. I would compare it to driving a four-wheeler up a steep hill with way too much weight on the back.... I enjoyed it, the other sisters didnt have the same experience. I think it must be the way I was raised:) So once we reached the village our first order of business was to find the Too Shou or the village council. It is protocol to ask permission to preach in little villages such as that, it is to show respect for them as well as protection for you. If you enter the village without permission and have something stolen from you, the village council wont do anything to help you. But if you have asked permission and made yourself known, then they will do what they can to help you. Many of you may be asking what a Too Shou is, well it is like a chief. They are leaders of the villages. It is really interesting to learn that there are some places that are still run that way.

After a long search, we finally were able to meet a member of the council and we were given permission to go and work the territory. Micaiah split us all into groups of twos and were given assignments and directions to meet back at the center of the village once we were done. So they dropped off myself and Dana at the beginning of the village and we were off on our own. Maybe not the best idea in the world, lol.

I wont go into the long details of everything that happened but I think its important for everyone to know that literally every person that we spoke to listened and had us in for at least 30 minutes. Some were much longer than that. We went to 6 houses and we were in the territory for 5 hours altogether. The people there are so humble and wanting to learn. They love to have you read to them from the Bible, many have quite a bit of knowledge of the Bible but dont know what to do with it. One experience that really impressed me was a woman who has two young daughters. The second she saw us coming she set up her bench and asked us to sit so she could talk with us. We had a long discussion with her, and it ended with her asking us to bring her a Bible. So after explaining to her that we were just visiting the area we told her that there will be a brother coming every week into that village and we would make a note for him to bring her a Bible and come and talk to her if that is what she wanted. She immeadiately accepted and was so grateful that someone would be coming back to see her.

That was my favorite experience on that day. So after a long day of service we all met back at the center of town which is where the school is located. We arrived there just as school was letting out, so a bunch of kids came running over to us to see what we were doing. So we gave them all tracts and took a picture of them all holding them up. It was quite the experience for us. Once all the kids left the last of our group showed up and we piled back into the bus for yet another crazy ride.

When we arrived back at the hotel we all changed and went for a BBQ at the Takatu River. We caught a taxi with Desiree down to the river because it is a long walk and it is really hot in Lethem. We had a fire down by the river and ate good food. It was nice being with new people and being able to hear their stories of how they learned the truth. Its always very encouraging, and sometimes you learn things you didnt know about people you thought you knew very well. When we all were getting ready to go back to our hotel a brother offered for us to get into his car to go home. It was going to be 9 people in this car. Three would have to go and sit in the very back of the car. Guess which three were volunteered to do so? If you guessed the three sign sisters, you guessed right. We have a picture because it was too funny. Abi was sitting with her feet over the roll bar hanging out by Michelles head. I will post it as soon as I can, we arent able to get pictures up because our internet is so slow. So in the next entry I will talk about our second preaching trip to Kumu.

Lethem Special Day Assembly

Hey again everyone, so I am sorry its taking me so long to get everything down from my Lethem trip. It is a lot of information to write in a really short time, we are getting busy here. I have 53 days until I come home and I want to make the most of them. Also the more I do, the faster all the time will go. We have memorial, special talk, and the Berbice special assembly day all coming up soon. It is so nice to be busy. Ok so I left off with our trip to Moco Moco Falls, which puts us at the assembly weekend.

We had a nice surprise visit from Brother Hinds who is the Bethel overseer of Guyana, he came out to be the special speaker for the assembly. I love them so much, they are so sweet and they remember everyone. We all met for service Saturday morning in the village that is named St. Ignacious. It was the site of the assembly, we did a full morning of covering as much of that village as possible with invitations to the assembly. We got a good deal of it covered in the morning.

After that we all stayed behind to help out with the cleaning of the assembly site, which is called a benab, funny I know. It was a really big group, a brother named Leon was in charge of the cleaning, let me tell you he had his work cut out for him. Giving assignments was hard enough, but there was a lot of work to do that required standing in the sun for long periods of time. Michelle and I took care of the stage, it was nice because in addition to us, the circuit overseers wife Rosalia and sister Hinds worked up there too. The three sisters all speak spanish and they all took turns teaching me phrases in spanish. It was a lot of fun. It took a long time to clean the stage then I worked with sister Hinds on cleaning the chairs, they are covered in red dust like everything else there. By the time we finished the chairs all of the work was done. Some brothers stayed behind to work on the sound system, trust me I wouldn't have been of any help to them with that. It was kind of funny however to watch them climb up this handmade ladder. Two brothers hold the ladder while the other brother who is named Jordan climbed up it to hang the speakers.

So the next morning was the day of the assembly, we got there really early. About 2 hours before it started, it was very early. For all of you who dont already know this, I am NOT a morning person! So after finding our seats, we started wandering around. A really cool thing about the assembly was that people from a village named Shoulanab came to the assembly, they havent ever come to anything and at least 30 were there. A brother named Paul Donlan helped trasporting them back and forth. Hopefully I will remember to write about him and his family, they are amazing. They are raising their daughter named Bethany here in Guyana. She is 3 now and the cutest little thing ever. Ok back to what I was talking about. So in the morning we did a run through of our part. Yes I was on the assembly, Tom interviewed Abi, Dana, and I about maintaining soundness of mind during youth. The walk through was entertaining. The brothers in charge of sound are boys that we had been with a lot during this trip and we cant take them seriously. Then to top it off, they had to readjust everything a bunch of different times. Finally after what seemed like a very long time, we got through it successfully.

I was able to visit a bunch of the local brothers and sisters. We had 265 in attendance, there were 30 publishers from the local congregation, then the rest were need greaters from other areas and Bible studies. Not to mention a bunch of people who had been invited the week before. It was a big group of friendly people. For all of you who havent been to your special day assembly, it is wonderful. Oh and I had a first at this assembly. Our new friend Desiree had a Bible student that was baptized at this assembly, she was the only one. Guess where she was baptized? The river!! Just like in Bible times, it was so interesting to watch. A group of about 80 followed her on the short hike down to the river. We all have tons of pictures of it. I mean really how often do you see somebody get baptized in a river?

After that we all had lunch, then awaited our turn to get on stage. I spent the majority of our break running what I was supposed to say through my head over and over again. For some reason the more I did it, the less I would seem to remember. We went to the back of the stage to wait our turn. One of the brothers who did the sound said that if I didnt walk he would make sure to push me up the stairs, he thought it was very funny. I however didnt, but he knew that. Once our que was said to walk on stage I dont remember very much of it. I remember getting up there and thinking wow this brother made me get up there and just sit for a very long time. We did it, and nobody messed up. However unfortunately for Abi, she lost her voice the night before....but she got through it wonderfully.

The rest of the assembly went really well. Afterwards the cleaning happened again. It was very short,m everybody helped out and things went really smoothly. We met two young girls that could recite word for word stories out of the Bible Story Book. It was the cutest thing ever. Sister Hinds and I were sitting there with a Bible Story Book following along seeing if they missed any words. They didnt miss so much as a the, it was amazing to see. The people that I met there have the best stories and experiences of any people that I have met in Guyana.

After we all went home we got ready to go and meet some people at the Brazilian restaurant. Oh I will miss that place so much. Who doesnt love a good barbeque? Especially with beans and rice on the side. At that dinner we got to hear the stories of some of the brothers in the Lethem congregation. I will spare everyone the story, its long and complicated and I will very possibly mess it up and not do them justice. One of them really quickly is named Kevin Prince, he is Guyanese and served as a special pioneer in Lethem for 6 years. Now he is in Georgetown, he came to visit for the assembly, we have made friends all over the place. Ok well I will talk about our preaching trips in the next blog. It has been long enough:)

Moco Moco Falls

So as I left off in the last entry we had a trip into an area named Moco Moco Falls. We have heard a lot about this place so we were very excited to be able to finally see what they were all talking about. Deseree organized everything, so we piled in a bus that took us up there. Our group had 14 people in it, 2 of which came on their bikes. So off we went on into the savannah area, which also beautiful by the way. As we were driving the bus stopped suddenly and we were looking at a building with a grass roof and had holes in between the roof and the wall. This is the Kingdom Hall in Moco Moco, it was really nice to see and hear what its all about. This is a place where there is 1 elder in the congregation. What happens is every month brothers from Lethem are assigned to go and give talks and help support the meetings in the area, it is a very small group and really needs help. After a little bit of waiting we all piled in the bus again and were off.

When we arrived there we stood around as we organized the group to go off on the hike. So as we took off it became apparent that some of us arent the greatest of hikers anymore….no I don’t mean me. It was about a 20 minute hike and very pretty. When we got there it was a giant swimming hole with a rock that if you can manage to climb up you can jump off of. I havent really been working my arms too much since I only do my laundry when I have no clothes left to wear, sorry mom. So I swam around for a while and then we all decided to head upstream further. I decided to do the hiking instead of the climbing and swimming, once again no muscle in my arms anymore. So the hike was nice and mellow, until we got to the part where the trail ends and you have to cross the river. That meant getting in the water and figuring out how to get across, some of our group stayed behind, I decided to try and climb up a rock. When I got to the rock I was figuring out where to put my hand and everything, then I looked up and a spider that was seriously as big as my head was right by my hand. Then I looked around some more and realized hey there are about 5 spiders all the same size sitting by me, at this point in the story I let go of the rock and figured out another way around.

Finally I made it up there then to realize that I would have to hike barefoot in the jungle to get where I would need to go. So I followed Tom and another young brother named Micaiah through the jungle where they had no idea where they were going. I survived along with my feet and nothing big and hairy bit me in the process. Once we got up there we had to turn around to go and meet the rest of the group again, it was a nice little adventure though. We headed back to the original swimming hole where one of the local boys and Abi had a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest. He won, although she tried numerous times to see if she could win. After that we all headed back to the bus. I know this one should have been longer but really nothing too exciting happened while we were there, again pictures are much better at explaining things than I am. Once again though after the trip we went and got more Brazilian ice cream. What a wonderful way to end the day!

Lethem here we come!

Ok everyone, sorry its been so long since I wrote last, much has been going on. But in all fairness I did warn you all on my last entry that I probably wouldn’t be writing for a few days, although I know it has turned into weeks. I have to write all of this down in about 3 different entries, so much is going on here. We came down with the idea that we would be here for maybe a week at the most but it has now turned into a week and a half. Who knows maybe it will turn into moreJ So for all of you who don’t remember where I am at the moment it is a town named Lethem. I am literally a few minutes away from the border of Brazil. So here is the tale of our adventure…

On Tuesday Dana, Abi, and I set off with a brother and sister from our congregation into Georgetown. It is the capital of the country I am in and the biggest city in Guyana. It was a very bittersweet moment because while we knew we would have fun we also had to say goodbye to my beloved Danielle. I haven’t been this sad since the day I arrived and thought what am I doing here. Thankfully that feeling went away, this one I don’t think will. Love you DanI!! Ok so we rode in with them, then they dropped us off to go and catch a bus into downtown so we could go and find DC and Sarah’s house. For all of you who don’t know who that is, DC is the brother who taught my sign language class and then he and his wife left us to go and help in a sign group here in Guyana. So after about an hour of traveling around Georgetown we figured out where they live. This is however after hearing some of the most inventive “calls” that I have heard since being here. Their imagination astounds me sometimes. So we finally figured out where they lived and were met by DC wearing flip flops, yes isn’t that a nice visual? I found it very amusing myself. They are doing great for all of you who know who they are. We were able to meet one of their bible studies that has been baptized and now can have a full conversation with you in ASL, its amazing and really gives us hope that one day those we are working with will be able to really communicate with us in the future. It’s a light at the end of the tunnel you could say. So after a nice visit with everyone, we had to take off to go and meet the rest of the group so we could head out into the jungle, yes I said it the jungle!

We grabbed a taxi to the intra-serve bus station where a few others from our group have gathered. When we arrived we received happy news, some of the boys in our group were off getting pizza for everyone! I had pizza for the first time in 3 months. There are pictures of us really enjoying our pizza. Oh wait I guess I should go back in time a little bit here, we did do one more thing before we went to the bus station. I went to a café that we were told about and enjoyed coffee and free wireless internet! Once again for the first time in 3 months I was able to enjoy something I hadn’t had but loved so very much. I sat there in the café with my blended coffee and smiled more than I have in a very long time.

Ok so after that then we get back to the whole bus station and pizza thing. This place is a karaoke bar in the front and a bus station in the back, so a few of us brave sisters got up and sang, while the brothers looked at us like we were crazy and they had no idea what they just got themselves intoJ Yes there is video of this for those of you whom would like to know. So after waiting for about 3 hours we loaded onto the bus and headed out into wild blue yonder, or really the dark blue yonder considering it was 10 at night. After 3 hours of staying awake to look at the “scenery” which was mainly trees surrounded by black, I fell asleep until we reached our first checkpoint. The checkpoints that I am talking about are really just to make sure you didn’t hide on the bus or getting kidnapped at the one before. The places we stopped at were prisons. Two of which had prisoners in them staring at you. The funny part is these were our bathroom stops as well, so you would walk into what looked like a jail cell to go to the bathroom. It was disgusting but you do what you have to do, that is something I have learned from my 3 months in this country, sometimes you do things you really don’t want to do because well you have no other option. So I will spare all the other details except a few. I rode on a ferry across one of the most beautiful rivers I have ever seen. It was just as the sun was coming up so it was hitting the fork in the river, absolutely gorgeous. Then we drove through the jungle. Oh my goodness, the smell of it is so different from the coast. On the coast the second it gets wet and you can smell the garbage from a mile away. Here you can smell the rain and it smells so clean. Oh my it’s a nice feeling.

Ok so we arrived in Lethem at about 11 in the morning and headed off to our hotel. Ok so everyone knows we have moved hotels about 4 times and as I am writing this I am currently staying at the Kingdom Hall with some very sweet sisters who have opened up their apartments and hammocks in the front yard. So I wont go into why we have switched so many times, you can ask my parents. It is a very long explanation and I hate explaining things in full detail, that is what pictures are for. Ok so our first day we hung out in town and kind of got the lay of the land so to speak. It reminds us of the old western towns with tumbleweeds and cowboys, except here everyone is Guyanese. As we were walking to go and meet some of the other group to get Brazilian ice cream, which by the way deserves its own blog just kidding, kind of, we ran into a sister named Leah Lopez. Her and her husband live here but were on the coast for a while before this. We picked her brain a little bit and that was it. So we met with the group and had ice cream, it was absolutely amazing.

For all of you who don’t know this, I was interviewed along with the 2 other sisters that I live with on this assembly. So that night we headed over to the rest of the groups hotel to rehearse with Tom, he is the brother that asked us to help him out. Once again you will have to read another blog entry for that one. Rehearsal went really well and we stayed and had dinner with them then headed back home. After a good nights rest we went got ready in the morning and then had to head out for our dress rehearsal with the circuit overseer. Everything went really well and we had no problems at all. So later we came back to the hall to attend our first meeting in Lethem. The congregation here is amazing, the second you walk into the yard you feel at home. They are all so sweet and really show an interest in you. I think I met the majority of the brothers and sisters by the end of the meeting. It really made me think of home and that feeling you get when you walk into a place that you just feel how much everyone loves each other.

After meeting we headed out to dinner at the Brazilian restaurant. It is “the” place to go when there is a big group. The food was so good, it was barbequed everything with beans and rice, oh my we have gone a few times since then. We had about 20 people all sitting around the table talking or gaffing as the locals call it, and laughing. As we were sitting there one of the local need greater girls told us there was a deaf woman sitting over at another table, so we went over and met her and arranged for us to go and visit her the next day.

So the next morning we headed over to the meeting for service in a place called culvert city. It is literally a few blocks wide and our meeting place was under the mango tree as usual in any city in Guyana. I was paired up with Dana and a need greater here named Deseree. She has been here for awhile now and has a great story behind her, I once again wont go into details I will make it short. She hasn’t been in the truth very long but you would never ever guess that from talking to her, she was a person who was really looking for the truth and was found. After starting pioneering she decided she wanted to do more and well here she is. She has served on the coast before this and is amazing to watch in the ministry. But anyway, she directed us to the deaf woman, who she studied with for a year, but she doesn’t know very much sign so she wasn’t able to really get her to do more unfortunately. So we went and had a great study with her. She really seems to get big ideas and concepts easily, so that is very helpful. After that we went out and started doing English service, thankfully it was invitation work because my English is very rusty, after this trip not so much but I will explain later. We met many who were very sweet and said they would be there for the assembly, many of which we did see come. After service we all were to set out for Moco Moco Falls, but I will put that in my next entry.

Update:)

Hey everyone, thought I would give you all a brief update. Things here are going good, we are getting ready for our big trip to Lethem next week. So this will probably be the last update until I come home, but we will see if anything exciting or funny happens. So since the congregation party not too much has happened. We are starting to get ready for Dani's departure in 2 weeks:( That is a piece of unhappy news to share. We will start with Saturday. So this last week was the week that the service overseer, who is Brother Hollenbeck, was visiting the service group we are assigned to. So we decided that we would work with the english group Saturday morning before heading off to our Bible studies. I was able to work with Sister Sandra Panchum. She is the first local sister to become a regular pioneer in the Brighton congregation. She is a single mother, her son is named Daniel. He is so sweet, he and I have a secret handshake that is not so secret anymore. Her story is really encouraging. She was married and just before she was baptized her husband left her. She has done so well for herself despite everything she has gone through. She is an amazing mother and is training her son to be a great brother.

So that morning when we arrived to meet for the service group I noticed a couple that I havent met before. After our meeting for service was finished I was able to meet them. I was so excited to hear that this couple is Kevin and Beena Chisolm! If some of you remember 3 years ago when I applied to come down here the first time they are the couple that I originally contacted about Guyana. I talked to them a few times and then once I was asked to wait for a while I didnt keep in touch. I was so happy to be able to meet them finally. Unfortunately I didnt get to talk to them very much because the Guyanese are very serious about taking off right after the service meeting is over.

The first house we went to Daniel gave his presentation and then his mother took over once the man had accepted the magazines. The man was very friendly and said he already had a Bible teach book but that he would love for Sandra to come back next week to discuss God's purpose for the earth. After that we went to the next house where a young woman was out with her family. Sandra introduced us all and then said," this is my friend Faith and she has an important message to share with you." I had not expected to actually do english service, I was under the impression we were doing deaf search along with the english service group. So startled I went into my presentation with Revelation 21:3,4 and show the book and ask her if I could come back next week to discuss what that scripture means. She accepted right away, so that is my first english study. The next 2 houses also accepted Bible studies. So for anybody who is reading this looking for a country that needs help with Bible studies in english or sign language, this is the country for you.

After that we went on our Bible studies. It was seeming to be the same old same old until we reached Rebecca's house. The son that she continues to talk about was there, let me tell you he lived up to his description. He came out and the first thing he said was my name is Jacob and I am christian. That is a great start let me tell you. Everytime I tried to start the study with Rebecca he would start talking to me. He pulled out the movie 2012 and told me that God was going to destroy the world then. So I was sick of his talking and said you know the Bible says that Jehovah alone knows when armageddon is going to happen, and who is man to say they know? At which point he said well I didnt really mean that. Then he moved on to healings done by pastors, at which point I told him the Bible says that spirit healings were included among the teachings of demons. Once again he said I didnt really mean that. Then finally he asked where the Kingdom Hall was and if he could go. So I told him where it was and gave him the times, we will see if he ever actually shows up. He is a tad wierd but it seems like maybe he might do well if the right person studied with him. You never know.


Then Sunday we had a great start to our day. My Bible study Abida has a very creepy husband, whos name I cant remember. Recently Abida has been coming to our house and just sitting around doing nothing except staring and giving one word answers to any of our questions. So we knew it was a matter of time before her husband came over. So yesterday morning as we were getting ready to walk out the door Dani sticks her head in the door and says umm Faith guess who is here? So I stepped outside to see her husband with no shoes on walking to our door. So after telling him that we were leaving we led him away from our door and he asked us for money! I had blocked out everything he said, apparently it is for a man who he works with, by the way he told us he didnt have a real job, has no money and no food for his family. But then said it was ok to wait until Friday to finish the discussion. So I am thinking that the money is for him, just a crazy thought.

Then after meeting we went over to Curtis and Shaundelle Bourne's house for a late lunch. They are so nice, and she is an amazing cook! She made fried chicken, and something called variety rice. It has a little bit of everything, it was delicious. They have 3 little boys and then their nephew is there all the time. I was so excited to be able to play hide and seek with them, it made me miss my little brothers even more than I already do. Before we left we played scrabble and I gave a lesson in chess. Abi is still working on it:) They sent us home with a chess set so the girls can practice.

Only day left to catch you up on is today. We went to the market, always a highlight of our week. You never realize how much food you eat until you have nothing in the house to eat! So once we arrived in Rose Hall which is where our market is, we set off for a store so Abi could buy foam for her matress. We bought it, and then Abi had to carry around a foam matress that was seriously the same height as her. It was quite a site, and yes we did take pictures. After that we did the normal shopping, but on our way out of the market there was a donkey tied up that looked extremely pathetic. So I decided to give him the rest of my banana. I had a little trouble giving it to him. There was a local man standing outside laughing at me. He yelled hold your hand out flat and he wont bite you. So I did what he said and the donkey ate it out of my hand! I really wanted to take him home with me. The animals here are so sad looking. You know in Winnie the Pooh the donkey, Eeore? Yes the donkeys all look like that, I think that if they could talk they would sound that way too. I want to take care of them all, its just not possible.

So we finally made it to our favorite place, Spready's! After the grocery shopping, we headed over to the bakery. I got my usual, chocolate cake and sprite. There is nothing like chocolate cake to make you feel good. It gives you the warm fuzzy feeling of home. I looked over and there was table of boys about 12 years old, just sitting there staring at us and laughing. Abi got up to go and wash her hands, at the same time a few of those little boys went over there too. As she walked by them, they made a funny face at her and she did so in return. She didnt know they would continue that for the rest of our trip. I looked over after everyone had sat back down after that and one of them was a little more brave than the others and came over. He asked me what my name is, so I told him and he pointed to one of the boys and said he likes you. Then he walked away really quickly it was funny. But then he came over and asked me where I am from, then continued coming over asking the rest of the girl's names. Eventually we all had a boy that liked us. So I decided it would be funny to go and sit with them, once I did they all looked scared and ran away. That was one of the funniest things that has happened here so far.

Well I think that is all I have to report for now. I will try to write again before I take off for Lethem, maybe something funny will happen before we take off. So until then!

Congregation Party

Hello everyone, I hope everything is well back home. Just a quick update on the happenings down here. Yesterday Chris Godburn from Hopetown came out and gave the public talk in Brighton. The talk was on following the course of hospitality, it was so nice to understand everything the brother was talking about. It was also nice because in addition to understanding everything he was talking about we had 2 deaf at the meeting. Danielle's Bible study Natalie has been coming regularly. A sister has offered to bring her to meeting and take her home for us. She lives right across the road from Natalie. The congregation is very helpful and sweet.

After the meeting was over we went back home to wait for Tom and Michelle who were on their way home from Skeldon where he had just given the public talk. They offered to take us with them to the Hollenbeck's house for the congregation party. The Hollenbecks are a missionary couple that go to the Brighton congregation. They live quite a bit out of the territory so we didnt know how to get there yet. So while we waited we contemplated eating the rice krispie treats that we made for the party, however we decided not to.

Finally they got to our house and we piled in their car and away we went. Once we got there the eating began!! The Guyanese people are very concerned with eating and talking. That is the concern of everybody who grew up in this country. After the eating the festivities began. We had musical chairs, cricket, basketball, and dancing. The musical chairs became very violent once the adults started playing, there was lots of pushing and pulling. However seeing a young brother from Hopetown dancing around the chairs was very amusing. So after the musical chairs everyone kind of did their own thing, which included dancing:)That was fun to do, the Guyanese people are very shy but finally us foreigners got some of them to dance. We taught some line dancing and swing dancing. It was fun to watch them try to learn those dances. Then they taught us how to do some Indian dancing, I can show you when I get home.

At the end of the night it was just us at the Hollenbeck's house, so Michelle and Barbra pulled out the songbooks and we had a nice time singing the new kingdom melodies. Being in sign language means that I had no idea how to sing anymore....or ever actually. It was nice to be around people that are so encouraging, they have great stories and wonderful advice to give us. We finally felt like we really bonded with the congregation. Well that is it for now, until next time.

Visit from the Buddens

Hey everyone so today we had a very special visit from a special pioneer couple in the New Amsterdam congregation, it was Ramon and Kali Budden. Wednesday night we got a call from Ramon who had just come back from a trip to the states that lasted for a little over 2 months. So he called to see how everything was going and to plan a day to preach with us and impart their wisdom. Today was that day!

First Dani and I took Ramon with us to go and visit Navin. Navin was so excited to see Ramon again. Pretty much all the deaf that we study with were found by Ramon and Kali. They started the majority of the work in sign language in our area. When we arrived at Navin's house all in the family were really happy to see such an old friend. We were there for about an hour and the study went really well. We love watching him explain things back to us. He becomes very animated when discussing the difference between Jehovah's people and those who don't follow the Bibles standards. We had Ramon conduct the study, watching the way he teaches the deaf has given us some great pointers for our own service.

Next we went to Abida, she is a woman who told Dani and Dana that she was deaf. Then when I went back to conduct her study she tells me that she isnt deaf but is hard of hearing in her right ear. It was really fun to go home and tell the girls who were so excited that they found a deaf woman that she isnt really deaf. She just wanted to say she was deaf. Well we have found out that she has only one response to anything you say, its yes. It doesnt matter if its a yes or no question or not. She will always say yes. So we are trying to relate what we talk about to things she knows, recently we have been able to compare things to cooking. That seems to work because she does a lot of it and its something she enjoys doing. I am really rusty at english service. The study took longer than normal because I was trying to pry some sort of answer out of her. It kind of seems like she and her husband will be joining us for meeting on Sunday. I think I am going to introduce them to a couple in the Kingdom Hall and hand them over to someone who is in english.

We had a little bit of time left before we had to go and meet back with the others so we decided to walk down to go and see the twins Atri and Athang. On the walk we found out about their life. They have been in Guyana for 2 and a half years serving as special pioneers. They served at Brooklyn Bethel for 7 years before moving down here. He talked to us about how they setup their house like a missionary home. We just learned about their backgrounds and what their plans are for the future. So after a short visit with Atri we headed back to the house so that Ramon could share some notes from Gilead graduations that he likes to share with all the need greaters that come to the Berbice.

Once we all got settled upstairs we sat and listened as Ramon shared points that he enjoyed from Gilead graduation talks. We had an entire part about how to get along with others in the ministry, in the house, and in the congregation. There were a lot of great points but unfortunately for all of you I am too lazy to write any of them. I did really like the part we talked about everyone in the house. We got quite a few wonderful ideas from it. Such as now we are going to have a family worship night in our house. It is always really encouraging when you sit down with someone who knows what they are talking about and allowing them to give you suggestions on how to make life easier.

After we had our discussion of those points we switched groups so Dani and I went with Kali to go and see Natalie and Jem. Both studies were pretty uneventful, we covered a lot of material with both of them. But the ride home was definetly eventful. We stopped a bus and the conductor put Kali in the very back then he pulled the seat down where to guys were sitting together. As I got in the bus to sit down they parted so I had to sit in the middle of them. Once I sat down I noticed the beer bottle in the hand of the boy on my right. Then when he opened his mouth to talk to me the smell of alcohol hit me like a brick wall. I knew from the second he started to talk to me that the ride home was going to be one for the blog! I need a new paragraph for this one.

He leans over and says I want a Jehovah's Witness Bible. I said that I wasnt going to be giving him one. So he then changes his request to a tract. I didnt have one with me so I told him that I didnt have one to give him. In reply to this he asks are you really a Witness? I just stared at him until Dani chimed in with her tract. So he grabs the tract from her and opens the first page. He read half a sentence and looks at me and said I dont know what they are talking about. So I tell him that it might be a good idea to read the rest of the sentence before saying its too confusing to understand. At which point the Guyanese woman sitting behind me started cracking up. So he finishes reading the sentence out loud to me. Then asks me what it could mean. So I told him to open the rest of the tract and look at the picture and I said do you see families around here that are that happy. He told me that his family is like that. I tried to stop the conversation by saying that is nice and looking ahead. He wasnt going to have that.

He tried to start talking to me again but Kali stepped in by telling him that he talks, or gaffs as the locals call it, a lot. He started laughing and goes I gaff a lot?? So she said yes, is this the first white girl you ever see? He began to tell me that I am not the first white girl he has seen, he knows the girls that were here before. He said they gave him a Bible. So I asked why he needs another Bible if they already gave him one. He tells me that he wants a Bible from me. So I tell him that if he would like a Bible he has to go to the meeting on Sunday. He tells me that he doesnt go to the Kingdom Hall, then changes the subject to how I need to take my glasses off so he can see my eyes. I told him no again, then he went back to the subject of the Kingdom Hall. He said ok so if I go to the meeting then you will give me a Bible and tell me your name. I said yes, if you come to the meeting then we will get you a Bible and you can know my name. Then he says no you have to give me the Bible at the meeting, it has to say from then you write your name and to then you write my name so I can always remember. At which point both Kali and I started cracking up. Thankfully that was about the time the bus stopped in front of our house. So I am getting out of the bus and he goes oh its your house!! See you Sunday.

Yes I attract all the crazies...Doesnt matter where we are or what we are doing the crazies are drawn to me like a moth to a flame. Or a more Guyanese way to think of it is mosquitos to people! The mozzies are terrible right now. Ok well that is all for now, hope you all enjoyed my crazy stories!!

Hey everyone, sorry it has been so long since my last post. It is really hard to write blogs frequently when there are 3 other girls in the house trying to use the computer as well. So here I am at 10 at night while the rest of the house is sound asleep trying to stay awake long enough to write. Abi has been here a week and is already fitting right in. We love having another person here to help out with everything. More for service and more for interpreting. Really not too much has been going on. Just going out in service and getting ready for our big trip to Lethem. That is the beginning of next month. We are really excited because we get to see some of the interior and go preaching in the area. It will be an experience to remember.

Today we went into Black Bush and found 3 new deaf. One is a little girl whos family owns a rum shop in Johanna village. Then there is a married couple who are older. We met the wife, couldn't get her to tell us her name but she was very friendly. Knows absolutely no sign at all, but loves pictures. She kept saying the same thing over and over again, so we are going to try again tomorrow. I think Abi is going to take it so it should be interesting to see how this goes.

Other than that nothing has happened. It has been the same Bible studies with the same amusing personalities. We have 2 Bible studies that are coming to meeting regularly now. Natalie is going to come every Sunday for meeting. A sister lives across the road from her and told us that she would be more than happy to bring her with her to meeting. It is so sweet, and that enables us to go and pick up other studies. We have one other woman we are going to try to get to come regularly. Her name is Rebecca. She is in her ealry 50's and is doing really well. She doesnt know any sign really but she can read lips. So when we study I voice what I am signing and she then understands what is going on. Hopefully soon her signing will start to improve. Last week when she learned that the earth is going to become a paradise she became very emotional and very happy. She is the study I feel the closest to. She was telling the girls that she loved me because I make her feel happy when I come to visit her. She is a sweetheart.

That is definetly something that I am going to miss about being here when I head home. The studies and the amount of interest they all have. It is great to have people here that want to learn and really love what they are learning. Ok I know this wasnt very long but I will have more to say soon. This Sunday we are heading over to the Hollenbeck's hosue for a congregation get together. Then we have Lethem coming up. I am sure I will have more to say then:) Oh and for all of you who dont know this, my mom will be here in 69 days!!! I am so excited to see her. Ok I will post more soon. Bye

Bethel and Abi's arrival

Hey everyone! So a lot has happened the last 2 days. Yesterday morning Danielle and I headed off with Tom to go into Georgetown. We took off at about 10 in the morning and made a few stops along the way. First one was in Rose Hall, while we waited for Tom we went and got ice cream. So after that we headed into a town called Hopetown. We stopped at the house of some need greaters in that area. Their names are Chris and Lorissa Godburn, Sam, and Micaiah. The couple has been there about 4 weeks, they are from San Luis Obispo,CA. They will be here until April so hopefully we will get to see them again before they leave. The boys have been here since Tom had his last interior preaching trip, I keep trying to convince him to plan one before I leave and he keeps saying no. So we hung out there for a little while so Tom could download some things from their computers.

After that we were on our way to Bethel! We got there and were so excited to feel slightly civilized again. We were taken up to the guestroom and left to enjoy the air conditioning and hot shower:) When we arrived they made a point of making sure we knew we were invited to the family study of the Watchtower. So we got ready and headed downstairs. I have never sat in on the family study so we were so excited. The singing was so loud, and they sang after the meeting was over so we have video of all the Bethelites singing, it was a great experience. We were able to meet all 8 of the Bethelites and have conversations with all of them. When I get home I will post pictures and the video on my blog.

So after that we headed upstairs to our room and enjoyed our little piece of civilization. For the first time in 2 months I felt like a girl again. So we got all cleaned and sat on the couch to enjoy the television. We found out that one of the stations was the security tapes, so we sat and watched that for a while. It is much more enjoyable than you would think. So we hung out and then went to enjoy the comfortable bed.....oh my goodness, it was so nice to need a blanket while sleeping. Words cant explain.

When we woke up the next morning we got ready and took off for the airport. Half way there Abi called to say she had landed, it was early. So as we pulled up to the airport we saw her. Tom didnt have time to stop the car completely before we had jumped out and were running at her. However a local man who was laughing put his hand out and said hey hey she will still be there slow down. At which point we ignored him like we do everyone else, and about knocked her over. So after long hellos we realized she wasnt alone. She had met a brother at the airport in JFK from England named James.He was coming for one month to go and stay on an island outside of Georgetown. She saw him reading a Watchtower in the airport and went over in the hopes of finding a brother or being able to witness to him. That was nice for her because she had a long layover and you will find some wierd people in that airport.

After loading up the car we headed back to Bethel. We hadnt had a tour yet so we were able to go through and see all of it. The branch was dedicated in 2004. The sister that took us through was Sister Cross. She is the only single sister at Bethel. She took us through all of the offices and we were able to talk to all the brothers about their jobs in the building. We learned about all of the congregations in Guyana including the only Carib speaking congregation in Barmita. Then we learned how the MEPS system works:) I wish I could explain it to you but it is hard to explain without the program in front of you. Everyone at the branch was so sweet and welcoming. We never wanted to leave, however we did have to.

Finally we got Abi home and got her unpacked. We cooked her real Guyanese food, roti and curry. Hopefully she enjoyed it, we did. We are so excited to have her here with us. Tomorrow we are going to take her into Rose Hall to see the market and probably to give her a small dose of life back home. Which comes in the form of cake at Spready's. I hope everything is well and will post again soon

Left Dana For the Dogs

Hello everyone! So today we had a long day out in service. It is so nice to be out again after being kept in the house for a week while I was sick. It was full of adventure. We started off by Tom and Michelle picking us up so we could go to the meeting for field service. Which is so nice because we have been feeling left all alone out in service, but now we are meeting twice a week with the groups for service. On Tuesday we meet out in Black Bush and then Saturday we meet up in 53 village with the Sanches service group. So while we were waiting on the road for them we were watched. Yes I said watched. Remember the drunk neighbor who has started coming to meetings? Well he decided today was the day that he would sit on his veranda and stare at us while we waited. He sat there and just watched us for about 10 minutes, it was really creepy. Well that seems to be what he is good at, making us feel creeped out.

Finally they picked us up and we got to the service group. After a short meeting for service we took off. First we went to Lalo, she is a woman that is about 40 who was born deaf. Then when she was about 25 she had a stroke and lost the ability to use the limited sign she knew. So we watch the dvd and I draw pictures and try to explain it as simply as possible. We stay a short period of time because we dont think she understands a lot and just giving her a bunch of information at one time doesnt seem like the best idea. Then off we went across the road to Sono's. This is where the fun begins....

So off we went and as we walked in the gate to walk to his house which is in the back, we remembered that the dog wasnt very nice last week. So I am in front of Dana who says its ok because we have our umbrellas out. So we start walking in and I dont see the dogs anywhere. So carefully I walk around the corner and there are 2 dogs sitting there. When they looked up and saw us they jumped to their feet and started barking and running at us. If any of you have been in service with me, you know that typically I am ok with dogs. Yeah, these ones didnt like us at all. So as a reflex I turned and ran. Remember I was in front of Dana, it is important to remember at this point in the story. So I took off, I havent ran that fast in a long time. As I was running I didnt happen to think about who I was leaving behind. I look in front of me and Dani has the same idea as me. She is running saying oh I dont think so while she did it. We get to the gate and turn around, there is no Dana. I watch as Dana comes backing out of the alley waving her umbrella around yelling get away. So when we realized that we had left Dana for the dogs we couldnt help but start cracking up. I was laughing so hard I couldnt breathe and I was doubled over. Finally the young girl who lives at the front house, who also was laughing, took the dogs away and we were able to go through.

So other than that we didnt have anything too exciting happen. We did some other studies along the way and then did some that werent at home yesterday. It was a long day out, but it was productive for sure. Oh something else that was cool was that I had my first study with someone for english! Danielle and Dana found a woman who went deaf and can read lips, but doesnt sign at all. Her and her husband were interested in them coming back. So I went and we did the first lesson from the You Can Be God's Friend brochure. However it took a very interesting turn when he decided he wanted to discuss hell. I am a little rusty at having discussions about that subject, so I just used the do you think that a loving God would create a place for people to be tortured forever? At which point he quickly said that God just wants to threaten us with it so we do good. It was an interesting discussion indeed.

So Abi will be here on Tuesday! We are so excited that there arent words. Also what else is exciting about this is that we are going into Georgetown with Tom Monday morning and we are going to stay at the Bethel branch the night before! We havent really been able to see it yet and we not only get to see it but also stay there. We are going at a good time too because Monday night is their family worship night. So I think we are going to be able to sit in on it:) Another great thing about that is that the guest room we are staying in has air conditioning and hot water!!! You would think you wouldnt want hot water, but after 2 months of taking cold showers first thing in the morning you want a hot shower. Even if just means I feel clean again, finally! And the air conditioning, well that is self-explanatory. So we are looking forward to getting to see Georgetown a little and having this wonderful experience. Hope everything is well, I miss you all!

Dead Dog

Hey everyone! So it has been a busy week. We have finally been able to catch some of the Bible studies that have been gone the last few weeks. Really there have been no highlights the last few days here so I will just start with today.

Today we have studies scheduled in Allness and 38 village. All of our Bible studies in Allness have been gone whenever we try to find them. So I will start with this morning. We woke up late and hung around the house, it was very pleasant to not be rushing around first thing in the morning. So when we finally were ready and on the bus is when the fun begins. We were driving very quickly and apparently the driver didnt see the dog wandering into the road. Yes the driver hit the dog. The really sad part is that the next time we stopped the conductor got out and made sure the dog didnt hurt the car. Funny how they had no concern for the dog they hit on the road, but the huge bus that ran it over might have been damaged.

Finally we got to our first stop named Pearol. She is about 25 years old and is at home by herself most of the time. We stood outside her gate yelling inside for about 5 minutes, thankfully a woman across the road heard us yelling and called her neighbor to let us in. People here are very friendly and helpful. So we went in and sat down. She is really sweet, she copies all the signs from the dvds and whatever you are signing at the time. Its nice though because she seems to understand what she is learning and she loves us visiting her. Hopefully soon she will start coming to meetings with us.

Then we headed to Pammy's house. Unfortunately she was at the doctor, a lot of people have been sick recently. Its funny here because when someone is sick, they say they are at the hospital. They never say they went to the doctor. So our intital reaction when they say they went to the hospital is more dramatic then the situation calls for.

So we took a bus to 38 village to see Atri, Athang, and Trevor. Atri and Athang are twins and Trevor is a good friend of theirs. So we go to Atri's house and the other 2 come over slowly but surely. Today however was really amusing. We arrived at the house to find Atri outside with his son whos name I dont know. This kid always hides in the house whenever we come over. Today though, he was outside and was very friendly. He had a glazed look on his face and a huge smile. We sat down and were waiting for the other 2 guys to come over when the phone rang. The kid started talking to his mother on the phone when we hear him say, I had a few drinks mom, I am drunk. All three of us looked at each other and almost burst out laughing. We contained ourselves enough so that all that happened was shaking. It kept getting better the whole time because he had a machete with him. You would hear him hacking away then suddenly he would say ouch. It was was so funny.

So during the study the three men would keep each other in line. At one point Trevor was explaining somethiing to Dana and Atri reached over and slapped him and told him to pay attention. It continued that way through the whole study, it became more and more amusing as time went on. Finally they got the concept and we got ready to take off. On the way back to the road Danielle decided to give the boy the latest magazines on alcohol. As he took them from her hand he started giggling. I dont know if he understood why we gave him the magazines.

So really that is it. I do have a good story from yesterday in Black Bush. We were walking down the road because a man told us he thought there was a deaf woman down the road is how he put it. So this old man, about 85 who is obviously drunk and not wearing shoes stumbles over to us. Dani pulled evasive manuevers and hid behind me. I apparently was his objective. He walked over to us and grabbed my hand. He started slurring his words so I didnt really understand what he said except when he looked at the girls and said I love her as a friend. Then said dear go on your way and handed me off. I attract all the crazies, it doesnt matter where we are. They just like me I guess. Ok well I hope you enjoyed it:) Bye

Guyanese customs

So in addition to the last post with experiences I thought maybe I should post a little about some of the cutoms here in Guyana. First of all, regardless of how long you have known each other, you always kiss each other on the cheek. Which can become quite awkward when you don't know the person at all, like you don't remember their name becuase you met them one time and it is a freak accident that you saw them again. But normally you have the normal greeting of good then whatever time of day it is, then you lean over and kiss on both cheeks. It took a lot of getting used to. Thankfully the sisters in the congregation have us trained now, so we initiate it instead of them. I must say they are very proud of how far we have come.

Then when you are in service is definetly different than in the States. First of all when you go up to a house you don't enter the gate. You stand outside and yell inside, then wait for them to invite you in. Then you have your normal greetings and introduction. After that you ask after the family, and then they ask you about your life. People here are very friendly and like to know a lot about their neighbors. Then you sit and before you can have a discussion, they ask you if they can get you anything. It is considered rude to refuse. The important thing is to make sure everything is prepared properly. Sometimes they will prepare things that have been cooked with water that wasnt boiled. So we have made it a habit to take precautions at home. We were told that eating a clove of garlic or making a tea out of it is the best way to kill anything you eat that isn't good for you. So after you eat and drink what is prepared for you, then you can leave. But you are always made to promise that you will return to visit to keep up your friendship. The Guyanese are very hospitable people and love to just sit and chat all day long.

Then there is the matter of Guyanese and their concept of time. They have none. They show up to the Kingdom Hall 25 minutes late to meeting and act as though they have arrived on time. When you take a bus anywhere be prepared to make many stops, some of which are people stopping to grab things along the way. So your busride could be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour depending on how many people are on and what their specific needs are. Also on the bus it doesnt matter if the bus is already full they will stop to pick up more people. There has been more than one time when people are sitting on the floor and on other people's laps. These are all people who don't know each other might I add. Then there is their concept of time in how they speak. For example last Saturday Dani and I walked up to a study just around the corner. When his mother invited us in to sit and wait for him to finish his work she was talking to us, 30 minutes go by and we say that maybe we will come back another time when they aren't so busy. She said oh no he be done just now, he be done just now. So we sit and wait, another 10 minutes goes by and we again say we should come back. She tells us that he be done short while. After another 10 minutes we say we are leaving and will come back the next day. So off we went and 30 minutes later we saw the man he was helping finally leave their house. So what we have learned from this experience is that when the Guyanese say they be there just now, or use the words short while, it really means about an hour later.

So these are just some of the customs that we have been getting used to, life here is always an adventure and we will never look back on this trip and say we were bored with the people here.

New study and sickness

Hey everyone! Once again sorry it has been so long since I wrote last. I have been sick for a few days. Nothing serious, just so dizzy that I don't have the ability to walk in a straight line. It is not fun. It also meant that I missed Sunday of our circuit overseer's visit, I was so disappointed. Thankfully I have heard it in english and already saw it in sign language. So since I wrote last we have a new addition to our household. Her name is Dana and she is from Indiana. Some of you already know her, she was in Portland sign for a while. She is a lot of fun to have around, and as a plus she has experience in other countries. Not to mention she hasn't been living with us the last month and a half so its a new person to talk to.

So really there aren't too many highlights to update you on, except we have a new bible study. Its a little girl named Davy and she lives up in village 60. She was handed over to us by a sister that lives up in Skeldon. Davy's family recently moved into our territory and Melinda felt that she had better hand it over. You know it is going to be a good study when the person who had it doesn't really want to hand it over. So Dana and I rode a bus up to 60 village to meet Melinda so she could introduce us to the family. What a sight it was when we arrived. We had 6 kids all between the ages of 2 and 15 surrounding us ready to show us that they remembered the signs they learned last week.

While Melinda was showing them the Noah dvd I watched as all the kids stared at the screen randomly shouting they knew the sign for the animal that passed on the screen. To my surprise they all knew the signs for the animals that Melinda showed them. There was a particularly cute little 2 year old boy who would swear he knew the sign but when asked would hide behind his older brother and peek around his legs and smile. Sometimes I just want to take the little kids home with me, they are so cute and sweet. We stayed with them for about 45 minutes and watched as they tried to remember my sign name. One of them remembered because he liked the sound effect he could make while signing it. It was a wacha sound, rather amusing to see the other kids try to make the same noise.

We are very excited to have another little kid study. The kids here are so much easier to study with because they are more willing to learn and pay attention. The adults are more interested in having white girls come and see them. Everyone is very grateful that we are visiting but sometimes it feels like they aren't really taking it seriously.

So a few more highlights of these last few days is that I bought myself my first Guyanese thing other than food. I bought leather sandals from a man at the market. They are brown with a strap over the top of my foot up by my ankle. Then there is a little strap for my big toe and then a leaf connects the two straps. They are really pretty, and very cheap. I bought them more out of neccesity because my service sandlas have broken as well as a pair of flip-flops. My shoes aren't responding well to the weather and how often I wear them.

Oh and I should really finish this blog with a funny story. When we first moved into our house we searched our village for deaf and met a man that lives directly across the road from us, his name is Daniel. When we met him he was really wierd and wanted to have a "bible discussion" with us. This so called discussion included one question from the book of Ezekiel then quickly moved on to our feelings on interfaith marriage. After about 10 minutes there we decided to avoid the man at all costs for the rest of our stay here. We have succeded so far but I do have a rather amusing story about him. So in addition to knowing that he is creepy, we also know that he is a raging alcoholic. His son studies with Tom Sanches in our hall so we are aware of all their issues. He regularly gets drunk and makes a fool of himself in the village. So Dani and I were going to go and get water up at the shop in 47. So grabbed our water bottles and headed for the road. After I walked out of the gate I saw him passed out in front of a post. He was face down on the ground with no shoes on. So we stayed on our side of the road until we were what we felt was a safe distance from him. Just seconds later though we had to turn around because of what we saw. A young girl, about 16 had a stick in her hand and she started poking him in hopes he would wake up and go back to his house. Well after poking him for about 1 minute he still wouldn't wake up. So instead of giving up she started beating him with the stick yelling the words drunk get up. After he woke up she felt that he still needed to be hit to get going. So she continued this until he was almost to his gate. After he got in his gate he felt safe so he started yelling awful things at her and you could hear them yelling at each other until we were able to catch a bus.

I have never seen anything so funny, well I take that back. The man who was standing on the sea wall completely naked fishing was pretty funny. Then there was the night that Dani was being chased around the living room by the big green bug that she had tried to kill with the bug spray. Which by the way, the bug spray only kills the beetles. It seems to give greater power to the other bugs we encounter. In all of the cases I just described I was laughing so hard that I was crying, doing what my uncle Landon does when he finds something particularly amusing. You are laughing so hard that there is no noise, just you with your mouth open rocking back and forth with your face completely red and tears streaming out of your eyes. Yes I guess you could say it is genetic. Well that is it for now, hope to hear from you all soon:)