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
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
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.
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!
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!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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:)
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:)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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!
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.
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.
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