We're here

We are getting settled in in Mabaruma, We flew in Friday morning without much incident, other than having to leave one of our suitcases behind in Georgetown due to too much weight on the flight. But the night before, in anticipation of such an event, we had repacked our bags according to importance, so we knew just which bag to leave. Gary took it with him and then brought it back the next morning when he brought Mitch and Kallai for their flight.
Hopefully I’ll be able to post up a couple of pictures. One is the service group heading to the territory Saturday morning. The other is our digs this time. I figured it only appropriate that it include Terri assuming the position in the hammock. This was Will’s house. It sits about 500 feet behind the big house/hall. It’s about 12’ X 18’
Mitch and Kallai left this morning for Port Kaituma. They will be spending a few days there before travelling on to Matthews Ridge. Mitch is heading up a project to build a building there to serve as housing for ‘Need Greaters’ as well as a Kingdom Hall. There was a congregation there back in the 70’s but it was disbanded. We spent some time there the year we were at Port Kaituma. At several houses we called on, the people asked, " When are you going to build a Kingdom Hall here? We need a Kingdom Hall." There has been a Memorial held there for the last several years. A few brothers travel over from Barimita. They usually have around 200 attend, not bad for a place with no publishers or Kingdom Hall. We are planning on travelling up to help a bit as well as see.
I am having a bit of trouble making the transition from the ministry in the states to here. I think I am talking too much. It’s just that when you get someone who seems to be listening, it hard not to go on. But here it can be the person is just being polite and listening, something that doesn’t happen much in the states.
This is the rainy season here, and they had been getting a lot of rain recently, but we haven’t seen that much rain since we arrived. The weather has been great, not too hot and a regular breeze.
Terri had a day today that covered the full range of emotions. She got to see Joyann Smith deliver a baby girl at the hospital. Then she went to study with a woman she had studied with when last here who has since been diagnosed with uterine cancer. She has been told she needs $400,000 ($2,000 US) for treatment, which is totally out of her reach, so Terri will continue to study with her and watch her die. She then went to Barabina (her favorite place to walk to (not)) for a study with a man who is also learning to read, and shows such appreciation for the help he is getting.
I think I earned some points today. I knew Terri was having to go to Barabina for the study and would be getting in late and tired, so I went to the store and bought a few things and threw them in a pot and started cooking dinner. She was appropriately surprised and grateful. As I have said, life is good when the little things can make you so happy.
Hope all are doing well as we are.

We're baaack (well sort of)

We are currently in Georgetown. Our trip here went fairly smoothly. We left Buffalo around 2:10 Tuesday afternoon and arrived at JFK about 3:20. Diana Roth (no relation to the singer) came and spent some time with us at the airport, as we had about 10 hours to spend before our flight to Georgetown.

We waited near the Jetblue ticket counter, since the Frieses and the Lanes were passing through on their way back to Buffalo from Mabaruma. I had just about convinced myself that we had somehow missed them when I finally spotted them. It turned out their flight had been delayed for a couple of hours. So we were able to spend about twenty minutes visiting with them before they had to leave to catch their flight to Buffalo. It was kind of like the changing of the guard, as we were able to be informed of various things that had happened recently in Mabaruma as well as some details regarding where we will be living in Mabaruma.

We then proceeded to the next terminal where we would be catching our departing flight, and Diana left us to return home. But not before waiting while we arranged to weigh our check-in bags at an outside baggage drop. We had weighed and reweighed them at home, but that was on a bathroom scales, and if we were overweight, we figured worst case, we could give something to Diana to take with her. All four bags were within half a pound of the max, so we were happy for that. We gave a cheer each time the weight appeared in the display. Life is good when the little things can make you so happy.

We had to wait a few hours for the ticket counter to open and allow us to check in our luggage, and then a few more before we loaded for departure. The plane was completely full and we waited for almost an hour on the plane before departing. We were told it was due to all the baggage that was being shoe-horned into everywhere. We were able to catch a little sleep on the flight as we had been up for over twenty hours, and only had a few hours of sleep the night before.

As always, it was such a pleasure and relief to see Gary waiting for us when we emerged from customs (where I didn’t see a single bag being opened). He then took us to Sister Scott’s where we will be staying while in ‘town. After dropping our things, we went briefly to the branch, and then on to exchange some money and pick up a few things, mostly for our brief stay here in ‘town.

Today is a holiday here (Boxing Day), so most businesses and all government agencies were closed. Even the internet café just down the street is closed, so I am composing this now anticipating being able to post it up tomorrow. Also, we will have to run errands again tomorrow, like getting temporary drivers licenses. Mitch Muick is arriving late this evening. He will be staying here with us, and so we will probably run around together with Gary tomorrow.

It is kind of nice to finally meet and stay with Sister Scott. Many who have traveled through 'town, on their way to visit us have stayed with her. When I mentioned to Brother Hinds that we were staying with her, he smiled and said, “Ah yes, the branch away from the branch.” She has a fairly large house, which she currently living in alone. The whole second floor is set us as an apartment. Terri had asked her if she considered renting it out, but she said never, as she enjoyed so much the opportunity meet and assist so many on their way through ‘town. We will be getting two days of Georgetown this time, since we arrived on Wednesday and there are no flights into Mabaruma on Thursdays. That means two days of blasting music and barking/fighting dogs. Since it’s so warm (it was 80 when we landed at 8:30 this morning) closing windows is out of the question.

But know we are well and looking forward to continuing on to Mabaruma. I'll keep you posted.

SAD

As you can see, being where the internet connects faster is helpful when it comes to adding pictures. The first is of preparations for the SAd that were done on Friday. We hung a big tarp off the back of the house to give a place for people to get out of the sun or rain depending on what the weather chose to do.

Next is a picture of the baptism, followed by a picture of most of the group that came down from Port Kaituma. Then we have Will doing an interview of some of the youths, and finally a picture of everyone hanging out under the tarp during the lunch break.

Friday was our last trip to Kobarimo and our string of staying dry came to an end. One of the women we visit was in ‘town, so we went a little later so as not to throw all the other calls off. We took the same boat we had been taking, but Terri had to bail most of the way since it is getting to leak more and more. When we got ready to leave the creek was the lowest we had ever encountered. In fact it was so low that we kept bottoming out and one of us (either Terri or I) had to climb out and push the boat through the mud. The mud was over two feet deep at times and it made for a very nasty and wet experience. Once we got about 1/3 of the way back, we were able to all be in a paddle the rest of the way.

When we got back to the house, the rest of the visitors for the SAD had arrived, and they had decided that the hole in the ground wasn’t acceptable for the baptism, so Compton donated a bunch more wood and a large box was constructed and lined with a tarp. I was a little concerned since it was going to take more than 1/3 of our water supply to fill it. But I told myself that I was going to be leaving Monday, so I didn’t need to worry about the water. But we got some rain overnight, and rainy season is only about 2 weeks away.

Saturday was the SAD and 16 people came in a boat from Port Kaituma, including four from Matthew’s Ridge. We had a peak attendance of 107. I had told Bro. Rainey on Friday that we were going to have 110, so he told me were three short. But I said that with all the children milling around, we did in fact have 110, they just didn’t get the count right. I reminded him that we now had three toilets, so if they were occupied during the count, that too would explain it.

Certainly a high point was Ellis’ baptism. It was so nice to be able to do it right there at the Kingdom Hall before all onlookers. And the ‘pool’ was big enough that both the dipper and the dippee were able to be in it together. I had expected that Will would do the actual baptism, but Saturday morning, Bro. Rainey informed me that Will had volunteered me, so that was a nice privilege, to be able to baptize one I had studied with when I was there three years ago. At that time Ellis had informed me he was like a turtle, because if you try to push a turtle, it just pulls back into it’s shell. So afterwards I said to Ellis, “I guess the turtle made it.” and he just smiled.

Sunday was a special service day since there was no meeting as a result of Saturday’s SAD program. We had 36 out in the ministry. It was nice to see Ellis make the effort to come out Sunday morning. Sunday evening we had a going away party at Compton’s and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t see Ellis. Compton said he had mentioned he was pretty tired from Saturday’s and Sunday’s activities, so I said I would rather he missed the party than the morning field service.

Then Monday morning it was time to finish packing things away and walk one more time to the airstrip. We rode back to town with the Hazel’s and another brother who had come out for the SAD. Several others had to wait for a flight the next day. I had mentioned that if everyone couldn’t make it on Monday’s flight, we weren’t going to be the ones waiting, as we had to catch the flight out of Guyana Tuesday morning. We were able to stay at the branch again Monday night, and that was nice because we got to see Bro. and Sis. Hinds. They had been in the states when we had come in. We were quite surprised when we landed at Ogle because since we had been there in January, they had build a whole new terminal for arriving passengers, complete with a nice looking control tower.

Our departing flight was scheduled for 10:00 AM and Gary informed us that they wanted passengers there three hours before the flight, so we left the branch at 6 AM. Traffic was very light and we arrived at about 6:45. We checked in with no problem, and breezed through customs and security, and then sat for about 2 hours forty five minutes waiting for the flight. When we arrived in New York, we were able to reach our next ticket counter in time to catch an earlier flight. When we arrived in Buffalo we were greeted by not only Steve and Michelle Swanson as expected, but Jessica and the boys were there as well, holding up a big banner that said, “Welcome back”. Even with catching an earlier flight we still arrived home about midnight.

Sorry no photo

I just spent about forty minutes trying to upload a couple of pictures only to receive an error message, and it's too late to start again, so I guess this will be like the early days. Sorry-o

Well, time has definitely shifted into hyper-drive. It started Monday. We had planned on taking care of some last minute details at the house before the CO and his wife arrived. So I went to Kumaka early to get some paint, and try to arrange the lumber for the toilet. I went to every lumberyard, and no one had material. The best was one that said in three days. But in Guyana, even when they say, “Tomorrow”, it’s questionable as to when you will see it, so three days is meaningless. Then I went to get paint, and had to go to several shops before I found any.

Then while I was in a shop in Kumaka, along comes Compton with the Raineys. They had arrived the day before we were expecting them. So I rode back to the house with them, and saw a couple of people sitting on the porch with Terri. You may have remembered I had mentioned meeting a young girl who told me she was a Jehovah’s Witness, and it turned out she had studied in Barimita. It turned out the reason she was here was because her ‘man’ had been told to leave Barimita, because he beat the girl, (why she went with him is another question). Wendy had started studying with her, and then Terri took it when she left.

As usually happens, the man has continued beating her and their 2 year old son. Terri had mentioned to her that she needs to get out of that situation. So her mother-in-law had decided, after a weekend of beating, that the girl needed to get away, so she had brought her to the house, to ask us to help, as they had no money to get anywhere. So now I had the CO and his wife, and this young girl with a two year old, and a five month old baby at our house. It was decided that the best course would be to send them to Port Kaituma, where they could get a ride to Matthews Ridge, and from there make their way to Barimita. I called to Compton’s to have him check if the boat that had brought the Raineys was still at Kumaka, and if they were going back to Port Kaituma. But it was getting late morning, and we were concerned whether they would be able to make it to Matthew’s Ridge before dark. Compton called back and said the boat was going to wait until the morning.

So they ended up staying with us at the house, and then early Tuesday morning Terri and I got up early and went with them to Kumaka. As soon as we got out of the bus, a boatman came up asking if anyone was going to Kaituma. I said we had some to go, but we would wait to see which boat was ready to leave first, and that would be the boat they would go on. So now we are waiting, and watching and worrying that the young man was going to show up and we have a scene there in Kumaka. But finally a boat was ready to leave, and we sent them off. There was a woman that we knew going up in the same boat, so we asked her to help Cynthia get a bus to the Ridge.

I have spent the last two days building the toilet for the SAD. Compton ended up scrounging up some pieces of wood and making the lumber we needed. I also took Bro. Rainey’s suggestion and dug a shallow grave which we will line with a tarp and fill with water for the baptism. Tomorrow we are having a congregation cleaning and prep day for Saturday. Terri and I will go in to Kobarimo one more time before we leave. Early in the morning Elroy is coming by and we will hang the second door on the toilet so he can then finish painting it.

I am not sure if I will post one more entry before we leave, or wait until we get back and have a nicer internet connection so we can post up a number of pictures.

I stand corrected

Terri took this picture at one of our calls in Kobarimo. This is a granddaughter of a woman we call on. She was out skipping rope with this vine.

I wanted to post something up so I could correct something in the last post. I had mentioned an email we had received regarding a question supposedly asked on Jeopardy. Well, as with many emails, it turned out to be untrue. The actually question posed was, “What bible translation do Jehovah’s Witnesses use?” So if you passed along an untrue rumor, you will have to correct it as I have done.

That being said, time is really starting to fly by with many things left to accomplish with a very limited time to do so. Getting lumber for the toilet continues to be a problem, so Monday I will go to some of the other mills in the area and see if I can get it from them.

On a bright note, Thursday evening Bro. Baxter handed in his auxiliary pioneer application for May. It will be the fifth consecutive month he has aux. pioneered. It has been such a joy to have him out in the ministry with us so much of the time, and he has really developed his preaching skills.

Our last two trips to Kobarimo have been fairly routine. Two weeks ago we had quite a shower go through while we were there, but we were under shelter, so we stayed dry. The calls we went to after that were quite surprised to see us since it had rained so much. Unfortunately, the rain delayed us long enough that our last call figured we weren’t coming so she went out to help carry wood up from the landing, so we missed the study with her, but she was waiting for us this week.

We used the same boat we had used the two weeks before, but either it is just deteriorating due to age, or someone crashed it into something quite hard because the front has a big crack in it which leaks in quite a bit of water, so two paddle and one bails. I told Terri I wondered if it would even be there in another week, and she said that she didn’t know as she would want to take it if it was. But hey, it got us there this week. Next week will be out last trip to Kobarimo, and I’d like to keep our string of staying dry in tact.

Tomorrow starts our string of ‘last meetings’ as we won’t be having a meeting next Sunday because of the SAD program. It’s hard to believe we have been here four months already, but I also know how quick once we get home it will feel like we never had been gone. It’s almost like living in parallel realities.

One more time

Just a note by way of explaination on the pictures. The first one was from our river trip today. The second one I took a couple of days ago. The thermometer normally hangs on a wall on the back porch and usually shows about 95 in the middle of the day, but that's in the shade, and we are usually out walking about in the sun. So I decided to place the thermometer in the sun, just to see what it would record. I'm not sure if you can read it on this page, but it is reading about 109, so it does get quite warm here during the day

I'm afraid I somehow lost the second picture, and I'm not going to spend another hour trying to insert it, so you will just have to take my word until you see our pictures when we get back.

Today we went on the river one more time before we leave. Terri, Jennifer, and I went. The weather was excellent, we only got lightly showered on once. As we well getting ready to leave Kumaka,a woman was out on the wharf with a small boy. She asked if we were going to Kaituma, as the boy needed a ride. Terri told her we were only going part way up the Kaituma. The woman then asked if we would take the boy as far as we were going. I told Terri to say no, as I didn’t want to have to worry about what would happen if we just left him somewhere along the river.

Today was a typical river day. We had some really nice calls where they asked us when we were coming back, and you feel bad because you can’t give them an answer. And then you have some calls where it’s like talking to a brick wall. At one house, Jenn was talking to an older woman, and asked her about the other ones there with her. One was a granddaughter and an older one was her daughter. Jenn was having a hard time reasoning with her on the scriptures, so to just try and make conversation, she asked the woman her daughters name. The woman just looked at her, (like she had been doing with most her other questions) and then leaned back into the house and asked the daughter her name. It’s very hard with ones like that.

At another door she was reasoning on how Jehovah and Jesus are two separate individuals, showing her where Jesus said the father was greater than he was. So she asked, “so are they the same?” The woman replied, “Yes, sister.” So the Jenn tried a different approach and pointed to a small boy there and asked if he had a father, to which she replied. “Yes sister.” So Jenn asked are the boy and his father the same one? “Yes sister.” It can be very trying at times, but other times so rewarding. Truly, the harvest is great, and the workers are few.

I finished digging the pit for the toilet, now we only need the lumber. I picked up the zinc for the roof Tuesday, so we have that.

Ellis has gone over the first two sets of questions for baptism, so that is on track. Now all I need to do is figure out how to make a baptism pool to have here at the hall, so all can see the baptism. We had noticed someone nearby has one of those inflatable small pools in there yard now. Will suggested we might speak to them about renting it for the day, Again, Jehovah will provide.

Someone had emailed the girls recently that a question had been asked on Jeopardy “What is the most accurate bible translation?” And when nobody got the answer Alex read the answer as, “The New World Translation, by Jehovah’s Witnesses.” I don’t know if anyone out there can confirm that or not. But if true, I’m sure that may have created a stir with some.

Getting short

As you can see, work is continuing on the new toilets, I think on more session of digging may have that part completed. I am doing this so I don't get out of shape for digging to uncover the top of septic tanks once I return to the states. The other picture is of a couple of young girls that Chelsea had had sleep over one night. As you can see, they have been trained well as to how to start their day.

Monday Compton and I took a bike and went out past Wauna to Black Watta. I had been there shortly after we arrived and had not finished the territory, so I wanted to finish the territory before we left. We met a woman out there who has a sister that’s a sister. She has gone to a few District Conventions with her in ‘town. While we were out there, a major downpour went through. But we were at the best call of the day sitting under a man’s house sharing scriptures. We were having a nice discussion, plus it was pouring so we didn’t want to go out, so we ate our lunches while we talked to him. It turned out he was a son of the woman who has the sister who is a sister. He told us before we left that we had spoken clearer to him than anyone one else he had ever talked with.

We finished the territory and then walked back out to where we had left the bike. Since it had rained so much, the ‘road’ which is all dirt was quite slippery. Driving back reminder me a lot of skiing, the way you are always trying to pick the best line to follow through all the bumps.

Andrew returned this week from Port Kaituma. He had stayed an extra week to help Richard there until the ones who had been in Matthews Ridge were able to close this down there and return to Kaituma. Paul & Sinead flew out of ‘town on Tuesday. Hopefully they will return in the end of September as planned.

I am a little concerned about the toilet we need to build before the Special Assembly Day program. Compton mentioned that the Forestry Service has placed a hold on all timber cutting because apparently there was so much illegal cutting going on. He said he had heard that they should be getting some lumber in ‘just now’. I just need to remind myself that this is for Jehovah, and he can certainly supple lumber. One week from Tuesday the Circuit Overseer and his wife arrive, as we are the host congregation for the SAD.

I told Terri that I had a hard time getting too motivated in the field ministry yesterday, since I know we are leaving soon, so there is no point in trying to start any studies, as we will have a hard enough time getting ones to take over the studies we have, since they all have their own studies to be taking care of.

I guess this was a little short, but then again that’s how I’m starting to feel as well.

Yarakita

I thought I ought to give Terri equal billing. This was taken at the airstrip when Wendy was leaving.

Our trip to Yarakita was a success after getting off to a shakey start. I had figured on taking one of the bikes to Kumaka to get the boat ready as I didn’t think there would be buses running that early. I told Alex I would pick him up on the way by, and he was waiting when I got there. As we were passing by the hospital in compound, the bike suddenly started going back and forth in the back, so I knew the tire had instantly lost all its air. I gave my keys to the shed that the motor and things are kept in to Alex and told him to go ahead to start to get the boat ready. I then started walking around in compound trying to locate a tire pump, hoping that it would hold air enough to let me reach Kumaka, but there was none to be found. Finally a bus came by and I stopped it to ask if they had a pump. They did, so I borrowed it and pumped the tire. I then gave the pump back to the conductor on the bus, and by the time I walked back to the bike, the tire was flat again. I ended up sitting as far ahead as I could so my weight would be in the front tire and drove it to Kumaka. So we were about 45 minutes late in getting underway.

Because there were four of us in the boat, it couldn’t plane up out of the water, so we could only do about 11.5 MPH. Then we went into the creek before Yarakita, and had to turn back to reach the right one, so it was about 11:30 when we got started. Solo and I went down on direction, and Compton and Alex went the other way. The village is much more spread out than the last river village we did. Maybe because the village can also be reached overland as well.

Solo and I had several nice calls. Solo knew many of the people, or at least the families there. We met a young woman who mentioned that she had come to the Special Assembly Day program last year at the Primary School. We told her about the one scheduled for May. She then asked us when we were planning on coming back to Yarakita. Compton mentioned that he had many ask the same question of him. It makes you feel bad that you can’t give an answer to that. Then before we left the young woman, she asked if we had a Secret to Family Happiness book. Not your usual question.

We had agreed to meet back at the boat at 4:00 PM. It took Solo and I a half an hour to walk back from where we had ended. It was about 4:30 by the time we were ready to leave, and several of the people standing around mentioned that if we didn’t leave soon we would be stuck there until the next day, because at low tide the creek becomes unnavigable. Because we were lighter, and the falling tide’s current is stronger than the washings tide’s, we were about to make about 13 MPH on the way back, but we still reached Kumaka in full darkness.

Today it was just Terri and I going to Kobarimo. While school is still on vacation, there were a number of boats at the landing. We had decided on a fairly large looking boat, and I was getting into it when a woman paddled up in another canoe. We asked her who the boat we were taking belonged to, and she said it was a man who was out working, and would not be back until late afternoon. But she said she didn’t think we should take that boat, as it was very ‘twisty’. She mentioned she would be gone until 4:00, and we could take hers. I thought it was nice she was looking out for the white folks. We had a nice paddle up the creek, no strong words and no umbrella blows.

At one of our calls, an older woman who is the mother-in-law of the one we started the call with, but who has been there the last few weeks, mentioned that she had ‘given testimony’ in the church Sunday that no one from the church ever comes to visit them to share the word. The only ones who come are the white folks from the Kingdom Hall. I don’t know what else she might have said, but she said afterwards, everyone clapped their hands. When we first started going there, they were always busy doing cassava bread, but now they do that on Thursday since we come Friday. They also mentioned they go to the pond early, and encourage one another to hurry up, so they will be back before we get there. We are really hoping Joy or someone will be able to continue the calls after we leave.

It's coming your way

I had mentioned about the need for additional toilets before our Special Assembly Day program, so we recently had our ground breaking ceremony, but it wasn't to well attended. The good news is I got the pit about half dug, and this is pretty close to a no-shadow moment.

Our most recent trip to Kobarimo was also our most eventful. I had wondered what we would find when we got to the landing, since school is still on vacation plus it was a holiday (Good Friday) so ther4e wouldn’t be boats from people going out to work. Joy met us there and there were only two boats there, neither of which looked to promising to non-natives like ourselves. There were some small children playing around there, so Joy spoke to them and asked if they would paddle up with us so they could bring the boats back. They said they would, so Terri and I got in the bigger of the two, but it was quite narrow, with a very round bottom, which makes them as the locals say, “rolly”. The small boy seemed to handle the boat fairly well as he brought it up for us to get in, so I decided to let him stay in the back. When we first got it, I could indeed tell it was ‘rolly’. I told Terri that today was the day we were going to get wet. Then to make matters worse, we just nicely got going, and he drove the canoe right into a tree on the bank. As we got going more and I had a little time to get acclimated, I was feeling more comfortable, but Terri was getting more and more nervous. I know this may be hard for many to believe, but he actually hit me with her umbrella, because I wasn’t willing to turn around to go back. She finally insisted that we pull up to a stump along the way to let her get out and go in the other canoe. By this time I was willing. But when we stopped, the other boat came alongside and she just got into it, and they set off.

Now the small boy wasn’t happy that a boat paddled by a girl and a woman (Joy) was ahead of us, so he’s paddling hard to try and keep up. We ended up hitting two more trees before we reached. After the second one, he tried to explain it that I was so big, he couldn’t see around me. That may have been part of the problem, but if you are paddling at a 45 degree angle in a narrow creek, it shouldn’t be hard to figure that you’re going to hit the bank even if you can’t see.

We had some nice calls in Kobarimo and as we were walking back to the landing, a man came up behind us with a paddle. Joy knew him so asked about his boat. He said it was reasonable sized, so she asked if we could go back with him. I ended up in the front, with Terri and Joy in the middle. We started out and Terri mentioned that she had here hands on the sides of the boat, and her fingers were in the water. I noticed that some water seemed to appear in the bottom of the boat, and Terri said it had come over the side when the boat tipped a little to far to the side. I was just glad I couldn’t see all of that. The first time Joy had gone with us, she had mentioned she was a little afraid, since she hadn’t been in a boat in so long. Well she has gotten over her fears, and she was laughing at how nervous Terri was, as well as showing off her paddling skills, even thought it was rocking the boat. But we did manage to keep dry for another week.

We received word last week that Paul Donlon had flown to Georgetown, since both his wife and baby were quite sick. He had contacted us and asked if we might be able to send the boys up to help until he came back the middle of this week. So Josh and Andrew went up Saturday. Paul then called back to say that he was thinking of just going back to Ireland now, since he had planned on returning right after the SAD program. He said Sinead and Bethany were so weaken from a virus they had, that they were worried they might get something else.

Josh returned today, but Andrew is staying another week which will allow the ones who have been at Matthews Ridge to pack up and return to Kaituma. Again, that had been the plan, but it wasn’t supposed to happen for another month.

Tomorrow, myself, Compton, Solo, and Alex are going to take the boat to work the village of Yarakita. It’s been about a year and a half since it was worked. We had stopped at the landing of the village a couple months ago to ask whether there were any houses on a creek close by there, and when we got ready to leave, the people were quite upset/disappointed to realize we were going to be visiting them. We are going to be using the recent tract on false religion, as we still have a small supply left. I am excited that it will mostly be locals, rather than white people preaching tomorrow. With four in the boat, it will take longer to reach there, but we should be able to do the whole village and reach back before dark.

Memorial

I thought I'd put up this picture from our Memorial observance. It was taken a little before the program began, so there is still a number of empty seats. Also I don't know as you will be able to make out too many of the faces, but those who know, you can see Rosta sitting there in the middle.

Obviously the recent highpoint of our time here has been the Memorial. We had 129 here Monday evening. To put that into a little context, we had 113 last year, we have an average attendance on Sunday of about 60, we have about 35 publishers working here now. Wendy has been conducting a study with some on Kahn Hill, and about 10 came from there. We might have had more as we had arranged for two buses to bring ones in from Wauna and those parts, but only one bus came. We have not been back out there yet to hear of how many say they came, but were not able to catch a bus.

Probably one of the more outstanding individual experiences was that of a man named Danny that Compton has been studying with out in Settlement. He had an accident a few years ago and was completely bed-ridden for some time. He has gained back a little use of his legs, but still hardly ever goes out of his house. He had expressed a strong desire to attend, so Josh went out on one of the bikes and was able to bring him. He really enjoyed being here, and he was one of the last to want to leave. He has expressed a desire to come to the Special Talk on the 15th.

We had been able to cover all of our close in territories, except for a small part of Wanina, and some river territory in the two weeks of the invitation campaign. This included keeping track of all not-at-homes during the first week and either returning when they were home, or going back during the last week and just leaving invitations.

Having had the Memorial with 129, we have pretty well decided we will hold the SAD program at the Kingdom Hall this year. It will save a lot of work of having to clean and prepare some other location, but it will involve some work here. If we are going to have around 120 here for the whole day, we are going to need to provide additional toilets. We can’t just arrange for a couple of porta-potties to be dropped off for the day. Also we are still hoping to figure out a way to perform the baptism on-site.

Other newsworthy events include the departure on Wednesday of both Wendy and Mitch, Wendy had been here six months, and Mitch five weeks. I mentioned to Terri that the next time we go to the airstrip to send someone off, may well be for ourselves. As usual, there was quite a number who went up to see them off, including a woman from Settlement, Sharon English, whom Mitch had started a study with while here. She had come to the Memorial as well.

One a less than pleasant note, Monday evening while they were at the Memorial, Wendy and Rasheeta had their place broken into and a number of things were stolen. It has not been a nice going away week for Wendy. She has also been quite sick on top of everything else. One of the things stolen was her computer on which all the files were that we had been working on in mapping out all the houses in the territory, so that project has suffered a setback.

The weather here has been rather overcast and rainy the last few days which is a blessing, since now is the time the sun is passing overhead on it’s way up north to you folks. I’m hoping to get a picture of a no-shadow moment, but we’ll have to see if the weather cooperates.

The latest

This is Ellis, he has been coming to the meetings since the very early days. He came to help us get ready for the Memorial today. He is planning on getting baptized at the upcoming SAD.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything up. Things have been a little busy around here with trying to cover all the territories with the Memorial invitations plus working up a new talk. I had given Andrew my list of talks that I have so he could make up a talk schedule. Well, he misread my list and so assigned me a talk which I hadn’t given. I told him rather than redo his schedule, I would just work up the talk. I gave it today, so that’s over. However I am also giving the Special Talk here, so I have two weeks to work up a next one. Such is life in Guyana.

We have also been working the last few days to try and get the hall ready for the Memorial. Yesterday we had a group here doing some cleaning, but also painting the outside of the hall and some areas inside as well. Today another group got together to finish the preparations. We gave the hall a through cleaning after the meeting, as well as painted some benches we use just for the Memorial, as well as rearrange everything inside the hall to accommodate additional people. We had put in a request for using a building that the education department has for the SAD, but that recently fell through. Will mentioned that after the SAD last year, the CO had said that they could have saved themselves a lot of work if they had just held the SAD at the Kingdom Hall. We have decided we will see what the Memorial attendance feels like and then decide if we need to try and make other arrangements for the SAD.

A regular of my posting has been our trips to Koborimo, of which we have had two since last report. Time before last, Joy Kissoon had expressed a desire to join us, so we had her meet us at the landing. She mentioned she was a little nervous, as it had been a number of years since she had been in a boat. But she assured us she could swim, so we told her she would be fine. The boat which we had taken for the last three weeks was sitting there, but I was a little concerned since when we had taken it with Joelle, it had sat pretty low in the water, and Joy is quite a large woman. We picked a next one to take, which had higher sides. I had noticed some water in it when we left, but gave it little thought. We paddled up without incident, with Joy just sitting in the middle. When we got out, I noticed much more water in the boat.

We had a nice morning in Kobarimo. We were handing out the Memorial invitations, so while I was at a house that I spoke with, Terri and Joy would offer the invitations to nearby houses, and when we got to a house that Terri usually spoke at, Terri and Joy would do it, while I offered invitations. As I was walking about, I kept my eyes open for something to use to bail the boat when we got back. I found a small container someone had dropped, so I put it in my pack.

When we got back to the landing, I was happy to see our boat still there waiting for us. I climbed in and bailed out the water and then Terri and Joy got in. At that point I saw that there was a pretty good leak in the boat, but I didn’t worry much as I knew we had paddled it up without incident. But I couldn’t help thinking what I would have thought if I had seen it leaking in shortly after we had started, knowing we had nothing to bail with.

Since my last writing, both Eliesha and Terri have developed all the classic symptoms of Dengue fever. Eliesha's was more like mine in that she was able to somewhat soldier on through her symptoms, while Terri’s pretty well had her out of commission. I mention this both as a way of explaining her ‘hammock neck’, as well as explaining the fact that this week she didn’t feel up to Koborimo. Joy had told me Thursday after the meeting that she wasn’t sure whether she was going or not as she wasn’t feeling so well. So Friday morning I wasn’t sure if I might be going alone for the first time. But Joy was waiting at the landing. I was also concerned since school is out now here, and I didn’t know if we would find a boat. It turned out there was a young boy who comes to the hall, Joel, who was going to go up the creek to fetch water, and he offered us to ride with him. I think he appreciated having two more paddlers. As we went up, I mentioned that I was concerned about how we would get back, since we hadn’t taken our own boat up. I then suggested to Joy that we work the area in such a way that we finished on the far side of the hill, and we could then walk across to Barabina. She said she had been thinking that as well as her aunt lived there and she was sick, so she wanted to visit her. So that is what we did. The only problem was that after walking across to Barabina, which took about half an hour, we were then almost to the end of Barabina, which is another half hour walk. But now I can say I have walked through the jungle from Kobarimo, to Barabina.

I guess I’ve rambled on about long enough, so I’ll close. Just to let everyone know, Terri is doing much better. She was able to go to a couple of studies Friday, and she went out with the group Saturday.

Terri's day

A day out in service here in Mabaruma. I start with a bible study with a women who used to study years ago. Her name is Joan. Her 11 year old son is coming to all the meetings and doing well. She feels she needs to get back and be a better example. I enjoy her thoroughly. She works during the day at a beverage bar. We sit behind the counter doing our study. She serves alcohol among other things, pop, chips. I had mentioned to Jim I wonder how this will go, me behind the counter, and ones coming up 10:30 in the morning to buy high wine. I wonder if their conscience while be pricked. I think today it was because a man asked me if I could please get a bible for him. I will make sure to deliver it when he is sober! All in all it is very quite and we have real nice study.

On to my next study, an older women, Mrs. Abrams. I studied with her last time I was here. She kind of got lost in the shuffle because she is always traveling to different places. She seems to be settled for a while so I am taking full advantage of it. She pulls out two chairs and we sit under a huge mango tree. I enjoy her very much also. She is so quiet and it takes her forever to talk, so you have to be real patient. Today she told me her sixth child had died. The doctor said it was either her or the baby. They picked her. The baby was 12 pounds when born and seems it died while being born. The nurses said it was the most beautiful baby. She was in a coma for 4 day and could not even see him. He was buried before she woke up. I asked her if she named him. She said no. I asked her what she wants to name him, because he will need a name when he is resurrected. She said Ryan. I told her I love that name! It is my nephew’s. I told her to be prepared to hold a beautiful 12 pounds baby named Ryan soon! I told her I will have to come and visit her again in paradise so I could see him she smiled and said yes you will have to do that.

Next I went to meet Seeta, a sister, we work together every Wednesday evening. I meet her at the school where she works. The guard there is real nice and I give him mags. Today he had all these questions for me. We talked for about 45 min. I felt bad because Seeta was waiting for me she finally came out and met me and talked with us. He said he was involved with the Church of Christ for a while and loved the minister there. But I thought it strange he still had all of these unanswered bible questions. He said they were so nice though, they have him money sometimes and other things. I said yes but it concerns me you still seem spiritually dissatisfied. He agreed. He proceeded to show us a book that was given him, with just bible books John and Romans. He said he did not have a whole bible. Lo and behold I had a brand new one in my service bag. Seeta said the look on his face was shock. He seemed so grateful. I also read Acts to him, about the Ethiopian eunuch, how he needed someone to teach him, so we do also. So I made a date Friday to bring Jim back. Hopefully he will now truly get satisfied.

On to my next study with Seeta, a long walk up a steep hill. She is a young mom separated from her husband. She also used to study. We were late because of the conversation with the guard. She was driving down the hill in her dad’s van going to collect water. She waved us on to go wait for her. We waited 45 minutes, then decided we should go. It was a nice 45 minutes Seeta and I pulled up a car seat that was on the lawn and sat with a wonderful breeze just gaffing (means talking). We bumped into her walking back down the hill. She said sorry next week. I told her I had the book I wanted to give her, Learn From the Great Teacher, for her children. She eagerly took it and smiled, so did her son. What a wonderful book to help her to raise her young ones.

Well now it is 5:30 we are headed home. We part and as we do I see an old return visit. I stop to gaff with her. She proceeds to tell me she was real sick last year with hemorrhaging and she lost a lot of weight. The doctors could not help her here so she flew to ‘town. They could not help her there either. Her mom took her to her church, and they prayed over her. She said she vomited out water! She said it was a water demon! That is what the preacher told her. He felt someone put a curse on her, that is why she was sick. She is better now! I believe her there is a lot of demonism here, and you hear weird things like that all the time. I told her I would be back and we will talk more about this! I read her the scripture in Pro. 18:10 about Jehovah’s name being a strong tower, but told her she needs to be doing what Jehovah requires in order to get protection from him. I finally reached home around 6:30. it was a great day!

Anyway I thought you would like to hear a day out in service here in Mabaruma.

Oh yeah you may also see one of these when you are out in service here in Mabaruma!

Mark 10:28-30

I don’t have much in the way of news worthy events to report on. I did decide to post up a picture of Terri so all would see that she in fact is doing fine. She had been complaining of a very stiff neck the last few days which had me concerned, since my dengue fever had started with a bad headache, which in my case had felt like it was coming from very tight neck muscles. But Terri’s hasn’t seemed to progress to the fever, so we have decided it may be the result of spending too much time in a hammock (the we being everyone except Terri).

Terri went with me again to Kobarimo this Friday. We found more of our people home, and we found one woman who I had met the first time I went there with Compton who had expressed an interest in studying the bible. Her name is Dorothy. She had told Christina that she would study with her in Kumaka on Tuesdays, but Christina didn’t see her after that. I told Dorothy that we were coming to Kobarimo Fridays and we would bring something with us next week which we could study from, so we will see if she’s there next week. We will also try and cover the territory with the Memorial invitation next Friday. This was the third week in a row we have taken the same canoe and had it be there waiting for us when we return. Getting into it can be a little tricky since it’s so low in the water, but once we (I) get in and settled, it goes well.

After my study with Rocky this week, he asked me if I thought Jehovah knew that Adam and Eve would disobey. So we talked about the gift of free will which he created us with, but I also reasoned with him on whether Jehovah would have set things in motion if he absolutely knew that Adam and Eve were going to make the choice they did. That would mean that Jehovah was responsible for all the bad things that have happened ever since. Rocky ended up saying that it was probably rather foolish for him, as part of the creation, to be second-guessing Jehovah, the creator, which I felt was very insightful on his part.

I know the winter is continuing to hang on, but take heart, better weather is coming, whereas all we have to look forward is even hotter weather.

Dengue!!

I thought I’d post up the group shot from the airstrip this morning as the Finches were leaving. The next time we will be doing this is in three weeks. At that point Mitch and Wendy will be leaving.

The diagnosis is official for my recent malady. I went to the hospital and saw the doctor. After listing all my symptoms in their order of appearance, he said it was a ‘classic case’ of Dengue Fever. I had already reached the same conclusion based on our ‘Where There Is No Doctor’ handbook. The clincher was the rash I developed on my feet and lower legs. He said there was a good number of cases in Mabaruma now. He mentioned many of the hospitals in Georgetown are quite full of children suffering from Dengue.

It is caused by a virus transmitted by mosquitoes. Since it’s viral, there is really nothing that can be done as far as treatment. But I am feeling much better as of late.

They're coming home

It’s hard to believe, but in just a couple of days, and the Finches will be gone. Richard gave the talk here today, so that was a nice treat. This last Friday, I went to Kobarimo with a new first mate. Richard and I paddled up together. I was a little concerned at first as to whether my dry streak was going to come to an end, but not to worry. I had selected what I felt was one of the most suitable boats to take, and I was working my way into the back of it when a woman who was watching said that she felt we would do better with a next one. The one she suggested was the one we had paddled last week. I was a bit apprehensive, since I knew how low in the water it rode. But we got in that one and paddled off.

It was the most disappointing trip I had taken to Kobarimo. Not a single of the ones I had been having good calls with was there. I told Richard that if I had a few more times like that, I would have to seriously reconsider going there every Friday. The good part of being there for such a short time, was when we got back to the landing, the canoe was still there waiting for us,

Because we got done so quickly, we were able to catch up to Terri and the girls who had gone to visit Hosororo Falls. It’s really more a cataract than a falls, but the water flowing over it is coming out of the hills, so it’s relatively clear.

I am still not feeling all that well. First there was the headache, then there were several days of fever. I don’t know if it’s a different strain of fever than I accustom to, or if it’s just a matter of having a fever in the tropics, but any fever I’ve ever had, I would end up with very bad chills, which is how I knew I was running a fever. Here, I felt more like Moses when he came down the mountain after receiving the Ten Commandments. His face was radiating light. Well, I felt that way, but my face was radiating heat. I never got the chills, I just felt like I was radiating heat. Then I got quite achey. I think I am getting better, the fever has resided and the headache is gone.

Terri insists what I need to do is just take a few days to stay in and do nothing but rest, but I have been trying to keep up my regular schedule. Walking 4-8 miles a day is rather wearing even on a healthy body.

Malaria?

Just to put your minds at ease, Terri is fine, it's just the Finches will be leaving soon, so I thought I post up pictures of all of them before they leave.

While Terri has been doing fine, I actually haven't been feeling all that well recently. I started getting a nasty headache, and then yesterday, Terri felt my forehead and informed me that I was burning up. I tried to tell her it was just due to the fact that I had spent the morning and early afternoon walking in the hot sun. She insisted that I had a major fever. Unfortunately, we don't have a thermometer in the house, so there was no way of checking my actual temperature. We have a pretty good first aid kit, complete with a profession type stethoscope, so if anyone develops a heart murmur, we could probably diagnose it, assuming of course there was someone who knew how to use it, but we have no way to check ones temperature, and there is no place here to buy one. I think I will ask the Finches to see if they can get one when they get back to Georgetown and then leave it at the branch so it can be sent out with our next shipment of magazines or literature.

For those of you who may not know, a wicked headache and fever are symptoms of malaria. So just to play it safe, I went to the malaria clinic had had a 'smear' taken, but it came back negative. I was pretty sure I didn't have it, because as one of the locals always says, if you 'think' you have malaria, you don't have it, because when you have it, you know you have it. I even used that point in the Memorial talk I gave two years ago in Kaituma to help explain how one would know they were part of those chosen to go to heaven, if you wonder, you aren't one, because if you were, you would know.

When I had been at one of my studies Sunday, he mentioned that someone had come to him with a canoe to sell. I had asked him to keep his eyes and ears open back when we first decided we wanted to try to go to Kobarimo regularly. He said that he would try to get the canoe brought to his house so I could check it out. This morning a young girl stopped at the house on her way to school with a note telling me the canoe was there, so later in the morning, Terri and I went out to check it out. It actually was a bigger one than I had been expecting. We got in it and there was close to six inches of boat above water. We paddled it around for a bit, but as I mentioned to Terri, we have always been able to get to Kobarimo without owning a canoe of our own, so I didn't know why at this point, I wanted to buy one.

Our efforts to map out every house in the territories seem to be going fairly well. So for the first time, we have been going back through the territory working on not-at-homes. Once I feel confident that we have all the houses located, then we will devise a system of numbers, so that eventually the friends will be able to keep track of not-at-homes on the regular house-to-house record, and then turn them in to be worked at another time, like when the groups go out Monday and Friday evenings.

Two months down, two to go

In the interest of giving equal airtime to our visitors, I thought I’d post up this picture. Between the heat, the hills, and the distance between studies, the bikes can be life savers.

Monday, Richard, Joelle, and I went on the river. We went and finished up the territory I had started when we went to Hotoquoi. We had an uneventful day other than we ended up driving way up a creek we came to without finding any houses. Just about the time I would convince myself we might as well turn around, I would see where someone had cut off a branch that was sticking out into the creek, which would make me think someone must live beyond that since the brush was being cleared. Richard later mentioned he was getting a little nervous at the thought of something going wrong, and us being way out in the middle of nowhere. In the future, when I see a creek like that, I will past it by, and ask at the next house we come to if there are any houses on it, and if so, I will double back and do it. As it was, when I asked at the next house, they told me no one lived on that creek.

Friday, Terri, Joelle, and I paddled up to Kobarimo. It started out a little shaky. We all got into a canoe that looked very wide and flat, but when we were in, we were only out of the water about an inch and a half, and I didn’t think that looked so good. So we got out of that one, and into a next one, which gave us about three inches to work with, and set off. It was a bit of a disappointing day, as a couple of our better studies weren’t there. Maybe because we returned to the landing a little earlier, but for the first time, the canoe we paddled up in was still there, so we were able to return in it. I actually found myself feeling fairly comfortable paddling this week.

Today we had over thirty at our meeting for service. We covered two of our territories, which when you consider we only have twelve that are close in enough to reach easily, is quite remarkable. We also started trying something new today. Since we are covering the territories so frequently, and since we have been directed to not leave Memorial invitations at not-at-homes. We have decided to try and map out every house in our territories, so we can devise a numbering system so we can begin to keep track of not-at homes, and make the effort to reach them. It will in effect gives us more territory to work.

1,000 words

I have finally gotten around to trying to post a picture. It takes about ten minutes to add this to the page, so it wasn't too bad. I thought this would accomplish a few things. It would show all a better idea what I have been talking about when I talk about the canoes we have been using, as well as prove that the Finches really did come here, rather than sneak off to Hawaii again.

It's getting late, so this won't be a long one. Tomorrow we are getting another worker here from California. He will be staying with the 'boys' and will be here until April 4th.

Everyone has been commenting (that's everyone of us outsiders) on how hot it is starting to get. Every day now the sun is getting higher and higher overhead, and you come to appreciate the expression, 'the sun beating down', but it could be worse, it could be winter.

Help has arrived

Wednesday saw the arrival of four more workers. Eliesha returned from going out for her Grandfather’s death, and the Finches (Richard, Joelle, and Rachel) arrived for three weeks. All had uneventful travels and arrived safely. Of course the arrival of new ones is always an event because of the things they are able to bring for those here. Eliesha even brought a new set of tires for the bikes, as the originals are getting quite smooth, which is a problem when it’s wet, since many of the tracks we have to ride on are dirt, which become very slippery when wet. Plus with no tread, they are much more susceptible to flats from sharp rocks and the like.

Friday, Terri and I took Rachel to Kobarimo with us. Friday was a holiday here (Independence Day) so there was no school, so there was a limited number of boats to chose from. We picked what seemed to be the best one for us and headed up the creek. The problem with going once a week is that any feeling of comfort that we may gain the time before, seems to have evaporated by the time we go again. But we made it up dry and had a couple of nice studies. Some of our calls were out for the day, (probably because of the holiday, but we had a sweet young girl spent the morning with us as our guide. She couldn’t understand that we weren’t visiting every house, as that was the way it had always been done before. She asked us if we couldn’t come on Saturdays instead, as she is normally in school on Friday.

When we returned to the landing, for the third week in a row, the boat we had paddled up in was gone. The boat we took back down was actually a little wider and flatter, but the sides were also lower, so we only had about three inches out of the water on either side, which meant that we couldn’t let the boat rock very much or we would have been instantly swamped. We were doing pretty well until we ran up onto a stump or something that was only slightly submerged, and we had quite a close call, but we arrived back to the landing dry once again.

Two buses passed by just before we reached the landing, but once we got out and tied up the boat, there were no more coming, so we started walking back. The farther we walked, the darker the sky got and we could see a curtain of rain coming in the distance. I said I thought if we walked fast, we could make it to a bus stop up ahead, but then saw it was coming too quickly, so we went underneath a ‘high’ house we were passing and waited for the rain to pass. It wasn’t raining real hard, but I could see over toward our house, it was pouring, which is just what we needed. It finally stopped enough and we walked into Kumaka, only to find the parade just about to set off for close to where the house is. I told Terri I had seen a few buses out on the other side of the parade gathering and said if we walked back there we could probably catch a bus. But as I started to walk back, I saw the parade was already setting off, so I just turned aside and waited for them to go. But Terri and Rachel didn’t see me, so they kept walking, and at one point were walking along with the parade. But they did the power walk, and soon were out ahead but then had to keep up that pace to keep ahead. After they had walked about ½ a mile, Richard and Josh came along on a bike, and Richard got off and Josh took Rachel home and then came back and got Terri, before returning for Richard.

I on the other hand, decided just to wait in Kumaka for the parade to have gone. I checked on the boat and saw that it had a good bit of water in it, so I bailed that out and then started out on the bike. Unfortunately, the parade hadn’t gotten as far as I had hoped, so I had to keep stopping and waiting for it to get ahead. Finally they reached a point where there is a back street running parallel to the main one, and I was able to get out ahead of them. When I got home, I found that it had indeed rained heavily, and the top tank was filled, and the bottom ones were about ¾. Since then we have gotten a bit more so they are more like 7/8.

The Finches have gotten right into the swing of things here, with all of them having been out for long trips on the bikes with others here, Richard has had a long day of far walking, and Rachel has done the canoe thing.

We are all well and thankful for our recent rains.

Hope you are all well also, and please drop a short email when you can.

Kobarimo II

This last Friday we had our second trip to Kobarima. We went down to the landing a little later than the first day. I dropped Terri off and then went to get the paddles. She told me that all the children had already came, but there was a man who told her she could take any one she wanted. She said that she pointed to one that she said looked good, and he told her, “That’s me mother’s”. He pointed to a different one and said that the person who owned that one wouldn’t be back until 4:00. So we got in that one and started paddling up the creek. The current was flowing against us, so it was a little more work, but we went along so smoothly that I was thinking I should keep my camera out to get pictures, instead of keeping it inside a ziplock bag in case we tip over.

We reached Kobarimo and had several nice calls and set a couple more up for next week. When we got back to the landing, our canoe was gone again, and the only ones sitting there were very narrow. We tried getting in one but it felt very very tippy, so we got back out. We were sitting there trying to decide what to do when a couple of young women with a child each came paddling up and got out. We explained what had happened and our predicament and one of them tried to help us get into one of the canoes. Again it seemed like we were about to tip over, so we got out. She suggested we try the one she had, since she said it was a little flatter (although it didn’t look much so). So Terri got in and sat in the back, and then I got in the front. It seemed a little more stable, so we decided to set off. The only problem was Terri was in the back, and she had no idea how to steer it, so we were crashing into everything. I said there was no way that was going to work, so we paddled backwards back to the landing and she got out, then I got out, she got in the front and I got in the back and we set out again. At that point I was glad everything was inside plastic. As we paddled back (once again against the current), I was reminded of my early days of rollerblading, always feeling like I was about ready to fall. But we reached the landing without incident, and one getting out of the canoe, we gave each other high fives!! So now we have paddled a much narrower canoe. It will be interesting to see what next week will bring.

I had told Paul Donlan that I would come to Kaituma to give a talk there since I figured he was the only brother there. I had initially thought we would just go up Sunday morning to give the talk, and then come back in the afternoon. But I figured it would take three hours to get there in our boat, and if anything happened we wouldn’t make it in time. So I emailed Paul and asked about coming up Saturday afternoon and spending the night. He responded that they temporarily had six brothers visiting there, so there would be no room, but he said if we were late, they would just do the Watchtower first. Then Terri decided that it would be too much for one day, so she said she wasn’t going. I had asked Compton earlier, as he had mentioned he had yet to see Paul & Sinead’s baby. So it ended up just being the two of us. I put the higher speed prop on the boat since we would be light, and we made it to Kaituma in about two hours, fifteen minutes.

We had gotten an early start, so we were on the river as the sun was coming up. I couldn’t help but thinking what an experience it was to be out on the river in the rainforest in South America. I actually found myself thinking, “If I died tomorrow, I would still have lived a very full life.” But since you are reading this, you can know I didn’t die the next day.

Now we are preparing for visitors Wednesday. Eliesha is returning, and the Finches will be coming for about three weeks. We are still very low on water, so the added people will tax it that much more, but we are trusting in Jehovah that he will provide for us.

Captain Jim

Saturday, I, Compton, and Marlon, took the boat out to do some river territory. I had been checking the tides, and it seemed like it would be a good day to go. You don’t want to be on the river when the tide is low, because all the canals that lead to the houses are then too shallow to get the boat close to the house, so you have to either wade up the canal, or try to walk along the soft, muddy bank. I was a little nervous, since it would be the first time I was on my own with the boat. I was looking forward to it though, because the territory we were going to hadn’t been done in two and a half years, and I knew there was a fair sized village in it.

The night before, I had taken the longitude and latitude coordinates of the fork in the river where the territory started, as well as where it ended, off the map we have and entered them into my GPS, just to make sure I was working in the right place. I kind of had a picture of the river map in my mind, but I intended to check it just before I left the house in the morning. But with everything on my mind, I forgot to do that. We got everything together, and got under way about 9:30 am. The boat planed off very easily, so we made good time going upriver. We were going with the tide, so that helped. After we had been underway a while I turned on my GPS. It reassured me that I was going in the right direction, and when we got to where I thought we should be, the reading I had calculated from the map at the house agreed within 500 feet. I was impressed with that.

We started working our way from hut to hut up the river. At one place, there was this huge pile of boulders in the yard next to the hut. Some of the boulders were bigger than a minivan. I have no idea how they would have gotten there as there was no high ground for more than a mile in any direction. Very strange.

We reached the landing for the village a little after noon, the tide was still coming up. The landing was at about the center of the village, so for one side, Marlon and I worked together and then the other side, he worked with Compton. The village was spread out along the side a fairly steep hill, and of course it’s fairly grown up, so you walk along the main ‘track’, watching for small tracks leading off. Early on when I was working by myself, I talked with a family at a house, and explained that we were trying to reach every house in the village. When I got ready to leave, they sent their small son with me to lead me to all the houses. So from then on, I just followed along after my guide, as he took me up and down the side hill on all these interweaving tracks. It was very beneficial, as otherwise I would have gotten lost, or missed a number of houses. The territory reminded me of the way it was in Mabaruma when we had been here three years ago, as everyone was happy to invite me to come sit and they would listen attentively to what I said, and then sincerely thank me for coming.

I had told myself, that I wanted to be heading back by four pm, as I had no desire to be caught on the river after dark. As it was, we finished the village at 4:15. When we got back to the landing, I checked the coordinates of where the territory ended, and saw we had about 3.5 miles left, so I knew we wouldn’t be able to finish it if we tried, so we figured that was a good place to end for the day. The tide had changed some time before we got back to the boat, and we found it sitting about a foot out of the water on a log that was along side the dock. So we pushed the boat off into the water and headed home. We were again going with the current, so we made great time on the return trip, and had the boat secured and everything put away well before dark. All in all it was a great first time out on my own.

Our first canoe trip

Tuesday the group that meets in Kumaka went to finish up the territory in Hosororo. I was working with Compton. At the first house we went to, I asked the young woman what church she went to and she told me she was a Jehovah’s Witness. I thought she misunderstood what I had asked, so I asked again and got the same response. So Compton asked her where she was from and she said she was from Baramita. She said she had been here for about a month. There is a large congregation in Barimita, so we told her she should come to the Kingdom Hall while she was here. She said she didn’t know how long she would be staying there. We explained that all she would have to do was walk to the foot of the hill and catch the bus as it went by. But the only ‘church’ allowed in Barimita, which is an Amerindian reservation, is the Kingdom Hall. So everyone in Barimita who wants to go to ‘church’ goes to the Kingdom Hall, and then call themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses”. So I asked the girl if she was baptized, and she said she wasn’t.

Also that morning, we were talking to a young girl and shared the scripture at John 17:3, where Jesus said that it meant everlasting life to take in knowledge of God and Jesus. So I asked her if she knew what everlasting life was, and she said she didn’t. So to try and explain, I asked her how long she would like to live. She thought about for a minute and then said, “Until I am sixty.” So then I asked her if when she got to be sixty, would she be ready to die, and she said, “Yes.” Compton and I both had to laugh at that one. But it worked out well, because the rest of the morning I was able to share the story with the older ones I spoke to and they all laughed as well.

As I had written previously, I wanted to paddle back to the nearby village of Kubarimo. We had paddled there in the rainstorm, but had had several nice calls and very much wanted to try and return to see about hopefully starting some studies. Since they are actually so close, it would be very easy for them to come to the hall. All they would have to do is paddle out to the landing and from there they could catch the Kingdom Hall bus on Thursday and Sundays. I had figured Fridays would be best for our schedule, and most should be home since Tuesday and Saturday are the days they come out to go to market. There is a landing along a road where all the children and others who come out park their dugout canoes when they go to school or work. I had wanted to go there one day and ask to use one to get more practice before trying to go when I wanted to be sure to stay dry, but it just wasn’t happening. I didn’t want to keep putting it off, so Friday Terri and I went, with all our things inside ziplock bags just to be safe. We agreed in advance that if the only ones available were small narrow ones, we would just come home.

I wanted to be there when all the children came to be able to ask to use a canoe, but we ended up getting there a little early. There was a man sitting there and I told him what we were planning He pointed to a rather large one tied up there and said that it would be there all day as the man who had brought it was out working. It was a rather large one, but it also was rather warped so it didn’t sit even in the water. We decided to give it a try and I got in and then Terri got in. She sat in the middle of the front seat, but I had to sit all the way to the side of the back seat due to the warp of the canoe. But we set out just paddling slowly along. The tide was coming in, so we had the current to help us. It actually was very beautiful and serene paddling along the narrow creek. We reached our destination without incident, and tied the boat up at the landing. We then spent about four and a half hours revisiting ones we had spoken to before and explaining that we were planning on coming now every Friday. It was a very nice and encouraging time. When we got back to where we had left the boat, it was gone!! Terri suggested that I hadn’t tied it good enough, and it had drifted off with the current which had now changed and was going out. I said I didn’t think so, but if it had, we should try and find it. So I said, “Here’s another nice sized canoe, I guess we’ll just take this one.” So we did! We started back down, again going with the current and enjoying the beauty. A little ways down we met a canoe coming up, and we said, “Hello.” and passed by. Afterwards I told Terri that I had half expected them to say, “Hey, where you going with that boat?!”, but nothing was said. We again reached our destination dry, and there was a group of people hanging out at the landing. They watched as these two white people came paddling up in a canoe, and one of they asked where we had learned to paddle. Terri explained about the canoes, but no one seemed concerned that we had appropriated two different boats that morning, and we have not be visited by police in regards canoe theft, so I guess it’s common practice for them to use whatever boat is available. We are looking forward to our Friday canoe trips.

It has been quite peaceful as late with only three people in the house, and it has helped to stretch our water supply as we have not had any meaningful rain. Hopefully we will get some good rain from the new moon at the end of the week.

Hope you all are able to keep warm.

The Sopel's depart

A lot has happened here the last few days. Friday night, one of the sisters living in the house here received an email that her grandfather had been taken to the hospital after suffering a major heart attack. She went to the phone company and called back to the states, only to learn that her grandfather had died. She flew out Saturday morning to return to the states. Then two days later, Joe and Christina left to return to the states. So right now, there are only three of us living in the house. That’s a good thing in a way, since we are very low on water here, so the less people using it the better. We had been hoping that we would get a heavy rain the last few days, since rain usually falls around either the full moon or the new moon. We didn’t get much from the full moon, and it will be a couple of weeks now to the new moon. When it does rain we try to collect every drop we can by putting out buckets underneath dripping water. We save all our dish washing water for flushing the toilet, and we recycle our rinse water when doing our laundry. The next person uses it when they do there laundry. It is also amazing on how much water you don’t need to shower!

Compton had a nice party at his house Sunday night. It was a combination, going away for Joe & Christina, welcome back for Will & Jen, and Super Bowl, party. The whole congregation was invited, and there were over fifty people there. Several of the families brought food dishes, and Compton also provided some local cuisine. He had their cook make curried laba which is a large wild rodent, as well a dish with iguana and iguana eggs. I couldn’t bring myself to try the iguana, but the laba was excellent. Terri said the iguana was good, and the eggs were excellent. The shells are leathery, so you bite a hole in them and then squeeze the insides out. She said it was very creamy.

Monday many went up to the airstrip to see Joe & Christina off. It was kind of interesting because there were white missionaries from two different local churches that were also leaving on the same flight. It was nice to see about twenty from the hall to see them off as opposed to just a few for the others. It was sad to see them leave. I don’t think there was a dry eye there.

We ended up not going to try our hand at paddling today, so I can’t report in that, maybe Thursday. I am looking forward to it, because it will expand our ministry some. (Terri speaking) We work our local territory at least once a month not that that is a bad thing. It is amazing how often it is worked yet you still have so many conversations with people and still start bible studies. People come and go here. We are trying to teach them something different each time we go, actually you could probably count them as bible studies. We also do street work we just walk and talk to so many people, and you don’t even feel nervous. People just know us and who we are. You will meet your RV on the street, and talk. People sometimes just ask you for a magazine to read. The security guards usually really enjoy them because they just sit for hours.

Four weeks and counting

I will start by thanking those of you who have emailed us recently. It helps us know we have not been forgotten. I also want to apologize if I repeat myself sometimes. I write these offline and then copy them to the site, so I can’t always remember what I may have shared previously. Today marks four weeks we have been in Mabaruma. Each week seems to go faster than the previous. This Sunday will be Joe and Christina’s last meeting with us. They are flying out Monday morning.

We are definitely in dry season now. Since rain is our only source of water, it is of real concern to us here. A few days ago I checked and we are down to less than 200 gallons of water. We have a total storage capacity of 1200 gallons, so we are getting pretty low. The locals all say that rain falls around the full and new moons, so hopefully we will get some real soon.

This last Monday, Terri and I went for lessons in handling a correal (sp?) which is what they call their dugout canoes. We are hoping to purchase a small one to use to paddle to a nearby village to start some studies there. I figured that instead of waiting until we were able to get one, to start practicing, I would find someone who had one that would let us practice on that, so when we did get ours, we would be ready to start using it. One of my studies who lives on a small creek, offered to help me (I think he was looking forward to a little entertainment at seeing us tip over often). He had said he could borrow one from a relative and have it for me Monday afternoon. I also figured I’d rather learn there than in Kumaka with many people watching and laughing.

So Monday afternoon Terri and I went out to where he lives wearing clothes we could get wet in. When we got there, he said he hadn’t been able to get the boat from his relative, so he just untied one that had been left by his house by someone who had parked it there and then walked into somewhere nearby. But the dugout was an eight person one, so it was about three feet wide, which made it very stable. So the good news was we didn’t get wet, the bad news is we still don’t feel like we are ready to paddle a small one with all our stuff in it. I think this Tuesday, we will go to the landing where all the children from Cobarima come to to walk to school. We will ask one of them if we can use their boat while they go to school to get more practice.

Not much new

I don’t seem to have any exciting adventures to share of late. I guess that means we are getting more settled in and able to fit in with everything. It has been fun though recently with the arrival of the ‘new boys’. We get to see everything through their eyes, and appreciate again all that we tend to take for granted. One of them has commented on how relieved he has been, since he was very apprehensive of all the dangers he had anticipated, going to live in the ‘jungle’, like expected ferocious wild animals to be lurking behind every tree. Instead, he has found himself totally taken with how wonderful the ministry is here, both as far as the people, and the area.

This morning, the Joneses joined us in the ministry for the first time. It’s wonderful to see their progress. Pamila worked with Christina, and towards the end of the morning, she commented on how she didn’t think it was possible to experience so many emotions so strongly and in such quick succession. She mentioned, fear, excitement, and happiness . She really got into it, to the point of seeing a woman walking by while Christina was talking at a door, and saying, “You can talk to her, (meaning the woman at the door) and I will go talk to her (the one passing by).”

Terri had a nice call out in service this morning. She met a woman and was sharing a scripture from the bible with her and the woman started crying, which made Terri start crying as well. She asked the woman why it had made her start crying, and the woman said because she knew she wasn’t doing what she knew she should. Terri assured her that the fact she felt so badly showed that she really had a good heart, and that if she tried, she was sure the woman could do what was right. Terri asked her if she would like her to come regularly to help her learn what the bible said, and she said she would like that. So hopefully it will continue.

Ellis has asked to have a couple of the brothers sit with him Tuesday after the bookstudy in Kumaka, as he too wants to join us in the ministry. I think he as well as the Joneses are looking to the upcoming SAD in May as hopefully on opportunity for baptism.

Here’s just something to keep in mind. I’m posting our experiences rather than sending them to everyone as an email. But of course, common etiquette is that if you receive an email, you send one in return. So every time you log on to read of our goings on, technically, you owe us an email. On that note, I have to say that we do appreciate getting emails from everyone, as it helps us to feel connected to everyone back in the states. But we also realize that all of you are having to race with the rats, so it may be hard to find the time to write us.

But know that we are well and are thinking of all of you shoveling the snow.

It could be worse...

What’s worse than being on the water in a motorboat in a downpour? Being on the water in a paddleboat in a downpour. Last week Terri, Alex, Compton, and I set out to preach in a small village nearby that can only be reached by water, and there is a bridge over it that is so low, a boat with a motor won’t fit and shortly after we set out it started to pour. So what’s worse than being in a paddleboat in a downpour? Being in a paddleboat in a downpour and having to be paddling against the current. Tide was going out, and we were trying to paddle up the creek, so it made the going quite difficult. What’s worse than padding in the rain against the current? It’s having to paddle in the rain against the current with a princess. Once it started raining, Terri put down her paddle so she could hold her umbrella. So now instead of four of us paddling, there were only three. What’s worse than being in a paddleboat in a downpour with a princess? It’s having to sit next to the princess. I felt so bad, Compton was sitting next to Terri, paddling away, and all the rain was running off her umbrella and pouring onto him, and he didn’t say a word. We finally reached the village about the time the rain stopped, and by the time we had finished, we had dried out. As a final insult, the tide had turned while we were preaching, so we had to paddle back against the current as well.

A couple days later, Joe took me on one of the dirt bikes out to territory on the other side of Wauna. We were going down all these little dirt tracks to some of the calls he had out there. It will be a real challenge to try and find my way back to them.

Monday Joe, Christina, and I went back on the river. Joe said it was going to be a short day, but he wanted to complete the stretch of the river we had been working on recently. Once again, I was driving the boat. Things went pretty well until later in the day. By then, the tide had changed and it was running out. We had been told there was one more house left on the river, and we had already passed it without seeing it, so we were working our way back. We came upon a small side creek and started following it. We had gone quite a ways up it and then it forked, so we just guessed which one and continued up it. The creek kept getting narrower and narrower, finally we decided we must have chosen the wrong fork, so we found a place where we could spin the boat around and headed down. Now we were going with the current, so it moved along fairly fast. But in order to have any control of the boat, you needed to be moving forward through the water, so now it seemed like you were flying down this narrow windy creek dodging trees, branches, and hanging vines. I said I felt like I was on one of those log flume rides at an amusement park. When we got back to the fork in the creek, we then turned and went up the other, only to repeat the return process again.

Once we returned to the river, we passed a small canal going off the river, and as we sat there looking at it, trying to decide if that might be where the house was, a man appeared at the other end. We turned and headed in, but by the water had gotten quite low, so we weren’t able to get the boat in very far. We shut the motor off and asked the man if the bank along the canal was walkable. He said it was very soft, so Joe asked if he had a small canoe there. He said he did, so Joe asked if he’d come out to us. He disappeared around a corner, and he reappeared with this small dugout canoe, which he proceeded to give a push to so it came to the boat. Now these boats are known for being very unstable, basically you are balancing on a log while trying to paddle. But Joe, being the trooper he is, climbed in to paddle over to the man, I don’t know if he had even taken a stroke before he tipped too far one way and the canoe was completely swamped and he was quite wet. I wished I had taken a video of it. At this point, Joe was deciding that if the man wouldn’t put forth the effort to walk to us, it wasn’t worth the bother. I think the man must has realized what was about to happen, because he walked right out to us. Turned out he couldn’t read, but said that some times someone came to visit him who could, so he asked for something so they could read it to him when they came..

Yesterday Terri and I moved all our things into the main house because we are expecting the arrival of four more workers today. William and his new wife Jennifer are returning, so he will be back in his house and two single brothers, one from Vermont, and one from Oregon are also coming. They will be living in a house they will be renting nearby. The added male help will be welcome for the meeting.

Now that I am living in the main house where I have access to the internet full-time, I will soon try posting a few pictures as well, but not today. I had recently checked the ten day forecast for WNY and saw that it was going to be below freezing all the 10 days, and nine of the ten called for snow. So, think of us sweating in the heat and sun, and we will think of you freezing in the snow and cold.