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.