Matthew's Ridge

Well, our trip to Matthew’s Ridge was a success. Terri, Amy, and I went. Compton had gotten a bad cold, so he didn’t make the trip. He is hoping to go by himself later this week. We had hoped to leave early on Friday, but the boat didn’t leave until a little after ten, as the driver was waiting to get enough passengers to make the trip worthwhile. Then we stopped along the way to pick up some cargo to help make it a little more profitable. Then we stopped a couple of more times along the way, so we didn’t reach Kaituma until almost one.
We then went to the Kingdom Hall there to see if Paul was there to take us to the Ridge (I had emailed him in advance that we were coming). He was there, and he mentioned that Sinead and Bethany had left on the plane that morning. They we travelling to ‘town, where they will await him, as they are leaving Kaituma to go live in Lethem, in the south of Guyana. They just feel that with the little one, there is no place for her to run around and play as they live over/in a swamp.
Paul was running around selling off the last of their possessions, as well as getting things ready for a trip to Matthews Ridge. He was planning on spending a few more days there helping with build, before flying from there to ‘town and then travelling on to Lethem. He had already put his vehicle on a boat to send to Georgetown, so we had to hire a minibus to take us to Matthews Ridge.
While we were waiting for transportation to Matthews Ridge, we got to meet a couple who are presently at Port Kaituma from Ireland, Dirk & Esther Bahrs. They had been there last year for a month, and are back for three months, until the end of March, but were still coming to grips with the fact that they are now there by themselves, rather than being there to help the Donlans.
We finally got under way about three. The trip to the Ridge was uneventful, other than the fact that we were travelling in a minibus. Always before, the road was so bad that it was barely passable in four-wheel drive trucks. We arrived about five, and went to secure rooms in a hotel there and then went back to the site. Work was pretty well winding down by then, but we got a chance to meet everyone there.
Of course, Mitch was there with Kallai. They had been recently joined by David Jackson from Colchester, VT. He is Chelsea Miller’s dad. He is also in the same congregation as Josh Shangra who had been here in Mabaruma when we were here last year. David was the camp cook, and greatly appreciated the presence of two more sisters to assist him with the cooking chores. Between the three of them, the meals were all excellent.
There was also a group from the Eagle, CO. area, Steven Johnson, who had been at the Ridge and Kaituma last year until he contracted hepatitis A. He has returned and is planning on staying at the Ridge for up to two years. Also travelling with him was Luke Hardmire (sorry if misspelled), whose brother Ben had been at the Ridge and Kaituma last year. Finally in the group from Colorado, were Chuck Young and his seventeen year old daughter Kallie. Chuck had mentioned that in preparing for the trip he had been doing an internet search, and ran across my blog-page, so he felt like he kind of knew me already.
Rounding out the group at the Ridge was a young man from Oklahoma, Blake Bailey. He had heard about the project while doing relief work in Louisiana, from a sister who was in the Colorado group’s congregation. And Mike Dahlquist, who is in Mitch’s congregation in Half Moon Bay, CA. With the exception of Steven, and Blake who is planning on staying six months, the others will be leaving in the middle of February
Sunday morning we held a meeting in the temporary camp that is next to the build site. Mitch gave the talk and I conducted the Watchtower study. We had 40 in attendance (13 ‘Need Greaters’ and 27 locals), While we were there, Terri and Amy each spent time in the ministry with the only local publisher there, Doris. She had started preaching back when the old hall was there, but had only recently be reactivated. She told Terri she had expressed her concern when the last brother was leaving (due to health issues), and he had reassured her that the witnesses would be back. It just has taken much longer than she had anticipated.
I had to be back by meeting time Tuesday since I would be the only one here to conduct the meeting. We had spoken to the driver who had taken us up and he said he’d pass by on Monday to let us know his plans. Monday he said he would be leaving about three. I told him we couldn’t leave that late, and we would try to make other arrangements. We put out the word that we were looking for transport by on Tuesday and Monday evening a driver stopped by and said he would be leaving at 6:30 for Kaituma. That was earlier than I had hoped, but you have to take what comes along. So this morning we were picked up and rode the two hours back in the back of a pickup truck, along with six others. Terri was happy since she said she enjoyed the adventure more than in a minibus.
We were back in Kumaka about 1:00 PM. Compton was there to greet us, and he mentioned he is feeling better and hopes to travel up later this week. I will be interesting to see what progress has been made by the time he returns.
As far as pictures; two of them show the progress made while we were there. When we arrived, the walls were up and the last of the braces were being installed underneath the building. When we left, all of the rafter were up and a number of the roof boards. The front forty feet consists of free span trusses, so the Kingdom Hall and possible future expansion will not have any posts in it. I also included a picture of the group after the Sunday meeting.
So, now we are back, and will be alone here (not counting Amy) until the Sopels arrive Feb. 15th. But we are well and hope the same for you.

Visitors

Just a short entry tonight. Tomorrow we are planning on travelling to the Ridge, and will be back to touch with the outside world Tuesday. So for those of you who are kind enough to email us (hint, hint), we will not be responding to any emails until Tuesday.
One of the highlights of being here is when we have visitors, either those who are coming to specifically visit us, or those who may be visiting others here. We are enjoying such a visit now.
Mark and Lara Guarino were here for three months about a year and a half ago. They have returned to Guyana, this time for four months. They had originally planned on returning to Mabaruma, but when they arrived, there were a number of others already here, so they inquired at the branch as to whether there was a need elsewhere, and were directed to Wakanam, which is an island in the mouth of the Essequibo River. They have been joined by Mark’s sister Hetty, and her husband Jeremy Frye. This is their first visit to Guyana, and they will be here for a month. While they were visiting, Mark decided to bring them here, so they could see a next part of Guyana. The four of them will be flying out with the Bryants on Monday. They will return to Wakenam for two more weeks, and then they will be returning to the states.
One thing nice with meeting new people, is being reminded what a small world it is in Jehovah’s organization. In talking with Jeremy, he mentioned he had been at Watchtower Farm for seven years. When I asked him what congregation he had been assigned to, he said Sussex, NJ. I told him I had been in Warwick NY congregation for a number of years. Warwick and Sussex are adjoining, so we knew several people in common. Mark had been in the same congregation, which was how Jeremy met his wife, so of course he knew many of the same people.
In addition, Mark and Lara are from Connecticut, and they are on the same regional building committee as the St, Georges, whom we have spent time with here in Guyana. Again, it a small world in Jehovah’s service. It was nice to see young people using their youth and freedom to further kingdom interests.
A brief comment on this weeks pics. The one is of our visitors. The Fryes are on the left, the Guarinos on the right. And the other is the princess on her (or in her) throne.
Until next time, may you stay well and safe.

Civilization comes to Mabaruma

Things are starting to settle into the routine here now. Although next week will bring some changes. Next Friday, Terri, I, Amy, and Compton are planning on taking a boat to Port Kaituma, and from there getting a ride to Matthews Ridge to see and help with the project there. Terri and I will have to return by the following Tuesday, as Graem and Jaide will be flying out that Monday, so I will have to be here to conduct the Bookstudy Tuesday. I will be the only appointed (using that term rather loosely) brother here until Joe and Christina arrive in three weeks.
Last night, one of Elroy and Joyann’s daughters sat with Terri and I during the meeting. At one point, she leaned over and whispered to me, "How do you spell gi?" I wasn’t sure I had heard her right, so I asked what she had said, and she repeated, "How do you spell gi?" I said I didn’t know, which was certainly true. Later I saw a little note she had been writing and it said, "I love Jim, I don’t like Terri she not gi me the book".
Last week when we were working Sugar Hill, I had spoken with a woman there, and I was trying to reason with her on the importance of the bible. I asked her if she thought the bible was a book of truth, and she said, "Some truth, some lies." That kind of took me by surprise, so I was trying to help her see that while some may teach untruth, and say it’s from the bible, that doesn’t make the bible a book with lies. I shared with her John 10:30 where Jesus said, "I and the father are one." I said while it’s possible for someone to read this verse, and then say that it proves that Jesus and his father are same same. I then read her John 14:28 where Jesus said that the father was greater than he was.
She got a look on her face and said that made it sound like they were two different people. I said, "That’s right." She said, "They not two, they same." So I asked her, "If they same, when Jesus died, who resurrected him?" She laughed and said, "Jesus never died." I said, "Yes he did, the bible says he died for our sins." She said, "See, I told you the bible had lies in it, Jesus never died." And that pretty well was representative of the rest of our efforts to reason with her.
This week were back in Wauna Wednesday. We walked back to Sugar Hill because I had told someone last week I would bring him back a bible. After we had been to his house, and we were leaving, I jokingly asked Compton if we should go back to see that woman. He said that sounded like a good idea, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was only joking, so off we went. As we were passing the house just before hers, the woman there called out that there was nobody home at the next house. She said they had gone out. I remembered that she had mentioned it was a daughter, so I mentioned to her that we had spoken to her last week and she had expressed the idea that the bible contained some truth, some lies. She said that she didn’t know better because she didn’t have any teaching.
I was kind of standing off to the side, but Compton could see into the house, and he asked if the other woman he could see wasn’t the daughter we had spoken to last week, and she said she was. The daughter then said that she couldn’t talk to us because her teeth were hurting her. Compton then said, "You know why your teeth are hurting don’t you? It’s because of the way you were ‘busing God last week." She said that it was not that at all. To which Compton said, "My teeth aren’t hurting me, so who must have been speaking truth?" She kind of laughed about it, but it gave Compton a way to get her talking. She still expressed some strange ideas, but Compton would keep calling her on them. She did allow herself to reason on some of the points he was making. He mentioned that she really needed to learn to read, so she could read the bible for herself, instead of depending on what others said it said. He mentioned that if she wanted, there were sisters who would come to help her learn. She told him she didn’t need anyone to teach her, the spirit would enable her to read. She then said that in three months, she would be reading. Compton, said he would hold her to it, and be back in April to check up on her. All in all I thought it was a positive visit. After we left, I told Compton I had just been joking when I suggested going there, and he got a laugh out if it.
Since we were last here, there has been a cell tower erected, so many here now have cell phones. It seems strange to see people standing in the window of their huts with leaves for a roof, and just open windows, to be talking on their cell phone. But there are benefits. Wednesday when we went to Wauna, Compton had suggested that we walk out to Black Water to call on a man he and I had had a nice visit with when I was here last year. He said he had seen him once since then and had again had a nice conversation with him. The man had mentioned how much he had appreciated our previous visit and how he hoped I would come back.
I’m guessing it’s all of three miles from Wauna to Black Water, and Compton walks with purpose, so it was a real workout getting. When we reached the man’s house, his wife informed us he had gone out and wasn’t expected back until the afternoon. Compton asked her is they had cell service that far out and she said they did. He then asked if they had a cell phone and she said they did, so we were able to get the number so that a next time we could call ahead before walking all the way there.
It’s with the theme of, ‘civilization comes to Mabaruma’ that I have selected one of my photos. Since we left, they have painted pedestrian crossings on the roads at the schools and other public buildings. I’m sure everyone feels much safer and progressive as a result. The other picture is of the ‘Need Greaters currently here. Graem and Jaide Bryant are from California. They have been here for their first time since the middle of September, and are leaving us, as I mentioned, next Monday. I told them that it was fitting they be married, since neither of their parents knew how to spell. The other sister in the picture is Amy Oka. She is from Arizona. And this is her second tour of duty. She was here before for about five months. She arrived in November and is planning on staying through August.
Here’s hoping your week was well and your thoughts are peaceful.

It's a girl

It has been raining most of the time since my last posting. Sometimes raining lightly, sometimes heavily, but seemingly always raining. And with the rain comes gray overcast skies. And of course with the rain comes mud!!
Tuesday we were preaching in Baribina, so we walked about ¾ of an hour through the rain and the mud to stand in the rain talking to people. Because we cover the territory so often now, people are more used to seeing us, and are less apt to invite us in to their houses to listen to what we have to say.
Terri spent the day with Amy going on studies around Hosororo. She mentioned that due to the weather, she had worn a sweater all day long and had never broken a sweat, even when walking the hills between Hosororo and Bumberi junction. She said she thought that was the first time she could ever remember walking in service in Guyana without sweating.
Wednesday a group of us went to Wauna. For some reason, few buses were running, so we had to wait over an hour for a bus finally to arrive that was going to Wauna.. The ride to Wauna was just as bad as I remembered it. While it’s only about 8 miles or so, the ride takes nearly an hour. The bus rocks and shakes so much, at one point, I actually thought I was getting motion sickness.
We had hoped to be able to study with a teacher there after school was over, but we were told that the bus was going to be returning at 3:00, which is when school lets out. We passed by the school at lunch recess, and spoke to him. He said he would give as little time then, so we had a nice discussion. He mentioned he used to live in ‘town, and he had seen the witnesses there, and was always impressed at the way they would go about their preaching, even though many would treat them poorly. It impressed on me the fact that even when we are out and think we are accomplishing nothing, we don’t know who is watching.
He had expressed the idea that while he could see from the scriptures that all who claimed to serve God were not necessarily doing so, and he cited Matt. 7:21-23, he felt that regardless of one’s religion, if the were sincere in their worship of God, He would accept their worship. But he mentioned that his time was slipping by, and he had to take care of some matters before resuming classes, so we agreed that we would focus on that issue next week.
After that, Compton and I walked over to Sugar Hill to do some houses. The track to Sugar Hill forks along the way, and he went to the right. We passed by a few houses, so I thought maybe he had a call he was going to, but then we reached the next track and he turned to the right and started walking that way. I then realized that he had intended to go to the end and work his way back. I mentioned that if we had taken the left fork, we would have reached there. He said he had never gone that way, so he didn’t realize where it went. He then stopped and said that that was as far as the houses went, but I told him I knew there were several houses beyond, so he then followed me. He later mentioned to Graem, that he was Guyanese, but he was learning his way around from a white man.
Last night we were walking back to the house after the meeting and I was leading the way with the light. I opened the gate between the yard at the Kingdom Hall and our house and walked through and Terri went to close it behind us. She let out a scream that something had bit her. I suggested that maybe she had just poked it on the fence wire on the post, but she insisted that something had gotten her. She was concerned that it may have been a scorpion, so she wanted to go back to the house to read what the book said about scorpion bites. The bus was just leaving, so she stopped it to ask the locals what to do in the event of a scorpion bite. It seems there were several opinions on the matter, but the final consensus was that she should go to the hospital and they offered to take her. I said that if we were to go there, I would take us on the bike.
We then went in to read what the book said, as well as to consult web MD. The indications there4 were widely varied as well, but seemed to indicated that it was most dangerous to small children or old people. I suggested to Terri that a trip to the hospital at 8:30 at night, might be more scary than her bite, and suggested that we wait to see if anything started to happen. So we went home and had supper, and she didn’t seem to be getting any worse, although she mentioned the pain was still very strong.
I went back up to the house to get online to send and receive emails, and when I got to the gate, I noticed a few very large black ants on the gate (as in about an inch long). When I got back, she said she was feeling a little better, and then this morning she woke up and said that other than feeling a little numb when the bite was, she was felling fine. So now she has one more story to tell.
Since we are ‘between the moons’ right now, the weather has dried up and we are once again having some sun. I mentioned to Terri that as we are planning to travel to Matthews Ridge for a few days two weeks from now, hopefully we will be assured of dry weather for the trip. I have received word that the plans for the building have had to be modified due to the wet conditions of the site. Now instead of a 30X50 two story, with a Kingdom Hall below and two residences above, it will be built as a 30X60 single story with a 24X30 hall and two 18X30 living quarters.
A word on the pictures. We have Compton on the track going to Sugar Hill, Terri & Jaide on their way to Settlement, and JoyAnn, Selina, and the new baby, Chantel.

Check it out

We have had a bit of the rainy season lately. It started raining night before last and rained all through the day yesterday. Yesterday in the afternoon I was sitting in the house and thought I could hearing it raining out, but then realized I wasn’t hearing the rain hitting on the zinc roof. I opened the door and realized what I was hearing was water rushing in a stream by the house. I then understood why there is a bridge in the walkway to the house. I had never seen water flow there before. Of course the good news is that it has completely filled our two water tanks. That is important since this house is so much smaller than the other one, the roof doesn’t collect nearly as much water.
The last couple of days here I saw critters that I have never seen before in Guyana. The first were small armadillos, although they call them something else, and the other was what looked like a very large guinea pig with longer skinny legs. I guess that’s one of the benefits of living in a house that sits back in the bush.
Wednesday morning I was working with Alex and I stopped by a house I had used to study with a man at the first time I was here. I had tried a few times the last time I was here, but never could find him home. When I approached the house, his son was sitting outside and I asked him if his father was home and he said he was. So. I walked to the house and called out. I could hear some things being said, but couldn’t make it out, so I just waited. After a few more things were said the man came out and saw it was me. He told me to wait a minute, then went back in a put on a shirt and came down to talk with me.
I shared a few thoughts from the bible with him, and mentioned how I had always enjoyed our conversations in the past. I mentioned I was going to be here for a while, and offer to once again come by. He said that would be fine and we arranged for me to return Friday. Later in the day I was telling Graem about the call and he said Alex had told him about it. Alex had told him that when I had gotten to the house, someone had called in and told the man that Jehovah’s witnesses were there, to which he had responded, "Well they can just stand there!" I hadn’t been able to make that out. When I heard that, I started to wonder if he would be there when I went back, or if he was just to polite to say no to me.
So, today I returned, although a little later than I had said since I hadn’t caught a bus as soon as I’d hoped. But I got there and he was there and invited me up into the house. In all the time I had been going there before, he had always come out and we sat under the house. We had a nice discussion and set up for my next visit. He works security, so his schedule is always changing. But he figured his schedule next week and asked me to come Thursday.
Last Sunday I did the Watchtower and it was funny because I pretty well knew the names of all the locals. It was the white people that I had the problem with their names.