'Visitors, both expected and unexpected'

Wednesday afternoon I was sitting outside the house reading a book when I heard a vehicle stop out front. I looked over a saw a bus parked in front, so I got up to walk to the front to see what was going on. As I was walking over, I saw Sherwin Gordon walking up the steps. He had originally been in Kaituma, but when the Donlans left Kaituma, rather than be there alone, he had gone to Mabaruma. More recently he had been in Georgetown. He said that he had returned for a visit to Kaituma and then was going to be going back to stay in Mabaruma, but thought he’d first come for a visit to Matthew’s Ridge.He had been here for a couple of weeks while the building was being built, but he hadn’t seen it completed. He asked where Stephan was, and was surprised and a little disappointed when he learned he was away. Thursday in normally a off day for me, but he mentioned that he was hoping to spend some time preaching, so we went out and worked some outlying areas since he said he enjoyed walking. We ended up finding only one place with people at home, but were able to have a nice discussion with the one we did find home.Friday morning, Krystal and I went to the airstrip to await the arrival of Jared. Due to the morning fog (not rain), the plane was delayed, but he did arrive about 45 minutes late. It was nice because while we were waiting, a man approached me and asked if I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was at the airstrip hoping to get a lift across to Barimita. He mentioned he studies there, so we had a nice discussion while we were waiting. I told him I hoped to make it across, in fact I was definitely going to be there for the Special Assembly Day, May 10th. When we got back from the airstrip, everyone grabbed a quick bite and went off on studies. I took Sherwin with me and we had four studies. Three of mine, plus I did one of Stephan’s. Saturday’s meeting was nice. I had originally planned on having Jared just do the parts that had been assigned to Stephan, but with the addition of Sherwin, everyone had a reduced load. I had first met Sherwin when we were in Kaituma five years ago. He was just starting to come to the meetings and struggling with his limited education. Since then, he has gotten baptized and has been serving as a regular pioneer for over a year. There were times while the Dolan’s were back in Ireland, that he had had to do the meetings all by himself, and the experience really has contributed to his excellent spiritual development. He actually left school early to devote his time to the ministry, but he has progressed way beyond what the schools here could have done for him.We had our first Saturday afternoon meeting for Service since we adjusted the meeting schedule. Previously we had met a 9:30 on Saturdays. We had announced the new arrangement last week and mentioned that if some wanted to, they could bring a light snack with them to the meeting Saturdays, to have after the meeting, before going out in the ministry, but I didn’t see anyone other than us worrying about eating after the meeting. It was nice to see 100% participation, including our newest addition, Sonia Scott. You may recall that she recently had enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School. Saturday and Sunday have both been dry so the mud is starting to dry up a little. It has really made cleaning the floor of the Kingdom Hall much easier. Jared gave the talk Sunday, I did the Watchtower, and Sherwin read for me. We had 56 in attendance, including Doris’ husband. There was also a young man who had come a couple of weeks ago with his father, but I hadn’t seen either since then. I had told myself when I saw him there, that I was going to see if he wanted a bible study. But after the meeting I got distracted and then remembered, but when I looked around he had already gone. I went outside hoping that I might see him and found Sherwin already talking to him about a study, so I will see how it goes with Sherwin, and then either Stephan or I can continue it if it seems promising. Sherwin would be such an asset here at Matthew’s Ridge, unfortunately there is no work for him here. When he goes to Mabaruma, he will be working part-time for Brother Baxter in his lumber mill. He will do well there, it’s just his involvement here would help to start overcoming the objection that some try to raise here, that this is a “white man’s church”. The same had been true in Mabaruma, but now there are no white people there.Last night, we were discussing the arrangements for Monday. We were figuring who would go with who when we walked out to our far studies. Krystal had mentioned that Jared could go to one of the studies and then next week, he could go to the other one. I had to remind her that this would be the last time she would be walking out to those studies. That realization kind of came as a shock to her. She has mentioned she is not looking forward to having to leave. After the Sunday meeting, she mentioned a young girl approached her and said she would really like Krystal to study with her. She had to tell her that she was going to be leaving, so she wouldn’t be able to do that. Truly the words ring true here, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” I had recently received an email from a couple in British Columbia (as in Canada) who had come across the blog while trying to find information on Kingdom Halls in Guyana. They are considering coming to Guyana to assist in the preaching work. They thanked me for maintaining the site. As I have mentioned before, it makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying and benefiting from this journal.This week’s picture is another group shot. It is of everyone going out in service Saturday afternoon. Sonia is in the front with Doris, then Mary, with Stephanie and Eugene behind her. In the back, from left to right are, Terri, Krystal, Jared, and Sherwin.

Mario

Communication continues to be a challenge. I had written this Sunday evening, anticipating driving out Monday morning to send it out along with the other emails, as well as receive whatever was waiting for us. The road was quite bad, about as bad as I had ever seen it. I arrived and set up my equipment, but was unable to make the connection. I was surprised as the sky was quite clear. I’m assuming that there was heavy weather between Kaituma and Georgetown. I stayed out trying for almost an hour before giving up and returning so we could go on our studies. Monday is our longest walk. Mario, Krystal, and I walked out. We left Krystal at Patricia’s, and she studied with her and Regina since Stephan had left. Mario and I walked on to Michael’s and then afterwards returned to Patricia’s to have a study with her ‘man’, or more correctly ‘boy’.I’m not sure whether I will try again tomorrow (Wednesday) or wait until Thursday. It’s tough driving out for forty minutes over a muddy nasty road, all the while not knowing if you are wasting your time. What follows is my original post for Monday. Another week has passed us by. This was my week to go to Port Kaituma. I had told myself if it had not rained any from Tuesday afternoon, until Wednesday morning when I was ready to go, I would take the bike. However, it rained in the night, so I went in a cruiser. It was nice, I got to ride in the front. At one point I remarked to the driver that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We got to Kaituma about 10:00 AM. I thought I would try and do my emails early before the weather interfered with the signal between there and Georgetown. But when I tried to get online, I wasn’t able. I checked several times during the day, never with any success, so that was a disappointment.When I had gone out last Monday to where we can get signal, I called Brother Baxter in Mabaruma. He mentioned that he had been trying to contact me because he and a brother who was visiting from the states had wanted to come to spend some time in Matthew’s Ridge. But since they hadn’t been able to reach us, they had cancelled their trip. I told him that in the future, he should just come, because no matter what, we would be able to make room for visitors. He said he wouldn’t be able to come now until sometime in February, but the other brother might still try to come. He also mentioned that they were planning a trip to Kaituma on Wednesday.So when I got to Kaituma I gave a call to him to see if he had made it to Kaituma (the phone worked, just the data signal wouldn’t work). He said he was still in Kumaka, and the trip had been cancelled since Alex who was supposed to drive the boat had had to return to Georgetown that morning on the steamer. He mentioned that the brother was with him and was going to get a boat to travel up on his own. I told the brother to give me a call when he got to Kaituma.I then went and visited some of the women there in Kaituma. I had seen Monica at the waterfront when I first arrived. She asked about the study. I told her it was at Caroline’s at noon. She said she was going to come. There were four women at the study, Caroline, Juliet, Sharon, and Monica. I mentioned that in a couple of weeks there might be a number of brothers visiting and we might try to have a couple come to Kaituma on Sunday to give a meeting. Caroline mentioned to Stephan that it is hard getting others to come to a meeting in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. We will see what happens.About the time the study was over, my phone rang and it was the brother letting me know he had arrived. I told him just to wait there and I would come and get him. I went back to the waterfront and the driver told me he would be leaving in about half an hour. I found the brother, his name is Mario Giannotti he is from Chico, California. I told him that we would be leaving shortly and I was going to run around and do some shopping. It started to rain and we were going to be riding in the back of the truck, so I asked him if he had any rain gear and fortunately he did. We ended up sitting on top of a load of cargo at the back of the truck, facing backwards. We stopped after about an hour when we were at about the halfway point. I looked at the shop sitting beside the truck and I thought the truck was sliding into the ditch. Then I looked behind us and it looked like everything was coming at us. I said something to Mario about it and he said that made him feel better because he thought he was hallucinating. We finally arrived safe but sore from riding on a hard board for over two hours over rough road.Mario is staying with us until Tuesday when he will travel back to Kaituma and then on to Mabaruma. At the end of the week he goes back to Georgetown and then back to the states where he will spend a month working at Wallkill before returning to California. He has been in Mabaruma for about two months. He gave the talk this week here at Matthew’s Ridge. In spite of the rain, we had 72 at the meeting. He got to experience having to just about shout to be heard over the sound of the rain on the metal roof (we either need a ceiling, or a sound system).Stephan is leaving tomorrow for Georgetown where he is planning on purchasing a motorbike so we can reach some of the more remote areas when the weather clears. He will be returning with the next steamer the end of the month. It works out well though, because Jared is arriving Friday, so he will be here to help with the meetings.The other big news here recently is ‘chiggers’ It’s not like the little biting flies back in the states. It’s some kind of critter that burrows into your skin and then lays its eggs. They usually show up on, or rather in, your feet. I think I have had one in all the time I have been in Guyana. Stephan had mentioned he had been here almost a year without getting one. Well this last week I have had about ten taken out of my feet (and one from my pinky finger) and Stephan has had about six. We aren’t sure why the rash of them as of late. I suspect we picked them up last week when we were working cutting boards under the house. We don’t have any dogs, but there are always neighborhood dogs avoiding the rain by being under the house. Once you dig them out they clear up with no problem. Mario mentioned he has had to remove several while he has been in Mabaruma.It is difficult some weeks to have to choose a picture to put up. There were several to have to pick from. Recently when I drove out to do emails, there was a huge spider web in the bushes along side the road and with the dew and the sun, it was really cool looking. I parked the bike in front of it to give it a little more perspective. I also took a picture of the group at the study in Kaituma. But visitors always take precedent and since Mario will be leaving Tuesday I am putting up a picture so all can see he really was here. I did it as a group picture for all the other moms, dads, and friends.

Still Raining

The work continues on here on all fronts. Last Wednesday I went on a return visit that I had been putting off. When you have about all the studies you can handle, return visits are less pressing. But I had wanted to go back on this one. Stephan and I went. This time I met the man. He mentioned he spent a lot of his time in the backdam, but since it has been raining so much, they had shut that operation down. He mentioned that they had to use almost a drum of fuel just to pump the water out so they could start their gold work, so they decided to wait until things dried out a little. So he will be around for a couple of weeks. While we were talking, his wife came, who had been the one I had spoken to before. We had a nice discussion. He said he was going to come Sunday. He walked us back out to the main track and as we were walking away, he called out to ask when he could expect us to come back. I remarked to Stephan how different it was to have people asking you when you would come back, instead of trying to get someone to commit to having you come back.A couple of weeks ago Doris mentioned a man at the door had expressed an interest in having someone study with him, so Wednesday we were working in that territory so I stopped and spoke with him, asking when would be a good time to come visit him. He said Saturday afternoon. So today I went by and had a first study. He can read quite well, so that’s a real plus. He seemed to enjoy the study, and said he’d read over the lesson before next week. So it looks like I have another study (#15).There is always work of a physical kind to be done as well. Thursday I took out the old shelves that had been used to keep our literature and magazines on, and built some new ones. I built it out of a local wood here called purpleheart, for its very deep purple color. I had the wood cut recently, so it still is quite wet. Therefore, I cut everything and put it together with screws. In the future when it has dried more, I will take it apart and put a nice finish on it so as to show off its natural beauty. But in the meantime, we are able to have a nicer looking Kingdom Hall. I have built a desk and bookshelf in our apartment using the same wood and same approach. I am in the middle of building a dresser as well.While the changes in the length of day aren’t as pronounced as it is farther north, it is nice that it is noticeable that the days are staying light a little longer, and we actually had a day of no rain a couple of days ago. So there is hope that rainy season won’t last forever. However I don’t expect I get much sympathy from all of you who are in the throes of winter. But be assured, this too will pass.This week’s picture comes from a meeting for service. I just figure all the ‘Need Greaters’ are shown (except for Krystal who’s taking the picture), so people back home can see we’re all still alive and healthy.

New Schedule

This was our first week of the new meeting arrangement and schedule. Tuesday and Thursday seemed very strange to pass without having a meeting. One nice thing though was we didn’t have anyone show up either of those days expecting a meeting. Then Saturday morning we had our first meeting with the study of Jehovah’s Day book, the School, and then the Service meeting. One reason we had given for going to the Saturday morning meeting was that we felt that there is less of a chance of rain in the morning than in the afternoon. But seeing as we are in the middle of rainy season, it was raining Saturday morning. In spite of that we had 30 come for the meeting. Then we had 54 on Sunday.One newcomer on Sunday was a man Eugene had spoken to while out in the ministry on Wednesday. He had invited him to come and he came with his wife and two children. He said he might be away this next Sunday, but when he is here, he plans on attending the meeting. Another group who came had been invited by a woman Terri studies with. Her man had come the week before, and when I was there for a study with another individual Tuesday, I had heard he was there3 but sleeping in another house. I saw him walking by the house later that day and he asked me why I hadn’t included him in the discussion. I said I had thought of it, but was told he was sleeping. He told me next time, to be sure to get him up. He said he planned on being at the meeting Sunday.Sunday I didn’t see him so I asked and was told he had not returned from the backdam (anywhere in the bush they go searching for gold). I saw him on the road today and told him I missed him Sunday. He told me that he had not made it back in time, but hoped to be there this Sunday. Then he asked me if we hadn’t finished the study articles in the Watchtower we had been using. I told him we had, and he asked about getting the one for this week because he wanted to be able to look it over ahead of time. I assured him that I would get one to him.With all the rain, there is a lot of sickness going around, Everything from malaria due to the increase of mosquitoes, to the common cold. I had experience a scratchy throat the middle of the week. I was worried that it would develop into a full-blown cold, but it seems that I may have dodged that bullet.We recently learned that rather than leaving Monday as originally planned, Krystal is going to be spending another three weeks with us. We will be getting another visitor from the Warwick congregation, Jared Karas. He is coming to the Ridge on the 23rd and will be traveling back together with Krystal on the 2nd of February. I think that could be a very timely visit because somewhere about that time, Stephan is planning a trip into Georgetown to get himself a motorbike. So having another brother here to assist with the meeting will be great.As of now, once Krystal leaves, we have no one else scheduled to visit us. But hopefully that will change. We just got a letter from a sister in our congregation and her first words were about how enthusiastic Aletha was when she returned, and how she comments so well at the meetings now. We were encouraged to think that we had been able to play a part in her spiritual growth.In my last post I had mentioned our new Year’s Text. I am including a picture of Krystal with her finished project. Since at present the whole inside of the hall is natural wood, there isn’t the contrast that I could have hoped for. But if in the future we paint the inside, then the sign will be set off nicely. But again, or main goal was to make something that could be easily changed from year to year.

New Publisher

Well it’s a new year. One of the tasks associated with a new year is getting the new year’s text put up in the Kingdom Hall, “Bear Thorough Witness to the Good News – Acts 20:24”. A sister who had been here early on, had hand-painted the old text. I had thought about what we would do this year. I decided that I didn’t want to have to paint out the previous years text and letter in a new one each year, so I turned the sign over and planed it to a smooth finish. I then put a clear sealer on it. I was happy to see a beautiful wood grain pattern come out. Krystal then made letters using black electrical tape. This way we can just peel off the old and put on new each year.We have had added another unbaptized publisher to our ranks. Eugene Smith has joined us in the preaching work. He has been on the Theocratic Ministry School since I arrived. A while ago I had been discussing his spiritual goals with him and asked him what was holding him back from joining us in the preaching work, since I knew he was always talking to various ones about what he was learning. He said there was nothing holding him back, he just liked to take things in a deliberate manner. He mentioned he had planned to start when he finished studying his second book, but now he had changed books, so it was going to be longer. I asked about thoughts of baptism and he said he was hoping to be baptized at the next Special Assembly Day in Mabaruma in April. I told him that if that was the case, he needed to get moving on the preaching work, since before one can be baptized, they should have been preaching for a period of time. I think that kind of surprised him, as I could see him doing some quick thinking.I let a little time pass and then I asked him again about his plans. He smiled and said he had spoken to Stephan about it. He said he was going to start in December, he had wanted to surprise me. Well, December was rapidly drawing to an end, so I asked him again what was happening. He said, “The first of the year.” I arranged to meet with him after the meeting Sunday to go over the questions. Afterwards I mentioned that if he were to join the group Wednesday, he could turn in a report for December and have announced at the next Service Meeting that he was now an unbaptized publisher. He said that would be fine.Wednesday was a Kaituma day. However I had decided that I wasn’t going to be taking the bike there until the weather dried out, instead I would take a bus or cruiser. I asked Stephan if he would care to alternate visits with me, and he said he would. Since he is planning a trip into Georgetown later in the month, I suggested he go this time. So I was able to stay back to go out with the group here. It was raining in the morning, so I was glad I wasn’t trying to take my bike to Kaituma. I worried whether Eugene would come out in the rain, but right at 9:30 he came walking up. We worked together and after the first door, he walked ahead of me so he could reach the houses first and start the talking. At one point we were waiting for the sisters to finish at a door so we could talk about which way to go next, and Eugene said to me, “I’m going to go over to that house to see if anyone is there.” And off he went to try and find someone else to talk to. Afterwards, he told us it was even better than he had imagined.When Stephan returned from Kaituma, he assured me that I should be thankful I hadn’t tried to take my bike. It rained most of the way there and back, and the road was a mess. He mentioned though how hard it is to be at the mercy of the drivers. They hadn’t gotten there until 10:30 and the driver said he was planning on leaving at 1:00. So Stephan had to cut the study with those there short so he could be back to where he was to meet the driver. When he got there he was told they wouldn’t be leaving until 2:00, and it was close to 3:00 when they left. He said Carolyn had said she really wished we could come and give a Public Talk and Watchtower Study. I told Stephan that maybe sometime when we have extra help, we will try to arrange that. Also with the beginning of a new year, is a new Examining the Scriptures Daily. Since getting literature deliveries is a challenge here in the interior, our new Daily texts haven’t arrived. However this year the Watchtower Library on CD-ROM contained the daily texts through the end of February. So I was able to cut and paste the day’s texts and comments into a Word document and then print that out to give to all those who keep up the program of considering a scripture each day. I also printed out a picture of Eugene’s first day out preaching to go with one that had been given to Mary of her first day. He was very surprised to receive it, since Mary’s had been mailed back to her from the states. I have included a copy for the blog.