Endings and Beginnings

This week was a week of beginnings and endings. It was the end of Roland Rendon’s time here at Matthew’s Ridge. He had arrived the end of May with the intention of leaving after the District Convention in August, but he decided to extend his stay. He will be leaving Guyana November 10th, but rather than coming back here after the Circuit Assembly and then having to fly back shortly, he will stay in ‘town until he leaves.

Roland and Andrew were supposed to have gone out on the steamer, leaving on the Sunday we were in Baramita, but Andrew was sick. We think he may have had malaria. He had the symptoms and went for a test, but his ‘smear’ was on the same slide as another person’s and they read the one but not Andrew’s. In the meantime, the medix gave him the treatment for malaria and he seemed to get better. Stephan, Andrew, and Roland ended up all flying out on Wednesday. Stephan and Andrew would attend the pioneer meeting Friday, and all three of them would attend the Circuit Assembly on the weekend.

Jonathan returned from Baramita not feeling well. He mentioned he had a nasty headache, and he just felt completely worn out. A couple of days ago, he mentioned to Terri that he had a strange rash on his arms and stomach. It appears that he must have had a mild case of dengue.

This week was also a week of beginning in that a new class for learning to read and write started. There were thirteen who expressed a desire to learn. A number were ones who had been in the first class, so Terri is going to have to figure out how to make it challenging for them, but yet also accommodate the first timers.

Before it gets too old, I had mentioned last week about sharing some ‘Baramita moments’. Mine was on the last day. I was waiting to hear what was going to happen with the last shuttle flight. I was at the house Bro. Hansraj lives in and where the District and Circuit Overseers were staying. Stephan came walking by and said that there was going to be another flight so we needed to get all the bags off the truck, which was parked about 1/8 mile away. So I got up to go get the bags with him and Brother West. The DO, called to everyone in the house to come and give a hand with the bags. When I got to the truck, I looked back and here came the DO, the CO, Bro. Hansraj, Bro. Monroe, and several of the wives, all coming to help us carry bags back to the airstrip.

Terri’s ‘moment’ was her early morning breakfast preparations. She mentioned how nice it was to see the various ones from the group all working together and laughing as they were getting the breakfast ready. In a similar vein, there were a few in the group who had family living in Baramita, but they chose to stay with the group in the school, rather than with family.

The weather is starting to change here. It is becoming what the locals refer to as, ‘in and out’, which means one minute the sun is shining and the next it is pouring rain. On the positive side, it has not been so hot, but it also means more mud and muddy pant legs when you walk.

The work of digging out underneath the house is continuing. It is approaching half done as far as area, but probably closer to one third in terms of amount of material to be moved. It is getting more difficult since the dirt has to be moved farther. I am hoping I can find a wheelbarrow to use. The digging isn’t so bad, but it’s the moving the dirt that takes all the effort. At one point I had been thinking that if we end up with a Special Assembly Day program here (as I have been told may happen), we would hold it underneath the building since there will be almost twice as much room. Now I have decided we will hold the Memorial observance under the Hall, since last year we had over 200 attend. So now I have a deadline to keep me motivated.

For this week’s pictures I have chosen one of Terri with her new class and one of the kitchen in Baramita. That is Patricia with her face turned, her daughter Melissa behind her, Nicola is helping with the ‘bake’, and Fonda is in the back.

We didn't bust

All in all, the Baramita trip was a success. We had 30 make the trip. We ended up arranging for a cruiser to take us out in two groups. On a sad note, Eugene wasn’t able to make the trip. When we were driving back from taking the provisions across, the road was muddy and on one of the log bridges, I dumped the bike and the rear foot peg mashed down on the top of his foot, and it was still swollen Friday morning. I told him that since husband and wife were to be one flesh, he could now sympathize with his wife who is unable to walk far due to an old injury. I had recorded the Assembly program before we left the states, so I burned it onto CD’s so they could listen while we were away. I stopped by when we got back and the swelling had gone down and he was again walking.

I led the first group across, with Jonathan bringing up the rear. In our group there were, myself, Terri, Doris, Keeza, Stephanie, three of Stephanie’s granddaughters, Caretta, Colleen, and Saneefa, Cecilia, Mavis. Claudette. Beverly, and Jonathan. We started walking about 9 AM and reached Baramita about 4 PM. The other group started at 11 AM. Stephan mentioned on the way out he was thinking who he could get to bring up the rear to make sure no one got left behind. He said he had thought about asking Fonda. When they were ready to set out, he asked for a volunteer to walk in back to make sure nobody got left, and Fonda said she would do it. In his group were, himself, Patricia and her three year old daughter Melissa, Grace and her three year old son David, Regina and her 10 month old son Shamere, Victoria, Genefa, Caretta, Evelyn, Nicola, Ivon, Latisha, Sonia, Fonda, and her five year old daughter Jeanie. Because of all the little ones, it took them longer. They reached Baramita after dark. Since we had no way of knowing if they had even started (for all we knew the cruiser broke down) there was no point in starting to go look for them. I was very relieved to see a white person coming walking in the dark.

A brother who was supposed to have come from ‘town to help with the program never got his assignments, so they were a little short-handed. As a result, both Stephan and Jonathan got to have parts. They both served as chairman for a session, and Jonathan handled the consideration of the daily text on Sunday morning. I ended up with four parts and a share in a demonstration.

I had asked Terri to oversee the food preparation. We were given access to an outdoor kitchen with all the necessary utensils. So she arranged for different ones from the group to be responsible for various meals. We did breakfast and dinner each day. It required that she get up at 5:30 each morning to oversee breakfast. Fortunately, we had been to the Assembly before we had left the states, so after breakfast was finished, she would go back to bed. But she kept things going very smoothly.

It was hard because the family we stayed with (the Smiths (see box p. 181 yb05)) wanted to have us eat our meals with them, but we wanted to be able to eat with the group. I said that next time, we will make it clear to our hosts that we will be taking our meals with the group. Sunday evening we purchased some deer meat and the sisters cooked it up and served it over rice. I at least got to taste a piece of the meat and it was excellent. Our hosts served us smoked alligator, which was also excellent.

When we got there, Brother Smith suggested that we consider staying an extra day because there was a possibility that there would be some flights between Baramita and Matthew’s Ridge. I discussed it with Stephan and we decided that since it wasn’t a definite thing, we would head out Monday morning as planned. Then Sunday morning I learned that flights were scheduled for Monday morning, it just wasn’t clear how early and how many. So I made a prioritized list of everyone as to getting on a plane to return, with older ones and mothers and children first. We also learned that a bush truck was leaving Baramita Monday morning. We decided we would put all the bags on that so it wouldn’t detract from the number that could fit on a plane, plus any who had to walk would be able to do so lightly.

There were supposed to be five shuttles, with about five able to fit on each. But the first flight also took two sick people over to go to the hospital at Matthew’s Ridge. Since we had so many small and not so small children, and even the adults for the most part were small, we were able to squeeze more on the following flights. The fourth flight fit everyone except myself and Stephan who was going with the bags on the truck. The pilot mentioned that there was not cargo enough at Matthew’s Ridge to warrant a fifth flight. So they got on the radio and called across to figure out what was happening. Meanwhile I wasn’t sure what I would do. Jonathan had wanted to stay back so I wouldn’t have to walk the bush line alone, but I told him to go. We soon realized that if there was a fifth flight, Stephan and I could go with all the bags. When we got word that there was going to be one, we hurried and got all our bags off the truck, which had been scheduled to leave two hours earlier but had been delayed, and down by the airstrip. We were able to get everyone and everything back to Matthew’s Ridge through the air. A nice final treat.

Monday night at our family study, I had asked the ones from the house who went, to pick a ‘Baramita moment’ to share. I will try to include them another time. I think this entry has gone on about long enough. Thank all of you who made our trip a matter of prayer. It was a positive experience for all.

This week’s pictures are one from along the trail on the way there, and a picture of the group at the Circuit Assembly.

Barimita or bust

I never made it to Kaituma last week. About 8 miles out, I got a flat tire. I had a new tube with me so I decided I would just take the wheel off and put the new tube in. I found a mound of dirt that I could park the bike over to hold the back tire off the ground. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a right sized wrench to get the chainguard off, so I couldn’t take the tire off. I ended up just opening the tire up and finding the leak. It was right next to where I had patched it before, so I ended up putting a new patch on, half on the old one and half off. I put everything back together and pumped it up and it seemed to hold. I considered continuing on to Kaituma, but decided a patch on a patch wasn’t the best thing, so I turned around and headed back.

After about a mile and a half, the tire went down again. I figured out that I could take the new box I made for the bike off and use it as a stand for underneath the bike, so once again I opened up the tire to find the leak. This time it was leaking out of the other side of the original patch. So I again patched it and put it back together and drove again. I hadn’t gone too far and it felt like it was going down, so I stopped and pumped it up and drove on. After a bit it felt like it was getting soft, but I looked at it and it looked ok so I kept going. About 2 miles later it went flat and it wouldn’t pump up. At that point, I parked the bike and walked home. Stephan gave me a ride back with tools to take the wheel off, and then he went on to Kaituma. I put the new tube in and then drove home.

As you may remember, this weekend is the Circuit Assembly in Barimita. A number from here are planning on going over. One of the men I study with has a cruiser and I believe he is going to help with the transportation. I have repeatedly told everyone who wants to go that they are going to have to walk with food for the entire time. Since there are no flights into Barimita recently, we don’t want to take food from them. Knowing the way many don’t listen so well, Stephan suggested we carry some provisions across in advance. We figured that if four of us went across, we could get a good amount over, plus it would give a few more a chance to get acquainted with the trail. We decided we would each carry fifty pounds. I was worried about putting two people and 100+ pounds of weight on my bike. Sunday evening we bought a hundred pounds of rice, forty pounds of dried fish, thirty pounds of flour, and ten pounds each of sugar, onions, and garlic.

We planned to leave at 6 AM Monday and go over and back in the same day. When we got up it was raining, and we were very concerned about trying to drive the heavily loaded bikes on the slippery road. I saw a cruiser passing that transported the foreman of the road crew out to the job, so I stopped them and asked if they were going out to the end of the road. He said he was, so I asked if he would take our packs and passengers out. He said he would, but he wouldn’t be leaving for some time. He said if it could wait, the next morning he would be leaving at seven and would take everything then, so we put it off for a day.

Tuesday we were ready about 6:30, since Stephan mentioned that 7 AM can mean anything from 6:30 – 9:00. We waited and waited. Finally I rode down to where the foreman lives and found him waiting too. It seems that the driver had gotten an early hire and hadn’t returned yet. We finally got underway about 8:30, which put us on the trail a little before ten. Eugene, Stephan, Jonathan, and I made the trip. We walked together for a while, but then Eugene and I went ahead. At one point we stopped to wait for the others to catch up. After we had sat for half an hour, I left my pack and started back down the trail. After about six or seven minutes I reached them and walked back with them. We rested a bit longer (for them) and then set off. We walked together for a bit and then Stephan said he needed to rest. He told Eugene and I that we could continue on, but just asked that every so often and at all junctions, we would leave a mark so he could be sure to find the way. So we continued on and reached Barimita about 4:30. They were having a meeting when we got there. We sat in and got to hear a nice service talk by the District Overseer. Stephan and Jonathan arrived about 5:40. Needless to say, we stayed overnight before heading back in the morning. As we were walking back, I mentioned to Eugene that there were plenty of people in the states who would pay good money to be able to do what we were doing. It is a serious deep jungle trek.

Now all that remains is the actual trip over for the Assembly. A new concern is that the weather is starting to change. It’s nice that it’s not so hot, but that’s due to the more frequent rain. I don’t know how many of the people will go if it rains. Every time I have been to Barimita, everyone asks for Terri. I assure them that she will be with me for the weekend. I just have to pass along a highlight from September’s Service Report. We had 14 publishers report a total of 82 studies for the month. That just blew me away. Another little bit of news, there is now an internet café in Matthew’s Ridge. A company came and put up a dish and have two computers and charge $5US/hr. That may be useful since as I mentioned the weather is changing and the rainy weather seemed to interfere with the signal we had gotten over the cell phone.

I’ve included a couple of pictures from our latest trek to Barimita, one shows us before we set off, the other is a picture of a break on the trail.

Adopted

After our first Sunday meeting when we had had 82, we were trying to decide if that was the most we had ever had for a regular Sunday meeting. Well this week we had 87, so we agreed that that was definitely a record.

Terri has always wanted to have a cat here. Last time we were here she even schemed to have someone bring a kitten by, but I reminded her that I had told her I didn’t want any pets here. This time, a cat wandered in on its own and Terri proceeded to feed it, so now it has adopted us. I guess that just shows Jehovah will provide the things you ask for (her, not me).

The heat here is oppressive, especially since we had gotten used to the unusually cool weather back in the states. Terri has tried to say that it is hotter now than before, but I can remember the heat when we first got here last year. One thing that helps is it cools down at night. In fact, Terri has had to sleep with a blanket the last few nights. Another thing that helps is spending the heat of the day under the house. The guys usually just stay on their side of the house. I can’t understand how they can deal with the heat. I guess they are just more accustom to it.

I have started digging more out from under the house. We had had just the first twenty feet dug out so we could use the space. I am going to dig the next twenty feet out as well. I had jokingly said I was doing that to make room for the Fischers when they returned. Terri corrected me and said it was for us, and the Fischers could have the space above, since the bottom area will be so much cooler.

Before we left we had given all our studies to other people. Now that we are back we have taken some back (the ones the Fischers had had). But not all, so we have been looking for more. Terri has already picked up five new ones. I started my first new one today. Stephan has suggested a few others I might approach. He said he had been holding back since they are with ‘older’ people.

I recently again heard the rumor that cell service will soon be coming to Matthew’s Ridge. We have been hearing that almost since we first arrived here last year. This time someone told me that it had been reported on the television in Georgetown, and as you know, if it was reported on television, it has to be true. I continue to say that I will believe it when I start getting service here on my phone. I had bought a signal booster before I came, but I tried it several places here and got no signal, so I sent it out with the Fischers to return. It had had a thirty day unconditional return on it.

This week’s pictures are of Terri with her cat and the project of digging out under the house.