Things are going along well here in Matthews Ridge. This past Wednesday, Andrew and Eno went to Port Kaituma to hold the group study of the Watchtower with interested ones there. From what they said, it sounds like the roads weren’t too bad. And so their trip there and back went well. Andrew told me how Eno had brought along some tracts, and had opportunity to place at least one out with a young man he met there. It’s been very encouraging to see this young man’s zealous spirit in the ministry!
Tyler and Cheri Ryter have been settling in here, and it’s been nice that they have been able to help us out with caring for some of the Bible studies here. They’ve also enjoyed developing some calls of their own.
On a sad note, one of the Bible students here named Evelyn Daniels passed away this past Monday at the age of 63. She had been in and out of the hospital here in Matthews Ridge, and had just flown to Georgetown a few days before to seek medical attention. She was a good Bible student and regularly attended meetings at the Kingdom Hall. To attend these meetings, she regularly walked an hour or so each way, and part of that through the bush. We will miss the cheerful and determined spirit she showed.
Something that has been a cause for much excitement here has been being able to use the brochure “You Can Be God’s Friend!” and the tract “Would You Like to Know the Truth?” printed in Carib, the local Amerindian language. It was released not long ago. Carib formerly was only a spoken language. This means that even those who can speak it cannot necessarily read it. I’ve found, though, that those who speak Carib and read English can, with a bit of help, begin to read in Carib. Even for Carib-speakers who cannot read Carib, it is such a joy to read to them truths from the Bible in their native language. Andrew has put quite a bit of time and effort into striving to learn not only the vocabulary, but also the grammar of the language. His determination has even motivated me to try to learn a bit here and there, so that now I’ve enjoyed reading from the Carib brochure to a number of Carib-speakers who I study the Bible with. The expansion of the Kingdom preaching work to reach people of all languages certainly is a exciting thing to see!
The pictures included with this week’s entry are of Evelyn Daniels and of Andrew reading a tract written in Carib to some in Baramita.
