We are currently in Georgetown. Our trip here went fairly smoothly. We left Buffalo around 2:10 Tuesday afternoon and arrived at JFK about 3:20. Diana Roth (no relation to the singer) came and spent some time with us at the airport, as we had about 10 hours to spend before our flight to Georgetown.
We waited near the Jetblue ticket counter, since the Frieses and the Lanes were passing through on their way back to Buffalo from Mabaruma. I had just about convinced myself that we had somehow missed them when I finally spotted them. It turned out their flight had been delayed for a couple of hours. So we were able to spend about twenty minutes visiting with them before they had to leave to catch their flight to Buffalo. It was kind of like the changing of the guard, as we were able to be informed of various things that had happened recently in Mabaruma as well as some details regarding where we will be living in Mabaruma.
We then proceeded to the next terminal where we would be catching our departing flight, and Diana left us to return home. But not before waiting while we arranged to weigh our check-in bags at an outside baggage drop. We had weighed and reweighed them at home, but that was on a bathroom scales, and if we were overweight, we figured worst case, we could give something to Diana to take with her. All four bags were within half a pound of the max, so we were happy for that. We gave a cheer each time the weight appeared in the display. Life is good when the little things can make you so happy.
We had to wait a few hours for the ticket counter to open and allow us to check in our luggage, and then a few more before we loaded for departure. The plane was completely full and we waited for almost an hour on the plane before departing. We were told it was due to all the baggage that was being shoe-horned into everywhere. We were able to catch a little sleep on the flight as we had been up for over twenty hours, and only had a few hours of sleep the night before.
As always, it was such a pleasure and relief to see Gary waiting for us when we emerged from customs (where I didn’t see a single bag being opened). He then took us to Sister Scott’s where we will be staying while in ‘town. After dropping our things, we went briefly to the branch, and then on to exchange some money and pick up a few things, mostly for our brief stay here in ‘town.
Today is a holiday here (Boxing Day), so most businesses and all government agencies were closed. Even the internet café just down the street is closed, so I am composing this now anticipating being able to post it up tomorrow. Also, we will have to run errands again tomorrow, like getting temporary drivers licenses. Mitch Muick is arriving late this evening. He will be staying here with us, and so we will probably run around together with Gary tomorrow.
It is kind of nice to finally meet and stay with Sister Scott. Many who have traveled through 'town, on their way to visit us have stayed with her. When I mentioned to Brother Hinds that we were staying with her, he smiled and said, “Ah yes, the branch away from the branch.” She has a fairly large house, which she currently living in alone. The whole second floor is set us as an apartment. Terri had asked her if she considered renting it out, but she said never, as she enjoyed so much the opportunity meet and assist so many on their way through ‘town. We will be getting two days of Georgetown this time, since we arrived on Wednesday and there are no flights into Mabaruma on Thursdays. That means two days of blasting music and barking/fighting dogs. Since it’s so warm (it was 80 when we landed at 8:30 this morning) closing windows is out of the question.
But know we are well and looking forward to continuing on to Mabaruma. I'll keep you posted.
