The District Convention was wonderful! And not without excitement. When we first had arranged to stay with the Bouches, Bro. Bouch had said he would reserve two places on the bus for the convention. But then a few days before the convention, he had mentioned that since I had the bike and my license, if I were to drive to the convention, it would free up two seats for others to be able to attend. So how could I say no. So Terri and I ended up taking the bike to the Convention. I must admit I was apprehensive to have to drive a bike through the traffic here in ‘town. Many of the intersections have no traffic signs at them, but then again, many drivers don’t pay attention to the ones that are there. The first morning I followed someone in, but after that I found my own way.
The convention here is held in an outdoor stadium, with the stage on one side and covered seating on the other three. The weather was almost ideal, with a nice breeze blowing most of the time. In fact on Sunday the breeze was so strong, it was blowing things down on the platform.
The peak attendance on Sunday was just over 4300. Not bad considering there are only about 2300 witnesses in the whole country and this was the second convention (although the first was much smaller). There were 65 baptized on Saturday, including Margaret from Mabaruma, and Doris from Matthew’s Ridge.
Another woman who has been studying at the Ridge, Mary, also came in for the convention. She had really wanted to attend, but there was no way she could afford it. So she made it a matter of prayer, telling Jehovah how much she desired to attend, and saying that if she had the money, she would use it to travel to the convention. It so happened that several years ago (ten to be exact) she had been somehow injured, and as a result had been awarded a settlement. For some time afterwards, whenever the magistrate would come to Matthew’s Ridge, she would go, hoping that payment would be enforced, but never received any satisfaction. Then a few days after she had poured out her heart to Jehovah about her desire to attend the convention, she was walking through the market and a constable motioned her over and handed her the settlement check. Needless to say, she quickly made her arrangements to travel in for the convention.
Today (Monday) I was able to access the internet using a blackberry phone I had bought in the states and brought with me. So now as long as I am where there is cell service, I should be able to send and receive emails and update the blog. I still have to get things straightened out so I can send and receive emails directly from the phone. As of now, I’m told you have to travel about six miles out of the Ridge to get a signal, and I don’t particularly want to have to travel with my laptop as well. However rumor has it that there will be a cell tower in the Ridge before the end of the year, and then we would be in great shape.
Our departure is still up in the air, all dependant on when the boat returns and is able to get turned around for departure. I may update once more before leaving, and I should also be able to put something up from Mabaruma as there is a cell tower there.
The first picture I’ve included shows the baptismal candidates walking across the stadium towards the baptism pool. The next one is of Margaret getting ready to enter the pool (there was such a throng around the pool, I had to take the picture from up in the stands). The last one is a picture of Terri and Mary, the woman I spoke about.
The convention here is held in an outdoor stadium, with the stage on one side and covered seating on the other three. The weather was almost ideal, with a nice breeze blowing most of the time. In fact on Sunday the breeze was so strong, it was blowing things down on the platform.
The peak attendance on Sunday was just over 4300. Not bad considering there are only about 2300 witnesses in the whole country and this was the second convention (although the first was much smaller). There were 65 baptized on Saturday, including Margaret from Mabaruma, and Doris from Matthew’s Ridge.
Another woman who has been studying at the Ridge, Mary, also came in for the convention. She had really wanted to attend, but there was no way she could afford it. So she made it a matter of prayer, telling Jehovah how much she desired to attend, and saying that if she had the money, she would use it to travel to the convention. It so happened that several years ago (ten to be exact) she had been somehow injured, and as a result had been awarded a settlement. For some time afterwards, whenever the magistrate would come to Matthew’s Ridge, she would go, hoping that payment would be enforced, but never received any satisfaction. Then a few days after she had poured out her heart to Jehovah about her desire to attend the convention, she was walking through the market and a constable motioned her over and handed her the settlement check. Needless to say, she quickly made her arrangements to travel in for the convention.
Today (Monday) I was able to access the internet using a blackberry phone I had bought in the states and brought with me. So now as long as I am where there is cell service, I should be able to send and receive emails and update the blog. I still have to get things straightened out so I can send and receive emails directly from the phone. As of now, I’m told you have to travel about six miles out of the Ridge to get a signal, and I don’t particularly want to have to travel with my laptop as well. However rumor has it that there will be a cell tower in the Ridge before the end of the year, and then we would be in great shape.
Our departure is still up in the air, all dependant on when the boat returns and is able to get turned around for departure. I may update once more before leaving, and I should also be able to put something up from Mabaruma as there is a cell tower there.
The first picture I’ve included shows the baptismal candidates walking across the stadium towards the baptism pool. The next one is of Margaret getting ready to enter the pool (there was such a throng around the pool, I had to take the picture from up in the stands). The last one is a picture of Terri and Mary, the woman I spoke about.
