PAUL & GROUPWe recently had a visitor here at Matthew’s Ridge. Paul Donlan who had been in Kaituma for a number of years and was a primary force behind getting things going again here at the Ridge, stopped in for a short visit. He had been in Georgetown for their Circuit Assembly and got in touch with the person who had purchased the building in Kaituma from him. He told the man he had all the documentation for finalizing the sale and would come to Kaituma if the man had the balance of the money. The man said he did, so Paul flew into Kaituma, completed the sale and then came up to the Ridge to see the building (he had not seen it completed) and then flew back to ‘town'. It was nice to see him. We had spent three months with him and his wife in Kaituma four years ago.
Well, it is official, the internet connection is finished here at the ridge. Stephan went a few days ago to try again and learned it had been a six-month package they had had, and it has indeed expired. So that option is gone and he didn’t have much time left on his satellite phone so he decided to let Paul take it with him to see if it would work in Lethem where Paul currently is. I have installed the email program that Stephan has been using on his computer with the satellite connections to see if it might make sending and receiving emails with my cell phone faster. It usually takes me about ten minutes to send or receive an email. I’m hoping that if it does work, I might even be able to send a picture or two which can then be posted up for me.
This past Wednesday, since it wasn’t a Kaituma day, Stephan and I took the bike to Arakaka, and from there a boat to a place called fourteen mile. Since we still had a number of the tracts left, we were continuing to hand them out. It was interesting because we got to see several working gold operations. A number were what they called dredges, where they shoot streams of water against a bank and then pump the resulting muddy water into a box where the gold will settle to the bottom, but everything else washes out. The plan is that the Wednesdays that I don’t go to Kaituma, we will try to go to outlying areas and reach people who may not have been preached to. I think Stephan is hoping to get a bike as well, because the two of us are a bit much for my small bike, especially when the going gets difficult, as it may if we try to reach remote areas. After the first of the year when we go to the new meeting arrangement, we may even try some overnight trips to be able to extend our range.
I have been busy the last couple of days doing some work in the house after Aletha left and before Krystal arrives to upgrade our guest room a bit. I made a real door for the room and am hoping to add some more storage space as well. I am also working to finish all the interior walls in our side. When Aletha was here, one of her walls was just a tarp.
It was nice this Sunday, one of my studies commented at the Watchtower for the first time. Now if I can just get him to raise his hand and wait to be called on.
