This past week was another Kaituma week. I did something I had never done before, I drove to Kaituma in the rain. It was lightly misting when I left and I told myself that it was just the morning fog lifting. The farther I went, the more apparent it became that it wasn’t that. At one point, the rain was so heavy that I pulled over and waited in a little shack along the road. By then I was well on my way, so I just continued slowly. It took me three hours to reach. When I got near to Kaituma, I checked on my phone and saw I was getting data signal, so I sat in a bus shelter and sent out emails (including my last posting). I was even able to access my MSN account for the first time in over a month. It was strange because while I was there, a heavy shower went through, but I was able to keep the data signal the whole time.The group study at Kaituma was nice. Monica, Sharon, Juliet, and Caroline were there, and for the first time, Sherwin’s twin sister was there. She is a teacher at the school, and the reason we have had the study at noon was so she could come on her lunch break, So this week she did. It was kind of nice because after the study, I overheard her making arrangements to come and study with some of the women. After the study, Caroline asked about the Memorial in Kaituma. I explained that last year, the branch had mentioned they wanted an elder to give the Memorial Talk at all locations. Assuming the same would be true this year, there is no way Matthew’s Ridge could help with the Memorial in Kaituma. But I said I knew there were two elders in Mabaruma, as well as a number of baptized brothers to assist, so maybe they would be in a position to do the Memorial there.I told them I would speak to the branch about it, but in the meantime, inquiry should be made as to getting the Community Center to hold the Memorial. I said it would be inappropriate to try and invite people to the Memorial, and then have it in the little shed we used for the study. Sherwin’s sister said she would look into it, and pass word along to Sherwin, in Mabaruma. I later spoke to Brother Hazel, at the branch, and he said he would discuss it with the other brothers there.On the same day that I went to Kaituma, Stephan drove his bike to a place called Bamboo. The husband of one of his studies mentioned that he was going, and Stephan thought it would be a chance for him to have someone show him the way, as he wanted to go there on one of the off Wednesdays. He had mentioned that he would be leaving at 7 AM, which was when I was planning on leaving for Kaituma. Stephan is not a morning person, so I called in to see if he was awake as I was leaving, and he said he was. I asked him if he could hear the rain falling, and he said he could. When I got back from Kaituma, he wasn’t around, so I asked and was told he had indeed gone to Bamboo.He still wasn’t back at dark and we ate without him, getting a little more concerned as the time passed by. I told Terri I would be more concerned, but I knew he was with an adult Guyanese, so I figured they could take care of themselves. I said if it got late and they still weren’t back, I would figure they had decided to stay in Bamboo rather than being caught on the road by the dark.Just before dark, I had gone to one of the shops to get something for Terri for making supper and saw Eugene there. While we were standing there talking, the man in the shop told Eugene that he had just had a call on the radio from Barimita that a brother said he was coming across tomorrow. Eugene asked him if it was Brother Smith, and he said, “Yes.” We wondered what he had called to tell us that for. I said maybe he wanted to come across to go preach with us, since he always has to preach through an interpreter in Barimita.We woke up in the morning, and there was still no Stephan. I told Terri that if they had stayed in Bamboo, it would be afternoon before they would reach, so there was no point in getting too worried before that. About 2:30 Stephan came driving up. When he came up to us, I did my best indignant parent impression and said, “Why didn’t you call?!” Stephan responded with a surprised look and said, “Didn’t you get my message?” I thought at first he was just playing along with me, but then everything clicked, since we had seen no sign of a brother from Barimita. It had been Stephan radioing from Bamboo to let us know that he would be returning the next day. So he had been very responsible, however the message didn’t get delivered right, so we had a rather anxious evening as a result.He mentioned it had been a five hour trip each way, and it made the trip we took into Big Creek seem like a drive on an expressway. He said there was no way he could have made it alone, as many times the two of them had to work together dragging the bike over huge ruts and trees and mud!! But he said it had been worth the effort as the people he met were happy to hear what he had to share, and are very much looking forward to our coming for the purpose of preaching, not just scouting. He mentioned that he had slept in a hammock on a back porch, but had not slept well because they had planned on leaving as soon as it got light, and he was afraid he would oversleep. Plus early in the morning he was awaken when a tiger attacked and killed a dog about 50 feet from where he was sleeping.This week we have been enjoying a visit from Brother Baxter from Mabaruma. He arrived Tuesday afternoon and will be with us until Thursday. It was a nice break, as he gave the talk Sunday. We had 62 in attendance. He had originally planned on leaving Tuesday, but decided to extend his stay a couple of days so he can go with us to preach in Arakaka. We had originally planned on going last Thursday, but since Stephan got stuck in Bamboo and didn’t return until Thursday afternoon, we decided we could go Wednesday. The plan is for Stephan and I to take Compton and Eugene on our bikes and preach in Arakaka, as well as the road between there and The Junction. I think I will have Compton and Eugene work together, rather than have it look like the white guys are training the Guyanese.Terri finished the lettering in the sign for the Kingdom Hall and I hung it up. I had wanted to get a picture showing both the sign as well as the two new windows on the west side of the building. And since Compton is visiting, I thought I’d have him in the picture as well. Unfortunately to get everything in the picture, you end up not really being able to make out anything in the picture, so I settled on two out of three. And even then, you can’t really make out Compton all that well. But take my word for it, it really is him.
