We are presently in Trinidad. We arrived Tuesday afternoon. We had flown to ‘town on Friday. When we arrived, Gary picked us up and we ran a few errands, including stopping by the branch. We mentioned to Gary that we had about a day of errands and discussed whether to do them Monday before we went to Trinidad, or wait and do it Thursday. Gary mentioned that we should do it before we went because when we get back the holiday shopping would be in full swing and what would normally take 15 minutes to accomplish would take over an hour. He mentioned that most people get their holiday bonus on the 15th and after that the stores are packed.
Saturday morning we went out in service and then we caught a bus to take us into Georgetown where Terri got a haircut and we picked up a few more things on our list. Then we went to meet a sister who had recently arrived in Guyana from Washington state. She is hoping to spend up to a year in Guyana. She mentioned to the brothers at the branch that she wasn’t a city person and asked if there was somewhere they could suggest she go. Brother Hazel suggested she consider Matthew’s Ridge. She had somehow gotten in touch with Stephan and he told her that we would be in ‘town Friday and she should give me a call. We made arrangements to go by where she was staying to share with her info in the Ridge and see wheter we thought she would be able to function there.
Her name is Ellie Garner. She had previously served in Ecuador as well as Mexico. She is 66 years old. One of the big issues was housing. I mentioned that there is a house there that is fairly nice. It is next to a hotel and gets current from the hotel whenever the hotel’s generator is running which is about 10-12 hours a day. It is expensive by Guyanese standards, but it has four bedrooms. We mentioned that if she could see her way to rent it, that it would open the way for other young sisters to come and serve at the Ridge and then they could help with the rent. The long and short was she is going to travel back to the northwest when we go back. She will stay with us for a short time while she checks things out first hand and decides if she thinks she can make a go of it. We shared with her things that she would need to get to stay in the ridge and made arrangements for Gary to take her around on Tuesday.
After we left Ellie, we caught a bus to take us back into Georgetown where we caught a next bus to take us back where we were staying. As we were making our way back, I asked Terri is she could have imagined going around on our own like that. She said. “No way.” But then she mentioned that no matter how comfortable in Guyana, unfortunately we will always stand out in the crowd. Monday we met Gary in ‘town and took care of all the things we needed.
Tuesday we flew to Trinidad with about 40 other delegates. When we were leaving the airport in Trinidad, we were greeting by a group of witnesses singing a welcoming song and then there was an even larger group to welcome us to the Assembly Hall where we were given a light meal and then introduced to our hosts. Wednesday evening the congregation that our host goes to had a gathering for all the delegates that were being hosted (14).
Tuesday when we were traveling to the Assembly Hall, Bro. Rainey was asking how things were going at the Ridge. I told him about the attendance we’d been getting and all the studies we had. He asked about the studies and I mentioned that I didn’t have the exact figures but it was something over 70. He asked me if I could get the number and get it to him because he had a part on the convention and he would like to use that. I had put most of the report together before I left, but Stephan had to get the report from a few others and he was bringing the report with him. I was able to email him on his phone and he passed the numbers on to me. I wasn’t sure if I would see Bro. Rainey in the stadium, so I emailed the info to him, figuring he would have some way to check his emails.
Today, he was interviewed early on the program and he related some of the things happening at the Ridge (without specifically saying where in Guyana it was from). He mentioned that when he had last been with one group, they had been conducting 56 bible studies but now there were 13 publishers conducting over 70 studies. I realized he hadn’t gotten my email because last month, we had reported 86 studies and 12 publishers. One reason for the jump was that Jonathan had left and all the studies he had been conducting previously had been reported back where his cards are, whereas now we had them and so they were added to our report.
Today before the session, we were walking around the stadium looking to see who we might know since there were a number of delegates from the states. We saw a couple, Lou and Frocine Travis who had been in Warwick when I was there. They used to be at Watchtower Farm, but are now serving as Special Pioneers in Maryland. We also saw a couple from Walcott how are one the WNY RBC as well as a couple from Orchard Park. The attendance today was 15,034.
For this week’s pictures I’ve included one of the welcome group at the airport, one of the delegates and hosts from the congregation get-together, and a panoramic of the stadium, or as it’s officially known as the Queen’s Park Oval (that’s what they call a cricket stadium).
