We set a new attendance record Sunday, we had 103! A group came up from Kaituma to hear the Circuit Overseer. Afterwards, we talked about some of the regulars who weren’t here. We could have easily had 110 if they had been here. It was nice to see such a large group, but it was almost out of hand. Stephan was kept busy trying to keep some of the children under control. We were disappointed that the Kaituma group left right after the meeting. I think the next time they come, I will ask some of the friends here to ‘walk with some food’ and then after the meeting we will have something for everyone to eat so there can be more of an interchange with the ones who come up.
A couple of weeks ago, I was on a study with a couple and the man is crippled. Some say it’s the result of obeea, which is what they call spiritism here. I think it’s more like he has MS or something. After the study, he asked me if I could get him some ‘zinc’. He said his roof is starting to leak bad. It is a leaf roof and it had been on since before he became crippled. I told him I didn’t have any zinc, but I said I would talk to David about repairing the roof. I saw David the next day at the meeting and mentioned it to him. He said he would go by the house on Monday and look at it. I checked with him a few days later and he said that the roof could be repaired by just adding some new leaf at the ridge. He said there were plenty of the leaves growing in the swamp near the house.
That week was the visit of the Circuit Overseer, so we were busy with service. We decided we would plan on doing it the following Thursday. So today, Stephan, Andrew, Eugene, and I met David at the house at 9 AM. First we went into the swamp and cut down several trees and cut the leaves off and dragged them to the house. Then we made a ladder out of a couple of small trees, and then handed the leaves up to David who placed them. He then placed a few V-shaped pieces to hold them in place, and the job was done. We were back home about 10:30 and when I walked in the house, Terri said, “What happened?” She was very surprised to learn that we were finished. She asked if the couple was grateful for the work, and I said, “They are Amerindians, you couldn’t tell” (Amerindians tend to be very unexpressive)
I had mentioned in the last post that I had heard the internet café was closing. That was indeed the case. It has not generated enough income to keep it open. I learned that the service was costing $1,250US/mo. There is no way it can produce anywhere near that amount a month here. But a few days later I was walking by it and I saw the door was open. I looked inside and the man who was running it was there. I asked him what was happening, and he said they had been given a two week extension, so I will be able to send this out from there today and hopefully next week as well.
There is nothing outstanding on the schedule now for some time. I think the next ‘big event’ will be when we are scheduled to have some visitors arrive who will be staying with us for two months. They are scheduled to arrive the end of February. Also the sister we had met in Trinidad from Terri’s old congregation on Long Island has been in contact with us and has expressed her interest in coming to Guyana as well. I am not sure if she will be coming here to the Ridge, or just somewhere in Guyana.
This week’s pictures are of the group that came up from Kaituma, and David and Eugene working on the roof.
