This past week here in Matthews Ridge there were more goodbyes to be said as Aletha Walters and Justina Baker flew out of Matthews Ridge, after coming to help here for about the last two months. Aletha and Justina seemed to really enjoy their time here in Matthews Ridge, and we are certainly grateful for all their hard work. Aletha and Justina both cared for a number of Bible studies, and we really appreciated their good company and all their help at the congregation meetings.
This past Saturday, April 24, was the day of the Special Assembly Day in Mabaruma. A group of 19 from Matthews Ridge, as well as 9 more from Port Kaituma, attended the assembly. We had such an enjoyable time! To be gathered with many brothers and sisters we don’t get to see as often, for this special day of instruction, was truly refreshing. We hired a bus from Matthews Ridge to take us to Port Kaituma, about 30 miles away, where we then get on a boat to go to Mabaruma, which is about 30 additional miles from that point. The bus driver told us that he needed to make a repair to the bus in the morning, and that we’ll plan to leave at 11:00am on Friday. However, at about 9:30am, we heard over the radio at one of the shops that this bus had been seen on the side of the road still being repaired, and we still had not seen any sign of it by 11:00. And so I went into the market area to see if I could find a next bus to carry us. There was only one other bus in Ridge at that time, but the driver of that bus agreed to carry us to Kaituma. It was quite the interesting hour and a half ride to Kaituma. Something in the undercarriage of the bus was obviously busted, making the floor of the bus we were sitting on burning hot. About half way, it starting pouring rain, and as the water splashed up under the bus, the whole bus filled with a lovely steam/smoke mixture. Nothing too serious went wrong until at last we pulled into Port Kaituma, after which a belt suddenly broke and some other mechanical compartment started smoking. We were happy to have reached Kaituma safely, though. We stayed in Port Kaituma that night, and then early Saturday morning we all met at the waterfront to get on the boat to Mabaruma. And so at 6:00am we departed on the boat for Mabaruma. It took us about an hour and a half to reach, and so we arrived in the market area of Mabaruma, called Kamaka, at about 7:40am. The assembly didn’t start until 9:40, and so we had some time to get a little snack and admire the caged sloths in Kamaka. Then we all piled into a bus in Kamaka, which carried us down to the Kingdom Hall. The assembly program, with the theme “The Time Left Is Reduced”, was wonderful. There were 81 in attendance at the assembly. The brothers and sisters there in Mabaruma prepared a noontime meal for all in attendance to eat at the break. It consisted of cookup (rice cooked in coconut water) with meat, and channa (a type of cooked beans), all of which was delicious. After the program we took a bus back to Kamaka, where we boarded the boat to go back to Port Kaituma. We left Mabaruma on the boat at about 5:00pm, and got back to Port Kaituma at about 6:30pm. We then got on a bus which we had hired the evening before, at about 7:30pm, and headed back to Matthews Ridge.
There were times while trying to make arrangements to go to the assembly that we just weren’t sure exactly how things would out, but we could see Jehovah’s blessing on the efforts we made to be present. One of the parts on the program emphasized the importance of the family worship evening. The next day at the Sunday meeting, one couple named Keron and Yvonne, who have started studying and attending meetings fairly recently, asked us which publication we think would be best for them to study with their 6 children as part of the family worship evening that they’re planning to start right away. This is just one of the expressions made that helped me to see that the group really benefited from attending this assembly. To see Jehovah’s happy, clean people at assemblies such as this one always brings to my mind the scripture at Psalm 89: 15,16: “Happy are the people knowing the joyful shouting…In your name they are joyful all day long”.
The pictures included with this week’s entry are of Aletha and Justina, and of the group boarding the boat in Port Kaituma the morning of the assembly.
