Another week passes by

As I mentioned in my last posting, I decided to go to Kaituma two weeks in a row to get my schedule off the weeks of either the full or new moon. I was able to take my bike this last time. The road was fairly decent going there. When I got there, I went and told the ones who are apt to come that I was there, and then since I had more time, I went to an area that I used to have studies in when we were in Kaituma four years ago. It was a little difficult because I was on a bike rather than walking, and I was coming the opposite direction from when I walked. But I stopped at a house I remembered and at first the people there acted as if I was at the wrong house, but then they said that there was a man who used to come to talk the bible to the father. Unfortunately, he was away for several days. I said I would try and stop again when I came next time. I located another house with the same results, namely the man wasn’t home. I learned that he worked for Caroline’s man, so I mentioned to her later that I used to study with the man, so there may be an opportunity for her to speak to him.When I went for the group study, we had a nice group. Caroline, Sharon, Pamela, and Monica were there, as well as Caroline’s older daughter Shevon. While I was in Kaituma, a few showers went through, but it was nothing like the hard rains of earlier weeks, and the drive back wasn’t too bad. I stopped in Falls Top, but the one I had hoped to see the most was hanging out in one of the shops watching some men play cards, so we didn’t talk too much. I asked if he had read any of the book. He said he had read a little and then had loaned it to someone else who had asked to see it. I think next time I will take another one in case he hasn’t gotten it back by then.I stopped to see another man we had met and the first thing he asked me was if I had brought a bible for him. I had to tell him that we were still waiting for the bibles we had ordered, but I had brought him a magazine I thought he would enjoy. He said he was glad because he had finished the two I had left with him before.Last Friday I had gone to one of my studies, Filbert, because he was going to take me back into the bush to where a cousin of his lived so I could share a little from the bible with him. Filbert had encouraged him to come to the Kingdom Hall because we had ‘good teachings’ there, but he had never come yet. When I got to Filbert’s, he said his cousin had told Filbert that his pastor had told him that since he had been baptized and married in his church, he shouldn’t be going elsewhere. So he told Filbert that I shouldn’t come.This week when I went on Filbert’s study, he told me that one of the girls from the cousin’s house had said that they had been waiting for us to come. They had even put up a tarpaulin for us to be able to sit under while we spoke to them. Filbert said he had explained that the other person had said he didn’t want us to come. They said they would very much like to hear what it was we were teaching, and asked Filbert to see if he could get me to come. He said he would ask me to go out again this Friday. I told him I would be happy to, so he said he would relay that information to them the next day. It’s nice to see the way things continue to open up here. It will be interesting to see how far back in the bush they are, that they have never been called on yet.Monday was a holiday here. It is Independence Day, or as they call it here, Republic Day. They try to get all the school kids involved in it. In an effort to give the young ones who have been coming to the Kingdom Hall, an alternative, we went to the falls Monday. I think there were about 22 in the group. It was a nice group with many young ones, but also a number of adults as well; we even got Terri to join us. I was surprised that a number of the adults said they had never been to the falls. The trip went off without incident (nobody fell this time). Afterwards, a young one who has just started studying and coming to the meetings mentioned she was so glad she went. She said she never would have had that much fun if she had gone to join the group at the Republic Day celebration. I am hoping this will be able to go out tomorrow (2/24). The last two trips out have been unsuccessful, and the weather appeared to be quite clear, so I’m not really sure what determines whether we will be successful in our attempt to get online. I told Stephan it would be nice to be able to see a radar image of Guyana before deciding whether to drive out or not. But then if we had a way to see radar images, we would most likely also have a way to get easy access to the internet. Such are the challenges of an assignment like this, which brings me to this week’s picture. I don’t normally mind bugs, even big ones. But when they start opening bottles for themselves, I think that’s crossing the line!!

Rain again

Just when we thought we were finished with rainy season, we have had over a week of rain every day. As a result, I went to Kaituma in the back of a truck on Wednesday. One nice benefit was on the way there I got to see my first live ‘tiger’. We were driving along and I was watching the area beside the road and as we passed an area where there wasn’t a lot of bush, so you could see the ground, I realized that I was looking at a ‘tiger’. The pattern of it blended in so well with the background. I said to everyone in the back of the truck, “Did you see the tiger?!” But no one else had. They call them tigers here, but they are jaguars, or ocelots, or some other member of the cat family. The one I saw was between three and four feet long without the tail. I was surprised at the color because it was a tawny brown with black spots. When I mentioned it to some here, they said that is what is known as a deer tiger.I am thinking that the recent spell of rain may be what the locals call ‘rain from the moon’. For some reason, it seems to rain around the full and new moons. I speculate it may be because then are the highest tides, and that may put more water in areas, allowing for more evaporation. Regardless of the reason, I realized that my schedule of visiting Kaituma now corresponds to the new and full moon, so if it’s going to rain, it will be when I am trying to go there. Consequently, I have decided to go to Kaituma two Wednesdays in a row to get the schedule to be between the moons. Last week with the rain, I only had Monica and Caroline come to the study. And since I had to go with a truck, I wasn’t able to stop and spend time with some of those in Falls Top.We recently added to our inventory of ground transportation. We have purchased a bicycle. I had spoken to Stephan about it. I mentioned I thought it might be useful for when we needed to go to the market area to pick something up, or we wanted to see if the Post Office was open, that instead of a 10-15 minute walk each way, it would be much quicker on a bike. We could also use it to get to some of our studies that are along the road. He said he had considered it, but had never chosen to act on it. We decided to get one and split the cost. It worked well. Friday I had a study that Krystal had started with a young man, then I had to get to my study with James, then I had made arrangement with one of my studies to take me into the bush to where a cousin of his lives to preach to him. Normally it takes me twenty five minutes to walk out to James’ study, but I made it in less than ten with the bike. Not surprisingly, the bike is of not very good quality, so we well have to wait and see how it holds up. When you see most people here riding bikes, you see then putting their foot against the wheel to slow down, as the brakes usually are the first thing to fail.Last week I had mentioned a study I had been told Sherwin had started, and I was going to take Eugene. It turned out it wasn’t a study. The man is a Seventh Day Adventist, and he had wanted to discuss our belief. Of course the thing he wanted to discuss was the Sabbath. We tried to reason with him on it, but he wasn’t really wanting to hear us, rather he wanted to explain to us why the Sabbath was so important to observe. After we got back to Eugene’s, he mentioned a few scriptures that he found that could have been used. I told him if he wanted to go back and try to share them, he was welcome to do so, and maybe the man would be more inclined to listen to him.I had asked about their view of the trinity, and he said that while Jesus and Jehovah we two different entities, they could do nothing apart from each other. I asked him if that were true, how was it Jesus could be referred to as ‘the only-begotten son? That title indicates that Jehovah had created Jesus all by himself. Obviously Jesus couldn’t have been there when Jehovah was creating him, so Jehovah had acted alone. Of course, he had no response to that.I have been working again to make territory maps showing each individual house, so that we will have a way to keep track of those who are not at home when we are working an area. As of now, they are just left until the next time we work that territory. Having accurate maps will serve two purposes. It will allow us to be more thorough in working the territory, and it will also slow down how quickly we are covering all our walking territory. Terri had recently mentioned that if we were able to get a vehicle, then instead of just Stephan and I being able to work some of the more distant territories, we could take a group out, and make a nice day of it. That also would allow those in the more distant territories to see someone other than just white people out in the preaching work. We will have to make it a matter of prayer, and see what Jehovah may do.The picture this week is of our newest student on the school, Sonia Scott, giving her first talk. Also, since all good serials need a little suspense to keep everyone coming back, I will mention that Sunday after the meeting, Stephan and I sat with another young person who has asked to be one the school. Rather than tell everyone who it was, I will just say, keep checking the blog and in a few weeks you may learn who it was. In the meantime, here’s hoping Jehovah’s continued blessings be with you. You are in our prayers.

Falls Top

As I had mentioned in my last post, for our first bike trip to the out-lying areas, we went to Falls Top. It gets its name from a series of rapids that are in a river that runs by it, and it is at the top of the rapids, so there actually are no falls. It was nice to each have a bike to travel on. We spent about six hours there and visited about twenty five houses. We had some very nice discussions there. At a government office overseeing mining operations in the region, I met a young man. I asked him where he was from, since most government workers are not from the area. He said he was from Piscataway, New Jersey. It turned out he was born in Guyana, but had lived for several years in New Jersey before returning to Guyana.I explained that we were there trying to help people learn more about the bible and God. I mentioned that one of the first steps in getting to know someone was learning their name, which he readily agreed to. So I asked him what God’s name was. He said, “God.” I explained that wasn’t a name, rather, was a title, much like he could be called man. I asked him if he was with a group of men and I just called out, “Man, hey, man.” Would he know who I was calling for. He said, “No.” I then explained that the bible says there are many gods, in fact, Satan is referred to as a god. So I said if we just were to cry out, “Oh God, help me.” How would God know who we were calling for. I told him the bible reveals his name, and showed him Ps. 83:18. He was impressed to learn that God had a name. I ended up placing a Bible Teach book with him, and since I pass right by on my way to Kaituma, I told him to start reading it, and I would come to see if he had any questions.After speaking with him, we went to a nearby shop and spoke to the shopkeeper. Since it seemed that many we had spoken to in the area didn’t know God’s name, I used a similar approach. While we were talking, the young man I had spoken to earlier came in. The shopkeeper was trying to say that God didn’t need a name since he was God. The young man jumped in and started reasoning with him that a name was needed since there were a number of god’s. And then he used the example of a man standing with a group of men, and the importance of knowing the man’s name. It was nice to see him using what he had just learned. I ended up meeting about four individuals I intend to stop back on when I travel to Kaituma. I also am going to speak to Caroline, since I’m sure that if she were to tell me that she was planning a trip to Matthew’s Ridge to come to the meeting, a number in Falls Top would be happy to be able to join the group. Tuesday I had walked out to call on a woman that Sherwin had started a study with. I told her I had come because Sherwin was gone now, but I would be happy to continue her study. I said I knew she wasn’t expecting me (in fact she had visitors), but I just want to set up a time to come back. She said, “Whenever you come is fine.” I said that wasn’t fair to her, rather we should agree on a day and time so she would be able to plan. We set up Thursday at 2 PM. So Thursday Terri and I went and had a nice study. It was nice to hear her ask some questions, prefacing them with the phrase, “I used to think –whatever--, but after speaking to Sherwin, I think that maybe that’s not right.” It showed that she thought about what she was being show, and was drawing proper conclusions about it.Saturday Stephan mentioned to me about a man they had met in service that afternoon who said that Sherwin had spoken to him and offered him a bible study, and when he had expressed interest, Sherwin had said he’d have someone get back to him. I told him since Eugene had been with him, I’d talk to Eugene about it when I had his study Sunday. Sunday at the study, Eugene mentioned it before I had a chance to ask him. I suggested that we walk over to the man’s house after the study so he could show me the way, and also so he could be there when arrangements were made, as I would like him to be able to go with me on the study. So we walked over and spoke to the man and arranged to return Tuesday afternoon. So between Sherwin and Krystal, I think I have picked up four more studies. The weather continues to improve. In fact, a few days ago when I was walking out to a study, a cruiser past me and I had to deal with dust. I’m hoping that this week’s trip to Kaituma will be problem free, since I want to be able to spend some time in Falls Top on my way back. However since it is full moon, we may end up with, as the locals call it, ‘rain from the moon’. We had in fact, gotten a fair amount of rain today (Monday), but I spoke to a driver of a bus this afternoon and he said it didn’t really affect the road.I had seen a great picture when we were working in Falls Top on Wednesday. Stephan was preaching to a whole group of women and children at a thatched-roof hut. But my camera was in my backpack, and there was no way I could get it out and discreetly get the picture. So instead I will include one I had spoken of earlier. I took it one morning on my way out to send and receive emails. It is a giant web covering the bushes along the way. I wonder what it is that could have made such a web.

Alone again

The weather here continues to improve, so much so that I decided to take my bike to Kaituma this last Wednesday. The road was fairly dry on the way there, but it is very rough. The big trucks have chunks of mud stick on their tires and so it leaves the road full of holes. When I reached Kaituma, I called Brother Baxter to see if they had come up as they had talked about. He answered his phone and said he was still in Kumaka, but three brothers had left for Kaituma. He mentioned they had gotten a late start and had left at 9:30. I made a few return visits after letting those who usually attend the study know that I was there. I also discussed our plans to have a couple of brothers come Saturday to give a talk and do the Watchtower. I asked what they thought would be the best time for the meeting. It was decided since many do their shopping Saturday morning, it would be best to hold the meeting at 1:00 PMI waited around by the waterfront until it was about time to go back for the study. I tried calling one of the brothers who was coming and they were close enough to Kaituma that he was getting cell service. I told him that I was going to be going to the study, but they could start preaching and when I was finished, I would call him to see where they were. I mentioned to him abut the talk Saturday, told him the title as well as the time and location, and encouraged them to invite everyone they talked to to come.During the study, it started to rain fairly hard. Just about the time the study was ending, my phone rang and it was the brother calling to see where I was. I told him I was just about finished and then I would catch up to them. He asked me where I was and I told him I was at ‘the floor’. He said that was where they were headed, so I could just wait there. After the study it was raining again, so I went to a nearby shop and talked to a woman there. I didn’t see them coming and then they phoned again to say they were stuck from the rain as they didn’t walk with umbrellas. It finally stopped raining and I was able to meet up with them for a short time. It was Rayburn Gomes, Shane Anthony, and Elroy Smith. The ride home on the bike was a challenge because of all the rain. The roadway was very wet, and therefore very slippery. I couldn’t go very fast at all, so it took me three hours to get home. The last half hour was in the dark, which made it that much more difficult, since everything looks different in the headlight.Saturday, Sherwin, Krystal, and Jared took a bus to Kaituma. They made calls in the morning and then went by Caroline’s shop and Jared gave a talk and Sherwin did the Watchtower. There were 15 in attendance. It was nice to hear that Sherwin’s sister came. She has never come to a study when I’ve been there. Afterwards, Sherwin stayed in Kaituma, from which he’s going on to Mabaruma, and Krystal and Jared took the bus back to Matthew’s Ridge. Jared mentioned that Sherwin asked him if he should just get back on the bus and come back with them. I think with a little encouragement he probably would have.Last week when I went out to try and do emails, I got hung up in some muddy ruts, and then shortly afterwards, I noticed I was getting a flat front tire. But this time I was carrying a tire pump, so I would pump up the tire then drive about ½ a mile and stop and pump up again. It was time consuming, but much better than trying to push it home.Stephan returned on Thursday. I asked him how the boat ride had been and he said it wasn’t that bad. I asked if that meant he hadn’t gotten seasick, and he said, “Well, I’m not saying that, but I took the medicine before I left so it wasn’t so bad.” I asked him if that meant he hadn’t thrown up, and he said, “Not exactly”. But he said he would definitely do it again. So now he has a bike as well. I think this week we will drive to Fallstop. It’s about halfway to Kaituma, and hasn’t been worked other than the shops right by the road.Krysal and Jared left Monday morning. Krystal had been here two months so she leaves quite a void behind. The place seems different with her gone. On a positive note, I was able to finally finish the little dresser I had made in guest room once she was gone. It has three drawers, and I had only completed two before she arrived. So whoever comes next will have a completed dresser to use. As of now, there are no arrangements for a next visitor, but as Krystal showed, that can change quickly (although not so quickly due to the limited communication from here).Speaking of positive notes; Saturday at the Service Meeting it was announced that we have a new Ministerial Servant, Stephan Johnsen. I mentioned to him that he is one step closer to his goal (to attend Ministerial Training School). He smiled and said, “The clock is ticking!” (You need to have served as a Ministerial Servant two years before you can apply to MTS,)On a less than positive note; I had checked with the branch to see why we have not received any literature that has been ordered, or any magazines coming directly to Matthew’s Ridge. Everything we have gotten has either been sent over from Barimita or had originally been marked for Port Kaituma. I was told that we still hadn’t been issued a congregation number, so no orders can be processed. That may create a bit of a bind, since we are starting a new book in the Congregation Bible Study soon, and many here don’t have that book, since it’s new this year. But I’m sure something will work out.This week’s picture is of the meeting in Port Kaituma.

Aletha's Entry

I'm really slow in posting my own entry. I stayed with Jim and Terri in Guyana for 7 weeks in the months of October and November. I'm posting some of my favorite pictures taken during my trip. I loved the entire experience. I traveled down there on my own. I was a bit nervous about that in the beginning but it turned out to be fine. I enjoyed being able to meet Gary. When in Georgetown, I stayed with Sister Scott and her daughter Oneka. They are all wonderful. I loved personally seeing the closeness of Jehovah's organization worldwide. I was constantly meeting more witnesses that I instantly felt comfortable with. This trip also gave me more confidence. I am definately going back. I can't wait to see all my new found friends in Matthew's Ridge and Georgetown again. I encourage everyone who has the opportunity to make the trip to Guyana, to do so, as the experience was well worth it. One word of advice: Stay away from Terri's dish towels!
To explain the pictures: The first one is actually taken over my tackroom door in my barn. It was the sign that the guys made that welcomed me to Matthew's Ridge when I arrived at the air strip. As you can see, word about my love for horses travels worldwide.
The second is a picture of Me, Hannah, Cameron and Chian waiting for the plane ride into Matthew's Ridge.
The third is a picture of Terri trying to cut open a coconut by herself.
The fourth is a picture of me at Shandrena's before a study.
The fifth is Mary, Terri and Stephaney while in service.

'Visitors, both expected and unexpected'

Wednesday afternoon I was sitting outside the house reading a book when I heard a vehicle stop out front. I looked over a saw a bus parked in front, so I got up to walk to the front to see what was going on. As I was walking over, I saw Sherwin Gordon walking up the steps. He had originally been in Kaituma, but when the Donlans left Kaituma, rather than be there alone, he had gone to Mabaruma. More recently he had been in Georgetown. He said that he had returned for a visit to Kaituma and then was going to be going back to stay in Mabaruma, but thought he’d first come for a visit to Matthew’s Ridge.He had been here for a couple of weeks while the building was being built, but he hadn’t seen it completed. He asked where Stephan was, and was surprised and a little disappointed when he learned he was away. Thursday in normally a off day for me, but he mentioned that he was hoping to spend some time preaching, so we went out and worked some outlying areas since he said he enjoyed walking. We ended up finding only one place with people at home, but were able to have a nice discussion with the one we did find home.Friday morning, Krystal and I went to the airstrip to await the arrival of Jared. Due to the morning fog (not rain), the plane was delayed, but he did arrive about 45 minutes late. It was nice because while we were waiting, a man approached me and asked if I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was at the airstrip hoping to get a lift across to Barimita. He mentioned he studies there, so we had a nice discussion while we were waiting. I told him I hoped to make it across, in fact I was definitely going to be there for the Special Assembly Day, May 10th. When we got back from the airstrip, everyone grabbed a quick bite and went off on studies. I took Sherwin with me and we had four studies. Three of mine, plus I did one of Stephan’s. Saturday’s meeting was nice. I had originally planned on having Jared just do the parts that had been assigned to Stephan, but with the addition of Sherwin, everyone had a reduced load. I had first met Sherwin when we were in Kaituma five years ago. He was just starting to come to the meetings and struggling with his limited education. Since then, he has gotten baptized and has been serving as a regular pioneer for over a year. There were times while the Dolan’s were back in Ireland, that he had had to do the meetings all by himself, and the experience really has contributed to his excellent spiritual development. He actually left school early to devote his time to the ministry, but he has progressed way beyond what the schools here could have done for him.We had our first Saturday afternoon meeting for Service since we adjusted the meeting schedule. Previously we had met a 9:30 on Saturdays. We had announced the new arrangement last week and mentioned that if some wanted to, they could bring a light snack with them to the meeting Saturdays, to have after the meeting, before going out in the ministry, but I didn’t see anyone other than us worrying about eating after the meeting. It was nice to see 100% participation, including our newest addition, Sonia Scott. You may recall that she recently had enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School. Saturday and Sunday have both been dry so the mud is starting to dry up a little. It has really made cleaning the floor of the Kingdom Hall much easier. Jared gave the talk Sunday, I did the Watchtower, and Sherwin read for me. We had 56 in attendance, including Doris’ husband. There was also a young man who had come a couple of weeks ago with his father, but I hadn’t seen either since then. I had told myself when I saw him there, that I was going to see if he wanted a bible study. But after the meeting I got distracted and then remembered, but when I looked around he had already gone. I went outside hoping that I might see him and found Sherwin already talking to him about a study, so I will see how it goes with Sherwin, and then either Stephan or I can continue it if it seems promising. Sherwin would be such an asset here at Matthew’s Ridge, unfortunately there is no work for him here. When he goes to Mabaruma, he will be working part-time for Brother Baxter in his lumber mill. He will do well there, it’s just his involvement here would help to start overcoming the objection that some try to raise here, that this is a “white man’s church”. The same had been true in Mabaruma, but now there are no white people there.Last night, we were discussing the arrangements for Monday. We were figuring who would go with who when we walked out to our far studies. Krystal had mentioned that Jared could go to one of the studies and then next week, he could go to the other one. I had to remind her that this would be the last time she would be walking out to those studies. That realization kind of came as a shock to her. She has mentioned she is not looking forward to having to leave. After the Sunday meeting, she mentioned a young girl approached her and said she would really like Krystal to study with her. She had to tell her that she was going to be leaving, so she wouldn’t be able to do that. Truly the words ring true here, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few.” I had recently received an email from a couple in British Columbia (as in Canada) who had come across the blog while trying to find information on Kingdom Halls in Guyana. They are considering coming to Guyana to assist in the preaching work. They thanked me for maintaining the site. As I have mentioned before, it makes me feel good to know that people are enjoying and benefiting from this journal.This week’s picture is another group shot. It is of everyone going out in service Saturday afternoon. Sonia is in the front with Doris, then Mary, with Stephanie and Eugene behind her. In the back, from left to right are, Terri, Krystal, Jared, and Sherwin.

Mario

Communication continues to be a challenge. I had written this Sunday evening, anticipating driving out Monday morning to send it out along with the other emails, as well as receive whatever was waiting for us. The road was quite bad, about as bad as I had ever seen it. I arrived and set up my equipment, but was unable to make the connection. I was surprised as the sky was quite clear. I’m assuming that there was heavy weather between Kaituma and Georgetown. I stayed out trying for almost an hour before giving up and returning so we could go on our studies. Monday is our longest walk. Mario, Krystal, and I walked out. We left Krystal at Patricia’s, and she studied with her and Regina since Stephan had left. Mario and I walked on to Michael’s and then afterwards returned to Patricia’s to have a study with her ‘man’, or more correctly ‘boy’.I’m not sure whether I will try again tomorrow (Wednesday) or wait until Thursday. It’s tough driving out for forty minutes over a muddy nasty road, all the while not knowing if you are wasting your time. What follows is my original post for Monday. Another week has passed us by. This was my week to go to Port Kaituma. I had told myself if it had not rained any from Tuesday afternoon, until Wednesday morning when I was ready to go, I would take the bike. However, it rained in the night, so I went in a cruiser. It was nice, I got to ride in the front. At one point I remarked to the driver that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We got to Kaituma about 10:00 AM. I thought I would try and do my emails early before the weather interfered with the signal between there and Georgetown. But when I tried to get online, I wasn’t able. I checked several times during the day, never with any success, so that was a disappointment.When I had gone out last Monday to where we can get signal, I called Brother Baxter in Mabaruma. He mentioned that he had been trying to contact me because he and a brother who was visiting from the states had wanted to come to spend some time in Matthew’s Ridge. But since they hadn’t been able to reach us, they had cancelled their trip. I told him that in the future, he should just come, because no matter what, we would be able to make room for visitors. He said he wouldn’t be able to come now until sometime in February, but the other brother might still try to come. He also mentioned that they were planning a trip to Kaituma on Wednesday.So when I got to Kaituma I gave a call to him to see if he had made it to Kaituma (the phone worked, just the data signal wouldn’t work). He said he was still in Kumaka, and the trip had been cancelled since Alex who was supposed to drive the boat had had to return to Georgetown that morning on the steamer. He mentioned that the brother was with him and was going to get a boat to travel up on his own. I told the brother to give me a call when he got to Kaituma.I then went and visited some of the women there in Kaituma. I had seen Monica at the waterfront when I first arrived. She asked about the study. I told her it was at Caroline’s at noon. She said she was going to come. There were four women at the study, Caroline, Juliet, Sharon, and Monica. I mentioned that in a couple of weeks there might be a number of brothers visiting and we might try to have a couple come to Kaituma on Sunday to give a meeting. Caroline mentioned to Stephan that it is hard getting others to come to a meeting in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. We will see what happens.About the time the study was over, my phone rang and it was the brother letting me know he had arrived. I told him just to wait there and I would come and get him. I went back to the waterfront and the driver told me he would be leaving in about half an hour. I found the brother, his name is Mario Giannotti he is from Chico, California. I told him that we would be leaving shortly and I was going to run around and do some shopping. It started to rain and we were going to be riding in the back of the truck, so I asked him if he had any rain gear and fortunately he did. We ended up sitting on top of a load of cargo at the back of the truck, facing backwards. We stopped after about an hour when we were at about the halfway point. I looked at the shop sitting beside the truck and I thought the truck was sliding into the ditch. Then I looked behind us and it looked like everything was coming at us. I said something to Mario about it and he said that made him feel better because he thought he was hallucinating. We finally arrived safe but sore from riding on a hard board for over two hours over rough road.Mario is staying with us until Tuesday when he will travel back to Kaituma and then on to Mabaruma. At the end of the week he goes back to Georgetown and then back to the states where he will spend a month working at Wallkill before returning to California. He has been in Mabaruma for about two months. He gave the talk this week here at Matthew’s Ridge. In spite of the rain, we had 72 at the meeting. He got to experience having to just about shout to be heard over the sound of the rain on the metal roof (we either need a ceiling, or a sound system).Stephan is leaving tomorrow for Georgetown where he is planning on purchasing a motorbike so we can reach some of the more remote areas when the weather clears. He will be returning with the next steamer the end of the month. It works out well though, because Jared is arriving Friday, so he will be here to help with the meetings.The other big news here recently is ‘chiggers’ It’s not like the little biting flies back in the states. It’s some kind of critter that burrows into your skin and then lays its eggs. They usually show up on, or rather in, your feet. I think I have had one in all the time I have been in Guyana. Stephan had mentioned he had been here almost a year without getting one. Well this last week I have had about ten taken out of my feet (and one from my pinky finger) and Stephan has had about six. We aren’t sure why the rash of them as of late. I suspect we picked them up last week when we were working cutting boards under the house. We don’t have any dogs, but there are always neighborhood dogs avoiding the rain by being under the house. Once you dig them out they clear up with no problem. Mario mentioned he has had to remove several while he has been in Mabaruma.It is difficult some weeks to have to choose a picture to put up. There were several to have to pick from. Recently when I drove out to do emails, there was a huge spider web in the bushes along side the road and with the dew and the sun, it was really cool looking. I parked the bike in front of it to give it a little more perspective. I also took a picture of the group at the study in Kaituma. But visitors always take precedent and since Mario will be leaving Tuesday I am putting up a picture so all can see he really was here. I did it as a group picture for all the other moms, dads, and friends.