"Is it really worth it?"

Hello Everyone,

The boat with the plank & dead sheep

How are you?  As we took shelter from the rain and wind, watching the boat we were going to spend the next 6 hours on being tossed by the waves, rocking back and forth like a giant was playing with it, that was the question that crossed my mind.  Is it really worth it?  To board the boat you actually had to walk the plank.  There was a piece of wood laying from the concrete on land to the boat.  You had to walk it as the boat tossed to and fro.  Oh, and the bonus, in the water below the plank, a floating dead sheep.  Don't fall.  At least you would have a flotation device.  And as it was Ashtyn's turn to go, a large spider appeared at the top rim of the boat. Let's just say we're happy she's still here to talk about it. We all made it on safe.  Wet and anxious, yes, but hoping it would get better, and it did.  The rain stopped, and once we got out from land, the water was super calm.  Just 6 hours in a hammock, slipping in and out of sleep watching the jungle scenery pass us by.

Once we arrived, we stayed at the house behind the Kingdom Hall.  Some friends of ours live there, Travis & Kristian, along with a local sister and her daughter, Shereen & Phoebe.  The house is actually the local sister's home, but friends stay there all the time.  We had a great time with all of them.  Phoebe is 3 years old, so cute and smart.  She had us all laughing.  She even gave me licks a few times.

The picture doesn't do it justice

Saturday morning we got to see what Orealla looks like.  In a word, beautiful.  The village is built on a hill.  If you go to the top of the hill you have amazing views.  It just happened that is where we worked in the Ministry.  Ministry was fun.  Orealla is an Amerindian village.  Most Amerindians are hard working humble people, easy to share Bible thoughts with.  After service and Bible studies, we cleaned the Kingdom Hall.  I attempted to cut the grass the Guyanese way, with a machete.  I failed.  At least the brothers and sisters got a good laugh at watching me attempt to do it.

Sunday, we had meeting.  The Congregation has 11 publishers, but we had 40 at meeting.  Including a old uncle that is blind and can't walk to well.  A brother brought him to the Kingdom Hall in a wheelbarrow.  What an example of appreciating Spiritual things!  The friends are all so kind and appreciative.  One brother has a farm and brought some amazingly juicy and sweet watermelons.  After meeting, Jaide and Ashtyn did some studies and I, well I went fishing.  They have peacock bass.  I have always wanted to catch one.  It didn't happen.  But we did see a anaconda's head.  Not a big one, Travis and I tried to lift it out with sticks, but he escaped.    

Now, coming to Orealla the boat was not crowded at all.  But on the way home, that was a different story.  I think Jaide described it best.  She said she felt "like a refugee on a boat."  We were packed in there like sardines, tarps covering the sides as if they are hiding us.  Jaide and Ashtyn had people touching them on 3 sides of them at least.  Right, left and on top.  Jaide had some dude's and Ashtyn's feet in her face, and Ashtyn had some guy right on top of her.  The worst was when we hit some rough water and the hammocks went swaying, knocking us into each other, like balls on a pendulum.  One guy was swinging so hard I thought he would fly out.  Good thing Jaide's hip broke his swing. I had to hang my hammock on the bottom.  But, I still had people and luggage all around me.  Funny thing about hammocks, the longer your're in it, the more it stretches.  So, by the end of the trip, the girls and the people around them were one big lump of hammocks.  And I was laying on the ground. I thought about getting up and tightening my hammock but I couldn't stand up because someone was right above and there were people sleeping on the ground all around me.  We boarded the boat around 8pm, left the dock a little after 9pm and didn't arrive until 5am.  I felt like a hot dog inside of a hot dog bun by the end of the trip.  I just wanted to get out of the hammock.

Is it really worth it?  Absolutely!  Would we do it again?  Absolutely!  Its great to experience the love in Jehovah's Organization. Doesn't matter where you go on earth, from the biggest city to a small village in a rain forest in Guyana, you have family that love you.  Beautiful!

Love,

G&J

Sorry, no Miracle Healings

Hello Everyone,

How's it going?  We are doing good.  We are headed off to a village named Orealla today.  We go to Skeldon, then take a 6 hour boat ride up a river into the interior of Guyana.  On the boat ride you hang your hammocks and lay in them.  Now, I hear it is important to arrive early so you can hang your hammock high.  You don't want any one above you.  Why?  How can I put this nicely, hammocks don't mask the odor when someone passes gas.  I have heard stories of friends who went to Orealla and had a low hammock and the array of smells they endured.

Last Sunday was our zone visit.  You see, all the branches of of Jehovah's Witnesses in the world get a visit every year to encourage us. All the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses were invited.  There are a little over 2,500 Witnesses in Guyana.  But, at the Zone visit we had over 5,000, including 60 deaf.  We learned that there are 11 deaf publishers and 6 baptized deaf in Guyana.  The visit was held out a outdoor cricket stadium.  It only has some areas covered with an overhang.  Now, before going, my concern was how hot it would be with the sun beating down on us, I didn't even think about the possibility of rain until the night before.  Guess what?  It rained on us.  No one left. Some moved and stood up top under the canopy, but everyone stayed.  You could feel the air turn cool and see the rain approaching.  As it got close, everyone opened their umbrellas.  It was a sea of umbrellas, opening and closing, almost on tune. Sometimes, we couldn't see anything, but still could hear.  Of course still got a little wet, but had a great time.  We saw some old friends we had not seen in 3 years.  On the way home, a quick stop at KFC for some ice cream, then on the road again.  

Its pretty funny how often people think we trying to meet deaf people to perform a miracle.  As we search, time and again people say, "You are trying to meet deaf people, why?  You going to heal them?"  You see, "miracle healings", are a big thing in Guyana.  Many people claim they have been miraculously cured of a hodgepodge of ailments.  You see Churchs advertising "miracle services."  People even leave Hinduism and Islam because a Christian Church healed them of something.  So when they ask, I should start telling them, "For us to teach someone the Bible who has no language, and at the same time teach them a language, that will take a miracle."  

Guyanese word of the day:  See picture.  

Love,

G&J 

Are you a real white guy?

Hello Everyone,

How are you?  The weeks just keep flying by.  I can tell that February will be gone before we know it.  Tomorrow, all the congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses are invited to the zone visit.  This is the first time I have ever been to one.  We found out a couple weeks ago that the Guyana branch is closing.  Guyana is now going to be under the supervision of Trinidad.  That means this is the last zone visit in Guyana.  Our congregation has arranged for 3 buses to take us all up to the stadium.  We have to leave early, but it will be fun.

Thursday, during meeting we had a black out (power went out).  That is not all that unusual.  Everyone knows the routine.  Flashlights come out, a couple brothers start working on getting the lantern going.  What made this night unique, was the amount of small gnats that were attracted to the flashlights.  So for us giving talks, that meant we got a little snack. As I was giving a talk, I had to use a flashlight to see my notes and scriptures.  This attracted a swarm of gnats.  As you can imagine, you have to open your mouth to speak, and in they go.  You take a breath in, in they go.  After 10 minutes of swatting, snorting, coughing and spiting, my talk was done.  The gnats didn't taste bad.  Plus as one brother noted, "a little extra protein."  That may explain why I wasn't starving after meeting.  After my talk I did have to go outside to try dislodge one that somehow had got stuck in my throat.

Yesterday, I was waiting to meet Jaide and Ashtyn.  School had just finished, so a great mass of students were walking by, when one young boy walked over to me and said, "Please excuse, are you a real white guy?"  To which I replied, "Yes, I am a real white guy."  He scampered off to his friends.  A few minutes later he came back with a friend and told him, "go ahead, ask."  I could tell his friend was nervous, so I said, "Yes, I am a real white guy."  To which the boy told his friend, "See, I told you."  See, I told you?  I didn't realize my tan was so amazing!  I am finally becoming Guyanese.  Now if only I could master the accent and Creole vocabulary, no one would ever know where I am from.  My plan is ahead of schedule.

The first picture is of laundry day.  The second is the Kingdom Hall's bathroom.  It is very green.  In fact, this toilet uses no water.  We are going green here in Guyana.

Guyanese word of the day: torch light.  Translation:  flash light.  I can't remember if I had done that one before, so if I have sorry.

Love,

G&J

The world's most perfect dessert, the Mcflurry.

Hello Everyone,

Whats going on?  We have had a busy week.  I will start with the full sign language meeting on Sunday Jan 30.  We had made arrangements for a bus and we actually had almost a bus full going, including 7 deaf.  A couple hours before we were to leave to go pick everyone up, the bus driver cancels on us.  Its too late to hire someone else because they need passes to cross bus routes.  So with a little frustration, scrambling and sweat, we got everyone there.  And, it was completely worth it!  There was 66 in attendance, 35 of which were deaf.  We believe it was the first time that deaf outnumbered hearing.  My top 2 moments came after the meeting.  First, Renny, the Bible student from the last email, kept telling me how beautiful the meeting was.  He signed to me, "The meeting in Rosignol (where we interpret) is okay, but this meeting, this is beautiful.  This is better."  Second, as we were waiting for the bus to pick us up to take everyone home, all our deaf Bible students started chatting with each other.  Now, maybe you think, "so, whats the big deal?"  It's a big deal because they normally do not sign to one another.  They just sit quietly on bus and smile to one another.  Now, they were chatting! Even the hard of hearing ones that we have been struggling to try to teach the concept of signing, were signing away.  Hopefully it helps them to understand the need to learn sign language.

Suriname Branch Office of Jehovah's Witnesses

Then, it was off to Paramaribo, Suriname! We visited the Branch Office of Jehovah's Witnesses. They have about 50 volunteers.  They were all very inviting and welcomed us back. We were invited for lunch, so we were able to meet many brothers and sisters.  Thankfully, they are could speak English for us. They work hard translating into a few local languages, including Surinamese Sign Language.

We also went to the Sign Language meeting. Even though, it was a different sign language for us, we understood most of the meeting, except the part when the brother introduced us.  All of the sudden, our faces were on the TV.  I panicked a little bit, but then Graem caught on that he was asking us for our names.  Whew!! good thing Graem saved us!  Again, the friends were very loving and welcomed us back.  The Deaf understood our signing quite well and were very friendly.  Afterwards, a brother took us out to Javanese food.  Delicious!

Looking crazy at McDonald's

Basically, we ate our way through Suriname.  We had McDonald's, Chinese food, Suriname ice cream and beer, and sandwiches! We had coffee and tiramisu at real coffee shops!  I don't eat McDonald's, but I have to say I was oddly very excited to step foot into one.  There is something about it that brings me back home. Okay, I admit, Mcflurries are pretty fantastic.

Killing of the spider

Upon arrival home we were greeted by a large spider.  I (Graem), was putting my clothes away when something moved in the suitcase where I keep my clothes.  There it was, the biggest spider I have ever seen.  Plus, she had this huge egg sack attached to her.  After a brief grossed out dance, I grabbed the can of bug spray to put an end to this.  Ashtyn and Jaide wanted to see it and get a picture.  Well long story short, Ashtyn is in the living room dry heaving (she is deathly afraid of spiders, and seeing it caused this reaction), Jaide is snapping photos like a paparazzi and I am emptying a can of bug spray on it trying to kill it.  Graem: 1, spider: dead.

Love,
G&J