The cha cha slide

Hello Everyone,

The cha cha slide

How are things?  We are doing good.  Sunday night we went to a going away party for a missionary couple that are moving to a new assignment on the other side of Guyana.  It was a fun gathering.  Good food, fun games, laughter and of course, the cha cha slide.  You see, it wouldn't be a Guyanese Witness party without the cha cha slide.  "What is the cha cha slide?  You ask.  Its a song/dance.  The song basically is a man talking over music and telling you what dance move to do.  The dance is like an electric slide of sorts.  How many times did they play the cha cha slide Sunday night?  Three times!  Thats right, the cha cha slide song was played three times.  I will be honest, I danced it two times.  And coming in second for the most played song of the night was Shakira's "Waka Waka."  This song is hugely popular in Guyana.  When we first arrived it was playing everywhere.  People had Waka Waka written on everything.  I tried to do the dance for it like everyone else, but my hips do not move like Shakira's.

Don't be fooled by his cuteness, he wanted to bite me

Yesterday, we spent most of the day at a wonderful couples house, Tom and Michele Sanches.  They are former Missionaries that are currently serving in Guyana on their own.  Tom is like the modern day Apostle Paul.  He goes on there preaching trips into the interior of Guyana, reaching villages that have never had a Jehovah's Witness visit before.  He has gone to 37 different villages.  He trips last from 2 weeks to a month.  He was telling us about his last trip.  All the other brothers that were going to go with him couldn't make it for one reason or another.  So Tom went at it alone.  He took 2 changes of clothes, a hammock, bug net, bleach for water, some toiletry things and boxes of literature.  Thats it!  No food, no water.  Now, for you who have been to Guyana you know how traveling around the Country can be a pain.  Smelly, cramped. uncomfortable, time consuming, leaving you exhausted.  And that is just around the developed areas.  Well Tom is going deep into the bush.  He planned on using a motorcycle but after a day, he realized the roads were far to bad.  What was he going to do?  Deep in the interior there is not a steady route of transportation.  Plus, to travel village to village is expensive, averaging $50-$100 US per trip.  What was he to do?  Jehovah provided.  People gave him free rides all along the way.  Now that $50 fare gets you what?  A spot on an ATV(quad) with 4 other people and supplies.  Travel was not easy.  A 30 hour boat ride, later a 17 hour boat ride, 5 hour plus ATV rides crowded with people and supplies and bush truck trips riding in the back with tanks of Gasoline.  He also had to help push vehicles and get them unstuck.  One time he went three days with no food.  Two times, a two day period with no food.  But he reached all this villages and found people who never heard of Jehovah God.  People thirsting for spiritual truths.  Awesome experiences!

Guyanese expression of the day: just now.  This is probably one of the most common expression you will hear in Guyana. When someone tells you "just now", you know it could be any where from 5 minutes to hours, even days at times.  So when someone tells you, "he'll be back just now."  Don't hold your breath.

Love,
G&J