Fun in the sun!

Today was our last Sunday meeting. We had 5 deaf in attendance.  That is the most we have come to the meeting here in Rosignol.  It was very nice to see them all there.  All of them have made such good progress in the ten months that we have been here.

Looking back over the ten months, the friends in the sign language group that come over on Wednesday, along with us, have met 31 new deaf.  Awesome!  To see their progress in understanding Bible truths and in learning sign language, makes all the sacrifices and hard times worth while.

Also, we finally saw a beach and ocean in Guyana.  This is our third time in Guyana and we had never seen the ocean here.  Last Wednesday, we saw the beach!  Picture the most beautiful white sand beach, with electric blue water.  Now, picture the opposite of that, and you have the beach and ocean in Guyana.  Due to the huge, dirt brown rivers that dump into the ocean in Guyana the ocean is dirt brown, and so are the beaches.  At least the beach we went to did not have a lot of litter.  It was still nice and relaxing to go at see it.

 Love,
G & J

Thanks for the ice cream!

Hello Everyone,

Whats going on?  How ten months have flown by!  In a little over a week we will be heading home.  Crazy!  Some of our friends in the sign language group in New Amsterdam had a going away dinner for us.  In typical Guyanese fashion, we were made to feel embarrassed and self conscious.  Our dear friend, Kortel, you could say took the lead in this.  He asked everyone to tell us something the appreciate about us or if they want to thank us for anything.  The volunteers did not come fast, so he started calling on people to speak.  All the friends were very sweet and kind in their words.  Finally, I wanted to say something to them all.  Honestly, I almost cried.  I had to fight back tears as I expressed for Jaide and myself how much we appreciate them.  How we have learned so much from them, and pray they continue to help the deaf.  One of the hardest part of coming to an area that needs help, is that you form good friendships.  They become your family.  Saying thank you and goodbye, hard.  We don't know when we will see these wonderful friends again.  Our favorite comments came from Anthony and Sharon.  Both of them are deaf.  Anthony related, "Before the two of us preached together.  We talked, laughed, it was fun.  Then you bought me ice cream.  Thank you."  Next, Sharon said, "Before, on Wednesday we preached together.  I enjoyed it.  Then we got ice cream.  Thank you."  It seems our friends' favorite memory of us involve ice cream.  We do love getting ice cream.  It really helps on those long days as the heat beats down on you.  It broke our hearts as a few of the deaf would ask us, "We love you.  You fly back to the States, why?"  Their faces full of hurt and sadness.  We will always treasure our time with all of them.

This past week was Circuit Overseer visit.  We really enjoyed our time with Shannon & Rosalia Rainey.  Super couple.  Gilead graduates, that have been in Guyana 6 years now.

Guyanese word of the day:  Look! or Hello!(pronounced ello)  Here in Guyana when you want someones attention its what you yell.

Love,
G&J