All's Well That Ends Well

As my second Guyana trip draws to a close, I feel as if I should impart some wise, encouraging words to you all.

But nothing comes to mind. So instead, here is what comes to mind....

To start, I am quite fond of that Caribbean style of homes. In particular, the paint jobs.

This was in Bush Lot, one of the largest villages in our territory. It has a great variety of houses, yards, and such. As an example, here's a house not too far from this one.

This country has some of the best bridges... some of them are downright frightening trying to cross. Typically not, but there are always exceptions.

Bush Lot is a village nearby our Kingdom Hall, a short walking distance. This is nice because Bush Lot has some excellent snackettes and restaurants. So just in case you're going in service Sunday afternoon and have forgotten lunch, it's always an alternative.

Due to it's close proximity to the hall, most people reserve Sunday afternoons as a time to go on calls and studies in Bush Lot. I've gotten into the habit of going in service with Shaun Sarjoo, both door-to-door, then on our calls. We usually get in a brief visit to a Chinese restaurant called Dabit Young.

This picture above is from a study Shaun did last Sunday. This boy (whose name escapes me at the moment..... AAGGH!) has difficulty with reading, so Shaun is attempting to not only study the Bible, but also teach him to read. And let me just say, I was blown away. When we first got there, the boy couldn't recognize his own name. After half an hour, Shaun had him reading entire sentences.


One aspect of service that's different here (aside from all territory being door-to-door preaching), there is no such thing as a "Coffee break". Instead, we have "a five". Since it's all walking, there'll usually be at least two occasions per morning where the whole group gathers together somewhere there's shade, and sits down. If anyone's too tired, they'll take this opportunity to head home, or to get on a bus and go on calls/studies instead.

Taking a five very late in the day. Hence there being so few people. At the start of the morning, there's about three or four times this many in service.

Actually, that's another strange thing. Guyana is not hot. The air is very cool from the constant ocean breeze. The problem is the sun, which is very intense. So you just sit in the shade (as seen above) and it is, quite literally, instant relief. Because of this, shade is not called shade. The name for it is "cool". As in:
"Too heaty today. Let's go sit in the cool."

(Yes, Heaty. Like the hot version of chilly.)


In other news, Hopetown had a new couple move in. Due to this, we now have three people named Joshua in the hall.

From left to right: Joshua Persaud (or Josh #1), Joshua Westfall (Josh #3), and Joshua Taharjit (Josh #2).
Sometimes, depending on who's giving the talk, and whether he can remember last names or not, we have been called on like this: "Brother Josh 1... you had a comment?"



So, on to recent events. I must say, this past week has probably been the best week I've had during this trip. Here's the breakdown:

SATURDAY: Field service from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Most of the day was spent going to calls and telling them I'm leaving, be back soon, etc. Especially though, asking if they wanted me to find someone else to call on them while I'm gone. I'm glad to say that I was successfully able to find someone to go back to all my studies, and most of my magazine calls.

When we got back home from service, it turned out that there was a party waiting for us. Since I'm leaving Thursday morning, December 1st and Micaiah's leaving Friday, December 16th, they had a going-away party for the both of us. In our house. It was..... interesting.

Bible pictionary is surprisingly popular here.


SUNDAY:
On Sunday, I thought it was about time I visited Brighton again (plus I had a few things to give back to some people....). It turned out, Elder School is starting this week (today actually) and class is being held in Brighton congregation, so after the meeting they asked that people stay behind to help clean the hall as thoroughly as they could. This included taking out all the chairs, sweeping and dusting everything, then mopping. After work was done, I made rounds to various friends in the congregation, just to tell them my plans (leaving Thursday, coming back, hopefully, pretty soon...).

After getting back home, I kinda just settled in, when I heard calling outside the house. I go out to look, and there's Linel Brown standing outside. In case you don't recall, Linel Brown was one of our elders in Hopetown before getting reassigned to a congregation called Wakenaam, then reassigned again to a Georgetown congregation. This particular day, he was on his way to Brighton for the elder school. Riding with him he had a brother from Lethem named Jordan Harrison (see previous post: http://nutso42.blogspot.com/2011/03/part-2-special-assembly-and-some-fun.html). They came in for a little while, we talked a bit, then they moved on.

MONDAY:
Monday morning, we went to a beach. Admittedly, I'm not terribly fond of going to the beach, at least not very often. Except this time was different. This time, we found a refrigerator door!

The wonderful thing about refrigerator doors, or this one in particular, is that it floats! Not only that, but the tide was coming in while we were there, and coming in fast.

Surfing on a fridge door.... it's now one of the funnest things I've ever done. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken a camera, so no pics of it.

That evening, we went to a families house for dinner/card games. They'd invited a few others, so there was about twelve people total. It was a classic game night setup.



So that's what's been up. Now I'm just passing time until Wednesday night when I head for the airport.

Once again, I feel as if I should impart some wise, encouraging words to you all. But I've got nothing.
 I will say, as much as I hate leaving Guyana, it is made much easier knowing how many people I'll be able to see when I get back to Ohio.

And, of course, the snow. Must never forget the snow......