Orealla Dedication

Weesa back! Thanks to a handy dandy new phone, I can now get internet 24/7 in my home in Orealla. I can also set up a wireless hotspot which allows me to use my laptop, which is much much easier to type on (not to mention uploading pictures is easier too)!

There is a limit on the amount of data I can use, so video conferencing is probably out of the question, but e-mailing and Gmail chat and all that is totally doable.

But anyway, you didn't come here to read about my phone (or maybe you did, who knows?). Obviously the thing you're asking is "So what about the Dedication you were talking about last time??" Well, you will be happy to know I have gobs and gobs of pictures and stories to share about it. Let's begin with the guests, shall we?

First was of course the C.O. couple we had, Walter and Shawn West. They are Jamaican Gilead graduates, served and the Guyana branch while it was in operation, and were in the District work until we came under the Trinidad branch.

Next set of guests in our house was Joshua and Dian Dorris. Interesting backstory to them, Joshua was the first friend I ever made in Guyana (I mean, aside from Tom and Michelle, Mike and Lara, etc. He was the first Guyanese friend I made in Guyana). Shortly after that, I met Dian when I went to Fyrish with Micaiah, and afterward I went out in service with her. A while after that, they got married, and so it was a neat experience seeing them both again, and having them staying with us in our house.

(Joshua and Dian are the ones that are not small children)


They also had a few others from Fyrish who came along with them. There were so many people that weekend that they wound up having to sleep on the floor of the Kingdom Hall. I've included a photo simply for the awwww factor.

Joshua and his crew were very popular at the Dedication. Many years ago Joshua had been assigned to Orealla, so almost all the village knows him and were very excited for his return. Another brother who was in very high demand for this event was Jethro Rübenhagen. He was heavily involved in the preaching work there in the 1980's and 90's, and was also integral in the building of the first Orealla Kingdom Hall (seen in the 2005 Yearbook, actually!)

You see, Orealla was for a long time under the Suriname branch, so when the preaching work first opened up here, missionaries from Suriname are the ones who were sent in. You can read more about it in the 1990 Yearbook about Suriname. Yes, there is in fact a substantial section about Orealla in the Yearbook about Suriname. It's amazing. Read it.

Anyway, here's a picture of Jethro along with a local brother named Mark Herman.

And pretty much the whole Suriname bunch that came in for the program!!

After the program was over and it was time for the Suriname crew to head home, everyone gathered along with coastline to say goodbye to them as they left.

Of course, that wasn't the end of our week. This was a Saturday, so Sunday morning we still had the rest of the Circuit Overseer visit. In attendance we had.... uh, I really have no idea. Here was the crowd there.

Bear in mind we have 27 publishers.

And that was the exciting stuff then. Since that week, there's been a few other things that are of interest, but I'll save them for next time. One of the things I'll be covering is a new pseudo-roommate. He'll  be here for two weeks, but I have yet to get a picture of him. So as I said, next time.