Mahaicony Trip

I was looking at the response from the poll "What Would Make This Blog Better?", and I noticed practically every voter asked for "More Carrots" (It would seem there are some very strange people reading this blog). Well, your wish is my command!

Now, before I begin, the first thing I should point out is that Mahaicony is pronounced MY-CONE-EE. I have no idea why the spelling has so many extra syllables.

But anyway, Mahaicony is a neighboring (ish) congregation to us (there's Hopetown, next to us is Paradise, next to them is Mahaicony). The congregation has difficulty working their territory regularly, especially in an area that branches away from the main road and runs along a creek. So our two elders, Brown and Antony, organized a group to go work some of their seldom-worked territory. They were worried about how much support they'd get, but it turned out not to have been necessary. Forty-five from our hall showed up! In addition to that, several from a bordering congregation (called Rosignol. They border on the other side) showed up as well. Add to that the number of locals who showed for it.... we had an impressive group.

The meeting for service. Remember, this is while we're still waiting for more people to show up.
Due to the number - and since we were leaving the main road and going back a ways - we arranged to have a bush truck take the group out. It was.... interesting.

What an empty bush truck looks like.

What a full  bush truck looks like.

What a full bush truck looks like, after you decide to throw a couple more people on.

In Guyana, there is no concept of "personal space".

Me and Aaron Bakhsh were dropped off in the middle of the road, and then were told "Start working down the road until you meet the next group." We look down and see houses about 500 feet apart. So we march off.

3 miles later, we meet the next group.

Still, it was a good experience. One house in particular I remember, we met a woman who lived in New York for years and studied with Jehovah's Witnesses there, but then moved back here. Since then, she hadn't been contacted. Fortunately, that morning we had been given those "You Are Invited" papers, with the address of the Kingdom Hall and the meeting times printed on the back, so we left that with her, along with some various other literature.
Ever have one of those calls where you wish you could find out what happened afterwards?


Overall, the whole day was great. If you had told me a while ago that I'd spend a service day thrown into the back of a truck with over fifty others, driven to the middle of nowhere, and dropped off and told to walk for three miles, I would never have expected I would enjoy it. But....

Anybody look like they had a bad day?



So that was about all I've got to share about that day. One other thing though I can add: The house me and Micaiah are staying in is technically the property of another need-greater brother, who is in England right now. Only problem is, he's coming back November 5th, and bringing a friend with him, so basically, we're getting booted. However, we have found a different place to stay! (I never thought I'd be house-hunting this early in life) Here's a shot of the place.

So to close, I'd like to leave you with one last thought....

Guyana Branch Tour, and Other Stuff

Me and Micaiah Young recently took a trip to the capital of Guyana, called Georgetown (it would be so much cooler if it was called Rupununi or something like that, I know). While there, we stopped by the branch office for a tour. Now, this isn't like a Brooklyn tour. At the Guyana branch, a tour involves being taken into each individual office and talking to almost every person who works there. For instance, we had a nice half-hour or so chat with the Service Overseer for the country, Edsel Hazel. We sat in his office, and he showed us what he does there, let us snoop through his office, etc. Then he walked with us through half the rest of the tour.

A shot of the lobby.

Edsel Hazel's "Master Map". When you can actually see it (unlike in this picture) it shows where all the congregations in the country are, the names, which ones have Kingdom Halls, etc.

The door on the left is where you walk in from the lobby. The door straight ahead takes you into the offices of the Branch Committee. And the door on the far right is a bathroom.

They keep their garage very tidy.

The nicest lawn in the country, hands down.
By contrast, here's what the rest of the capital looks like:

The be honest, there's not a whole lot else going on. So, some bits and pieces that I never got around to sharing.

(1) The best meal I've had in Guyana so far:

This..... is  IGUANA CURRY!!  It's Gr-r-r-reat!


(2) The place I go for Internet (which is where I'm at now) was a movie theater/cinema that was abandoned in the 1950's. A lady bought it and converted the Projector room into an Internet Cafe' and small bookstore! They broadcast a wireless signal, so if you bring your own laptop you can just go and sit in the auditorium! I love it.

The last picture there shows the "bookstore" part.

(3) And somehow I neglected to mention the thrilling story of: How I got from Brighton to Hopetown! Well, the whole story can be briefly summed up by one picture:

I'm so happy I got one last shot of the scooter in here.


..... aaaaand that's all I've got for now. HOWEVER: Exciting stuff happening this weekend! A group from the Hopetown congregation is heading out to do seldom-worked territory with a congregation called Myconi (named may be misspelled). There's a big village that you can only reach by heading down a dirt road in a bush truck, so we'll be piling in and heading down. We'll likely be able to work it all in a day, but it still sounds like some terrific experiences waiting (and oodles of fun, too.)

Goodbye Mike&Lara; My New House; Climbing Coconut Trees

Part 1: Goodbye Mike and Lara
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Recently we attended a good-bye party for a need-greater couple who had been in Guyana for over two years, Michael and Lara Alston. Michael is the younger brother of Michelle Sanches, and it was thanks to Mike arranging things that I was able to stay with Tom and Michelle for the month or so that I did.

Actually, that's not nearly all. I first became interested in coming to Guyana because of a blog they kept the whole time they were here. I came across the blog and read it, and then e-mailed them asking general questions about the country. Originally, I didn't intend on coming at all. But through the course of several e-mails I became thrilled at the idea of being able to go and serve there. And so, for the next several months I was in constant contact with them, sending them an endless barrage of questions and asking for advice to help me prepare for coming. They kept responding happily, right up until the week I left to come here. I really don't think I could list all of the things that Mike and Lara did to help me get to Guyana.

So after all that, finding out they had to leave a month after I got there was a little disappointing, but I was very happy to be able to go to their goodbye party. It was very.... odd. The main event of the day was everyone playing a party game called "Cat and Mouse". I'm not sure if this is a Guyana thing or if it's played elsewhere too. It's very hard to describe, but it involves passing around two ties. If that sounds familiar to anyone, let me know. Otherwise, I'm assuming it's a Guyana thing.

Another event was having certain people relate stories about Mike and Lara, or just telling how much they enjoyed having them around, etc. The kind of thing that gets everybody crying during the party.

Mike and Lara

Where the party was held

Another shot of the party. Interesting note: The kid looking at the camera (named Timmy) is a Bible Study in Brighton, and just joined the Theocratic Ministry School.

From left: Naomi Hayes and Chris Hayes (the Brighton COBE). On the right is Brother Samson. During the part where everyone told stories about Mike and Lara, Samson had the best comment. See, they're leaving because Lara has major back problems, to the point where she can barely walk now. So Samson's comment was about how he once had a public talk in Brighton. "For me it was just going to be another talk, but when I see these two walk in, Lara clearly in pain, with Mike struggling to help her inside, I thought 'These two are putting forth this much effort? To come hear my talk?' So after I saw you, I made sure that I gave the best talk I had ever given."


And for the final picture of this segment: The people who got me here.

From left: Michelle Sanches, Mike and Lara Alston, Micaiah Young, and Tom Sanches.


Part 2: My New House
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Some stuff about my new house, and the Hopetown congregation. First up:

One of our elders, Linel Brown (yes, that's how it's spelled). He is one of two elders in the Hopetown congregation. There was a third one, but he was re-assigned to work where the need is greater.

No, I'm NOT kidding.

The weirdest thing about it is we have 72 publishers, and our average meeting attendance is around 120. And only two elders. Another problem is, our hall is too small! The pictures don't do it justice, but still....

We've applied for a build to be done so we can get a bigger hall, but we're 14th on the list.

Now, my house!

I also have some shots of the inside, but they're not very good.

Part 3: Climbing the Coconut Tree
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Now to let you all know, there are no existing pictures of me climbing one of the coconut trees. This is because everyone was laughing too hard to try to get a picture. However, I do have this: Aaron Bahksh demonstrating the correct way to climb one of these trees.

And Micaiah Young demonstrating the incorrect way to do it

A slight side story: The path back to this particular grove of trees was actually a dam that had been torn up recently. As a result, my shoes looked like this.

Cleaning off my shoes in the creek.

Tune in next time for.......
BRANCH OFFICE TOUR!

From Brighton to Hopetown

I recently underwent a move from the Brighton congregation to a nearby (ish) hall called Hopetown. This move was brought about because Tom and Michelle Sanches (who had kindly allowed me to stay with them since I first arrived in Guyana) were going to the annual meeting in New York, followed by vacation.

At the same time, a place to stay opened up with Micaiah Young who was living in Hopetown. Fortunately, I had met Micaiah a few times before, and we even wound up on the same flight into Guyana (as did one of the substitute circuit overseers named Gary something).

So I went from this hall....

to this hall....

Oh yeah, baby.


Okay, that's actually all I have for now. Sorry it was so short, but I'll add some more later (such as my experience of learning to climb a coconut tree!) Now, I know you don't like it when I only put in a few pictures, so I'll add one more:

Expedition to Orealla and Siparuta!

To summarize: Me and Tom Sanches spent a week in the interior of Guyana on an expedition to work a village that had never been preached to before. This village is named Siparuta. The strange thing is, there's a congregation (in Orealla- it's a small town down the Corentyne river, on the Guyana/Suriname border) that had been assigned this village to preach, but because it's so far away they can never get to it.

So me and Tom made arrangements to take a ferry down to Orealla, and meet with a local brother who would join us/guide us to Siparuta. Now the only problem is: trucks cannot get into this village, because the path there looks like this....

So the only option was walking. This left the three of us (Tom Sanches, me, and the local brother Martin Miguel) carrying two and a half boxes worth of literature during a three-hour hike through the jungle and swamps.

Now I'm going to back up a bit here. The following story proved to me the extent of Jehovah's support on this trip.

Our primary objective was to find the teachers in the village of Siparuta (population: 300-400). The purpose for this was so that we could leave literature for use in the schools, and so the teachers could possibly distribute literature to anybody we couldn't reach.

Fast-forward to the ferry taking us to Orealla (remember, the bigger town nearby). There's no space on the floor because the boat was hauling supplies to Orealla, so everybody had to string up hammocks to sit/sleep in....

Now Tom and I hadn't expected this, so we were sitting on the railing of the boat, when a woman nearby points to an empty hammock and offers to let us use it. She says that she had brought her daughter over, and was now going back to Orealla alone. Tom (being the friendly talker he is) asks where the woman lives in Orealla. She says "Oh, I don't live in Orealla. I live in Siparuta."

Tom says "Really? What do you do there?"

"I'm a school teacher."

We were thrilled by this. Tom rapidly explains we plan to come in and try to give literature to some people, and she sounds very interested in the books/magazines/etc. He gets her name (Ruth Christmas) and makes arrangements to visit her when we get to Siparuta.

The boat arrives in Orealla, we meet Martin Miguel (the local), spend the night in a house behind the Kingdom Hall, and the next morning we gathered literature and began our hike into Siparuta.

We arrive, 3 hours later, exhausted and covered in sweat. Tom's trying to figure out where to find Ruth Christmas when Martin says "My wife is related to her. I know where she lives!" When she sees us, she immediately brings cold water and lets us sit on her porch for a while (a while = an hour). During that time, Tom is showing her the books and things he wants to leave with her, when she stops him and says "Wait here a minute." She later returns with three plates full of food! (which contributed to the one hour break)

I couldn't believe how much better we felt after all that! At this point, Tom asks if she knows where the other teachers live, and she says "I don't, but my daughter knows all the teachers in this village! She'll take you to them!" So the three of us depart for preaching, being led through town by an eight-year old girl :)

Eventually, me and Martin split off and started house-to-house as Tom continued to visit the teachers. Finally, the two of us finished the main part of the village, and Martin went off to visit some others he knew already (he actually works in a farm near the town, so he'd gotten a few RVs and studies in the village) and I found Tom right as he talked to the last teacher. We still had some literature, so we asked the girl if she could take us to some of the back roads and houses further away. She was happy to do it! How many eight-year-olds would willingly guide two people around as they talked to every person they saw?

After a while, thanks to this kid's guidance, we covered THE WHOLE VILLAGE!! Every house was preached to! And it was done in ONE DAY! We were so happy about it!

When we arrived back at Ruth's house and met with Martin again, we began discussing the hike back. We weren't too happy about it, because it was 6 PM at this point and a storm was beginning directly overhead. In addition, it gets dark here at 6:30, and we didn't want to spend a few hours in a dark jungle. At this point, Ruth hears us and says "My husband has a boat! Ask him if he can take you to Orealla."

We asked him, and asked how much it would cost if he did  it, and he says "I can take you, and no charge. Just buy me some gas so I can get you there."

So here's what happened: We were fed, given water, guided through the village, and taken back on a boat, and why? Because of talking to one person on the ferry to Orealla. No way that happens without Jehovah's help.

And now, a few totals:

Hours spent preaching: 7 (11 AM-6 PM)
People reached: Over 300
Books placed: 111
Brochures: 109
Magazines: 225
Cost (in U.S. money): $32

The next day, we got to attend the Orealla meeting (Sunday) and Tom did the public talk, and they had me reading the Watchtower. This is due to the congregation having one ministerial servant, who was naturally conducting the Watchtower study.

Brother Lennox, the ministerial servant.

Outside the Orealla Kingdom Hall (behind is the house we stayed in during our visit).

Inside the Orealla Kingdom Hall!

Corentyne river! Burr Oak has nothin' on this!


Well, we had many other experiences on this trip which sadly I just don't have time or space to tell them all (plus, I've gotta have SOMETHING new to tell you all when I get back).

But if anyone wants the name of a good place to work where the need is greater, I've found the perfect place for you!