Best Life Ever?

By this time we're all very familiar with the "Best Life Ever" expression. But sometimes I worry when things and expressions get used excessively, they can lose meaning. So I'm going to take a few minutes and talk about the impact "Best Life Ever" had on us in Guyana.

If you'll remember, that was originally the title of a video wherein they interviewed a sister who had up to that point been spending her life as a need-greater. It was backed by the Best Life Ever song which emphasized the points being made in the video. Of course, everybody around here immediately loved the video. Emails went around to nearly everyone ensuring everybody knew about the video and watched it. You can see it instantly got a link placed on my blog, which has remained to this day. Why? Because the lifestyle we'd spent so much time telling all our friends about (and anyone who would listen whatsoever) was getting heavy advertisement on jw.org. This video showed how incredible this lifestyle can be, and now it wasn't just us saying it. Because seriously, we want everybody to experience this.

Now obviously, the video, the song, and the eventual hashtag that has come of it doesn't apply solely to the need-greater life. But we still want you to give it serious thought. Go ahead and keep using the #bestlifeever hashtag on all your field service related stuff, but don't overlook how amazing of an experience it can be to move where the need is greater, to move to a foreign field, anything like that. Sure, it's a leap of faith. But that's why we get this message in Malachi 3:10...

"Test me out, please, in this regard," Jehovah of armies says, "to see whether I will not open to you the floodgates of the heavens and pour out on you a blessing until there is nothing lacking."

So here's the proposition I'm making. Come to Guyana. Come spend, if nothing else, just one week in Orealla. One morning we'll wake up at 5 AM and walk to our neighboring village Siparuta. We'll spend the entire day preaching nonstop to every single person we meet. You'll use your Bible more than you've ever used it before. You may even place your personal Bible. Finally before it begins getting dark, we'll walk back to Orealla. We'll arrive between 5-6 PM, and we'll march straight to one of the village's white sand beaches. You'll jump in the river and swim (or if you can't swim, wade) until all the soreness and aching is gone from you, then you'll go back home and collapse and sleep the sweetest sleep you've ever experienced. Then the rest of the week we'll spend doing whatever you want to do.

Wander through the savanna?

Play in the mud?

Hike the craziest hills you've ever seen?

Rather spend your time doing more field service? Which would you like to do most? 1) Start a Bible Study on the initial call at every single door (or tree)...

... 2) Have an entire family gather around to watch as you show the Why Study the Bible? video...

... or 3) Play the dramas and various other audio productions for older ones who can't see well anymore?

Hmm, I suppose you could do all three....


But all this... it sounds fun, but is it worth it? If you're not convinced, ask my last roommate Dustin Reynolds if his time here was worth it. Or ask my roommate before that, Charlie Brohard. Or ask my first roommate Micaiah Young. Or the couple that got me here, Michael and Lara Alston. Or Tom and Michelle Sanches. Or Sam, or Dan, or Cortny, or Melanie, Olivia, Carys, Isaac, Dan, Levi, Steve and Emma, Chris and Fern, Dale, Amy, Faith, Abbi, Lisa, Jackie, Yvonne, Sarah, Felicia, John and Janet, Dania, Hermicar, Luke and Laura, DC and Sarah, Grace, Cassandra, or any of the other bazillion awesome I've met since starting this lifestyle. Ask any single one of them if it was worth it.

There's your invitation. As the song says, "Come with me. You'll see. This is the best life ever."

Updates on the Work Camp

Been a while since I've given you all news about the guys at the work camp. So here goes...

After a couple visits out there, the holiday season rolled around. We had Phagwah (Hindu holiday) followed shortly thereafter by Easter. Due to these, most of the men were sent back home for a time. Only one man, Wazim the boss, was left behind to keep an eye on everything. So we kept returning to see him alone.

The only picture for this blog entry. Sorry.

Finally, the holidays passed. So after all the hullabaloo (holidays, Dustin's departure, Memorial, Circuit Assembly) on a Wednesday afternoon I made the trek out there alone to see Wazim and find out when the groups of workers were returning. I get out there and find a new man, alone in the place. I introduce myself and he tells me his name is Byron. I ask if Wazim is around, but he says "Wazim is gone. He's been sent to another place. I'm the new boss."

So I briefly explain what we do out there, how we come and talk to the workers and they take a few minutes (or more accurately, an hour) out of their day, stop working, and listen. I check with the new boss Byron if it's okay if I keep coming and doing this, and he mumbles an allowance, turns away, and continues what he was doing before I came.

Taking this an an indication of "I'm busy" I left. But my spirits were high. Even if this Byron doesn't seem too excited, he's still going to allow me to come preach to the guys that are interested!

The day after this (Thursday), a group arrived to do renovations on the Kingdom Hall and the Pioneer House right behind it. Naturally many from the local congregation have been doing what they can to assist. So one night as we were collecting sand from the beach for concrete mixing, I was pushing one of the wheelbarrows back to the Hall when I heard a man crying out "White man! White man!" I assumed it was a drunk man or something, so I continued. But I heard footsteps running behind me, so I turned to see if this was actually something important. To my surprise, I saw Byron.

He says "After you left I was looking through the house, and I found a book that Wazim had left behind. I began reading, and immediately I thought 'I have to learn more about this!' Can you come talk with me and teach me more about the Bible?"

"Um," I reply "Sure! When do you want me to come?"

"Tomorrow! Anytime. I'll be there all day." He went on to tell me that while he'd been reading the book, he'd gotten a call from his daughter who had attended the Memorial, and was telling him how much she enjoyed it and indicating to him that he should go there sometime.

So Friday morning, I set out for the work camp again. When I finally reach, Byron is nowhere to be seen, but there's another new man. He tells me Byron had gotten a call and had to run out, so he (this new guy, named Trayvon) had been left to keep an eye on the place. So I begin preaching to him, and he agrees to a Bible study. After a while there, I asked when I could come back and talk with both of them, Trayvon and Byron both. He says "Tomorrow!"

Saturday: I hike out to the work camp again. I get out there, and rather than seeing Byron or Trayvon, I see the man who first asked us to come out and preach to them. He and the other workers were back! So I begin talking with him for a while, before eventually asking about Byron and Trayvon. He says they've gone out, but if I come back later I'm sure to find them. I ask when, and he says "Later today! At 1 or 2!"

Therefore, after going back home, eating lunch, all that good stuff, I hiked out again, for the fifth time in four days. Upon arriving, I learn the two guys still haven't returned, but the other workers tell me "We have a new guy with us who just arrived. You need to go talk with him too!" I head over to where they're pointing and meet a new guy, the youngest one of the lot. I begin showing the magazines I have and whatnot, but he stops me and says "I don't really like reading very much. Can you just teach me and I'll listen?"

I begin explaining the subject of God's Kingdom and its relation to the Lord's Prayer and all, and just as I finish Trayvon arrives. So I talk with him again for a good little while. Finally when I finish, I ask when I can return. They say "Monday!'

So in addition to all the guys already out there, we've added three more studies to the mix. This little field continues to be my favorite part of the ministry here. For obvious reasons.

Memorial and Circuit Assembly

Wow. Quite a weekend for us. Here's what happened....

Of course the Memorial this year fell on Friday, April 3rd. The unusual thing is that our Circuit Assembly this year was scheduled for Sunday, April 5th, which meant the Pioneer Meeting was April 4th. This presented a difficulty for us since boats only go to and from Orealla two days a week.... Thursday and Monday. So it seemed as though we only had two options.

1) Leave Thursday to attend the Memorial in a different congregation on Friday, which meant we wouldn't be having the Memorial in Orealla at all. Obviously this is not a good option.

2) Have the Memorial in Orealla on Friday, and then simply miss the Assembly and Pioneer meeting. Obviously this was also not a good option.

Happily, an option 3 was presented to us. There's a man named Clement who owns a large boat that's used for shipping lumber from Orealla up to the coast in Skeldon, and we were able to arrange a deal wherein we hired his entire boat to take us all Friday night after the Memorial was finished. The timing would be really, really tight, but it would work.

So with those arrangements out of the way, we were free to focus on the others things we needed to get ready for the Memorial (Kingdom Hall cleaning, etc) for the week. We also got an elder from Georgetown and his family to come in to deliver our Memorial talk. They arrived Thursday afternoon and had some time to settle in and even help with some final Hall cleaning.

All this of course led us to Friday. On the upside, we had a great turnout of 90. On the downside, the boat plans didn't go quite as they were supposed to....

The only picture I had time to get...

See, the boat was supposed to be at the dock and waiting for us before the Memorial began. This way we could all throw our bags onto the boat, and then head to the Kingdom Hall for Memorial, socialize afterward and talk to all the invited ones who came, and not have to rush.

Unfortunately (see how that weasels in, like, every time?) the guy got hired to do something else earlier that day. He thought he would be able to make it back in time to get us. Turns out he was running pretty late, so he didn't get to us until about 9.

So fast forward to Saturday morning. We arrive at the coast at 5 in the morning. I was able to run to a brother's house, have breakfast, and get dressed for the Pioneer meeting. I rushed out, and was able to make it in time, so very happy about that.

I must say, this circuit is doing an incredible job of promoting pioneering. Well over 1 in 10 of the publishers are regular pioneering. The attendance at the pioneer meeting was 135, which I believe is the best we've ever had.

(wow, shoulda done some fact checking before writing this. Sorry!)

One thing we quite appreciated though: in the closing prayer, the circuit overseer specifically thanked Jehovah for the "pioneers from Orealla and Lethem congregations being able to make it in time" to attend.

-----------------
Brief digress: two excellent experiences I heard at the pioneer meeting!

One comes from a sister talking about the "Who Are Doing Jehovah's Will Today?" brochure. Admittedly, I've never yet used it, so I was glad to hear her experiences. She talked about what approach she uses for it (briefly covering a point from it at the end of each study) and how she focuses on showing the worldwide unity of Jehovah's Witnesses. When asked how many students she's used this brochure with, she said "Eight." When asked how many studies she has attending meetings, she said "Eight." Man, I've gotta get my act in gear.

The second comes from a brother to whom I was talking to about living in an Amerindian village. He told me they actually have an Indian village in their territory, but they can't get to it because it's up a river. I asked how they're able to work it, and he says "We always set up a public witnessing cart in the marketplaces around, and we began noticing the Amerindians will come out of their village to shop in the market on occasion. However, since the cart has been there so long, they know to look for it, and they've actually begun coming to the cart first, and then doing their shopping. In fact, just this morning I was working with the cart before coming here. I was beginning to pack it all up, had the case over it and everything, when a group of Indians rushed up. They asked if they could still get some books, and said they'd rowed out from their village that morning just to come for the cart!"

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program...
-------------------

So after that lovely bit of relaxation and catching up with friends, I left and spent the night with Micaiah and Jessica, again. Which I cannot overstate how great that was. After having been constantly rushing from 4 PM on Friday until 7 PM on Saturday, I finally got a shower, a bed, and sleep. I was even awake at 6:30 the next morning! Unheard of!

Which led to the actual Assembly. Which was awesome. It was the same program I had heard in October in Ohio, so I always enjoy hearing how different brothers are able to develop and deliver the same material.

Orealla congregation arrives!

Stairs to the upper seating area.

View of the parking lot from the aforementioned above seating area.

And it's also great to hear this material in company with an entirely different set of people as well. And how I said that the pioneer ranks are growing in our circuit? It seems that growth isn't just amongst the pioneers. Our total attendance was 1,306! We didn't have that many for our conventions when I first came to Guyana in 2010. Can't wait to see how our Regional goes in July!


It's happened again. I've gotten to the end of my story but lack a powerful conclusion. Ah well, an occasional shaggy dog story never hurt anyone.

Trinidad Zone Visit / A New House

So you know how there was a big buzz about the U.S. Zone Visit this year? How all the Kingdom Halls were supposed to get internet access and a projector and all that fancy stuff so we could all be tied in together and see the Zone Visit (Branch Representative Visit? Regional circuit convention? I'm too far out of the loop on these things) and all get the same information at the same time, and it was awesome?

Well, turns out we weren't alone in that. All the congregations in Guyana got the exact same memo. Get connected to the internet and get a projector so we could all watch the visit for the Trinidad branch territory.

Now as incredibly exciting as all this was, this clearly presented a bit of an issue for us in Orealla, seeing as how I can barely even look at image files on the internet, let alone stream video. Nonetheless, we were told to test it out and see if it would possible for us to get this video stream. Despite some intense efforts on the part of our elders (and some very nearly successful attempts) we eventually realized the video would be out of our reach. However, a brother who was aiding many of the congregations in this told us that we could do a phone hook-up and at the very least hear the program.

Unfortunately (there's always one little 'unfortunately' in these stories) I was going out to the coast for various reasons the week beforehand. This really isn't an issue, aside from the fact that the boats here only run two days a week. So I would go back on the boat before the visit, right?

Nope! Turns out there was a Hindu holiday on the very day the boat was supposed to go, so I wound up being stranded on the coast until the day after the visit. On the plus side though, I was able to attend the visit with my original Guyana congregation (all together now!!) Brighton.

See? Wasn't joking about all the congregations getting projectors.

In case you all have forgotten what this place looks like....

The two Ashleys were upset I left them out of the picture, so they made me get another one to ensure equal consideration was given to all Ashleykind.

There Ashley, I got the picture. Satisfied? How about you Ashley?

It was a great program. A few interesting points I was able to jot down in my notes....

There are 164 congregations in the Trinidad branch territory, all of whom (they believe) were tied in to the program. 46 of these congregations are in Guyana, which has 3 circuits and 2,999 publishers (as the Branch Representative said "We're anxiously awaiting #3,000. Any moment now."). Amongst these 2,999 publishers Guyana has 364 regular pioneers, 54 special pioneers, 17 missionaries, and 54 need-greaters. The representative singled Guyana out as a country in great need of assistance, as evidenced by the amount of missionaries and such that are being sent in. He also highlighted the great rewards of serving here, such as the fact that Guyana is reporting over 4,000 Bible Studies each month, which of course averages out to every single publisher in the nation conducting at least one study.

He analyzed a few interesting features of Guyana as well, particularly the foreign language fields which have been blossoming lately. For example, there's the Baramita congregation, which is Carib language. They face a unique challenge in that there is no written form of Carib, so the branch has actually created a written version, so the publishers there must first teach interested ones how to read this language, even as they try to teach them the truth. However, things have been working out amazingly for them. For a congregation of only 68 publishers, two elders and two ministerial servants, they have an average of 226 attending the midweek meeting, with 225 coming for the weekend meeting. And for this last Memorial? Over 1,300!

Also blossoming has been the Chinese field in the Georgetown (capitol city) area, and the American Sign Language field which is scattered all throughout the country. Reminding everyone of the importance of supporting these growing fields, the representative read 1 Timothy 2:3,4 "This is fine and acceptable in the sight of our Savior, God, whose will is that all sorts of people should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth." Really, all sorts of people should obviously include the Chinese, the Amerindians, the deaf, etc.

Due to the growing foreign language fields, the ever present need for more publishers and pioneers to conduct studies with the English speakers, the huge need for appointed brothers to help build and strengthen the congregations, the representative made repeated pleas for as many as possible to come join us in the work here in Guyana. Many times in our publications and yearbooks, Guyana is referred to as "the pioneer's paradise". He encouraged everyone able to come here and see for themselves why it's called that.


Again, amazing program, and I'm glad I got to see it live. Also glad Orealla at least got to hear the program.


After I finally managed to get back to Orealla, I then set about on my new project, namely: move out of the Special Pioneer house and into my own place. Turns out, when you're living life as a need-greater, you don't really own much stuff. "Moving house" is more of "packing my one suitcase and chucking it onto a wheelbarrow". So in about 15 minutes, I was finished.

All my worldly possessions, minus clothes and books.

This house came with a TV. WITH A TV!! No DVD player though... :'(

Outside shot! No idea why there's a door leading to nowhere.

And a gorgeous expanse beneath to hang hammocks and laundry, even in the rain!! Huzzah!

The only slight learning curve with the new place (besides not having running water) is that now I have to rely on the village generator to provide electricity, which usually only runs for a few hours each evening. At the other house we have solar panels, so anytime you're struck with the fancy to turn on power you can. Now it's rather limited to just those few hours.

Or sometimes not at all, as I learned one evening while preparing a public talk...


But again, that's not too much of an issue, one gets used to it pretty quick. Okay, so the lack of running water is the issue then. I'll have to address that soon.


A rather fun event which came up this past week was, after having been in this house for only four days, a group from Rosignol congregation on the coast came in to spend the weekend. Unfortunately (there it is again, that pesky 'unfortunately') the place they'd originally arranged to stay turned out to be unavailable, two days before they arrived. So Dustin and I offered to let them stay by us for the duration of their trip. However, shortly after making that offer, we slowly realized "This is a two bedroom house. There's four of them coming in. Easy enough to fit them here, but.... where are we going to sleep??"

Turns out, that expanse under the house comes in handy even more than we'd expected!

And then the jaguars came....

 So it was a fun two days with the group. Had some delightful times swapping Guyana tales. Horror stories blended with positive experiences.

"And then Josh was all like 'AAAIGH GET THIS JAGUAR OFF OF ME!!'"

Then after two days, we shipped them back off to their homes. Which gives us all of tomorrow to relax and have some quiet before we head off for another Siparuta trip on Tuesday. Stay tuned to hear how that goes!

Goodbye, Other Mom & Dad

Odd title for a blog entry, I know. I'll explain it soon enough.

First off though, the Circuit Overseer visit! Visitors into Orealla are always a big deal for us since we're so secluded from most of the country, so traveling overseers are especially exciting for us. This was reflected in the meetings for field service through the week.

Wednesday: 18
Thursday: 14
Friday: 12
Saturday: 20

For a congregation of 23, it'd be hard to ask for better. Seemed like nothing could stop the brothers from going in service. Public witnessing when the rain begins? Just take shelter and keep at it!

"If you could seeee / What I seeee...."

In fact, we had such good support that we were able to work our entire village in just the one week! Obviously this led to everyone getting invited to the public talk on Sunday, which led to an amazing turnout of 67!

Yes, all my KH pics are from the same angle. Every time.

Of course, all the Bible Studies and Return Visits everyone had got invited as well. None of mine were able to make it, though the wife and daughter of one of my studies came.

Look at that evil little glare.

After the visit was finished, the C.O. couple got taken back out to the coast early Monday morning on a speedboat. Kindly, they let a few of us from the congregation go along with them...

VERY early in the morning.

I was eager for the chance since it provides me with a final chance to stay with Tom & Michelle Sanches. If you've read this blog before at all you've read about Tom and Michelle. They're the ones whom I first stayed with upon arriving in Guyana. Picked me up at the airport, provided me with housing for a month, helped me acclimate to entirely new surroundings, etc. They're my other mom and dad. I think I could go on forever about how they've helped me.

But anyway, they recently received a new assignment, one which is outside of Guyana. They'll be departing by sometime in April, so they invited me out to stay with them for a week as a final hurrah of sorts. I'll still be seeing them again soon at our Circuit Assembly, April 5th, but this is my final chance to stay with them in their home. So, taking advantage of it.

Naturally, there's been some interesting stuff happening so far. For one, they've been redoing the landscaping in front of their Kingdom Hall in time for the Memorial, so I got to help out with that. Of course, I'm utterly useless with that kind of thing, but at the very least it was a ton of fun to watch and listen to them all, in their manner of polite bickering and faux fighting with one another as they worked.

A rare moment of peace at the work day.

Now since we were uprooting a fair amount of grass and assorted plants in the yard, this did attract some unwanted attention from the neighbors. And when I say neighbors, I of course mean...

Insert your own puns here.

After that all got finished (sorry, no pics of the finished result. Maybe Thursday) I got to go in field service with the Brighton congregation the following day. However, we weren't working a standard territory. See, Brighton has a large section called "Black Bush", a name spoken in hushed tones by many a pioneer that's served in this area. Allow me to give you a glimpse of why...

I'm not talking about the pink shirt. I mean the mud.

Absolutely ridiculously psycho amounts of mud are everywhere in this territory. This pic was taken in the nice part. I tried taking pictures of the bad part, but my corneas kept frying from the true horror that lay below. Needless to say, your shoes get utterly caked in the stuff, with each step getting heavier and heavier, until finally your shoes fall off under duress from the weight of mud.

It was so much fun.

And since this territory rests so far from the main road, the only way to get there is for everyone to pile into one or two vehicles, which winds up looking like this.

In case you can't accurately see, there's eleven people in that car. Only two of which are in the front seat, the rest are in the photograph.

So as you can see, I've had a great week thus far, and certainly expect it to continue getting better. I mean, every morning I wake up to this....

Drat. I'm going to miss these two.

Another Suriname Visit

Visas: those delightful little stamps that grant you the right to freeload in a foreign country for a set period of time. In Guyana, the visas are very simple to obtain. You simply walk off the airplane and into the airport. At Customs, someone will ask "How long are you staying for?"

"Three months." you reply, because in this scenario you're intending to stay for a while.

"Okay" replies the nice Customs person and stamps your passport while jotting a few things down.

"Thanks" you say and proceed to walk into the country, because I'm your puppet master in this scenario and you do as I say. Then you tie your shoes because you forgot to do that on the airport.

So as you can see from this brief scene, getting the 3-month visa is very easy. However, the trouble comes if you're actually intending to stay for a longer period of time, like many of the need-greaters who are serving here.

Supposedly you can apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs for a longer visa, but that doesn't work in reality (what are they doing in there if not extending our visas??). So how do you get to stay longer than that? Simple. Go to Suriname for a few days, and come back. This used to be a fairly perilous endeavor, with at least one Witness I personally know having gotten arrested trying it. However, things have eased up considerably over time, to the point that last year I was able to go to Suriname and come back on the same day and got a new visa. However, I was under some serious duress and was praying for it to go smoothly nonstop for nearly a week. Thus, I got to wondering if this time my visa trip go as smoothly.

Short answer, it did.

So last week I headed out for the coast to get the February Broadcast video and hop into Suriname. I made it there in plenty of time to catch the first ferry, checked into Suriname, asked the people if I could go back on the same ferry, and they said "Sure!" and pulled me around and put me back on the ferry. Went back across the river into Guyana and got another three months.

And I watched Pollyana. Because that's something that plays
on TV down here. Apparently.

And after I got back we had another of our awesome Broadcast parties. We had the highest attendance for a viewing of the JW Broadcast we've had yet. There was 26 people there, which is more than we have publishers in our congregation.


So what else has been up? We've been having a good time with the Work Camp I talked about last time (even having had three of the guys show up for meeting!). This last Saturday when we arrived it turned out only one of the guys was there since one of the tractors broke down in the jungle, so most of them hustled out there to provide some emergency repairs. However, it wasn't a wasted trip since we were able to chat with the one remaining guy for a while, plus when we were getting ready to embark on the 30 minute + walk back home a boat passed by. They stopped and said "You guys need a ride back to the village?"

At which we obviously said "Sure!" So we got a good view of the coast on the way back.

Orealla beachfront property, anyone??

So that's been the biggest developments of late. Apologies for such a short blog entry after such a long time without updates, but rest assured there'll be lots of good stuff coming soon. For one thing, we've got the Circuit Overseer coming next week which never fails to provide some good stories.

Additionally, there's another reason I was on the coast for a couple days, helping set us up for a cool project.... but I'll be telling you about that when it begins!

Stay tuned!

Studies at a Work Camp

As I walked out of my front door to join the group that had arrived to help with Kingdom Hall cleaning, one brother looked at me and said "Wow, you got some sun!"

I was surprised to hear this seeing as we're in, you know, Guyana. So to be in the sun for so long that people readily notice it is quite a feat. Allow me to explain how this happened....

Our village is pretty large, distance wise. If you had a car you could traverse it pretty quick, but on foot it takes between 45 minutes to an hour to walk from one end to the next. While this makes for pleasant scenery and low stress field service days, it is quite a bear if there's somewhere you need to be in a hurry. Which is why on Thursday, while we were working the furthest reaches of our territory, we happened across a group of men who work at a lumber camp.

WAY far out...

Kojo and I began talking to one of them (who is actually one of Kojo's Bible studies whom he has difficulty finding), but soon another man exclaimed "Why does he get to hear you preach but we don't?!" We explained we were there talking with the one man, Wazim, and we assumed the others were busy. He replied "Sometime you must come here and talk with all of us. Just 15 minutes or so, so we can hear your message." Obviously we were intrigued by this invitation, so he points across to a man repairing a tractor engine and says "Talk with he. He be Boss Man." We cross to meet Boss Man. Turns out he's not an Amerindian as most around Orealla are. Rather he comes from the coast and was assigned to oversee the logging operations going on outside the village. He expressed though his disappointment with conditions in the camp. "When I first came, when Sunday came the men would just sit around and drink rum during their break. I asked them why they weren't at church and they said all the churches were too far away. So we've been trying to find some way to worship God when we can't ever get to a church." See, these men come out to the camps and work for long stretches of time... weeks or months on end, from before sunrise until after sunset. After that stretch of time, they return home to their families and stay with them for a few weeks or months, and then back to work again. Boss Man then said the same thing the other man said. "Why don't you come sometime and spend half hour, 45 minutes talking to us about the Bible? We'll take a break from our work, you talk and preach to us and we'll listen. When you finish, we'll go back to work."

Amazing invitation, right? So we scheduled to come today, Saturday, at 1 PM. The newly arrived Dustin and I, along with a young local brother named David Herman, agreed we'd meet at the Kingdom at about 12:30, gather some literature, and head out with 30 minutes worth of material to talk about. So after a morning in service and a quick lunch, we headed out. We expected just the two men to be there, but there were eight in total who gathered around to listen.

Since Dustin is giving the public talk tomorrow, I mostly talked for our allotted 45 minutes. Primary emphasis for the talk was God's Kingdom. That's always an effective avenue since the Lord's Prayer is taught in nearly every school in Guyana, but of course most have never thought about what "thy Kingdom come" means, and even fewer have been able to find an answer to that. So we talked at length about what God's Kingdom is, how we know it's an actual government that will rule over the Earth, and how it can accomplish what no earthly government could ever hope to. After that was finished, we talked about how God's Kingdom is actually part of the theme of the Bible. Since the idea of the Bible having an overall theme was new to them, we discussed Appendix B1 in the New World Translation, "The Message of the Bible". I really really love that appendix, because between discussing that and what the Kingdom is, that clearly lays out the reason for all the bad things we see in the world, and how God will easily fix everything that's gone wrong.

After the whole thing had been analyzed and explained, Boss Man looked at me and said "Thank you for all that. But, you never told us how we can be in that Kingdom."

Since I had just talked for a solid half hour about a wide range of topics, at that point Dustin jumped in with John 17:3, showing how coming to know God and Jesus were the most important things to do. He then told them about his own experiences with learning the truth and how he came to appreciate the value of learning about God and how he's benefited from it. As evidence of how strongly he feels about people learning the truth, he also told them how neither of us are paid for what we do, how instead we have to go to the U.S. and work and save money just so we can afford to come and teach people these things.

After he'd finished, one worker spoke up and said "So can you come back here later and talk with us for an hour again?"
Dustin replied "Sure, when would you like us to come?"
"Tomorrow!"
He told them we could possibly, but we have our meeting the next morning at the Kingdom Hall, so the man asked "Okay then, so where is your Kingdom Hall?" We explained how to get there from the work camp, at which Boss Man told us he'd give the men tomorrow morning off so he and they could all come and attend our meeting.

Before leaving we offered to share literature that they could read in their spare time, which wound up being 6 books, 12 magazines, and 12 brochures.

On the way back David asked if he could come with us again next time and share a video with them, which we hadn't even thought of until he mentioned it. Sounds like a fantastic idea.

Originally we'd planned on being there at 1 and talking for half an hour. Simple enough right? By time we got back to the hall it was nearly 3:30. Time flies. After we got back the group arrived for Kingdom Hall cleaning, hence prompting the statement at the beginning ("Wow, you got some sun!"). The whole 2 1/2 hours we were out we'd been standing in one spot, in direct sunlight, and never even realized it. That's how great this afternoon was. Therefore, after telling them what had led to my skin being the same shade of red as my dad's hair used to be, we asked if they'd like to come with us next time too. We may have enough Witnesses next time to conduct individual Bible studies with each man out there.


So, three other quick things before I finish. One of course is the fact that (in case you hadn't guessed) Dustin is back. Last time he was here Kojo was out at the Bible School for Single Brothers in Trinidad, so they hadn't gotten a chance to meet each other. This time we're all together, so we now have three elders plus a ministerial servant. That's without exaggeration the best Orealla has ever had in its time as a congregation. Of course, Kojo and Dustin are getting along great as well. Nary a day had gone by before their collective work ethic fired up and home improvement projects began popping up everywhere.

Dustin and Kojo, expertly applying years of skill and learning, while I helpfully stand far away taking pictures of stuff.

The second thing is totally random and unrelated. See, we can't really bake things seeing as all we have is a stove top. This tends to limit somewhat the things one can make. Tired of this lack of baked goods, Kojo got us this...

An oven designed for putting on a stove top. And it works great. Just look at these beauties...

Yes mom, I made these.

We're getting all sorts of cool stuff these days.


Speaking of cool stuff, I'm sure you're all curious how the projector worked out for the JW Broadcast viewing at the Kingdom Hall. The answer is it went beautifully! Last Saturday after hall cleaning we had everyone meet (and bring food. Hence the delicious rolls in the above pic). First we watched the December broadcast video, then had a brief break for dinner, then watched the recent January video. After it was all done, the brothers asked "Do we have any more videos we can watch??"

Thus, we watched Annual Meeting highlights, the most recent updates on Warwick construction, and the Caleb & Sophia video on preparing our comments. I love how even in areas where Internet isn't available, we're still able to ensure the entire congregation benefits from jw.org and all it offers.

And my final point. If you're planning on doing a trip similar to this, whether it be for vacation, need-greater work, anything.... always make sure to give your laptop a proper tune-up before embarking on your journey. Otherwise you may find yourself deep in the South American jungle having to do this....

... with no instructions or intelligent person to help you. On the upside, it works now, and is the means by which I'm typing this right now.

And no, it doesn't make toast now.