400 mile RBC day

Our adventure began at 3am.  We all piled in a mini bus and headed to Linden.  About 175 miles ish away.  They are having a new kingdom hall built by the team.  Guyana comes under the lands with limited resources team so there is a team of bro and sis who travel the length and breadth of guyana.  So they needed food.  Vital for a hard days work and survival in the guyana heat.  Every cong was asked it they could come for a day and feed the "team".

We are the farthest cong away but we answered the call.  So again 3am we left with a bus full.  So what you see below is a blown out tire within an hour of our adventure.  So out we came.  And thanks to my Julie and Sam torch we had a great light to save the day.  (for all that know about their gifts my pink gift came in very handy today too hehehe)

6 hours later we arrived.  What a site for sore eyes and tired backs.  The site was well on its way.

And yes this is the kitchen for the catering team and our water tanks.  Recycled shipping barrels.

So the menu was crispy fried chicken, veggie rice and macaroni cheese with salad which in guyana compromises of cucumber and tomatoes.  We made a

snack of moss melon and raisin smoothie for 10am and watermelon smoothie for lunch.  So me and shelly were on watermelon deseeding duty.  For 8 melons.  Good fun

MMMMM that is a whole lot of chicken.  8 chickens of crispy fried chicken.  And not one piece was left.  We fed just under 50 people.

The brothers and sisters work so so hard in the hot sun every day and work along with the local congregation helping them with training.  They wear hard hats and some of them have safety boots.  But health and safety was alot of fun to see.  Ouch.  No UK RBC brothers look too carefully.

But we know the God we worship so with His holy spirit and blessing the work gets done with as we all know happy smiling faces all around.

All 3 of our local elders were there volunteering which is a great reflection of the spirit of my cong here.  So lennox was on chicken duty whisking the eggs into a frenzy.  Satish was the smoothie man and then the rice mixer.  And the shades were for a little extra style.  And narish - well he is our welder.  Look at his health and safety dad.  Nice one eh.  So he worked all day long.  Then after our long journey home had to wake up at 2am to go to work.  Such a self sacrificing spirit.

Our happy team after a 6 hour bus ride and 7 hours of cooking all your see is happy smiling faces.  

But then we all got back in the bus and fatigue kicked in and our elders showed true brotherly love for each other.  So they got closer and closer and then .............................

So again another 6 hour drive back home and we arrived back in skeldon for about 11pm.  All tired and happy but so many laughs back and forth the whole journey home.  So the brothers and sisters got fed for one more day and tomorrow is another day.  And the privilege of another congregation.

So sunday I was planning on studying with shan and dolly but our group was on the list for speaker hospitality so my little bible study group the 3 of us became about 15 bro and sis piling into my flat.  We had a great time.  I had coke as you can see so that was great.  Shan found a friend with labron and my pooh.  Put it this way I had to wash my pooh after their game.  

Speaking of coke I want to share a little funny from a talk by one of our other elders last week.  It was about happy families and marriage and he said sometimes you marry your wife and she looks like a 26 ounce coke bottle then.....................................

After a few years of marriage she can look like a 2 litre plastic coke bottle

We kind of didnt stop laughing for about 5 minutes which is alot in a 30 minute talk.  Thought you would find it funny too...............

So what a great weekend I have had.  Bit sleep deprived but had a whole lot of fun.

Miss you all and for all on RBC projects have fun and stay safe and our team can come and cook for you anytime.  We are used to long journeys.

Love 

Me

A average day in guyana!!!!!

Hey guys

Well normally I blog about the fabulous pioneer paradise and great congregation Im in but this time I thought I would give you a taste of living in guyana.  The average day to day stuff.

So my day normally starts with having to put on my flip flops.  I will explain. At home you wear cosy slippers to keep you warm.  Here I wear flip flops so if I stand on a cockroach or lizard it wont squish on my foot.  Yuck but true.  

So you cant drink anything from the tap.  We have to use filter water.  We buy 5 gallon water bottles.  But you can boil the kettle from tap water but you have to let it boil for a good minute to kill any nasty little parasites.  So most mondays and thursdays I dont do ministry to I clean the apartment and then go to the market.  

So we dont have hoovers here or even a normal brush.  Here guyanese sweep with twigs.  Oh yeah you heard right.  Twigs.  So they are bundled together and tied at the end with string and we have to bend and sweep.  Took some getting used too but now it comes naturally.  Doing dishes you also have to be cautious in using up too much water.  So again a adjustment.  When I went home in the summer I found myself doing the dishes the same way like a muppet.  Hard to change once you get into a routine eh.

So once you buy your lovely fresh fruits and vegetables you cant just eat them as they are.  You have to soak them at least for 20 minutes in either diluted bleach or GSE which is grapefruit seed extract that is a more natural way to kill parasites.  Jens desire when she went home was to drink from the tap and just eat a piece of fruit straight from the shop.  Simple pleasures.

So once you have cleaned the flat with twigs and been to the hot market you need to shower.  So we have no hot water so its good to time a shower once the sun has been hitting the water tank to take the edge off the cold.  Sometimes with the sun the water is actually mega hot.  

Our place has mosquito mesh on all the windows and doors which is great so you can let fresh air in but keep the evil blood suckers out.  But we have alot of tiny lizards in our place. 

 That is the life of south america.  They are only tiny and dont cause any trouble.  But still both our rooms have mosquito nets so you can relax at night not worrying about anything biting you or crawling over you hehehehe.  

Another 3rd world country treat is our regular blackouts.  Usually every 3 or 4 days but sometimes daily depending on the weather and government.  So we have well placed torches.  And all cookers have gas bottles so we can always make a meal.  I was bought a great head torch by my good pals back home so I can get around the place even in the pitch black.  

Our hall has fans on the ceiling which are my lifeline for coping with the heat at the meetings.  But we often have blackout at the meeting.  So they have a battery operated generator and emergency lighting but that means the fans go off.  But our hall has well positioned holes in the walls so the breeze still gets through which is great.  

This is the view of the hall from my place.  You can clearly see how far I have to walk
to get to the meeting hahahaha.  But also you can see the great security hence I feel
so safe even though Im here alone

But that also means the creepy crawlies of guyana also get through so there are often things flying above our heads and also crawling on the floor.   

Well it all adds to the adventure.  But that is the fun of being here.

So now you have a little taste of normal life in guyana.  But from all of the blogs you have read you have seen all of the blessings and joys we receive from the ministry and being with the lovely brothers and sisters in my hall which make all of these little niggles totally manageable.  Its all about adventure here.  

Bye for now 

My final great weeks with Jen

 Hey all

Oh yes it was big but good and dead phew!!!!!

Hope life is treating you all well and you are enjoying the summer month of August.  So about the snake.  Well most animals you see on or around the road are cows, donkey, horse, pigs and piglets, dogs and cats, ducks, chickens, sheep and goats but this large creature stopped us in our tracks.  It was definitly dead but wow it was big and just on the side of the road.  I think Jehovah has kept me blinded to all the snakes that there must be in skeldon.

Princess Hotel - 1 of only 2 hotels in guyana
but it does have the biggest pool yipeeeeee

Craziness of georgetown

After a long hard day of tanning

Happy bunny.  Sun, pool then Hot Choc fudge Sundae
Oh yeah not bad for a 3rd world country

So me and Jen fancied abit of a treat you know just cos.  So we had a great day in town - 4 hours ish drive away.  We got a lift in by lovely bro and sis in our hall which was a great blessing and even a lift home hence my caption on my 4 hour hug.  We first went to the suriname embassy which was a major pain but at the end of the day I managed to get my visa for my future 3 monthly trip then it was sun and pool calling us.  What a great time we had.  We swam and sunbathed and read our books and just totally destressed and had some needed Rest and Relaxation.  It did Jen the world of good and fired her up for her last 2 weeks of intense ministry and bible study work.  The temperature at the hotel said 39 degrees and that was in the shade and we both would agree it was a scorcher!!!!

My dear friend Nikisha in our hall got engaged to
a fellow pioneer dennis yesterday 

Nikel Nikisha's brother slept the whole way home(4 hours)
snuggled around me so I've had my hug quota
for the whole of July and August Yeah

Jen reading a scripture to a householder

My kingdom hall and my house is just behind couldnt get nearer eh

Christines family always are around when we
study - got to keep your head focused but her mam
does always listen in so I keep praying about her

Christine 14 years old.  Listen to God and soon Good News
 She loves her bible I gave her

Jen crossing an average bridge in our territory 

Veronica Good News Brochure She works in this Water plant
As a security guard so
 we all stand around to study or sometimes shareher little bench

Keeping track of different studies with coloured tabs

Bible study with the lovely 3 boys in Crabwood creek so we decided to act
out all of the faces and make the story come alive

Tina was Pharoh 

Samuel won the star actor award for the confused balding
man

Joey was the balding man with
his mouth wide open

Romel tried to be the man on the far left but couldnt stop smiling

Typical guyanese house

Doing the house to house work in my village of skeldon

So this is some more of my studies and also sad to say brian and shannon our missionary neighbours who live upstairs have had to go home a few weeks early as they have both been really sick and even ended up in guyanese hospital which no one - I mean no one - would want.  So I have 3 of her studies too till mid september.  Dolly and shan and naomi.

Naomi Bible story book

  Dolly had completed the whole teach book and wasnt making progress so shannon prayed alot about it and finally said "come to the meetings and we can have our study again".  Well it was the push dolly needed. 

 

Shan Bible story book

Dolly She has finished the teach book but is going through the good
news brochure as a review.

That is how you speak to studies here.  So along she has come to the meetings with shan her 6 year old boy.  They havent looked back since.  She legally married her husband and comes to all meetings and prepares better than me.  On her study this week she was asking alot about the ministry and how do we know what to place each week and month so we showed her from the Kingdom Ministry and she just kept asking more and more ????.  She has a genuine heart that is clearly full of love for Jehovah.  Even the study with her little boy is lovely so I count it a blessing and privilege to take care of her study while shannon is away.

So Jen wanted to taste guyanas finest budget 5 year old
El dorado rum.  The rum I only drink.  Well a most generous
sister offered to gives us a sample of both the 5 year and the
world famous award winning 15 year too.  Well as they say
"Once you've tried the good stuff you cant go back" Wow that is
so so true.  Oh my yumminess..............................................
So that will have to fit into my budget somehow

We passed this on our way back from town.  Made me think
of my dad calling all the sisters lovely lass.  This is the
name of a village here.  Love you dad your words are even
in Guyana

Had a great day of ministry on thursday a day we normally dont go out but it was a holiday.  Met a lovely woman and her mother.  They lived in suriname and had a bible study there and went to all the meetings.  The sister that studied with them just called that week to see if Jehovahs Witnesses had been by.  And then thurs we were there.  So she wants her study back again and also wants to come to the kingdom hall with her mother on sunday so that was a great day for us.  Every one was home that day in the village so we all placed about 30 to 40 mags each.  A great mornings service. Ps Just found out that she came to the meeting on sunday with her mother.  It was raining so so hard that they had to get a taxi and sat in the back of the hall so I didnt get to see them but that was great to know they came.  Yeah.

Sarah a new publisher out on 1 August a guyanese holiday
She placed over 40 mags.  Great day except we kept
getting followed by herd of cows hehehehe

We had group family worship again.  WE do it once a month.  As a bonus to family worship not instead of.  Our subject was humility and it was great.  So nice for jen to be with all of our group and relax with some tasty food after too.

Our beach day!!!  We had sunday pm by 63 beach or for those of you who have read my blog last time Sexy tree beach.  We wanted to show Jen the true beauty of guyanas finest beach.  I am being sarcastic a little.  The water is the colour of cappuccino and the sand is dark and a bit dirty but hey we had so much fun.  We filled a bus and a car with as many as we could from the cong.  Sunday was a rainy day but it didnt put us off.  We had races and swam and had Indian dancing lessons and played football all in the rain and while alot of the brothers had umbrellas   The best part was one of the sisters brought along a bottle of whiskey to warm us all up.  It was probably still over 70 degrees and the ocean was warmer than the bath back home but hey who are we to complain.  So all in all we had a great time and all the kids seemed to really love it which was great for us.  All I keep saying to Jen is only in Guyana.  It is a special country in more ways than one.

Wet from the pouring rain but didnt dampen our spirits

Miss you all so much.  So now I am home alone.  Nobody with me until melinda comes back the middle of september and nobody above me till mid september.  But dont you worry about me. Im safe as houses here that is for sure.  And I have a full list of sisters including a few of our beautiful kids who are going to stay over for sleep overs so I will be so fine. Just had my first meeting without jen.  I had 9 studies here today.  So that kept me so busy.  Also Jen and I had to run into a random families yard in the pouring rain a few weeks back and we invited them to the meeting.  Well the daughter came today so in a sense Jen got the answer to one of her prayers.  She wanted a study to come to the meeting and she kind of did.  Yeah Jen.  My prayers are with brian and shannon as Im sure yours will be too that they can make it safe and well back to our spiritual pioneer paradise in skeldon guyana and also that my new forever friend Jen has had a safe trip back to sunny geordie land and is full of zeal to start off her new service year.  

Miss you all and keep cool and enjoy the last of your summer too.  Its only getting hotter here.  September is the hottest month here.  

Lots of love

Natalie