A Trip to Paradise!

Hey everybody, we hope you are good..and enjoying your heat wave :) so nice to hear your stories of things happening at home. I know we've said it before but your support and just hearing from you is really nice, it spurs us on, so thank you!
We have had quite a lovely week off. We went to Baganara for a couple of days. It is a beautiful island in the middle of the Essequibo River. We were the only people there, so we thoroughly enjoyed being looked after and having all our meals cooked for us. We have done some sunbathing, chilling out in the hammocks and reading which was absolutely lovely.....

Isn't it beautiful!?

 

We even tried our hand at a bit of kayaking. We had so much fun. We were told not many people make it around the whole island... It took us two hours granted, but we made it. Amy and Naomi were in one boat, and Molly and Daisy in the other. Here we are before we got in....

On Thursday, we went to see Kaieteur Falls..something that everyone had even telling us to do. It absolutely blew our minds!

Here is the tiny 13 seater plane that picked us up from the island.

The plane was packed! But the views were stunning, especially for Molly who was sat in the cockpit alongside the driver. We must admit we were a little scared!! But the views were completely worth it. Kaieteur Falls is the tallest single drop in the world, five times the size of Niagara Falls. So to call it 'amazing' is a huge understatement. We even had to take a guided tour through the jungle to get to the falls. We also went to see Orinduik Falls (spellcheck!) which are some rapids in the border of Guyana and Brazil. So it was quite a day...one that we will always remember!

We could write a lot more about how we felt seeing this, but pictures speak louder than words, don't they? All we can say is it really brought Jehovah's power to life for us. It was an incredible experience.

 

We hope you've enjoyed looking at our pictures! They don't do it justice but at least it's a taster. We would definitely recommend a visit in Paradise. Imagine how much more awe inspiring it will be then :)

We are enjoying being back in Charity now and seeing our studies and the brothers and sisters. We will be sad to see this next month go by quickly! Oh and by the way, we are having an absolute heat wave here!! ;) 

Oh and also the bugs are ever thriving! 

We found a slipper was a fairly effective method of combatting this particular cockroach.

Naomi is our chief bug lady, with Amy coming close up second (apart from with rats.) Molly still screams a lot but is becoming braver (see above..) and Daisy still cant go anywhere near the bugs, dead or alive!! 

Convention time (don't worry, no spoilers!)

Hey! So we are just writing this blog from a beach lounger on a beautiful deserted island with the river less than a metre away, and the jungle opposite us....well...not quite, we are there, but it's overcast and a bit drizzly! But it is stunning and it's been really hot today so we have really enjoyed chilling out, sleeping in the hammocks and soaking up some rays. We are only here a couple of days and then we go back to Charity, but it's been an amazing few days. We've been to the regional convention in Georgetown, which is the capital of Guyana. It has been brilliant...best one yet actually.

So it was at the National Park, which is all open air. The seating was wooden benches with no backs, so good job somebody warned us. We came equipped with pillows! The journey from Charity to Georgetown took us about 5 hours. We were picked up in a crammed bus, which got more and more loaded with people the further we went. We had pillows and all our cases, and there were other witnesses on board too who had all their luggage. Several people were on each other's knees.  The long journey took its toll...

Then we got on a huge ferry which was and got the convention spirit going, as there were loads of witnesses on there. The ferry took 1.5 hours, then we got a taxi. Five of us in one car, plus the driver! We actually got stopped by the police! And would you believe it, because we were white, the police let the taxi driver off scot free! Only in Guyana ;)  

When we finally reached our hotel, we were so tired! But we were incredibly happy because we had hot water AND American tv AND air conditoning!!! It's hard to convey our joy at this. Having bucket showers and Guyanese obituary channels and black outs stopping our fan usage for the past two months have made us really appreciate these things! Isn't it true that you appreciate luxuries far more when they aren't conveniences anymore?

Anyway, day one of the convention....

    It was lovely to see some of the girls from our hall, and some new friends too :)

In the afternoon, Molly sat in the American Sign Language section. There were 22 deaf there, with varying comprehensions of sign language. One study knew 6 different sign languages and some have no language at all. A challenge for the small team of interpreters! Jehovah is clearly blessing their efforts and hard work. Some of them travelled for days to get to the convention and some aren't even having a study yet! The fact that provisions are made for the deaf in a country which largely neglects the deaf is a true demonstration of Jehovah's keen interest and love in them. Here are some of the deaf: 

The brothers were really prepared and ready to help. The team of interpreters was very small but each one knew exactly their parts and had clearly prepared well. All of the demos, interviews, dramas and talks were covered brilliantly. It's even harder signing in the heat! Any extra movement s tough so their sacrifice and love shines through! 

Day 2 of the convention was even better than the first day! Here is Joelle, her family were all concentrating so well throughout the whole programme and had saved up for a long time to get there. Adorable, enthusiastic family! 

The baptism was fantastic. We welcomed 66 new brothers and sisters into our family. They all walked out in single file and we thought the line wouldn't never stop, there were so many of them. As we sat and waited in our seats in true British form, we saw our Guyanese brothers and sisters all crowding excitedly around the blow up pool. Cameras up and ready, they were so joyful to welcome our new family. It added to the thrill of the occasion. 3 from got baptised too. 

Day Three of the convention:

Sorry to mention it again but it was so so hot!! The talks were mostly done by missionaries, special pioneers, circuit overseers and others in full time service. We were so grateful that the talks were so lively and engaging because concentration could've been tough otherwise due to the intense heat. 

This is Amy and Sister Fitzallen, from our hall. She has been visiting family in Charity for a few months but after the convention she will be moving back to the interior so we won't see her anymore. But hopefully we will in Paradise :) 

This is Sarah, a deaf girl from Georgetown. She is a spirited, confident little girl- unlike the majority of the deaf children here. They really enjoyed chatting and having a laugh together! 

 

 

After the convention, we went out for a Brazilian meal with a group of need greaters from All over America, Mexico, Brazil,  and different parts of Europe. It was lovely to learn from their experiences...very inspiring! 

They carve the meat at the table, fresh from the BBQ! Delicious! 

We went for some fresh cocktails on a rooftop terrace after as well! Piña colada tastes so good with fresh pineapple and coconut! 

Wish we could tell you more about the convention because it was brilliant but we don't want to spoil it for you! All we can say is that it gave us goosebumps and it wasn't because it was cold!! Enjoy your conventions everyone at home, Jehovah has prepared a treat for us all! 

 

Bollywood wedding!

This weekend we had a hilarious time at an Indian wedding....time to crack out the Bollywood dance moves..or lack of them! Deveida our next door neighbour lent us sari's so we were all suited and booted for the occasion.

When we got there we were rushed into the back, not really having a clue what was going on as it wasn't your typical English wedding.

We were each handed a HUGE leaf and one by one were given spoonfuls of 7 different kinds of curry....we were told to eat with our fingers but the leaf was really hot on our hands so we opted for spoons instead! So British!

So here we have.....rice, daal (spellcheck!), pumpkin curry, coconut curry, calalou saag, a potato chickpea one, something VERY spicy and something deep fried and yummy. 

When we had finished, we had to wrap up the leaf like a tissue, then somebody whipped them off us and gave us a brown bag of something deep fried and sweet. They love all things deep fried here!

The most HILARIOUS picture of the day! This is a completely natural shot of Molly and Amy's reaction to some of the Indian dancing. Needless to say there were some very interesting moves going on. 

In the end we decided to embrace it and get up on the dance floor! Sorry but there is no photographic evidence of our attempts to dance Bollywood style! We had a really great time and loved experiencing a bit more of the culture.

Here's a bit more of what's been happening this week....

Our first demo :) 

Amy outside her studies house. She is called Amrita and she is only 19. Her family also listen in to the study from their hammocks!

 This week Amrita was preparing her study (which they all seem to do here!) and she wasn't sure what 'sovereignty' meant, and neither did her family. They asked around, but couldn't find an answer, So they decided to look it up in the dictionary. What a humble attitude :) 

Molly and Naomi went over to join two sisters on a study (in Guyana, it's more the merrier on studies!) and there were some children there. They showed them the Caleb videos whilst their mum had her study. They absolutely loved it. 

Naomi studies with a lady on the river called Marina. After two studies, she said 'You know...other churches don't do this.' She couldn't believe how much she had learnt from just studying two paragraphs with us.  It's amazing how people see the distinction between the truth and other religions after such a short time.

This was our last visit to Martindale School on the river as they finish for the school holidays this week. Each week we have been teaching a little bit more of 'Listen Obey and be Blessed', so this week we all sung it together. The head mistress wrote down the words and was singing too. Terron, the little boy reading from the Bible here, has really responded to the sessions we've been doing, and he has even started using Jehovah's name. We gave the head mistress a Bible Story book to present to him at the Prizegiving ceremony that they have, and left them a Caleb DVd. The head was really excited and said 'I'm already planning lessons ideas using the DVD'.

This is Daisy studying with Camilla, and her daughter Angel. Camilla got a Bible Teach book in Barbados years ago but lost it, so she was happy to take another one and start a study right away. She also happens to be a baker and has promised us pineapple tarts and cheese rolls when we go next week!

Her daughter is another big fan of the Caleb videos. She tries to sing along, and she especially likes 'Be Neat and Clean', where she describes Caleb's room as 'messy messy messy!!!'

Molly conducts a study with a deaf lady called Adella. Although it's in American Sign Language, Molly manages to communicate with her and conduct a study which is amazing. Find out more in our   Sign Language blog coming very soon!

Molly also has started a study with a pastor's wife on the river. She said she had been waiting for us to come back so that she can learn the truth about God. Molly encouraged her to pre study for her first study next week, which she was really excited about. 

We hope you've enjoyed this little snippet of our week in Guyana, there will be more to come! :)