Back In The Groove

Hello to everybody.  We have been back in Guyana now for about 2 months, and I can say with confidence that we're truly back in our groove.  Back to long days in service, getting reconnected with our studies, and staying busy with one theocratic event after another.  For instance, in my last blog I mentioned about having our first Circuit Overseer visit for the Sign Language Group, well it has come and gone.  It was so nice to have a week of activity totally focused on the Deaf and conducting all our meetings in sign language, even the C/O and his wife tried to learn some signs so they could better communicate with the deaf. 

In addition we had our Circuit Assembly, we were very happy to see a long time study finally reach the point of dedication.  His name is Robin Munilall, he's 16 and has truly made the truth his own.  The day of his baptism I asked him, "This is first day of your new life, what do you think about that?"  He looked at me and said, "When can I start controlling the camera?".  For those of you in Sign Language, that is one of the privileges a young brother can reach out for. He is so full zeal.  Robin is the one on the far right.  All these young men are deaf.

Being out in the ministry everyday we see some interesting things here in Guyana.  For instance you come across all different kinds of fruit bearing trees, this one is called Bread fruit, it's best served fried like plantain. 

Or if your out when they're burning the Cane fields it can be an impressive sight.  They burn the field to remove the long stalks of grass that grow around it and to rid the area of any snakes or other unsavory characters.

On one occasion I was out walking along and I came face to face with this big boy.  I gave him all the respect he deserved and thanked Jehovah that he was in a gracious mode.

We recently had a little gathering at a local swimming hole and these pictures reveal that a piece of rope, water and some courage can make for a good time.  The last picture is a brother visiting from Scotland, he'll be with us for about 3 months.  It was funny, one of the younger boys did not know how to swim but he so desperately wanted to get in the water.  So we took several of the large empty soda bottles and strapped them on his stomach and back and amazingly that keep him afloat, he was thrilled!

One day I had to travel to a distant part of our territory, so I caught a car and was enjoying the ride because I was the only one in the back seat, so I was feeling pretty comfortable until the driver stopped and picked up a bunch of little kids just out of school. My quiet solitude was soon to be shattered-this what I endured for the next 20 minutes. Hopefully the video will play, but even if it doesn't, I think you can capture the level of crazy that was unfolding.

 

Crystal has been studying with a deaf girl at an orphanage, when she goes the other children are curious to see what's playing on her fancy TV. 

 

So, there you have it.  We never know what we are going to see or be subjected to when we go out our front door but I try to take pause and take it in and remember it best I can because I realize these moments are the snapshots of this chapter of our lives.  So for now, we're back in the groove and taking our experience in Guyana on day at a time as we eagerly look forward to what is around the next turn.

We send our greetings to all. 
Scott & Crystal

Traveling With Us

They say, "absence makes the heart grow fonder".  If that's true those of you who have been following our blog must be feeling very fond of us by now.  The lapse in writing has been due to both a busy schedule and missed opportunities.  But I have reserved this day and hour to put my mind to the task and attempt to capture months of activity into one interesting and hopefully encouraging blog. 

Since last April we have moved from our yellow house into a smaller apartment much closer to the Kingdom Hall.  It's a nice little two bedroom, one bath apartment that suits us just fine.  The rent is cheaper, it has better water pressure and best of all it comes with the absence of a horse in our bedroom window.  Our previous neighbor decided he wanted to try his hand at raising a race horse so he built a stable in his back yard which was basically about 15 feet from our bedroom window.  So no longer having the sounds and smells of a large domestic animal in our bedroom is a nice change.  (I'll provide pictures of the new place in a later blog).  

As July drew closer we began preparing for our Regional Convention.  Preparing for the convention in Berbice, Guyana is a major undertaking and requires more than the usual amount of effort.  Needless to say we only accomplished all that was needed to be done with the aid of holy spirit and for me personally a steady flow of Pepsi.  It was thrilling to see two deaf get baptized, (picture) this now brings our group to 6 deaf baptized.  This is Anthony and Naiesha.

After the convention, Crystal and I immediately went into travel mode.  Our itinerary for the next month or so would take us to three different countries and involve all forms of travel with the exception of a boat.  It all started with a flight from Guyana to Trinidad, from there we connected to a flight bound for JFK.  Upon our arrival in NY we had to catch a train to the inner city so that we could catch the Grey Hound bus for a 13 hour westward trip to the little town of Anderson, Indiana.  The bus ride was not so bad and it gave us some nice opportunities to do a little witnessing.  I struck up a conversation with the man next to me who seemed normal enough until the subject of illegal immigration somehow came up and next thing I know he's making very loud and uncomfortable comments about his solution to the problem.  Here is where years of being in the Theocratic Ministry School came to benefit me for I kindly said after his proclamation, "well, that's one way to handle it." (end of quote and conversation).

Sadly our trip to Indiana was not for mere social reasons.  Crystal's dear Grandmother (Wilda, 86 yrs. old) was dying of cancer and it was our hope to be back in time to see her before the inevitable.  We did arrive in time to spend some brief moments with her until her death.  Interesting thing happened after she passed away, the family who is not very religious, (some are Atheist) agreed to allow me the privilege of giving the funeral talk.  Of course it goes without saying I was extremely concerned about not saying anything that would offend or make the day more difficult then it already was.  Happy to report when it was all said and done everyone seemed satisfied and comforted by the expressions and verses selected.  Jehovah truly does qualify and equip us to bring comfort to those in need of it.  Here are some pictures of us in Mounds State Park. (Crystal's father on far right)

From Indiana we headed north to Madison, Wisconsin.  What a treat to be in the company of good friends and beautiful scenery.  Although our time there was brief we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, we made some new friends and amazing memories.   I had a chance to go on a bible study and come to find out that the man lived not more then 20 minutes where we lived in Pensacola, Florida. While in Madison we spent a day at Devils Lake State Park. We hiked, climbed rocks, had stimulating conversation and got lost.  It was awesome!

Kevin, Liz and Makayla who have served with us in Guyana, they happened to live nearby where we were staying and they made the trip to come and see us. It was a beautiful evening, here are some pictures of us enjoying dinner as we talked about life in the new world.

As we continued our travels we headed next to Pennsylvania, which meant a 14 hour road trip in a car, worst of all it pretty much rained  the whole way.  Our reason for PA was to visit my family for a week before entering our next leg of the journey.  We especially enjoyed time with my brother and his family, his one daughter who is 3 yrs. old really liked Crystal.  At one point Crystal noticed she had only a one dollar bill all neatly folded in her little purse, Crystal acted like she was going to take it and put it in her pocket but his daughter (Maxine) was not going to have anybody snatching her money, she took her dollar and back in the purse it went.  A couple days later we were saying our good-bye's and Crystal feels this little hand go into her pocket, she reached in to see what Maxine had sneaked in there, low and behold it was her neatly folded dollar bill.  It goes without saying Crystal will have that price winning dollar for many years to come.  Below is a picture of my brother and Maxine, (with her purse).  After spending time with family we were taken to Harrisburg, PA in order to catch a train back to NY for our flight out of JFK to Heathrow, England here we come!

 

Are you tired yet?

Now we're off to the International Convention in London, after 8 hours of flying over the Atlantic we finally arrived in England.  We were greeted by our spiritual family at the airport, the brotherly love and unity of Jehovah's people was immediately felt and continue throughout our time in the UK.  From the airport we caught the tub (subway) to our hotel, once at the hotel we were again treated like royalty by the welcoming committee set-up in the lobby.  During the week the table remained a hub of activity as each day introduced new activities all planned and coordinated as only JW's can.   Transportation, meals, entertainment and other theocratic events unfolded and we were just simply along for the ride.  Some things we did during the week leading up to the convention were; visit the British Museum, the museum of Natural History, Victoria and Albert Museum, the London Bridge, the London Towers just to mention a few.  Of course on our way to the convention site we also passed many other famous landmarks such as, Buckingham Palace, The House of Lords, Big Ben, the Parliament.  Obviously the convention itself was spectacular!  Almost 50,000 in attendance and 300+ getting baptized it was truly a historic moment for Crystal and I.  These pictures show the view we had of the speaker, (the section vacant behind the speaker were later filled), the crowd leaving after Fridays session, (it took the buses almost two hours to get out of the parking lot).  Crystal (wearing her Sari) with a sister from Romania and a picture of the Missionaries as they walked around the field.

We stayed in England for two weeks, all that I have written so far happened in the first week.  After the convention week was over we headed West across England to a little town called Sedgebarrow in the Cotswald.  A couple from England who is serving with us in Guyana, the brother his parents live in that area.  They have visited Guyana and said if we ever found ourselves in England to come and stay with them.  What a treat it was to soak in the landscape and spend a few days walking amongst the hills and villages and to be in the company of someone who is intimately familiar with the history of that area.  We ate at ancient pubs and Crystal drank beer called "pigs ear".  I ate fish and chips and green peas "till me belly was full".   We loved every minute of it even when it was raining.  Here is some of what we saw, every where you looked could have been framed. 

Crystal and I are eternally grateful for the wonderful hospitality shown to us by some pretty cool folks.  Thanks so much.

 

Steve and Jacquie Bradbury

Pete and Phyl Hancock

Along the way we bumped into some old friends that had been with us in Guyana.  Nick and Emily the two on the far right are now learning Chinese and planning on visiting China in the near future with the goal of moving there permanently.

 

It was really nice seeing Sarah and Lorraine Giles again.  They had served in Guyana for many years in the sign language field laying the foundation of what is now the Sign Language Group.  They too are learning Chinese and already had bible studies with them at the convention. 

Finally it was time for us to say farewell to England and make the long 24 hour plus journey back to Guyana.  We have had a whirl-wind of activity these last few months and things are not slowing down for us.  For instance, soon we will be having our first Circuit Overseer visit for the Sign Language Group in October and right on the heals of that is our  Circuit Assembly.  This service year may also bring other added blessing to our area, two new Kingdom Halls.  We hope to be laying the ground work for our new hall sometime soon and with that comes more work.  But of course it's all for the advancement of pure worship and that's always work we're willing and grateful to do.

 

Thanks for taking the time to enjoy the blog and keeping up with our travels.  Please be patient with me because it may be awhile before the next one.  I would like to leave you with a video clip of an evening we had during the week leading up to the convention.  The local brothers and sisters put on a talent show for the delegates and let me tell you it was fabulous.  They were really good!  In the last performance they all came out on stage and sang a song, the video captures the main chorus and I felt it was appropriate to end the blog with such a sentiment.  (in case you can't hear it says "thinking of you, thinking of me,  it's the love we have in a worldwide family")

Crystal and I are doing well.  Thanks for traveling with us.
 

Life Got in the Way

As the title of this blog states, "life got in the way".  We have so been busy living that we've neglected to take the time to blog about it.  Of course, that's not to say we haven't wanted to sit down and send something out it just never seemed to happen, until now. 

Since our last blog we've had some more brothers and sisters visit with us, for instance. There was Timothy and Wesley Mills from California who came and preached, played and for the first time in their life's had the opportunity to live on their own.  One of the culinary arts they perfected while with us was how to make pancakes, which they made on a "very" regular basis.  I loved having them because of their willing spirit and youthful energy.  It was also a plus that they loved basketball and were really good.  Here is Tim and Wes.

 

We also had a couple from Wisconsin who came about a year ago and promised they would return, they kept that promise and came back for a couple of months.  The time went by to fast and now they've gone back to the dairy land and we miss them a lot.  Kevin and Liz Lipman with a deaf sister named Sarojini.

 

In addition we had a young sister, also from Wisconsin who came for a visit back in November of 2013 and planned to stay for 3 months but the ministry got her hooked and she extended her stay till the end of April.  She has been a tremendous help to the group and our interpreting efforts.  Crystal and I have fallen in love with this zealous faithful sister and will truly miss her when she heads back home.  We're excited for her future plans in theocratic service, for example she has been invited to attend the International Convention in Seoul, Korea this July.  We hope the best for her and will never forget our time we had together.  Her name is Makayla Szmania.

 

 

Some other activities that we've had a chance to enjoy over the last few months are as follows.

Attended a polo match for the first time.  The horses were beautiful and I learned some things about the sport I had never known, for example they only play for seven minute matches and then take a break to switch to another horse, throughout the match each rider will use up to four different horses.

Crystal and I have fought against the urge to get a pet while in Guyana for many reasons but a recent event involving my neighbors dogs put us in a situation where we had to intervene in order to save the puppy's life.  Our efforts were successful and we eventually found a good home for our new friend, we named him Peanut.

 

 

When out in the ministry I'm always watching out for something special and on one day while alone in a remote area I looked up and saw this amazing bird, it was a Toucan.  I was able to take a picture but my camera is not so great so you have to look close to see him.

 

In January and February we traveled back to the United States to attend my daughters wedding, we stayed both in Florida and Indiana during that time.  Unfortunately due to the weather and our schedule we were not able to visit with everyone and regret things did not work out as we had hoped.  While in Indiana we mostly stayed inside because of the constant snow and icy conditions, this is what we saw out our window for about two weeks.

 

 

But eventually we made it back down to Florida and the weather was perfect.  My daughters wedding went well and I got a chance to spend time with my Dad, whom I had not seen in 2 years.  Some pictures of the bride ( nowTessa Rey), Crystal's parents and my Dad and his girlfriend.

 

Mike & Cyndee

 

David & Mary

 

And last but certainly not least are some pictures from our recent Memorial.  We had 75 in attendance (49 Deaf).  All went as planned and every one enjoyed the opportunity to associate and see friends  they had not seen in awhile.  

 

 

A simple setting.  The Memorial was held at Town Hall in New Amsterdam.

 

 

Steven (deaf) and his sister Ashley, (she is dressed in traditional Guyanese attire)

 

These two guys are Lukram and Errol (both deaf).  Even though this was the first time they meet they immediately became buddies. 

 

Here is most of those that attended.  We felt it such a privilege to be in this group picture and will always remember these moments because this is what it's all about.  Crystal and I send our greetings to everyone and pray your happy, safe and staying ever faithful.