Quickening the pace....

Here in Guyana the pace is one that is easy to keep, at least for me.  This evening I was riding back from  New Amsterdam heading toward home, the sun had set and the moon was keeping an eye on me as I drew closer to the bridge.  As I reached the apex of my crossing I stopped and took it all in and this is what I saw.   Beneath me lye a waterway running swiftly to the Canje river, within it are filled numerous boats of all shapes and sizes, some ferrying the local fisherman and others as cargo vessels carrying sand, sugar, and various types of heavy machinery.  In the distance you can see two tall black smoke stacks that find residency at the sugar cane factory, each in a constant state of eruption, billowing the smoke of Guyana gold.  Houses dot the landscape, some brightly clothed in Hindu flags and banners, whiles other seem to strain in an effort to stay erect.  Here wealth is not measured in neatly landscaped yards or fancy cars but on the amount of concrete holding your house together.  My eyes are cast toward the sky, there the moon is full and shrouded in a soft vanilla veil, though not alone.  In the foreground a grumpy little electrical storm makes it's presence known, infrequently flashing across the sky as if in competion to capture my attention from the constant lunar glow.  It is in this moment that I find this life of mine to be perfect.  I know that once I start my descent and the wind fills my face with pungent smells of decay and mosquitos and cars will speed by periliously close and no doubt I will probably hit several piles of manure before arriving home, none of that matters because here I can go at my pace.  This is especially true in our ministry.  I've come to appreciate that so much happiness and joy in the field is often missed because we are so focused on the work at hand, getting to the destination, helping the student to progress, trying to teach effectively.  All these things ARE important, but stopping at the top of the bridge is equally as vital.  Here are some pictures of us doing just that.

The last picture is a hive of African bees.  If you notice beneath the tree and in the center is the hive, it's huge and as long as you don't disturb them they wont become aggressive.  Recently a man died as a result of being attacked, what's amazing is that he died because he drowned.  He was being chased by a swarm and decided to jump into a pond, the bee's just waited until he came up for air then would attack him again, he eventually never came back up.  I was out on the Savannah and a man invited me in to see the hive, afterwards we talked for awhile and I got a chance to mention why I was in Guyana, this lead to a nice witness.

Recently we had our Circuit Assembly and the District Overseer mentioned for us to "quicken the pace".  He said that in conjunction with the need to remove ourselves from things offensive to Jehovah, he compared it to the way in which the Guyanese tend to cross the street, very casually.  Yet, if you were to see a car coming at 100 mph would you maintain that casual pace?  The point, we are deep into the fulfillment of bible prophecy and need to take seriously the invitation to "Get out of her" false religion. (Rev. 18:4)  At that same C/A I had the opportunity to interpret, my first time in front of such a large group of people.  Here is some video...

 

Crystal and I have been really enjoying other aspects of our ministry such as, every Tuesday at 11:00 we go to the local school for children with disabilities and conduct a class on sign language, the class has 15 students who are either deaf or hard of hearing.  They seem to appreciate what is being taught and with time maybe some will go on to help other deaf to learn and love ASL.  In addition, on Wednesday we go to an orphanage and teach a short class introducing basic signing using bible based publications in ASL.  I think they are just happy to have some attention and the chance to actually learn something.  Here are some pictures, the top two are of the orphanage, the bottom two are of the school.

Here, there is a real need for patience and an even greater need for perserverance. Some JW's who have come to help out leave after a short while. The reasons are many but the most common is becoming frustrated over the lack of order and urgency about getting anything done. I too have struggled with those feelings and admit that I must keep reminding myself that Jehovah is setting the pace for advancement, one person recently shared this illustration with me, she said, "if you see a house and the front door and frame are crooked yet it still functions properly, but you tear out the frame and make it square, can you use the same door." The point, appreciate what works and don't focus on what is "crooked".   As a result of focusing on what is "functioning properly" notice the end result. Here are some pictures of deaf ones who are striving to keep Jehovah's pace in these critical times.

So, in the end we are very busy with theocratic activity but  also seizing the moments when we find ourselves perched on the top of a bridge on some random evening or watching as a mother sow leads her piglets to the pen or sipping slowly on an ice cold RC from the snackette.  Guyana is a place where I'm learning to slow my pace yet still keep up with Jehovah's.  Till the next blog, may all those who read this and know us take care of be safe. 

Reconnected and Ready!

First off I would like to say that we are very excited about finally being able to reconnect with the world and those within it.  When you are accustom to a steady flow of daily news, downloads and  instant contact, then all of the suddenly that is taken away you feel detached with the additional anxiety that somehow you are not "reporting in for duty" everyday.  But, now the world is again spinning properly upon it's axis and my separation guilt is no longer a constant companion because at last the Internet and I are, "reunited and it feels so good."

Life here in New Amsterdam has not changed much since our last blog.  The weather is still hot, yet breezy.  The water still looks like a mocca latte and the animals are still freely walking down the center of the road, although they seem to obey the traffic laws better then the humans, the other day I actually saw a cow shift his tail and move his head to the left before making a lane change.   Here is a picture of the savanna next to our home and of course some moo-moo's.

Well enough about the country, I know you really want to know more about what is going on with us...right.  Ok more about the country, right now election fever is sweeping throughout the region and  the politicians are hard at work convincing the hard working to cast their vote in favor of, your guessed it "change".  So right now slick slogans are flying like cow pooh from a healthy heifer and so some improvements are being made in the area, like for example cleaning out the canals that run along most of the roads, the contents of such look something like this and oh by the way this is the infamous ditch that we snatched the kitten out of that eventually died. 

As you can see, they have plenty of room for improvement.  The real sad truth is that even if they cleaned up all the mess, the people would just continue what they have been doing for 100's of years and that is what really needs to change.  Of course the only real solution does not lay in the hands of men.  Which brings me to the whole reason why we are here, the advancement of divine education.  The life's we are being brought into contact with are just amazing and incredibly complicated.  For instance, you meet a deaf person who is soaking up bible truth like a sponge, they beam brighter with each new point they learn about Jehovah and about the language they have never really been taught.  But then there extended family, who live in the U.S. and financially support them, who are themselves devote Muslims find out about them studying with Jehovah's Witnesses.  Well, without going into great detail, I'll simply say the two do not mix.  Family pressure mounts and hard choices have to be made, often times ending with them foregoing both the truth and an opportunity to learn to read and write for the sake of survival.  It's tough to watch it all unfold but at the same time it is what all of us have had to do in some way or the other, taking a stand for truth is never easy and maintaining that stand in not going to get any easier.  For instance, here is a picture of an unbaptised sister who's husband (not a witness) told her that he did not want her to spend long days in the ministry because it was darkening her skin.  She respectfully complied, yet stayed as active as he would allow and now he has softened to the point of accepting a bible study and coming to the meetings with her. 

We have been busy moving again.  We finally said enough, we could no longer stay in the house we were in because the neighbors were and are crazy! We just got tired of hearing the arguing and profanity, you have to understand the house we lived in was nothing more then a tent with plumbing, the walls were paper thin and the windows did not shut completely, so you heard everything..at all hours...all the time.  It was as if they were having the argument in our house, when we ate, slept, showered, a constant assault on the ears and mind.   So, now we have moved to a more peaceful neighborhood and the house is more to our liking,  I'll post some pictures on our next blog.  So in the end I will leave you with a picture that I love.  It is a picture of my stunning wife standing in what, at that time was our kitchen.  Crystal is the reason so much of what we do is endurable, she manages to find a way to make a hole a home.  I'm so fortunate to have a wife who is ready and willing to leave the comforts and security of living in the land of "Ur" (U.S.) in order to come to a place so different and at times very demanding all in an effort to reach the hearts of those rightly disposed, she is my "Sarah".  Till next time, you'all stay safe and keep your eyes on the prophetic future, we are indeed living in exciting times.

In Guyana for a about two weeks and have had many new experiences worth writing about, for example we have enjoyed meeting many new brothers and sister who have been very kind and hospitable.  We have also had the opportunity to get into the service activity which has been both interesting and exhausting.  We are not accustom to the amount of walking and exposure to the heat like the friends are and we struggle to keep up sometimes.  Crystal has found a way to save some wear and tear on her "rubber dinkeys" (flip-flops)...

We have also had the opportunity to attend a district convention in Georgetown last week, which was quite a different experience than the convention we attended in Plant City the previous weekend.Of course, the convention is an outdoor venue and the seats are simple benches with no backs. Our bums were killing us by the third day, bu we did get to meet a lot of the friends in the Georgetown area that are serving in sign language. There were almost 60 deaf in attendance, and the sign language section was packed! Everytime someone else showed up you were just expected to sqeeze over to fit another person. This kept happening until we were pretty much packed in like hot little sardines cooking from each others body heat. The friends here have been so sweet and sympathetic to our lack of tolerence for the heat. There were around 5,000 in attedance, and the total number baptised was 74, in our next blog we will send some video.

We have been busy making some necessary purchases such as bikes and good walking shoes, (Crystal's poor feet are covered in blisters and her booty is sore from all the riding), we also needed to buy some hats, the sun is relentless and will melt your face off if your not protected either with hat or umbrella, here is my hat purchase...

Next week we are looking forward to getting into our own place and we will get better internet service which will allow us to send more pictures.  So please be patient with us and more importantly keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  Look forward to sharing more about the group and our ministry activities.  We miss everyone and hope to be seeing you'all soon.

Scott & Crystal

  

Arriving in the "land of many waters"

At 9:15 on the 3rd of August 2011 we arrived in Guyana.  The landing was a bit rough but once on the ground all has gone well.  We were meet at the airport by family members of a friend we know back in the states and they were very kind and patient with us, they managed to get all of our luggage in the car and got us safely to our first destination, the Herdmanston Lodge.

As you can see the place is very peaceful.  We are right across the street from the Brazil consulant house and about fifteen minutes walk from National Park, this is where we will be this weekend for the distict convention.  We went by and visited with the brothers while they were getting things ready.

After hanging out for awhile it was off to see the "cambio" or money changer, the end result look something like this...

LOADED!!! Wrong, the exchange right now, $1.00 US is the same as $205.00 Guyanese.  Though it looks like alot it really isn't.  We also got our first taste of local food, we liked it but we need to get acquainted with the hot sauces, some of them have no business in the human body.  Check out the food & fancy to go cups....

All in all a laid back easy day in Georgetown.  We are looking forward to the new friends, experiences and challenges that lay ahead.  More pictures and storys to come.  We send our love and miss everyone.  A special hello out to our little buddy, Gus.