More life

The people have been blessing us immensely with food and hospitality. Mandy (right) and her sister-in-law Raishma came over and cooked for us one day some guyanese specialties- I forget the names of what they made, you'd have to ask Ellen because they're funky. But, the one was like a breaded mashed potato. Like bread stuffed with mashed potato and fried. It was good. The other was a banana bread-ish dough that you drop in oil and fry, so it kind of looks like doughnuts. Yummy.
Ellen and I enjoyed it.
Pastor Katryan took us out on Tuesday and we visited MANY places here. One place was the school he designed and was the architect for. It is a nursery school, so 4-7 year olds come here. They are the cutest things you ever saw, especially in their uniforms. They were shy at first, but once they warmed up to me and I went down on their level, they loved me.
I will miss beautiful scenes like this. I am soaking every chance I get to view God's beauty. I took this picture while sitting in the car waiting for Pastor Katryan as he was doing business with someone. I think coconut trees are one of my favorite things to look at. They are so relaxing and exotic looking...
Ellen with Shannon. I posted Shannon with me, so I figured You'd like to see Ellen with this adorable little girl. Off to the market to pick up some last gifts to bring home, then cleaning our house all day.
Home soon-4 days...if our flights all work out, which I'm doubtful. But that's ok.

Life

We're wrapping up our time in Guyana, and many people here are responding with gifts and inviting us to spend some last time with them. Most of our time is booked from now until we leave here, and this doesn't allow much time to think about blogging....
We spent half of Wednesday with Mala, a lady from the Corriverton church, and the other half of the day with Emily and her daughter Shannon, who is in this picture with me. This little girl is so beautiful! We had a good time with both of these people, and it made me sad that we're leaving.
Jason, (the boy in the red shirt) is our next-door neighbor, and he had a birthday Tuesday that Ellen made a cake for and we celebrated with him. Ellen was teaching him and his cousin, Sarah how to play that pushing game where you stand with your feet together and have to push each other's hands and knock the other person over without falling or moving your own feet.
In the Hammock is Raishma, and Emily, Jason's mother and sister. We have so enjoyed spending time with this family, and go over there fairly often to eat, hang out, spend the night, etc. They are really kind to us, and are sending many things home with us. We had a bush cook there last night, and in this picture they are eating the cook-up. It was a very fun evening.
My last day of teaching was today, and I tested my students on the Geography we've been learning for the past month. They did really well on the quizzes! They had so many questions and didn't want me to leave today. They asked WHEN I'm coming back, not IF I'm coming back.
It's funny how you can spend only 4 months teaching students and get so close to them. Some of these kids have become special to me, and I will really miss them. I think they look up to me so much, and I try to be aware of my actions and how I am treating and dealing with people. I don't want to lead them astray.
Teaching was a good experience for me- I learned!! I think I got a little more strict than I used to be, and a little more no-nonsense, but today my students told me that they like me because I don't yell at them or hit them if they don't understand something, I explain it to them. They think I'm easy going and relaxed with them....whatever.
They asked me when I'm getting married, (they know Ellen's getting married) and when I said I don't know because I have no guy interests, they asked, "Well are you going to marry a white guy or a Guyanese"? I told them I'm going to marry the man that God without a doubt shoves in my face. He's got someone for me, but I guess I never really answered their question of whether or not he'd be guyanese...oh well.

Books Burned To Date

697

Lots of Harlequins, anything sexual or containing language was discarded. Now we need some more books to go into those empty shelves. Some GOOD books for the Baptist Library.

Time to go assist with the teaching upstairs.

My Wednesday

I went to bed at a decent hour Tuesday night, I knew I wanted to be up early.

I woke up at 5:45 and got up, read for a while, prayed, wrote a few letters, then had some breakfast before heading into town to renew the fitness for the truck at the police station. It had expired the week before, so is illegal to drive. A "fitness" is just a piece of paper certifying that your vehicle is fit to drive and works properly. (Once, when pulled over for a routine check I was asked to show him my fitness. I had thought he wanted me to show him that I was fit enough to drive.)

I left the house around 8:00, took a tapir to the station, arriving there at 8:10. I had enquired about renewing the fitness the week before and was told that Wednesdays and Fridays were the only available days and that I could be there by 8:00. I walked into the station and told the woman sitting there why I was there. She let me know that the guy who processed the papers I was needing didn't come until 10:00. I was a bit upset and told her of the week before and the man next to me verified my story, he must have been there when I'd been there last Thursday.

I took a tapir home and kept myself busy until 9:50 and headed back to the station, on another tapir. I arrived and there were about 10 people standing around the vehicle control place just waiting. The man still hadn't arrived. All the waiters-in-line looked so peaceful and complacent. I sat and waited with them for a while until an officer walked up to me and asked what I was there for. When I told him it was for my fitness he then let me know I had to have the vehicle with me (duh!). I told him it was already expired though and the only way to get it to the station would be illegally. He gave me that silent nod and bit of a smile. So I headed back home on a tapir. When I returned at 11:30 there were at least 20 people in the line and still no sign of the only officer who could do what we needed done. I asked them if they every became impatient or upset with the lack of responsibility and confusion that goes on in these kinds of establishments. One man said it is frustrating, but there's nothing to be done. I asked him if complaining helped. He told me to go ahead and give it a shot. I was a little peeved.

I asked the lady behind the desk (who doesn't seem to have anything to do) why the officer wasn't there. She wasn't sure. I asked if he could be called/if he had a phone number and if I could have the number. She didn't quite know how to take me and ended up saying something like "he's got a cell phone, but can't answer while driving". I was still mad so I responded, "can he pull over??" She let me know they'd try to contact him. I went back outside with the rest of the group. I wrote more letters. I was then called inside so that a head officer could explain the situation to me. It was the same story the lady had told me. They didn't know where he was, when he was actually coming, and were attempting to contact him. It was kind of sad though because the same respect would not have been paid to the other men all waiting outside. I saw what happened when a man just dared to step inside the office with his hat on. One of the women snapped at him saying something like "remove your hat when you walk in here and show respect! Wipe your feet too!!" I loved the man's response to her. He slowly took off the hat, then turned around to look at the mat-less floor behind him, turned back to her and just asked how he was supposed to wipe his feet with no mat. The scenario was interesting to observe.

After this the same officer who had kindly told me I needed my vehicle with me spotted me and asked if I'd brought it back. Since I had, he had me pull into the compound and he proceeded to check the fitness of the vehicle. That experience was just funny. What do you do when the man is telling you to turn on you "headlamps" and your "trafficators"?? I managed. Then, as he went to the rear of the vehicle he asked me to "mash the brakes". I did. No lights lit up. So, all of the waiting and running was for naught.

I asked Mrs. Katryan what to do and she sent me to an auto electrician to repair it. I went, he told me to come back at 2:00 so I did. He repaired the lights but he must have majorly messed up something else because on my way home the driving got worse and worse and it was like I was breaking all the time. It got so bad that by the end of my drive home I could only manage first gear without it completely stopping on me. I never did get that fitness.

I guess I'm posting about this to just show you some of the frustrating everyday life that people here have to go through all the time. It's no biggie if you happen to have to show up at the post office to receive a package and sit and wait for it for 2 hours. It almost seems normal and expected. The most interesting part to me is that most of the people don't bring anything to do to fill in the wasted waiting hours. There needs to be some changes around here, I just wonder who's going to do it and when it's going to be done!

I'm really anticipating coming home now. I'm savoring my last days here, but our lives have kind of just been a little crazy for the past week. I guess that's because we lost a lot of the normal routine when the Hunters left. We're just trying to figure out where to live, how to get places, and what to eat now! The people have been very good to us though. I'm so thankful for that. Just last night one of the members from the church invited us into her home. One thing she mentioned was that "if I had my daughter far away from home I would want someone to take care of her and love her, plus, we're sisters in Christ!" It was really fun for me to see that.

Okay, I should get going. I'm at the Centre right now working on typing up the book list for Seema. It's the list of all the raunchy books we burned. I'll let you know the count once I finish typing it up.

~Ellen~

Wrapping Up

We have less than 2 weeks left.

It feels like it went from us having 3 months left to 2 weeks. The first 2 months were long, but after that time just seemed to fly. I'm trying to enjoy every moment....except the spider episode, and cherish the time here with the people. I have grown to love them so much, and will miss it here. Part of me wants to stay. I can do so much here! There is much work to be done, and the people respond really well to us here. I enjoy spending time with the church members.

We have been spending quite a bit of time with the members in their homes lately, and that has been good. I think they're all realizing we only have a couple weeks left. They have been so hospitable and friendly to us, I can't believe how kind they are and giving. They feed us SO MUCH! I think Ellen and I have both gained weight, but maybe not. It's hard to tell. She was wining about how she has flab on her stomach last night, then we worked out. I'm not sure if it all left yet or not though:)

We're eating lots of fruits and soaking up the papaya, pineapple, guava, bananas, and any other fruit that is native and fresh here! I will miss the market with all of the available fresh foods. We are singing quite a bit with people, teaching them our last few songs. Hard to think we're going home soon, but I'm glad- I would like to see my family again.

Scary

Today I opened Ellen's suitcase top to check something, and the biggest spider I've ever seen in my entire life darted in a split second over her stuff. I had a scream inside of me, but it wouldn't come out. I curled my toes and tensed up, like I always to when I'm scared, and slowly backed away. The spider was black, and oh man, creepy. I thought fast: "Ellen's gone, I'm here in the house alone, I guess I could go over to the neighbors. I NEED SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF THIS SPIDER FOR ME!!!" Then I yelled at myself. Grow up, Katie. Kill it. nope. Not happening. This thing moves WAY too fast to hit it and kill it. Then I remembered the brilliant fish spray that kills "all creeping creatures and insects". I wonder if big black hairy spiders fall under that category. Anyway. I got the fish spray can. Walked over by Ellen's suitcase. held the can out. couldn't do it. I prayed, I know, silly. "GOD!!!! Please help me to not be scared of this spider, I know I'm way bigger than it, and I really need to kill it right now. Please make it die." Then I gathered all the courage God sent my way, and sprayed like the dickens. The spider darted so fast I hardly saw it, and was on the wall now. I stepped back, still curling my toes and tensed up. Then I went out of the porch room and just thought. Nothing too brilliant was coming to mind. I was still scared. I went back into the room and saw the spider dart from the wall to behind her carry-on suitcase. God sent more courage. I sprayed, sprayed, and sprayed, nearly the whole huge can of fish spray all over her carry-on suitcase and in the air and all over the room. I saw the spider crawl out a little from behind her carry-on, and that's the last I saw of it. I shut the door to the room, and got my things ready to go. Called Ellen on the phone and told her about it so she doesn't get killed when she gets home because I sure won't be there to tell her about it. Then I went to Mandy's next door and asked through the fence that separates out house if they've ever seen such a spider. They all got big eyes and said, oh no, don't mess with that spider, it could kill you or make you really sick if it bites you. You would have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks at least. Mandy said it's poisonous, but she's never seen one in her house before. Great. She asked me if I wanted her brother to come over and kill it. I said no, he wouldn't be able to catch it. I'm a dummy. I should have said yes. I'm terrified to sleep in that house now. I check the floor every step I take now. I pray the fish spray worked and I'll go home from the Centre to Ellen telling me she found it dead behind her suitcase. I won't sleep until I see it dead.

Pinata Busting Again

For some reason the Pinata Busting post showed up after a previous post so people who are notified of new posts through certain methods won't know it's there. Pardon me for adding this blurb to direct you to the post and pictures below.
Cindy

Crusade, Teen Meetings, Black Bush

Last week flew by, as we had 5 nights of Crusade at the different mission outreaches. We did Much singing, and God apparently blessed the words of our music to the people listening, because a number of people personally told me how much the songs were a blessing and encouragement to them. I am amazed how God can use our feeble voices and music to be an encouragement to his people.

We have held multiple teen meetings- 3 in the past 2 weeks, and they have drained and blessed us. I felt very happy to complete the last one Saturday, and with 50 kids showing up, there's much work for Ellen and I. It has been so good. I just pray that they see Christ in us, and want to know Him as well. We got real easy for this teen meeting(in the picture)- we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Ellen lead a bible lesson.

We went back to Black Bush with a family from church and stopped to see their relatives, who off course fed us. We had an enjoyable time, and going back into the bush was cool. There's lots of agriculture going on back there, that's where the farmers are because they grow the rice and all of the crops back there. Very simple lifestyle- I think it's not a bad idea:)

Pinata Busting

These pictures are from a few weeks back when the kids came back to school after Easter break. The boys were the most excited about the demolition of the pinatas, with a little coaxing a couple of the girls joined in too. The kids worked long and hard to complete the pinatas and did a very good job decorating them. There were six total, a sun, man's head, basketball, hot air balloon, cats head, and rabbit head. My personal favorite was the yellow sun with red rays coming off of it. I should have had the presence of mind to take pictures of them all before they were busted, but that just didn't seem to cross my mind. Ah well. Showing off the candy they had scrambled to pick up. It was intense. Bryce and Owen, you would have been up against some pretty stiff competition had you been here to join in!

This is Akash holding the stick. He likes to make trouble, but is pretty sweet in general. Oh, that stick. I have a funny story about the stick.

The first kid who swung at the first pinata on the first day (we had two pinata busting days) was just blindfolded and told to "go". He took two steps in my direction (I was holding the rope for the pinata, approx. 6 feet away) and swung that stick as hard as he could. He missed the pinata completely but gave me a pretty good thwack on my forearm. It was bruised and there's still a lump on my bone where "the bai lash meh" (that's creolese speak, another common one would be "the bai knock meh"). I'm not sore anymore, just have a lump. I laughed so hard. I'm still not sure why it was so funny, I guess just the pure shock that I got smoked by the kid and completely unintentionally. It was fun-ny.

Another go at it. They swing hard. A couple hit the pole so hard the stick broke and we had to get a new one. It was a dangerous game, but very enjoyable.

Aqueena stepped right up there and took a swing, I was happy about that :-)

I think this is Avinash, but I'm not completely sure. Overall it was a really good time and they seemed to enjoy it all. I sure did!

He's still working...

I am praising God for the fact that He still works and changes the hearts of people to love and serve Him. This Sunday an elderly man from Corriverton church asked to be baptized and to become a member of the church. He wants to fully live His life for Christ. I asked him on the ride to the Crusade what he would say if he was standing before God right now and had to account for his life, and he said "I would say I'm a sinner, and filthy. And Jesus paid for my sins." That rejoiced my heart. Also, a young woman in our church who is struggling with a marriage to a Muslim man has talked to Ellen and I extensively about her situation, and we just pray with her and read the bible with/to her. She is so receptive, and wants to be a godly woman in whatever she does with this situation. She keeps asking advice, and needs encouragement because he's tough to deal with. Anyway, on Sunday she went up after the service and told the church that she wants to rededicate her life to Christ and live for Him.

My heart is thanking God for the Hunter's ministry here and the fact that God uses us, sinners saved by grace, and changes hearts to love and serve Him!

Ladies Retreat

We held a ladies retreat last Friday, Good Friday, and had about 35 ladies attend. The Lord definitely blessed Ellen and I and gave us the ability to speak and I pray that it was clear for the ladies. Many of them told us that they were so encouraged and had such a good time. We had a schedule:

Introduction Game

Ellen's lesson- Titus 2

Cooking, making Hummus, salsa fresca, Roti chips, guacamole, and pasta salad.

After we made the food, we ate the appetizer- the dips and roti chips, while Ellen and I gave a lesson on time management.

Ate lunch- pasta salad and punch

Katie's lesson- Proverbs 31

Discussion and recapping of the day

Start at the bottom and go up, because the pictures uploaded backwards once again.:) Cynthia and I were having a sweep-off, and I'm pretty sure I was beating her, but I guess her broom was falling apart, so she kinda had a disadvantage. She can kick my butt at sweeping though, because she grew up doing it and she just understands the most effective ways to do it.

After our little or big get togethers or meetings, there is lots of cleanup to do. I am learning slowly how to use a guyanese (indian) broom. They are made out of palm tree leaves.

Carla was teaching Ellen how to make the Matai.

Ellen learning how to make matai, kind of like a doughnutish thing. They are SO good. I was watching her skills.

I thought this picture was prime: It was a random picture someone took of us, but kind of represents typical life here- Ellen and I constantly coordinating things:) I'm not sure what Ellen's explaining to me, but I was listening!!!

The ladies during my Proverbs 31 lesson.

the roti chips, guacamole and hummus.

The Pasta salad that we made. It sure looks yummy.

Mrs. Hunter was in charge of the salsa fresca. She's demonstrating chopping cheese right here.

My group of ladies chopping things up for the pasta salad and at the far end of the table they are making the guacamole.

Ellen's group made Hummus, and in that pot is "channah" (chick peas). Ellen is instructing the ladies on what they are to do to make the hummus. Thing #1 is to smash up the channah. That was funny to watch:)

Doling out ingredients. We separated all of the ingredients that the different cooking groups needed for the particular item they were making. It ended up being pretty organized, which I was thankful for because cooking in small quarters with around 35 ladies is interesting! It went very well though, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and pitch in when they could.

The ladies attentively listening and laughing during Ellen's lesson. There must have been something funny, I just can't remember.

Ashmin is sitting to the farthest left, she's the deaf girl that loves Ellen. Shoco is sitting the farthest to the right. She is married to Terry, the pastor of Roadside, and she works at the Centre as well.

Ellen giving her lesson on Titus 2.

Ellen made Tea rings to serve to the ladies, and I was cutting one here. They were very pretty!

Pictures For Mom

Here are some pictures for my mom. This is our dish "rack" that sprawls all over our counter. I thought you would appreciate this. Those are some hot peppers there on the counter as well.

Daddy- I thought of you when I saw these tractors/equipment. I don't know exactly what industry it's all being used for, maybe concrete?

I found a school bus in Guyana!!!
Mama, this is the big truck I was talking to you about tonight. These big vehicles drive around and pick up men to take them to the sugar fields to cut cane. The men just stand in here and hold onto the poles you can see on the sides. They cram them into there too.

Life

The longer we're here, the faster time seems to fly, although I miss my family alot, there's so much that we're doing and to be doing that I find myself wishing there were 28 hours in a day so I could get some more sleep! We have 5 weeks left here, and we want to use them for God's glory. This upcoming week is pretty busy, tomorrow I have piano lessons/singing lessons most of the day. Thursday we're helping clean the #57 church building, then going around Corriverton passing out invitations to come to our Teen meeting Saturday. Friday we're holding a children's meeting in the morning with Flannel graph story, singing, games, and popcorn. Friday evening we'll spend time preparing for Saturday's Teen meeting, and then from 10:00a.m. -1:00p.m. on Saturday we'll have teenagers from the area come. Sunday we're having a Crusade at #57, and it will continue into Monday as well. There never seems to be a dull moment here. I struggle with finding alone time, but am happy to be busy. Last week we took a trip to New Amsterdam to get our drivers license renewed. We needed to do a little bit of shopping for some items you can't get in Skeldon where we live, so we stayed the afternoon. I needed to go to the post office to mail some letters, and they get there faster if mailed from New Amsterdam:) so we walked to the OTHER side of New Amsterdam to find the post office. Along the way, we met some boys and a tree. This tree looked like a great climbing tree to Ellen, and as we approached the tree with boys in it, she said, "That tree looks like a blast to climb, but those boys would probably scared and run away if I asked them if I could climb with them." I responded, "No they wouldn't." and then I proceeded to yell toward the boys, "Hey, do you guys care if she climbs the tree with you? She thinks it looks fun." The boys perked up and looked excited, while one boy said in a teasing manner, "You can climb my tree for a hundred dollars." Everyone laughed, and though it was a joke, Ellen did give the boy a hundred dollars for letting her climb up "His" public tree. Needless to say, we ended up spending about 45 minutes talking to the boys, learned their names, and the same boy who sold Ellen a climb up his tree got me a dead snake and sold it to me for a hundred dollars. It is poisonous, but very dead and dried. We actually learned quite a bit about poisonous snakes here, and those boys told us the tree they were climbing didn't have snakes in it, but the tree beside theirs did. They also said that you don't want to fall in the water beneath the tree because there's alligators in there.

The boy sitting on my lap sold me the dead snake. the boys names are: Omari, Keon, Shkeel, Kci, and Joshaun. They gave us a list of things you can buy with a hundred dollars:

lemonade white pudding

cracker black pudding

juice mint

jam slice egg ball

channa

This sign cracked me up. Notice how cheap it is.

A typical week's selection of fruit.

Mr. Hunter's birthday cake. We make cakes frequently, and decorate them with NO TIPS, no cake decorating supplies, simply plastic bags. I'm learning how you can be creative and come up with alternative ways to do things.

Native food...and thoughts

The pictures are a little foggy, but here goes: The gate outside the President's house in Georgetown. That's his house.

I told Ellen to crouch and smile next to the crabs...or scorpion things that you eat...forgot their name. Anyway, they were selling them in a market in Georgetown. I wouldn't want one of them to detach themselves from the rest and get away!

This is how they sell rice here in some places. I think they have as many rice species as we have candy species!

Bananas! I love the Bananas here! The branch looking things sticking out from the banana bunches are the stems that are connected to the tree. They hack the whole thing off like that when they're close to ripe. These guys are selling bananas.

I was thinking tonight, and here's what I've got:

My being is perpetually amazed at the mercy and grace of God. I feel my heart overflowing with love and worship for who he is to me. The value my heart puts on knowing him surpasses all other. I find my greatest peace, joy, fulfillment, happiness, satisfaction, and strength in the depths of Christ's love toward me. Why or how he could decide to love me, I cannot tell, but this I know, Praise his Holy name!

I remember hearing others talk about similar things and it seemed to me to be empty, but pretty words, because I didn't comprehend or understand what those words meant. But Christ awakened my eyes to understand the knowledge, the workings out and feelings of those words, and I now have life! I see, I feel, I experience the love of Christ toward me in my unworthiness. I praise God for allowing me to see even this small portion of who He is, and for changing my heart's desires to love and serve Him with my life- there is no greater gift.

Move over!

I have come to the conclusion that I don't believe I will ever again in my life complain about having to go to the back of our big 15 passenger van, or be squished next to someone in a vehicle again. After riding in numerous tapirs and buses, you get a real feel for "close proximity". I have had my things squashed as I sit on a small bench in a tapir with 5 other people on the bench! Also, I have ridden in a bus, on the 3rd bench back next to 3 big men and a woman and her child. I have had people (including a little old lady) sit on my lap a few times as well. They really pack you in here. A seat is a seat, and you be grateful that you can get in the vehicle and go! No more complaints from me on where I have to sit (I hope), ANY seat in my van back home is better than the seats I experience here.

So boys- don't you dare bicker about who goes back a bench. Be thankful you don't have to walk! I know when Mom tells you to stop fighting and be thankful you have a place to sit it doesn't really mean a whole lot and half the time you ignore her or simply don't grasp what that means. Well I do! So take it from me.

Kitchen happenings...

So one night, we're in the kitchen, way past our bedtime, and I'm doing dishes at the kitchen sink. I'm kind of zoning in lala land, not much going on, when I hear "uh... cccaaan you" then I turn around and this is what I see. Apparently Ellen was making pancakes or something for the next morning, and she had gotten lazy and didn't want to get on the stool to put the flour back where it belongs on the TOP shelf in our kitchen, so she chucked the bag up there. I have done this a few times myself, because I also get lazy. But the VERY FULL and poorly secured bag landed half on/half off the shelf as you can see, and as she watched it she realized that the twisty tie was coming undone, and the flour was about to come out. She considered climbing up, but realized there was no time for that. So, she tried to catch it with her hands, which was partially successful, but didn't stop the snowfall of flour to dust many other things on the way down.

Notice the amount of flour in the bag in this picture compared to the last photo. It just kept coming...and coming...and coming.

There was flour EVERYWHERE, though she did catch a good chunk in her hands.

And then there's Katie. If you look closely at the bottom right hand side of the refrigerator, on the floor you will note scattered shards of glass. Katie had been cooking and trying to get a drink and who knows what else when we spotted a mouse in the dining room. I (this is Ellen now) laughed and wanted to catch it somehow, I love these sorts of challenges for some reason. Katie was in the kitchen exclaiming "just don't let it come in here". I think the mouse thought she was calling him. So, mouse in the kitchen with Katie resulted in her jumping onto the stool she had set her glass on to ensure that it didn't...ummm...bite her toes off? I'm still not sure what the fright was all about. She sat there for a good while until we convinced her that the mouse really had gone back into his hole and we were working on poisoning him.