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.

Priscilla's birthday...late but funny

I finally sat down for a little bit today and downloaded and reviewed pictures and found a couple of videos I had taken. This one really was funny to Katie and Dian especially and I find humor in it as well. I especially find humor in even hearing how Katie and I relate to each other in it, we kind of go back and forth like that a lot on an everyday basis. Look (or listen) specifically for the part where Katie says "Oh, you're recording?!?" after I finally obeyed her orders. The whole thing just sort of captures some of the ways we are around the girls at #57. Oh, and I'm not smart enough nor do I care to spend the time right now to learn the correct way to post a video without it coming up sideways. Please, bear with me and crane your neck--I did.