1st week

So, this was our first week preaching in Guyana. We took a few days to relax and settle in which was much needed. We are staying in the Linden area of Guyana with some good friends of ours, Phil and Debbie Thomas. They have been here supporting the local congregation and searching for interested deaf individuals since November. We are already sooo thankful to have them as guides for us in this new land.

During the first few days they showed us around town, introduced us to the brothers and sisters, taught us how to shop in the marketplace, and generally feel at home. On Wednesday Cat and Debbie went on a study with a woman named Laverne. Laverne has seven children and one of them is deaf. In addition to studying the bible with her, Debbie is also teaching her some basic sign language.

Thursday we went to our first meeting. I was thinking to myself it will be nice to just relax and enjoy the meeting, considering that there was no way I would have a talk on my first night....Wrong. The brother who was assigned to sign the bible reading for the week cancelled, so Phil asked me to do it an hour before the meeting. Considering, that there are only 3 brothers in the sign group there was no way i could say no. But, I can't complain after how hard everyone else was working. Phil who is the School Overseer for the Sign Group also was assigned a part on the Service meeting for the English portion of the Congregation. So immediately after closing the School he had to run on stage to open the Service meeting. After that he had to run back and he as well as everyother capable signer had to translate all the parts and comments for the rest of the meeting. We can tell that we are going to be very busy here. Did I mention that it is a good 95 degrees in the Kingdom Hall with only 2 fans to provide relief?

Friday we went to Georgetown which is the capital the only way to describe it is it looks like Tijuana feels like Kingston and smells like a cowshed complete with random cows and goats wandering the streets. We ran numerous errands and most importantly exchanged money. Saturday we went preaching (HOT) I rode a bicycle for 10 miles (exciting) Cat walked 5 miles (Not very exciting). We both enjoyed preaching in our new territory. One thing that has really impressed us is how willing people are to listen and talk about the bible. That has been a true breath of fresh air.

Now we get to Sunday the Special Talk and first Watchtower study seperate from the English. There were 22 in attendance and 10 deaf. Some of these were deaf that no one had seen before. Morris who is a deaf study and shoemaker went to a stand where he knew deaf would be, and told them to come to the meeting. When Phil asked him why he did this he said" All the talks have been telling us to preach and invite people to the meeting I wanted to do the same." it was amazing! our first ASL meeting and we hope one of many to come.By the way there were 280 that showed up to the English Special talk. The field is definitely white for harvesting here in Guyana. That's all for now.

Love,
Kurt and Cat

First Impressions

As we stepped off the plane my first thought was man it's hot and it's only 5:45 am! We walked off the plane and then headed to customs where the woman gave me a crazy look when I said that we were visiting friends here in Guyana. After we were cleared to go we headed outside and see a large sign with our names on it. Brother Rondell came to pick us up. Here everyone is referred to by their first name so Kurt and I are Brother Kurt and Sister Cat. Then we headed out to the parking lot and tried to figure out how to fit ALL our suitcases in a Toyota Carina which is the equivalent of a Camry LOL that was hilarious. I think that we put and pulled them out all 5 times before we got them to fit. Finally we were on our way. As we were driving I look outside and it's beautiful green everywhere and trees of different varieties. The homes are different colors, some very tiny others pretty large. One thing about the Architecture here is people love pillars :0) When we arrived at our new home I got this instant feeling of Oh my goodness we actually did it, we live in Guyana! Then we came inside and got shown our room which is very nice. Our shower is enormous, the rumor is that the sister that owns the house is 4oo lbs so everything is to her size. Were just happy that we get to reap the benefits of the sizing ;0) Then we sat down to read the text and ate Oatmeal and then straight to bed we hadn't slept in 24hrs. Later in the evening a family from the congregation came over to meet us. They were very friendly and when Sister Wendy (mother) and I sat down and got chatting she told me that she was so happy that we were here because before all the need greaters started coming the Sign Language she got no support. And her daughter Sister Crystal was overwhelmed with all of the interpreting. She also later informed me that before that she didn't think that white people could survive in Guyana LOL ;0) I will happy to disprove the science of that statement. Today is our 2nd official day in Guyana and we went to the market which is a maze of small stands where people are hawking their wares. We got a lot of stares. But it was neat to see all the fruits and vegetables on display. It's very strange to see things that cost thousands of dollars on display. So a bag of rice can cost $2000 Guyanese which is the equivalent of $10.00 US. Well that's all for now I will try to post something in the next few days. Take care everyone!