This Really Sucks

As you may have noticed, our little college campus in the jungle always has several different projects going on at any given time. Lately, we've been working on a new and improved dust collection system for the wood shop. When the shop was built and ready for its first project there was no kind of dust collection at all. Dust collection is important in a wood shop because without it it becomes hard to breath very rapidly. Imagine trying to sand down a large board with a heavy duty sanding machine. The roll of sand paper is flying round and round, flinging fine particles of wood dust all over the place. Now imagine several of the wood shop machines all going at once, each spitting out more and more dust. Fun to breath? I don't think so! The simple solution for most of this problem is dust collection.

One of the machines that was first to arrive in the shop was a large dust collector. It is kind of like a giant vacuum with a big bag that all the dust gets sucked into. Some large PVC pipe was awkwardly wired onto a couple of the main machines that led to the suction valve on the dust collector so it could work its magic. But the were a couple of problems with this system. First of all the pipe was all laying at ground level, creating a bit of a tripping hazard in the work space. Also, the first time the dust collector was used the bag filled up in no time. This wasn't going to work too well with the non stop projects that are going on in the shop so Michael decided to create a chute out the unfinished window space so the dust could just be spit out the window and collect on the ground below.

Michael had also really been wanting to cut some holes in the floor and send the pipe under the shop instead of through it for a safer, cleaner environment. Unfortunately there just wasn't time or resources to make that happen for quite a while. But as my mom always says, good things come to those who wait. And now I am very pleased to announce that we have finally made it happen.

It was a bit of a process, requiring some of the more unique pipe fittings to be purchased and delivered from the USA. Not to mention getting the time away from other projects to actually get it done. But this week was our time to shine. With 4 helpers working together we got the whole project completed in one day. That's pretty amazing as far as I'm concerned. Nothing seems to get done in one day around here!

Life in the shop will now be much safer and more pleasurable for our hard working men. So no more excuses boys, back to work!

Joash/Lucky/Special Ed/Farrari

Me and little Joash. He likes to hang out on my shoulder.

Getting a nice drink of water

Joash is hilarious when he hunts. He's still learning.

He is cutest when he's sleeping,

Especially when he curls up in my hat like a little nest.

This is how he use to sit. That's how he earned the name Special Ed. As for his other names, as I mentioned before I call him Joash because he is the child king (or so he thinks). The people from the visiting group called him lucky because there were so many times he should have been stepped on and smushed. And his most recent name is Farrari, names for the fact that his hind legs are longer than his front legs giving him lift like a racing/sport car.

Pathfinders

The Bethany Seventh-Day Adventist Church elected members to fill certain slots in various church ministries a couple months ago. As they were choosing leaders for the Pathfinder club someone mentioned the Gregory’s. The more they talked about it, the more they thought we would be a good choice for the roles of Deputy Directors (assistant directors). They elected us and let us know about it a little later. I was interested in the prospect of getting the dormant club going again, but Michael quickly discovered that loosing an entire afternoon of work every Sunday was not really going to fly for him. So it stands that I became the Bethany Timberwood’s Deputy Director.

I wish I knew more about how to run a club. I am quite rusty as my last experience in a club was when I was in 8th grade! It doesn't help that they do things very differently here as well. For example, their hand salute looks like they are suffering from head pains, with the knuckles of the back of their hand are up flat against their forehead. Also I am actually embarrassed to be part of this club when they march. They march with their arms, stiff as a board, swinging up to eye level as they march.

Regardless, we just had the first ever induction service this side of the Essequibo. It seemed to be a pretty big deal and that’s why I got a bit frustrated when I found myself doing the majority of the planning for the program. We have a VERY laid back director who doesn’t seem to ever take initiative for anything really. He’s a great guy, but not the best leader ever. I don’t want to direct the club so I get frustrated when I find nothing getting done unless I do. At any rate, the program went surprisingly smooth and was very well received by the parents who came to support their kids as we initiated them into the club.

Evangelism Training

The second week back to school after spring break was flooded with a host of new faces to the campus. The next week and a half was totally dedicated to evangelism training led by five different pastors who apparently do these meetings all over Guyana each year. This year the meetings weren't just for the students and staff of BMMC. In fact we had people from all over the place. Most of them were pastors and elders from Bethany and Mashabo, but we also had a few that had traveled hours by boat to be blessed by the training.

BMMC once again became what we like to call "Hotel Bethany." Every spare room, mattress, and mosquito net were called to use. It was a pretty drastic change for me. Just the previous week Michael and I had pretty much been the only ones on our end of campus. During the week of training our little neighborhood was bustling with activity. We had a new neighbor every other day as the speaking pastors came and went. We also had a newborn baby arrive on campus with the return of Andre and Natoya, our two students from Barbados. I guess they planned the arrival of their baby girl pretty well. She was born over the break so they didn't have to be gone from school for too long.

The evangelism training itself was very well received. While meeting underneath the women's dorm, the various pastors covered a wide range of topics from family life and how to counsel others to how to function within the range of your church district and what words are overused in church services. I think they really did cover everything. I didn't stay for all of the talks since many of them were definitely not applicable to my particular spiritual gifts or goals in life, but the talks I did stay for were very well done. They even had a baby dedication in one of the morning sessions. That was cool!

I know that this training will further strengthen the education our students. I'm expecting great things from this batch!

Easter

As spring break was coming to a close we were looking forward to celebrating our first Easter in Guyana. It's always interesting to see how the various holidays differ from those in the US. One of the major differences with the Easter holiday is that here in Guyana they always celebrate it on Monday. Easter Monday? That's right. Really that's just an excuse to have more holiday time off work, but it still strikes me as very strange, especially from a Christian point of view.

Another major difference between the two countries is that the Guyanese have never even heard of an Easter egg hunt. Their way of celebrating is to have a national kite flying day. It's actually really fun. Everyone everywhere flies kites. In Georgetown everyone gathers in the "botanical garden" just outside the zoo to celebrate. In our neck of the woods people travel out to the coast where one particular beach is jam packed with hoards of people. In both of these places it sounds like people stay pretty much all day, flying kites and picnicking. There is music and the playing of games along with loads of good food, drinking, family, and friends. Easter has been described (in the secular world) as the most exciting holiday in Guyana.







We spent our Easter in our quiet jungle haven. We prefer it that way. Still celebrating on Sunday like the good Americans we made sure to join the Sissons for some kiting around campus. I had purchased a nice big kite in town the week before and had been aching to try it out. It looked kind of like a sting ray. Our ray swam trough the sky pretty well if I do say so myself. We ran all over the place with Abby and Josh until we were so hot and tired we could have melted. It was grand fun!

Mission Trip

Spring break at BMMC came with the promise of a mission trip to Mashabo. Michael, and many others, has been working feverishly in anticipation of this trip, preparing all kinds of lumber to be used for building a mission house there. This was the first time that the new wood shop was in full operation. It was very exciting to see the beautiful jungle hardwood getting spiffied all up as the boards passed through the various machines.

Beyond providing all our own lumber for the job, there was one other thing that would be
especially unique about this trip. There would be a group of 20 or so people coming down from the Washington/Idaho area for the week to help build the mission house. The leader of the group was pastor James Shires, Liz and Alexis' dad. Even with our very limited phone and Internet availability down here, our co-missionaries were able to coordinate the whole trip with their dad ahead of time. I was impressed!

When the group arrived Friday morning, Michael and I took the Mule down to the landing to welcome them in. I was a bit culture shocked seeing so many white people in one place! It was sure neat to have them here though. We fed the group at the school and sent them off to Mashabo to get settled in for the night. Michael and I waited until the next morning to walk the 5 mile jungle road, enjoying one more night of the comforts of home before a week of tentless camping (we had had to leave our tent with a few other things in Paruima since the plane couldn't handle all the weight when we left).

The week of mission work was accompanied by a huge amount of hard work on the mission house, helping in the health clinic, running programs for the kids at the primary school, and having Bible studies every day and meetings every night for the villagers. Most of those projects were coordinated and run by members of the group from the States. It was actually very efficiently done with such a variety of talents and abilities. There was something for everyone to help out with.

Work on the house started that first Sunday morning. Watching the hubbub that was somehow workable was pretty interesting. The work site looked like an ants nest that had been stirred up. There were people milling about everywhere. I guess it looked a bit more chaotic than it actually was though because they complete the floor by the end of that first day. Not bad guys!



The walls were worked on for the next few days and by Thursday the roof and gigantic water tower were well on their way to being completed too. I think more work might have gotten done, but it's always hard for Americans to adjust to working full days in our lovely South American weather. The heat can be a bit much, though they did have a good amount of rain to work in the last day too!


I am so grateful to have such an enduring husband when it comes to hard work. Michael is a very dedicated worker and really likes to see things get done. He and Gilbert make a good team. I am sure that their example of constant work at the site kept the others going too. The visiting group had to leave Mashabo on Friday morning, having spent less than a full week in the village. Even though their visit was short, it was certainly a blessing. It was fun for us to get to know some new people, and such a blessing for the villagers to have had them there. Katie and Savy, the two Bible workers that will be living in that mission house, were also unspeakably grateful to have had the help with their new home.

These two girls have been living in a more public building right next to the primary school. It will certainly be nice for them to have their own space where they will not be constantly bombarded by little children looking through their windows and wanting to come into their house. That's nice every once and a while, but every day?

The reason for building this mission house is to support full time medical missionaries that can minister to the people of Mashabo. It has been said that the name Mashabo means "going nowhere." That certainly seems like it has been the case spiritually. For whatever reason, the villagers there have had a real problem taking leadership for religious activities and growth. So there they sit, stagnant. Savy, a graduate and last year's women's dean of BMMC has been wanting to do mission work out in Mashabo for a while now. Katie, a recent graduate from Fountainview Academy, is down here from Colorado for a while, helping Savy with the big job of teaching and directing the people to take leadership in their community. They have been living there for a couple months and have been doing a lot of house visits. They are trying to get to know the people well and build up a rapport with them. They both have taken a major role in the church, but are really trying to delegate more to the villagers. They won't be there to spoon feed them forever and there's no reason why they shouldn't have a very strong church running full time there.

So far they have been meeting in the upper story of the primary school for church meetings. Hopefully it won't be too long before God blesses our school and the community of Mashabo with enough funding to support the construction of a church for them. We were hoping to get that in this year, but we'll see.

For now we are preparing to host a group of possibly up to 60 people that will be here for a week of evangelism training that will be put on at BMMC through the union. I, for one, will enjoy the peace and quiet we have on campus for the rest of this last week of spring break. School will be back in full swing next week. We'll see what adventures happen in the mean time!

Stalked!

*Note* The pictures I have added to this blog were obviously taken after the fact, but in the same location. Bare with me and enjoy them anyway! Special guest appearance from our new little staff kitten, Joash (that's what I call him anyway since he thinks he's the young new king on campus). Look close for him, he's tiny!


Getting back to Bethany from Paruima after a month and a half took longer than Michael and I had hoped. But we made it back safe and sound and got back into our regular duties in no time.

The day we returned Michael talked to Gilbert about all that had been happening while we were gone. They chatted about the wood shop which had become operational in our absence, about the building project that was coming up in Mashabo, and a little bit about bee keeping. As they conversed about the latter, it didn't take long for Michael to realize that the bee hives had been grossly neglected ever since the little bees had come to live at BMMC. Michael decided to go check them out that night.

He was prompted to check the hives immediately because they happened to be resting on top of the large, wooden structure that housed the school's water pump. The water pump seemed to be broken, leaving the whole campus without water. Naturally they wanted to see what was wrong as soon as possible. But no one would go close to those bees so it had been put off. Though there was no bee suit available on campus, Michael was confident that the bees wouldn't be too aggressive since they tend to settle down after dark.

Michael took Andre, one of the students, with him and they went to go lift the hives and get them safely away from the pump. As they walked down the steep incline to the creek, Michael heard something that made him slow his steps. It was a low, guttural sound coming from the distant darkness. He couldn't really tell what it was or where it was coming from, but it put him on his guard. When he heard it again, louder and closer he stopped dead in his tracks. There could now be no mistake that this was the growl of a large jungle cat. Andre was oblivious that anything was wrong until Michael urgently grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his side, alerting him of their perilous situation. In the dim light of Michael's headlamp two glowing orange eyes appeared stalking purposefully toward them. Feeling uncomfortably vulnerable, Michael started to back away, keeping a close eye on the cat. Andre, on the other hand, bolted back up the hill totally abandoning his companion. Michael, not particularly interested in lingering either, followed close behind, peering over his shoulder as he went.

The cat seemed content that the intruders were gone. It remained in the peaceful shadows of its banana grove by the creek. Needless to say, the breathless Michael and Andre didn't move the bees that night. They ran hard toward the Sisson's house laughing their heads off. The people in the house saw them running and thought for sure they were being chased by angry, stinging bees. When the rest of us heard what had really happened, more than one of us were just a bit jealous at their exciting fate. However, you can be sure that I said an extra special prayer of thanks when Michael returned to my arms that night without a scratch.