Tomorrow we head for the airport at 1. So basically it's tonight:) This week the girls have been gone so Shemeniel has been hanging out with me here. Thursday was my last meeting. Was definitely a memorable one. I interpreted by myself, the power went out, a frog attacked my foot and our bus hit a dog. Saying goodbye to everyone wasn't easy. I'm going to miss so many of the friends here. The locals have all been very welcoming and helpful. Its been amazing to see how no matter where you are the Brothers and Sisters are the same:)
Yesterday and today we went on a few studies. Today at Andreas we stuck around after and I did puzzles with her and her older cousin Abby. The two of them also danced for us. Andrea was a little shy at first but that went away quickly and then she was trying on wigs and dancing around lol. Trying to explain to our studies that I am leaving and wont see them again is kinda hard. They don't really get it. I guess it will make more sense once the other girls keep visiting them without me.
This afternoon Shemeniel is off doing some of her studies and I am finishing packing up my stuff. Gonna try to stay awake tonight and just sleep on the drive in and hopefully on the plane.
The last 3 months have gone by surprisingly fast. I've loved all the bible studies and the crazy experiences we've had! Portland is going to be kinda boring now!
Even though I will miss all my new friends (and of course Faith, Abi and Dana) I can't wait to get home and see my family. I'll share all my pictures as soon as I get them all sorted out:)
See you soon!!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
A Party, Blackout, Spider, Bat, and Snake.
That pretty much sums up our last week. Sunday we had the congregation party at Todd & Barbara Hollenbecks house. We had delicious food and a lot of fun with all the friends. Some played basketball or cricket, others played musical chairs. Later in the evening some of us started dancing. The Guyanese are very shy when it comes to dancing to American music. But Barbara put some on and after a while they warmed up to the idea and a lot of the Sisters joined in. Before we left, a couple of the Brothers were taking care of some stuff inside so the four of us, Barbara, and Michelle all sat outside and practiced some of the new songs. Was a really nice night. Except for those nasty mosquitoes.
Yesterday we got to meeting and were very excited to see the new Yearbooks! The audio download is great...but it's nice seeing all the pictures too:) About 10 minutes into meeting the power went out. It never came back on. Meeting continued as if nothing had happened. Once it was too dark to see everyone pulled out their flashlights. We took turns shining light on who ever was interpreting. (For future reference, Faith should not have been allowed to do this) I think having meeting with no power makes you appreciate it a lot more.
When we got home the power was still out. We all followed Faith into the house, since she was holding the flashlight. As Abi shut the front door behind her a huge spider ran across her hand. The rest of us were already upstairs and stayed upstairs after the loud scream that followed. She came running up the stairs as fast as possible. Attempts were made at getting the spider to leave and we pondered over the idea of killing it but the thing was so big that it could have easily fought back. Unfortunately, before we actually came up with a good plan of attack, it disappeared. Our front door is downstairs in Abis room. Which means the spider is still in her room, hiding.
This morning we woke up for service and Abi wasn't feeling too great. To make matters worse, the bat came back. He's been flying around all over downstairs and has tried to come upstairs but thankfully hasn't yet. Once again, Abis room is downstairs. And he's taken a liking to the darkness under her bed. We've tried to scare him out but he just circles around weaving in and out of doors and windows, past our heads, and then swoops down and under the bed yet again. One would think that a man eating spider and a bat both within 24 hours would be enough, but no. Once we came back from service this afternoon Abi decided to take a shower. Silly girl. Everyone knows nothing good comes from showering. A couple minutes after we hear the water turn on, I hear "Um...GUYS!" So we go down and guess whats hanging out in the shower? I kinda thought it would be a good sized frog or another spider. Nope. Wrong. It was a snake. Not a huge anaconda, but when you're in the shower a snake is a snake no matter how big or small. Abi took the broom and subtly scared him back up and over the wall. Hopefully he doesn't get any bright ideas and make his way back in.
On a different note, all of our studies are doing really good. Natalie is coming to Sundays regularly now. And Jems crazy Granny is just getting crazier. Today she escaped while we were there. Oops. I guess we should have shut the fence better when we went inside.
Yesterday we got to meeting and were very excited to see the new Yearbooks! The audio download is great...but it's nice seeing all the pictures too:) About 10 minutes into meeting the power went out. It never came back on. Meeting continued as if nothing had happened. Once it was too dark to see everyone pulled out their flashlights. We took turns shining light on who ever was interpreting. (For future reference, Faith should not have been allowed to do this) I think having meeting with no power makes you appreciate it a lot more.
When we got home the power was still out. We all followed Faith into the house, since she was holding the flashlight. As Abi shut the front door behind her a huge spider ran across her hand. The rest of us were already upstairs and stayed upstairs after the loud scream that followed. She came running up the stairs as fast as possible. Attempts were made at getting the spider to leave and we pondered over the idea of killing it but the thing was so big that it could have easily fought back. Unfortunately, before we actually came up with a good plan of attack, it disappeared. Our front door is downstairs in Abis room. Which means the spider is still in her room, hiding.
This morning we woke up for service and Abi wasn't feeling too great. To make matters worse, the bat came back. He's been flying around all over downstairs and has tried to come upstairs but thankfully hasn't yet. Once again, Abis room is downstairs. And he's taken a liking to the darkness under her bed. We've tried to scare him out but he just circles around weaving in and out of doors and windows, past our heads, and then swoops down and under the bed yet again. One would think that a man eating spider and a bat both within 24 hours would be enough, but no. Once we came back from service this afternoon Abi decided to take a shower. Silly girl. Everyone knows nothing good comes from showering. A couple minutes after we hear the water turn on, I hear "Um...GUYS!" So we go down and guess whats hanging out in the shower? I kinda thought it would be a good sized frog or another spider. Nope. Wrong. It was a snake. Not a huge anaconda, but when you're in the shower a snake is a snake no matter how big or small. Abi took the broom and subtly scared him back up and over the wall. Hopefully he doesn't get any bright ideas and make his way back in.
On a different note, all of our studies are doing really good. Natalie is coming to Sundays regularly now. And Jems crazy Granny is just getting crazier. Today she escaped while we were there. Oops. I guess we should have shut the fence better when we went inside.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Update
Hello everyone! Hope your all good. We've been pretty busy here. Yesterday Ramon and Kali Budden from the New Amsterdam ASL group joined us in service. They just returned from visiting family in the states for 2 months. It was a really nice day working with them. They have been here for about 2 1/2 years and love it. At lunch Ramon went over some notes he has taken at past Gilead graduations. Very encouraging information! They went on all our studies with us and stopped to visit a few they hadn't seen in a long time. They also helped us find a couple of deaf ones in the area that we didn't have directions for. So now we have a few more studies to look forward to.
Last Tuesday when we were in Blackbush doing search we found a deaf woman that has never been contacted before! We were very excited. Its going to take a lot of work since the only signs she knows are ones her and her family have made up themselves. But with Jehovahs help I'm sure she will pick it up pretty fast:)
Faith is determined to destroy my feet. I don't know what it is about them but she can't make it through one whole day without stepping on them at least twice. She thinks that I planned this next experience as pay back. I didn't. But it's still kinda funny. Yesterday we were getting on a bus to come home and there were two guys sitting by each other with room for one more person. I have had my share of drunk friendly men so I made Faith get in first. As she got in they cleared a spot in between them both. So she sat there with a very drunk man to her right. He was chatty and asked for a tract. Which she didn't have, so I passed one back to her. It was the one on having a happy family. He told her his was a happy family and asked if she would want to be part of it. After asking repeatedly, Faith refused to tell him her name. Kali tried to help, but he kept going. He asked for a bible, even after telling us that the girls that were here before had already given him one. He wanted one from Faith. In the end it was decided that if he comes to meeting tomorrow Faith will give him a bible with "From: Faith" written in it. I doubt he will even remember once he sobers up. But it would be a funny experience if he did and later became a Brother. Imagine that on an assembly part!
This last week has been a little...annoying. The mosquitoes have been awful. Everyone in our village has been having fires and doing all they can to keep them away. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes don't realize that bug spray and smoke are supposed to keep them away. Our net covered beds have become our best friends. We are all covered in lovely bites. The other night we took a picture of all the dead ones we had swept up from the floor. It was pretty nasty. Today out in service it was really hot and the combo of heat and mosquitoes was not fun. Everyone probably thought we were insane because the whole time we were walking we were smacking each other and ourselves. But all the people we visited were having problems with them too, so it was a little comforting to know it wasn't just us lol. Apparently this is the worst it has been in years.
OH!! Today I got to hold a monkey. Abi and I had just left my bible study's house and saw a monkey tied up at her neighbors. I asked the woman there if we could take a picture since Abi hadn't seen one since she arrived. She had us come over and said we could hold him. His name is Jack. This is the second one named Jack that I've met. I guess that's a popular monkey name here. Anyways, this Jack was really sweet and still pretty small. He climbed all over our arms and kept laying like a baby. I wish I could have taken him with me. We got some good pictures. And then took a shower the second we got home:)
Tomorrow Todd and Barbara Hollenbeck are having a congregation party at their house after meeting. Everyone's bringing food, which will be delightful:) We somewhat jokingly said we'd make mac n' cheese and the Brothers and Sisters that heard got very excited about that. So that's what we are making! And rice crispy treats. Looking forward to being able to visit with the friends more. We also were told to bring our song books because we will be practicing some of the new songs. We are all very excited about this since usually at meeting we are following along with the old song DVDs and haven't been able to use the new book much.
3 weeks from tomorrow I will be home. Getting really excited to see my family but at the same time I am going to miss all the friends and bible studies I have here. The next couple weeks we have made plans with different friends for dinner. It's going to be hard to say goodbye!
Last Tuesday when we were in Blackbush doing search we found a deaf woman that has never been contacted before! We were very excited. Its going to take a lot of work since the only signs she knows are ones her and her family have made up themselves. But with Jehovahs help I'm sure she will pick it up pretty fast:)
Faith is determined to destroy my feet. I don't know what it is about them but she can't make it through one whole day without stepping on them at least twice. She thinks that I planned this next experience as pay back. I didn't. But it's still kinda funny. Yesterday we were getting on a bus to come home and there were two guys sitting by each other with room for one more person. I have had my share of drunk friendly men so I made Faith get in first. As she got in they cleared a spot in between them both. So she sat there with a very drunk man to her right. He was chatty and asked for a tract. Which she didn't have, so I passed one back to her. It was the one on having a happy family. He told her his was a happy family and asked if she would want to be part of it. After asking repeatedly, Faith refused to tell him her name. Kali tried to help, but he kept going. He asked for a bible, even after telling us that the girls that were here before had already given him one. He wanted one from Faith. In the end it was decided that if he comes to meeting tomorrow Faith will give him a bible with "From: Faith" written in it. I doubt he will even remember once he sobers up. But it would be a funny experience if he did and later became a Brother. Imagine that on an assembly part!
This last week has been a little...annoying. The mosquitoes have been awful. Everyone in our village has been having fires and doing all they can to keep them away. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes don't realize that bug spray and smoke are supposed to keep them away. Our net covered beds have become our best friends. We are all covered in lovely bites. The other night we took a picture of all the dead ones we had swept up from the floor. It was pretty nasty. Today out in service it was really hot and the combo of heat and mosquitoes was not fun. Everyone probably thought we were insane because the whole time we were walking we were smacking each other and ourselves. But all the people we visited were having problems with them too, so it was a little comforting to know it wasn't just us lol. Apparently this is the worst it has been in years.
OH!! Today I got to hold a monkey. Abi and I had just left my bible study's house and saw a monkey tied up at her neighbors. I asked the woman there if we could take a picture since Abi hadn't seen one since she arrived. She had us come over and said we could hold him. His name is Jack. This is the second one named Jack that I've met. I guess that's a popular monkey name here. Anyways, this Jack was really sweet and still pretty small. He climbed all over our arms and kept laying like a baby. I wish I could have taken him with me. We got some good pictures. And then took a shower the second we got home:)
Tomorrow Todd and Barbara Hollenbeck are having a congregation party at their house after meeting. Everyone's bringing food, which will be delightful:) We somewhat jokingly said we'd make mac n' cheese and the Brothers and Sisters that heard got very excited about that. So that's what we are making! And rice crispy treats. Looking forward to being able to visit with the friends more. We also were told to bring our song books because we will be practicing some of the new songs. We are all very excited about this since usually at meeting we are following along with the old song DVDs and haven't been able to use the new book much.
3 weeks from tomorrow I will be home. Getting really excited to see my family but at the same time I am going to miss all the friends and bible studies I have here. The next couple weeks we have made plans with different friends for dinner. It's going to be hard to say goodbye!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Abi's Here!
Monday morning we took off with Tom for Georgetown. We made a stop in Hopetown to see some friends. Chris and Larissa from California, Sam from England, and Micaiah from Ohio. We had lunch with them and hung out for a while so Tom could copy some DVDs from Micaiah. Then we headed to the branch. It was amazing! That night we were able to sit in on the Family Study of the Watchtower. Now I want to apply for Bethel:) The whole family there is super sweet and welcoming. Had dinner and then went to the guest room that was fully equipped with warm and clean water and AC. We both took advantage of the situation and got up a little earlier the next morning to take a second shower before leaving. Have never felt cleaner. Unfortunately, we had to leave:( But it's ok because we were leaving to get Abi. Once we got to the airport we pulled up and there she was, Tom let us out at the curb and we scared everyone there with our running and screaming. We were so excited to see her!!! There had been another Brother on her flight who was coming to visit some friends. We were all hugging and laughing and he just sat there looking somewhat uncomfortable lol. Then we found out that stopping to let people out at the curb is not ok at the airport here. Tom was pulled over and almost got a ticket. The cop tried to get Tom to offer him a bribe but Tom explained that as Jehovah's Witnesses we couldn't do that. The man ended up not giving him the ticket and took the February magazines. That was a close one! I'm pretty sure Jehovah had something to do with that.
Once we had Abi we went back to the branch to take an official tour. Bro. Hind explained the MEPS system to us and showed us how they make changes to the KM for the Caribbean edition which has minor differences to make more sense to the people in this area. For example, articles dealing with increasing your service time in the various seasons are worded differently since they don't really have seasons here. He also took a picture of the three of us before we left. He said it was payback for the pictures we took of him. All the Brothers and Sisters there have a really good sense of humor. We learned a lot about the branch. They have a water purification system for the building that makes the water safe to drink. They also have fancy dancy generators for when the electricity goes out. There are two dogs that live on the property and they are very spoiled lol. Bro. Hazel showed us the CB radio they use to communicate with the brothers that live deep in the interior. They use it to pass along the congregations reports and any other information. There are three couples that live there and a single Brother and Sister. The Hinds, the Hazels, the Sings, a Brother named Kojo and Sister Cross (who gave us the tour). There are also Brothers and Sisters that come in through out the week to help with different things.
Once we finished our tour we headed home. Toms wife, Michelle, stopped by to meet Abi and pick up some things Abi had brought for them. Once she was all situated we made roti and curry for dinner. The next day she had her first experience riding the buses and going to the market. We are so excited shes here and can't wait to show her all around:)
Hope everyone is doing good. Love and miss you all!
Once we had Abi we went back to the branch to take an official tour. Bro. Hind explained the MEPS system to us and showed us how they make changes to the KM for the Caribbean edition which has minor differences to make more sense to the people in this area. For example, articles dealing with increasing your service time in the various seasons are worded differently since they don't really have seasons here. He also took a picture of the three of us before we left. He said it was payback for the pictures we took of him. All the Brothers and Sisters there have a really good sense of humor. We learned a lot about the branch. They have a water purification system for the building that makes the water safe to drink. They also have fancy dancy generators for when the electricity goes out. There are two dogs that live on the property and they are very spoiled lol. Bro. Hazel showed us the CB radio they use to communicate with the brothers that live deep in the interior. They use it to pass along the congregations reports and any other information. There are three couples that live there and a single Brother and Sister. The Hinds, the Hazels, the Sings, a Brother named Kojo and Sister Cross (who gave us the tour). There are also Brothers and Sisters that come in through out the week to help with different things.
Once we finished our tour we headed home. Toms wife, Michelle, stopped by to meet Abi and pick up some things Abi had brought for them. Once she was all situated we made roti and curry for dinner. The next day she had her first experience riding the buses and going to the market. We are so excited shes here and can't wait to show her all around:)
Hope everyone is doing good. Love and miss you all!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Today was the day.
I knew immediately after my first bus ride here that at some point during this trip we would hit an animal or person. Well, today it happened. We hit a dog. And since the windows were all open we heard every second of it. The conductor was very concerned. About the bus. We stopped and he inspected the front bumper. No worries, it was unscratched and we went on our way. Pretty sure the dog don't do as well. We arrived in Allness Village with no more casualties.
There in Allness we had two bible studies. Pearol was the first. She is about 25 and likes to copy every sign you do. She's very good at explaining the pictures that we draw to help sum up the lesson. After that we went to Pammy's. Last week she was sleeping so we didn't get to study. This week we we were told she was at the hospital. Nothing too serious though. Everyone goes to the hospital for everything. The man said she had some stomach pain. Hopefully we'll catch her next week.
Next we caught a bus and headed to study with Atri, Athang and Trevor. Atri and Athang are twins that live near each other and they always study together. Trevor is usually riding his bike around and joins us also. While we're sitting there watching the DVD they all smack each other around to make sure their all paying attention. They also will correct each other if they sign something wrong. So today while their physically abusing one another to keep focused, Atris son is talking on the phone to his Mom. Telling her he's giggling like a 12 year old girl because he had a couple drinks and is drunk. Then hangs up and picks up a machete and starts trimming the bushes on the side of the house. We're trying to study with the others and in the background we hear the "swoosh" of the swinging machete followed by the occasional "ouch". Before we left I made sure to leave the current magazines with the him. I pretty sure he didn't realize that the one is about alcohol. Maybe he'll make the connection later and actually read it.
Remember the guy across the street? Well, his son has been studying with a Brother in our congregation. This Sunday both father and son were at meeting. That was very nice, yet slightly awkward. Considering the last time we had seen the dad he was being beaten on the side of the road. But he seemed to enjoy the meeting. So who knows, maybe he'll accept a study also.
This Sunday is the full ASL meeting in New Amsterdam. I think we have 4 bible studies going with us this time!
We've been making lots of roti and curry. And I must say we're getting pretty good, lol. I think its good we're practicing because Abi will be here soon and we need to make sure and have the process down really well so we can teach her properly. At least that's my excuse for making it all the time. Speaking of Miss Abi...we are heading to the airport bright and early Tuesday morning to pick her up!!!!! We can't wait to see her:)
There in Allness we had two bible studies. Pearol was the first. She is about 25 and likes to copy every sign you do. She's very good at explaining the pictures that we draw to help sum up the lesson. After that we went to Pammy's. Last week she was sleeping so we didn't get to study. This week we we were told she was at the hospital. Nothing too serious though. Everyone goes to the hospital for everything. The man said she had some stomach pain. Hopefully we'll catch her next week.
Next we caught a bus and headed to study with Atri, Athang and Trevor. Atri and Athang are twins that live near each other and they always study together. Trevor is usually riding his bike around and joins us also. While we're sitting there watching the DVD they all smack each other around to make sure their all paying attention. They also will correct each other if they sign something wrong. So today while their physically abusing one another to keep focused, Atris son is talking on the phone to his Mom. Telling her he's giggling like a 12 year old girl because he had a couple drinks and is drunk. Then hangs up and picks up a machete and starts trimming the bushes on the side of the house. We're trying to study with the others and in the background we hear the "swoosh" of the swinging machete followed by the occasional "ouch". Before we left I made sure to leave the current magazines with the him. I pretty sure he didn't realize that the one is about alcohol. Maybe he'll make the connection later and actually read it.
Remember the guy across the street? Well, his son has been studying with a Brother in our congregation. This Sunday both father and son were at meeting. That was very nice, yet slightly awkward. Considering the last time we had seen the dad he was being beaten on the side of the road. But he seemed to enjoy the meeting. So who knows, maybe he'll accept a study also.
This Sunday is the full ASL meeting in New Amsterdam. I think we have 4 bible studies going with us this time!
We've been making lots of roti and curry. And I must say we're getting pretty good, lol. I think its good we're practicing because Abi will be here soon and we need to make sure and have the process down really well so we can teach her properly. At least that's my excuse for making it all the time. Speaking of Miss Abi...we are heading to the airport bright and early Tuesday morning to pick her up!!!!! We can't wait to see her:)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
We found one!
Since we've been here we've done some search but haven't been able to find any new deaf in the area. Normally the only ones that people know and tell us about are ones that we already study with. So today Dana and I headed to the village next to us, 46, and decided to do some search there. Everyone is very friendly and will talk for as long as you'll let them. They all kept telling us about the deaf man and wife at the tire shop, Navin, and the deaf girl with the blue drive, Sumentra. We visit the two of them every Friday to study. Then we came to one house and I asked the woman if she knew any deaf and dumb in the village or in any other villages. She said yes. She then told us she was deaf. We didn't really believe her because she was talking clearly and obviously understood the question. We tried to figure out what was going on but it was kinda hard because of her accent, but she took the magazines and chatted for a while before we left very confused. Oh and Dana broke the poor womans bench. We like to leave a lasting impression on the people we speak to. After we left we continued down the road and met a man that was visiting at one of the houses we passed. We asked him if he knew anyone. He told us his wife was deaf and then proceeded to describe the house that we had just met the woman at. She was telling the truth! We're guessing that she maybe went deaf later in life and that's why she can talk and read lips so well. We made plans to go back and visit tomorrow. He talked with us for a little bit and once again the accent made it difficult for us to understand what he was saying, but I think we may have one of the Brothers come back and visit him. After we said goodbye to him we were called into another yard to visit with a man and woman and they gave us these huge bananas. They were about the size of a large cucumber and really good. Then another man next door to them called us over and said that him and his wife have some sort of peppers growing in their yard and next time he sees us walking he will have her bring some to us. We are getting all sorts of food from people. As we were starting to head back home, the man with the wife that's deaf caught up with us and gave us some nail polish as a thank you gift. It was very sweet of him, but I'm sure his wife wont be too happy next time she goes to paint her nails.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Zone/CO Visit
Hi Everyone! Hope you all are doing good.
Last Sunday, the 10th, was our Zone Visit. We loaded up 2 buses full of Brothers and Sisters and made the 3 hour trip into Georgetown. There were over 3,000 in attendance and around 45 were deaf. The talk was really encouraging! It was all about endurance and looking at the examples of Abraham, Noah, and many others. He used many experiences from the new yearbook, which we have yet to see. I can't wait to read it!! I took lots of notes, but wont put them all up here because their about 4 pages long and I don't have the endurance to type it all out, hehe. But if you want, I can share them with you when I get home. Aside from the talk, our favorite part was that we were able to see DC and Sara Campbell. They were in our Portland congregation and DC was one of our teachers for the ASL class. We thought they had already left for a month trip to visit family in the states. But there they were:) We were able to meet many new friends from all over the country. Hopefully we can see them all again before we leave.
We also had our CO visit this last week. He is from Louisiana and she is from Mexico. Our Sunday meeting had 115 people in attendance! We didn't have power for the last half of the meeting. I think everyone was surprised at how well everyone sang the songs without any music, especially since they were the new ones.
One of the bible studies that was there is about 12. Her family is Hindu. I think her dad studied for a while but stopped. She began studying and immediately started witnessing to her schoolmates. She also told her mom she would no longer worship any of their idols because it was wrong. Shes been taking a stand for the truth and witnessing to everyone she meets for about 6 months now, but had never even been able to make it to a meeting! Sunday was her first one, and she said she absolutely loved it and can't wait to go again. We were pretty excited to have another one of our deaf bible studies at the meeting with us. So we got to interpret for 2 instead of 1:)
Last Friday another Sister moved in with us. Her name's Dana and she is from Indiana. We've been showing her around and are very excited we now have someone to help us with our studies and interpreting:)
Oh, one little mental image for you before I go. This afternoon we walked outside and the first thing we see is this little woman with a long rod beating and yelling at our neighbor across the street. He was drunk and passed out on the ground next to the road. She was beating him like a dirty rug. He just laid there. Then she walked off like it was an everyday thing to beat some random guy laying on the ground. Which here, it probably is.
Last Sunday, the 10th, was our Zone Visit. We loaded up 2 buses full of Brothers and Sisters and made the 3 hour trip into Georgetown. There were over 3,000 in attendance and around 45 were deaf. The talk was really encouraging! It was all about endurance and looking at the examples of Abraham, Noah, and many others. He used many experiences from the new yearbook, which we have yet to see. I can't wait to read it!! I took lots of notes, but wont put them all up here because their about 4 pages long and I don't have the endurance to type it all out, hehe. But if you want, I can share them with you when I get home. Aside from the talk, our favorite part was that we were able to see DC and Sara Campbell. They were in our Portland congregation and DC was one of our teachers for the ASL class. We thought they had already left for a month trip to visit family in the states. But there they were:) We were able to meet many new friends from all over the country. Hopefully we can see them all again before we leave.
We also had our CO visit this last week. He is from Louisiana and she is from Mexico. Our Sunday meeting had 115 people in attendance! We didn't have power for the last half of the meeting. I think everyone was surprised at how well everyone sang the songs without any music, especially since they were the new ones.
One of the bible studies that was there is about 12. Her family is Hindu. I think her dad studied for a while but stopped. She began studying and immediately started witnessing to her schoolmates. She also told her mom she would no longer worship any of their idols because it was wrong. Shes been taking a stand for the truth and witnessing to everyone she meets for about 6 months now, but had never even been able to make it to a meeting! Sunday was her first one, and she said she absolutely loved it and can't wait to go again. We were pretty excited to have another one of our deaf bible studies at the meeting with us. So we got to interpret for 2 instead of 1:)
Last Friday another Sister moved in with us. Her name's Dana and she is from Indiana. We've been showing her around and are very excited we now have someone to help us with our studies and interpreting:)
Oh, one little mental image for you before I go. This afternoon we walked outside and the first thing we see is this little woman with a long rod beating and yelling at our neighbor across the street. He was drunk and passed out on the ground next to the road. She was beating him like a dirty rug. He just laid there. Then she walked off like it was an everyday thing to beat some random guy laying on the ground. Which here, it probably is.
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