Blackbush 2

Yesterday we headed out to Blackbush again. This time we rode in with one of the sisters from our congregation who was going in to meet some of her studies. We started with Shabana. Shes about 12 and has been studying for a long time so shes knows a lot of ASL. Her Mom and sister sat with us and seem to be really involved in helping her with her signing. Which is really nice and very uncommon. Normally the families don't try to learn any sign which makes things really difficult. After we finished her study we stuck around for a little while enjoying the unusually cool weather. Then we were off to the other side of Blackbush. Its a few miles between the two studies so we started walking with hopes of getting a bus. I took some pictures of the rice fields. Last week most of them were all dried up and empty. But it only takes a week after they have been flooded with water for them to be bright green. Its really cool to see. While we were walking this car of older guys drives by and starts yelling at us. Shameniel told them to shut up and they drove off. A little while later they came back and told us they'd give us a ride and were leaning out the windows asking us where we live and our names. I told them I was Bob. They got very confused and drove off. After that we noticed an ambulance coming down the road. Shameniel said we should lay on the road so they'd pick us up and we'd get a ride. But before we did that he pulled over and said to hop in. So we sat in the back next to a shady looking stretcher. The driver was very nice and pretty funny. He said hes in the area alot and asked what we were doing. We explained that we were helping teach the deaf about the bible and Tuesdays are the days we study with the ones in Blackbush. He said he'd keep an eye out for us to see if we need a ride, and he also knows of some other deaf ones in that area and told us he will help us find them! We made a couple stops with them on our way. The first was to give someone a shot of some sort. The nurse with him hopped out, grabbed her obviously not sterile equipment, and was back shortly. We noticed she put the used needles and stuff right back in with the unused stuff. Yucky. The next stop was grand theft vegetable. We stopped next to a field, the nurse jumped out and grabbed some sort of vegetable and hopped back in and we drove away very Dukes of Hazzard style. They started talking about whether or not the man that was working in the field saw them take it. Finally we arrived at the other side where our study, Andrea, lives. When we got to her house the first thing we noticed were the puppies. So while I studied with her, Shameniel and Faith played with the dogs. I think next week Shameniel is taking one home with her:) The study went really good. She has also been studying for a while and knows a lot of ASL. We had no idea where she was in the Great Teacher DVD and she didn't have any of her notebooks to help us figure it out so we just started at the beginning. Then about half way through she grabbed my book and flipped to the page where they had left off. I think she would have studied all day if we had been able to. Normally I draw a picture that goes with the lesson but before I could, she grabbed the paper and started drawing her own. I'm really looking forward to studying with her more.
After we finished we headed to the bus shed to wait for one to take us out. It started to pour while we were waiting. A bus came and we headed over the first bridge over the river. Because of the rain, and the dirt on the wooden bridge, we started to slide. There is no guard rail on this bridge. We ended up going across almost completely sideways. Very scary. There are alligators and big snakes in that river and I really wasn't in the mood for swimming with them. Maybe another day. When we came home we had to go to the store to get more drinking water. We had tried on Monday but everyone was sold out because the truck hadn't come to deliver any. But they had some yesterday. The bus that picked us up even waited and then took us back home:)
Our fridge hasn't been working for about a week now. The last time the power went off the fridge never came back on. So we've been using a different fridge but only the freezer works. You know how the cable guy or plumber always tells you they will be there between 10 and 3 and your expected to hang out all day till he arrives? Well...we were told the guy to fix the fridge would either come last night or today. We were supposed to go out in service this morning but instead we are waiting for him to come by. Hopefully we can go out this afternoon. And hopefully by then we will have a cold fridge:)
Not sure if I already told everyone this, but we just finished making plans for January 10 to go to the zone visit in Georgetown! Our congregation was invited so the brothers have arranged for a few buses to take everyone in together. We are really looking forward to it!