More About Kato

Hi everyone. Haven't written a post in quite awhile but I thought I would write a bit more about Kato and post some more pics.
One of the most memorable experiences. About two weeks before leaving, Terri and I were able to go in the ministry riding a horse! There was a bay always walking around the village. One morning Terri looked out our window and saw him tied up at our neighbors house all tacked up. She went over and asked them if I could ride him. We found out his name was Moses. As I was riding him around their house they gave us permission to take him out preaching. There was a far out place we hadn't reached yet with the memorial invitations. We had been trying to find transportation out there so we were very excited about this opportunity. We decided since we were riding a horse we would wear pants instead of skirts and also filled up a bag with invites, snacks, and water. Then we headed out.
We had to travel across town with everyone watching and laughing. We didn't really understand why they were laughing at the time. Anyway we get to the other side of the village and then come to the edge where we have to go down into a steep ravine and then up the other side where we would get to the plateau and continue on our journey. Once the horse finds out where we want him to go. He Stops! Nothing I did would get him to go! Terri even tried getting off him and he still wouldn't go. So after fighting him awhile we decided that he was not going to get us anywhere that day so we turned around. Sure enough he started walking for us again just fine!
On the way back to our house, we found out why everyone was laughing at us. Only a few people ride there and they are all men. So seeing two sisters riding double was funny in itself to them. Also, they knew the horse and had said to one another "Once they get out there they will wish they had walked!"
On the way back though we did come across someone that Terri left magazines with, so we did officially go in the ministry on horseback!! :)
While we where there, Terri painted the benches and chairs white. I had the privilege to paint the year text and kingdom hall sign. And together we made a contribution box.
We had many good experiences. During the memorial we also had the privilege of being attendants. 104 in attendance!

PICTURES FROM JOELLE

Picture one is all of us in front of the house we stayed at with a few that attend the meeting in the background.

Picture two Is us with some that attend the meetings. Again, we are under our house and this is where we have the meetings.

The Third picture is Sister Karen Williams with her two children- Tishana and Kieran, and a relative- Anna Marie standing next to a waterfall that is located about a 40 minute walk from the house.

The fourth is a picture of our hike into the jungle. Aletha, Karen, and Nikki are the ones that can be seen.

The last picture is just a really pretty view that we enjoyed one evening right outside our place. They had a lot of rainbows there.

From Kato

Kato is totally not what I expected. I was expecting jungle. It is savannah among the top of the mountains. There are no trees, except some small ones around, so it is very windy. It makes it a lot cooler here. Because of the breeze, you don’t feel the heat of the sun, but the sunlight still burns you.

We have no current. No one does. Some of the houses and buildings have solar panels. Our house is cute and small.

Karen and Diana, the two sisters here, are so nice. Terri handled an 18 minute Q&A part out of the KM. The Meetings are held right here below our house. 4 PM on Thursdays and 9:30 AM on Sundays. For each day it is held on opposite sides of the house due to the difference in times and position of the sun. That way everyone is always sitting in the shade.

We went in service today (2/17/2011). Terri has started 3 studies, Nikki started a study with a man we met at the shop. There were a lot of people who were not home. I guess everyone leaves their houses to go to the valley where their farms are. They don’t sell much of what they grow. They are self-sustaining farms.

Food here is really expensive. A coca-cola was $200 ($1.00 US) in Georgetown. Here in Kato it is $460 ($2.30 US). Peanut Butter is $700 ($3.50 US) for a small jar.

The view truly is beautiful here. I don’t feel like I’m in the same country compared to Matthews Ridge.

While walking the other day we saw a man on a horse driving a herd of cattle. This place reminds us of “Out West”. Something between out west and Australia. It’s cool.

2/23/2011
We just spent 7 hours in Service. Karen took us into the valley. There were five houses. The climb up………..steepest, longest hill I have ever climbed in my life! No Kidding!

Last night (2/25/2011) I did my first meeting part. I conducted the part out of the KM introducing the “Bearing Thorough Witness” book. I prayed a lot before and during it. It went smoothly. Joelle conducted the bible study. She did very good and was right on time. We have a renewed appreciation for everything the brothers do for our meetings.

3/3/2011
There is a dog here we started to feed and now he thinks he is ours. We call him Yoda. Terri came up with the name because of the way his ears are. He is in general a coward but I was impressed this morning when he started chasing cows away from me.

The other day at one of Terri’s studies a bird suddenly flew into Joelle’s hair. It was one of the families pets. It was very unexpected. This is Joelle’s last full day here with the rest of us. She leaves on the plane tomorrow morning.

Almost Ready to Leave

We are all repacked. We got everything to fit. Now we just hope that we didn't go over the weight limit of what we can take with us tomorrow. We found out we have to be ready to leave here at 5:15 tomorrow morning. I don't know if I will be back online again today so this might be the last you hear from us in awhile. We are going to the meeting tonight at 6 o'clock. So we miss everyone, and we will see you soon! Bye!

Street Witnessing

Yesterday morning we washed laundry. Took advantage of the fact that Audrey has a washing machine. We were then invited to have lunch with Brother and Sister West, they live downstairs from Sister Audrey. It was good, we had grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, chana and Coke.
At 4 o'clock we were picked up by Gary to go in service with a group from his congregation. First hour was house to house. I was with Gary and the first house he talked with a man for about an hour. It was a very nice conversation, the man just kept asking more and more questions. After that we caught up with the group, it was dark then and we did street witnessing until 8:30. Street witnessing was awesome!!! The pictures came out fuzzy but I'm still going to post one.
After witnessing we spent some time with Gary and his family at his house. We had a very good time. Wonderful family.
This is something Gary gave me that I wanted to share:

The trinity teaches that God asked himself to go to earth to save mankind.

Then he agreed with himself and volunteered himself to himself to offer himself.

Then God impregnated a woman as himself, with himself.

God prayed to himself and glorified himself repeatedly.

God strengthened himself and talked to himself.

Finally God forsook himself and sacrificed himself to prove his loyalty to himself.

While dead he resurrected himself so he could exalt himself above himself.

Then he sat at his own right hand and waited til he placed his enemies as a footstool.

Finally with Satan's forces defeated God would turn his kingdom over to himself

That all things would become everything to himself.

So we leave for Kato tomorrow. We have been buying up food and everything we can think of that we will need. Gary is picking more stuff up for us today. We are repacking our luggage and trying to make everything fit. We are only able to bring 280lbs with us tomorrow. The rest of our luggage will get send on a plane to us on Friday. So we have to figure out what we will need right away.
The pictures are of Terri and Audrey, Terri with a baby in field service, Joelle and Nikki street witnessing, and the group of us at the pool the other day.

Sunday

Hello, Yesterday was our first day in service here. We went out until about 11:30. I worked with a sister whose name was Amanda. I will post a picture of me and her. The rest of the day was spent at the pool. We met a bunch of other need greaters who were there for the day also. Today was the meeting at the stadium with the zone overseer's visit. We got there very early and we had nice seats under the roof. We were in the deaf section, so as it was getting close to starting we moved because they were running out of room for the friends who needed to sit in that section. Unfortunately, by the time we moved, all the other seats under the roof were taken, so we had to go way down below. It started raining. Me and Nikki are the only ones who stuck it out in the rain. We ended up just huddling with all our stuff under our umbrellas. We got soaked. The rest of our group went up to stand under the roof. I think they were the smart ones. I took a picture of Nikki in the rain. So the plans for the rest of the day were canceled due to the fact that it is still raining. We were going to go to the zoo and the gardens. Oh well, another time.

More Info

The more we find out about Kato, the more we realize is not there. We just found out that we have more shopping to do. We have to bring dishes. We have to buy another light because we were wrong, there is never any current there. We also have to buy a tarp because we have to build a shower outdoors. So it sounds like we're camping for awhile.

We're Here

We got here a couple days ago. Wednesday started out with us meeting the sister we are staying with. Her name is Audrey. We then visited the branch, got some groceries, came back here and then slept the rest of the day. Thurday we spent the day shopping, getting things we would need, we got hammocks(very important :) . We then went to the meeting of the Kitty congregation. Tomorrow we plan on going out in service and then going swimming at the international hotel. Sunday morning is the meeting with the zone overseer. We were told they are expecting about 10,000 in attendance. All of Guyana is invited.
Some people we have seen so far are Brother and Sister West, district overseer. Melissa and Troy, they are missionaries from the states, here for the zone visit.
Kato sounds interesting. It is more primitive than we thought. Terri is dying because she found out we have to use an outhouse. We had to buy 3 five gallon buckets to get water from the stream. We're not sure but we are guessing we'll have to wash our clothes at the stream. We were told to buy one lightbulb because there possible might be current. It is 2000ft above sea level so it is cooler than other places, that might outweight everything else. Everyone says it is beautiful there. I think we're going to have fun.
I will warn everyone that once we leave for Kato on Wednesday you will not hear from us. They have no internet, phone or post office there.

Finally....Leaving Today!

By tomorrow we will be in Georgetown. We will visit there for about a week. And then on to Kato, which is new for all of us. Justina is no longer traveling with us, because she is getting married. Congratulations for her! Traveling with me is Terri, Nikki, and Joelle. We are all excited and looking forward to our trip. Picture is of the 4 of us traveling together to Kato.

Awesomeness!!!!!

Hola everyone! Justina is going to Guyana again with Nikki and me! So the three of us are going to have fun! Terri will also be coming down later. I'm not exactly sure how everything will work but I know everything will work out and we will be where Jehovah wants us. We have plans that aren't exactly final, but they will be awesome!