We spent our last morning in the ministry. Once again the response was fantastic. After saying goodbye to the friends and our little kitten Boots (they are still trying to find him a home or at the very least they will care for him for a couple more weeks before they set him free) we headed into Georgetown. There we met up with our friends Kesta and Elsa. After getting married last year, Elsa moved from Etobicoke, Canada to Plaisance, Guyana. They are enjoying their married life and Elsa is loving the ministry here. They took us to say goodbye to Troy's mom and brother and then they gave us our first real opportunity to see the city.  We stopped off for appetizers and drinks at Pegasus, one of the bigger hotels here. We arrived back at their place and discovered the neighbourhood was in the middle of a very loud street party! Fortunately it didn't interrupt our sleep. We leave for the airport at 6:30 am tomorrow.

Well today was our last full day in Rosignol. We started off by going in the ministry. We were still having fantastic discussions with people and have left several RVs for the brothers and sisters to follow up with. Wow, there really is so much work to do here. We were sad to know that our time was winding down. We made a few final visits to some interested persons. After a final visit to the Internet cafe we headed home to tidy up and prep for our departure. Tomorrow we head to Georgetown and we will stay overnight. 

We finally gave our kitten a name - Boots- because he has 4 white paws. He is getting stronger and more curious.

We were preparing to entertain friends who were coming over to give us a little going away party. Wouldn't you know it, we had another blackout, just as we were trying to prepare dinner for them. Well they came with dessert and their "torches" (that's what they call flashlights and portable lights) and the party commenced! Fortunately about 1 1/2 hr later the power came back on. It was a joy to get to know all the friends here.

Well we got up this morning and who did we find curled up in the little bed we had made? The kitten! He is so tiny! We moved him to the backyard so he would have more shade. We force fed him a little milk as he doesn't know how to lap it up yet. By the afternoon he was looking much brighter and energetic and he was literally following us around, running even! We likely won't find anyone to take him so we just want to help him gain a little more strength since he will have to fend for himself in a couple of days. So we have been leaving him outside.

So we have a cat...remember we told you about the litter of kittens? Well we have us a fighter! Troy found him by the roadside and we didn't want him to get run over. So we brought him into our fenced yard which is a good distance from the road. So we thought we would give him a dry bed and milk and leave him where his mother could find him, if she hadn't already abandoned him. He cried and cried and eventually he climbed out of the little bed we had made a disappeared into the long grass in the yard. Well we tried.

Finally had a chance to get to the market. The market in Fyrish is huge and it is at a covered venue. The vendors have all their goods nicely laid out. We were finally able to purchase some fresh fish. A sister sells fish in the market. You should have seen the speed in which she cleaned and cut up the fish for us...with one seriously big knife! The fish was about 2ft long and probably 5-7 lbs. We paid $5 Cdn for it!! I think she gave us a slightly better deal, but EVEN SO...

We got back to Rosignol and had presents waiting on our front walkway, both of which we would have preferred not to receive. Our "random" horse that someone keeps tying in our front yard left us piles of manure (which we have to keep cleaning up) and 3 dead kittens. We saw the litter of kittens by the road in front of our house the day we left for Fyrish. They were soaking wet from the pouring rain. Poor little things didn't make it.

Big day in service today. Had the chance to go on several bible studies. They are all so appreciative of the things they are learning. We were invited to dinner by lovely family from the hall. The wife was formerly Hindu and the husband knew about the witnesses. After studying this family of 4 is now unitedly serving Jehovah. They have JW family living in Brampton. We promised to give their family a call once we get back. In Fyrish we also had to deal with blackouts, although no where near as many as we have had on the other side of the river in Rosignol. We had a blackout during dinner with the family and it became a "candlelight" dinner which was actually kind of nice.

Troy gave the talk at the Fyrish congregation to an audience of 79. They have many progressive bible students here who are regularly attending meetings. As Troy's dad had grown up very near to this village, the family name was recognized and some of the brothers and sisters knew the family. Wonderful to have such a rich spiritual heritage!

So we have discovered that "personal space" takes on a whole new meaning down here. We had 7 in the car for service! And the mini buses we travel on, well the driver's favorite expression seems to be "just move over and make some space"! So next thing you are squished in between two complete strangers! You just hope you're not to last one in with only the edge of a seat to sit on. Lol!

Lost land of the jaguar - BBC documentary on Guyana. - check it out

Well we arrived at the missionary home last night and were warmly welcomed by Troy and Melissa Kozza. They have been missionaries in Guyana for almost 9 years. They were such gracious hosts! And their home is beautiful! It was nice to see that with some modern conveniences, a person can live very comfortably here. They are the only remaining missionaries at this home.  Since the home is large they are able to host travelling overseers and branch speakers for conventions. They built themselves an awesome mud oven which they used to cook us some very delicious calzones. Everyone makes everything from scratch over here!  Gotta take up baking!

We headed out in the ministry Saturday morning with them. Rather than meeting at the Kingdom Hall they meet right in the territory and conduct the meeting for service there. We had good support and just as in Rosignol we meet lots of people who were willing to talk about the bible with us. Saturday afternoon we had a chance to check out a little Bollywood bazaar they had here. The salwars were beautiful, but way too expensive. Then we headed home and just chilled. As we are all fans of "The Voice" we watched a few episodes. They also gave us our first taste of Guyanese rum!

Today we returned to continue our bible discussion with Lynette.  She attends her church regularly and yet she said she has always wondered if Jesus would return and do the good things he did while he was on earth - like cure the sick and feed the hungry etc.  How happy we were to teach her that as reigning king of God's kingdom all the things that he is doing and will do in the near future.  As she too lost 2 children in death, we were also able to comfort this mother as well.  She gave us our first taste of palori here with a really nice mango sauce/chutney.  The Guyanese people are very hospitable and they will always offer a cool drink and sometimes things to eat when we visit their homes.

We are heading to Fyrish this evening to spend a few days with the missionary couple there and Troy will give the public talk on Sunday.

Enjoyed the meeting.  Troy and I both had parts.  Mine was a demonstration with the tracts.  The beetles were back after a quiet couple of nights.  They were getting to be quite distracting during the meeting until the brothers closed the window screens...yes, all this time there were SCREENS!  LOL!  I guess you just eventually get used to all the insects here...