Lots and Lots of PICS!!!!

Wearing big brother's shoes

Hard at work on a rainy day

laundry is my LEAST favorite task but doing it by hand has given me a new appreciation of my washing machine at home!

Wearing Brother Singh's foot flops!

The kids have made very good use of the art kits given to them from Aunt Suzie! (they still have the art supplies!)

Our good friend Adiel Persaud who is feeling "cold" on this 81 degree night!  :)

Rayah loves being held here just as much as she did in Conewango!!!!  =)

Ovita, Salome, Adiel, Rachel Anjoli and Daniel

A very special family to us: The Persauds (not the ones we stayed with- another Persaud family)

These pics show the happiest little girl ever to have captured a real, live BUG!!!

Adiel was our barber of choice!

                                             This is a sign of extreme exhaustion, sleeping while standing....

                                        And then while sitting!  Can you tell how hot it is that night?!

The previously described tooth extraction! (this really is how we got it out!)

                                                              Exhausted Little Boys

Jace with Sister Christine Chan

                                                                            

                                                                      FOOD Pics

Bacon, eggs and plantain for breakfast

  

curried chicken and rice

 Brandon making soup with a fresh coconut base. Remind him to tell you all about it! This soup had a "unique" effect on the body!  :)

                                                  Fresh Watermelon makes little kids so happy!

CHOCOLATE IS A BATES HABIT THAT MUST BE MAINTAINED!

curried chicken, rice, pumpkin and plantain

                                                  

                                                    Cleaning of the Kingdom Hall pics

This is Karen....hard at work (one handed) so not to become overheated.....

I decided she needed some help so she could be more productive at weed pulling!!!!! Karen is a regualar pioneer in the Enterprise congregation.  She is a beautiful sister who handled my picking on her very well!!

this is Janella... a very dear friend here who happens to hate her pic being taken.  We love her and as you can see she is a ton of fun - even when trying desperately to avoid being photographed!

Sister Simon is a pioneer in Haslington and a cheerful, hard worker!

Karen is training me on how to properly pull the weeds of Guyana!

Some Random Tid-Bits

This is a first in the Bates Family:

Jace lost his first tooth!!!!  (a week later he lost the 2^nd !)  They did not come out easily and his adult teeth were coming in behind so we knew we had to get them out.  After many days of wiggling Jace asked Daddy if he could assist him in getting it out….

It’s crazy to think our first baby is old enough to lose his baby teeth! *sniff sniff*

A Tutor for the boys- Janella, who has become a special friend to our family, happens to be both a regular pioneer and a TEACHER!  We have made arrangements and she has already begun tutoring the boys 3 days a week.  They LOVE HER and they love learning!  They are so proud and go on and on to us showing us all they did with her.  She has been a blessing as she has a fresh approach with the kids and adapts for each boy to his learning level!  Both Jace and Kaden are no doubt going to benefit from all of her hard work for years to come!!!

On Saturday, there was no service planned as it was a scheduled “general cleaning” of the kingdom hall day. 

They even went to the extent of pulling all the weeds and plants that had overgrown on the fence, around the parking lot and between all the cracks in the concrete.  It was a pretty big job.  Since our congregation shares the kingdom hall with another congregation it was perfectly doable to accomplish a thorough cleaning in a day.  Here are some of the pics….

I will upload them later as the internet cafe is packed with people and the connection is way too slow to upload pics right now.  Sorry! 

Getting into a Routine

So since we have gotten into more of a routine here we have started a schedule we are trying to stick to.  With 3 small children, we have to be flexible and expect the unexpected but we are trying to make our schedule work as best we can. Sometimes it’s easy to feel discouraged we can’t do more but, we are so thankful for the privilege of being here and have to remember our limitations…or should I say the limitations of needgreating with a 6,4 and 2 year old!!!

So this is something like a “typical” week for the Bates Family in Guyana….

• Sunday – we have afternoon meeting at the Kingdom Hall @ 1:30 pm

•  Monday- we spend the day doing laundry, errands and if it’s not raining we are flexible about possibly going in service for a couple of hours in the morning

•  Tuesday- we have the meeting at the Kingdom Hall which is @ 6:30 pm (there is no service group that meets on Tuesdays)

• Wednesday- Although we would LOVE to have Wednesday be a service day as it is a very big turnout for many members of the congregation, our children are not well rested enough to handle all that is expected for service (like be happy and pleasant =).  It’s tough because although our meeting ends much earlier than at home, we have a 20 minute walk after associating and so the kids end up in bed pretty late after we get them settled down.  Sooo during the day we do more laundry, housework and running errands to help the rest of the week run smoothly.  We also have our family worship in the evening.

• Thursday- This is a designated field service day.  We try to prepare for all weather conditions and bring plenty of water to keep us hydrated for the day!

• Friday- This is also a designated field service day.

• Saturday- Another designated field service day.

Also, anytime either of us has to walk into the nearest town (Enmore) or run errands we take literature and our bibles with us.  Always looking for opportunities to preach.  It isn’t difficult at all as just about everyone reads their bibles and is so willing to take the time to chat. I have gotten 2 return visits with this method!  Brandon is also going to start getting up very early and walking out by the bus stops so he can catch the people on the way into work as well as the students walking to school. (His 1^st day doing this will be tomorrow, I will post about how it goes soon! :) 

UPDATE: Wow! Was that a success! Brandon just got home and walked in the door smiling ear to ear! In 45 minutes he placed 26 magazines and 5 brochures! He said some people didn’t have time but on their way back thru would stop to talk with him.  He even met someone who said they had never seen the Watchtower and Awake before! That is amazing as we see our literature everywhere we go…people love to read it and we find it in places like the visor of the buses or just sitting by them for when they have a free moment! Something tells me this will be Brandon’s favorite time of day! :)

Each evening (or anytime we can squeeze even a few minutes in during the day) Brandon and I prepare for the week’s meetings starting on Sunday night. It sounds like it wouldn’t be a big deal but, believe it or not we are so active with the children and just trying to live daily life that it has proved to be very challenging to be able to sit down and study.  Sometimes we have to work together and take turns watching the children while the other one studies.  We can see why it is most definitely easier to be need greaters without children, but despite the constant effort just to complete “the basics” we are so happy we are here!!!

Some Challenges...

So here are some of the challenges that I mentioned in the previous post.  We have encountered some issues with rodents.  It’s been very frustrating but, we have been handling it the best we can.  We have had a rat that has taken up a nightly routine of perusing our house.  It’s disturbing to say the least; he even wakes us up in the middle of the night!  So each morning, I have to bleach all of the countertops and the stovetop.  Plus after I do the nightly dishes I have to dry them and put them all away to prevent any contamination from either the rat, mice, frogs or lizards that may crawl on our dishes!

The rat is either very clean or just desperate for food as you will see in the pic, he even eats our bars of soap!  So we finally had had enough and we set out some poison last week.  It was completely gone that night.  So then we just had to wait….When the boys came in the house yesterday and informed us they had found a “mouse” just sitting there, we were suspicious.  Our suspicions were confirmed, again see the pic…so the rat is no longer bothering us.  YAY!

Another challenge has been drinking water.  We have to be very careful what water we drink and if it has been properly treated.  All the water that comes out of the “pipe” or from the town is from an artesian well and is not safe for foreigners to drink.  Most Guyanese pump it into a tank as well as catch the rain water and treat it with bleach “tank water” and some still boil it as well.  Others do not.  Therefore we always have to be suspicious of the water or ice cubes before we drink it.  Sometimes the situation is where we just do the best we can and hope for the best. 

So with that being said I ended up getting some symptoms of stomach issues about 2 weeks ago.  Since they didn’t really get any worse and I was still able to continue about daily tasks I just kept taking my probiotics and not worrying about it.  The stomach cramps have never stopped to date but I really didn’t have time to give it much thought….until it got worse.   It seemed to hit all at once, I had no energy and the cramping was very noticeable most of the day. I also had no appetite and almost chronic headaches.  I started feeling so rundown I had to sit on a stool to wash even a few dishes. I started asking around to a couple of sisters and the response was maybe I had the flu. 

A brother back home had a conversation with Brandon before we left and suddenly his words meant so much… he said as loving as the brothers and sisters are in the congregation, the ones who really know what you need are the other needgreaters.  I contacted The Sanchez’s and Michelle said to me in about oh, 1 second flat  “You have a parasite” she assured me after 20 years of missionary service she knew what she was talking about!  She also gave me suggested treatments that have ACTUALLY worked! 

Drinking Garlic Tea! (not the best tea I've ever had =)

So after 2 days of eating a half a clove of garlic 3 times a day I am happy to say I am on the way to feeling better.  Today was the first time in days I felt like myself and had some energy.  The cramping is still faintly there but, it is subsiding.  I am so thankful to Jehovah for her help.  It was scary as Brandon was having to do so much and I couldn’t keep up.  I am hopeful it will continue to get better.  I am also incredibly thankful thus far, the children haven’t exhibited any symptoms.  We think we are probably going to put the entire family on a regimen of garlic.  Apparently it is a natural antibiotic and clearly it works!!! 

Weeks 3 & 4 in Guyana

It’s hard to believe we could actually have already been here for a month and that our trip is half over.  It feels like it took us so long to get settled down and into a routine that we lost a couple of weeks, but we are starting to learn the ropes of living in Haslington, Guyana.   

One of the biggest things we have discovered is making connections is imperative.  Connections on how to get around, on how to get food and water and at the best prices etc.  Unlike home, where we go to the grocery store for pretty much anything, we have to shop several different places for different things. For instance, some people make bread and can deliver it to your home, I buy our meats from a meat shop, then each day there are vans that drive around announcing what fruits and vegetables they have to sell or you can go to a market which consists of fish, fresh chicken, fruits and vegetables, clothing etc. (I forgot my camera the last time I went to the market, next time I will be sure to take pics)  It seems to be a learning curve where we figure more and more out each week, of how to make life easier.

 There are definitely challenges(more on that in the next post) but the longer we are here the more we love it.  The ministry is just so incredible.  The people are so zealous and appreciative to learn about Jehovah.  I was on a bible study with a sister last week and I thought the student must have been studying for at least a year if not more.  Her knowledge was noticeable and she seemed to be advancing quickly.  To my surprise she has only been studying since May 2011.  In 7 months she is already attending meetings with her 6 year old daughter, her 2 month old son and her mother comes as well.  She is an incredibly hard working (as most Guyanese we have encountered are) single mother who supports her whole family, including her siblings on her pay alone.  Yet she still makes time for her bible study each week and attends meetings.  Her name is Varsha and I was so encouraged by her.  Her mother even made my entire family dinner while we studied so I could bring it back for them!  The hospitality is incredible here.  As little as some have materially, they are some of the most giving people we have ever met!!!