We
arrived back in Guyana on 30th October and are here for three weeks
to fulfil a few commitments, pack up the house and say our goodbyes.
Mark’s Dad
Mark
said an emotional farewell to his Dad before we left England and we hoped he
may stay alive until we got back but as most of you know, he died peacefully on
Tuesday 5th November. It is
hard for Mark being so far away at this time and we came back here with his
Dad’s blessing so he feels at peace about the whole situation. The funeral is going to be after our return
so it means that thankfully we won’t miss it.
Youth weekend
The
main reason we came back when we did was because we had promised to lead a
youth weekend camping at Splashmins, a man made little beach on the edge of a
creek. Having spoken to our youth
leader from England we discovered that the young people had not done enough
fund raising and so the weekend away was not possible but instead we agreed to
take them there for a day – to do some teaching in the morning and then swim
and relax in the afternoon. I have to
say I was grateful not to have to sleep in a tent in the middle of nowhere with
no electricity or running water!!
We
had 28 young people from across the circuit and we delivered a scaled down
version of what we had prepared – we taught them about experiencing God’s love
and about dealing with issues they may have from their childhoods regarding
their parents. We felt this was
particularly important teaching in a society where the vast majority of
children grow up without a father in the home and many without even knowing who
their father is.
After
our sessions we then had chicken and rice for lunch (the usual!) and spent the
afternoon swimming and relaxing. Many
of the young people told us they had never been in water before so some of them
were really nervous but soon began to overcome their fears and enjoy splashing
around and having a go at swimming!
The
next day at church one of the young girls stood up in church and said that she
had learned from our day that in God she can be secure, that she can have
confidence and that she is significant and it moved me to tears! It was worth coming back even to hear that!
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| Listening hard! |
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| Mark delivering his session on the Father's love |
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| Doing an activity in groups |
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| My session on dealing with parental issues |
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| Ready for a boat ride - the girls wear shower caps to keep their hair dry! |
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| The kids out on the boat ride |
Reactions from the locals
Several
people have expressed their sadness that we are leaving so soon and told us
that they appreciate what we have been doing.
It is sad that it has taken us leaving for anyone to give us even the
slightest hint of some encouragement but it is nice to hear!
One
young lady expressed her anger at the situation in this circuit and said she
didn’t want us to go but stay and change things but I reminded her that she
hasn’t been to any of the services or events that we have put on so it’s
a bit late to say that now! She had a chance
to help us bring about change but sadly missed the opportunity as did so many people. :-(
The
loss of Mark’s Dad has stimulated many people to call and visit to offer
condolences which has been lovely to experience. We have always said that everyone likes a death here and this
situation seems to have brought out the best in people!
Passing things on!
Some
of our friends from the Isle of Wight organised some boxes of stuff to be sent
to us ages ago and we were worried it wouldn’t arrive before we left but we are
thankful that we could collect it from the wharf on Tuesday – it was so
exciting sorting through 8 big boxes of clothes, books, Bibles and craft
materials to be able to give it all away.
Mark’s study now looks like a distribution depot!
This morning we delivered 4 boxes of clothes
to the local children’s home and have boxes of craft stuff to go to the lay
workers, a huge pile of books to the circuit to start a circuit library and
Bibles to all the churches for those who haven’t got one. We also have a lot of our own stuff to pass
on as we arrived here with 10 freight boxes and 4 cases but are hoping to only
carry back 4 cases so we are giving away masses of stuff including all our
books, towels and bedding as well as a lot of our clothes! Hopefully we can replace a lot of our stuff
when we get home or manage without it!
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| Ready to sort the boxes from the Isle of Wight |
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| Delivering clothes to the children's home |
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| 4 boxes of clothes gratefully received |
