Welcome to Michael and Lara's Ministry Updates from Guyana! (AKA "Mike and Lara" AKA Myk-en-Lara" :-) We Love to keep in touch with all our family and friends, but its difficult when we are so far away, and our internet here is not so reliable. So we will post our experiences and pictures on this site for everyone!

If you want to be notified of any updates by email, submit your email in the box in the column to the right. Or your can "Follow" this blog by clicking the "Join this Site" Button just a little further down on the right. This helps us know who is reading and commenting! Thanks so much and Enjoy!


Monday, July 27, 2009

Preaching In Black Bush and Beyond

Preaching In Black Bush and Beyond

Last Saturday we traveled about an hour to the Interior part of our territory. Its an area the Locals call “Blackbush”. Most of our territory is right near the main highway but this small community is a ways out in the country. Its mainly where all the farmers live who harvest the many Rice fields here. The area is not worked as often in the wet season since the roads get so muddy and slick you can easily get stuck. Tom says he got caught in the rain out there once and the normal 15-minute ride home ended up taking 2 hours on his scooter.




This picture is for you Dad! This is a rice picker. We are still working on getting a picture of that huge tractor I told you about.



This is an early rice field. Rice fields dominate the farming and landscape here.


This is what all of Guyana would look like if Man didn’t ruin it with land fills and garbage dumps. Its quite Beautiful!



This is a bus shed where we met for the meeting for field service. That’s Michelle and Tom.


Here is a banana tree. People give us bananas to bring home. So nice!

Last Thursday I had a pretty rough day in service. We went to a part of our territory where mosquitoes are known to be the worst. The night before, it rained which made it even worse. We got out of the car and walked toward our first house. The mosquitoes swarmed us. That morning I had decided to give my Burt’s Bees natural repellent a try- big mistake. I got bit so much that I felt like crying. We left one side of the road and found shelter in a home where the mosquitoes weren’t quite as bad. The family we visited with was very interested in the Bible’s message and we had a nice long discussion with them.

After that we walked a mile and half to a return visit Michelle had out in the country. I felt quite drained and miserable from all my swollen mosquito bites. I prayed for strength to continue and the ability to stay positive. When we arrived at our destination Michelle return visit was not home- that did not help my mood. We were also out of water and really tired. We did however meet a very friendly mule that I really wanted to take home with me. As we were leaving Michelle return visit we passed a house where Michelle had visited before and remembered they had a lot of coconuts. We asked the man if he could cut some coconuts down for us to drink from. He was so nice and did exactly that. It was so amazing and exactly what we needed to continue on to our next Bible study. I forgot all about my mosquito bites until later that evening. Yes, Jehovah certainly provides us with what we need!

Mike had a public talk today. He had to change many of the illustrations and expressions because they would not be understood here very well. He did great!
He has his first talk out in September. The title will be “Renewing the Spirit of Self Sacrifice”. We have to travel to the congregation but I don’t think it’s more than an hour or so away.

Berbice EXPO and ASL Info

This weekend the Berbice region is having an Expo the next few days. We aren’t real clear on what it includes but it involves education of the area. Since there is nothing for people to do here it is a very big deal and everyone goes. Security has been very tight with police all week and even the President of Guyana will be attending. We will be attending tomorrow afternoon and evening to sit at the JW sign language booth. No, we do not know sign language but Michelle is learning and the circuit overseer asked Michelle to help out at the booth for people that are interested in finding out more. We are confident it will be an excellent witness.

For anyone that knows ASL- there is a great need here for support. The closest group is an hour away in New Amsterdam and since transportation is such a challenge here, it might as well be 5 hours away. There is an 11 yr old deaf girl, Nasonia in our congregation who does not know how to sign. The past couple years there have been a couple sisters who are need greaters that know ASL and have been trying to teach Nasonia ASL so that she can communicate and learn the Truth. Now those sisters are gone but thankfully Michelle has learned enough ASL to sign prayers for her and also brings her laptop to every meeting for Nasonia to watch the ASL videos. Its slow progress. There are other deaf people in our territory but most do not know ASL and would need to be taught.
We are very tired and very busy but very grateful to be here. It’s an amazing feeling to see the desperate need in the congregation and the territory and to be able to be used by Jehovah in this way. We are learning a lot about ourselves and also about Jehovah and the strength he provides in these new circumstances with all its new trails.

We are thankful to have Michelle and Tom so close by. They have much training from Gilead and years of experience in third world countries. Their practical advice and emotional and spiritual support has truly been a blessing from Jehovah.

We miss you and love you all. Thank you for checking in. Please keep up the posts; we really enjoy reading them. We are also able to receive emails so if anyone wants to ask more questions or details please post here or write us an email. Mykenlara@live.com


With Much Love,

Mike and Lara
(written by Lara)

7 comments:

  1. I was so happy to see all the activities youve been doing, I know it takes alot of effort for you to do all the blogging but we all are learning so much just humbly looking on. Thank you so much for sharing with us. love mom.We pray jehovahs continued strength and courage be with you !!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really love the way you explain what is going on there and the pictures are wonderful. Your house looks very nice and comfortable even if you do have bugs that glow in the dark. : ) The spider would have really had me hopping on a plane for home.

    I enjoyed going shopping with you and out in service by way of your comments and pictures. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to keep us all posted.

    You are missed. Sending much love,
    Darlene

    ReplyDelete
  3. Still so exciting to hear, guys! I know you will do well :)-Toi

    ReplyDelete
  4. Boy, John and I have so enjoyed the pictures! Your house is so much nicer than expected. Youlive in luxury! Guyana does not look too muddy from your pictures but we know this will probably change. Also,the market seemed very clean and well organized. Of course, we couldn't see the flies. Tuesday was 108 degrees here; today we are staying in. Tomorrow and Fri. John and I are going in service. We will get a taste of what you are experiencing in the heat. Of course, our humidity is 30%. So glad you have a good camera, keep up the great pictures. More and more friends have your blogspot now. The work there sounds fantastic; jehovah must be so happy to have you guys there proclaiming His name. Are locals more immune to mosquitoes than you are? Lots of Love, John Mill,Mom and Dad Kuenzi 7/29/09

    ReplyDelete
  5. WOW! Talk about NICE, what a great home, I am so happy for you to have such a nice place to come home to after your LONG days in service!
    Speaking of LONG days in service... it's so HOT here, today was 106! Of course I need to get my pioneer time so no rest for the weary or the HOT! We started at 7am and could only go to 12, I thought of you both the whole day, heat AND bugs.... Holy spirit is abundant apparently!

    We are so encouraged to see the different aspects of your ministry, wish, wish we could hop on a plane and come join you for a couple weeks, we have a year maybe it can happen!
    Your bug experience cracked me up, I don't know if I could go back to sleep after that one, but I am sure in time you will be so used to bugs they will never bother you again!

    We leave Tuesday for Timothy Lake and we will cook a smore in honor of you!
    Keep up your very good work and we will be eagerly anticipating your next blog!
    Lots of love, Kimberly and Family

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello from Vince, Danielle and Chris... miss you both. We were thinking of you both when we went rafting down the Clackamas and drinking cold beer! It was 108 degrees in Portland today! Sooo hot. We love reading your blog and we really enjoy the pictures. We'll keep you in our prayers. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Lara,Michael, Tom & Michelle,
    Your blog makes me feel like I am there having the experience with you. I love seeing the pictures of your new home and hearing about your experiences.(The meat market must have been a real shock!) Thank you for sharing with us. What's the temp. there. You heard about the heat here, unreal.

    Anxiously awaiting to hear more!

    ReplyDelete