The Happenings

I have not posted in a while, I have been quite busy. I think I am giving up on being brilliant in these blog posts and will just be human. The last couple of weeks I have been getting more tired and more busy. On Sunday the 11th after cleaning the house, doing laundry, and finishing lesson plans I wrote a long email to my friend Courtney reflecting on the day and looking forward to the coming week. It was looking full and stressful. The next morning I came back to my home from cooking breakfast for the kids (Laura had to leave early on a medi vac) to find two local boys on my steps, pencils in hand. They were out of school in the morning because they had final exams in the afternoon and wanted to do school with me. I should have asked them to come back when I had something planned for them, but I just tried to integrate them into our school for the day. Just after worship, another boy came, wanting to learn. Woof. I spent that week trying to balance all of the ages, cultures, and learning levels. Everybody learned something, but I mostly wore myself out. On Friday the 17th Esther Wolfkill (fellow WWU student) and another volunteer, Carmen, arrived from another part of Guyana to spend Christmas in Mabaruma. Sabbath we went to Blackwater (small community 1.5 hrs out on the river). Sunday we made cookies with 23 Guyanese children. Monday and Tuesday we all taught the kids. Carmen, bless her heart, took it upon herself to have hot food ready when Esther and I were finished with school each day. Tuesday afternoon the WFH team packed 40 bags with clothes, books, toys, and a little flour to give out for Christmas. We started Christmas break on Wednesday. It was wonderful to spend time with Esther and Carmen and to have a break. Chrystal and I have continued our tutoring in the afternoon but I took a break from doing school with Dani, Micah, and the other boys. Esther and I had a wonderful time talking about our experiences in Guyana, cooking together, and eating tons of food. The time refreshed me and filled me up again. As you remember me, please also keep Esther in your prayers. She is going to begin teaching two classes at Bethany College here in Guyana in January-she is going to rock it, and I know she would appreciate the prayers. She does not have a blog because she does not have ready access to internet. We celebrated Christmas all together with the WFH team by passing out the bags of clothes and food, then gathering at the Wickwires’ for a big Christmas dinner. Esther and Carmen left Thursday and I have returned to homeschooling Dani and Micah. I’m working with the other boys for an hour and a half in the afternoon and then go down to Van Fossens to tutor Alex and Ronny. That about fills up my schedule! December has been good. Busy, but good. I continue to see evidence of God’s care and love and continue to look for ways to reflect that to the people around me. I have no doubt that your holiday seasons were busy as well, thank you for your holiday wishes and your prayers.

Rules are mostly meant to be broken...

"Rules are mostly meant to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind."

-Douglas MacArthur

I have always felt some comfort in rules. If things follow rules they can be understood. I could ask myself, “why am I feeling sick?” and my mind would answer, “because you stayed up too late and had too much sugar.” Fine. The sickness is boxed, controlled by some rules and acting as it should. It is not scary, I understand it. I know what to do to fix it. If I sleep more and don’t eat sugar I will get better. At home, I used to comfort myself with thoughts like “there can’t be a poisonous spider there, there aren’t any that live in this climate” or “this is safe to eat, there are standards about how these things are processed”. De facto, my practice was to take fear, add the right knowledge, and watch the fear melt away. It worked pretty well as long as the amount that I learned about the world that dismissed my fears kept up with the amount I learned to fear. 

Here in Guyana there is less system and the rules are a little less known. There could well be a bushmaster in the thicket-no one really knows. The peanut butter may or may not be safe to eat. No one tests the water for harmful amounts of lead or mining run off. Call 911 and the ambulance will be here soon? Good luck. The rules are not always followed or just plain don’t exist. Before coming here I tried to fight it. I researched and read all that I could about Guyana, hoping the stuff my brain with all the “right” pieces of information to combat the fears I knew I would encounter. I tried to learn everything I could so I would always know what to do. Fortunately, that didn’t work. The information has not been enough offset the fears.

Since coming here, I have had fears here that I can not logically dismiss and so I must have faith. This is freeing. Instead of trusting in my own knowledge I can now trust in the knowledge of an all knowing God. We have not been called to live in fear. Knowing a God of love, our actions, decisions, and interactions can not be fear based. We have been called to live by faith and, knowing a God of love, our actions, decisions, and interactions must be faith based. Not foolish, not rash, but trusting in the love and knowledge of an all-knowing God.