CHANGE

_CHANGE

By Laura Davidson, August 14 2017

I am sitting here on my bed, trying to write a blog post while nursing Hannah. Mournful wails are emanating from the bathroom “I need someone to take care of me.” My very capable three year old would rather have Mommy help with every little thing. She does it on her own half the time and we are trying to encourage her to be more independent.

“Mommy!!!! I need you!”

“You can do it by yourself this time, I have to write a blog post.”

“Why?”

“Because I have been needing to write a blog post for weeks!” Or has it been months! I am mortified and embarrassed that I have not been doing better at keeping you all informed.

“Mommy, I would like to go swimming!” Kathryn starts announcing as she is looking in her drawer in her room, choosing what to wear for the day. She has spotted her swimming suit. We are enjoying Grandma and Papa’s pool and have started the process of teaching Kathryn to swim.

Swimming, laundry, doing art projects with Kathryn, grocery shopping, meeting with friends, taking care of Hannah, all these things delightfully fill my days and I just find it hard to make the time to sit down at my computer and write.

Change….. most of us don't like change. Why is change so hard sometimes!? Not a whole lot is changing, but enough details are up in the air that it is hard to know what to tell you, because the details may change tomorrow.

Edwin talked with Uncle David Gates on the phone this morning. It was so helpful, but do we know whats happening now? Not really.

Before we became full time volunteer missionaries, many people who had been-there-done-that told us that the best advise they had was to be flexible, and boy were they right.

Flexibility! I want to be flexible, able to be shaped and molded in the hand of God.

Kathryn has been playing happily on the floor waiting for me. I need to go swim with her for a bit.

*********

Swimming, lunch, bath and nap time routine are completed. Kathryn is in her bed attempting to nap, I have a few more min to write. Yay!

So here's what we know:

• Number one is that we can’t wait to go back to Guyana! And we will, soon, Lord willing.

• James Ash, along with his wife Joy and girls, Jenna and
  

  

  Julianna are retiring from foreign mission service for the time being. Yes, for real, you heard what I said. They have been invaluable in Guyana, how can the work go on without them!? But it must, and the Lord will provide. It could easily be considered that James was doing the work of three people. Doing the grocery shopping (don’t think of grocery shopping in the US, this is way different) and delivering by plane, groceries for many volunteer families, like 13 I think he said. He provided supplies and transportation for the bible workers and medical practitioners out in the jungle, along with transportation for any conference workers who needed to be at special events in remote places. James took care of all of the administrative side of GAMAS (Guyana Adventist Ministries And Services) including helping the many missionaries sort out visa complications and interviewing potential new volunteers. Perhaps most importantly, James provided emergency medical evacuation for anyone and everyone in need. Last week one missionary family’s young son fell out of bed and broke his shoulder bone. There was no way to get the boy to the medical help he

  

  needed. A few days later the father posted on Facebook that they were somehow able to get the boy to Georgetown. I can imagine that there is quite a story of the Lords providence in providing for their needs. The Lord will always provide for His people. The Ash family has been serving selflessly and faithfully for 11 years. It is time for them to be able to let some one else step up to fill their shoes, though I think we need about three people or more to be able to fill the shoes of James Ash. They will be missed in Guyana terribly! 

• David Gates himself will be stepping into the position of Director of GAMAS until someone else can be found to fill that position.

• Richard and Tamara are doing a fabulous job of taking care of things at the flight-base in Georgetown, but they are leaving as soon as some paperwork goes through!

• Uncle David Gates told Edwin this morning that he would like for there to be three working planes in Guyana, Uncle David will also use his Twin Comanche when and where he is able.

• There are four mission pilots in, or soon to be in Guyana. He would like to pair Lincoln Gomez with Daniel Baquerro, And pair Edwin Davidson with Chris Eno. What does that mean? Well, Lincoln’s home village is Paruima, Uncle David doesn't want to take him away from his family and his home village, that is totally understandable. The Eno’s are in Bethany… Uncle David said that he would eventually like us to be stationed down in the southern part of the country. “We will have to see how the Lord leads..” He told Edwin.

• There is another volunteer missionary family living in “our house” in Paruima right now. Housing is in high demand in Paruima. The principle, Steven Williams, asked our permission before he let the new family stay in “our house”. We said "yes".

My first reaction is NNNNOOOOO!!!!! I love Paruima, that is where my heart is, that is where my friends are, I love those people, I wanted to build a house there and live there forever!!!!!!

I was afraid of this. As we were packing up to leave, I had a foreboding in my heart that things would never be the same again. Those last few weeks, living in the duplex that they call “the white house” were the very happiest weeks of my life!

We had the privacy of a place of our own, Edwin was teaching at the school. He was home every day for lunch….Such a beautiful, peacefully and happy place to raise a family. We had best friends living a hop and a skip away….ahhh so many happy memories are crammed into those few weeks!

Why is it that when I feel my selfish desires starting to wrap their clingy fingers onto something, that the Lord takes it away from me. I should have learned by now to live with an open hand, allowing the Lord to give and take what He deems best. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 13:15 But I shouldn't be so selfish to think that it's only about MY heart. The Lord knows the end from the beginning, he knows whats best. What’s best for everyone.

“But when the Savior calls for our possessions and our service, there are many who see they cannot obey God and carry their earthly treasures with them, and they decide to stay by their treasures….We must accept the suffering part of religion if we would sit down with the Suffering One upon His throne." SD page 234

I surrender, I surrender all. I still hope that we can spend at least SOME time in Paruima, but I surrender Paruima. I am willing, all over again to go where the Lord wants me to go, yes anywhere! I DO love adventure and know that I will make friends and be happy no matter where I find myself. We have great friends in Bethany, I am excited at the possibility of being able to spend more time with Crystal Eno and her children, that would be so fun!

Change.

Flexibility.

Am I ready?

By God’s grace, and with His help….

BRING IT ON!!!!!!! 

Hello Hannah by Laura Davidson

Hello Hannah

by Laura Davidson Sep. 7 2017

What a privilege to have the responsibility of raising another child for the Lord!

On May 16, Hannah Jeanette Davidson was born. We couldn't be more thrilled and delighted!

We flew from Guyana, back to the US, when I was 32 weeks pregnant, the last week that expecting moms are allowed to fly commercially, without a letter from a Doctor, stating that she and baby are healthy and able to fly.

April 24 we made our way to my parent’s home in Dunlap TN, and settled down to await our baby’s arrival. I was so excited! Who would this little person be? A girl? A boy? How much would baby weigh? What day would baby choose to be their Birthday?

I had invited my sister Sarah to be present for the birth. She did NOT intend to miss the baby’s grand entrance. She and her family were here at my parents house every chance they got.

My due date came, and went. Baby was so low in my pelvis, it made walking, and life in general, a bit uncomfortable. I felt huge! I was huge! I kept walking every day, as I had been trying to do every day, especially during the last trimester, to prepare my body for the marathon of giving birth.

When I went to bed on the 15th, I started having mild contractions, very far apart. I slept between them. They were just strong enough to wake me up, I would rouse, look to see what time it was, then fall back to sleep.

(Edwin doesn’t want me to go into too much detail…. so, here is an overview of Hannah’s birth day. Cutting out details is going to be hard for me to do!!!!)

About midnight, contractions got stronger and closer together. I couldn't sleep, then they kind of faded away. I was anxious for our baby to be born and didn't want my contractions to stop! I was too uncomfortable to sleep, I was starting to get hungry. About 3am I woke Sarah up. She was thrilled and excited. She made some fresh red raspberry leaf tea for me and got me something to eat. We sat on the couch visiting. My contractions came back, and were just strong enough that I couldn't continue conversing through them.

Contractions became more intense, I became more excited! The front guest room at my parents house was fixed up all cozy for the birth and had all the birthing supplies set out, and ready. Sarah and I went into the front room, I turned on a ball of Christmas lights, rocked lightly on my birthing ball while Sarah rubbed my back and read my birth affirmation cards. “My body was made for this, created and designed by God, to be able to give birth.” “300,000 women will be giving birth with me today.”

It was so serene, the morning birds started singing, the light of dawn crept across the sky. I enjoyed an inner calm while riding the strength of the waves of my contractions. My body and baby were preparing for birth.

Suddenly I felt very sleepy. I sat in my “floor nest” of blankets and rested against the fluffy blanket that was thrown over my birthing ball. I slept for two hours, awaking at 7 am. Kathryn was just waking up. I went and hugged my sleepy big girl, got her out of bed and we all sat down to eat a delicious breakfast that my Mommy had made. I had two more contractions during breakfast.

I was still sleepy, I went and laid down in bed and slept for two more hours.

When I woke up, I decided to go for a walk to get contractions going again, even though it felt like baby’s head was grinding in my pelvis with every step!

We only made it to the mailboxes. We sat on the bench, visiting and taking pictures. We headed back to the house, and that’s when contractions hit. I was glad that Edwin was with me. I felt like I was unable to stand, when a contraction would hit. My legs felt weak. I would kneel on the ground and wait for it to pass. Edwin would help me up. We would slowly walk 15-20 more feet and another contraction would hit. Sarah and the kids went on to the house to start lunch.

When we got back to the house, I collapsed in my floor nest and rested on my birth ball. I was tired, I was hot, I was sweaty, contractions were coming hard and fast.

As soon as I felt rested enough, I made my way to the shower. Oh… what sweet relief. I sat on the shower stool, the warm water running over. The shower was so soothing that contractions became light and further apart. I was hungry, so I sat down and had two bowls of soup with my family.

Edwin went to put Kathryn down for her afternoon nap. I went and rested against my birth ball and promptly fell asleep AGAIN!

I woke in a haze of pain, but I was calm and focused on the task before me. Edwin tried to time my contractions, but was having a hard time knowing when each one started and stopped. I was too focused and didn't want to be bothered by trying to communicate.

When I threw up, we knew I was in transition. We called my Mommy to come home from work. I wanted her to be able to be there for the birth. She arrived about 3:40 pm.

I had been doing well laboring while kneeling, until my legs started to go to sleep. My Mommy and sister helped me onto a make shift birthing stool. Edwin knelt in front of me, with each contraction I buried my face in Edwin’s shoulder and made a low groaning sound. It gave me the focal point I needed. Even though the contractions were strong and there was a burning sensation in my pelvis, I always felt in control, and like I could handle it, (unlike Kathryn’s birth).

When I started to feel my body have a small pushing urge with each contraction, I just went with it, only pushing to comfort.

At 5:09 my water broke. I gradually felt more “pushy” and the pressure of baby’s head moving down. Each contraction seemed to be a combination of long and short urges to push. I didn't want to rush the process. I just pushed when I couldn't help but push, and let fetal ejection reflex take over. It was amazing!

I moved to my knees on my floor nest again.

I was starting to get tired, I was running out of energy! Sarah and Mommy brought me some grape juice and a fruit popsicle. I took a sip and a nibble hoping it would give me the energy I needed.

A few of the songs on the playlist I had been enjoying, started to annoy me. I needed to focus ALL my attention on what was going on inside of me.

Then I reached down and felt the head of my precious baby! (Crowning at 5:40 pm) Oh the joy! I was totally lost in the miracle of the moment, relishing it. “The baby’s head is wrinkly.” I murmured, half to myself.

Everyone burst into talking and action, they had not realized I was that close. I had waited so long to touch my baby, to hold it in my arms, it wouldn't be long now!!!

The ejection reflex was getting stronger, I could feel baby moving down and out.

My hand was on baby’s head as it slipped out, such an amazing feeling! I looked down to see a perfect little face, eyes closed, mouth open… then baby tumbled out. I lowered the baby to the chux pad inches below. I lifted baby’s slippery, vernix covered self to myself. Baby cried almost immediately. I was anxious to find out the gender. “Its a girl! Her name is Hannah.” I announced. I was so happy, I could hardly wait for Kathryn to meet her sister. (5:54 pm Hannah was born.)

Soon I was covered appropriately and Kathryn who had been jumping on the trampoline with her three cousins, my brother in law Eric and my Daddy, came piling into the room. Kathryn came barging in first, she had heard Hannah cry and nothing was going to stop her from running to the house and being the first one to see the new baby, “Kathryn, you have a baby sister, this is Hannah.” She was thrilled and delighted, full of wonder!

I was so happy to have all my family crowding around enjoying this moment with me. My Daddy offered a special prayer for the Hannah.

Later we got settled into the bed, I nursed Hannah, we ate a little supper, we called our family to tell them the happy news.

I had done it, I had had my dream birth, It felt so empowering and healing! Our baby was healthy and adorable! God has made the woman’s body to be able to birth. Praise the Lord Hannah’s birth went smoothly!

About two hours after the birth, Kathryn helped her Daddy cut the cord. It was white and limp, no longer pulsing. I had tried to deliver the placenta several times already, but it wasn't coming. I ended up instant messaging a midwife in one of my birthing groups on Facebook. She was so helpful and reassuring. I had no indications of hemorrhage, I had been taking the proper herbal extracts. We were pretty sure that the placenta had safely detached, but that my body was just tired and wasn't producing the needed contractions to get it out. I will spare you the details, but the placenta was finally delivered about 6 1/2 hours after the birth. I was so glad that I could go to bed. “Delivering Hannah was easy compared to trying to deliver that placenta!” I complained.

It wouldn't be right to refrain from admitting that the first three weeks after Hannah’s birth were horrible. I had three areas that appeared to be blood clots in the varicosities in my right leg. I know, I know, I didn't tell very many people because I didn't want anyone freaking out, but I was seriously freaking out. I stayed in bed most of the time for three weeks, with my feet up, because being upright was unbearably painful. I had help doing hydrotherapy treatments on my leg, which helped ease the pain. I took two capsules of cayenne pepper at each meal to prevent further clotting or complications, we realized after I stopped, that the cayenne was causing Hannah’s colic! Hannah was so fussy and screaming for hours on end, those first three weeks. I still can’t eat anything too spicy. During the first three weeks Hannah also had some jaundice and had to be sunned. She developed a small infection under her arm, she had goopy eyes from clogged tear ducts, her belly button started stinking, Kathryn got sick with a fever, I got sick with a fever, Edwin was gone for a week…..

Yep, I wasn't kidding, it was horrible. And needless to say, I had postpartum depression. But the best part was that I was at my Mommy’s house. She fixed all the meals, helped care for Kathryn, and rocked Hannah while she cried…. What a life saver she was, thank you Mommy!

Now Hannah will be four months old in 9 days. We are all healthy and well. My postpartum depression is gone, at least most of the time. Kathryn adores her baby sister. Hannah is a happy, squealing, smiling baby… My cup runneth over with blessings. Praise the Lord! 

Travel by Edwin Davidson

Our GAMAS airplane was in Georgetown again with a maintenance issue. It was time for our flight back to the states. Now there are a couple of ways to get back to Georgetown when our plane is not available. The first is a village flight direct from Paruima. This flight is on an as needed basis and not  regularly scheduled. The Second is to catch the local “taxi”, a large dugout canoe with an outboard motor that will take us 3 hours downriver to a falls then we would have to hike around the falls for an hour then get in another dugout canoe“taxi” for another two hour ride to the village of Kamarong. Once there, try to catch the daily village flight from there to Georgetown. At church the Sabbath before we left Paruima, we found out that this year the Seventh Day Adventist church is celebrating 130 years of Adventism in Guyana. A large group would be traveling from Paruima to Georgetown for the celebrations. The Aracuna choir had prepared a song to sing for the president of Guyana.

The First Sabbath of the 130th Celebration Week in Georgetown

All of the flights leaving Kamarong were booked solid through to that Friday. We needed to get out to Georgetown by Thursday. “Well Lord what do you have in mind?” We prayed. Sometime Monday we heard from Steven that there miiiiiight be a flight into Paruima on Thursday and we could maaayyybe get a ride out then. Tuesday I drove the Jailing 125 motorbike into the village to meet with the gentleman that was arranging for the incoming flight to bring food goods and other supplies to the village shops. He said that he had our names on the list but, that he needed confirmation by Wednesday morning because there were plenty more people that wanted a ride out. James Ash had told us that there was a slim possibility that our GAMAS plane might be ready in time. The man agreed to let me check with James on the radio that night and verify whether our plane was coming or not. That night I spoke with James and the plane was not yet ready to fly since the parts that were on order from the USA had not arrived in time for a flight on Thursday. Wednesday morning, I quickly jumped on the motor bike and rode to the man’s house to confirm. Once all was confirmed for Thursday, I headed back to campus. I stopped by a friend’s house to inform him that we would indeed be leaving the next day and would be missing them, then headed on to the school. We needed to hurry and get the house packed up and everything stored to keep the bugs out until we can get back. With Laura being almost 32 weeks along in her pregnancy, she needed my help. Riding straight to the tractor shed where the motor bike is parked I shut down the engine and hopped off just as Steven bellowed from the second floor window of the ad building in a no nonsense tone that I have never heard from him, “Edwin get up here now!!!”

Now what do you suppose went through my mind??? Uh Oh… what did I do, or not do?? I ran, then bounded up the stairs as Steven pointed into their bedroom. “We have a problem” there was Alice leaning over a young girl in student uniform. “She was stung twice by a marabunta (which seems to be any number of flying stinging insect) just over her left ear about 10 minutes ago on her way to school this morning and now she is having a hard time breathing” Alice informed, “we have already radioed the clinic. They are out of Epinephrine and Adrenaline”. I tried to raise the clinic again on the radio. Joy Ash answered from the clinic in Kaikan. Meanwhile, Steven hopped on the motorbike, heading to the clinic to try to find someone with a 4-wheeler to be able to transport her to the clinic. Joy gave us some suggestions for alternatives, none of which we could find. “Lord help us now to save her life” we kept praying. Alice found an antihistamine. It‘s a start!!! The girl needed to use the restroom. Then she passed out. Alice and I carried her back to the bed. “Lord Help!” was all I could think. I went back to the medicine cupboard hoping to find something, anything that might work. “Wait…what’s that” I thought as I scanned the top shelf again, “there… in the back… is it?? Yes!!! Children’s liquid Benadryl”. “Thank you Lord” I breathed then hollered to Alice what I had found. I quickly read the concentration and dosed it out in a medicine cup. Alice put it in the girl’s cheek hoping enough would absorb that way. Then we sat back, praying “Lord, help it to work.”

Steven soon arrived with someone on the 4-wheeler, as she had started to come around and was trying to sit up. With Steven and I supporting her, she walked to the 4-wheeler. We went along to help keep her on the back while we rode to the clinic.

“Well, now I think I would like to stop for breakfast and calm my nerves….AND PRAISE GOD”

Cards made by the Students

The rest of the day was spent in packing and repacking suitcases and backpacks making sure we had what we needed and nothing that we didn’t need. We put our stuff out of the way in case others needed to stay there in our absence. We were grateful for Steven's help. At last everything was ready and we went to sleep.

Next morning Steven came down the hill to inform us that he had received confirmation that the plane would be here about 1:30 pm. We took the time to go up to the ad-building to have morning worship with the students. We were surprised and overcome with the outpouring of love, handmade cards, and well wishes that they

Airport Parking

Lumber for House and Hanger

showered on us. "Please come back soon!" they begged us. About 12:30 pm we loaded in the boat and Steven drove us down river to the airstrip. Alice and Grant came too. Since we arrived at the runway a good while early, Laura wanted to go and look at the building site at the far end of the runway that has been cleared for a hanger and house. There is a large pile of lumber there ready to go up as soon as all is ready. It was a nice little walk up to the end of the runway (though Laura, at almost 32 weeks pregnant, says is was not "nice", it was long and hot!) I kept an ear tuned to hear the plane coming, knowing that the Cessna Grand Caravan is fairly quiet on final approach. We didn’t want to miss it or get caught in the middle of the run way with a plane on final.

After we looked the site over and took some pictures we hurried back to the landing by the river bank. We found some good seating in the shade of a tree and waited with the others. They were waiting for the plane either because they had goods coming in or they had a ride out. We waited… and waaiiiittted. The Williams had to get back to the school to attend to their duties there, so we bid them farewell. We continued to wait. Finally, somebody came over from the clinic and told us that the plane had not even left Georgetown yet! Then about 45 minutes later they reported that they had heard on the radio that the plane was headed out to the runway for takeoff. It would take an hour from the time it took off until it would get to us. It came around 4:30. There was a rush to get the plane emptied of its cargo and then for us to load up and go.  

Introduction to the G1000 systems

The pilot was already aware that there was going to be a pilot and his family on the return trip. When I approached he asked if I was the pilot that would be riding back, I affirmed and asked if I might ride the controls with him. “Sure” he said. We loaded and took off. I was a little disappointed in what it means to ride the controls of a Cessna Grand Caravan.

The autopilot does it all, so I just sat back and watched while he made small adjustments with the autopilot. We arrived in Georgetown in good time. We got settled in to a small inn for the weekend. Sabbath we enjoyed the beginnings of the 130 year celebrations that were to continue for a week. James and Chris Eno were able to get one of our GAMAS planes in the air on Friday evening for some flight testing, and James made a run on Sunday. We did some nosing around in some shops on Monday and helped James get a load together. “Smokey” a taxi driver who has been very helpful to GAMAS came by about 1:30 Tuesday morning and drove us to the Cheddi Jaggan international airport about an hour drive South of Georgetown. We boarded the plane for a 5:35 am departure to Trinidad then on to Miami FL.

We are already missing Guyana and the friends we have made there. We are planning, Lord willing, to return as soon as we have the appropriate papers to travel with the new little one.

Is that Florida?

So a Plumber I will Be!!! By Edwin

It has been a while since our last blog post (1-2-2017).  So, let’s get caught up on what has been happening since then. To recap; we had decided that it would be best for me to fill the gap at Paruima Mission Academy and teach science for forms 1 & 2. Thankfully many of the kids are in Pathfinders so I could use the honors as teaching materials. As the quarter progressed I ended up taking on form 1 Bible as well. It took some getting used to, trying to figure out how to download information from my head in to theirs… I now have even more respect for those teachers who tried to teach me things in years past. It also gave me opportunity to interact with the kids at the school and learn of their troubles and their joys.

If you Look Closely you can see the pipes from the bathroom

About mid February the Ash family moved to Kaikan for Joy to work in the clinic there. That left the duplex empty at the lower end of campus. We moved out of our room in the girls’ dorm and into the duplex. It was really nice to have a small space that we could call “ours”.

Soon we discovered an issue. The bathroom is on the second floor over the kitchen. The drain pipes from the sink, toilet, and shower went straight through the floor and down through the kitchen counter to the ground. If any water dripped outside the sink it ended up running down and dripping on the kitchen counter. The shower had sun-rotted so just the basin was left. We started out doing bucket baths on the basin till we noticed that water leaked around the drain and dripped guess where, on the clean dishes drying next to the kitchen sink. Then we found out that the pipe from the toilet leaked

Rerouting pipes under the house

 aaannnnnd……. dripped…. we decided maybe it was time to overhaul the bathroom and make sure that “nasty” did not end up on the food prep surfaces. Basically we swapped Kathryn’s room and the bathroom. We reused the pipes and changed the seal on the toilet. YAY!!! No leaks!! And no “nasty” on the kitchen counter!!!! We sealed the seams in the “zinc” flooring so hopefully drips stay right there. The toilet and the sink are in place. Now we just need to get a new bathtub from Georgetown and adjust the walls. We will finish that when we return to Paruima.

Rerouting pipes under the "new" bathroom floor

While we were living in the girls’ dorm we noticed that on laundry days we almost always had trouble running out of water, even if the two 500-gallon water tanks were full. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense, given the respective elevations. Steven and I started looking over the water system and concluded that the outlets of the tanks were too small to supply the 2” line that supplies the campus. The outlets from the two tanks came together in a single ¾” pipe. Basically a ¾” pipe supplying a 2” pipe. When there is a high demand on the system, it pulls a vacuum on the upper part of campus. Steven and I set about to remedy the situation. We re-plumbed the tanks, each with a 1 ½” outlet. These come together in a 2” pipe. Now we no longer have issues with the water in the upper part of campus on laundry days when the water tanks are full.

It is nice to be able to step in and help with each of these projects and we praise the Lord for the abilities He has given each of us to do the job He places before us.

Temporary change of Job

I have been learning a lot under James' tutelage in regard to my flying. I have been enjoying the learning process although the learning curve is quite steep. It is a blessing that there are many people that are responding to the needs here in Guyana. We have 2 more pilots making a total of 4, working down here, however three of us are new in terms of flying here in Guyana and we each have to have a proficiency check out in the country with only one pilot (James) that can perform that proficiency check. That process may take 40+ hours in country. James needs one of us flying on our own as soon as possible.
It makes the most sense for James to focus on training one pilot, so it will take less time than to try and get all of us trained at the same time. Chris Eno is focusing on getting the maintenance program up and going in Bethany. Because Laura, Kathryn and I have our tickets to go back to the states in the middle of March it means that by the time I would be ready to take my proficancy test, and work on my own, it would be time for us to leave and James still wouldn't have the help he needs. We have opted for me to teach school for the next 3 months as Paruima Mission Academy is needing several teachers for this next semester, and that allows James to focus on training Lincoln. Lincoln is a Guyanese Amerindian who completed his Private Pilot's License and Instrument training in Bolivia with our missionaries serving there.

At this point it looks like I will be teaching science to Form I &II students. Form I is basically 7th Grade. I may be able to do some short shuttle flights now and then to keep up the skills. On days that I don't have to teach I'll be working on maintenance projects and working on the pilot house site at the north end of the runway.

We are definitely coveting your prayers as I try to learn how to teach 7th & 8th graders.

Life in Paruima. by Laura

"Daaaaddy! Daaaaaddy! Daaaaaaddy!" calls a small girl in her footie pajamas, as she stands on a bench to look out the open window, "Daaaaddy!!!! Daaaaddy!!! Where's my Daaaaddy?" she asks as she leans a little further out the second story window. I warn her to be careful, as I explain to her for the 4th or 5th time, that Daddy and Uncle James have landed at the airstrip, "We have to wait for them to park the airplane and walk all the way through the village. Daddy will be here soon!" I assure her. The hardest time for Kathryn is the time between when we see the airplane fly overhead, and when her Daddy walks in the door. There is always so much to try to take care of and get done while the pilots are in Georgetown, that the plane often arrives in Paruima about 5:15 or so, right before sunset. If there is not enough daylight left of the day, the plane is left to be unload the next day. The pilots make sure the plane is parked and secure for the night, then they walk down the new steps to the river. There are dugout canoes that are usually parked on both sides of the river as that is the main landing for the village of Paruima. Sometimes the pilots just borrow a boat to paddle across the river, and other times there is someone nearby that can go along and return the boat to it's original side of the river. Then they use their headlamps or the flashlight on their phones if they had forgotten their headlamps, to make their way the 15 min walk through the village, and out to the school. For a pregnant lady and a toddler, it takes a lot longer, but the pilots headed home at the end of the day can make it in 15 min. Soon Kathryn is shouting "My Daddy is here! My Daddy is here!" as Edwin scoops her up in a big hug.

I try to have Kathryn bathed, ready for bed, and supper on the table, when Edwin gets home so we can have supper worship and family time. In the upstairs of the girls dorm where we are staying, there are no outlets that I am aware of, and just one light bulb. When we turn out the light for Kathryn's bedtime, it's easy to just go to bed ourselves. I love waking up refreshed in the morning, and looking out the partially open shutter at the palm trees. There are two little birds that perch on the top of the shutter and peer in at us, chirping happily. Those two little birds have become very brave, when they think we are not looking, they hop right in and search the table for crumbs, or peruse my kitchen shelves. One day they helped themselves to a ripe plantain. We call them "our little birds" Kathryn gets so excited when they come to the windowsill to eat the bread crumbs that we leave there for them. I actually enjoy having the wildlife being able to come in, at night there is often a large bat that swoops through, eating mosquitoes. Other than the poop that they leave on my clean, drying, dishes, I enjoy the geckos and their chirping sounds. Several times a week we feel especially blessed when a hummingbird comes into our room for a visit. The biggest annoyance is each morning, seeing how much food the roaches have left us. We went through our first box of bread bags pretty quickly because the roaches bite right through and help themselves to CHUNKS of bread.

We just cut their bites off and eat the rest. But then we have to throw the bag away, rather then being able to re-use it. Roaches like to eat silicone(edges of spatulas, buttons on calculators and the GPS, razor handles etc), and bags too, they eat holes in the new baggies while they are still in the box! Thankfully, our sweet friends, the Williams. loaned us a barrel with a good seal on it, so we can now keep the most tasty delectables out of the roaches' reach! As we get more settled we will find ways to out-smart and or get rid of those BIG hungry roaches!!!

Having no refrigeration is definitely a challenge. We end up having some pretty interesting combinations for breakfast, just trying to eat up leftovers from the day before, so that they aren't wasted. I am so very thankful for the use of a stove and oven. I have been enjoying experimenting with the local foods. I used green papaya in place of pumpkin for "pumpkin cake" yum. I also tried using green papaya to make fajitas to eat with fresh made tortillas. I have discovered that we love ripe plantains cooked to a porridge, with a little cinnamon, cloves and all-spice added and eaten with pancakes and peanut butter. It reminds us of applesauce, (which is pretty much non-existent here) so delicious! Cook-up is a local dish of beans and rice cooked in coconut milk, that I am learning to make, it's so rewarding to make coconut milk from a coconut I found in the yard!

Tuesday is my laundry day. There is a washing machine at the duplex where the Ash family has been staying. Praise the Lord for a washer. Washing clothes in the utility sink isn't so bad, but the wrung out clothes take more then a day to dry. So on Tuesday we carry all our dirty clothes down to the washer. We fill the washer with a water hose coming in the window, when we have added the soap, we start the generator and turn on the machine. We listen for a change in the sound of the generator to indicate when the washer is draining and spinning. We turn off the generator while we fill the washer for the rinse cycle. Then we pull the rope on the generator again so the washer can rinse, drain and spin. There is a large west facing porch that gets the hot afternoon sun, that we all use to dry our clothes. Rainy season adds a challenge because it takes longer for our clothes to dry, but we all just do the best we can to share the line with the clothes that are still waiting to dry.

When we first arrived in Paruima we had a special treat. Humming birds had built a tiny nest, stuck to a splinter of wood on the ceiling where the washer is. While we would be there, the parents would cautiously fly into the room, then dart to the nest and feed the two baby hummingbirds. It was so amazing to see the parents stick their long beak down the small baby's throats! We have seen a sloth, and a group of monkeys swinging through the trees, a couple of times.I have also seen the macaws that live on Rain Mountain, flying over a few times, so majestic! I am really enjoying the birds and wildlife!

I am sorry that it has been so long since we have written a blog post! Getting communication out while we are in Paruima is next to impossible. There is not any internet at the school, there is an internet cafe in the village, but people don't use it much because it's expensive, you have to pay by the hour, and it's slow, like it might take two hours to send one email, type of slow!!! Edwin and others are doing research on possible internet options for the school there in Paruima. Pray that a doable solution is found, the school really needs internet and it would be really nice to have communication with family and friends.

Our initial stay here in Guyana is half over, last Tuesday Kathryn's and my visitor's visas ran out. We all came to Georgetown, because we would have had to take a bus trip over to Suriname if they hadn't been able to figure out our paper work at the Ministry of the Presidency office. Edwin had been there with what we thought was all the right copies, forms and ID photos, and they had said that that wouldn't work, that policies had changed and we needed to have applied before we entered the country..... We thought we would try again, and this time the lady was very helpful, and after looking over our paperwork very carefully, she patiently explained to us that we needed to fill out different forms, and change the wording in a few places to indicate that we are volunteers working with a non-profit organization. Last Friday (Dec 23) Edwin took in the new paperwork, they received it and said, "Come back in two weeks to pick up your new visas! Praise the Lord! We will have to pay $140 each for our 3 year visas, and $140 for Kathryn's visa even though they only give her one year. We trust that because the Lord answered our prayers for our visa application to be accepted, that He will also provide the needed $420 to pay for our visas when we pick them up.

God is so good, living as volunteer missionaries is definitely a faith building experience. When we wonder if we will have money for groceries, the Lord provides. You have no idea what a lifeline you are to us, it's because of your generous, donations and self sacrifice for us, that we are able to stay here and have food to eat, and pay for necessary expenses. Thank you so much for partnering with us in our mission service here in the interior of Guyana. We praise the Lord for you, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we love you, and we ask that the Lord will give you a blessing here, and a reward in heaven for your part in this work.