We asked, you responded. My travel partner and I now happily present the Guyana Adventure Q &A!!! We shall designate specific text colors by whoever is responding: green for Ribz, purple for yours truly, and orange for joint answers.
On to the questions, folks!
QUESTION 1: WHY GUYANA? HOW DID YOU MAKE THAT THE COUNTRY OF CHOICE?
Plenty have asked if Guyana was the first choice. Frankly, it was not. I personally had not even paid any sort of attention to it until the summer of 2014. I was working at Wallkill in the blueberry harvest when I came across a very odd fellow named Josh Westfall. Interestingly, he, my brother and I got along great and became friends during the 6 weeks he served there. He had just recently come back from serving in Guyana and was after Bethel going to work and save up to return there. His stories of the country were intriguing, but at the time we didn't have any ideas of visiting...
Fast forward to February of 2015. I was making very early idea plans to travel to Ecuador with someone but the plans fell through. I felt down about it, but Ribz stepped up and volunteered to be my travel buddy! He had saved up enough vacation days at Bethel to take a whole month off. Now the question remained, where to go? Ecuador? Somewhere else? We had kept in contact with Josh the whole time and when informed about our predicament, he immediately invited us to go to where he was(and still is) serving in Orealla. He came back to the States that July for a work trip and we got together and got the necessary arrangements. That's how we got to here!
Needless to say, we fell in love with it and now cannot stop talking about Guyana!
QUESTION 2: HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU TWO ARGUE?
Ummm, I'm trying to remember....hey sis did we? (pause for thought) If we did, it was with such scarcity that I don't recall. We don't argue when we're home as it is.
Sorry everyone, but it's true: we don't argue. We just get along famously!
QUESTION 3: WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST UNEXPECTED LIFE LESSON LEARNED FROM YOUR TIME THERE?
I guess one of the biggest things I learned personally was that when you stop doubting, there is SO much to experience. Serving in Orealla helped me have now a better attitude towards my home territory. I never thought I'd enjoy the kind of experiences you would only read about in our Yearbooks.
I am tougher than I thought. I thank Jehovah that He allowed me the opportunity to stretch myself out and extend my previous limits. Eat iguana? DONE. Wake up daily at 5? DONE. Walk a village in the dark with no flashlight? DONE. I have been able to grow and now await with anticipation my next adventurous adventure.
QUESTION 4: WHAT WAS SOMETHING YOU WERE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT YOU COULD LIVE WITHOUT?
This may be a very typical response, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could live without the common American commodities (electricity, running water, flush toilets, etc.). This was my, well our, first time out of the country (no Ribz, Canada does not count...), and being such I thought it would not be a smooth transition. However, it went well and I found myself adjusted within a couple of days in the village.
FOOD. Not that we were lacking, but I had to adjust into eating way less than I would in the States. I have an appetite! It was a lesson in modesty and took some getting used to. Hey, I lost 15 lbs down there, so THAT'S good!!!
I think we could agree that we both had the same attitude going there: become like the locals. Do as they do, live like they do. We didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with us foreigners, so we strove to integrate into the culture as much as we could.
QUESTION 5: HOW WAS THE SPIRITUAL CLIMATE OF THE PEOPLE AND THE CONGREGATION?
The general attitude is one of interest. The people are very attentive and spiritually inclined. We left behind 10 Bible studies, if that tells you anything of the preaching! Preaching to the kids was always a joy. Sharing the Caleb and Sophia videos were quite the hit, attracting the miniatures by the crowd!
The congregation in Orealla is like an Altoid: small but curiously strong! They have only 5 pioneers, but the love of the ministry can be seen definitely. One outstanding experience that was relayed to me recently of my beloved hostess Sherine. She was auxiliary pioneering in December, when she got a REALLY bad stomach flu. She, her daughter Phoebe, and little sister Joanne all caught the nasty bug. They were determined to finish their time, sickness notwithstanding, and they DID!! Their example, along with many others from the friends there, really were faith-strengthening.
QUESTION 6: HOW EXTENSIVE WAS THE CONGREGATION'S TERRITORY?
Seeing that Orealla has only about 2000 people living there, it is fairly easy to cover the whole territory within a short amount of time. For more details regarding the particulars of Orealla, you should check out nutso42.blogspot.com
QUESTION 7: DO YOU MISS IT?
YES, YES, AND YES!!!!!!
I feel like those incredibly proud new parents who show off their kid's photos to EVERYBODY. Guyana in general, Orealla, and the brothers and sisters there are all my babies now. Anytime someone asks me "How was your trip?", I feel kind of bad for them because I immediately begin talking a mile a minute about all things Guyana. A piece of my heart got left behind there.
Absolutely! That is all I ever (ahem) dreeeeeeeeeam, dreeeam dreeeeeam dreeeeeeam of. (obviously sung to the tune of "Dream" by the Everly Brothers")
QUESTION 8: WOULD YOU GO BACK?
OF COURSE!!!
There you have it, friends and readers! Thank you all who submitted questions, this was very fun to talk about. I hope you have enjoyed getting some more background and getting to know more of the inner workings of our trip.
Stay tuned for the next post!
Love,
The Adventurous A.
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