We hope everybody had a blessed Easter, and our apologies for not updating the blog sooner, but being a missionary doesn’t always give a lot of down time!  The last three weeks of our time in Guyana sure flew by.  Because of all of the wonderful experiences in the last weeks too, we would like to fill you in on the fun!

Here’s what went down:

SANTA ROSA:

As we mentioned before, we planned a last minute trip to sweet Santa Rosa, and was it an a-mazing time.  While we were there, Fr. Ocsar asked us to spend most of our time with the children, and that’s exactly what we did from sun up to sun down.  The mission site itself was breath-taking, and the people were so giving of themselves to make sure we had an enjoyable time.   

We found that Santa Rosa, gets very dark at night, power boats can submerge a wooden canoe, the kids could have joined the circus as acrobats, tucans are REAL, and the Catholic community is alive and inspiring as we saw at Mass on Sunday and the outdoor walking Stations of the Cross Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIRIKI ORATORY:

Siriki was offically the last community where the children’s oratory took place.  We “commuted” by boat often in the rain up the Pomeroon River.  The people of the church were always waiting at the pier with such welcoming smiles.  The two most noteworthy things of the week were:  seeing that the adults (including the grannies) loved playing just as much as the kids; and Fr. Javier coming on the last day performing a very unexpected magic show!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOLY WEEK:

Palm Sunday was complete with 3 Masses–each with it’s own procession.  It was definitely BYOP (Bring Your Own Palm)…usually from your own back yard.  The rest of the week was very intense, with making preperations for the Easter Triduum, cooking and selling cross buns, visiting houses with the sisters and delivering donations and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Sunday:

Which started with two Easter Vigils on Saturday evening, followed by a 12:30 am dinner feast party!  Sunday morning we went with the Fathers and Sisters to another couple of Easter Masses.  It was amazing seeing the children/adults from our oratories and catechism classes receiving their Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmtion.  Things were a little busy with last minute details, and in the midst of it all the two of us almost became last minute godparents!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EASTER WEEK:

The sisters usually take the week after Easter to celebrate the Resurrection–in a big time way.  We were divide into two teams, and each team was to think up a theme for on of the days of Pascueta (Easter Week).  Not much to our surprise more than half of the teams went with a tropical theme, it was some of the most fun we’ve ever had!

LEAVING THE LAND OF MANY WATERS:

We would like to quote from a very popular Guyanese song played everyday all day, back to back…”oh, oh, oh oh, it’s hard to leave and go”!  And that’s the truth!

THANK YOU!!!

We would like to close by thanking all of you who have supported us during our time in Guyana, through all the prayers, blog comments, and generous donations.  Please remember that even though Sandy and Allie’s trip has come to an end, we still ask you to support the sisters who mission in Guyana, by praying for them and the fruit from the seeds planted.  We will continue to pray for each one of you and all your special intentions, as we all continue to perserve in the mission God has laid before each of us! 

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

Love,

Allie and Sandy

Wow!   We’re sorry that it has been so long since we have updated the blog!  As you might imagine, our last three weeks in Guyana flew by!   We flew back to the U.S. last Friday, and we are both readjusting to life stateside pretty well!  However, there is still a lot that we would love to share with all of you.  So, we will be updating the blog again shortly with pictures and stories from the last three weeks!  Thank you once again for your ever faithful prayer support!  You all were in our prayers especially during Holy Week and Easter! 

God bless you!

Allie and Sandy

WHOO WEE!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s been awhile since we’ve had a chance to post anything on the blog, but we have a little time right now to actually breathe, and so, we wanted to give you an update!  In the last 13 days, we have had:

• An amazing oratory in Lima Sands
• Feast of St. Joseph and 21st Anniversary of the Foundation of the Sisters’ order
• A “Girls Day Out” for teenage girls to teach them about their dignity and worth and about purity and modesty
• An afternoon at the NOC (New Opportunity Corps) which is similar to a juvenile deliquent center
• A trip to Georgetown for the Feast of the Annunciation and special celebration for the IVE Fathers’ 25th Anniversary of foundation

LIMA SANDS

“Lima Sands is just different.  You’ll see what we mean when you get there,” the sisters told us.  And did we ever!   The trip to Lima Sands takes anywhere from 1.5 hours to 4 hours.  Sometimes we would have to wait so long because we would have to convince a bus to take us there.  The road itself is unreal, and we may still have a couple of bumps and bruises on our heads just traveling down it.  So our first day of visiting Lima Sands the first thing we noticed was that there was no Church (it blew away). 

The Location of the Church that Blew Away!

Although, the structure of the church was no longer there, the people of the Church are fighting to keep the Church alive.  In addition, to the children’s oratory, we also gave a talk a-day to the adults answering any questions that they had about the faith and encouraging them to continue seeking the truth.  Since we were only able to be there for one week to teach the kids, this time with the adults was so important to encourage them to keep sharing the faith long after we would be gone.

When you’re livin’ out Our Lord’s work, you never know what He’ll ask of you.  One of the most spur the moment times in Lima Sands was a conversation that sprung up on a home visit.  After Sr. Paciencia made the introduction, she suddenly made an exit taking Allie with her, and leaving Sandy behind to talk with the woman about coming back to the Church!  Ok, Lord, here we go!  What do you do?  Be loving and be bold.  After talking with her about her family, Sandy gently brought about the subject of the Church.  As you can imagine, the conversation was a little difficult because while the woman was amiable she clearly had little interest in talking to a perfect stranger about why she had left the Church.  Thankfully, just then two little girls dropped by with a Bible sent back by Sr. Paciencia.  Thanks, Sister!  With a little inspiration from the Holy Spirit, Sandy began reading the story of the prodigal son and began explaining the Father’s great love and mercy for all of us especially those who have been away.  The woman began to soften, and Sandy invited her to close her eyes and listen to the Lord’s word, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”   After reading these words, Sandy began to pray aloud for the woman, and as she prayed, a tear rolled down the woman’s cheek and her whole demeanor softened.  After the prayer, Sandy invited her to come back home to the Church and to Mass on Sunday.  She quietly agreed.  God be praised!

Lima Sands--Playing Dog and the Bone (Steal the Bacon). These little hunter's DO NOT joke around.

 

The Little Dumplings of Lima Sands

 

 

Please pray for this woman and her son. They are both suffering from a serious infection on their feet that was progressing to their other limbs. Sister was able to bring them to the doctor who said if they had received treatment any later the infection could have been life threatening.

FEAST DAY

Feast of St. Joseph Party aka Allie's Birthday Bash

GIRLS’ DAY OUT

Group pic with all of the girls who came to the Girls' Day Out! Check out the wigs!

Last Sunday was an absolute blast!  We invited the teenage girls from the parishes of Charity, Henrietta, Suddie, and Lima Sands, for a “Girls Day Out”.  The purpose was to hang out, talk about girl stuff, and pray.  The Culture here has very little respect for women and we felt that it was important to have a day just for the teenage girls so we could talk about their self worth, dignity, modesty, and purity. The girls said they had an amazing time and asked for us to do the same thing every Sunday.  It was beautiful to see the girls and sisters playing games and having so much fun together….the two of us couldn’t figure out who was actually having more fun—the girls or the sisters!!!! haha 

Us and the girls praying before the Blessed Mother asking for her help to be good and holy.

NOC (NEW OPPORTUNITY CORPS)

Talking to the Kids at the NOC--Look tough on the outside but they are just kids at heart.....and wow can those girlies sing!

 FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION IN G-TOWN

Mass on the Feast of the Annunciation Celebrated by Bishop Francis in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Georgetown

Just another random day in Guyana. Us and the Bishop enjoying his delicious homemade yogurt. Don't worry--Allie's was sugar free! Padre and his boys! The minor seminarians from the boys dorm joined Fr. Humberto on the big trip to Georgetown. For some, it was their first time. Can't you see how proud Father is of them!

Good Friday, Everyone!

Ok, so we’ve gotten the impression that some of you are interested in what daily life is like for us here in Guyana.  Probably many of the same questions that we had before we came.  So, in no particular order, here’s a list of things we’ve “gotten used to” since we’ve arrived.

TYPES OF WATER

• Pipe water:  where does it even come from?  We still aren’t quite sure, but it is randomly “on” and we use it for showering and the toilet.
• Rain water:  run off from the rain collected from the roof in huge tanks, and we use it for rinsing some things and washing anything that we want to actually stay white
• Drinking water:   filtered water that we drink that we buy in town
• Trench water:  who knows, but there are trenches everywhere along and surrounding our house
• Black water:  where the pirahna live
• Ocean water:  the Atlantic

Now, we know why they call it the Land of Many Waters!

WEATHER

What can we say, we love it!  Compared to the cold dreary weather of what we came from, and the fiery inferno we had expected.  Day and night there is always a breeze and the weather’s pretty awesome.  It does get hot in the middle of the day especially when you are running around like a crazy person with the kids, and we do drink about 2 gallons of water every day.  We also always carry an umbrella and poncho for the random downpours that usually last about five minutes!  Evenings here have been very comfortable outside, and we keep the windows and doors open to let in the breeze.  Oh and yes Our Lord has blest us with one electrical socket outside of our room, we have a fan we are able to plug in as long as the good Lord allows the electricity, all and all sleep is better than we would have ever expected.  There are four seasons throughout the year, two dry and two rainy.  Right now, we are experiencing the dry, and apparently durning the rainy it rains none stop and they say during the other dry season the sun tends to be even more strong. 

VOCAB

Creolese English is not as easy as we thought it would be to understand.  But, they can understand us! 

Common phrase = translation

• just now = later
• me no know = I don’t know, or it can mean, I do know, but I’m not going to tell you because I don’t feel like talking
• lemon = lime
• how you be? = how are you?
• cutlas = machete like knife used for everything from cutting coconuts to “mowing” the lawn
• balangi = cooked eggplant
• draft = checkers
• current = electricity
• piri = pirahna (We saw one for the first time on Wednesday!)

MONEY

$200 Guyanese = $1 US

A good monthy salary here is $20,000 -30,000 which is about  $100-150 in the US.  BUT, things cost about the same here as they do in the US. 

DRIVING

Everybody drives on the left side of the road, and really fast.  There are always random dogs, cows, goats, sheep, chickens and even horses, pigs and iguana wandering around and down the road!  There’s a system of honking which we’re still learning.  Honk: when you are passing a car, person or animal.  Honk:  to get an animal out of the middle of the road.  Honk:  if you see someone you know.  Honk:  if you feel like it!

CRITTER KINGDOM

We use bug spray three times a day (morning, evening, and bedtime) and a misquito net when sleeping and still manage to get bitten… a lot!  After three weeks, getting bit just becomes part of life, and you don’t really notice it any more.

Everything is a matter of perspective: 

• The flies don’t seem so bad compared with the giant spiders and cockroaches. 
• The giant spiders and cockroaches don’t seem so bad compared to the frogs.
• The frogs don’t seem so bad compared to the rat.
• The rat doesn’t seem so bad compared to the itchy butterfly (now in season and causes the worst itchy/burning feeling ever!  Mother Immaculate says it is 100x worse than poison ivy.  Guess we’ll find out!).

There are pirahna, and they bite.  Many of the kids have the scars to prove it!

PRAYER

We pray with the sisters.  So, each day we have Mass, and we pray: morning, evening and night prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, a Eucharistic Holy Hour, Rosary, and any other prayers in between!  Our new favorite is the 9 Hail Mary Novena.  It never fails!  Gotta love it!

FOOD

Sorry, Todd!  No, crabcakes or lobster,  but the sisters (especially postulant Belinda) have been cooking up some tasty food.  We most often eat rice, vegetable chow mein, chicken, fish and whatever vegetables and fruits we have.

Sandy has tried many new fruits since we’ve been here.  Who’s ever heard of a momme fruit! 

And, we’ve come to learn:  Always make a lot of rice because you never know who will be stopping by.  One of the hardest things is seeing the kids that don’t have food at home and their only meal comes from the feeding program here at the Church. 

Thank you once again for all of your prayers!  We are praying hard for you and all of your intentions!

Love to All!

Allie and Sandy

Praying with the kids during the oratory in Suddie.

Boys v. girls in the hokie pokie. They loved it! The boys won.

Boys from the dorm coming over to clean up the backyard! Check out that cutlas!

We went for a walk with the kids on our day off and ended up at the burial ground. The kids showed us where their family members were buried, and we prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet with them.

Just Another Market Monday! Allie’s face just witnessed the backside of the head. Gross!

Cleaning up the back yard!

Two Boys Playing in 'The Scheme'--one of the poorest areas in Charity

This was not staged! All we can say is that ole rat!

Kids from the Henrietta Oratory

The Kid's Making Their "Good Things" CardsCelebrating Little Alex's 12th Birthday...Joshie we gave him your donated voice changer as his birthday present--He loved it!!!

First off, we can’t thank you enough for all your comments!  It makes us so happy and excited to hear from all of you at home, and knowing that you are a part of this mission too!  We are of course keeping everyone’s prayer intentions in mind (with your prayer intentions now written on our calendar) and praying for you during mass, adoration, rosary, and all other times of the day we are praying.

God sure has his way of making each town’s oratory unique in.  Last week, in Charity we had about 60 kids each day who would get there an hour early some of which even came to the house to get us.  This week week in Henrieta we found ourselves with no children at the start time of 3:00 PM.  WOW!  Knowing that it was God’s plan for us to be there, we headed outside with our frisbees and balls in hand and started playing.  As the kids passed by on their way

Come Play

home from school we started shouting…”Hey, do you want to play?”  After many kids walked by without interest, a group of 4 girls with the biggest smiles on their faces said “SURE!”  Slowly but surely we ended up with about 20 kids that day.  As the week progressed and as we got to know the kids better, we realized that many of them didn’t go to church, but were excited to learn about God.  Throughout the week our first four girls showed a special interest, in Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother.  One of the little girls, Dawnica, who we ended up nicknaming ‘the fighter’ because she has such a spirit of perservance, had been showing much interest in the rosary and the Blessed Mother.  Yesterday while all the kids where playing outside, Dawnica wandered herself into the church.    We walked in after her and another girl and showed them the Tabernacle and explained how Jesus is always there waiting for us.  We then walked over to the Blessed Mother, and Dawnica calmly started gently stroking the statue of Our Lady.  We explained to her that Mary was everyone’s mother, and then asked her if she knew anyone without a mommy.  She then looked us in the eyes and said that her mom had died.  We looked her straight in the eye and told her, “This is  your mommy who will always be with you where ever you are.  You go to her and pray to her and she’ll take care of you.”   Wow!  Our Lord and Our Lady knew what they were doing when they picked her as one of the four off of the street!

Other highlights include:

A big rat in the house livening things up after dinner….thankfully Sr. Paciencia and Sr. Santo were there to save us with the brooms and the mops….that ole rat even went into our room!!!!!

Sandy’s first time making Curry for the boys in the Dorm…”wow, I’ve never seen so much rice in my life”

Petting our first parrot and hanging around with a spider monkey.

Allie and Sr. Pacienca hitch hiking a canoe ride down the river to deliver food to the families in need.

Scaring a baby cow and nearly killing it….we’ll explain later.

First time for public transportation….we never knew that so many people could fit in a minibus.

Strolling down the Atlantic coast and discovering “quick sand”

Ok gotta go work hard for the One we love!!!!

God Bless!

Allie and Sandy

Thank you all for your prayers!   Week #1 of the oratory was amazing!  We had nearly 6o kids every single day–even some kids that the sisters said they had never seen before.  We filled the two hours the kids have after school and before they need to walk home before dark with:

Games:  Simon Says, jumprope, 10 passes, frisbee, and anything else we can think of off the top of our heads!

Songs:  This Little Light of Mine, Awesome God and My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.  Their clear favorite was the Hokey Pokey!  Hilarious!

Activities:  making Lenten Calendars, “Good Things” cards, skits and Saint banners

In addition to these fun things, each day we had a short talk and time for prayer in the Chapel.   The kids loved learning about their new heroes St. Ignatius and St. Maria Goretti, and about how much God loves them and what they need to do to be with Him forever (in heaven!).    It was so beautiful seeing the kids praying a decade of the Rosary in front of the Blessed Sacrament each day.   Just thinking of all their little prayers going up to heaven makes us smile!

In addition to the oratory, this week we have been assisting the sisters in visiting family homes and the hospital.  The two of us are still learning that God’s plan often overrides whatever is scheduled for the day!   On Tuesday, Allie and Sr. Paciencia were driving to the hospital to pray with the sick and dying.   On their way, their was a little Granny walking along the side of the road all alone.  They stopped the car to see if she was ok.  She told them she was walking to the hospital (which was a 20 minute drive up the road).   They got her into the car and continued up the road.  The hospital was incredible.  Sick people were everywhere–from the registration desk to the front entrance and everywhere in between.   Without their persistence, the little granny would never have even been noticed.  It took over two hours before a doctor saw her–which is unbelievably quick for Guyana!     During this time, they realized that she hadn’t eaten anything since the day before.  So, they got her some something to eat, got her prescriptions and took her home–which was quite an adventure because she didn’t remember where she lived! 

Today before Mass, God gave us a beautiful gift.  As we were standing outside the Church to greet the people, we saw in the sky a full rainbow with all of the colors.  We enjoyed the sight and commented on the goodness of God.   Later in Mass, we realized all the more how good God is when the first reading was the story of Noah and the sign of God’s covenant with His people–the rainbow!

We look forward to this week’s adventures.  Please pray for the oratory in Henrietta that begins tomorrow! 

God bless you,

Allie and Sandy

PS:  Check out who’s on the front page of the Servidoras website:  http://www.ssvmusa.org/

After 20 hours of travel by plane, boat and automobile, we arrived to a warm (or should we say hot!) welcome in our new home in the beautiful city of Charity, Guyana.   The last six days have flown by!  We’ve spent most of our week getting to know life in Guyana.  We’re learning that Guyanese English is just a little different than what we’re used to.  Thankfully the sisters have been here to translate!   Life here is simple and sweet. 

The best part of all are the KIDS!  From the moment we arrived, the kids have been flocking to the house ready to play games, and they always enjoy a sweetie (that’s Guyanese for candy) at the end of the day!  They are so full of love, laughter and joy.   Thank you all again for your donations.  The kids love the frisbees, balls, bubbles, jumpropes and everything else!   Their (the kids and the sisters) favorite game is Mary Memory.   Tomorrow starts the official oratory work we’ve been planning for—although God has given us a headstart this week!

Don’t forget to check our the “PICTURES” tab at the top of the page for up-to-date photos!

Thank you for all of your comments and prayers!  Keep em’ coming!

God bless all,

Allie and Sandy

0.5 days left till take off to MISSION GUYANA