Anyway, just before the magical arrival and visit of my sister, we had our three-day convention here in Berbice (I say 'here' - I am on a beach in Tobago, but you know what I mean). Attended by a thousand-odd from our district, the rain held off, the power stayed on and the race horses didn't come out to practice during the keynote address this year!
It has been a year since I arrived in Guyana, having arrived a week or so before the convention. For the last six months or so, I have been studying with a deaf man called Trevor. He is about 35 and has two children who are hearing. Trevor was one of the first deaf to study in Skeldon and has done so for about 8 years. Each time someone comes and goes, he is handed off to the next - regardless, he has continued to study and make the meetings and ministry etc. For the last year or so, he has been in a funk: he was a bit attitude-y to everyone, would do minimal ministry, arrive late and leave straight away. I sat him down and had a good ole chat with the boy and it transpired that he really wanted to get baptised but felt bad in himself as he felt he didnt understand enough.
*Side Point - here in Guyana we 'use' ASL, but most of the deaf have no clue what it is. They have a form of signing that is natural, but sadly, most brothers dont use it when preaching. The deaf have a near-permanent furrowed brow as they try to work out the meaning of even the most simple sentences.
Anyway, we had a chat about it and decided to halt his study in the LV book and review what he knows from the LL brochure. Well, a complete 180 occurred: suddenly he was animated, explaining things and thirsty for clarification on points and signs that he has pretended to know for the last few years. He started coming early to meetings, staying late chatting with the other deaf and the hearing, coming out on the ministry with us all, even taking time off to come out mid-week. Long story short, you could really see Jehovah's spirit moving him... and he got baptised at the DC!!! He is the first deaf man to be baptised in our whole area that I know of and probably one of five in the country. It was a proud day for everyone who has been involved with Trevor over the years. Here are some pics...
Trevor was one of two DEAF that got baptised (unheard of...). We had them answer the questions from their seats in the deaf section.
Trevor!!!
Me and my boys! From the left: Michael (baptised, I do the LV with him, he is helping out with tech for sign language); Mark (teenager in the hall who has just become an UBP); Nicholas (my study who wants to get baptised soon...); Dellon (great young lad who recently became a UBP alongside his cousin standing to his right. He lives here in Guyana but the rest of his family live in Suriname); Denzel (my study - 13 years old. He is the cousin of Dellon and recently became an UBP. He is learning sign language and is amazing at it! He is talking about baptism: we shall watch for that one...); Damien (son of Trevor, the deaf BROTHER. Used to be very shy but is coming out of himself a bit more.)
Me and Daniel Adams - this innocuous looking, but crazy, individual is 19 years old from a neighbouring cong. He is hilarious. Recently invited onto the Countries with limited resources building programme thingy (none of us know the name: I call it the countries that are poor and cant build good programme (Zoolander-reference)). He has spent the last year going around Guyana building much-needed halls.
Last note. This picture is very special. Due to my being in Trinidad for the School, the missionary brother had to take over the CBS in ASL. He sadly fell ill and that left... TREVOR! Having been baptised for a whole two or three weeks, he had to step in and take the CBS with hardly any notice! Jehovah must have been with him as he apparently did an amazing job! Very proud!
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