Im Not Dead...

Hi all

Well, I guess I should begin with what is fast becoming my default opening statement: SORRY for not posting! I know that many don't really care whether I post or not, you just like reading it. But I feel that I have failed myself and some others, so let me just get that off my chest.

The reason that I haven't been posting is because I have been really busy, so that is a good thing right? I think the last time I put something up, I was in Qatar and was being pulled here, there and everywhere.

Since then... Lemme catch you up (briefly):

Homeward Bound

I decided that to secure my place in the will, and to not be overtaken by those pesky siblings, I should return to the homeland and remind my family and friends that I am still around. Actually, my sister and brother in law were heading off to the Big Apple to take up their assignments in Brooklyn, so I thought it might be nice to give my parents a lil surprise.

Thanks to help from my brother, my parents were none the wiser about me coming across. Sadly, due to the CO visit here in Guyana, I wasn't able to see my sister before they left for the USA, so we let her think that she had missed the opportunity also. What they hadn't reckoned on was that I am an evil genius: Operation Heart Attack commenced.

I flew from Guyana to Trinidad, Trinidad to London and then London to Inverness (in the Scottish Highlands where my parents live) - a whopping 30-something hours in flight and transit. Arriving at 10pm, I was a little worried that the parents would die of shock (having not been home in over a year and no warning). My brother - the empathetic soul that he is - refused to let me call ahead, so there I was at 10pm on a cold Thursday night, knocking on the window of my parents house - cue Mum screaming and almost dying (I forgot about the heart condition!).

A lovely week was spent with them and my brother's family, though the cold was a little hard to bear.

The parents garden and view

I have soooooo missed salmon and healthy stuff like this

Im behind you Dad!

The Rents

Scotland is amazing

London
After Scotland, I headed to my real home of London (wear you hang your hat and all that). Due to our Circuit Assembly being held in two week's time, I had little time in London and no real chance to see people. Most didnt know I was even in the country as I couldn't risk my mum seeing it on Instagram or whatnot. Hosted by two lovely friends - Nelson and Ingrid - I was allowed a week to play around, see friends, visit the sea-side and generally relax.

Some new additions since I left

But some things stay the same

Tried to get a bit of ministry in

The coast where I grew up

Camden

The dude on the right I have known my entire life and we
shared a room at Bethel and now he is at couples school!

Planes, trains and automobiles

New York, New York
I couldn't be in the air and jetting around and NOT go and see my twin now could I? Thanks to the equally nefarious Matt and Rachel, the plans were set for me to fly to New York on my way home to Guyana. A massive blessing was that this coincided with the Gilead Graduation - so I was able to watch that amazing spiritual feast with my twin and really good friends - stupendous let us cry!

As I said, Jo didn't know anything about it, which kinda prompted this reaction:

To put the ice-cream on the cake, douse it in alcohol and set fire to it, we were joined by two of our oldest friends from our London days: Tiffany and Adele. Adele was on a shopping pilgrimage and Tiffany having a well-earned break, we all spent an amazing weekend together. I shan't go into it, but the generosity displayed by these two ladies was just incredible and I can't thank them enough for a weekend I shall never forget for all the right reasons:

Partners in Crime - the illustrious Matt and Rach (sans backpack for once!)

The fabulous twin

Amazing place

End of an era

Good Friends (the wine helped)

Wintery day

These girls were soooooo generous - like American portions!

Back to Guyana
After two weeks of pure hedonism, it was back to Guyana for the CA and some heavy ministry to catch up on hours...

Macedonia
I guess my biggest news is that I have decided to serve where the need is great, whilst serving where the need is great.

I have been in Skeldon now for almost three years and whilst my heart is truly there, I was beginning to feel that I could be doing more, especially in the realms of sign language. Skeldon is attended by two faithful Deaf ones (a baptised brother and a young unbaptised sister). We have some others that come semi-regularly, but most of the deaf we meet will not travel to the meeting, are not that interested, or are unable for various reasons. Despite there being many deaf in the area, the fruitful ministry is definitely with the women, who are more open to chatting, more easily found at home and more appreciative of the attention and support. I was feeling a little isolated as if I went on sign ministry, I was alone and travelling up and down the coast, which was not much fun

To mix up my ministry a little I decided to link up with the New Amsterdam Sign Language Group - who are about an hour and a half up the coast. I arranged to work with one brother - Scott - one afternoon a week just to have a change of scene, to have some company and to benefit from his experience on a few matters. It quickly became apparent that there was a huge need in the group, with studies slowing down, a large section of the territory not being covered, and a general desire to improve but not having the opportunities.

So, when the CO came to Skeldon prior to my visit home I had been talking with him about whether my being in Skeldon was the best thing. Added to this the needs of the group, and after a lot of praying, I decided to come to New Amsterdam (NA) for a few months to see how it would be blessed.

So, for the last few months I have been here in NA, attached to the sign language group and living in my friends house who have gone to the UK to work. To date, things are going really well. I have been able to assist on some studies who people were struggling with, have picked up a few studies for me to concentrate on and have been part of some very exciting discussions about how to move forward. The CO just passed through also and we had a chance to chat about things which was a real encouragement.

The Memorial this side for sign language was 75 in total, with 45 Deaf from all over the coast (some traveling about two hours). It was a lovely time and a testament to the work being done by all.

So... all caught up? Im gonna try to put the pictures and media in now... And Ill try to do this more often :) Promises, promises.

Friendly faces

Missed this one

A fire after ministry with two of our deaf boys

Some of the deaf in NA

Out and about

The small and the great

Campaign

Qatar...

So, I am sort of up to date with everyone now..., so here I am in Qatar (about to leave).

Qatar, where is that? That was my first question too! - It is in the Middle East, a Gulf country, that is next to Saudi Arabia:

Funny old place it is too! Basically, it is the Milton Keynes of the ME - they have just fabricated a city out of the wasteland and put a load of roundabouts and funny buildings on it. They are counted as the mini-Dubai and are building some amazing buildings.

I have a pic that I took that is similar to this, but Google's one is better, so here it is!

I was asked to come here to be involved in an International Deaf conference, which was a real eye-opener for me, for several reasons. Due to the State's love of monitoring emails and internet activity, I can't really go into a lot of what I was doing, thinking or such, but hopefully I will see each of you at some point to tell you all in full. Suffices to say, that this place is a challenge to live in, but can be very worthwhile.

One of the upsides was that I was being hosted by the government, so I was housed in the country's swankiest hotel - the St. Regis:

The plush surroundings helped to take the edge off of the 30 hour trip from Guyana to Doha! The downside was that due to the amount of work we had to do, we got to enjoy very little of the amenities. I did manage to employ my personal butler (yes, seriously) with silly tasks that made me feel all self-important. Not really! He was a really nice dude from India who was so gracious and friendly, I felt bad asking him to do anything for me.

Once we had finished working like dogs and been paid very little, lol, it was across to another challenging environment. I had been asked to remain by an English deaf guy who is doing some work in Qatar. He had meetings planned and was not getting very far on his own with lip reading and such, so asked me to stay and do some work. So, that is what I have been doing for the last two weeks. Annoyingly, as in America, I have not been able to see that much of the country due to the work on my plate. The working week here is different too (Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday off), which has thrown my internal clock immensely. Oh, I did manage to attend an Arabic Sign Language course (for two of seven classes but they said I passed the exam anyway), so I now have Level 1 in Arabic Sign Language too! Looks good on my CV doesn't it!

Regardless, I have managed to take a few pics:

The MIA - Museum of Islamic Art (I think) beautiful place

Really bad picture but was a funny thing - having a tour at the museum, given in Arabic and rendered into French Sign, Arabic Sign, American Sign and British Sign all at the same time!

Some arty stuff from a long time ago...

A rare picture of ME!

This is a chess piece from the 18th century 

A souq, or market. Reminded me of Guyana in ways, but smelled nicer and was less rubbish on the floors

Not chocolate, but an Arabic version of chess

A really cool lady from the conference. The hat is mine, someone bought it for me!

Cool building but asking around, no one knows what it houses. Thats quite common here, as many of these ultra-chic buildings are empty

Our guide to the desert one night - Abdullah a lovely deaf man

Bedouin tent in the desert that took hours to reach as we kept getting stranded in the sea of sand - arrived at about mid-night

These guys are deaf from around the Gulf

A Venetian shopping centre complete with gondolas and a canal!

A pearl fishing festival - Dhow festival

The old and the new

Captain goes down with the ship

This summed up Qatar for me - old and the new slapped together.  Obviously, the facia is supposed to look old. Passed this most days and was tres impressive.

So, that is about it... Some of the sights have been amazing and as usual, everywhere I travel I met some amazing people with amazing hearts. I am flying back home to Guyana on Saturday, for another 30 hour trip. That said, my client is asking me to stay another week to finish some meetings, so watch this space.

Sorry about the lack of coherent sentences, just trying to get this done whilst I have ten mins to 'chat'. 

Will try to do better.xxx