Birthdays - meetings - Lent...in March

This has been a week of birthday parties... for Jack on March 13, yes Friday, but it was a happy-go-lucky day! with friends taking us out and cake and ice-cream following. We also celebrated Henry Boyle's 84th birthday with him on Tuesday by taking him to KFC, he had never been - he really enjoyed the fries and took a doggy bag home for later.

Mid week Lenten services continue - to think we are into week four already - Jack has his services all planned. Holy Week into Easter is very BIG here - Holy Week services almost every night but Monday and Tuesday leading up to Good Friday, which is very sacred with the service commencing at 12 noon lasting at least three hours until 3PM. Easter Sunday well... kite flying on the sea wall - is that biblical?

There are beautiful houses and there are the poor that make do wherever they may be.

OLD GEORGETOWN:

Before the Spanish, French, Dutch and British ever thought about establishing colonies and fighting over the area now known as Guyana, aboriginal peoples had settled these lands for centuries. The Warrau Indians were thought to have been here before 900 AD, with the Carib and Arawak tribes arriving later.

The word Guiana is one of the legacies of the aboriginal inhabitants, and means "land of many waters". It is also the land of six peoples: Amerindian, European, African, Portuguese, Chinese and Indian.



A common street scene is to see a donkey pulled cart and horse pulled drays or wagons loaded with lumber or other heavy materials.

Calvary Lutheran Church where Val

and I have been assigned for six months is in the heart of Georgetown and on the edge of Bourda Market. The market is massive and crowded from early morning until late at night.
Last Saturday I had a change of scenery as I was required to attend a church meeting in New Amsterdam (ELCG Headquarters). Pastor Dick Young an American pastor (ELCA) affiliated with the ELCG drove us to our destination in his vehicle.
The 750,000 population of Guyana reside mainly along the coast from the Essequibo River to the Correntyne River on the eastern border. The highway we travel on runs parallel to the coast and the seawall that protects us from the tides that leave the land vulnerable to at least eight feet of water. Our paved road leads us through villages, towns and stretches of towering palms and rain forest.
Our destination lies just over the Berbice River which until recently had to be crossed by a ferry, but a large pontoon bridge has been constructed. The construction of a pontoon bridge on a tidal river confronts engineers with the problem of anchoring in aggressive currents flowing both up and down stream.

The Meeting was an information gathering session from the various committees of the ELCG. I sat in on a Worship Committee session and rediscovered the importance of doing liturgy properly. There is great lay-person involvement in the church services as well as a group of lay persons who after over a year of study are able to lead services and preach. Thank God for the lay persons of the ELCG whose dedication helps to fill the gap in the diminishing roster of pastors.

Thanks to Dick Young for a safe ride back to Georgetown and Valerie.

So good talking on Skype to Jacqueline & family along with Cathy, Glenn & Justine. Skype to Skype with webcams - what fun to see and hear you.

The National Park in Georgetown - there is beauty in the city.

Shalom with God's Blessings as we prepare for tomorrow...

Jack & Val