SUBJECT: Betsy's Letter #10

AUTHOR: Betsy Burgdorf, her husband Ted, and three girls - Heidi, Kristen, and Kara, work with her sister Becky Gates and family in Guyana.

DATE: Feb 12,, 1997

Dear Family and Friends,

Another busy week has gone by. My 3 baby rats, Pesky, Ratsky, and Gaspy, all died. I was very sad! Pesky died Sabbath after church. Ratsky died sometime Sunday night, and Gaspy died Monday morning, exactly a week after I got them. Ratsky had just opened his eyes Sunday morning, then died that night. I expected Gaspy to die first, since he had a problem. Every time I fed him he'd go into a spasm where he'd open his mouth wide and paw the air like he was choking or gasping for breath. These spasms would last for a few seconds, or sometimes a long time. I timed one that lasted 5 1/2 min. It was very strange. Oh well, I have to look at the bright side. I can sleep at night now!

Friday the 7th was an exciting day. Our canoe arrived. David had ordered one to be made, and it was finally finished. It's not very big and can take maybe 3 people, preferably 2. Ted and I took it up river to Reggie's store to go shopping yesterday. Wow, what a workout! The river is very high and swift right now, and there is one little section of rapids between our house and the store. We stayed as close to the shore as possible, but started having problems when we reached the rapids. The water started pushing the nose out into the river, so we went ahead and crossed to the other side. Then we kept going backwards instead of forwards, and running into the bushes. My arms were totally wearing out. At one point we about lost control of the canoe. The nose swung out, and we started going downstream. At that point I gave up and said, "I can't do it anymore. Let's just go home." Well, Ted wasn't about to let the river conquer him. He said, "No way!" So we somehow made it to Reggie's store. Just as we got under the roof, the rain cut loose. We just made it in time. After the rain stopped, we had a nice, leisurely ride back home with our groceries, which only took about 5 minutes instead of over 30.

On Sunday we ran out of gas for the stove, so we are back to cooking in a primitive way again

Just before our gas ran out

till we can get some more gas. Who knows when that will be. Things can be maddeningly slow around here sometimes. It's been at least a month since we ordered the rest of the mattresses, and we still don't have them. Kara's been sleeping on the floor since we moved back to the little house.

The last few weeks have been very cold (70 degrees!) and rainy. Since last Wed. we have had 8" of rain. It makes it difficult to do the laundry. Sometimes the clothes hang on the line for days at a time before they get dry. Last Sabbath we really had a downpour, and we got home soaking wet. The Sabbath dresses are still wet because the sun never comes out long enough to dry anything, it seems.

I'm trying to adjust to Pathfinders in a new culture. They've got their ideas about what Pathfinders are supposed to do, and one of them is to be up at the school at 5:30 a.m. every Sunday morning for PE. It's still dark at 5:30 in the morning! I thought the trash-a-thon early Sunday morning was going to be a one-time experience, but last Sunday morning we were awakened by people running up and down the path, blowing whistles and shouting, "Pathfinders, get up!" It seems that if the Pathfinders are going to get up, then the whole village might as well get up! Kaikan seems to be obsessed with doing things in the dark, at unearthly hours of the morning when normal people are still in bed. Can you imagine what would happen if the head elder announced in your Church that there would be a church board meeting at 5:00 the next morning? The first time I heard the announcement about a church board meeting at 5:00 a.m., I was astonished. Then I told myself that he had just made a mistake, and really meant 5:00 p.m. But not so! And then when the Sabbath School announced that they were going to visit all the backslidden Sabbath School members, starting at 4:30 a.m., I was really flabbergasted! Oh well, when in Kaikan, do as the Kaikanians do, so I guess I will be getting up early every Sunday morning to do exercises in the dark with the Pathfinders.

One morning Becky was frying some yuca (cassava) for breakfast. When she flipped it over, there was a fat, juicy, crispy cockroach! She carefully removed it, and continued frying yuca. She didn't tell us about it till AFTER we had devoured all the yuca. Another time I made some split pea soup. The peas had lots of holes in them and were full of weevils, but I tried picking out all the bugs before cooking the soup. After the soup was cooked, we noticed all kinds of things floating in it that looked suspiciously like worms, weevils, etc. We ate it anyway, and tried not to look too closely at what was floating in it!

We are eagerly awaiting the visit from Mom and Dad (Burgdorff). I think Dad will have plenty to do, as all work has again come to a halt on the house, now that the VIP's have come and bgone. Who knows when it will get finished. It gets frustrating at times. The thing is, we would be willing to finish the house ourselves, but we don't have wood. We can't just run to the nearest lumber store and buy what we need either, and we don't have a chain-saw to cut it ourselves. Ted has requested some wood several times, telling them we are willing to pay someone to get us some wood, or pay to borrow the chainsaw, but so far nothing has happened. Ted has about run out of wood from the scrap pile, and a lot of the wood that he has used is rotten. But he continues making things for us to make life easier here. So far he has made 2 double-bed frames, one for us and one for Becky and David; 2 potty chairs (for use at night); shelves and closets (just the rod for hanging clothes, with a shelf over it) in each room in the little house, and a couple of rooms in Becky's house; a drawer in the kitchen for silverware; some shelves in the kitchen; 2 benches for the table; and a little stool. Work goes very slowly, since everything has to be done by hand. There are no power tools, so it takes much longer to do even a simple project.

I hope everything is going well for all of you. When it rains here, I think of you all and all the flooding that has gone on there. If the river comes up any higher here, our garden will be under water. The garden is doing so-so. We have gotten several zucchini and crooknecks, and a few radishes. The thing that is doing the best is the bora, which are the local string beans. These are

These elephant ears make delicious eating

very long, over 12", and skinny, but they grow well. They have been producing like crazy, and we are very thankful for anything green to eat. We really miss fruit, though, and sometimes go days without eating any. We have lots of papaya trees growing. Most of these were only 2-3" tall when we arrived. Many of them we planted since we arrived. The tallest ones are now about 5 feet tall. Unfortunately, we may be gone before they start producing fruit. I don't know why the people here don't plant hundreds of these trees, as well as banana trees. They could be eating papayas and bananas every day!

On Monday Becky and I had another Sabbath School workshop. We had about 9 ladies in attendance, including one from San Juan, down the river in Venezuela. We taught them some new songs, and gave them some ideas for Sabbath School programs. They seemed very excited. Sabbath School attendance has increased since we started doing these programs, with hands-on activities instead of just lecturing the kids. In fact, a lot of the Juniors have started coming in for the program, and just leaving for the lesson study. Wendy, our neighbor, said all the adults want to come to the children's Sabbath School as well! On Monday several of the ladies came to the house to help us make some materials for the next S.S. program, which will be on the senses.

Heidi and Lina have been helping out at the school quite a bit. Lina is very out-going and not afraid to get up in front of the kids, so she has been doing a lot of teaching. Heidi is a little more

Teaching in the classroom

shy, but she has also been helping a lot by grading papers, etc. Lina has also been asked to be in charge of a children's choir, so they had their first practice last Sabbath, with a lot of kids in attendance. After choir practice, we took all the Pathfinders to sing for a blind lady.

Last Wed. we received 2 letters, one from Ed Walker, and one from Finis & Juanita. We really appreciate each one who writes! Ed, thanks so much for the advice on the garden, as well as the package. We have not received it yet, but maybe it will come on today's plane. We hope so!

David and his brother Don are also coming on the plane today. On Sunday they plan to leave for Caracas, Venezuela. David will take Carlos to the Mexican Embassy there to renew his passport. Apparently there isn't one in Georgetown. Ted plans to go with them. When they get back, David will stay another week or so before going back to the States to get the airplane. I'm sure both Becky and David will be very happy when he finally gets the plane here and they can settle down.

We love you all and miss you very much. Mama and Daddy (Duerksen), we are excited that you may be coming in May, and Aunt Lita also. Keep the letters coming.

Love lots,

Betsy

You may write to Betsy at: gates@andrews.edu

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Last Updated: May 13, 1997

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