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![[Betsy Burgdorff]](../images/betsy.jpg)
SUBJECT: Betsy's Letter #16
AUTHOR: Betsy Burgdorf, her husband Ted, and the youngest of their three girls - Kara, work with her sister Becky Gates and family in Guyana.
DATE: June 29, 1997
Dear Family & Friends
Somehow a month has gone by since my last letter, written on the 21st of May, in which I spoke of Joy's death. We all had special prayer asking the Lord for good weather so the plane could fly in with the body. The Lord graciously answered our prayers, and on Thursday the plane arrived with the body. They carried the casket to the Rudy's house 1st, and the family viewed the body first, and then the community. Then they carried the casket to the church & proceeded with the funeral. Some of the people had walked 2 or 3 days to be there for the funeral. They buried her in the little cemetary behind the church, and each family member threw a handful of dirt onto the casket. Then they shoveld in the rest of the dirt, until there was a big mound over the grave. The plane landed at 10:30 am and by 2:30 pm the burial was complete. Life has slowly gotten back to normal again after this sad event. The Lord truly answered our prayer in sending good weather so the plane could come. It rained every day for days before the funeral and for days afterwards. In fact, it started raining while they were shoveling dirt on the casket. But the weather was nice long enough for the plane to arrive, and that's the important thing.
We later found out that Joy only received 1 unit of blood instead of the 4 that were ordered. We also confirmed that there is no antivenom in Guyana. The week after Joy died we saw an article in the Georgetown newspaper of a 27-year-old man who was bit by the same kind of snake Joy was, & he also died.
On Sabbath the 24th we showed a video in church for AY. It was a cartoon of the Prodigal Son. I have never seen the church so packed since we've been here! There were extra benches brought in, chairs in the aisle, & people still standing. Because of the funeral there were a lot of extra people here anyway. There was also a soccer match on Monday, so people had come from Paruima & San Juan for that. But even Kaikan people who never come to church were there.
On Friday May 30th we had another snake bite case, but fortunately this was a mild one, and Charles is doing fine. We are thankful for that. On Father's day his wife had a baby boy. Mama delivered it. The week before Mama and I had spent the entire night at their house only to discover it was false labor. I tried getting some sleep in a hammock. It was most uncomfortable! (It was a very small hammock.)
Mama gave the sermon on June 7, Kristen's birthday. It was Children's Day, and she told a story for the sermon. Kristen is 14 years old. Wow! I bought a dress for her in the States before we left, for her graduation. I've been secretly hiding it for 7 months, & it was fun having somthing special to give her, especially since there is nothing to buy here in Kaikan.
Kristen has been sick for the last week with chills, high fevers (105), headache, vomiting. We are assuming it is malaria & started treating her for it, but she continues sick. I hope she is well soon. Ted had the sermon last Sabbath & talked about fears and superstitions. It was very good.
I have continued working on Pathfinder uniforms & have completed 20 skirts now & 1 pair of pants. I have 3 more skirts to go, then I will start on the pants. I have about 18 pants to make. The going is very slow, since no one is helping me. At least with the inverter I can sew with electricity now, so it goes faster.
We have been having swimming classes for the past month, & I've almost got all 58 Pathfinders & Adventures through with Beginners Swimming or the Adventurer Swimming Honors. The Kids have been very enthusiastic about swimming. One day it was drizzling, but they still insisted they wanted to swim. So I stood out there under an umbrella to teach swimming! Only 3 or 4 of the Kids have swim suits, so they just jump in with their clothes on to swim. Then when they get out they are cold and drippping wet, but I've never seen even one of them bring a towel. But they love to swim. Even though I have asked for help, not one staff member has come to help at these swimmimg classes.
I get discouraged at times and fear that the club will just die when I leave. I hope that doesn't happen because the kids really are enjoying Pathfinders. But we have the same problem here as most other places, and that is finding staff who are really commited to the Club. I've had days when only one staff besides me has shown up. Heidi & Lina have been my biggest helpers. Even the director has several times just not shown up, or come late.
Yesterday was our 18th Anniversary! We had planned to go upriver in our canoe, but it rained all day, and Kristen was sick. I woke up with a crack at the corner of my mouth & couldn't even smile without it hurting. We toyed with the idea of taking the helicopter to Venezuela & spending the night in a hotel, but no helicopter came of course. I figured nothing special would happen this anniversary. Unbeknownest to us, Grammy & the kids had planned a special surprise for us, and turned our house into a little motel!
Heidi called us over after supper & then went out the back door. We found a table with candles burning, heart balloons, romantic music playing, heart confetti on the table, anniversary cards from each of the girls, cookies, candy, and orange soda. Very romantic! Best of all, they all planned to spend the night at the other house, so we had the whole house to ourselves! So we had a Great Anniversary after all!
Becky and Katie are supposed to arrive in Kaikan this morning. Becky and David left 5 weeks ago today, so their kids are very anxious to see them again. I'm sure Becky can hardley wait to see the kids too. David is flying the little plane down & we hope he'll be in Kaikan by Friday. He's scheduled to preach on Sabbath!
We have finished the marriage class & plan to do a parenting class next, but I'm waiting for Becky to come back. Lina continues with her courtship class.
We had planned Kristen's & Katrina's graduation for the 16th of June, but have postponed it since Kristen was sick & Becky & David weren't back yet. We'll have it on the 23rd or 26th, depending when David gets herel Love, Betsy
P.S. CONGRATULATIONS to all the Chowchilla 8th grade graduates! P.S.S. I don't think we'll be back for Campmeeting.
You may write to Betsy at: gates@andrews.edu