SUBJECT: Betsy's Letter #21

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: October 29, 1997

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm not sure when I wrote my last letter. The last one written on my calendar was Sept.3, but I was sure I had written another since then. However, maybe it was just a personal one to Ted's Mom, and not a general one to everybody. So if I repeat myself, forgive me!

Heidi, Kristen, Lina and Katrina are all in school in Laurelbrook (In Tenn.) now, and seem to be doing well. Kaikan really misses them, and so do we! When they started school, we weren't sure how we were going to handle it

The High Court in Georgetown

financially. We didn't know how long the adoption would take, and we thought Ted might have to go back to the States and get a job in order to pay the school bill. We didn't relish the idea of being separated for months. But on Sept. 24 we received an e-mail from Laurelbrook stating that all 4 girls had received scholarships to cover their bill for the entire school year! We were totally amazed as this was something entirely unexpected! Even now as I write, tears come to my eyes as I think of God's goodness to us, and the amazing way He has provided for all our needs this year.

The news of the scholarships came at a time when we were feeling very discouraged and were asking God for some kind of sign that He wanted us to continue with the adoption. Four weeks had passed since our first court date has been cancelled, and we still had no word from the lawyer about another court date. Then the next day, Sept. 25, we heard that the Chief Justice had given us permission to proceed with the adoption, and we didn't even have to go to court. Praise the Lord! Up until this time, we didn't even know if we would be allowed to adopt.

On Sept. 30, David flew our family to Georgetown so we could begin work on the adoption. Our first item of business was to go see the lawyer and get

A beautiful government building in Georgetown

the paper from the Chief Justice giving us permission to proceed. Well, in a third-world country, I guess you can't expect things to go smoothly! They couldn't give us the document because the Chief Justice hadn't signed it yet, and she didn't sign it until Monday the sixth! But now with this document in hand we could go to the adoption board. The secretary got out all the important documents from our file so we could take them over to the adoption board, and much to our dismay, we discovered there was no death certificate in the file. We had requested a death certificate way back in March, when we visited Paruima and first saw the children. We thought the lawyer had received it months ago, but not so. The next day Ted went to pick up a copy of the death certificate from the post office, only to discover that they never received the information from Kamarang. We couldn't believe it! We went to the hospital to have the medicals done on the kids, and while there we ran into medic Willie from Kamarang. She said she had filled out all the info for the death certificate and handed it to the postmaster (way back in March) so who knows whatever became of it. Anyway, David flew her back to Kamarang the next day, and she filled out another form, so we do finally have a death certificate now.

We spent almost 2 weeks in Georgetown working on the adoption, then came to a standstill. They have to advertise in the papers (for the fathers) for three weeks, then wait three weeks for a response. So there's nothing more we can do 'til the six weeks are up. We hope things proceed quickly after that.

David flew us back to Kaikan on Sunday Oct. 12, before he went to Trinidad. At least here the kids can swim in the river and play outside. We'll be heading back to Georgetown about the middle of November, for six weeks.

Here are our plans for the moment. (We've had plans before, and they keep changing, so I can't guarantee anything!) We are trying to get reservations to fly to Miami on December 29. Heidi and Kristen get off from December 30 to January 11, so we plan to drive to Laurelbrook to pick them up, then drive to California. We are hoping and praying that we can bring Connie and Corwin also with us at that time. If not, I will have to fly back

Children of Kaikan and dead jaguar

and get them when all the legal stuff is finished. At times things seem insurmountable and we find ourselves getting very discouraged. But we must remember that we serve a great God who is bigger than all our problems, and nothing is impossible with Him. The Embassy here hasn't been very helpful as yet, but I'm hoping once the adoption is complete they will work with us to get the kids to the States. That seems to be the biggest obstacle at the moment. It seems ours is the first U.S. adoption in Guyana (at least in a very long time) according to the lady at the Embassy and Mr. Gordon at the adoption board.

October 25 was International Adventist Children's Day. Kara, Carlos, and two other kids gave the sermon in church and did a great job. Right after church, there was a baptism, following a five-week evangelistic series. We showed the Net '95 Series with Mark Finley that Earl and Marguerite Francis sent down with us. (Thanks so much!) Seventeen people made their decisions for Christ and were baptized, including nine of the Pathfinders. The people here really enjoyed Net '95. We were especially happy to see a lot of young people in their late teens and twenties who were baptized. The head Elder told me that in the last two evangelistic series they had here, there were no baptisms.

That afternoon there was a Communion Service here, the first one in Kaikan since we have been here. Who knows when they had it before we came.

Pathfinder Induction Service at Kaikan

They had not had a Pastor in Kaikan for about a year when we got here, so I'm sure they had not had a Communion Service in all that time.

In case some of you haven't heard, the jaguar was killed on September 7. That caused much excitement in the village. That jaguar ate seventeen or eighteen of the village dogs, and we were worried it might go after one of the little kids. So we all felt relieved when it was killed, even though it was sad to see such a magnificent animal dead.

September 20 was our big Pathfinder Day. The Pathfinders had Sabbath School, church, AY, and we winded up with the Induction. It was very nice, and everyone looked sharp in their uniforms. (We finished the last one the Friday before, so we really cut it close!) They all had green pants and skirts and their scarves, thanks to some financial help from the Chowchilla Sabbath School. Maybe next year they can get their shirts. We are planning a Pathfinder Camp-out up on the Savannah for November 7-9. We are trying to finish up the investiture requirements before we leave.

On September 27 David flew our family to Arau for a special church service and dedication of the new runway. Arau is a very small little

I cut the riboon at airstrip dedication in Arau

village, and feels much more isolated than Kaikan. I was given the great privilege of cutting the ribbon stretched across the runway. That runway is very short. David landed all of us there, but he can't take off with much weight. So he took Connie and Corwin, and the rest of us walked an hour and a half to another, longer airstrip. It's only about a seven minute flight from there to Kaikan.

We have less than three weeks here in Kaikan. We will miss this beautiful, peaceful place, with the river, the monkeys in the trees, macaws and toucans flying by. We don't look forward to spending the next six weeks in Georgetown, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. But we are getting anxious to get back to the States and see our girls again, and finish this adoption. We hope to see you all sometime in January. Our heartfelt thanks to each of you who has supported us financially and/or with your prayers. We are learning lessons of trust and patience here and experiencing God's care in ways we never have before.

Love,

Betsy

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

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