The House family
Guyana Newsletter: [12-20-24-1-5-25]
Proverbs 25:25- As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country.
Hello to everyone from Bruce and Naiome House in hot and sunny Guyana. The weather normally has a lot of rain in December and January, but we have had just a few rainy days going into the first week of January. The temperatures have been in the high 80’s and in the low 70’s.
December was a busy month for us in Guyana as we were involved in several activities with the congregations at Plaisance and Industry. I want to share with you a few of the highlights that have taken place since our last report on December 19th, 2024.
Plaisance Update:
The Christmas holiday season was a busy time for the church at Plaisance. We had a Christmas party for the congregation before Christmas. It was a great fellowship with lots of good food, with many of the members attending. It was encouraging seeing everyone enjoying themselves. Witfield Collins, the local preacher did a good job in helping organize everything.
Naiome also helped organize a Children’s Christmas party for the children about a week later. There were 35 children that attended, and each child received a nice gift for Christmas, and some good food. Several of the ladies and members were a big help in making the children’s party a great success.
The end of 2024 also ended on a positive note as Alana Maniram, age 32 was baptized into Christ on December 30th, 2024. She is the daughter of Randall Maniram, age 73 who I baptized a few months ago. Alana is a beautiful young lady with a good heart.
Industry Update:
Naiome and I helped Floyd Cato, the local preacher at Industry with their children’s party before Christmas. They also had about 35 that attended. They all received gifts, and some good food. We also went to Industry on Old Years Night [ New Years Eve] in the States. I spoke on the importance of committing our plans to the Lord [ Proverbs 16:3] for about 15 minutes, and Floyd spoke after me about the importance of evangelism. We had great singing and fellowship as 28 attended to bring in the New Year! We had a good meal after midnight.
We worshipped with Industry on 1-5-2025, and were blessed as Kaddie Baksh, 13 years old was baptized into Christ after services. Kaddie had been attending Industry for a few years, and her Aunt Emily has been a member since March of 1997. Emily was converted from a campaign led by Charles Box when we were missionaries here in the 90’s. The late Bobby Terrell, who was one of the elders at the Walnut St. Church of Christ in Greenville, Al where Charles still preaches, baptized Emily into Christ. She has been a faithful Christian since the congregation was established in 1997, and has a great influence on her niece, Kaddie.
Personal Report:
I am still working in the Plaisance and Industry areas visiting members, and those not in Christ with the local preachers on a weekly basis. Today, I went out with Witfield in Plaisance to visit and encourage a couple of people, and this afternoon I went out with Floyd in the Industry area. I am thankful to be able to work with these men and with the church.
I am still preaching twice a month at Plaisance, and teaching bible class twice a month, along with teaching bible class on Wed nights. We go to Industry on Sunday nights, and I help Floyd with the preaching twice a month. This new year we will be dividing our time on Sunday mornings more between Plaisance and Industry.
We are looking forward to the challenges of 2025 and looking forward to many being won to the Lord. We have several campaign groups coming in to help the church grow starting in February this year. It is going to be an exciting and rewarding year in the Lord’s work in Guyana.
Thank you, brethren for being our fellow-workers with us in the Guyana work. We appreciate all your prayers, encouragement, and support. God bless you brethren!
In His Service,
Bruce House
Naiome’s Corner
Greetings. Hope you all had a great holiday season and that 2025 has been good for you so far. As Bruce mentioned above, we are both doing well and staying busy with the work here. I will add a little to what Bruce has mentioned above and add a few pictures.
This year, 2025, I will be teaching Sunday school at Plaisance on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, Alana is helping to teach on the first and third Sunday mornings when me and Bruce are at the Industry congregation. As Bruce mentioned above, we will be worshiping the first and third Sunday mornings of each month at the Industry congregation and the second and fourth Sunday mornings at the Plaisance congregation. I am teaching the ladies class at Plaisance on the second and fourth Fridays of each month and at Industry on the first and third Saturday of each month. At Plaisance, we continue to use the workbook on Psalm 23 (the crown by Cindy Colley) and at Industry we are using the workbook called “The worthy woman handbook” by Michelle Thompson.
Kids Christmas Party.
This was at the Industry congregation on December 21st, 2024. Floyd Cato, the local preacher there was Santa Claus 😊. We had 33 kids ranging from 2-14 years old. The kids had a great time as we played games, did a Christmas tree project, served them a snack, gave them each a gift and a goodie bag.
These are the kids that came to the Christmas party at the Plaisance congregation on December 22nd,2024. We held the party after services that day. We had 35 kids that attended ranging from 3-13 years old. The kids enjoyed doing the Christmas tree project, they love glitter and sparkly stones 😊. We sang songs, did a project and served them a meal. Each child also received a gift and a party bag full of goodies. They all had a great time. Most of the kids above comes to Sunday school a few times a month. In April, when we got here to Guyana there was not a Sunday school nor kids coming at Plaisance, as of date we have about 15 kids that come on Sundays. Most of these kids have to depend on an adult to bring them as they all walk and the roads are dangerous that they have to cross, so the number of kids depends on if the adult that brings them come to bible class or not. We can vary from 2 kids to 15 kids 😊
New Year’s Eve
In Guyana it’s a tradition to have Old Year’s night (New Year’s Eve) fellowship. We were blessed to ring in the New Year, 2025 with the Lord’s people at the Industry congregation. The service started at 10 PM with singing by Floyd and Bryan, then we were encouraged from God’s word by Bruce and Floyd. Floyd timed it perfectly, so that we were praying as 2024 rolled into 2025, it was a perfect way to end the old year and welcome in the new year. We had 28 brethren in attendance, we also had a great meal after midnight of chicken fried rice, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs (they called them stuffed eggs here) and we had tres leches cake; everything was delicious.
Family time
It was great to be able to spend the holiday season this year with my family in Guyana. I went shopping with my sisters and niece, something I had not done in over 20 plus years. We had my family over for Christmas and had a huge meal, with local Guyana dishes, we had duck curry and dhol puri (it’s a naan filled with yellow split pea), we had pepperpot and bread, we had baked chicken and fried rice, we also had black cake, fruit cake and sponge cake 😊 – those are your local Guyanese cakes. The day after Christmas, we went to my sister Sarah’s house where her husband fixed BBQ chicken, beef and pork and she fixed cook up rice and soursop ice cream. We then went to look at the Christmas lights after that.
On Fridays we go to the local market where we get fruits and vegetables. We met Mr. Singh a few weeks ago, he is 80 years old, he sells callaloo (spinach but it a little tougher), he also has green onions, thyme and a few other vegetables. He told Bruce that he is of the Hindu faith, Bruce talks to him each week. He invited Bruce last week to visit his farm where he plants his produce.
Personal note
Personally, this year I am focusing on growing more spiritually and trying to get my diabetes under control. I have had some issues getting my medication here in Guyana and we are trying a new insulin, one of the side effects are headache which I seem to get every day. We are going to try it for a month and I go back to see the doctor in a month. When I first saw him back in June, he took me off my insulin as we could not get it here and had put me on oral medication, however the readings have been a little high so we started taking a little insulin (70/30) that they carry here. I am continuing to try to get it under control with good eating and exercise. On the spiritual side I have started two different daily bible reading programs, one I do with Floyd, the local minister at the Industry congregation. We message each other daily to stay accountable and usually have discussions on our reading for that day. This has been a big encouragement to me and really helps me. I am doing the other one by myself with some friends online. I am reading thru the books of Proverbs and Psalms on a monthly basis with Bruce. This year my goal is to take a few bible courses thru GIBI (Guyana International Bible Institute), just for knowledge, not for grades 😊 I have started out two days with the course on the Book of Acts. I am also attending a Thursday ladies class online with a few ladies back in the US and we are studying the book “Conversations, when God talked to women” by Cindy Colley.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We have several activities planned for this year. We are thankful daily for you and that we can be a part of this great work with you. God’s richest blessing to you all!!
In Christian love
Naiome
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