Langford Mission

2011-06-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

Circle Trip - October 2009

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When we returned from our mission, we had a desire to visit with Joan's children and get reacquainted with our grandchildren. We began our trip in Reno and then took Nevada Highway 50 across to Parowan, Utah. One of the sights that we stopped to see is the "shoe tree". People have been tying their shoelaces together and tossing them into this tree for decades. The tree is all by its lonesome out in the middle of nowhere.

Parowan

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We began our trip in Parowan to visit Uncle Jack. He is Wayne's last surviving uncle on his mother's side of the family. We have visited him before and love to see him.

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Uncle Jack's little dog, Tillie, liked sitting on Wayne's head and licking his ears.

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Uncle Jack's hobby is wood-working. This is his latest project, a grandfather clock. Wayne was helping him to get it level so that he could install and adjust the clock workings.

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We were able to visit with our friends Ron and Linda Larsen, who live in Parowan. They served in New Amsterdam, Guyana when we served. It was a fun visit.

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We spent a morning looking at indian petroglyphs near Parowan.

St. George

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We had to go through St. George to get from Parowan to Las Vegas, so we called our friends, Kent and Chris Rhodes and arranged to have lunch with them. I didn't take any pictures!!! We got there a little early, so we visited the grounds of the St. George Temple. We met a sister missionary there who spoke French. It turns out that the church made a deal with the travel agents who book French people on tours of the US. They have to go through St. George to get from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas, so the church has put French speaking missionaries in the visitor's center so that they can take a tour there. This young woman had met President Gamiette while she was in the MTC. We put that into the "small world" department.

Las Vegas

2009-12-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

When we got to Las Vegas to visit Brent and his family, it was hot. We sat by the pool. We got to meet our first great grandson, Nathaniel Mark Sollitto. We call him Nathan. He is a big hunk of a boy and into everything. It was a delight to be there.

Wedding in Moreno Valley

2009-12-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

When we arrived in Moreno Valley, we found that granddaughter, Lauren decided to marry her sweetheart, Eric Wood. It was a lovely day, the setting was beautiful and Lauren was gorgeous. They left the next day for their new home in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Lunch with friends from Cypress First Ward - Nancy Whitaker, Carol Wynder, Jill Christensen, Linda Coleman, and Jamie Landua

Huntington Beach

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Cute pictures of Amy and Jonathan and Janet and Wayne.

Memory Lane

2009-12-19T15:56:00.000-08:00

Wayne wanted to see the town of Hyampom near Trinity Lake in Siskyou County (way up north). It is where his parents used to take him camping in the summer. It is exactly the same. Nothing has changed. We both enjoyed the drive and the views.

Joss House

2009-12-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

This is the oldest continuously operating Joss House in California. It was built by Chinese immigrants as a place of worship. It combines Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Inside there are shrines and people come to pay homage to individuals and principles that they believe will make them better people. The Joss House is in Weaverville.

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This is the gorgeous country we drove through in Siskyou County.

Welcome home

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We were driving down the street, heading for son David's house when we came across this event. This is Roxanne. Every year, those from Guyana gather for a picnic. We asked to be put on this list and Roxanne had us sign her book. What a treat!

Flags

2009-08-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

This is the Guyana flag and the Suriname flag. These are the two countries we have worked in for the last 23 months.

Last trip to Suriname

2009-08-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

The last time we were here with Elder Alvarado, we visited Shemuel. He is 15 and running with the wrong friends and his mother is worried about him. At that time, Elder Alvarado found out that Shemuel liked to play soccer (football) but he did not have a ball. Elder Alvarado promised him that if he would go to seminary, he would bring him a football. We found out that his seminary class was not meeting regularly and Shemuel was still hanging around with the same friends. We invited him to come to seminary graduation the next night and he came. While we were visiting with Shemuel, Elder Alvarado sat down with him to teach him about the Book of Mormon. It is a sweet picture - neither of them knew I had a camera. Our trip was very successful. We were able to meet Brother Rappeleye (pronounced Rappley) who is Brother Alvarado's boss. Brother Alvarado is "brother" when he is doing seminary and institute business, he is "Elder" when he is doing priesthood business. He is in the 5th quorum of 70. We enjoyed meeting him and learning from him. The graduation in Suriname went better than it ever has before and we were delighted to have learned how to do it properly from Brother Rappeleye. We said good-bye to the Ibrahim family. They are quite capable of running the program. We love them and will miss them.

Hindu shrine

2009-08-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

Elder and Sister Dirkmaat took us to see this Hindu shrine. We discovered that it is the same one we visited last October (October 17, 2008 on the blog). This time we went inside. When we were here last, sculptors were working on the huge statues that stand out front. It was interesting to visit and learn more about Hindus. The Dirkmaats are delightful and we enjoyed our morning with them.

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This is a statue that reminds us of Ammon. There are arms hanging from his waistband.

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Sister Dirkmaat calls this, "The Happy Family"

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We were having a little fun, hoping no Hindus were looking.

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The Hindus worship many many gods. They come to a shrine like this to offer sacrifice. Usually, the sacrifice is a bracelet, flowers or cloth. Sometimes, they sacrifice enough money to build a statue of their favorite god. There is one god called the black flag god. I'm sure he has a better name than that, but Hindus fly flags in their yards after a priest comes and blesses their home. A black flag signifies that they have offered an animal sacrifice. The black flag god was in a glass enclosed case and I was not able to get a decent picture. He was all black and had entrails in one hand and a head in another. It was a very grizzly statue.

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This time the tide was in. It looks very different.

CAT

2009-08-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

Cat surprised us by bringing three kittens home. They are cute and have orange spots - so we know who the Tom is!

Monkeys

2009-08-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

We had heard that there were monkeys who lived in the trees around Celina's Seaside Cafe, so we went to have a look. Sure enough, we waved a banana and they came down.

End of the mission

2009-08-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

We are at the end of our mission. Before he left, our previous mission president, President Robison, asked us to answer some questions. Following are those questions with our responses. First: What advice would you give to a senior couple considering a mission?

Go!

Don't worry about your family. They need you to leave them so that they can stand on their own feet. The Lord will take much better care of them than you ever could. See Doctrine and Covenants 100:1.

Don't be afraid of being sent to a primitive, third-world mission. You will be safe and you can be comfortable if you make yourself comfortable. I have spent two years with only one saucepan to cook with. I could have bought another, but didn't. We have done quite well with what we have.

Don't pass up the chance to learn something that you could never learn in any other way. You have a window of time between retirement and the retirement home. Use it to serve. If you visit as a tourist, the only people you get to know are your tour guides. We have lived here and there is a huge difference.

Blessings that have come to us because of our mission

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We have had an opportunity to learn of our weaknesses and begin working on them; to study the scriptures in depth and gain new insight and knowledge about the atonement and the plan of salvation. We have been protected by guardian angels on a daily basis in a way that we can see and we have discovered the benefits of regular daily exercise and have enjoyed good health. We have made new friends and had wonderful adventures in a new land. Finally, they finished the Berbice Bridge and it has been a great blessing in allowing us to gain access to the Canje district and do better work.

What we were able to accomplish

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We learned a lot about ourselves and the importance of service to our eternal progression. We have learned how to work together, support one another and to value each other's gifts and talents. Relying on the Lord to help us do what seemed impossible became a daily occurrence. We hope that in some way, the youth of this mission were edified and strengthened. We hve gained much more than we have given.

The most challenging thing

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We found making good use of our time was the most challenging. We had to choose between good, better and best. We did not like having "down" time, so we found things to do that are not necessarily within our calling. We called elders and asked if they wanted us to go visit with them. We had a car, so we were rarely turned down. We ran errands for other senior couples who did not have time to do them. We served wherever we could.

Fun/Interesting/Crazy things

2009-08-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Cat gave us a lot of entertanment. She was not a pet, but we learned how feral cats survive in the city. It was interesting to visit the public hospital and see how primitive it is. The hospital looks like movies of hospitals in 1918. What is on the road can be termed crazy: cows, horses, goats, sheep, dogs, horse carts, donkey carts, pedestrians (there are no sidewalks), bicycles, motor scooters, vendors on tricycles and discourteous drivers. Also crazy was the way the news spread after Elder Whitehead got into a car wreeck in Paramaribo. Everyone in Georgetown knew about it before we got home and for months afterward, perfect strangers asked us about the incident especially at the Guyana/Suriname border.

Elder and Sister Lindgren

2009-08-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is Elder and Sister Lindgren. They are new to Guyana. They live in a cute house in Palmyra Village in the Canje District. He is a retired airline pilot (747s) and she is a retired flight attendant. They are a lot of fun and will be a great addition to the senior couples group. We had dinner with them and with five other senior couples to celebrate their anniversary and Elder Lindgren's birthday. A birthday always is an occasion for a present, so the present was given. The cake came from President Sanjay Pooran, first counselor in the District Presidency. He decided to come along and join the party. We enjoyed his company as we always do. Elder and Sister Tanner - we miss you.

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Elder Evans said it was a treasure. What could it be?

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This will look beautiful in our apartment. (They are too polite to say what they really think!)

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And here are the proud new owners.

Elder Jordan

2009-08-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Transfers were today, Wednesday, August 5. Elder Jordan was transferred back to Bush Lot from Trinidad. We were asked to take him to Bush Lot which we enjoyed very much. He has reached his 6 month mark (9 months if you include his special assignment before his call). He is happy and doing well. He reports finding a woman in Trinidad who was willing to listen to the gospel. She thought the Mormons were a white man's church until she met Elder Jordan. He was able to teach her but he says she is very smart and is trying to figure everything out with her brain. It doesn't work that way. The Holy Spirit does the teaching, but you have to tune in. We're going to miss Elder Jordan very much.

What is this?

2009-08-06T04:47:00.000-07:00

Sister Langford had just finished the ironing and sat down to rest. She turned on the TV and the sun was coming in the window and shining right on the screen. So she did a Guyanese thing and got out her umbrella. Umbrellas are useful for keeping the rain off and keeping the sun off. No Guyanese woman goes very far without an umbrella.

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This is Dolly. She is a smart business woman. She remembers what we like and how we like it. She always greets us with a smile and always throws a little extra into the bag. We asked her what her last name is and she said she doesn't have one. Her father didn't want her and neither did her mother. She grew up fending for herself and she is still doing it. We like her very much.

Roadside Business

2009-08-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

There are many roadside businesses. This is where we buy our fruit. The bananas are "cayenne" bananas and are like the ones we buy in the US. The apples have been imported either from Washington or Chili. The "Gala" apples are delicious. The green things are oranges although you can see some mangoes also. She has papaya but it is pretty tasteless to us.

Tobago

2009-07-21T15:22:00.000-07:00

We had to go to Trinidad for training and since our work is winding down, we decided to take a little vacation to Tobago. This was really posh, but we got off-season rates. We wanted to see the beauty of the Caribbean and we got it. We spent three days at the Coco Reef Resort. We also celebrated our sixth wedding anniversay. This isn't what a mission is all about, but we did it anyway.

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A white sand beach and blue water. What a concept!

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If you left your plate for even a minute, these guys would clean it for you. Here they are going after a basket of toast, left behind.

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The hotel had a breakfast buffet that had everything you can think of. It also had this man who encouraged the guests to take pictures with his birds. He is holding a hawk. The owl is also his. It's interesting to see big birds like these close up.

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Here's looking at you kid!

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The lobby area

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Our room

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Glorious flowers

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We took a ride in a glass bottomed boat and Wayne got to snorkle. I would have, but realized that without my glasses I couldn't see a thing.

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The view from the balcony of our room.

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These men are beginning to pull in a large fishing net. The boat is in the middle of the net.

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If you wanted to use this beach, you would have it all to yourself. Count the number of people you see.

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One of the many bays.

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Around the end of the island to the Atlantic side. The house on the small island was once owned by Ian Fleming. The large island is called Little Tobago.

President Gamiette

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Our new Mission President and his family. They invited us to dinner on Friday night and we got to meet his family. We have been able to work with him for two years and love him dearly. We admire his spirituality and his ability to teach. His family is delightful and we enjoyed our evening with them.

Training in Trinidad

2009-07-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

This is the group of supervisors in the West Indies Mission. I'm putting their names here so that I don't forget. Back from left: Brother Adams from St. Vincent. He was just called a week before the training. The Langfords, Brother Warren from Trinidad, Sister Lorette Ibrahim from Suriname, Elder and Sister Green who serve in Trinidad and will be going home the day after we are. Front from left: Sister Ramdanie from Trinidad, Sister Sarah Naine who is the Seminary and Institute secretary from Guadeloupe. She was President Gamiette's secretary and Elder Alvarado is going to continue to use her. Sister Warren who serves with her husband in Trinidad, Sister Bibi Majid from Canje, Berbice, Guyana, Sister Shaundell Hedrington, from Georgetown, Guyana and Sister Seema, also from Trinidad. The training was intensive and covered two days. We all went home exhausted.

Tomatoes

2009-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Here's our garden - we have lots of tomatoes and have started harvesting them. They grow much faster here than they do in Walnut Creek. They don't taste any better than the ones we buy in the store - but we planted them to watch them grow. It has been fun.

Paramaribo

2009-07-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

We love going to Paramaribo. This time we stopped to look at the fresh flower market. We have not found any fresh cut flowers in Guyana. The people love flowers and decorate their homes with lots of them, but they are all plastic!

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We had to pose for pictures with such beautiful flowers in the background.

Rice Field

2009-07-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is the first time we have seen a rice field with people in it. This is an extended family, planting rice.

Baptism in Suriname

2009-07-20T03:02:00.000-07:00

We needed to make another trip to Suriname to train the supervisors. Sister Hymas went with us so that she could see how to get there when she and her husband go on mission business. We toured all of the branch buildings and when we got to Uitijk, we found the elders had almost finished filling the baptismal font. This little girl had just celebrated her eighth birthday and was going to be baptised by her uncle. We were asked to stay and we did. These cute little boys are cousins.

Going Bananas

2009-06-28T05:29:00.000-07:00

We have been watching our banana tree in the back yard. It grew a huge purple flower and then a stem out of the flower grew a hand of bananas. This is very exciting - to have our very own bananas. Our landlord said that today they were ready to pick. They didn't look ready to us - they are very green. But we made a party our of it and the Whiteheads joined us.

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Elder Whitehead is just an inch taller. He grabbed the ax and cut the bananas down.

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Elder Whitehead got the ax, but Elder Langford got the bananas.

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A banana tree only produces one hand of bananas. You cut it down because it has already sent two shoots up to start new trees. It takes about two years for a tree to mature and flower and then produce bananas. We have two shoots, one twice as big as the other.

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Banana surgeons, cutting the hand into four bunches.

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They were really green. We were told to put them into a bag and in a week or two they would be yellow. We found one of the bananas had popped open (a sign that we left them on the tree too long) so we cut into it. It had a texture like styrofoam. We put them into bags and they stayed green until one day, all of a sudden, they were yellow.

MMMMMM

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They were better than good.

Bush Lot gets a sign

2009-06-28T05:16:00.000-07:00

We happened to be driving down the road and found the elders in the Bush Lot Branch, putting up a brand new sign. They decided they wanted a "WWII" picture.

Chicken sign

2009-06-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

We think this sign is hilarious. Maybe we think that because we have a vivid imagination and can see the plucked chickens and ducks running around.

Happy Birthday Elder Evans

2009-06-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

It is Elder Evans' birthday. We had two birthdays to celebrate. We presented him with this beautiful lamp and he was thrilled to get it. Now he can see in the dark.

Happy Birthday Elder Handly

2009-06-07T03:15:00.000-07:00

It was Elder Handly's birthday and he wanted to try out the Brazilian restaurant that he had heard about. What's a birthday without a present. We gave him this beautiful lamp. We love it, but it won't fit in our suitcase. They are going to Trinidad next week, but they can fit it into their suitcases. Elder and Sister Tanner - take note.

Super Salesman

2009-06-07T03:11:00.000-07:00

This is Ricky. He comes to our gate everyday to sell us prawns. We tell him we already have prawns but he comes anyway. He insists that we talk to him. This day he stood by the gate for 10 minutes calling into the apartment. We were trying to eat our dinner and ignore him but he wouldn't be ignored. Elder Langford finally went out front and bought MORE prawns. We had to take his picture. He will probably be president of Guyana someday. Meanwhile, the freezer is full and Ricky will be back tomorrow. "But Boss, these are big ones."

Vacation

2009-06-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

We took a vacation from our mission. We spent June 1 and 2 at the Arrowpoint Resort and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. We were taken by bus to the boat landing and when we got on the speed boat, the rain was coming down in buckets. It rained all the way there - 45 minutes. The food was delicious and we didn't have to cook it or clean it up. There were nature walks, swimming, kayaks, archery, and table games. Two of the couples were new to us and so we got to know them better. It was a needed break. We've often said we can't find Sunday. Everyday is like Sunday to us. This was, in Elder Langford's words, two days without a tie!

Try it -

2009-06-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sister Hymas had never had a turn with a bow and arrow, even with all the times she attended Boy Scout camp - So this was her chance. She finally hit the target and we all cheered.

Missionary Moment

2009-06-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

Elder Leishman was able to get the staff together and teach them about the Book of Mormon.

Birds

2009-06-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

We went out early in the morning to see birds. We saw red macaws, hummingbirds, swallows and this mocking bird. The palm tree provides the parrots and macaws with plenty of food. The fruit has a very hard shell, but the bird's beaks are quite able to handle it. My picture of the macaws was too fuzzy. They were too far away. We could hear them and see that they were the reds instead of the blues.

Beautiful jungle

2009-06-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

We were paddling a kayak down a creek with jungle on both sides. The water was like a mirror. It was beautiful beyond words.

Fun

2009-06-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

We played "The Great Dalmuti". The rules are the same as "Scum". Pictured clockwise from the lady in pink, Sister Leishman, Sister Hymas, President Hyms, Sister Bullock, Sister Evans and Elder Evans.

Bonfire

2009-06-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Dinner by a bonfire. The fire was big and bright. The food was really good and it was fun to eat on the beach instead of the porch.

Cashew nuts

2009-06-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Do you like cashew nuts? They come in jars and packages. This is what they look like on the tree. They hang down from this bright red fruit. If you click on the picture, it will get big and you can see better. Elder Langford got one and began to peel the shell open when he was warned that the juice would irritate his skin. Later, Michael, our guide, peeled one with gloves on and then we tasted it. It was a cashew all right. It needed to be roasted and salted, but it was cashew. We felt guilty eating them by the handful at home, when there is one little cashew nut on every fruit.

Community

2009-06-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

These men are Indians from the Santa Mission. They are building a barge so that they can haul lumber out of the jungle to market.

In the boat

2009-06-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

This picture needs a caption. Everyone is having a good time except Elder Langford!

Linden seminary students

2009-05-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are three of them - they are wonderful.

Linden Seminary

2009-05-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Linden is a new area that was opened up to missionary work in February or March. We looked at the baptism records and counted possibly six seminary age young people. The Leishmans are a missionary couple who are living down there and Sister Leishman has had seminary experience. She wanted to start a class. Linden is almost two hours south of Georgetown. She had eleven students the first day of class and called us to ask for materials. We got what we had and went down the next day and there were eighteen students. We couldn't believe it! The kids all have had Bible classes in school and so they know the Bible. They are more literate than the Georgetown kids and the class was really animated. It was a lot of fun to be there. Elder and Sister Leishman taught together and it took both of them.

Spanish? Dutch? English?

2009-05-29T14:41:00.000-07:00

Elder Alvarado is from Puerto Rico. His first language is Spanish. He served a mission in Florida, so his English is pretty good. Here Sister Ibrahim is translating into Dutch for him.

Bingo

2009-05-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

The competition became fierce. The game required matching the scripture with its chapter and verse. That gave the participant the opportunity to either recite the scripture from memory or tell what it means in their life or bear testimony of its truthfulness. They did really well.

Suriname

2009-05-29T14:27:00.000-07:00

Elder Alvarado visited Suriname and we had another youth activity. This one was all in Dutch. I had a jolly time making up scripture mastery memory cards in Dutch, but we pulled it all together.

For Christopher

2009-05-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

Recently I heard that my nephew, Christopher, is working in the meat department of a grocery store. This is the meat market, Guyana style. This particular cart is pulled by a donkey. Many carts are stationary in outdoor markets and only there on the days of the week when the market is open. We had dinner with the Ibrahims in Suriname last week. Sister Ibrahim prepared a delightful rice stuffed squash. We asked what was in it. She said, "meat". We asked what kind and she said, "meat". Who knows what we were eating? It was good, whatever it was.

Youth Activity

2009-05-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Elder Alvarado and Brother Gamiette came for a visit and conducted a youth activity that the kids really enjoyed. It was a fast paced, version of Bingo which challenged their minds and Brother Gamiette was able to draw testimonies out of many of the students.

2009-05-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

A week later, the tomatoes have doubled their size and Elder Langford has added flowers.

Timmy Too

2009-05-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

We needed to get supplies out of the New Amsterdam building. We had a fist full of keys but none of them opened the lock on the gate - so Elder Langford scaled the fence.

It's May

2009-05-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

In May, Elder Langford usually plants tomatoes. This May, the landlord has taken out all of the landscaping, leaving a big planter box in the back yard. Since we only have one computer and it was Sister Langford's turn, Elder Langford began digging.

Seminary

2009-05-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is our new class in Good Hope Village. Sister Ganesh is the teacher and Brother and Sister Pitamber offered their home. Attendance is consistant at 6. This is just what we wanted. These students cannot get to the church building every day.

Guyanese Culture

2009-05-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Ron, asked us what cultural differences got in the way of our missionary work. There are many cultural differences and they stopped getting in the way as we learned what they were and adjusted our attitude.

This is an English speaking mission, but – they don’t speak the English we are used to. They pronounce words differently (vege-tah-ble, define-eyet-ly,
cha-rack-ter traits, byes for boys), they use different expressions (walk with a lunch, collect the pen from he) and their use of pronouns is maddening (they don’t use him, her, our – they use he, she, we. (We brought she with we.). And they don’t use the past tense.

Our humor goes right over their heads and many times, in the classroom, I will try to use an example or an expression and they don’t get it. We decided over a year ago that we don’t belong in the classroom with the kids. Even the lesson manual has things that are incomprehensible to the Guyanese. There was a picture of a bicycle with training wheels. No Guyanese child has a bicycle. A bicycle is a luxury that adults have. It is a major form of transportation.

Time was very hard to get used to. A church activity will be announced to start at 3 pm and it doesn’t start until 5 or 6 or 7. We couldn’t figure that out, until we realized how travel impacts the people. If they have to do any preparing for the activity, decorating, cooking, rehearsing, they have to do it before the event on the day of the event. It costs too much money to take transportation to the church building more than once. This has led to a mentality of we’ll get there when we get there and we’ll start when we are ready. The branch presidents are finally getting sacrament meeting started within 5 minutes of the time. That is a major achievement.

They can’t seem to get home teaching and visiting teaching going. Transportation is one of the hindrances. The people are very poor. They have to use public transportation for everything. (Usually, our car is the only car parked in front of the church) They work long hours for very little money. Building relationships and friendships can be tricky. In Bush Lot Branch, everyone in town knows or is related to everyone else. Relationships are built in. In Garden Park Branch, people don’t know each other and have to make friends at church. Sometimes, the friendships don’t come. We have gone through a year of massive numbers of baptisms. They come in to the church faster than they can be absorbed. The branch leadership is changed often. All of this works against fellowshipping. These new Saints have trouble with hurt feelings and pride. They have trouble with accepting leadership and leadership changes. When they are offended, they leave and then we have to try to get them back. Our job is to train teachers how to teach and to get the young people into classes where they can learn the doctrine and principles of the gospel. We are hoping that we can have a generation of young people who will be able to lead the church without offense.

There are great cultural differences in the people. There are three cultures: East Indians who have either Moslem or Hindu backgrounds and an indentured servant history, negroes who have a background of slavery and who gather to various Christian churches, and Amerindians who have come in from the jungle and flock to the LDS church. There is a prejudice among them that is similar to the prejudice we experienced in the US before Martin Luther King. We are working very hard to promote unity among the saints.

We are competing with the school system here, the way early morning classes compete with athletics and band in the US. Right now, attendance at seminary has dropped. The CXC exams are looming. Everything depends on passing CXC in different subjects. The younger kids are competing for places in secondary schools. The private schools have scholarships for really high scores. The secondary students take the exam at 16. Passing the exam sends them out into the world to get a job or to the University of Guyana. Not passing the exam means staying in school for another year and hoping to pass the next year or getting a menial job. The problem for us is, the older kids begin studying for the exams early. Many take “extra lessons” before school and after school. The older kids who are studying don’t put seminary as a priority. The younger kids are also affected by exams. Their teachers put all of their time and energy into the kids who are writing the exams, so the younger kids are given double assignments before the exams so that they won’t miss anything because their teachers are occupied with the exam takers. They don’t come to seminary because they have double homework.

The Guyanese people are very polite. If you call on them at home, they will invite you in. You take off your shoes and they seat you on their best chairs. They want to give you refreshments and knowing that we can’t eat their food or drink their fruit punches, they offer a glass of soda pop. They will tell you what they think you want to hear. If you ask them to come to seminary or institute, they respond that they will “defineyetly “be there, however, they don’t come. Responsibility is a problem. Some of our teachers have not shown up for class. They have had good excuses, but they didn’t call anyone and left the students standing outside a locked gate. With transportation as expensive as it is, we get a little vexed (another Guyanese word) about it. They have discovered that we are here to help and can call us even in the middle of the night and we will help. They are so polite, they don’t want us vexed and the problem is beginning to resolve itself.

Have things changed since we have been here? Probably, not much, but we have changed. We are more flexible, tolerant and have changed our expectations. We hope that is what the Lord wanted when he sent us here. The first and most important convert to the church is yourself. Everyone, absolutely everyone, should have this experience at some time in their lives. Thanks, Ron, for giving us the opportunity to think about it.

Cement

2009-04-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

It takes five men to mix cement and pour it into forms. Here, they are building a wall along a trench. Cement is mixed by hand and in the road. Hopefully no one gets hit by passing cars.

Koker

2009-04-25T03:10:00.000-07:00

We got a good picture of an open koker. We have had a lot of rain during the last week. The canals have been full. Here is a koker that is letting the canal water drain out into the river. The tide is low. The river is affected by the ocean tides because it is so close to the ocean. When the tide rises, the koker will be closed to keep the canals from filling with water.

2009-04-25T03:06:00.000-07:00

This is a large area of rice. The cars have to go around it, just like they have to go around animals.

2009-04-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

While drying, it has to be stirred up so that the rice on the bottom gets a chance. These men are shuffling through to stir the rice with their feet.

2009-04-25T03:02:00.000-07:00

Bags of rice from the field, that will be emptied onto the road way to dry.