Primary in Parika

We visited Parika Group. It is brand new and is next to the Essequibo River far to the west of Georgetown. We found a lively group of Latter-day Saints, some who have been members for a long time. They had been attending the Vreed-en-Hoop Branch. This is a picture of the Primary. We noticed that most of the members were between 18 and 30 and the Sunday School Teacher was quite good. We asked her if she would be interested in beginning an Institute class there and she agreed. We reported to President Barrow and he said he would call her. The Seminary and Institute programs are now under the direction of the District Presidents and Stake Presidents. This is a new thing and we are delighted because now the priesthood is in charge.

New Amsterdam

We went to visit this family to invite the daughter to enroll in Seminary. Sister Bennie is the teacher. She is at far right. We found them cooking the family meal. This is a clay stove. Many people do not have modern stoves and use stoves such as this one.

Macaws

Look what is in the back of this truck. We had to get close enough to find out and discovered macaws and parrots.

Signs

This sign is typical of combined businesses. We have a hotel, a rice milling operation and a styrofoam manufacturer. None of the products have anything to do with the others.

Signs

We are having fun looking at signs. This one is in the window of a gas station. It says "5 gallon Tropical Mist water and chair rental". The other window says, "Brakes pad (all made of vehicles) It is a wonder to see the number of different businesses all in the same place. In this one, there are auto parts, bottled water, chair rentals.

Steel Pan

We had dinner out with the other senior couples. We were entertained by a steel pan musician. Elder Langford was able to get close enough to ask him where he got his pan, how it is made, how much it costs, and how to make music on it.

Cemetary

This is a Guyanese cemetary. The tombs are built over the gravesite. Guyana is under sea level. There are dikes that hold the sea back and a system of cokers to keep the land from flooding, hence you can't bury someone six feet under. All of the cemetaries that we've seen are overgrown. Some have animals grazing. There is no system for cemetary upkeep so it is up to each individual family.

Off to Suriname

We got on our way and I remembered I'd left our clothes at home. We had two garment bags with shirts and blouses and they were lying on the bed. It was too late to turn back and get them, so I washed them out every night and ironed them every morning. It was a 6 rainbow day. I got a picture of one of them.

Dinner

After the seminary and institute graduation, we had dinner at the Torarica Hotel with Henny and Natascha Aroeman. Natascha is our S&I supervisor in Suriname. The Torarica has a restaurant outside by the pool. We ordered steak! It was barbequed and quite tasty. We were entertained by Amerindian dancers who will perform tomorrow at the Amerindian Festival.

Amerindian Festival

It was a national holiday in Suriname, to celebrate the Amerindian culture. All the stores were closed, so we could not go shopping. We did find, in the Palm Garden a a festival. It is sort of like the festivals at home where there are booths to buy food and crafts only, the food booths all had the same food and the craft booths all had the same crafts. It was fun to wander around and see the people and look at the crafts. We met one of our seminary teachers, Sister Parabirsing. She is the lady in the blue blouse. I bought some jewelry from her and a wonderful wrap-around skirt from her friend who is next to her.

The Playground

These kids know how to have fun. The merry-go-round was almost empty. It featured a one-man-power push. They were all on the trampoline.

Uitkjik Branch

Uitkjik Branch has grown since we were here last. It is pronounced "out-cake".

Sunday in Kwarasan Group

Kwarasan is not big enough to be a branch, but there are members and they held a wonderful Sacrament Meeting. The District President happened to be there and so was a member of his District Council. We were asked to bear our testimonies and did so with an interpreter.

The Drive

Road work - green rice fields - a yellow tree - Pampas grass (How big is it in your yard?)

Nickerie River

We cross the Nickerie River. There is a beautiful bridge. It is wide and scenic.

The Correntyne River

Coming home from Suriname, we cross the Correntyne River. This day, the water was so calm you could see the reflection of the clouds. Not as many cars cross this river. http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=1611187354722742425

New Amsterdam

This is New Amsterdam. The streets are narrow. There are lots of pedestrians, horse carts, donkey carts, bicycles and no sidewalks. The house is where the Larsens and the Bullocks live. The Larsens live upstairs and the Bullocks live downstairs. Notice the width of the street. If you park your car, no one can get around you. It looks like there is a grassy strip, but it is only about a foot wide and there is a trench on either side of the road. Lucky for us, there is a lot next door where a heavy equipment operator keeps his trucks and graders. He lets us park there for a few minutes.

The Berbice Bridge

Here are the latest pictures of the Berbice Bridge. It is almost finished. They say it will be ready in September. When it is opened we won't have to deal with the ferry!!!!

Berbice Ferry

For once, we weren't packed in so tightly that we couldn't open the car door. Elder Langford, ever curious, watched the docking process.

Berbice River

The river looks like chocolate milk. It is full of fine silt. The silt is so fine it stays in the water instead of sitting on the bottom.

Nia Green

 
 
Keeping up with our grandparenting skills. This little baby is about three weeks old and adorable.

Hot Dogger

 

 

Kids are kids