Cement

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

Truck full of rice headed for the mill.

 

Trucks full of rice lined up at the rice mill.

Bananas

 

We have bananas growing in our backyard. We wonder who gets them, us or the landlord.

Remember

 

Our mission president, President Robison, reminded us that we can't go home from our mission and say, "We loved the people". We have to tell which people we loved and why, so the following posts are people and things we will miss when we go home. This picture is of Cat. She owns the yard and has kittens on a regular schedule. Mission rules prevent us from having pets so Cat does not have a name (but she comes when we call Cat). Mission rules say, "Don't touch animals of any kind" so we don't touch her, but Elder Langford has figured out how to pet her and she loves it. She feeds herself on mice, lizards, frogs and toads, so we don't have any of those in the house. She comes to the door and talks to us every morning (and sometimes afternoons and evenings). She meows in different tones. If we talk to her, she stops meowing. She would probably be a good pet for someone. She has managed to get into the apartment several times and I think she got in when the thief was doing his business. I think she made a noise that scared him away. He didn't take everything he could have.

Orandy Goodluck

 

Meet Orandy Goodluck. He is 8 months old and cutting teeth. We got to hold him last Sunday. I think he held us. He is a very happy baby. His daddy is the new District President and his mommy is tiny. She reminds me of my daughter, Karen, because she takes this hefty baby and puts him on her hip and off they go.

The Murray Boys

 

This is Troy and Tristan Murray. Troy is in seminary and Tristan is in institute. Kids graduate from high school at 16 and then get jobs. Tristan couldn't continue with seminary, so we invited him to come to institute. They are new converts to the church and as straight arrow as they come. Tristan spends every evening except Thursday (Institute night) going out with the elders. He is responsible for finding dozens of relatives and friends and teaching them the gospel. Both boys are determined to serve a mission when they are 19 and mother is all for it. There are two more younger brothers at home who are following in Tristan and Troy's footsteps.

Brotherhood

 

These elders celebrated birthdays since the last zone conference. It is customary for birthday people to be called to the front so that "Happy Birthday" can be sung. Normally it is a little embarrassing. (Hands in pockets - look at the floor) Look at these guys. They grabbed each other arms around shoulders and enjoyed every bit of it.

Sailor

 

 

These pictures tell it all. A kid is a kid. A trench is a trench. A box that will float? Makes for a fun afternoon.

David

This is 16 year old David Boodhanlall. His mother couldn't come to seminary, so she gave him instructions to teach. He did a really good job.

For Sale

 

Many Guyanese market their wares from their heads.

Nazima Deonaraine

Below is a picture of Nazima Deonaraine. She is Sister Bibi's daughter and teaches Institute in New Amsteram. She has a responsible job at Metro, an office supply company. We love and admire Nazima because she has such a strong testimony of the gospel. She served a mission to Venezuela, so she had to learn Spanish. She is patiently waiting for the right young man to come along to take her to the temple. Although she has had many offers, the temple is what she wants.

Sister Bibi

 

This is Bibi Jamilla Majid. She is the CES supervisor in the Canje District. She has two daughters who live with her, Rianna who is 13 and Nazima who is 29. She is worried about Nazima getting married. Our friendship has gone way beyond our association in CES. She calls me about once a week and I call her. She makes me laugh. We have found that we have much in common. Her home is a wood house on stilts. With her own hammer and nails, she "fixed it up". It did not have glass windows when she first moved in, so she put windows in. She also fixed the roof. I admire her tenacity. When Brother Gamiette asked us to train Sister Bibi so that she could run the district without us, we didn't know how we were going to deal with that. Bibi knew she needed access to a computer at home. The internet cafe was unreliable. She wrote to her ex-husband (in the states) and explained that Rianna needed a computer to do her school work. In six weeks, they had a computer. Now to get the internet. Nazima works for an office supply house and she told them, she could do work from home if she had the internet at home. They agreed. It was miraculous to see how all of this fell together. Sister Bibi has done all of the attendance for April. Next month, she'll do the attendance and the priesthood report. The Lord certainly does go before us.

 

I'm still learning how to use Picasa! I wanted two picturss in the previous post, but the two in between were picked up also. This is the Ibrahim family and us having dinner. They took us to an "authentic German restauant" where we could get real German pancakes. So far, everyone we've had dinner with has taken us to the same restaurant! Oh well, we like it!

The Puzzle

 

 

 

 

My daughters and their families sent us a jigsaw puzzle with messages on the back. We had to put it together and then flip it over to read them. While Elder Langford was training Brother and Sister Ibrahim, I recruited Beverly and Christopher to help me with the puzzle. Beverly was a big help. Christopher said he had homework to do. We all went out to dinner afterward.

Paramaribo, Suriname

 

On our last trip to Suriname, I was able to get a picture of this old Catholic Cathedral. They have been restoring it as part of the downtown restoration project. It is now beginning to be noticable, as the front facade is being painted. It is all wood and well worth the restoration.

The Evans Project

 

 

Sister Evans bought some new earrings and couldn't get them on. Sister Bullock and Sister Khan had to step in.

Marcia's class

 

Marcia Gaspar

 

When Marcia was called to teach seminary, she said she wasn't sure she could do it. She had been a member for seven months and had been working as a primary teacher. While she liked primary, she wanted to work with older children. We put her through our summer training program and she absorbed it like a sponge. She is not only one of our strongest teachers, she has built her class from 5 to about 12. One of her students stopped coming. She went to visit and found out that her father had concerns about what his daughter was doing every morning. The Branch President asked him to go to seminary every morning to be a priesthood presence. Now he sits at the table with the kids and Marcia has to ask him not to answer all the questions.