Flags

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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.

 

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

 

Sister Dirkmaat calls this, "The Happy Family"

 

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

 

 

 

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.

 

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

CAT

 

 

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

Monkeys

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

And here are the proud new owners.

Elder Jordan

 

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?

 

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.

 

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

 

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.