Guyana life

We are getting educated quite quickly here...at least I hope we are learning quickly. Yesterday evening the branch had a gathering for a family that was moving, the Sookams. The older sister Serena has been serving as the young women's president, she is 18 years old. It was her two sisters that were baptized on Saturday. They called it a Thanksgiving dinner. It was supposed to start at 5 pm so many people were here then. By 7 pm the guest of honor, Serena still wasn't there and she was bringing all the food! We did bring a cake to contribute. While we were waiting some of the younger young women were chatting with me and they said they wish they had light skin like me. I said "oh no, your dark skin is so beautiful!" they said that all colors of clothing looks better on light skin. Interesting perspective. The little ones fought over sitting by me and snuggled into me as we listened to the program after Serena finally got there close to 7:30. That's the Guyanese way we are told.

Monday we taught our first early morning seminary class and we had one student, Shaneeza, show up. She is sooo darling, I can't even express it. It was a great discussion. We did some shopping after class then went back to our apartment, which is a piece of cake now! The water only comes on from 6 to 8 am then from 2 to 4 pm and then again from 6 to 8 pm. I decided I would do some laundry while the water was on and I was home. I got it all hung up and brought most of it inside after an hour or so outside. I left most of the kitchen towels outside to dry for the evening. Wouldn't you guess that it rained like cats and dogs most of the night! Pretty funny!

 All the fresh produce is sold in little shacks along the road.We bought a huge sweet potato at the market and boiled it up. I cooked up some rice without a rice cooker to have for later....Dave made his veggie chili. and we had a delicious dinner. We only have one tank of gas for the stove and the oven so I have to be efficient with my cooking with it.

So did you get all that?  Water off and on. Cooking with limited gas supply. Hanging laundry out to dry. No fast convenient, pre-made anything, although they do have canned beans. Hallelujah!  I'm hoping to find a crock pot so I can cook with that more often and not use up the gas.

Yesterday afternoon, we took a walk around our neighborhood. It really is like living in a rain forest. The people are very friendly and ask us about our badges. They always ask if we like it here in Guyana. They love their country and are very proud to live here.

Today, Tuesday we had our first district meeting with the Elders. We Skyped with the Elders in Suriname. It was awe inspiring to sit in a room and have these young 19/20 year olds preside, teach and challenge each other with out any other supervising adult there. We were just the newbies and invited to participate. Truly, We have an army of Helaman with every missionary district in the world.  So proud of these valiant followers of Christ!

After the meeting we met up with a newly baptized member Shaq. He directed us so we could go and visit some members, two who are supposed to be teaching seminary and others who were baptized but don't come to church anymore. These people are so beautiful in their features. We drove over roads that would never be considered roads in the mountains let alone in the towns. It was great to get to meet these members and tell them we miss them and invite them to come to church again. Most of them say "yes" they will come so we shall see and be very joyful when they do! They are a happy people living in what we would consider extreme poverty. No inside plumbing and some structures that look like they would blow over with a gentle gust of wind. It would be life changing for everyone in middle class America to witness how these lovely people live.

 The girl on the left is our one seminary student Shaneeza. Isn't she adorable? The other gal is darling too! The brother in the middle is Shaquelle, our guide to visit the members.

 Dave's yummy chili! 

 Yes, we brought a Bosch so Dave could make his bread! Dave is so glad his mom taught him how to cook when he was young!

 This is a sign along the rode where we walked.

 This is an example of the denseness of the area

 Two little boys sitting all by themselves...

 There are many goats and cows that wander everywhere.

 This is our street. These houses seem much larger and better constructed although there is no inside plumbing for them. We actually have two bathrooms and our neighbors have an out house and a little shack for showering. We are the third house on the right but in the back upper half.

 This is my first batch of laundry hanging out to dry.

 This is a bread fruit just out side of our deck. We are waiting for it to ripen.

 This is our shower. We turn the switch on the right on when we want a little warm water....never hot but it's acceptable.  Only senior couples get this perk.

  It's hard to see but there are all different kinds of dwellings.