More Happenings

Life is quite a bit different here in Guyana than in Bountiful Utah. It's the Christmas season but the temperature is somewhere between 75 to 90 degrees. No snow of course but we get heavy downpours of rain. Where we live the power will go off possibly between 30 minutes to 4 hours sometimes three or four days a week, which makes enduring the heat without air or fans quite uncomfortable. We didn't have water in our apartment except for 30 minutes in the morning since Sunday. We told our landlord that we needed him to put in a water tank so we could have water regardless of what was happening with the town's water pump. He was alarmed at what was going on with us so he came and investigated. We found out the apartment below us had turned on their water and left it running so all of the water that should have been coming to us upstairs was gone. With no water and no power and hot temperatures....I'm sorry to report that I did not remain pleasant and was quite a grumpy Gus! Dave however remained calm and took my unpleasantness very well. Bless his ever living heart!
How do we live without water you may ask? Well, if we are home when the water turns on, we take a shower if we need to and then we fill up the sink with soapy water to wash dishes and fill up  containers with the tap water so we can flush the toilets, and fill up other bottles and containers with filtered water so we have water to drink, wash food etc. There isn't a filter on the bathroom sink so I fill a cup with filtered water to use to brush my teeth. I've gotten pretty good at rinsing my brush in the cup water and swishing out my mouth as well.
I will talk about the driving now.....get me out of here!  Just kidding!  But, honestly, I am afraid for my life every time we drive anywhere. They drive on the other side of the road here but in reality, they drive on any side and at anytime they want to....and they mostly do it to avoid pot holes the size of small ponds which are everywhere.  Only one lane at a time can cross the bridge so you have to wait in a line for the other cars to come over. People will just come along at the side of the waiting line and as soon as it starts going will pull in front of them at take off. Motorcycles, of which there are many, can do anything they want. When you are driving in Georgetown on a two lane road either way, they make another lane so they can either inch in or pass. Passing here is like playing chicken. We are constantly watching cars as they drive head on to each other and the one quickly moves to the correct lane. Dave has done a remarkable job of learning how to do all of that! Occasionally I have to remind him to stay to the left but on the most part he can hold his own by creeping in front and passing in ways they are scary to me. I close my eyes a lot and grip my seat and pray!
Another thing that is very different here for us is that we do not go out to eat. There are some Chinese restaurants here that we are thinking of trying and a Church's Chicken right by the church, which is like KFC so we do get coleslaw and biscuits there when we don't have time to go home to eat.
With all the talk of bug bites and needing a yellow fever shot, I was worried about it a bit but it hasn't been too bad. Although,  I do have several bites on my legs and arms most of the time. We get them when we go down to visit the people that live by the river in the denser forest area.
It has not been all unpleasant however! We went out visiting again with Andy, the YSA leader. We met several more YSA and invited them to the activity on Friday. We changed our Seminary class from 6:30 am to 2:30 pm. That seems to work better for Shaneeza so we actually taught a couple lessons this week. With the time change we are hoping that a few more kids will join us since they can come right after school before they cross the river in a boat.
Friday we had a great time at our YSA home evening. We had 6 out of 159 possible attend plus the one set of full time missionaries on the Wismar side. Andy gave a spiritual message and we prepared a taco bar. You can't get tortillas here so we made some (they weren't exactly the same but they turned out quite well)   A few people had to be told how to make and eat them. Hamburger is rare and avocados can't be found here. Nor sour cream. They only have white cheese to grate, which we got . So I mashed a can of  black beans and added taco seasoning,  made my veggie cheese sauce and my cashew cream. and they were quite yummy! Chips and salsa are not known here as well, but when we were in Georgetown we found some tortilla chips and some bottled salsa and we shared that with them as well.
After we ate, we played two truths and a lie. It was very fun and we laughed together and it felt very comfortable. Andy gave them each a name from our list of 159 and gave them all a charge to bring another YSA to church on Sunday as well as invite them to the next activity on Friday next. We are going to do Karaoke!
Saturday we got to attend another baptism down at the river. A young boy of 10 was baptized. He has been coming to primary and learning the songs for the primary program. He sings with all of his heart and I fell in love with him very quickly. Really, all the children love to sing! It's very refreshing after being with some 10/11 year olds that get tired of primary. These children love to learn as well.
It's been an interesting, growth promoting week....I say promoting cause I'm not sure if I am growing in character or doing more growling.

 This gentleman sits on this bench every day. It's on the road we use when we are going to and from our apartment. Dave chatted with him one day since we see him so often.

 This gentleman lives across the street from us and makes furniture. 

 We went on a walk and this man was pressing sugar cane! All the liquid gets collected and then...actually,  I don't know what happens to it after that....

 another view

 This building was used for our church for many years. The branch was really growing and had lots more active members.  In 2012, the government of Linden decided they wanted to raise the cost of electricity and a riot ensued. A mob went through the town setting buildings on fire and our church just happened to be conveniently in the area they were in. They looted everything in it and then set it on fire.

 This is the back side and we are thinking that it might be a good candidate for the location of the new chapel we are going to build for the members here.

 This isn't a great picture but many people here grow their hair long and in dread locks and then pile it high on their heads and put scarves, knitted hats or other hats on top. It's pretty interesting what they decide to put on their heads.

 This doesn't look like much...and we were only expecting possibly 10 people but the normal things that go into a meal like this aren't readily available here. We were excited when we saw salsa in Georgetown and lettuce is difficult to find as well. Tortilla shells do not exist here.

 These are the two darling children that joined our group. They were very well behaved. The room you see is used for our chapel, class rooms and social gatherings.

 Dave doing what he loves to do.

 This is all of our group of YSA.  Very good souls! We hope to add to our number.

 Going down to the river for the baptism.

 Darling Joshua with the missionaries who taught him.

These are the four missionaries from Linden. Elder DePat, Elder Norton who is going home to Linden, Utah on Tuesday, Elder Bramdeo who is leaving for his real mission to South Africa on Tuesday, and Elder Leitch who said, "We need to take this picture so people know this isn't just a white man's church!" Great Guys! Missionaries are amazing people!