Great, Busy Week

We've had a great week! Monday, We went back to the river with the missionaries where we had the baptism and had family night with Pamela and Joel. The missionaries taught about Lehi's dream and then we roasted marshmellows. This couple has five children but they are not married so they can't get baptized yet. Three of their children are baptized. They say they want to get married but can't afford it cause they have to drive two hours away to Georgetown. They live in a one room shack that is their kitchen, living room and bedroom all in one. After the lesson she made all of us cheese spread sandwiches and juice. They are so generous, happy and full of love. It's truly life changing to see this way of living.
Tuesday we drove to Georgetown for our Guyana Zone Conference. What a treat! It was so wonderful to actually get to spend some time with President and Sister Baird and the other senior couples and all the missionaries serving in Guyana. Definitely a strong force in our endeavor to build the Kingdom here! It was a spiritual feast presented by the Bairds and the young missionaries. Such a privilege to be counted in their number.
Some exciting news is that we have been assigned to find a plot of land for the church to build a chapel on. Such great news! This building will be a great source of hope and enjoyment for these people. We have a river that is dividing this branch and it's difficult for the one side to get to the building where we are now meeting because they have to pay to cross the bridge or pay to ride a boat or a taxi over,  plus the building itself is not very pleasant to worship in and quite expensive to pay for.
We looked around today and we will be getting a map and be talking to the city planners to see what we can do. As we were looking around for potential spots we decided to walk down a dirt road and we came upon a farmer there who showed us all his land and what he grows. He gave us some plantain, and celery as well as some tangerlimes, not sure of the name but they are a blend of limes and tangerines. I can't wait to make some juice out of them. His name is George and we will go and see him again when his peppers are ready. We did pay him a little for his produce.
We also got to go and visit several members today because Shaq had the day off and could direct us where to go. We visited with Haniff and Molly, members for almost a year. They are preparing to be sealed in the temple soon. They have a very large farm with chickens and pigs and papaya, passion fruit, coconut, lemon and plantain trees. They gave us a fresh coconut, a papaya, cassava root, and some sugar cane. Then we went back to Pamela and Joel's. It was nice to see them and they offered us a bunch of plantains, which we gratefully declined so as not to eat the food they needed. We told them that we had just got some. It's interesting how much generosity is so abundant with so little. Americans have so much and we tend to keep it to ourselves. This evening we went to visit our one and only seminary student, Shaneeza. We haven't seen her since last Friday so we were getting concerned about her. She and her family live on a hill in the middle of some gorgeous foliage.
There are a ton of pictures this time!

On the way to Georgetown we stopped by a road side store and bought a fresh coconut.
Dave is using a machete to open it.

 All the missionaries of Guyana being taught by Pres. Baird

 There were several cows and this horse in the yard of the church. Animals just roam the streets here. Cows, horses, goats, chickens, donkeys and lots of dogs and cats.

 This is one of the fruit trees on Hannis and Molly's farm. She made a drink out of it for us, but I can't remember the name.

 This is a  non ripe lemon!  Huge!

 Plantain tree with flower

 Me harvesting a papaya with Hannis

 Passion fruit with flower

 Shaq removing the shell of the coconut

 This is the home of Pamela and Joel and their children. The little girl in yellow is a neighbor that Pamela tends. starting at left back: Ranese, Pamela, Joel, Dave. Romeo, Me, Ronaldo,
Elder Leich,  Rae-elle, neighbor girl and Romerio.

 Guyana Zone

 These are the missionaries in Linden. Elder Leich, Elder Depat, Elder Bramdeo, Elder Norton. We have spent many hours in the car with them driving back and forth to Georgetown. Great Men!

 The path we decided to explore

 Farmer George

 Little bridge to get to the tangerlime trees

 George picking tangerlimes

 Pamela's little girl Rae-elle climbing a tree. the other little girls are neighbors children.

Feeling very needed

It's the rainy season here. It's rather nice when you are inside and covered. If you are not, you get soaked to the skin in just a few minutes.
Today is Sunday. This is the day when we feel like there are not enough of us to go around. I called the branch Primary President yesterday to tell her I was here to help her however she needed me to  and asked if she would be here today. She said she would be....she wasn't. I had planned on teaching the children the songs for the primary program which will be on Dec. 16th. They know none of them. There is a little store in the same building as the church that sells snacks, like bags of Cheetos or Pringles etc. The kids buy them and bring them into church and eat them. Wait...first I have to tell you that the children come to church by themselves. They walk probably two miles each way to and from the church by THEMSELVES! They are 10, 8 and 5. The snacks are most likely their breakfast. When church was over it was pouring rain they had to walk home in. I wanted to take them home but we had been invited for lunch and the children lived over the river....talk about tugging at my heart strings. Such amazing commitment from these children. Church starts at 9 so they have to leave their home at least an hour or so earlier to get there. Anyway, I took all the snacks away and said they would get them after primary. They sat so quietly and sang and sang! It was such a privilege to be able to teach them. I will be glad when we only have 1 hour primary though, cause that second hour gets a bit long when you are the only one teaching. Dave was in there with me and managed the CD player since there is no piano. The last 15 minutes he did a synopsis of what the lessons were for each month in sharing time. It was great!
After church we were set apart as the YSA leaders with beautiful blessings. This is another area where we wish there were more of us. There are 159 baptized YSA and only three come. One of the great challenges for us here is that google maps does not recognize any of the roads or addresses so finding member's homes is very difficult without someone else to help us. We have lots of time but others don't so we can't go out and find people as easily as we did in Nebraska and Mississippi.
If any of you are senior couples reading this....YOU ARE SO NEEDED! If we can get the YSA,Young single adults truly converted to the church it will change their towns and communities. They are our future leaders and parents to raise up a solid generation of Saints. The church here is in the "Kirkland" stage of development and there is lots of work to be done.

These pictures will just be in a random order...

I'm pretty sure this is the rooster that wakes us up every morning at 5:30. 

You see chickens roaming all over the town.

 This is out on our back deck, yes, the stairs are THAT steep! I am finally talking to one of our kids at our own apartment because we were able to find a neighbor that is letting us pay them for internet!

 This is the river that divides Mackenzie and Wismar. We go over the bridge but many people take these boats back and forth. We need to do that one of these days.

 Sunset on the river looking from Mackenzie to Wismar. 

We live in Wismar but the church is in Mackenzie.

 Our favorite missionaries walking to our home from their apartment a couple streets away. 

Elder Dapat and Elder Bramdeo. 

Goats are everywhere! 

These guys were here when we got home from church!

This is the primary! Such darling beautiful children! I love them already so much! The little guy in blue, the girl in yellow, the boy in the tan shirt scrunching in his seat and the girl in blue in front of the girl in yellow are the children that walk to church.  starting left to right:

Jamacia, Aaron, Randy, Amus, Sarah, Me, 

(on my lap) Lumar,  Kelwyn, Tiffany, Joshua

(front) Colis (in pink shirt) Onandie, Shanika, Jamaine. 

This is the whole group of missionaries and 

senior couples on Thanksgiving.