Missions change hearts

I've been pondering on this week to find some things to write about and having a difficult time identifying anything really note worthy, just really more of the same. I was also not feeling really well either. I think it was some kind of sinus/ear infection or something...pretty intense pain in my lower right jaw and ear. Fortunately, we have a stash of antibiotics to use for emergencies. I know, that's self diagnosing and self medicating but it's what we do here. I even stayed home from church today because of it. I have just felt so tired and yucky. I was curious what would happen in Primary if I wasn't there and Dave said it got along just fine without me. The Primary President didn't show up but someone else stepped in. That makes me very happy! I had sent the lesson along with the music charts with Dave so at least they had that.
We taught seminary all week except Friday and had fairly good attendance. Friday, we took Pamela and Joel to Georgetown to get married (we thought) it ended up we were able to get all the paper work done and pay the fee and then they gave us a date to come back for the marriage. We get closer all the time... now, Feb 1st we will take them early early in the morning to make it there by 8:30 am. That's the only time they can marry people....don't know why....that's just the way it is. It's exciting to be this far along in the process though. We were hoping they would be married on Dave's birthday but it just wasn't to be. Which speaking of Dave's birthday....kind of really low key. There aren't a lot of places to go, that we know of to celebrate so we really didn't do much of that. 62 years old and counting! We did hear from most of the kids and that was nice.
Later that evening we had the YSA activity. We watched the devotional with the Renlunds. It was very good. We had one sister, besides me and four other brothers and the missionaries. I made Cowboy Caviar and they seemed to like it.

Saturday, we had a brother and sister get baptized. Sarah (16) and Aaron (12) Suhku. Really darling people! They come from a Hindu background and have had to decide to basically go against their mother's religion to join the church. It has been a difficult decision for them but they are very dedicated to being at church every week. They have been there every Sunday since we have arrived. I didn't know they weren't members for quite awhile. It is always such  treat to get to attend these baptisms.
The paper work process for the new church location has begun, so that is good. We haven't got official word if they are going to use the building here yet but hopefully they won't take too long to let Mr. Goodluck, the owner, know what has been decided so he can either continue to build it for the church or build it for apartments.
I kind of feel badly that I don't have any really wonderful spiritual experiences to write about. We pray, fast and study to be close to the Spirit. We don't spend a lot of time teaching investigators or really even doing a lot of contacting. Most of our time is spent with teaching and visiting with church members, whom we love.
Although, Dave is experiencing some interesting changes within himself and which are very apparent to me as well. With the driving being so chaotic, the disorganization or lack of government and the different cultural of the society, he has found that instead of getting stressed, angry and even impatient, he is just the opposite which he attributes the change to the Lord. It really has been amazing to watch his behavior and temperament change from pretty high strung, somewhat impatient and critical to calm, peaceful, patient and kindly tolerant. It's pretty wonderful! Now me on the other hand.....I have absolutely no problem loving people but when a car pulls out in front of you when you are driving 50 miles an hour with no warning or wants to merge when there is no lane to merge into... I get a little anxious and bothered. Good thing we have several more months to be on our mission so I can improve on my temperament too!

 The baptism of Aaron and Sarah Suhku. starting left; Rebekah Suhku, (twin of Sarah) Terrance, Aaron, Sarah, Dawn (a member) Nafur (young women's president) President Ramdeholl, Joshua by me and Dave in the back.

 Aaron baptized by Terrance

 Sarah baptized by President

 teeny tiny grasshopper

 pretty amazing!

 Tacos are not plentiful here and they are one of our favorite things to eat. So, we happened to find some taco shells in Georgetown. These are black bean tacos with my "cheese" sauce and cashew cream. Very yummy!

 I will now demonstrate how to make passion fruit juice.

 you have to strain the seeds to get the juice out of the pulp stuff.

 add some water and sugar and ta da!  So delicious!

 These are wild and some people keep them as pets

 Gotta have some flower pictures eh?

 You will see wrecked, abandoned vehicles everywhere in Guyana. 

They leave them there and they become works of art....so to speak.

 walking up from visiting a new member. That's our car in the background. 

Some places there isn't a place for a car to go.

 Many people farm for a living. This is a very large farm with okra, burra, etc.

 There are drain ditches all over and this is the first time we managed to get stuck in one. We didn't know how we were going to get out and suddenly we had four guys gathered around lifting up the car. So kind!

 Look at this smile!  This is Ruzzon Blair a member in our branch. 

He just received his call to go to Fort Lauderdale, Florida on his mission!

These sweet sisters came to visit me after church when I didn't feel well enough to go. starting left: Sister Giles, Sister King, Molly, me and Sarah, Molly's daughter. Love them so much!