One of my favorite pioneer stories is about David and Willie, a young married couple when they were called by Brigham Young to help settle St. George. She quickly became weary of the heat and the bugs and told her young groom she wanted a divorce so she could return to her family in Vermont. David begged her to reconsider. She finally relented on the condition he could find even one thing of beauty in (then) southern Utah’s godforsaken desert. The next day he brought her a sego lily!Upon arriving in Guyana on Saturday, April 30, I looked around and saw nothing of beauty . . .
Guyana is a 3rd world country with a capital “tird”! I have heard of culture shock, but have never experienced it before . . . until now! The missionary couple who chauffeured us around told us about the country but the more they talked, the more uneasy I became. We learned about the bush (a dense forest which covers most of the country), the bushmaster snake (whose victim’s die within 4 minutes), how many – and how frequently - missionary apartments have been robbed … then ended their treatise with how much they love it here and how much it feels like home to them. In the meantime, I was ready to get back on the plane and return to the safety of Trinidad or, better yet, to my home in southern Utah!
Our apartment is half living quarters and half mission office/storage. It is a clean 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment with two really nice showers and a comfortable bed, but filled to overflowing with boxes of missionary tracts, water filters and financial records, desks, filing cabinets and oversized furniture.
May and June in Guyana are the two hottest, wettest months of the year with temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s . . . and humidity between 75 – 77%.
PS: The rest of the story is that Willie stayed in St. George and together she and David created a beautiful family and a legacy of faith. My story has much the same ending. At our first meeting at the Diamond Branch, I met some wonderful members with strong testimonies and on the way home, I noticed a beautiful stand of lilies alongside the road! Like Willie, I have decided to stay and help build an Employment Resource Services Center and strengthen PEF in Guyana, since I have now found my one thing of beauty.
May and June in Guyana are the two hottest, wettest months of the year with temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s . . . and humidity between 75 – 77%.
PS: The rest of the story is that Willie stayed in St. George and together she and David created a beautiful family and a legacy of faith. My story has much the same ending. At our first meeting at the Diamond Branch, I met some wonderful members with strong testimonies and on the way home, I noticed a beautiful stand of lilies alongside the road! Like Willie, I have decided to stay and help build an Employment Resource Services Center and strengthen PEF in Guyana, since I have now found my one thing of beauty.
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