Those We Love in Guyana: Skippy and Marcia

Cardon McKenzie (nicknamed "Skippy") and Marcia Gaspar are pioneers in Guyana (shown here in their wedding day [30 July 2011])!

Cardon served a mission in New York City, then began making a good living in the mortgage business in Mesa, Arizona until one day, the Spirit told him it was time to go home. He questioned this prompting because he hadn’t left anything behind in Guyana - and had 17 loans ready to close in Mesa - but as a man of faith he listened and followed, returning to an uncertain future in Georgetown. Not long after he arrived, he heard about the PEF program and through a series of small miracles, he signed up, attended school and learned everything he needed to know to start a computer repair business. Until we arrived, he was the only student in Guyana to successfully complete schooling through the PEF program. Today, he works for Guyana’s Ministry of Tourism . . . and repairs computers on the side. He is not rich by US standards, but in the Church in Guyana, his is a real success story.

He and Marcia met shortly after he had returned to his country . . . and he is convinced she is the reason the Lord wanted him to come home. When their attraction deepened to love, they set a date and began making plans for a wedding, until she heard about 30“white” missionaries being kicked out of the country in 2009 and began to worry about how this decision by her government would affect the Church she loves! So, she decided she wanted to wear the Black Name Tag! When she proposed the idea to her fiance, his response was, “Go! I’ll wait!”

Sister Gaspar’s service to the Lord in the West Indies Mission was exemplary. She and several of 11 sister missionaries with whom she served during 18-months in the mission field brought many “souls unto Christ.” She returned home in May, 2011 to plan her wedding, but she is committed to always remain missionary-minded, even as she and her new groom begin their “time and all eternity” together!

Cardon shared some thoughts while visiting at our apartment which should be included. They dated for quite awhile before they were married, but, he says, “we never did anything before we were married for which we should be ashamed . . . or for which we needed to repent!” Not many young people in Guyana or in the world can say that!!!