Our Very Guyana Christmas

Christmas Eve Day, on Saturday, December 24, began with a missionary service project at a local hospital maternity ward (caroling and distributing newborn kits) then these 12 hungry young men gathered at the Church for dinner (18 at the table) followed by missionary-appropriate “Minute to Win It” games and ending with a Guyanese rendition of “Twelve Days of Christmas” before they hurried out the door to scheduled baptisms.

Christmas Day - which reached a high temperature of 90 degrees (with humidity just about that high) began with the baptism of Sister Robin Parris. She is the only member in her family, so far, but she is hopeful she will soon have others follow her into the waters of baptism. Following Church, we set up five laptop computers in the Primary room so they could call home. Each was provided with ear buds (thanks to Elder Sappington) since they could not be in a room alone and had an hour to talk to loved ones at home. We had to get permission from the mission president to use Skype, but when President Gamiette found out it is FREE Skype-to-Skype . . . and only 2.3c per minute otherwise (compared to $3.00 a minute calling from a landline or cell phone) he quickly gave his blessing! It was fun to hear the interaction and hard to get some of them off the phone when their hour was up.

The elders waiting their turn . . . or who had already called home, but were waiting for their companions, were treated to a viewing of “Lost Land of the Jaguar,” a 3-part BBC documentary on Guyana’s spectacular and virtually unexplored interior. It is a beautiful production and the missionaries were fascinated!

By the time we got home at 10 p.m., we were exhausted, but with many memories we will always cherish. It was a beautiful Christmas . . . even without a tree or lots of gifts!