Trekker Tours Guyana

Our Traveling Tiger finally ventured out from under the bed where he has been hiding from the bushmaster snake almost since we stepped off the plane in Guyana. He hissed and scratched when we first suggested a "mystery trip" into the bush, and only reluctantly agreed when we told him Elder Angus would be driving and Sister Angus would navigate.

For two days, we met with branch presidents and members to discuss chicks and garden supplies (an upcoming Humanitarian Service project), PEF and the need for an employment specialist in every branch. Then we visited the New Amsterdam Special Needs School, where the Angus’ are spearheading a project involving two dozen new school desks, a filing cabinet for the school office . . . and believe it or not, plumbing to supply water to the kitchen and bathrooms in a school caring for more than 70 physically and mentally disabled children. While the children appeared happy, the facility was absolutely filthy and run down as administrators and a dozen teachers waited their turn for funding from the Guyanese Ministry of Education.

Our last project on Tuesday was to take a beautiful 12-year-old recent convert shopping for a school uniform. She absolutely beamed when she talked about the church and the chance to go back to school after a year (she has not been attending because her family could not afford to buy her the required uniform).

Trekker loved meeting all the children and purred with pleasure at the home of President Samaroo when he invited us to enjoy a VERY HOT curry and rice dinner which had some kind of unidentifiable meat our Traveling Tiger thought was quite tasty but Grandma was hesitant to eat. When we arrived home, Trekker admitted he was a little less nervous about living in Guyana and had enjoyed the trip and the people . . . but was appalled at their living conditions. He also admits he’s a pretty spoiled kitty living in the “lap of luxury” in the US and promises never to complain again about his place in the world.

PS: The little boy with the scars on his face and head lives in an orphanage and attends the special needs school because his parents had abused him so badly he is now mentally disabled.

Members in Guyana: Georgina Augustine

Sister Georgina Augustine taught a lesson on “change” in the Diamond Branch on our first Sunday in Georgetown, Guyana. As most teachers do, this Amerindian (descendents of the original inhabitants of Guyana) woman shared a little of her own life story.

She was born in the bush, had only a limited education, but loved to read. Her family home did not have electricity so she made some little coal lamps so she could read after dark (about 6 p.m. in Guyana). By age 12 she had read everything she could “beg, borrow or steal” so pleaded with her Catholic priest for a Bible. He told her she couldn't have one since only the priest could have a Bible! Somehow she came into possession of a tiny copy of this book of scripture which she read over and over again until she had almost memorized it.

At age 14, she moved in with the man she would live with for 27 years. At about age 40, she met the missionaries and, because of her knowledge of the Bible, recognized their message of truth. She desperately wanted to be baptized, but couldn’t until she and the father of her 8 children got married. Her children, who were by then all members of the Church, encouraged her to make him move out if he wasn’t willing to get married. Eventually, they were married . . . and she was baptized . . . but there is much more to her story.

She wept as she stood before the women of the Relief Society bearing her humble testimony and her great love for the Lord who had found her in this faraway land. She also told us she was promised in her patriarchal blessing she would use her skills and her great knowledge of the gospel to teach the women of the Church and “to bring souls to Christ.” What a delightful experience to meet those of the House of Israel here in Guyana, most who are descendants of Manasseh! The gospel is true!!!

From St. George to Georgetown

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 3^rd 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.

We Came, We Saw, We . . .

"Veni, Vidi, Vici" is the famous Latin response given by Julius Caesar in 47 BC to the question of how he had won a short war somewhere in Turkey. We've considered these three words in relation to our work in the mission office, though as we prepare to leave Trinidad for our “real” mission in Guyana, we cannot say “I came, I saw, I conquered” with the same assurance as this Roman icon.

Elder Sappington says of his experience in the mission office, “I Came, I Saw . . . I Complained!” In the 3 1/2 months we served in Trinidad, he enjoyed the social interaction and developed a real "bromance" with at least two of the other senior office elders – Jim Luster (Ephraim, Utah) and Jim Andrus (St. George, Utah) – but wasn’t at all happy as the WIM Financial Secretary. His dissatisfaction was due to the daily grind of trying to balance petty cash, pay bills and keep track of mission vehicles, apartments and cell phones while continually challenged by bureaucratic red tape, outdated records and a serious shortfall in the amount of training required to do this job effectively.

Sister Sappington describes her experience as “I Came, I Saw . . . I Updated (and Deleted)!” Assigned to a computer which locked up a minimum of 4 times a day, Sister Sappington discovered 7000 old e-mails (including "sent" and "trash" files) and about a dozen odd-ball software programs causing the problem - all of which she deleted in the first few weeks in the office. Then there were hundreds of old files on the computer (some dating back to 2006) which no one wanted to delete – because “they’re not mine” – so Sister Sappington took on the job. After that, there were two filing cabinets filled to the brim with more old files which needed shredding . . . and finally, dozens of documents needing to be updated, including the mission emergency plan, a packet of forms and documents for each mission vehicle, the Couples Area Book and lots of other paperwork.

Admittedly neither found much spirituality in these assignments, but recognized the need to get things done and were “willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon” them (Mosiah 3:19). There will be more office work in Guyana but we both believe we “came, saw and conquered” in Trinidad and are now prepared for anything!

(Collage: 20' x 20' murals painted by local artists on the walls of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad)

Saying Goodbye to Mary

There are people we simply believe will always be there because we can’t imagine life without them. Verda Carol Godwin Bradford Howell and Mary Dunn Olsen were two of those people in my life. Both, I thought, would live forever, but my Nana passed away in 2000 and now I have lost Mary, too.

My heart and my brain are having a hard time accepting that my wonderfully creative, beautiful, larger-than-life and one-of-a-kind friend with her big infectious laugh and an even bigger testimony, left us for a better place on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 in Heber City, Utah. She loved serving in the Church and making rag rugs (though not necessarily in that order). Her little business - Persnikity Rugs - supported her hobby; gave her an excuse to travel the country in search of new fabrics; and, she said, was emotionally therapeutic!

My, too infrequent, lunches with Mary are some of my happiest memories. She was one of my dearest friends and I will miss her until we meet again. There will never be another Mary Dunn!

Trekker's Last Weekend

Poor little Trekker! He caught the flu from Elder Grandpa Sappington so on our very last Saturday in Trinidad our Traveling Tiger had to stay home in bed while we explored the island one last time. Along with all the other senior missionaries from the office, we went to Maracas Bay to play in the Caribbean, got caught in yet another rain storm; had bake-and-shark one last time (shhhh, don’t tell Trekker), and took a bunch more pictures around the island!

On Monday (the last day of Easter weekend here in Trinidad) we visited LaVega Botanical Gardens in the heart of the island. The hot sunshine and the good company probably would have been good for him, but he would have come home with a sunburn and that would have made him feel even worse.

Hometown Trade-off

Talk about a small world! The newest – and 19th couple missionaries - in the West Indies Mission are Elder James and Sister Mary Andrus from St. George, Utah. They raised their family in Nevada where they worked side-by-side for more than 35 years building Andrus Transportation, Inc, a family owned long-distance trucking business serving 11 Western states. “From scratch to 350 trucks,” states Sister Andrus who was the company accountant until she had to pack her bags for a mission to the West Indies. For more than three decades, “we didn’t do anything but work . . . at the office, at home and in the Church.”

Sister Andrus has served as president of the Relief Society, Primary and Young Womens program and has had numerous other callings, including teaching. Elder Andrus, a pilot who operated a touring company over the Grand Canyon for a number of years, was recently released from the Bloomington Utah Stake High Council but has also served in Mesquite as a bishop, Elders Quorum president and was a scoutmaster for 17 years, earning scoutings highest award - the Silver Beaver - given to registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth.

The Andrus' will take our place in the mission office in Trinidad. Elder Andrus will replace Elder Sappington as the WIM Finance Secretary making certain bills are paid, missionaries receive their monthly subsistence; and a log is developed and maintained of mission vehicles, apartments and cell phones. Sister Andrus will serve as the WIM Secretary, with particular responsibility for immigration, but will also order materials and supplies, prepare for incoming and departing missionaries and “other duties as assigned.”

Trekker Meets His Cousins

Trekker reminded us almost as soon as the sun came up, we are almost out of Saturdays in Trinidad and he didn't want to spend our Preparation Day washing, shopping for groceries and mopping floors. He wanted to go visit his “family” so we called the Angus’ and the Lusters and headed to the Emperor Valley Zoo located just north of the Savannah in downtown Port-of-Spain. Named for the Emperor butterfly, the zoo opened in November 1952 with only a handful of exhibits. Today the 7.2 acre site is home to exotic birds, reptiles, turtles, an energetic (and muscular) otter, a ferocious looking crocodile and of course – what our Traveling Tiger came to see – big cats. There are no tigers in Trinidad, but Trekker enjoyed meeting several of his cousins - an ocelot and a beautiful big lion with whom he discussed genealogy. It was a very hot day (about 91° and probably about that much humidity) but we enjoyed the company, the chance to skip the housework and the happy discovery of a Cold Stone Creamery in a beautiful upscale mall a few miles from the zoo! It doesn't get much better than this!!!

Trekker Pitches A Fit!

Since we were already half way there, we decided after church at the Couva Ward, we would drive over to Pitch Lake, one of only three naturally occurring – and the largest - tar pits in the world (the other two are in Venezuela and Los Angeles) . It is reputed this circular lake covers approximately 100 acres and may be as deep as 250 feet at its center. To Trekker’s untrained eye, it looked – and smelled – like Pitch Lake is nothing more than a giant parking lot which attracts about 20,000 visitors a year.

Surprisingly, there are some beautiful flowers worth seeing in the middle of the lake, but be careful! Walking on this spongy surface is an interesting and safe experience, but any attempt to drive on it may result in tires sinking down into the oohy, gooey, black tar (also called asphalt or pitch). We got a very informative tour from a couple of self-appointed tour guides who, at the end of our half hour walk, charged us $600 TT’s – about $50 USD apiece – for the privilege.

Pitch Lake has been on our list of things to see before we leave Trinidad in a couple of weeks, but Trekker wasn't impressed. He didn’t like the “bituminous” odor and was considerably unhappy when these two highway robbers told us the cost for our little adventure. To show his displeasure, our Traveling Tiger "trew" a little hissy fit - then reminded us it probably served us right for sightseeing on "da Sabbit” day in Trinidad.

The Language of the Caribbean

Years ago, while working as a freelance writer for St. George Magazine, a group of us created a list of distinctly southern Utah words. After being in the Caribbean for more than 3 months - and as we get ready to leave for Guyana - it feels like the right time to create a list of words specific to Trinidad. Here are some of my favorites from some of my favorite Trinis (notice the pattern of not pronouncing the "th"):

Tron / trew = “to cast away” as in “I trew da ball”

Da = “your paternal unit” or “the” as in “Da Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”

Tree = “the number between two and four”

Tird = “the number between second and fourth”

Tirteen - "the number between twelve and fourteen"

Tankful = “having gratitude” as in “I am tankful for my membership in da church”

Dos / Dis / Deez = those, this or these

Tings = “possessions or objects”

Fait = “to be believing of dos tings not seen”

Scripchas - any of the books of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants or the Pearl of Great Price

Cateedral - a large church

Attority - "they who hold the keys of the kingdom"

Monday and Tuesday - any holiday weekend in Trinidad

Limin' - "kicking back" or "hanging with friends"