Our Last Play Day

It came as a big surprise when we were invited to dinner at the Cooks on Monday night, to discover we – along with Elder Kenrick and Sister Rose Benn (who will go home to Georgetown on June 9) – were the guests-of-honor! The Summers came over from Linden and the Treseders arrived from Berbice for a delicious spaghetti-feed followed by some good conversation and planning for Tuesday when we would all get together for a play day! 

Sister Sappington’s “mystery trips” included climbing about a million stairs to the top of the 103-foot Georgetown lighthouse for a beautiful view of the city and of the Atlantic Ocean! From there, we traveled to St. George's Cathedral (we had been there before, but some of the couples had not had the pleasure). Then we popped in for a quick tour of the Umana Yana Conference Center where a group of world leaders gathered some years ago. We also enjoyed a VIP tour of the Guyana Parliament Building in downtown Georgetown. Built by the Dutch 182 years ago and later occupied by the English, it has been the seat of Guyana’s government since the country was granted independence in 1966!

Guyana doesn’t have many tourist attractions, but these few simple side trips - on what is likely to be the last play day of our mission - have been on our things-to-do list since we got here! And, it was a delight to share these little adventures with the couples with which we serve. We will certainly miss them when we go home!

PEF Sign Up and Renewal Pizza Party

On Friday night at the Georgetown YSA Center we held our much anticipated PEF Sign Up and Renewal Pizza Party. Brothers Rufino Diaz and Henry Batiste came from the DR to be with us and to share their testimonies of this great work, information about bank fees and other PEF issues with fourteen students in attendance, as well as new members of the Guyana Country Committee. Just prior to the meeting, our 28th student hit the “submit” button. By the time the pizza arrived we had started signing up another 8-10 students, but had problems with our internet connection at the branch, so only got to start 3 new applications – rescheduling the rest of the students for this week. 

Alexis is working on some issues with her branch president, but promises she will be ready to sign up in a month or two.

Temica and Marissa went home without signing up because I refused to consider their suggestion of cosmetology school.  They need to do more homework because Temica LOVES sports and should go into something like sports medicine or physical therapy.  Marissa is very artistic and really wants to be involved in some field where she can design and create.  Cosmetology?  What are they thinking?  Sheesh, I couldn't live with myself!

We worried we would have a party and no one would come . . . or worse yet, that we would have too many show up, but all-in-all it was a great event as we come to the end of our time in Guyana!

Mothers Day

Today there were several happy Mommas based on the number of Skype calls made by missionaries serving here in Guyana!  As on Christmas Day, our missionaries provided us with their mothers’ Skype name, then we set up our five laptops at the Church so each young man could talk to the one who gave them life as well as to grandparents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, neighbors and probably even a girlfriend or two - all gathered together at home around the computer screen!

Sister Georgina Augustine (Diamond Branch) was so eager, when she arrived at the Prashad Nagar chapel, to talk to all of her 3 missionaries.  Her son Elder Milton Stephen is serving in Berbice; her younger son Elder Aron Stephen is serving in Demerara and her daughter Francilene Esteves, is currently serving in Rio de Janerio, Brazil .  She spoke by Skype to one son, enjoyed a face-to-face conversation with her second son, but unfortunately we were unable to connect with the daughter in Brazil.  She was very disappointed, but in true Guyanese fashion, she took it in stride!

Closer to my heart, I also had the happy opportunity to catch up on family news from home by way of Skype. I talked to my own mother and later saw the beautiful faces of most of my kids, including Kaytee, Kelly, Michael and David.  Stacy tried to call, but we never did connect!  All-in-all, it was a lovely day! 

Grandpa's Waffles at the YSA Center

With Mothers’ Day right around the corner, I thought it a good idea to fix “breakfast for dinner” for our Young Single Adults while encouraging them to share stories about their mothers (although some of them haven’t seen their mothers in a decade).  We made Master Mix and syrup from scratch, then served up dozens of waffles and hot cakes to kids who had never experienced either!  The Guyanese are usually not excited about sweets but seemed to enjoy trying something new.  So, it would seem, Grandpa’s Waffles (made by Grandma) are a hit at home in St. George, at Cuz’N Camp . . . and now at the YSA Center in Georgetown, Guyana!

Pictured in the upper right includes Adolphus Rogers, Candacse Grenada, Kela (Sophie) Henry, Christopher Jordan, and Zitronie George.  Also pictured (center, second row) Ronetta Mentore and Naomi Fraser. 

Whitney Graduates!

We are soooooo proud of our precious Whitney who graduated along with her 8,366 classmates from the  University of Utah on Friday, May 4 with a bachelor’s degree in "Health, Society and Policy" (formerly "Behavioral Science and Health").  

Whitney says her "future plans include getting a puppy.  That's a definite.  I'm thinking about joining the Peace Corps and doing some traveling.  Master's Degree (if I can find a company to do tuition reimbursement and/or scholarships and/or save up enough money) will be in Anthropology."

Whitney has worked hard for this honor and looks forward to a bright future as she was reminded in the commencement address by Ed Catmull -  the U’s most famous alum - “you all have the potential to be great!”  The president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and co-founder and president of Pixar Animation Studio (“Toy Story” / “Monsters, Inc.” / “Finding Nemo” /  “Up”) also told the grads “there will be ups and downs, but the goal is to keep moving forward!”

Like so many other graduates – at the “U” and across the nation – Whitney is likely to see some employment struggles ahead in the nation’s current difficult economy.   

NOTE:  Pictures were taken by the Deseret News so are not very clear (because they are protected), but still pretty fun!!!

Another graduation was also held on Friday, May 4 in Guyana.  From left, Heather Baveghens, Lorraine Jacobs, Christine Braithwaite, Vicky Ramsay, and Zitronie George graduated today from what I believe is probably my last 20-hour / 2-week Secretary School. Heather is a 54-year-old who sits in a security booth in the dark of the night. She doesn’t read well and is difficult to understand, but is a very nice woman, loves the Church and is anxious to have a better life. Her sister Lorraine has been a teacher, worked in a hospital emergency room and was one of the most enthusiastic students – frequently smiling and saying, “wow” and “ooohh” with everything she was able to do on the computer. Christine and Vicky are both beautiful, bright jobseekers. Zitronie (not pictured) is about to graduate from the University of Guyana with a degree in Communications . . . and wants to go to law school. A fun and energetic group with which to end this “university of secretary work!”

May Day in Anna Regina

Trekker is fur-ious because he didn’t get to go along on our excursion today to Anna Regina, a town of about 12,000 residents at the confluence of the Essiquibo River and the Atlantic Ocean!  Elder Val and Sister Marsha Cook needed to go upriver to deliver humanitarian service supplies to a non-profit organization and invited us to come along!  Since it was May Day / Guyana Labor Day, we decided to take the day off to accept their invitation.  We rode for an hour in the car and another hour by speedboat, then hired a charming Muslim mini-bus driver for several delightful hours exploring the countryside.  It was a beautiful day - although we had an enormous rainstorm to usher in the rainy season – got a little sunburned, played and enjoyed lunch at Lake Mainstay, one of Guyana’s famous and most beautiful “black” water lakes, while feeling tremendously guilty all day for leaving our traveling tiger at home!  

So sorry, Trekker!  Maybe next time . . .

How We Spent Our Easter Monday

Easter is a favorite holiday here in Guyana . . . because it means 4 days off work for most people. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are usually spent partying with friends, but Easter Monday is the day families gather for picnics in the park and kite flying!
 

In the spirit of the day, we decided to spend our Easter Monday working at Sister Mala Bramdeo’s house. This feisty little single mom built her own house, put up her fence (with the help of her 14-year-old son Avanash), and is in the process of doubling the size of her home so each of them can have a bedroom instead of her sharing her room with 9-year-old Anthony and Avanash sleeping in a hammock in the kitchen. Her yard (on the property she owns outright) is a saucer-shape where rain water puddles, causing flooding from time to time. But, she wants to put in a garden and raise chickens (fryers and layers), so we gathered with three missionary companionships (E/S Sappington, E/S Cook, Elders Anderson, Rollins, Durfee and Hall) to move a big pile of dirt from the street to the low spots in her yard. It was a hot, sweaty day involving dozens of wheelbarrows full of dirt, blisters, sun burn and brownies – while we were always mindful “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.”

Our Boys in Guyana

Approximately two-thirds of the missionaries in Guyana were together on Conference weekend. What a fine group of young men they are, from left (back row) Elders Hartshorn, Rodney, Anderson, Andriamanantena, Ward, McClain, Stephen, Peck, Larsen, (front row, from left) Rollins, Khan, Porter, Ramdeholl and . Those from Berbice were not with us. These soldiers in the Army of Helaman are some of the best young men we have ever worked with! Each has left his mark on our hearts!

Secretary School Grads!

Another 2-week, 20-hour Secretary School has concluded with the "graduation" of five students, including (from left) Vanessa Chance, a mother of 7 who has been working as a nighttime security guard for more than 8 years and who desperately wants a job in the daylight. Other class members were Alexis Lespeur, a 19-year-old single mother with very few skills; Marissa Waterman, a talented dancer who will finish high school in May with 7 CXC’s and a bright future;Wanita Hussain, the oldest daughter of Vanessa Chance; and Temica Waterman, an outstanding athlete but not a great academic. As with all our other students, we have learned to love this vivacious group and hope anything we have been able to teach them will make a difference in their life!

Indexing . . . My New Favorite Hobby

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE genealogical research, but as a fulltime missionary I do not have time or access to records. "It will just have to wait until I get home," I have told myself numerous times since arriving in Guyana. But, an article ("A Call for Indexers Worldwide") in the March 2012 “The Liahona” magazine recently caught my attention. Indexing has now become my new favorite hobby!!!

Indexing is the process of reading digitized versions of physical records – such as census, vital, probate and church records – and keying the information each record contains into an online searchable database, making it possible for members and other family history researchers to easily locate their ancestors’ information on the internet.

Since this program was first introduced in 2006, volunteer indexers have transcribed 800 million records. But the work is far from done. The Granite Mountain Records Vault in Salt Lake City (in Big Cottonwood Canyon, not far from our home in the Granite Ward in Sandy) has more than 15 BILLION records filmed and waiting for indexing.

I have set a personal goal to transcribe 2000 records before we leave for home on June 27, 2012. It is quick and easy to do. So far I have transcribed 265 Texas death records for the year of 1957!

It is something I can do in quiet moments in the evening, the early morning hours when I can't sleep or while traveling in the car. It is so much more fun and rewarding than playing Solitaire!!!