14-16 November 2016
Off we go!
“..he shall direct my paths”
This day was consumed by an all-day trip from Salt Lake City to Trinidad and Tobago. The flight from SLC to Houston was pleasant and the airlines gave us pleasant seats, and the lady at the gate had a missionary empathized with us, and assigned us to 2 upgraded seats. We were delayed in Houston, where we met up with several young elders who were also going to the same mission. We were supposed to arrive in Trinidad at 9:00 pm but a flight delay got us there around midnight.
My favorite part of this airport experience was when we (all the missionaries) were standing in line to board and my slip fell off. As I felt it falling I told the elders, “Don’t look!” because I was trying to pull it up. Of course, that made them all look, and one elder turned bright red. I don’t know if he was embarrassed because he was a missionary looking at a woman’s underwear, or because he was standing by a crazy woman. Graciously, one elder mentioned how his pants once fell off to make me feel better. It really didn’t make me feel better. But inside I was kind of laughing. So I just stepped out of the slip, wadded it up and bolted for the nearby ladies room where I made a great basketball-style slam-dunk into the round hole in the counter where the trash can was. (I guess that elastic WAS a little stretched out.)
My least favorite was when, after arriving at the Trinidad airport, I was selected for the go-through-every-penny-ante-item in my luggage extremely thoroughly. I felt violated having some man pawing through all my carefully packed stuff. Then going through immigration was also unpleasant and they seemed to take an extra long time with each missionary. Those people did not smile. It was such a relief to finally be picked up by President Egbert and go to his home and be served Sister Egbert’s best chicken salad sandwich ever.
After a day of training we left Wednesday morning early for Guyana. Guyana has proven to have a surprise for me around every corner. I hope some of you enjoy reading about my experiences as I try to serve the people here and try to follow the Lord. I’m happy in my heart.
16-19 November 2016
First Days in Guyana - Getting Oriented (Barely)
“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
The Neils, (missionaries in Barbados, formerly serving here) took us some places we’ll be working in the capital city, Georgetown. This orientation proved to be very helpful, but also overwhelming. We'll be working on some projects where we met with partners, including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, a deaf and blind school, a 1 room classroom "school" for autistic children, an orthopedic hospital (Ptolemy-Reid), and a school for drop-outs run by an 85 year old woman (who was grief-stricken that Hillary Clinton lost the US election). Tom got a brief “How to Drive with the Steering Wheel on the Right and Down the Left Side of the Road.” Then the Fry’s took us from Georgetown to Berbice where we live. We were met at our house by 12 missionaries who went into the house for a televised Zone Conference where the technology didn’t work until the broadcast was half over. The missionaries left after a couple of hours, and I was grateful Sister Fry cooked dinner. Finally, after the Fry’s returned to Georgetown the next day we could unpack and settle in.
Settling In
“Entreat the Lord that he may take the frogs away from me…”
I feel overwhelmed, grateful, sad, inspired, happy all at once. I live in a semi-rural area near New Amsterdam in a house on masonry pillars. It is a nice house for here and I've spent some time cleaning and getting it liveable. My favorite thing was getting acquainted with the little frogs that lived near the kitchen door. And cleaning up lizard poopoos (look like mouse turds). Not. I plugged in my ultrasonic pest control thingies and that seems to help. But they still get in and the frogs are tricky. They are about an inch and a half long, but can jump 10 feet directly into a hiding place where you can’t find them! I’m not afraid of them, but they startle me.
We live next to a cow path where the cows are driven to pasture in the morning and return in the afternoon. I have one favorite that I've "named" Maybelle. She is always far behind, long after the rest of the herd has gone back, and she comes bellowing and complaining. She must like just taking her sweet time. There are cows, goats, dogs, chickens, even occasional pigs that cross back and forth over busy roads at their leisure, but it seem like they are just a part of the system of things. There are donkey and horse driven carts mingled with bikes and cars. All this on a 2 lane highway where there don't seem to be any rules.
Gentle Giant
“As a hen gathereth her chicks”
I was outside this morning cleaning off the stairs and I heard a baby bird chirping close by so I went to find it and I saw it in the middle of the street. It was a little downy chick. I started to open the gate to get it out of the road but a huge truck was coming and I knew it was done for. But to my surprise this burly truck driver stopped his truck in the middle of the road, got out and gently picked up the chick and put it in the cab of the truck with him. I was very touched by that.
Money
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s”
Attempting to get our finances figured out was a challenge. We had to try several banks until we found an ATM that would accept our credit cards. Learning a new economic system is interesting, but we feel much better now that we can actually buy food and gas! This is a cash society and very few businesses take credit or debit cards. If you buy something in a "department store" a clerk takes you to find what you're looking for, then she carries it, to another clerk where she hand writes something in an inventory, then the first clerk takes a receipt from the inventory recorder downstairs to the counter where they set your items aside, and then they take the receipt to a lady in an office cage with protective bars, then you pay her in cash, then she records it, then she gives you the receipt and you go back to the counter, show the receipt and get your purchase. Oy. So many stories.
It's fun to buy a some vegetables for $3600.
24 November 2016
Thanksgiving Day
“Cease not to give thanks”
I had a Thanksgiving Day I'll never forget. I visited with some people who live in a wooden shack tiny shack balanced on wood pillars. Most of the paint was weathered off. There was no glass in the windows. As a traditional sign of respect I removed my shoes to enter their over-a-century-old home. I climbed the rickety stairs. They invited me to sit down on a hammock (in the same small room as the kitchen.) The "kitchen" consisted of a wooden board with a "sink" which is an old enameled metal bowl, the enamel chipped, the bowl rusting. They had no indoor plumbing, but they had an outhouse with a rusty corrugated roof to match the roof on the house. This is a common condition. I could see there was only one other room, which had a mattress on the floor without any sheets or blankets. But this dear sister's home was very tidy. The family was very sweet. They recently had a chicken project which the Church’s self-reliance program had help them begin, but sadly, a big chicken producing company undercut their prices and they had to sell their small flock at a loss. They were so sweet to me. One of the daughters gave me a tamarind pod off their tree and I tasted the seed. It was kind of sour in a pleasant kind of way and the texture reminded me of dates. I told the little girl it reminded me of a sour candy the kids like in the United States. She knew the kind of candy and ran to fetch a little sun-faded empty plastic container which she had saved or found which she was very proud of. I wanted to cry.
I feel thankful for all my blessings. Yet, I have so much respect for those who survive everyday and find happiness and express gratitude for the Lord and His blessings.
Sunday, 27 November 2016
A Lesson in Faith
“O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
Sunday when I went to RS, the sister conducting asked me to give the lesson. Yikes, zero prep time. She gave me a book and said to teach the lesson about faith, so I did to all 5 of the sisters. I asked them if they had any stories where they had shown faith and the Lord blessed them. They were amazing. One had a bad car accident which left her blind. One sister's granddaughter was near death with pneumonia and she took her to the hospital and the doctor said death was imminent. Another had serious pain and prayed for it to go away and found out she had a kidney stone via and ultrasound. The first sister regained her sight after putting her faith in the Lord for healing. The second sister brought her grand-daughter home from the hospital 4 days later. The third sister went in for her surgery and they did another scan and there was no stone. These are simple, sincere, but faithful women. Then I asked what if they weren't healed or their prayers weren't answered that way. Would they lose faith? I told them the story of Reno Mahe's little girl and how the faith and prayers of many were for her and that even the BYU stadium was full of people wearing pink ribbons for her and praying for her. One sister said, "I would be thankful I had three years of my beautiful baby. I would thank the Lord that he thought enough of me that I could care for her if she wasn't healed." (This was before I heard the little girl was failing.) Seriously, how do people survive without knowledge of the Lord.
1 Dec 2016
Martin Luther
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
While I was at a store today (kind of like Dollar General only with aisles about 2 feet wide and packed with everything organized in a most unusual manner) to find mops for 2 missionary apartments I said something about getting them for friends in Canje and the lady says, "Canje branch?" I said, "Oh that's where the church is, and we're missionaries." She said, "I know my daughter goes there." I said, "You should come join us." She said, "No I am a Lutheran." I said, "Oh, my grandfather was a Lutheran minister, and he was a mad when my mom joined the Mormon church." She said she was mad at first, too, when her daughter joined, but now she has decided the Lord works things out. Anyway, I thought it was interesting. The stores are crazy. They have a lot of knock off stuff from China, and stuff isn't generally of good quality. I would say that 90% of the clothing is donated secondhand stuff from the US. It is so funny to see t-shirts with all kinds of US stuff on them. They hang the clothes all over the market stalls along with artificial flowers, drapes, toys, stuff - and in front of the stores.
3 Dec 2016
To Market to Market
“By their fruits ye shall know them”
I fed a couple of missionaries today (they eat everything) and went to the market for some veggies. It is crazy on Saturdays. It's literally like everybody is going to a football game and all the traffic and people. What a conglomeration of smells, people, stuff, noise, etc. My favorite booth was of tree bark that is used for medicinal purposes. People here are self-reliant, and somehow they get by. They don't have any welfare, so many are poor, but they aren't on TV complaining about minimum wage or their Obamaphone. A lot of people have a prepaid phones and there are many little places to "top up" and add minutes. Berbice (kind of a county) is very poor compared to the Georgetown area, but I'm getting more used to a lot of things. (Not the weather, however. It was 95 today with a "feels like" factor of 110.)
4 Dec 2016
Learning the Lingo
“Confound their languages”
Today I went to 2 different branches, more like twigs. (Branches are very small congregations of the Church.) I'm trying to understand the dialects. English is the language here I imagine they must have to strain to understand me, too. They glump words together and have a heavy accent. They don't finish sentences, because they assume the ending of sentences should be understood. I have to ask them to speak their names slowly. Some names are familiar but others, like Jaglall, Fashti, Keifa, Ramnavine or Pulmati are harder for me to remember. (I wrote them down.) Two examples are some say "me" instead of I, as "Me go shoppin," or “shatonka” for Sheet Anchor, which is the name of a village. They greet you by saying, "Good morning morning" as though the first "Good morning" is an adjective. Today as members were talking they were discussing the branch Christmas party and kept talking about making sure the corn was on, and kept saying the corn needed to work. I asked the guy what was corn. I said, "The lights?" Then he said "Yah yah," and I could tell he thought I was an idiot. So later I asked a different guy and he said the "cornt" is the power/electricity. Oh, duh, the current! I get the gist of most of it, but for now I'm learning.
Clean Up
“We have work enough to do ‘til the sun goes down.”
This work here is very challenging, and no one has been here for several years and there are open projects that haven't been closed. For example, there's an old folks home that is supposed get a fridge and a stove. One of the requirements is for the branch to have a way to secure them in the building (i.e., have locks on the door) but no one has done it, so the appliances sit in storage. Oh, and there's only one 95 year old man in the place. The church is big on having the recipients do their part of the bargain. Another is a vision project that was begun 3 years ago and there's some equipment stored in a hospital and some eye doctors are coming and we got put in charge of it, but we don't know where the equipment is, how many doctors will be trained, who will benefit from procedures, who the contact people are, etc. This is more like being a detective. Also, some projects don't get off the ground with the local people because they have to fill out a bunch of forms (but some people can't read) and it gets bogged down. Etc. Anyway, it is an experience for sure!
Sisters in Zion
“The errand of angels”
The sisters are dear, for sure. They greet you by holding your hand and kissing your cheek. They are so faithful. Yesterday at the market I saw one of the sisters sitting at the roadside selling just ginger - she was sitting on the ground amidst many many other people selling fruits, vegetables, animals, baked goods, fish, clothes, etc. All she had to sell was ginger. She was so happy I recognized her. The brothers all wear white shirts and ties and people dress in their very best for church, but some are barefoot. They have to walk in the heat of day, or pay a taxi. There is basically one main paved road with little dirt roads that go into the little villages. The little children are so cute and have huge dark eyes.
6 Dec 2016
Where I Live
“eastward in Eden”
The house we live in is nice by local standards. It is fairly big with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and a big long room that goes from a sitting area to a dining area to the kitchen. It has hardwood floors that are shiny varnished. There are lots of quirks - light switches to nowhere, hot and cold labeled red for cold and blue for hot, you can see daylight between the floorboards, horrible lighting (My guess is the globalists made this a "green" country and dumped all leftover first manufactured curly light bulbs that everyone hated because they either make you look like a ghost or a green Martian). The furniture is vintage retro mismatch chic. The people before us left every imaginable set of seminary and institute books, worksheets, forms, folders, application papers, lesson manuals, old videos and equipment that doesn't work....all outdated. But hey, you should see the stereo with jammed CD changer, 2 big speakers, plus a bonus. A sub-woofer! I tried the tape decks with some old church music tapes, but either the tape is degraded or the winders don't work. But it is great for making long curlicues. The radio has one station and at lunch they list a bunch of little restaurants and what is on the menu for lunch. However, the Christmas tree lights work. Everyday some water seeps up or leaks out from no discernible source onto the bathroom floor. And although I have ultrasonic pest control units plugged in every room and the bug spray guy came we still have plenty of visitors. Yesterday I encountered 3 magically disappearing little frogs and one lizard that showed up on the stovetop as I was cooking the gourmet meal for the day. The house is on a busy street (there is only one main road) and you can hear everything in stereo. There is a filter on the kitchen spigot so that's where I brush my teeth. The house, like most houses is up on the 2nd level, with parking underneath. Or some people sleep in hammocks underneath. Also, they wash clothes and hang their laundry underneath. A nice breeze blows through and clothes dry fast. I actually enjoy hanging the clothes out and taking them down. I am lucky to have a washer. Many hand wash everything in tubs or big pans. Very laborious.
We live next to a cow path where the cows are driven to pasture in the morning and return in the afternoon. I have one favorite that I've "named" Maybelle. She is always far behind, long after the rest of the herd has gone back, and she comes bellowing and complaining. She must like just taking her sweet time. There are cows, goats, dogs, chickens, even occasional pigs that cross back and forth over busy roads at their leisure, but it seem like they are just a part of the system of things. There are donkey and horse driven carts mingled with bikes and cars. All this on a 2 lane highway where there don't seem to be any rules.
