Humanitarian Substitutes

February 11, 2013

Elder and Sister Cook

Elder Val and Sister Marsha Cook are the Humanitarian Missionaries.  They were living in the apartment where we are, but when we came they were sent to Suriname to do some projects there.  However, they had started projects here in Guyana.  Because they are in and out of the country we have been helping them with their projects.  Our first project was to find members to help unload a 40 foot shipping container with school kits, hygiene kits, quilts, blankets, clothes, shoes, and sign language books for an organization called The Council of Persons with Disabilities.  We invited the Young Single Adults, and then the Branch Presidents announced it in church so that we could get members there to help.   There were eventually 8 or ten men helping to unload the container into a truck.
     They couldn't find a place to unload the container, so Mr. Rohaman consented to let us use his a spot on his Rohaman Park property.  His buildings are across the street from our Garden Park branch building.  It was a 30 foot by 30 foot place with a roof and a wall on each end.  Thirty or forty  sisters came to help, and eight people from the Council of Persons with Disabilities.
     We were instructed to unload the trucks and put everything in separate piles.  We ordered pizza and fed about 60 for lunch.  The sisters opened the big bundles of clothing from the sort center and separated it into mens, ladies, children, babies, and household items.  Most of them packed a little goodie bag to take home with things they wanted.  After three or four or five trips with the truck everything was unloaded.  We were happy to be done.  Then the leader of the Council group said when we come back tomorrow we can put everything in piles for each of the 25 groups in the Council.  My mouth dropped open because we could have done that during the day.  Our sisters would unload for a while and then sit and wait.  I finally told her that we would come back on Wednesday and bring the Elders and arrange it in piles for each group.  I told the sisters that we wouldn't need them to come back.
On Wednesday, our 10 Georgetown Elders came, and most of the sisters came back.  The council leader had invited them back.  We worked hard all day.  The Elders had to load a truck and take a bunch of the stuff to be stored at the Center for the Blind.  The Elders were throwing those boxes around in a chain line.  The sisters did that also, on the Monday.  We got everything put into 25 piles for the different groups.  The sisters turned out to be very useful because they had to put a little of every kind of clothing in one bag for each of the groups, and they packed another bag of goodies to take home. We ordered pizza again.  Because the place was not large enough we put down pallets with big pieces of plywood on them and piled the things on that.  Mr. Rohaman had his workers put up a tent.

Kendrick from LaGrange.

Natasha Algu

Sister Goodluck and Sister Chin and others.

Some of the wonderful sisters who helped.

Mark Cuehlo, who left on his mission this morning, Bro.
Crookshank, who has a gold mining operation, Elder Beecher, President
Reese from the Garden Park branch, Bro. Braithwaite, and Bro. Beharry.

Elder Gines, Elder McClain, Elder Mecham, Elder Anderson (in the back), Elder Reise,
Elder Babb, Elder Andreamanantena and Elder Wilson. Elder Nedd and Elder Giddings were gone unloading the truck.

     That night the rain poured down and some of the boxes got wet and the piles tipped over.  The next day the Cooks came and they had a Handing Over Ceremony where they invited the news and had speeches to celebrate the gift.  Mr. Walcott who is over the Council and rides a fancy red scooter type wheel chair came.  President Pooran from our District Presidency spoke among others.  There were about 20 students from a deaf school who came, and many of the disabled council members.  They were happy to receive all the items.  We were happy to hand it over to them.  We felt like it was a very successful project.  We had so many there and they all worked together.  We made some new friends on the Council and they came this past week to our Vision project.  We enjoyed being able to work together with everyone.