April 7, 2013
Dear President Mehr,
We hope you and Sister Mehr are doing well. We really
enjoyed General Conference yesterday and will again today. We marvel at the
great messages and incredible uplift the messages give us. I called, too late, to invite an investigator
to the Saturday Priesthood session. He decided that it was too late to attend
the “Gents” meeting, but is going to try to come today. All through the
Priesthood session I thought about how appropriate it would have been to have
had him there. I had an older fellow, an investigator, come sit between Elder
Beutler and me. He attended all three sessions and said that he has been
looking for the truth and the true Church for a long time. He was planning on attending today all the
sessions. I hope the Elders will find a good friend for him.
The CXC preparation classes for at least English and Math
(they call it Maths) will start this week. The teachers are very excited about
teaching these classes. They are giving
up two to five hours a week to teach these classes. There are classes scheduled
on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at three locations. The
teachers want to teach other subjects as well, including Biology, Chemistry, Microsoft
Office, Office Administration, and Information Technology. Many of the branches
are trying to start Literacy classes. Another miracle: Brother Stuart teaches
CXC classes as his profession. He came
up to us after our CXC meeting a week ago last Friday and volunteered to teach
at least English and Maths. He has felt
for some time like he should be teaching the Saints. The local people are going
to make this happen. We are giving support where we can. They need
organizational help. We were in Suriname with the Cooks last week and are
trying to figure out a Humanitarian Grant to defray initial costs and to plan a
way to make the on-going expenses so they can be paid by a YSA market. We need
to make this project self-sustaining. The YSA or CXC students would sell
products and then use a portion to cover costs for the CXC classes. Some of the
PEF students might be able to make some money to pay towards their loans. There
are soooo many details to work out in this project. In Africa they have been
doing these little markets with good success. The people involved find a
location, sell their products, and use a portable stand that has a cover.
I was feeling pretty discouraged about the turnout to the
CXC fireside, how late people were coming to the fireside, how difficult it was
to contact key people for at least the two weeks prior to the fireside, but the
speakers did well and the message got across.
It turned out well. Our YSA
presented a musical about the wickedest man in the Book of Mormon. It was crazy to get the play to come together
and some people who had practiced regularly did not come the night of the
performance, including some who had major roles. Some cast members were being “moody” and were
not going to help out. It was a nightmare. There were miracles and the play
turned out well. The audience loved it
and so did the cast. Last night I was
asked if they could present it again on May 6th because “more people
need to see it.”
Some of our PEF students are having difficulty making
payments and getting credit for their payments.
We are working on getting those issues resolved. We were contacted by
Wegeners, the Roberts’ replacements in Trinidad, last Friday and they are going
to help with several problems. Just when we need help, it arrives. We also heard from SLC and will be getting
some new information from them. We also
heard from Brother Negron from Puerto Rico and he is planning on a visit in
May. He will train our new district
Employment and Education Specialist, Sister Merlene Johnson. One interesting
note is she has worked as a nurse for many years. She is a supervisor and
midwife who makes $300 US a month. When
we say we need to help people get their CXC classes taken care of and then a
seasoned nurse supervisor only makes $300 a month it puts things into
perspective for me how little money they have to make ends meet. Sister Johnson
gave a stirring talk about education and how important it is to strive for
excellence. I wish more people could have heard her. She took her CXC exams
after she had been a nurse for many years at the age of 47. As a result, I
think some of our prospective CXC students are older than the Young Single
Adults.
We are still plugging away with piano lessons. Our students who practice are doing
well. We have some that we need to find
a way to motivate. We have 7 boys and
one dad we are working with. The
youngest boy is 11, and the oldest is 15
and then our WIM RM, Keon Taylor. They
are getting pretty good at leading music and enjoy getting a chance to do that
or looking forward to playing the prelude and postlude music.
We have had a few job placements. Communication is a major
stumbling block. Sometimes people, even in responsible positions, do not
respond to phone calls, text messages, nor e-mails. Trying to visit them in
person is also a bit tricky. Even when
you think there has been clear communication there might be a glitch. We all
might be speaking English, however the communicating is challenging. How can I
express these feelings without it sounding like complaining? This month has
been a month with lots of MIRACLES and frustrations.
Love, Elder and Sister Beecher
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