St. Cuthbert's Mission with the Carters

January 4, 2014

St. Cuthbert's is an Amerindian Village somewhere between the Lindon Highway and Mahaicony on the East Coast of Guyana.  They have a big celebration there on an Amerindian holiday.  We missed that celebration with dancing, crafts, and food, but it was still an interesting place to visit.  We had talked about the fun time we had going there with Elder and Sister Bird, so Elder and Sister Carter invited us to make the trip with them.  There is barely a road to get there.  It is more like a wide trail.  On the fourth of January, during the rainy season, there were patches of the road covered with deep water.  Once we got going we decided to keep going because there was as much water behind us as ahead of us.
This was a momentous trip because we saw a black jaguar.  It quickly crossed the trail ahead of us and disappeared into the tall grass.
We had a fun time with Elder and Sister Carter and stocked up on hand woven grass baskets and crafts.

The water came 4 or 5 inches up on the bottom of the doors.  We prayed for dry weather for trip back out from the village!

Sister Beecher, three Amerindian Craft ladies, Sister Carter and Elder Carter

Beautiful orchids

The actual road is under water. We drove along side of the road for a short distance.

Elder and Sister Carter

Public Affairs Opportunities

January and February 2014
We made so many wonderful friends in the community.  We celebrated with them the good times and sad times. 
One of our friends is Cynthia Massey, director of the Ptolemy Reid Center for the Disabled.  We also loved her associate there, Mrs. Simmons, who loves to sing in a local choir.  They distribute many wheelchairs for the Church.  At Cynthia's facility, she has a boarding school for some of the students, and other students who just come there for school.  They had just completed a new building for classrooms for older students.  They even had a band room.  They have two men, Dewayne, and Dave, who make prosthetics and another fellow who makes hearing aids.  Cynthia is really an amazing woman.  We visited one day when they were having a Christmas Party and Santa was there giving gifts to at least 200 children and others.  On this day, we were there to represent the Church, for the dedication of the wonderful new school building

The Minister of Education

Students Performing

The head teacher

President Ramotar - President of Guyana

Cynthia Massey

January19th a nun unexpectedly died and a few days later we went to the funeral of Sister Mary Joselta M.C.  She was young, only about 47.  She was the best friend and assistant of Sister Leonice who is the Mother Superior of the 5 nuns who live at the Nunnery.  These two nuns worked together to build the care facility for the 20 elderly  ladies they took care of. They ran a dat care for about 40 young children and had an herb garden. They also had a day care center and were working on establishing a soup kitchen.  They did an amazing work.  We loved Sister Leonice, and went to the funeral to represent the Church and to give her support.  We had a few good friends in the congregation.  The funeral was very sweet.  At one point they sang a song about friends and everyone was shaking hands with those around them.   We were really impressed with the wonderful spirit.

Meet the Neighbors

Today Mrs. Lorene Grant (in the middle), who's husband was the US Ambassador from Guyana, invited us to tea.  She lives next to BK International who owns four houses across from us and east of her.  She invited Gwen, who lives two houses to the west of us; Sybil, who lives down a block around the corner on the Eastern Highway, and her cousin who lives in Kitty a few months of the year.

Mrs. Grant has been telling us for months, "Oh, I must invite you to tea." A couple of weeks ago we set up an actual time and day for tea. She surprised us by inviting others, had fresh flowers, and a variety of baked pastries; pine tarts, cheese tarts, salt fish sandwiches, watermelon, ice cream, cucumber and ginger drink, and more.  We took some bran muffins to add to the menu.

We had a delightful time.  The three on the right are widows and we told them about eternal marriage in our temples:)   Gwen and her husband lived in London, Africa, etc.  She taught a nursing Masters class at the University of Guyana.  Her husband has a college in town.  Mrs. Grant and her husband lived in several places in Africa, London, and in Washington D.C. for nine years. She and her husband used to take some of their guests to drive past the Washington D.C. Temple. She loved the Temple's Christmas programs with several choirs. Mrs. Grant's cousin spent 9 years living in India with her husband, and she spends half of her time in the Bronx, New York City.

Sybil told us a great story.  We were talking about how safe the neighborhood is.  She lives alone now that her husband has passed away.  One morning about 7:30, she was awakened by a noise in another bedroom.  She got up to investigate.  As she walked out of her bedroom the robber walked out of another bedroom.  She said sweetly, "Good morning".  He said "Good morning, Granny."  She said, "Let me show you how you get out of this house."  She walked down and got the keys and opened the front door.  He thanked her and walked out, then ran and climbed over the fence and was gone!  She found out that he had found a ladder in the shed and climbed up to a second story window.  He removed the slats of glass to be able to climb in the window.  She said that the detective was still laughing at her story as he climbed on his motorcycle to leave.  She said that she was really blessed, she didn't even feel afraid. A month or so later we met her at Bernice Mansel's wedding anniversary celebration. She introduced us to her daughter, also a guest, as her Mormon friends. She was dressed in finest green brocade gown and her emerald jewelry. 

Mrs. Grant told us that she listens to "Blurred Lines" as she walks.  She was very animated as she showed us how it makes her feel energetic.  We had an absolutely delightful time!  We tried to  introduce the elders to these new friends.

Chris and Marissa's wedding

Boxing Day 2013

Chris, son of President and Sister Chin, and Marissa were married.  They have been building their home in the Chin's back yard for at least a year.  He is a barber, and she teaches school.  They were a very popular couple.  There were 6 groomsmen and 6 bridesmaids who walked down the isle as couples and were followed by the bride and her brother Kurtis Charles.  The outfits were glamorous and the decorations festive.  After the ceremony which consisted of several speakers and then the vows, they took pictures and then had a big sit down dinner.  We were wowed by the colors.

President Chin, Olivia Chin, Grandma, Marissa, Chris, Auntie, Sister Chin, and Chris' father.

Sabrina, Jamal Sobers, and Melissa Gaspar

Jared Crookshank, ? , and Teresa Singh

Love the colors!

Marissa had a beautiful Modest dress.

The Guyanese love to dress up.  Sister Reese is in the orange dress.

The cultural hall looked great.  Nelson Nurse did the decorations.

Christmas with the Elders

On Christmas Eve day, we and Elder and Sister Surujbhan, prepared Christmas dinner for the Elders.  Elder Surujbhan made beef stew and chicken curry and puri (a flat bread with chick peas in it).  Sister Surujbhan made pepperpot ( a popular meat dish made with a cow's face and cassava syrup and spices).  She also cut up fruit and brought soda pop.  We cooked a ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, jello, and a cake.  It was an interesting mix.
The Elder's were so excited to watch their movie, that they brought the television outside where we were eating under the carport.  We watched "Despicable Me" and laughed a lot.

Christmas dinner under the carport.

Combination Guyanese/American Menu

The Guyanese leave the bones in - maybe it gives more flavor.

Mesmerized by the movie, "Despicable Me"

Elder Loewen, Elder Anderson, Elder Moya, Elder Egbert, and Elder Laney playing the white elephant gift exchange game.

Most exciting gifts; the helping hands t-shirt, ties, aprons.  Least exciting was a jar of change.  The largest coin they make is $10.00 which is worth a nickle.

Starting left, Elder Stephen, Elder Hodgkinson, Elder Loewen, Elder Egbert, Elder Anderson , Elder Moya, Elder Ramdahne, Brother Mingo, Elder and Sister Surujbhan, Elder Laney, me, and in the front Elder Patetefa, and Brother Semple.

Christmas Day, the Elders came over to skype with their families.

My most vivid memory:  I popped out with at least 75 chigger bites.  We still had a wonderful Christmas and got to visit with most of our children.

Visit to St. Cuthbert's Mission

November 7, 2013

Elder Beecher in the tourist shop, looking like an Amerindian warrior!

Elder and Sister Bird came to visit and we started off on our adventure.

The clouds were beautiful.  The road was long and desolate.  The red sand reminded us of southern Utah:)

Finally after 45 minutes or so some signs of life.

Love the clothes flapping in the breeze.

We visited the village store and met a couple sweet ladies.

One lady demonstrated how they make their baskets.  They dye the grasses and make beautiful designs.

We were good customers.

Here we are in front of their gathering place.  They have a big celebration in September for Amerindian Days.

Elder and Sister Bird are from Driggs, Idaho.

We walked up to see the river.  

Elder and Sister Bird came to Guyana to help the Senior Missionaries write up Public Affairs/Humanitarian projects.  They serve on St. Vincent.  We took a drive out to see St. Cuthbert's mission, and Amerindian village.  We were surprised.  We expected something more primitive, but they had fairly nice homes, a windmill, water tanks, even a police office.  We enjoyed a peaceful outing!