Plenty of green

Saturday and Sunday, December 6 and 7, were really jam-packed days for us here in the Canje District of the Church in Guyana, South America.

The weekend started very early Saturday morning for us missionaries with a very inspiring 5 hour zone conference . The photo above is our Berbice zone at the end of the 5 hours! It looks like there is still plenty of life in them!



I love being the only female in this zone of 9 great men...especially the one with the white-hair! Hey, I just noticed the elder behind me, Elder Duncan, looks like he's about to slug me. What do you think? Can't you just see mischief in his eyes?




After the zone conference ended, we ate a delux Guyanese meal of curried chicken and potatoes with roti which was prepared by 3 of my best Guyanese women friends. It took them 6 hours to prepare our meal outside in a huge pot over a fire in a firepit.

The rest of the weekend was spent with 2 district conferences and training meetings on both sides of the river with President and Sister Robison.

Let me take a minute to explain the structure of the church here in Guyana.

The Canje District of the church (which is where we are serving) consists of 6 branches, two of which are on the west side of the large Berbice River and the other 4 which are on the east side of the river. There are 24 missionaries that serve in this Canje District. A second district of the church and about 40 more missionaries are serving in Georgetown, the largest town in Guyana.

So... we have a huge river that divides our district, the Canje district of the church and the mission. Travel from one side of the river to the other is accomplished only by way of a very old ferry. The crossing of the river normally takes about 1 1/2-2 hours which includes at least an hour of waiting for the ferry to be loaded with lots of big trucks.

In the past, the district conferences and training meetings have all been held on the east side of the river. This is a real hardship on the families that live on the west side and have to cross the river with their families to attend. Most members who had to cross the river, didn't attend.

For the first time, it was decided that the district conference would be held in two sessions...one in the morning for those who lived on the east side of the river and a second session in the afternoon for those who lived on the west side. Hurrah! We were thrilled. We had done our part to encourage that it would happen. Also, the training sessions would be held on each side.

Sunday morning, when we arrived at the Robison's hotel to pick them up for the morning session of the District Conference, Sister Robison and I discovered we were dressed almost like twins. See what you think...

The first session of the district conference was held at 9:30 a.m. and it was great. For the first time, all the speakers were local Guyanese members. Bibi and Vickey, our two prospective missionaries, and our good friend, Travis (Jade's husband) were 3 of the 6 speakers that spoke along with President and Sister Robison. We were so proud of all of them! About 300 people were present at the first session on the east side.




After conference, we took a few very quick photos. This is Voni who is 12. She was just baptized the day before on Saturday, December 6. Doesn't she look just like an angel? She hasn't stopped smiling since she was baptized.

Here are more photos of our green shirts with some of the sisters from the New Amsterdam Branch. These women are all my good friends. I work with them in the primary.







I see more green shirts. This time we are with tiny Cavita. Did anyone ever tell you that green is my very favorite color?

As we walked to the car after conference, I noticed a big cane cutters truck filled with the saints from Rose Hall. They had hired this truck, as usual, to travel to and from their homes (30 minutes away)to the Berbice High School where the conference was held.





I rode one of these trucks home from conference once. It was fun imagining that I was riding off to cut cane with a truck load of cane cutters.




I know only 3 members in the whole Canje District who own or drive a car. People walk or ride bikes most places but if there is somewhere they need to go that is too far for them to walk, they jump in a taxi or a small bus and pay the equivalent of 50 cents to the driver to take them there. They call it a "short drop".




After passing the cane cutters truck, we quickly jumped in the car with the president and Sister Robison and were on our way to catch the ferry to cross the river. The 2nd session of the District Conference was scheduled to begin in just 2 hours.

When we arrived at the ferry, the gates were locked and the ferry was about to leave the stelling. Once they lock the gates, they never let anyone else on the ferry. The two assistants to the President were inside the gate and used their best coaxing efforts to get them to let us through, also. They performed some kind of miracle in getting them to open the gate and let us get on the ferry. I know that God was on our side and wanted the president and his wife to be to the conference before it started.



Here you see Elder Bullock and President Robison standing on the deck of the ferry boat as it is crossing.



We were really excited for this first session of district conference to be held on the west side of the river. We are assigned to the two branches that are on this side of the river. We were hoping for a really good attendance to show the leaders how strong these members are becoming. About 160 attended the conference and as in the morning session held on the east side, all the speakers were Guyanese. All were well prepared and their talks were inspiring.

I'll end with one of the photos we took after the 2nd session of conference. It is of the 4 Narine sisters. They are standing according to age: 15, 13, 11, and 10. They have been members for less than a year. The 11 year old was one of the speakers in the district conference that afternoon. She had done so well and was so poised that the Robisons were completely surprised she was only 11. We love this great family of 4 girls. I teach piano lesson to the 13 year old.



The Church in this part of Guyana is less than 10 years old. We have seen a lot of progress in the almost 10 months we've been here. Most of the members have been members for less than a year. They are gradually learning what it means to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.




As for me, I love being a member of this Church...and I love being a missionary in Guyana, even though I shower and do my dishes in cold water, sleep in a mosquito net and fall in trenches full of mud and alligators .