Vickey & Bibi are off to the MTCs

Do you remember Bibi and Vickey? Well, they are finally on their missions.
Here's Bibi:

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

And Vickey:

From VicBibiLeave

Vickey and Bibi are cousins. Nearly 8 months passed between the time they first turned in their applications to serve missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until they flew off for the Missionary Training Centers.

It is soooooooooooo challenging for a young person from Guyana to get ready for their mission departure. You just can't imagine how long it takes just to get their birth certificate and passport so they can leave Guyana. Then, on top of that, they sometimes have to apply for a visa to enter the US if they need to go to the Language Training Center in Provo or if they are serving in the US.

It was so scary the day we went to the US Embassy for them each to be interviewed for their US visas. Vickey was approved, but Bibi was declined so her mission call had to be changed. Their dates of entrance to the MTC were changed and postponed time after time because each of these steps took so long to complete.

Now Bibi and Vickey are Sister Girdharry and Elder Danesh. Elder Danesh has just completed his MTC training in Provo, Utah, and is finally in his first area in Long Beach, California and Sister Girdharry is just about to leave the MTC in the Dominican Republic to become the very first sister missionary in the West Indies Mission.

Here are some photos of their goodbyes and departures.

Vickey left first. The night before he left, he stopped by with some of his many cousins that live right in his neighborhood. Do you notice something strange about them? They are all girls! His sister is sitting on top of the couch in the very back. She's 14 and a cutie.

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

Bibi and Alisha both accompanied Vickey to the airport and give him their special cousin sendoff.

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

After we dropped off Vickey (now Elder Danesh) at the airport, we stopped by Elder and Sister Evans, who are senior missionaries in Georgetown, for a little visit and a breather. We were tired because it takes nearly 3 hours to get to the airport from where we live.

Here we are once again, Bibi, Alisha and Sister Bullock.

From VicBibiLeave

When we picked up Bibi to take her to the airport, it was dark dark dark! Most of her family walked out with her from her house that is way back down the dirt road you see in the background of their photo to tell her their final goodbye. Two of her siblings are not in the photo. Bibi is pretty short but her mom is a lot shorter !

From Drop Box

Here is Elder Bullock's final hug for Bibi/Sister Girdharry:

From VicBibiLeave

Her parting words to us were, "You're going to come see me, aren't you?"

As Bibi left us and entered the airport, there were no tears ...just a big excited smile that stretched clear across her face!

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

When Bibi arrived in Trinidad, she met her new companion, Sister Comejo, at the airport and they flew on to the MTC in the Dominican Republic together. They were instant friends. When they arrived at the MTC, they learned they were the only sisters in the whole MTC with a group of new elders!

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

We've heard back from both Elder Danesh and Sister Girdharry and they are doing well and are happy!

And guess what? We have another missionary with his call. Meet Roger Ramnarain. He leaves for the West Indies Mission in October so we're already hustling around finding his white shirts, etc. Lucky for us...he already has his birth certificate and passport and he won't need a visa to enter the US! Whoopie!

Here you see Roger reading his mission call that was just printed off on my computer.

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

Roger turns 26 this month and is barely able to serve a mission because of his age. He was baptized just over a year ago and is so excited to serve. At present, he is the 1st counselor to the New Amsterdam Branch President, Travis.

And here's one more photo just to let you know he's really happy about his call!

From VickeyBibiLeaveForMissions

We are always looking for Guyanese young people who can serve missions. We have a couple more we think we'll be sending off before we leave Guyana in January 2010.