Feeling settled in

We've been here nearly 3 months and we are feeling pretty settled in.

We've grown accustomed to daily cold showers and love eating fresh pineapple and yummy little bananas all day long.

The alligators don't even scare us anymore. Afterall, I've shared a trench with some of them!

Elders Webb and Lucero brought this little feller by our apartment one evening in a taxi just before their curfew. They had him all tied up so he couldn't bite them. Later, they cooked up his tail and all who tasted him testified that he was good eating.

Our assignments here are completely different than they were in the Canary Islands. Our mission president really emphasizes to all the leaders and members here that we are the "tutors" to teach the members here how to "do" the Church like it is supposed to be done.

We are assigned to 3 branches and the other couple that lives upstairs from us is assigned to the other 3. We have been visiting with the branch presidents individually to teach them about making calls to everyone in their branches within 2 weeks of their baptisms and to ordain the men to the priesthood within the week. We meet with these presidents every 2 weeks to check their progress and keep them on target to staff their branches.

Our district has grown from 400 members six months ago to about 800 at present. That's a lot of new members who are just learning how to be members of the Church. They are still learning the basics such as learning to sing the hymns and how to teach classes. Singing the Primary songs with their children is a huge challenge for them. Noone here can read music and I think they have done very little singing in their lives.

Here are a couple of their primaries.

The teacher is dressed in pink and is shorter than some of the kids.

This primary class had 30 kids in it. They didn't all fit in the photo. They had been sitting in this very hot room for more than 1 1/2 hours.

Here I am with some of the Relief Society sisters. Don't I just look like a giant next to them? We are standing at the side of one of our church buildings. Do you like the bright blue?

Because many people in Guyana do not know how to read, teaching lessons, giving talks and reading the scriptures is a problem for many. I wish I could magically teach them all how to read.

Dad and the other Senior missionary have been assigned as the 2 district councilmen to the District presidency. They are the only councilmen and they attend their meetings and are to help the District presidency learn how to function as a presidency. They are teaching them the basics, such as to have an agenda, etc.

Dad and I teach weekly fireside classes to 3 of the branches. We are teaching from the "Teachings of the Prophets" Joseph Smith Manual. We simplify the lessons in an effort to help them understand what we are teaching. We play a game at the end of each lesson to review what they have learned. They love the games. We have between 15-30 at our firesides and some of them are children.

We, also, have a youth game night once a week for one of the branches. Send ideas for games, please...ones that don't require any reading! We've even played the Hokey Pokey and Musical Chairs and they have loved them!

We recently had our District Conference.

We have one new chapel. This photo shows less than half of the building. It was full to overflowing with nearly 400 people. Many were visitors and every seat was taken. Many were seated in the halls completely out of view of the speakers.

Our mission president and his wife, the Robisons, were here for the conference and for our zone conference the next day.

Here are some photos we took after the District Conference.

Granny was just baptized and Tasha will be as soon as she can find her birth certificate and make her marriage legal.

Check out the big cane workers truck in the background that is carrying lots of the members back to their neighborhoods so they can walk home.With me is Sister Robison, our president's wife, and we are with some of my favorite little boys.

This is Tall Man (his call name) and his family members. His name is really David but that is not what they call him. Check out the pretty colors they are wearing!

Here are most of our 20 missionaries after the missionary Zone Conference. Notice the "Israel Pride" written across the front of the truck ... and the handsome guy down in front on the left!

The Saturday before the conference, I went to the church to help with some training of the Primary teachers. I found the gate to the parking lot open and saw 2 cows chewing on the chapel lawn. I put down my things and said to the other sister, "I'm going to chase these cows out".

I rounded the side of the chapel after the 2 cows I thought were there and was surprised to find 5 of them staring at me, including a large bull. When I started scolding them, the bull started towards me and I ran back to the building just a bit frightened.

I stood very still until they passed me and headed for the gate. Suddenly, I remembered my camera in my purse and decided I had to have a photo with these cows.

I quickly handed my camera to one of the sisters and asked, "Please take my photo with these cows". I was barely fast enough to get a picture before the last one left!

After the Sunday conference, Sister Larsen and I were to prepare a dinner for the Robisons and the 3 members of the District presidency and their wives. When we discovered they were all in a meeting after the conference, we decided to take a taxi home and get the food on the table for them when they arrived.

When we were almost home, we realized neither of us had a key to get into our apartments nor a key to unlock the gate to the wall that surrounds our apartment. I coaxed her to climb over the wall with me rather than stand out in the street in the sun and wait for our husbands to arrive.

First, I hopped on over.

Then, Sister Larsen had the courage to come on over, too.

As I was climbing she said, “Wait, I’ve got to take your picture!” So, here’s the photos of the leap we made. The wall is nearly 6 feet tall.

Later, one of my teenage grandsons, Connor, commented that the wall around our apartment must not do very much to protect us if two grannies can climb over it without any problem!

Here's the photos we took after our meal.

In the middle are the District Presidency with President Robison, the mission president on the left, and Elder Larsen, the other senior missionary, on the right, with your dad.

And, here are the wives, with Sister Robison on the right and Sister Larsen in the middle.

Does my hair look like it has grown out, yet?