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| From TempleTrip |
When we arrived in Guyana as missionaries 18 months ago, February 28, 2008, we first met this darling couple and their baby, also named Travis. They had just been married and baptized 12 days before. The photo below was pasted to the wall inside their home. Travis is proudly holding their marriage certificate.
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| From Drop Box |
The elders were anxious to take us to their home for Family Home Evening . We followed them through the darkness down the unlit dirt road and path that led to the small wooden two-room structure that was their home. There was one old chair which they eagerly offered to me. The rest sat on the floor for the FHE. For the closing song we sang, “I Love to See the Temple”. As I sat there, I had the feeling that I was in a little corner of heaven.
At the end of the FHE, Travis proudly told us they had begun saving to go to the temple. They had set aside $600 GD, the equivalent of $3 USD. I wondered how they would ever in their lifetime be able save enough.
As we said good night, I turned in the absolute dark of the night and snapped this photo. Notice the two white buckets they use to wash their clothes and bathe.
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| From Drop Box |
Though Travis(22)and Jade(17)were very young, they were committed to living the gospel and eager to learn their duty as a member of the church. They accepted callings and went out regularly to their neighbors and relatives with the young Elders. Their testimonies grew rapidly and very quickly they became some of the real stalwarts of the New Amsterdam Branch. A year after they were baptized, Travis was called to be the New Amsterdam Branch President. Jade at 17 began teaching the Gospel Principles class after being a member for just a few months.
In the photo below they are at the airport, ready to take off for Santo Domingo. Travis was looking pretty handsome in his light blue suit! And Jade, she is a real beauty.
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| From TempleTrip |
On August 22, 2009, the Travis and Jade Sancho family, which now consisted of four, was sealed in the Santo Domingo Temple as an eternal family.
Travis and Jade both commented on how thankful they were to be sealed to their children, little Travis (2 ½) and Janelly (7 months). Jade said that little Travis looked like a little black angel in his white clothes and bow tie as he stood at the altar to be sealed to them.
During the first months of our mission, we gradually became closely acquainted with the members of the 3 branches of the Canje District of Guyana where we served. We noticed some very dedicated and faithful members of the church, though most had been members for 1-3 years.
We also, became aware of the poverty in which they lived. Their homes lacked electricity and inside plumbing. Their villages had very little sidewalks and paved roads. These dirt roads and paths became very muddy, especially after heavy rains. None of the members owned cars so they walked or rode bikes wherever they went, often along these muddy paths that led to their homes.
Sometimes, the whole family traveled together on one bike. Here you see the Kirton family riding home from church on their bicycle...together. Overload!
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| From 2009-04-19BahadurFamIndianHair |
When we met them at church they seemed just like us, but when we visited their homes, we found they lived differently. Their homes were lacking of any of the modern conveniences that we have in our homes. We realized how hard they worked just to cook and feed their families without stoves and refrigerators, and to wash their dishes without faucets and sinks with running water. We learned, too, that scrubbing a family's wash all by hand, as they all do, was hard work.
When it rains heavily in Guyana, which it often does, they have to trudge through the muddy paths and roads to get to their church meetings, along with their children.
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| From Drop Box |
We were amazed that they could make it to church without being covered with mud. We noticed that the faithful came to their meetings, even when it rains and the paths are full of mud. We gained a great respect for these saints, as they served valiantly in spite of the difficult circumstances in which they lived.
Let me stop a minute to tell you more of the poverty of these Guyanese people. Sometimes they go to bed hungry, because there is not enough to eat to fill their stomachs. I have heard their children cry for food when there is no more. I have heard of them eating dirt to fill their growling stomachs. The buckets of water that are outside their houses are filled each day and carried from somewhere down the road. Often, I've seen the children struggling to carry these buckets to their homes. One day, a little boy had two buckets that he was taking turns carrying a short distance. I volunteered to carry one of those buckets for him. He was not a big boy but the bucket I carried for him was heavy...and he was carrying two of them quite a distance.
These people are so clean. They bathe daily from from these buckets of water somewhere behind their houses. Their outhouses are usually made of corrugated metal and set somewhere in their yard. When it rains, many of their houses fill up with water which they have to wade through in their boots until the water subsides. Sometimes, the rain water even brings snakes into their houses.
Here you see Alicia and Aliena Kirton one of the many times their house was filled with rainwater. They spent last Christmas on their beds because the house was full of water to their ankles. And yes, they've had snakes come in with the water. Just a few weeks ago, Ulric was bitten right in his house by a snake and had to spend the night in the hospital. Yuk, I hate snakes!
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| From Drop Box |
Jobs are almost impossible to find. There is no industry in these villages. Most men are cane cutters, fishermen, or carpenters. Their homes are made of wood and are usually built by the men of the family…if there are men in the family!
When we learned that in the Canje District consisting of 6 branches there were only 5couples that had been sealed in the temple, most of them a few years earlier, we wondered how we could help more of these faithful members, like Jade and Travis, get there.
We decided we could and would help them. We would initiate a “temple roundup” of those who were worthy, those who had been serving in their branches, attending their meetings regularly and keeping the commandments. They deserved the opportunity to have the blessings found in the temple.
After clearing with our 3 branch presidents our proposed lists of temple goers, we approached these persons to invite them to prepare to go to the temple. We scheduled 3 sets of Temple Preparation Classes, one in each of “our” branches and invited them to attend these classes in preparation for a temple trip sometime in the months to come.
Those who attended the classes were eager to prepare for the temple and their excitement to go grew. In April, our first group was interviewed for their temple recommends by their branch presidents and the mission president, President Robison.
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| From Temple trip |
Elder Bullock had to instruct the branch presidents how to give the interviews and fill out the recommends. There was only one recommend book to be shared by the district so it was necessary for him to carry it from branch to branch for each president to use as he did his interviews. Sister Bibi, who has been a member for 10 years sobbed when she came out from her interview and said, “I never thought I would get to go to the temple in my lifetime.”
Meanwhile, we began to make weekly trips to Georgetown to the passport office with our people to get their passports. Georgetown is a 2 hour drive from where we live and we had to arrive at the office by 7:30 am in order for them to make it in. That means we had to leave by 5:30 am. Applying for the passports was an all-day project and we suffered many setbacks… and were blessed by many miracles. The lady at the passport office said Ulric’s expired passport was damaged and that he must pay an additional $18,000 ($90 USD) to get it renewed. Ulric didn’t have the money so returned home that day extremely disappointed and sullen. Two weeks later after getting a new haircut, a new passport photo, wearing a different outfit, and having his whole family (and us)pray constantly, he returned to the same passport lady and was miraculously allowed to pay the normal fee of $4,000 ($20 USD) to renew his passport.
When the Area Presidency learned of our group’s plans to attend the temple, we received a letter from them saying that the Temple Patron Fund couldn’t fund them all and that we were to be selective about who had sacrificed enough to go. We wondered how we could choose who was most deserving. How could we decide who would be left behind?
We decided we would search for an economical way to get our people to the temple. We knew flights to the temple in Santo Domingo was very expensive. We learned that Venezuela required the Guyanese to have a visa requiring a bank statement showing funds of $150,000 GD in the bank, which none of them had; Colombia was dangerous and across some very high mountains; and the Brazilian temples were too far from Guyana. None of these options would work for us so plans were made to fly to the Santo Domingo Temple. We would just have to find a way to get them to the temple in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
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| From TempleTrip |
We knew our faithful Guyanese saints could never in their whole lifetime be able to save enough to pay for their airfare to Santo Domingo. If they were going to be able to go, they would have to have help. We hoped that the Temple Patron Fund would be able to pay for the flights for part of our group, but wondered how we would pay for the rest. Another problem arose. We, as missionaries, had taught these saints that families are forever. We found that some of our families didn’t want to go to the temple if they had to leave their children behind and not have them sealed to them.
We knew that the Temple Patron Fund was only able to pay for the couple who was being sealed, which excluded their children. We had a real dilemma. We needed some help to get them to the temple. We pondered and prayed over how to do so. We decided to give our family and a few close friends the opportunity to help with the payment of some of the flights. And our plan worked. We were able to get just enough to pay for the flights not covered by the Temple Patron Fund.
None of the Guyanese ever knew if their tickets were funded by the Temple Patron Fund or by our family members. I’m sure they assumed the money all came from the fund. Each Guyanese was asked to pay $25,000 for the expenses that were above and beyond the price of their airplane tickets. This extra money paid for their transportation to and from the airport in Guyana, the Guyana airport tax, their Dominican Republic visa, 7 nights in the temple housing, photos and 10 pair of garments. Each person brought the food they would cook and eat for the week in their suitcase.
In the weeks before we left for the temple, we spent many hours helping each person fill out their pedigree chart. We were, then, able to enter their information in the http://new.familysearch.org website and print out their family names that were ready for them to do their temple work. We collected a total of 80 of their family names.
Here you see Travis walking from his house with his suitcase…
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| From TempleTrip |
Below you can see the two excited and mostly naked Thakoor boys, Workman and Bushman, with their two friends, as we collected their suitcases with the mission van from their homes the day before we left.
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| From TempleTrip |
The morning we began our journey from New Amsterdam began at 3:45 am with us gathering them in the dark from their homes with the mission van. We were later joined by a 2nd van who collected those from Rosignol and Bushlot and we all travelled the three hours to the airport. Everyone was so excited when we arrived. They each pulled their various pieces luggage from the van, many of which had been borrowed from the young elders in their areas.
Our group consisted of three senior missionaries, Elder and Sister Bullock and Sister Hymas, 17 adults and eight children. The total was 28 persons. Here we are at the airport. We're quite the group, aren't we?
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| From TempleTrip |
Let me introduce you to the rest of the members of our group who attended the temple. First the men…
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| From TempleTrip |
Where was little Travis? Where'd he go? Oh, there he is with the other two little guys, Bushman and Workman who were, also, being sealed to their parents.
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| From 2009-8-29TempleTrip |
And the women, of course!...
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| From TempleTrip |
Notice Sister Hymas on the left who came to help! She ended up being our social coordinator and helped everything run more smoothly.
The teenage girls...Alicia Kirton (15), Kavita Thakoor (15) and Aliena Kirton (almost 12). Where's Vicki Kirton? He is 16.
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| From TempleTrip |
And, adorable little Janelly Sancho!
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| From 2009-8-29TempleTrip |
Here we are all together!
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| From TempleTrip |
I’ll begin with Nanda and Ulric Kirton and their two daughters, Alicia (15) and Aliena (11).
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| From TempleTrip |
When we first approached Nanda and Ulric about going to the temple, Ulric was having a lot of problems living the Word of Wisdom. Nanda, who serves as the District Primary President, became discouraged with him and decided she would have to go to the temple without him. When she showed him last April her temple recommend, he said, “You can’t go without me.” She answered quickly, “Oh, yes I can and I will!” He pled with her, “No, you have to wait for me.” She said, “I won’t wait!” He immediately stopped drinking and smoking. He attended every meeting and accepted a calling. He was completely committed to preparing himself to be worthy to enter the temple.
When Ulric's recommend was signed by the mission president July 14th, we were all thrilled. It was an answer to all our prayers. He would be going with us to the temple. The family was ready to be sealed. Ulric was recently called to be the 2nd counselor to the branch president. When we shared the highlights of our first day in the temple at our group’s family prayer, Ulric’s highlight was taking his wife through the temple. He also said later to the elders, “The sweetest kiss you will ever get is across the altar of the temple.”
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| From TempleTrip |
When Nanda awoke the morning after they arrived home from the temple, she discovered that Ulric had gathered their dirty garments and had washed them in a small white bucket by themselves and hung them on the line to dry. Later he said to her, “This white bucket is the bucket we will use to wash our garments.” Nanda said to me later, “This is not the Ulric that I married. He has become so helpful since we went to the temple. This is one of the blessings I see instantly. I am so thankful for it. Now, he is the one who makes sure we have family prayer, family home evening and read our scriptures each morning. This morning we knelt amidst all our dirty clothes that were spread over the floor from our trip and said our family prayer… at his request.”
Rajendra (Bow) Thakoor and his wife, Shanmattie, have 9 children. Only the four younger children are members of the church, Vicki (16), Kavita (15), Bushman (8), and Workman (7). Bow and his family were baptized about 3-4 years ago. He serves as the ward mission leader and she is a primary worker though neither know how to read. Bow and Shanmattie are especially kind and sweet. They love their family and have expressed over and over their appreciation to us for helping them take these 4 children to the temple to be sealed as a family along with their deceased son.
Here they are with the children they took to be sealed in the temple. They were inside one of the airports. There's Vicki, their 16 year old son who never seemed to be in any of the other photos!
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| From 2009-8-29TempleTrip |
Bow is a carpenter and used all his savings, $100,000 ($500 USD), for his family to go to the temple. He withdrew it all from the bank and gave it to us for his family’s expenses. Here is their home.
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| From reduced |
It was very difficult for us to take his savings for his family to go to the temple, but he gave it without hesitation.
This is the fireside where the Thakoor family cooks. This is typical of how many families cook. Kavita Thakoor (15) is cooking rice for the family’s lunch.
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| From reduced |
The day we drove their family the 2 hours to Georgetown for their passports, 2 of their family members vomited all the way to and from the passport office. None of them complained at their discomfort. We almost were unaware it was happening. We had such love and respect for this family of six after spending 10 difficult hours with them that day to get their passports so they could be sealed in the temple.
Here they are at the temple doors. Don't they look so beautiful?
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| From TempleTrip |
Dyiaram Samaroo is a school master and his wife, Shankutala, is a teacher. He serves as the Bushlot Branch President and she serves as the primary president and institute teacher.
The first time I crossed this bridge that leads to the Samaroo's front door, I counted 102 steps from the start of the bridge to their house. You can see that when it rains, it is like a real bridge through a huge trench of muddy water. The long boards buck up and down as you walk along it. Can you imagine how scary it is to cross this bridge in the pitch dark? There are no street lights, you know!
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| From Drop Box |
Here's their before-going-to-the-temple picture...
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| From TempleTrip |
And here's their after photo!
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| From TempleTrip |
President Samaroo's comments since going to the temple are, “My entire perspective of the Church has changed. I can see the whole picture of the gospel now. There is so much more to it than I realized before. My testimony is so much stronger now. For the entire week, I was able to make many sacred covenants to Heavenly Father and I learned more about the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Leonard Allen is a cane cutter. He cuts cane from 4:30 am to 2 pm. He is the branch clerk for the Rosignol Branch. He and his wife, Gaitree, have 12 children, five of whom are deceased. Three of these deceased children died as adults. Their home is very humble. They don’t have enough clothing for their children but they were able to save $50,000 ($250 USD) for their share of their expenses to go to the temple.
I yelled out, "Smile!" to Gaitree as I took this shot and this is what I got!
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| From TempleTrip |
They completed their temple work and their five deceased children were sealed to them. It was a thrill for them to kneel around the altar and be sealed with these children they loved so much. They said, “We feel so joyful coming to the temple and doing all these sacred ordinances. We are so proud that we can’t express ourselves.”
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| From TempleTrip |
Meet Yudhistirnauth Krishna Persaud and his wife Sabitree. Krishna is the District Clerk for the Canje District and Sabitree is a sacrament meeting greeter. They were almost giddy to be attending the temple after being members for about 4 years. Can you tell by their big smiles?
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| From TempleTrip |
Sabitree was like a little kid in the airport. She wanted her picture taken standing by everything...even this crazy guy!
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| From TempleTrip |
Yudhistirnauth (Krishna) and Sabitree were able to be sealed in the temple with their three daughters. One of them, Sister Munro, is serving a mission in the Dominican Republic. She traveled to the temple to be sealed with her parents and her two deceased sisters.
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| From TempleTrip |
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| From TempleTrip |
Sabitree had a huge smile on her face all week long while we were at the temple. Today, Sunday, after being home for 2 days, she said , “The spirit is flowing. I testified today in church about the temple. My home is heaven now. Krishna is a loving husband now. The missionaries want me to go out with them to testify about the temple.”
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| From TempleTrip |
These five women came without husbands for various reasons...Tasha, Sunita, Samantha, Geeta and Bibi (l-r)
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| From TempleTrip |
Geeta Rampersaud is the shortest. She has been a member for four years. She serves as Relief Society President and Seminary Teacher. Her husband is a Hindu who Geeta doesn't expect will ever join the church. Here she is in front of her home with him.
When Geeta was invited to come to the temple, she eagerly replied, “Yes, I want to go.” For the past several months her husband has not been able to find work. In spite of their difficult financial situation, Geeta withdrew their savings to pay for her expenses of going to the temple. While she was gone for the week at the temple, her husband cooked and cared for her blind mother.
In speaking of the temple Geeta said, “Coming to the temple was a dream come true. I could only look at a picture of a temple before but you have made it a reality for me. My experience was...well, I can’t explain it. It burst my heart with joy knowing my Heavenly Father loves me so much. I promise to repay you by serving, serving, serving. I know this gospel is true. I will make you proud of me and my serving! Thank you very much.”
Geeta is on the left and Tasha on the right in the photo below.
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| From TempleTrip |
Somawattie (Samantha) Bacchus is married to an inactive member of the church. They have three young sons. She and her husband were baptized two years ago.
Check out how excited she was just to climb up the stairs of the airplane that flew us out of Guyana.
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| From TempleTrip |
I think there were only two of our Guyanese group who had ever flown on an airplane.
Samantha teaches primary and is there every Sunday prepared to teach her primary class. She and her husband attended the Temple Preparation classes together at her request but living the gospel is not his top priority at this time. When she realized that he was not ready or worthy to take her to the temple, she begged us to let her come by herself. She said, “I need to come to the temple. I want the blessings of the temple. I want and need to be able to wear the temple garments.”
So, the decision was made that she would come without her husband. She expressed her love for the temple over and over. She said, “I am so glad that I came and did all that needs to be done. I’m so glad for all the wonderful things that I have experienced and learned. I will repay you by always being faithful to my covenants and my callings in the Church. I love being a sister of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Samantha loves learning the primary songs. She memorizes the words before she even knows what the melody sounds like. In one of the airports, when some of us women were excitedly singing in the restroom, "I Love to See the Temple", she was more than eager to be part of the singing. When we discovered the attendant was a member of the church, we hugged and squeezed her and Samantha wanted our picture with her. Here is the photo of that delightful moment! Samantha is on my left.
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| From TempleTrip |
Samantha yearns for the day when she can return to the temple with her whole family for their sealing. Check out how darling these little boys are. I'd want to be sealed to them, too!
Here are Samantha's 3 boys...
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| From Drop Box |
Bibi Majid has been an active member of the church for nearly 10 years. She is the District CES Coordinator. She has three children but is divorced. One of her daughters, Nazeema (29), has served a fulltime mission. She was very excited when she learned we were having a temple trip and that she would be able to go. She is the one who sobbed with joy after she got her temple recommend to go for her own ordinances. Geeta is hugging her.
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| From 2009-04-10WeddingJadeRoopaBibiCowdam |
While we were at the temple, she kept saying that her dream would be to live next to the temple and be a temple worker. She couldn’t say enough good things about being in the temple. She was especially thrilled to be sealed to her deceased parents and to do the temple work for her grandmother who raised her.
Bibi is on the left of the photo with Samantha, Tasha and Sister Hymas to her left.
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| From TempleTrip |
Dhanwattie (Tasha) Rampersaud was married at age 14. Here she is at 29, the mother of 7 children, about to enter our plane to the temple!!
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| From TempleTrip |
Tasha and her husband live in a small 3 room wooden structure that the two of them built. She has no inside plumbing, electricity or any of the normal amenities or conveniences that we as Americans expect to have. None of those of this group do. She lives down a bumpy dirt road as most of the others do. Her husband doesn’t read and earns a living for his family by carrying loads of wood and other items for others with his 2 donkeys and large donkey cart.
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| From DropBox |
Here's Tasha with her family. Seems there's one "extra" in the picture. She only has seven!
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| From Drop Box |
Tasha and her husband began the Temple Preparation Class together but he dropped out after a couple of lessons. It became evident that going to the temple was notas important to him as it was to her. Tasha is the Rosignol Primary President and was baptized along with her husband four years ago. She has been very active since she was baptized. He does not hold the Aaronic Priesthood, yet. She asked, “Can I come to the temple without him? He says I should go.”
Here she is, about to enter the temple!
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| From TempleTrip |
Her husband cooked for and cared for their seven children, ages 2-14, while she was gone for the week. She was so grateful to be able to go to the temple. After witnessing the sealing of the other families she said, “I’ll be back to the temple in 2-3 years with the rest of my family to be sealed as an eternal family.” We hope that her dream comes true.
Sunita (Drupatie Thomas) has been a member for three years. Her husband is a member but we’ve only seen him at church two times since we arrived in Guyana 18 months ago. She is the Young Women’s President of the New Amsterdam Branch. She begged to be able to come along on this temple trip. She has said, “I love the temple very much. I’m so happy. I love everybody in the temple. Everyone is so nice. So, I must thank you.”
Sunita loved the stuffed animals in the airport and had some very crazy fingernails. It's too bad you can't see them!
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| From 2009-8-29TempleTrip |
In the four days our group spent in the temple, we did 115 endowments which included their 17 live endowments. The work and sealings for their 90 deceased were completed which included them doing all the baptisms, initiatories and sealings form them. These family names kept them working in the temple at a feverish pace to complete these ordinances by the time we were ready to leave for home. Five members of our group were able to be sealed to their deceased parents.
The three teenagers in our group, Alicia Kirton, and Vicki and Kavita Thakoor were able to do baptisms for the dead three times for a total of 60.
But, the best was watching the live sealings of the 6 couples in our group of which five of them were sealed to their children.
Besides going to the temple for the first time, most of our Guyanese saints experienced these other firsts… first time to fly in an airplane or to leave Guyana, first time to use a washer, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, electric iron, electric stove, escalator, elevator, automatic door, shower, hot water, AC, inside toilet, carpet, vacuum or the underground Metro. Here they are riding the Metro, with Sunita Thomas on the left and Bow Thakoor on the right.
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| From TempleTrip |
It was the first time they had ever seen cement sidewalks with curbs, a beautiful grassy lawn, streets without mud and a trench alongside filled with stagnant, mosquito-infested water and garbage, and a modern grocery store complete with an ice cream cone machine, roasted chickens, great big sausages , a beautiful array of fruits and veggies and a bank.
It was the first time they had ever cooked a meal in a modern kitchen with 4 microwaves, 4 refrigerators, 4 stoves, and sinks with running water. There were two of these big kitchens in the temple housing, right next to each other. They had a great time all cooking their meals at the same time.
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| From TempleTrip |
It doesn't look like very much cooking is getting done from the looks of this picture!
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| From TempleTrip |
It was the first time they had used a washer or dryer. Elder Bullock is with this group in the laundry room and he's trying to teach them how to do their wash in a way other than what they are used to...with a bucket of soapy water, a scrub brush and another bucket of clean rinse water.
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| From TempleTrip |
Some funny moments were the first time Sister Samaroo tried to step on the escalator...She squealed as her feet suddenly began to move beneath her; when the door of the elevator closed with some Guyanese inside and no one knew what to do next to make it move; when their leftover chowmein had to be defrosted because it was put in the freezer the night before instead of the refrigerator; when they tried to use the washers before they were instructed and pulled their dripping wet clothes from the washers just 5 minutes into the cycle to be put into the dryer; when President Samaroo was shocked with a cold water shower on his head because he didn’t know how to set it for warm water (the Guyanese all bathe daily outside with a bucket of water); when they all complained of being too cold with the AC in their rooms; watching them explore the modern grocery store and fill their carts with big long sausages to take home that can’t be purchased in Guyana; watching them go repeatedly up and down the tall escalators in the Metro station as if they were five years old; and watching several of them stack plates high with cookies served at the FHE to take to their rooms for a later snack.
Some other special moments were the lovely Sunday meal that was prepared and served for them by the senior missionaries; attending 3 hours of church in a Spanish-speaking ward; attending a Family Home Evening where they were able to listen to a General Authority, Elder Coleman, share his conversion in person; and having an adventure through the city which included walking to the grocery store, changing their money at a bank, and riding the Metro and...the escalators...up and...
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| From TempleTrip |
Down and up... and down, again!
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| From TempleTrip |
Here they are enjoying the Sunday dinner prepared for them by the senior missionaries.
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| From TempleTrip |
One of the daily highlights of our trip was our family prayers that were held each morning and evening. Before we all knelt for prayer on the large rug in the middle of the TV room of the Temple housing, Sister Hymas invited us each to share one (or two) highlights of our day. Sharing these highlights was a precious time for remembering. I looked forward to their comments and was thrilled by them.
Here we are sharing highlights of the day before family prayer...
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| From TempleTrip |
Let me try to remember a few of these highlights:
“My highlight for the whole week was being sealed to my wife and children.”
“My highlight was listening to the men’s chorus at the FHE”.
“My highlight was listening to a General Authority speak in person.”
“My highlight was looking in the mirror and thinking I looked like an angel dressed in my white temple dress.”
“My highlight was how I felt as I took the place as Sister Bibi's mother. I'll never forget how I trembled all over as she was being sealed to her parents.”
Other comments we've heard since we’ve come home:
“For someone who didn’t feel too good about herself, I came home feeling like an angel.”
“When I looked in the mirror, I felt like a bride. I’m going to make my home a temple. I’m not going to let Satan in my home.”
“By the 3rd time through, I could give all the answers correctly.”
"It was so joyful to see our men perform the various priesthood assignments in the baptistry when we did our baptisms."
"I loved the feeling each time I was immersed into the water as I was being baptized for others."
Some stressful moments were when the plane reservations for six members of our group were not in the Copa Airlines computer system when they tried to check in at Trinidad and fly on to Panama and Santo Domingo. We waited at the counter for 5 ½ hours before the problem was resolved. Those without seats included the 7 month old Janelly Sancho, and one child from two of the other families. We were given seats for these six just minutes before our flight left for Panama. We barely made it to the gate before the airplane departed.
When we reached Trinidad on our way home, we thought we were home free only to be told there was no seat for 11 year old Aliena Kirton who would have to fly “standby” because somehow her reservation from Trinidad to Guyana had been canceled. Again, the problem was resolved at the last minute before the plane took off
When we arrived back to Trinidad we had a surprise visit from President Gamiette, our mission president.
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| From reduced |
Each member of the group was able to share with him their highlight for the week.
Here we are, Elder and Sister Bullock.
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| From TempleTrip |
Being able to escort this group to the temple was a rare privilege for us. We shall never forget this experience. We were blessed every step of the journey.
The temple presidency and workers treated us like royalty and made our temple visit the best it could be. We are so thankful for their tender, loving care of all of us. They made us feel loved and special every day that we were there.
The area presidency provided so much of the funds for the transportation for our group all the way from Guyana to the door of the temple.
Our friends and family were such a support to us and helped make this temple dream come true for these precious Guyanese saints.
We owe thanks to all of those who helped us accomplish this "temple roundup".
Here is Elder Bullock saying to me, "We did it and it took your brains and my muscle!"
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