Guyana

Almost every West Indies missionary falls in love with Guyana.

Why?

Unspoiled beauty, adventure, rapid Church growth, sweet loving people - what more could a young (or senior) missionary want?

Facts:

• Known as the "land of many waters'
  
• The only English speaking nation in South America
• Bordered to the east by Suriname, to the south and southwest by Brazil, to the west by Venezuela, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean.
• The only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America
• Guyana has a population of about 86,000 where 90% of the population live on the narrow coastal strip.
• The population comprises groups of persons with nationality backgrounds from India, Pakistan, Africa, China, Europe, along with several Aboriginal groups as the indigenous population.
• Guyana is a major breeding area for sea turtles (mainly Leatherbacks).
• It has one of the largest unspoiled rainforests in South America, some parts of which are almost inaccessible by humans. More than 80% of Guyana is covered by forests.
• Agriculture is its main economic staple
• English is the official language but Guyanese Creole is widely spoken
• One quirk of Guyanese English, particularly in the lower classes, is the fact that English pronouns are almost completely interchangeable. E.g. "he" "I" "we" "she" "them" may well be used just about in any combination in a sentence. An example, “I said to the police, why are you bothering me?” would be said, "Me says to dah pleece, why them bodder with we?"
• Guyana's culture is very similar to that of the English-speaking Caribbean islands, to the extent that Guyana is included and accepted as a Caribbean nation.

Church:

As of June 2009, there were two districts, fourteen branches and two groups. The Georgetown District is working on qualifying to become the second Stake in the West Indies Mission. It is very close.

Georgetown District branches (with date created):

• Demerara (4Oct2004)
• Diamond (16Dec2007)
• Garden Park (28Nov1994)
• Georgetown 1st (17Mar1989)
• Georgetown 2nd (20Jul2003)
• Parika (26Oct2008)
• Patentia (11Jul1996)
• Vreed en Hoop (12Nov2006)
• plus the Lindon Group (Spring 2009)

Canje District branches (with date created):

• Bushlot (28Sep2008)
• Crabwood Creek (23Mar2008)
• East Canje (19Mar2006)
• New Amsterdam (13Feb2000)
• Rose Hall (19Mar2006)
• Rosignol (16Mar2004)
• plus the Skeldon Group (Spring 2009)
  

Missionary Work:

As of June 2009, there were fifty elders serving in Guyana, organized into five zones: Georgetown, LaGrange, Canje, Berbice, and the newly created Lindon zone.

There were also nine senior missionary couples: a couple each for CES, humanitarian, and family history plus six proselyting couples.

The missionaries meet in two separate zone conferences - one in Georgetown and one in Canje.

Missionary work is very successful in Guyana. Many people are willing to listen to the missionaries' message and a good number of them keep commitments and progress to baptism. One of the great challenges in Guyana is accommodating rapid church growth. The senior couples do an amazing work in this area, through friendshipping, training and shadow leadership.

History:

Missionaries held the first sacrament meeting in Guyana in September 1988. Among those who attended were members of the Majid Abdulla family, who had been baptized previously in Canada.

The Church gained recognition in February 1989, and a small branch in Georgetown was organized in March with about 23 in attendance.

In March of 1991, additional missionaries were sent to Guyana and the branch membership soon numbered more than 100 members. Later that year, Guyana became part of the newly created Trinidad & Tobago Mission, but shortly thereafter the name of the mission was changed to the West Indies Mission. By the end of 1993, there were about 270 members. By 1996, membership grew to about 500, and another branch was organized.

Pictures:

Amazing sights

Kaieteur Falls - one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world




Black water rivers




Brown water rivers


Incredible sunsets




Colorful fruits and vegetables


Growing Church





Georgetown Chapel


Newest Church building - LaGrange Chapel


Beautiful people











"Mighty Chief" of an Amerindian tribe, baptized in 2008


Sweet school children always in uniform





Occasional challenges

Trenches everywhere - be careful!


Oops, Sister Bullock fell in!


Plenty, plenty rain




Lots of creatures


(don't worry moms - these caymans were NOT alive)




Curried Anaconda anyone?


Interesting living conditions

Missionary life




Guyanese life










The most rewarding work in the world



"Inside!"







The SWEETEST part of the "work"



Filling the font - they are three traditional church fonts, many of these outdoor fonts, and in some areas no fonts where baptisms must take place in the sea or river








Two elders (on their mission only 5 months), one weekend, three families




That's why we love Guyana!

Beginnings of the Church in Guyana

I received an email from Sister Ord a few weeks ago. She goes to church in West Jordan Utah with the Hudsons who were the very first LDS missionaries to serve in Guyana. She took the time to meet with the Hudsons and write down their story. It is amazing! Thank you Sister Ord!

Memories of Selected Missionary Experiences in Guyana
Ruth and Ben Hudson
Told to Susan Ord; 6/26/09


Ben and Ruth Hudson received a telephone call from Elder Sackly, of the Church Missionary Committee, to serve as Church representatives in Guyana. The Hudsons had just served in Nigeria under President Sackly and hadn’t yet even arrived home from that mission when he called. He knew of their experience in setting up Branches in Nigeria and recommended them for immediate work in a new land. There was no mission yet established in Guyana and the area was under the auspices of the mission in Quito, Ecuador under President Didier.

They came to Guyana on 19 August 1988. They arrived at the Pegasus hotel, only to be turned away because their reservation was not found. After a fruitless search for a suitable place to stay in the city they returned to the hotel and sat in the lobby for several hours until a room was found where they could stay for a couple of days. Things went uphill from there as they were later able to stay at the Georgetown Club and then rented a small apartment.

One of first negotiations was to buy a car. After getting permission to buy a car, they had found a used one. The Church had to send the money for the car to Citibank in New York. The car company was notified that the money was available and they were able to pick it up. But, many times it was difficult to obtain gas. Brother Hudson remembers sitting in a gas line for up to 7 hrs. only to be told at the end that the power to the pumps was out.

The Hudsons couldn’t proselyte since the Church hadn’t been officially recognized by the country. However, they had been informed that there were 2 members of the Church in Guyana and went about tracking them down. One member was Majid Abdulla, who had been baptized in Canada. They made arrangements to hold a Sacrament meeting at the home of brother Abdulla’s mother in-law. They held this meeting underneath the home (home was on stilts). It was like an open garage, with a chicken coop and a couple of hammocks in it. As Brother Hudson stood up to begin the meeting, a terrible wind and rain storm came over and blew out the lights and scattered the papers. The rain made a very a loud racket on the galvanized roof. Bro. Hudson notes that they felt like the disruption may have been the influence of Satan who understood the importance of this event as the first Sacrament meeting ever held in Guyana under the direction of the Holy Priesthood. However, the rain subsided after a few minutes. They used crackers and one glass of water for the Sacrament. Shortly thereafter, they held meetings under Indra Sukhdeo’s house at Enterprise, Guyana.

They later rented a small building where they could hold meetings. Brother Hudson drew pictures of pews, a pulpit and a Sacrament table and found a local carpenter to make them. As persons were referred to them to teach the Gospel, the Branch began to grow. The Hudsons organized the Block meetings and led Sunday School, Relief Society, and Primary single handedly until others could be called to teach. Sister Hudson led the singing without any books or accompaniment. One Relief Society Homemaking event centered around teaching the sisters to knit. They used the straw from brooms as the knitting needles.

The small group of members fashioned a baptismal font on the cement patio of the building where they met. They used cinder blocks to build up the font and set up a tank for filling the font as well as a simple way to drain it.

The Hudsons have very fond memories of the wonderful people in this land. One member they remember well is Samuel Griffith who was blind. Soon after Brother Griffith was baptized, Bro. Hudson taught him the Sacrament prayer on the water and told him that he was counting on him to help at the next meeting. Brother Griffith memorized the prayer during the week with the help of his sister and assisted in administering the Sacrament the following Sunday. He became a very faithful and dedicated member of the Church.

The Hudsons loved the people of Guyana who were very good to them. They people were excited about the message of the Gospel. They had never heard it and were eager and excited for it. The Hudsons know that Heavenly Father wanted the people of Guyana to have the Gospel and feel very privileged to have served Him in the very beginnings of that work.

When the Hudsons arrived in Guyana as representatives of the Church, there were 2 known members living there. Eighteen months later, they had formed a Branch and had been instrumental in baptizing 49 people.

Final Georgetown Zone Conference

Isn't this a powerful sight?

Georgetown plus the new Linden and LaGrange zones (created out of the old Diamond Zone) gathered to the LaGrange chapel yesterday for our final Guyana Zone Conference


Georgetown Zone


LaGrange Zone


Linden Zone

Some fine prospective missionaries joined with us.

This is Mark Rodney - a recently baptized member from the new area of Linden. He was SO excited to receive his own copy of Preach My Gospel!




This is Richard Linde who is not even baptized yet (actually it happened the day after zone conference). He is already planning for his mission!



And this is Bruce Coelho from Parika - he looks like a missionary already


Can you imagine the changes that are taking place in these young mens' lives as they work with the missionaries?

They enjoyed (endured?) five hours with us and even bore their testimonies at the end of the conference.

They learned plenty about studying the Gospel from the example of their new brothers

















Senior couples know how it's done




What an impressive group of missionaries!


Elders Jailall, Lang, Vance and Barker


Elders Linton (brand new), Lee, Clark and Damm


Elders Harris, Powers, Tupou and Findlay


Elders Mulder, Gilly, Moses and Stebbing


Elders Falatau (2 weeks left), Vaea, Christensen and Chambers


Mark plus Elders Fillerup (2 weeks left), McDaniel (2 weeks left), Sorber (2 weeks left) and Jestice


Elders Daines, Stewart (brand new), Marshall and Green


Elders Parrish (2 weeks left) and Brenkmann


Elder Averett, Jamall and Elder Clark (2 weeks left)


The missionaries gave us wonderful departing gifts to make sure we will never forget the beauty and wonder of Guyana



This made it possible for President Robison to become an honorary member of the L'alligator (scripture cover) zone!



What fun!