I loaded the following three pictures and realized that once again I hadn't included any pictures of me. So I thought I'd better add this one to the blog as well. My children have gotten after me for not giving someone else the camera once in awhile. I found this picture with both of us in it but I can't remember who the young man is. We met him one day when we were visiting another senior couple's area.
We have just completed our first month in Guyana. We are in some very beautiful country. Linden is the second largest city in Guyana. Georgetown is the largest. Most of the other cities in Guyana are along the coast and get more wind, rain, and cool breezes than where we are. Linden is inland near the interior of Guyana about an hour and a half drive from Guyana. There is little rain right now and hardly any cool breezes making it very hot. We are told that the rainy season will start again in June. We are praying for that day. Despite our discomfort, we are anxiouly engaged in missionary work.
Linden has only been open to missionaries since February of this year. Since that time the elders have been working hard. As of last Sunday when there were 4 baptisms, we now have 54 baptized members. There are younger children though who increase the attendance. Of course, not every member comes every week, but we do have a good active attendance plus every week there are many investigators.
The four elders we have been working with are Elder Fillerup, Elder Harris, Elder Tupou, and Elder Powers. Elder Fillerup has only one more transfer (6 weeks) in his mission. Elder Tupou will complete his mission in August. Elder Harris was in the MTC with us and got here two days after we did. Elder Powers in the new kid on the block. This was his first transfer in the mission field. They are such powerful missionaries and we have learned so much from them and love to go out teaching with them.
Elder Leishman has baptized a few people since we have been here. His first baptism was Joycelyn Archibald Semple. Interestingly enough, Elder Leishman's grandfather was Thomas Archibald Leishman. Most of our baptisms are done in the Demerara River which is a short walk from our chapel. The water looks black but is actually clean water. It's much cleaner here than it is in Georgetown where it begins at the ocean. There it is the color of the Virgin River, muddy reddish brown.
One of our major accomplishments since arriving in Linden is getting a post made for the sign that the elders had made to go out in front of our chapel which is the bottom floor of a two story building. This is a picture of some of the church group under the new sign. Linden is not a branch yet because we lack the number of Melchizedek Priesthood brethren required. We are part of the Diamond Branch which is about 85 km away.
