My How You Have Grown

My slideshow still isn't done but here are some more wonderful pictures of the people we love.

My darling Young Women and their leaders.
Pictured with them is Sister Collins, the new Senior Sister.
She is in the upper right hand corner. I guess she's easy to find, she's the only red-head there.

There were over 80 who attended Sacrament Meeting on Sept. 27th, our last Sunday.
Elder Leishman insisted on a group shot outside.
What a special group of people they are -
faithful, loving, and dedicated to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Linden has over 20 students in seminary

with an average attendance of 13 or 14.

They are wonderful, eager-to- learn youth. They are the future leaders of Linden.

Nice looking bunch of Priesthood holders
looking sharp in their Priesthood uniforms, white shirts and tie..

Here we are at the Guyana airport.
Smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.
We will miss Guyana.
We will be going back to visit before we go home.

Don't Give Up On Me

I've been working on a slideshow for over a week now. It's almost done but I just don't have time to finish. We are leaving Monday morning for Tobago, an island just above Trinidad, where we will finish our mission. We're so sad to leave Guyana. We really love Linden and the people of Linden, especially the members of our church groups.

This is "Farmer" Elder Leishman talking to his good friend, Oral, and Oral's donkey. Oral farms on 35 acres.



This is my very good friend, Alice. We are like sisters and I'm really going to miss her.

More Baptisms in Linden

I call this picture "Angels in the In-field".
Elder Leishman and Elder Brenkmann walk through a grassy field
to the place where the baptisms will take place.

We had four baptisms in Linden at 8 o'clock this morning, Sept. 5, 2009
L to R in the front are Simeon, Chris, Ashley, and Oral.
L to R in the back are Elders, Harris, Tupou, Brenkmann, and Leishman.

Sister Leishman, Oral McLean, Elder Leishman after his baptism.
Oral is a farmer in Linden.

Elders Harris and Babbel found and taught Simeon
who is a drug and alcohol counselor in Linden.

We had a really nice group at this morning's baptismal service.

Baptism by Moonlight

I'm afraid I'm not very expert at using my new digital camera. So, this shot of the full moon just before Malika's baptism leaves a little to your imagination. Can you see the shadow of the palm trees in front of the moon? The light at the bottom of the picture is the moon's reflection in the blackwater creek where Malika Culpepper was baptized on Sept. 3rd, 2009.


Malika's mother, Juliet, was baptized earlier this summer. We were all very happy when Malika called the elders Thursday morning to say that she was ready. We had a sweet service in the moonlight on the rocks by the creek with songs, talks, and testimonies. We don't have a font in Linden. All of our baptisms are in the river or a tributary of the river.

Young Men's Camp in Linden, Guyana 2009

We had 24 young men from the Linden Church Group attend Young Men's Camp this year. We also had two of our sisters volunteer to go spend the week with the boys and be part of the cooking staff. (What's up with that? Shouldn't the boys be doing their own cooking?) They had a great time playing volleyball, fishing, going on 5K runs every morning, studying the scriptures, swimming in the nearby creek, and, of course, eating.


The highlight of the camp for the Priest age boys was a service project in Anarika which is a small village about 10K from where the camp was held. A member family lives in Anarika. You might remember about the man who was seriously injured in a logging accident. It was at their house that they did the service project.


The Ramdeholls had a garden spot that they used each year to plant vegetables for their family's use and to sell. They had already planted 50 pepper plants in pots earlier in the year. Shortly after that he had the accident that has prevented him and Sister Ramdeholl from clearing the garden spot and planting the vegetables. So that's what the Priests did for a couple of hours during their camp experience.


The Ramdeholls were very grateful for the help. The garden spot was cleared and planted expertly by the boys with the help of Elder Leishman's many years of experience.

FYI - Brother Ramdeholl is scheduled to finally have the pins removed that have held his pelvis in place for 3 months. When that is finished and he has healed, he still needs to have surgery to repair his ureter. This sweet family has suffered much pain and sorrow in the last 4 months but their faith and testimony of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Redeemer has not wavered. They are a special family and we know that Elder Leishman was inspired to make Anarika part of his mission in Linden.