Photos from Guyana

I made these photos to share with the Area PEF Committee and Brother Aybar. I thought you might like to see them also. The people in Guyana are ready for the blessing of the PEF program. It will make it possible for young people who have dreams to prepare themselves for good employment. A stable job and a reasonable income will allow them to raise strong families and become leaders in the Church and their communities. How blessed we are to be able to work with this wonderful program and such fine people who are anxiously engaged in doing good.
Love, Jeri

Adventure in Guyana

One of my strongest memories of Guyana is that the ocean and the rivers are brown. Apparently the soil is clay and the rivers carry the very fine particles to the ocean. They do not settle to the bottom but remain suspended and color the water brown. I am told that some rivers in the interior look like they are filled with Pepsi instead of water. This is the ocean at high tide as seen from the seawall in Georgetown. The city of Georgetown is at a lower elevation than the sea and everywhere we went the land is laced with trenches filled with dirty water, but in some places also beautiful water lilies. The trenches connect with canals and exchange water with the rivers. When the tide goes out, the water level drops in the river and they open the gates that let the water drain out of the land. When they need irrigation water they let the water in at high tide.

This is an unusually large and beautiful house. See the water lilies blooming in the trench in front of the house? The trenches are often basically open sewage but there are beautiful flowers as well. Here is a better view of the flowers:

Here is a lily pad just waiting for a frog. I didn't see any frogs but I heard them every evening. The frog songs in Guyana are wonderful. I wish I could have brought the sound with me. It is very high pitched but musical and pleasant to listen to. The people who live there are so used to the background noise they don't pay attention but I enjoyed it.

There are two districts in Guyana. One in Georgetown and the second is called Canje. Guyana is part of the West Indies Mission and the missionaries are baptising many new members. They are experiencing the challenges of rapid growth. They do have the blessing of many senior couples because the mission president has actively recruited them. The church needs so many more couples to shepherd new members and help them learn how to become the needed leaders in the struggling new branches. President Barrow is the Georgetown District President and the district has received approval to become the first stake in the next few months. President Barrow is wonderful and a very capable leader. I was very impressed with his willingness to shoulder additional responsibilities and do all he can to bring greater opportunities to his people. He is the chairman of the PEF Country Committee and that is the first group we met with. Here is President Barrow with two women on the committee. There are also several others who are not in this photo.

This is Grandpa teaching the leaders of the Georgetown District about the Perpetual Education Fund and their responsibilities to find, teach and support the youth. Everyone was very grateful to have this program available and look forward to the process of helping the youth dream, plan and achieve their goals. We held this training and also a fireside in both districts. Here are some of the youth participating in the firesides:

There is a large river between Georgetown and New Amsterdam where our friends the Bullocks live. Their area is in the Canje District. One must take a ferry to cross the river. Can you see how brown the water is? It turned out that we had entertainment on our trip. There is a man who is very creative in finding a way to be self reliant. During our trip he "ate fire" (very shocking and not something I would like to try) and then he also did a tightrope demonstration. This man was very skilled! He removed his cap, his shirt and then his pants while standing on the wire! He then put each item back on and never fell from the wire.

We thought he certainly earned a donation and gave him $100 in Guyanan dollars (which are worth much less than American dollars). In fact, since they don't use checks or credit cards, people must carry a lot of cash. It is as if, in our country, we had to pay for everything in cash and we didn't have any paper money worth more than $5.00. Grandpa's wallet looked very full. Elder Langford says people walk around with plastic grocery sacks full of money in order to go shopping or to go to the bank. Yes, robberies are common.

It was Carifest 2008 while we were in Guyana and we had a chance to see part of the displays. It is a big festival of all things Caribbean held every other year in a different country.

We had umbrellas both for the sun (it was very, very hot and humid) and for the rain (it poured buckets). We especially enjoyed the Amerindian exhibit of traditional and modern homes and crafts.

This is Chris trying on a feather headress and posing with a blowpipe.

I wanted to buy all of the little animals. They also had armadillos and other animals made from tiny seeds sewn tightly together together to form the shapes. Another area had lots of things for sale. We talked with a man who makes steel pan instruments. He really does start with a steel drum and heats and stretches the bottom inward. He tunes them with an electronic instrument that measures the wave lengths of the sound and identifies the notes. He makes and tunes it all with a short hammer that has a big head! He sells sets to schools and individuals and was happy to play for us. Very fun!
It was a great experience to be able to visit another country and become acquainted with such wonderful people. We are very blessed and grateful to be involved in sharing the miracle of the Perpetual Education Fund. This program helps young people in places where they need a hand to be able to build a future that will allow them to build strong families and serve as leaders in the church and their communities.

Love, Mom/Grandma/Friend

Visit from the Arellanos

Emily and Edgar and Evan came to enjoy a Caribbean vacation with us.

Isn't this a face that would charm a grandmother's heart? Evan is learning new words every day and can repeat the words you say. I wish I could learn new language as well as he does. He will be speaking both English and Spanish in record time. He was an amazingly patient traveler and enjoyed almost all of our activities. We all enjoyed him!

This is Catalina Island. It is more beautiful than the one that's "...26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is the island for me..." That song was popular when I was a kid. They obviously hadn't seen this Catalina Island. We went to La Romana on the southeast of our island and took a 1/2 hour boat trip to Catalina island where we played all day. The crew fixed a buffet lunch for us and later took us back to La Romana at 4:00 in the afternoon.

It doesn't get much better than this - incredible Caribbean scenery and an adorable grandchild. Emily and Edgar were a bonus. Here they are approaching Catalina Island after snorkeling during our boat trip.

We did go to museums, restaurants, small towns, the Colonial District in Santo Domingo with many historical buildings and souvenir shops. The Arellanos went with us to a fireside. But the beach was the favorite destination. The Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean were both wonderful. Grandpa loved the oportunity to spend lots of time in the water. Grandma enjoyed taking photos and relaxing in the shade.

I did make the mistake of asking a man if I could take a photo of him on his horse. The next thing we knew we were taking a romantic ride through the waves. The man said, "Don't worry about the price. We are friends." It was great. How often does one get to go horseback riding on the beach?

Two other guys came along and asked if we wanted sea food. Grandpa was a clear "No" and Emily and Grandma were not interested but Edgar likes sea food. He enjoyed lots of oysters and octopus and I'm not sure what else. They even had hot sauce for him. He said it was excellent. But he was a bit surprised when the price they quoted turned out to be for EACH oyster. Oh well, we all had a great time.


We went to a fresh produce market at the "fair grounds" and Edgar bought the ingredients for Chili Rellenos which he made for us. We even had corn tortillas they brought from California. We miss corn tortillas! We saw this beautiful plumeria and there were goats and horses and poultry. Most of the horses I've seen here are very small but we saw one extremely tall horse. One man who owned several goats came up and introduced himself when he saw our missionary badges. Evan loved seeing all of the animals.

I learned a new word from Evan. "BA-poes" is Mexican baby-talk for shoes. It is short for zapatos and is very cute when he says it. He likes to wear ba-poes and had fun trying on all of my shoes. He loved the high heels best because they made the most noise. Here he is in his Daddy's shoes:

We played dominoes together while Emily and Edgar were at the temple. Playing dominoes is a Dominican tradition. But I don't think they play them the same way Evan does.

We went to McDonald's one afternoon and they were getting ready for a birthday party. We were not on the guest list but "Ronald McDonald" invited Evan to get his face painted.

The Pettingills certainly had a wonderful time. We'll go back to working hard so we can vacation again if anyone else is able to come for a visit.

Love, Grandma P

Looking forward to Arellano's visit

Emily and Edgar and Evan are coming to visit on the 31st of July. We wanted to check out another beach and found this one in Guyacanes. Looks pretty good, don't you think? This is on a Saturday afternoon so I expect we won't find it crowded. Lewis bought a plastic bucket and shovel for Evan at the dollar store. I think Grandpa is excited too.



I wanted to share with you an email from Nadine Brown in Jamaica. She wrote: "Thanks for your interest in how I have been doing having benefited from the PEF Programme. I should let you know that after completing my studies, I was promoted to the position of Research Manager at the Social Development Commission. That has been a great blessing in my life and I have learnt a lot. Today I had to make a presentation to a number of stakeholders including two Consultants from the European Union for the United Kingdom working on a project here in Jamaica. They were very impressed with the presentation I made but I know, had it not been for the PEF programme which allowed me to further my studies, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit it would not have been possible. I remember feeling nervous about the presentation and just before going up, I said a prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to help me through it and he did. I think the greatest encouragement I would give to persons on the PEF programme now, would be to serve in the church, be worthy of the Holy Spirit and Heavenly Father will bless you in your studies. He did it for me. Thanks again for writing and taking an interest in us as former students." Isn't that a great message?I asked Nadine for a photo of herself and received a photo that is in a word document that does not upload, so you miss her photo.


I do have a photo of a girl in curlers I want to share in an effort to preserve culture. This is Sandra and she came to a Saturday afternoon fireside in her rollers. I only want to preserve the memory, not the practice. I used to sleep in rollers this size when I was a teenager. We didn't have colorful plastic ones in those days. I used brush rollers. They were made of a wire spiral covered with brown plastic mesh fabric. Inside was a length of brush like a baby bottle brush. The tips of the brush stuck out of the mesh a little bit to help hold the hair in place around the roller. None of it was comfortable to sleep on. But no price was too high to have the popular "flip". There were no hand held dryers. If you wanted to dry your hair more rapidly than overnight we had hatbox sized hair dryers that had a hose attached to a big plastic shower cap. You had to sit next to the noisy machine with the puffy hat circulating warm air through the curlers until your hair was dry. It was a great opportunity to read though. We didn't have curling irons either. They were obsolete objects from my grandmothers day. She used to heat curling irons on a stove to make the marcel waves popular in the 1920's.


We are still traveling to all of the Stakes and Districts in the Dominican Republic. We only have one more district to go to finish the circuit but the Area PEF Committee wants us to continue. We will call all of the Stake and District Presidents again and offer to come and train their priesthood leaders and/or hold another fireside. We have talked with a lot of people but there are even more who missed our first round. We will offer them a second chance to hear our message and provide this opportunity for their young adults. We enjoy traveling because we usually listen to a book on the Ipod Danny gave us. We are enjoying the novels of Orson Scott Card. We also see many interesting sights. Here are a couple from our trip to San Juan in the interior of the western part of the country.

We saw a man plowing with oxen. He had a long whip that he would crack over their heads to give encouragement. When he got to the end of the row it was difficult to get everything turned around but he finally managed. Grandpa stopped so I could get this photo.

In the town of San Juan de la Maguana I saw more dogs in the parking lot of our hotel that one usually sees in one place unless it is a dog show. There are at least 10 in this photo and there were almost that many scattered throughout the rest of the parking lot.



This is the pretty gazebo in the main plaza in the center of town. There is also a very pretty church and some colorful spiral sculptures.




On the way back I saw chickens hanging from a car in front of us. I thought to myself, "I guess if you don't have a truck to carry dead chickens, you hang them on the outside of your car." But, when we pulled around to pass, one of the chickens squawked and I realized that they were live chickens. Not comfortable but very much alive.



One more thing I learned last week. MariLuz is a cute young blonde lady from Columbia who has been volunteering in the Employment Office while she looked for a job here in Santo Domingo. She told us this morning that she has found her new job! She is very happy and excited. When she went for her second interview the boss asked her what she had been doing to look for work. She explained that she went to her church's employment office and had been working there as a volunteer during her search. He asked her if she was a Mormon. She said, "Yes" and he said he didn't have any more questions and she was hired. He has hired other Mormons and been very pleased with them. He was willing to hire her without further questioning because he expects she will be as good a worker as they are. How is that for setting a good example? She is great. He will be pleased and hopefully will provide more jobs for excellent young people or Mormons of any age. Oh, and I thing I learned last week is this; Lewis was on the phone when MariLuz came in to say, Good Morning and chat a bit as she always does. As she left, she said, (in Spanish of course) Tell your Bon Bon "Good Morning" too. I was completely baffled and asked what a Bon Bon is. She told me that in Columbia that is what they call a sweet man. So I am very lucky I have my own Bon Bon and he is as sweet as candy and calorie free. Hope you all feel the same about your spouses.
Love,
Jeri

Beaches and dentists and coconuts

We found this beach just 45 minutes from our home. It is called Juan Dolio and this is what it looked like last Monday morning on the way back from the dentists. We didn't have time to do more than just stop and take a photo. Come visit us and we can schedule time to go to the beach and relax.

Poor Dad has had a tooth infection and we heard that a group of CA and UT dentists were coming the next week. With a lot of ibuprofen and antibiotic Dad waited until they came. Dad helped pick them all up from the airport. They are a wonderful group of family and friends who are dentists, hygienists, assistants and the young ones are "runners" getting supplies for the professionals. The founder is a Grandpa and many in his family have followed in his professional footsteps. They take about four trips a year, all over the world, gather donated supplies and bring a whole clinic with them to a stake building and set up practice. They were here at this time because a grandson is just finishing his mission and wanted to share his experiences with his family. His 13 year old brother got permission to spend three days with his big missionary brother. His younger sisters helped in the clinic. There are also many dental friends along.

Do you like the adjustable dentist chairs? Not too many people get their dentisty done lying on a church table but with a zip lock bag full of disposable gloves for a pillow it works just fine. The man with the gray pants in the foreground is Elder Durkovich. He and his wife are the CES couple in the building where we have our office. He was excited to help and did a lot of surgery pulling teeth. Dad did not want to join them in doing dentistry but he did end up helping later by finding the supplies they needed--except extra large gloves. Dominicans are not extra large.

They did a lot more than pull teeth though. They did root canals, fillings and cleanings along with whatever else needed doing. The word had gone out to the missionaries and the church members that there would be free dental care available. They took the missionaries first and then helped everyone who came. All were welcome and more non-members than members got free dentistry.

Dad was a bit of a puzzle. They took a lot of X-rays and decided that all he really had was gum disease. The hygienist cleaned it out well and they suggested topical application of tetracycline. He is doing much better but the problem is complicated because that tooth holds in his bridge and the dentist in Idaho had to grind a ridge for the bridge to fit into. That opened the contact which allows food to get in and caused the problem. All that is more than you wanted to know about his tooth but it is good that Grandpa didn't have to go to a local dentist who would decide to pull it out or something. He does need to get an implant when we return from our mission. It was fun to be a bit involved in this dentistry project. We got a call two days into their visit requesting an amalgamator. It is a machine that mixes the silver fillings. Their machine had broken. Dad found one, bought it and we went back to San Pedro to deliver it. They were running out of the materials to make composite fillings and were happy to have a new machine. On Saturday when we were training a stake presidency in Villa Mella we saw several of the dentist group again. There was a baptism and they were there to support the new member converted by their son/grandson.

Grandpa got the email address of one of his former missionary companions from one of the senior missionaries here. He wrote to Brother Allred and asked if he remembered his obnoxious companion. Here is his reply, "What I remember most is that while I was your companion I read the entire Book of Mormon for the first time. You bore witness to me that it was true and I could hardly put it down after I started to read it." I guess Grandpa has been promoting reading the scriptures all his life. (Actually I think his teenage years might have been an exception.) I'm sure none of our grandchildren will get to missionary age without having read the Book of Mormon several times. The more you read it the more interesting it becomes.

Another thing I am realizing more and more is how grateful we should be for our ancestors. The Perpetual Education Fund is patterned after the Perpetual Emigration Fund. That fund allowed some profound changes in lives. Without that chance to leave Europe we might have all been born in England and our ancestors would not have had the freedom of religion and opportunity available in the United States of America. There has been great economic improvement over the generations. For example, Henry and Margaret McNeil Ballard are my ancestors. Henry was born in England and Margaret in Scotland. They were in desperately humble circumstances by the time they reached Utah. Henry was ashamed of his ragged clothing and begged for clothes that covered his body sufficiently at a house in Emmigration Canyon so he could enter the Salt Lake Valley without shame. Margaret and her family were hungry and without food when they arrived. In front of a small home across a field was a pile of squash, and her mother sent her to beg for some squash for the family to eat. In her journal she wrote that the woman who opened the door said that she knew that a family was coming. She gave Margaret a loaf of freshly baked bread and said she would bring dinner to them soon. That woman must have been prepared somewhat like Amulek was. We don't know what it is like to not have a roof over our head and all the food we need and usually the kind of food that we prefer. We need to remember to be grateful for our blessings.

Here is a helpful tip for getting young boys to work in the yard. Give them a machete. They would love to weild a machete. Just kidding, I only had girls but I can see some problems with this plan. I have seen machetes used to cut sugar cane, hack off the outer covering of coconuts, weed flowerbeds and edge the grass. I'm sure there are more uses that I have not observed. When I have watched someone hold a coconut in one hand and use enough speed and pressure to cut through the tough husk on the outside of a coconut I wince. They cut off the top 1/3 all the way around an unripe coconut, poke in one of the eyes at the top of the coconut and sell it for a drink with a straw.

There are lots of carts all around the university, as well as other places. They sell fruit; pineapples, mangos, papayas, bananas, oranges (the oranges are pretty sad looking compared to CA oranges but the juice is good) as well as some fruits I don't know the names of yet. They sell sugar cane, I guess to chew on. We bought some but I didn't think it was worth the work to chew on the tough fibers. The fibers would just get jammed between my teeth. Lots of people sell candy bars and lolipops and cups of soda from 2 liter bottles. There are ice cream and popscicle carts. And there are carts or pickup trucks with cauldrons of boiling oil where they cook empanadas. They squiggle ketchup over them and sell lots. I would like to know what is inside the crust. There is a fast food place in town that sells empanadas. We need to go there. I'm not brave enought to eat off the street but I'm willing to try the chain restaurant. If they have two locations they probably know a few food safety rules.

We love you all. Be good. We will continue trying to be good for something also.