Singin' in the Rain

Dear Family,

This past week was supposed to be the beginning of the dry season, but as you can see by the photo, we continue to take our walks and get a downpour while we are walking.  And to think that Utah and Idaho are having problems with fire and drought. 

Our neighbors, the Beechers had their 40th wedding anniversary on Friday.  They spent the day working on an employment survey and talking to young people who are trying to get PEF loans and scholarships before school starts this next month. 

I couldn't help but contrast that with the 40th wedding anniversary which we enjoyed a year and a half ago which our children gave us as a gift.  We loved the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert and the dinner and the Anniversary Inn.  It was truly an unforgettable night, mostly because of the thoughtfulness of our children.  

Yesterday was kind of stressful.  We took off in a downpour to go to Diamond to find a new apartment for the elders there.  When we were only a block from our home, a truck pulled out of the driveway and ran into the side of our car, doing damage on the front fender and the two passenger doors.  We had to get the person's information and go to the police station to report the accident.  The police are supposed to come to the scene of the accident, but according to the other driver, they never seem to make it there.  We surely hope that the driver will pay for the damage which he promised he would.

After we looked at the apartment, we noticed a police escort for a whole group of motorcyclists.  The were having some sort of a rally. That reminded us of Becky's facebook page with the motorcycles up there in Sundance.  Then today, on the way to church, there was a section of the seawall road which was blocked off for bicycle racers. That seems to be a Sunday morning event in Guyana. I honestly don't know how they can ride in 85 degree weather for these races without having heat stroke.

We have our Chinese friend James, who is about to get baptized.  He plans to be baptized on my birthday, August 28th. We are excited for him.  He still really struggles with reading and understanding the Book of Mormon.  He says the the language style is such an old style in his Chinese translation, and he never had any religious upbringing before he came here, so it is really foreign to him.  He does have a strong belief in God and feels that he is loved.  He really accepts the Plan of Salvation lesson, that he lived with Heavenly Father before he was born and that he is being watched over and will return to his heavenly home after he leaves this earth.  It has been really enjoyable to teach him.

My last comment is concerning piano.  We have been really discouraged at times with the slow progress which our students are making because the refuse to practice, but this last week was great. Several of them are finally beginning to sight read and figure out how the music should be played without much help. We hope that during our last 4 months we can get them to the point where they are able to accompany the members in church.  

One girl, Rovaughnia, who is not even a member is amazing.  It is as if she knows the songs before she even plays them.  She really has a gift.  I told her that she knew these hymns before she came to earth and that she is just remembering them.  I hope that she, more that any others, will keep going with her music. 

Well, we had better close for now.  We hope, Jacob that you made the move alright.  We pray that you will be able to get all the loose ends tied up before September.  Becky, do you get on skype in your new home?  We would love to see you there. To all the rest of you, thanks for your letters.  We miss the huckleberry fun and Esther, we enjoyed seeing Zachary and his crawling.  

Love, Mom and Dad

Zone Conference

Dear Family,

We had zone conference on Monday.  We did not get any new direction for senior couples, but we enjoyed the counsel which we received along with the young elders.  

The mission president talked about three kinds of trials which we have in this world. The first is those we bring upon ourselves because we are disobedient.  The second is those which come just as a natural part of living, and the third is those which the Lord sends us to test our faithfulness.  He said that the third type are often the hardest because it test our faithfulness.

We had kind of a discouraging experience today in the Linden branch.  The branch president had to work, so his counselor took charge.  They asked us to speak at the meeting, along with the counselor's wife.  The Gospel Doctrine teacher was gone so they had a last minute teacher.  There were no primary teachers, only the President.  There were no youth Sunday School teachers, so the youth taught themselves. and the Relief Society was cancelled or shortened and no priesthood lesson would have been taught if Dad and organized them and started a discussion.  Oh Boy, we somehow need to help the leadership to know that if they don't organize the meetings, the people will quit coming entirely.  We thought that things were going better than that last month.

One fun thing that happened this week was that one of the temporary missionaries, brother Stewart, who has served 4 times on 6 week missions received his mission call.  We delivered it to him while he and his companion were out tracting on their bicycles.  He called us the next morning to let us know that he was going to Atlanta Georgia.  He is pretty excited to be leaving the country.  He will be a good missionary and he comes from a strong family.

Well, we don't have much else to tell you this week.  I've been a little bit sick with a fever, but it is getting better fast. It seems like we never get sick enough to keep us down for long.  

Becky, we hope that the move wasn't to hard for you.  Sorry we couldn't wish you a better birthday on that day, but of course, there was no chance to communicate.  Jacob, good luck moving to Cottonwood Heights this weekend. Just being a 15 minute drive from Deborah will be awesome for both of you. Esther, we loved the story and pictures of your family, and we love hearing from all of you.

Love, Mom and Dad

The Mission Call

Dear Family,
Since most of you have probably already watched the video of Uncle Rob and Aunt Brenda, opening their new mission call, this is for you, Amy.  They have been called to the Wellington, New Zealand Mission to serve as Family History Preservation Specialists in the city of Dunedin. It is in the southern part of New Zealand.  The area to the West of them is a large mountain range which goes all the way down the western coast of the island.

We looked up the church statistics of the area and there is a district with 6 branches of the church there, just like we have here in our area of Guyana.  I expect that they will do some member leader support there besides the Family History work.  It will certainly be a little diifferent than the mission to Washington DC because the church is not as strong there. 

Our week has been a good one.  We picked up the Mission President on Friday and are in the middle of district conference and zone conference this week-end.  One of the promises which our mission president made to the members here was that if they would keep the Sabbath day holy, live the law of the fast and pay fast offerings, they would be blessed financially and spiritually and not have the heavy burdens that they now carry.  

He also said that in the West Indies, only 1 percent of the members pay fast offerings, and in order to be considered a contributor, all you had to do was pay at least one penny during the year. That is so little to ask.  Yet the blessings promised by the Lord are so great.  I really believe that.  The spirit bore witness to me of how keeping those two commandments would help them live all the other commandments.  I know that our family has been greatly blessed materially by keeping the Sabbath day holy and paying our fast offerings to the Lord.

We continue to work with James, our Chinese friend.  He has made many friends in the branch and they greet him whenever he comes to church meetings.  He still struggles in his Book of Mormon reading.  He just doesn't understand the things he reads and so he isn't motivated to read and pray about the scriptures.  Dad wants to take him to help teach other Chinese people, but you can't teach things you don't have a testimony of.  Maybe he would get one though if he had to interpret for Dad as he taught.

Well,  Thanks so much for writing and visiting us on skype.  We love you all.  

Mom and Dad

The Rainy Season is about Finished

Dear Family and Friends,  We have had tons of rain for the past 3 months and many of our neighbors have had flooded yards, but it seems to be finally coming to a close.  Fortunately for us, the yard has a great drainage system and we have not been affected.

We have really enjoyed the rainy season because it cools things off during the day and the evening.  If we can just endure the next three months when we still have the humidity but no rain and the temperatures soar into the 90's every day!

Today was seminary and institute graduation.  There were probably 30 seminary students who completed their whole year of early morning classes and maybe 20 institute students who did the same.  I call them the faithful few.  There was certainly the possibility of three times that many active youth who come to church each week, but do not attend seminary and institute classes.  What a testimony building opportunity they are missing.  The teachers are some of the finest I have met in the church and they really care about each of their students.  

This has been a month of trying to improve the apartments which the elders are living in. One set moved out of theirs for a month so that the landlord could repaint and put a new tile floor in it and another set moved into a completely different apartment because our mission president wanted them to be closer to the church and the people they are teaching.  

There were a couple of missionaries in Trinidad who got Dengue fever from the mosquitoes there, so now we are looking at putting air conditioning units in the apartments, so that they have more protection.  I hope that works.  We have two air-conditioning units in our apartment, but the mosquitoes still find their way into the apartment.  We just make sure we spray with mosquito repellent and have a good mosquito net at night.

Well, I am rambling.  I am just really tired.  We helped with a Young Single Adult activity last night and boy, those young people here love to visit and visit.  The activity was supposed to be finished at 8:00 pm but it was 9:30 before we left the church.  I just wanted to say "Go home, this old lady is ready to go to sleep for the night."  We were glad that they enjoyed the activity and each other, however. The theme was pioneer night.  We played pioneer games, shot arrows from an authentic Indian bow, watched "Joseph Smith and the Restoration" and had a fish fry with deep fried plantain chips and brownies for dessert.  It was all good!

It was really fun to receive the West Side missionary letter and hear from each of our missionaries and enjoy their testimonies.  Thanks to all of them for contributing to that.

To our siblings,  we haven't heard from some of you for quite a while.  Send us a note to let us know how you are all doing.  We love and miss you. (Lois and Joel, how is the mission going?) (Rob and Brenda, do you have your new the mission call yet?)

To our children,  Happy Birthday, Aaron and Becky.  We wish you well, Becky and Jason, and Jacob and Abi as you make the big move to new homes and jobs this month.  We wish that we could be there to help you.  

Love from Elder and Sister Beutler

Another Week of Travel

Dear Family,

Time flies on weeks like this last one. We took 6 elders to Suriname on Tuesday, prepared food for transfer day on Wednesday, picked up elders from the airport on Friday and Saturday, and went to Linden today to get a temporary missionary to serve for the next 6 weeks.  

Elder Beutler also helped a set of elders move from one apartment to another yesterday while I stayed home and did laundry, made bread, and cleaned up the house.  

I don't know if it was the 8 hours of sitting in a car on Tuesday or what, but on Thursday, I picked up a box of Books of Mormon and hurt my back in the process.  I walked with a crooked back for the rest of the day and took Ibuprofen and prayed that the damage could be fixed.  

I have been so blessed that way.  The next morning, the pain had eased up enough so that I could walk straight again and by Saturday, I was able to do my work without any problem.  I will be more careful about what I lift from now on.  I am not as young as I used to be and I need my back to keep working for me for many more years to come.

Tonight we attended a YSA fireside where our district president talked a small number of young people about what they would like to have happen and activities to encourage a better attendance and have the young people get more excited about being with other members of the church.  If any of you have some good ideas about good activities for young single adults, please share with us.  We have not been that age for many years.  

We hope that all is well with all you and we really love your letters and skype visits.  Amy we pray that your last 6 months will be the best. 

Love Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday, Mayara

Dear Family,

We have been experiencing a black out for the past 11 hours, hoping that the power comes on in time to send this letter before Amy gets on the internet to read email from home.  We were told that the power would be turned off today from 8 to 5 and we weren’t  too worried about it because we were going to Linden for church and knew that we wouldn’t be back to Georgetown until 4 or so, but here it is almost 8 PM and the power is still off.  The food in the fridge is starting to get warm and we are getting tired of it all.  Some people in this neighborhood have generators which start up immediately when the power goes off but we do not so we just do things that don’t require electricity.

This has been a big week for us.   Besides the usual office work, Dad spent many hours yesterday drilling holes through the walls of the apartments we rent for the elders so that we could run hoses for the propane tanks outside so that the stoves the elders use did not have the propane tanks inside the apartments.  It is a safety measure which the church requires now that there should be no propane tanks inside the apartments.  We finished three apartments and there are still two to go. 

Earlier this week, we had a skype meeting with the 24 couples and the Mission President.  Pres. Mehr talked to us about finding ways to work with organizations such as the Lions club or hospitals etc. to do humanitarian projects and helping hands projects not only to be of service, but to build good relationships within our communities, so that when we have the large influx of new missionaries in our countries, they will be welcomed and trusted by the people here.  Guyana already has several organizations that have done humanitarian service in a joint effort, but unfortunately, the government itself is very adamant about limiting the number of foreign missionaries to 20.  We keep praying that it will change, but so far nothing has happened.

Today, we had a great experience in Linden.  The man that Dad baptized in May, Brother Featherstone, spent some time with us helping to teach an investigator.  After the meeting we took him home and met his daughter and granddaughter.  The granddaughter has eye problems and cannot read without enlarging the print.  Dad asked her grandfather if she had ever been given a priesthood blessing.  He said that she had not and he requested that she be given one. 

Dad gave her a wonderful blessing and after the blessing, her mother told us about a dream that she had had the night before.  She said that she dreamed that she saw Jesus Christ and she led him to her daughter and he gave her a blessing.   This experience was a witness to me that the Priesthood is from Jesus Christ and that it was not a coincidence that we went there today to meet Brother Featherstone’s family.  I feel that we just need to be sensitive to the spirit and we will be led to the ways we can help those around us.

We trust that all of you are doing okay.  We pray for each of you and are so grateful that you look after each other.  Abi, we are so excited that you are going to have another baby and we hope that things go well for you.  We love all of you grandchildren and miss you so much.  We hope that the power comes on soon.  12 hours is the record and we will be reaching that in twenty minutes. 

Happy Birthday to you, Mayara!                             

Love,  Mom and Dad

Happy 4th of July

Dear Family,

This week, one of the highlights was to attend a 4th of July party at the home of the Ambassador of the United States. It was hosted by the US Embassy, and as far as we could tell, we were the only missionaries from the church who were invited.  There were lots of Americans there who work for the Embassy and many dignitaries from other countries who are associated in one way or another with the Embassy.

We had lots of conversations with people and most of them have moved from one country to another to do their jobs.  The secretary for the Ambassador has moved about 13 times I believe to various countries for her job.  It seems like everyone had a story to tell about their life.

We dressed like cowboys and the band did an excellent job of playing country music. We even danced for a couple of minutes to the tune of "Achy Breaky Heart".

As we were leaving, we met the Ambassador of Sri Lanka.  His wife told us that she had been at the Assembly Hall in Salt Lake City and had performed as a drummer at Christmas time.  She had a great experience there, not only as a performer, but also going on the tours of Welfare Square and Temple Square. 

We also enjoyed hearing from you as you shared your week and told us about the 4th of July celebration in Dayton.  It made us grateful for your willingness to continue the celebration so that the children could have the fun that goes with that day.

Congratulations to Jacob for his outstanding run, and Happy Birthday to Gideon and Joseph this week. 

Today we attended church in Demerara on the East Coast. They meet in the newest church building in Guyana. It was dedicated the first month we were here. We attended branch correlation meeting after the block. The church is very young here. The leaders could use lots of counsel on how to counsel together to bring the unity in the branch the gospel requires. The main focus of the meeting was visiting and fellowshipping the new converts. No home teaching is taking place and little or no visiting teaching. The auxiliaries are weak and partially functioning. There is lots of need for senior couple shadow leadership. That is hard to do without a strong relationship with the leaders, so they don't feel threatened or offended. I think we can lend some help. 

It is a mammoth job to run a functioning branch here. There are so few who are really committed enough to follow through with assignments.

Anyway, we press forward and hope that we are doing some good. 

Love to all of you, Mom and Dad