During the last quarter, the Guyana Conference lost two stalwarts who had made outstanding contributions to the Adventist work in Guyana over the course of time.

 
Angela Iona Archer

Veteran missionary and Christian educator, Sis Angela Iona Archer, passed away on 7^th August at the age of 92. Renowned for her work in the hinterland, she held a record of over 40 years of service devoted to leading people to Christ and to intellectual success.

 

Sis Archer‘s walk with the Lord began when she was about 22 years old. Not much later, she dedicated her energies to missionary work among the Davis Indians of Paruima in a remote area of Guyana’s forested regions. She left for a brief four years to access professional training at the Adventist college in Trinidad. When she returned in 1959, they were the ones to first benefit from her newly developed teaching skills. Since then, Aunt Angie, as she was so often fondly called, worked in other far-flung areas such as Bethany and Bara Cara.

For some, the name Angela Archer represents a legendary woman who experienced the adventures of stamping on a bushmaster, killing a tiger, and having to carry mammoth amounts luggage as she made her way up river to visit reservations. For others, it tells of a woman of discipline and resolve. But to all who knew her, especially those pupils to whom she opened her home for residency from time to time, and nieces and nephews who she cared for as if they were her own, she will always be a symbol of love and unselfish service; for as large as she was in stature, she was at heart.

 

Haywood Lloyd Lincoln Earle

Bro Haywood Lloyd Lincoln Earle ended this chapter of life in the USA on 16^th September after a prolonged period of illness. He was 53 years old. Bro Earle represents a newer generation; however, the ardour with which he embraced the work of the church reflected a similar approach to Christian service. His philosophy was obviously guided by his favourite maxim: “Let’s work for the Lord; the pay is not great, but the retirement plan is out of this world.”

 

Bro Earle originated from a Seventh-day Adventist background in the No 30 Village on the West Coast of Berbice, Guyana. This inspired his faithful devotion to God and the cause of the church. At the time of his death, Lincoln, as he was more popularly called, was an ordained Elder of the Flat Bush Seventh-day Adventist Church; but he was also a faithful son of Guyana’s soil, and so he always held dear the work of the church back home in Guyana. He had served faithfully as the President of Guyanese American Missionary Endeavour (GAME) for six years and had been instrumental in the birth of the Guyana Day Celebrations which have now evolved into a much anticipated event by many Guyanese at home and abroad.

 

Like the Lincoln that decorates the Hall of Fame in American history, Lincoln Earle was a humble man with outstanding personal achievements as well as a benefactor to many. This, along with his genuine love and concern for others, makes his life one that any Christ-centred person would want to emulate.

 

Angela Archer at 92, and Lincoln Earle at 53: they represent a continuum of self-less service, the hallmark of true Christianity. The Guyana Conference will truly miss them.