FAREWELL TO GUYANA

Last night (Thursday) we all went over to Pastor Sammy’s house for an amazing meal of barbecued chicken (cooked on the barbecue and tastefully sauced), rice and potato salad. Pastor Sammy shared some of his experiences working in the interior with the Amerindian people. He shared about how God healed a woman who could not walk and when the village heard of it all who had sicknesses came out and God healed the whole village. His church is planning a fast for the month of January for 21 days in anticipation of a 21 day crusade in March. When I look at Pastor Sammy’s face I see a passion for Jesus and a deep desire to serve him which is a great blessing to my own heart. What stands out for me on this trip is the work of the Pastor’s in reaching out to their neighbors many of whom are Muslim and Hindu a number of whom are coming to Christ.

After breakfast we all went to a sports field to distribute New Testaments and tracts for 1 ½ hours to the teachers, police, referees, band members, concession workers and students participating in the yearly sports day. There were many students there and we gave out many New Testaments, tracts and Daily Breads. We are pretty well drained of distribution material now.

STUDENTS WAITING TO GET INTO STADIUM

REFERREES

 After the distribution we went to the market and then to Steve and Sabrina’s and her parents for a feast of roasted chicken, roasted beef, roasted port, roasted duck and curried duck, rice and dhol sauce (oh spicy). They sure treated us well. What a beautiful family who came from a Muslim background and who now love Christ.

SABRINA'S FAMILY

It is wonderful how we are now recognized in town and people ask us for DVD’s or tell us they have received one from us. People bless us for doing the work of God and say we are welcome here. I have only had two people refuse material. For the last two days we have seen the Jehovah Witnesses out on the street and last week as well. The door for spreading the Gospel is wide open in Guyana and Suliman and the Pastors here hope to take advantage of this. Suliman is now developing plans to do distributions in Trinidad and Suriname over the next couple of years using some of the Guyanese Christians. Guyana could become a center of challenge for evangelism in this whole area. Pray and continue to be part of God’s work here

We have the afternoon and evening off as we prepare to leave very early tomorrow morning at 4 am for the airport and our trip home. I hope to see some of you on Sunday. My mind and heart are full of praise, peace and joy. Thank you.

LAST DAYS

Last night at the end of the church service we were thanked by Pastor Tony for coming to Guyana. After the service we were given a drink and snack and Pastor Tony shared some thoughts with us. The church in Guyana must be a church that shows the power of God because the people are naturally involved with black magic and seek power to help them with their troubles. For example there was a Muslim lady who became paralyzed on one side of her body. Before she was paralyzed Pastor Tony spoke with her about Jesus but she was not responsive. She went to the doctors and her own religious leaders for healing but was not cured. After exhausting all efforts she one day held a Bible in her hands and said that if the God of that Bible was real He could heal her, then she went to bed. She had a vision of Jesus removing strings from her body and when she woke up she was completely and instantly healed and that is how she ended up coming to Pastor Tony’s church and becoming a Christian. The church must counter the false power of the society with the power of God in Christ. The church gives itself to prayer and fasting and keeps itself in fellowship with God because of this environment. Pastor Tony said that when the Hindu’s and Muslim’s look for answers to life’s problems and trials in their own religion, they do not find any answers but when they come to the Christians they find answers and become Christians. I met a number of first generation Christians and especially young people whose parents continue in their traditional religion. God is doing great things in Guyana. Continue to pray for Guyana long after we have returned to Canada.

This morning we distributed tracts at the Gibraltar-Courtland primary school and prayed with the teachers and students. We are low on supplies and were not even able to give these students the children’s version of the DVD.

Distribution van

 Then we did distribution in a very poor area, some places did not even have electricity and so we did not leave any DVD’s. We had about 13 today for distribution, 7 of us from Canada and the rest Guyanese. Tonight we may be having supper at Pastor Sam’s and Friday we may be doing a school combined with a day off. Saturday morning we leave at 4 am for the airport.

House in remote areaa

View from out rental house. Ocean is behind those trees.

WEDNESDAY

[no pictures today because I left my phone at home]

At four o’clock this morning the Guyanese men left to do distribution in the city of Linden which is a 2 ½ hour drive South. After breakfast we “white guys” first visited Cropper Primary School where we distributed the children’s DVD and a children’s tract to 12 to 15 classes. They serve over 600 children. Once again I prayed with the head mistress before I left. We heard that two other primary schools were waiting for a visit from us but I am not sure we will get to them on this trip.

After the school distribution we dropped DVD’s off in an area just outside of town that we had not yet completed. We do not have any adult Jesus DVD’s left only the children’s DVD and no more plastic door hanger bags so we are down to our last materials. We are now distributing the children’s DVD without tracts to homes. After the distribution we went for lunch and back home until supper and the evening church service at 5:30.

In Linden the men visited three large schools, one technical school, one high schools and a primary school. They gave out the children’s DVD version to the students and adult DVD versions to the teachers. Then the men did distribution to the local businesses. A busy but successful day.

SHARING WITH PROFESSIONALS

Guyana is a beautiful country but there is garbage all over and keeping the environment clean is not a high priority. Much of the sewage waste goes directly into the ditches in front of the house. It is amazing that these sewage ditches can grow some beautiful flowers.

After breakfast we joined the Guyana  group for distribution in New Amsterdam. Some parts of the city are quite rough but by contrast there are a lot of churches from many denominations there. We have run out of the Jesus DVD and are now handing out the children’s version so even in terms of material we are coming to the end of our assignment here.

After taking a break for lunch and some rest, we went to the Berbice satellite University of Guyana campus to distribute more New Testaments and “Cravings” by Edwin McManus packets. The Guyanese finished the distribution in New Amsterdam.

This campus focuses on the humanities and seems to have a number of professionals seeking advanced training. We gave out about 250 packets in the hour we were there.After our distribution I was called into the administrators office to pray for him and the school. I also was invited to pray with the head mistress and for the school when we went to the primary school. A great openess here.

Diane and I are both feeling fine.

SCHOOL VISIT AND TECHNOLOGY

Early this morning Suliman returned to Georgetown with the Guyanese men to finish the DVD distribution in a rough neighborhood. Ray, a recent Muslim convert, who was born to Guyanese parents from a Hindu/Muslim background in Canada went to visit relatives in Georgetown whom he has not seen in over 20 years.

 We visited Ashlyne primary school to hand out a children’s version of the Jesus DVD and some children’s tracts. The children were from a Muslim, Hindu and Christian background. This was our only assignment today because the Guyanese men were in Georgetown and some of the students who come out with us had exams today. We spent a relaxing afternoon and many of us needed the extra rest.

Reach Beyond Canada, the mission through which we worked on this trip, donated 200 Galcom radios and 200 MP3 audio players to be distributed by the Guyanese in the interior of Guyana. The Galcom radios are solar powered, with a preset station to listen to Gospel messages broadcast from a transmitter just off the coast of Guyana. The audio players are solar powered and preloaded with an audio Bible and other useful messages. A wonderful use of technology.

Galcom Radio

MP3 audio player

 So far we have had great weather, good health, no accidents and are on schedule for this phase of reaching every home in Guyana. Thank you for praying.

SUNDAY REST

Just a short note today. We attended church this morning. Service started at 8:30 and ended around 11. As usual I enjoyed the worship and Ray’s testimony from our team. I preached but the message did not have clarity. We stayed at Pastor Tony’s house, where church is held, for lunch and then came home to our rented house to rest until supper about 6:30. Tomorrow we will be visiting a school and later in the week another university. As plans are now we will finish our distribution on Thursday and have Friday off before we leave for the airport very early Saturday morning. Some of the Guyanese went out this afternoon to finish yesterday’s distribution area.We have covered most of two provinces already. The Pastor's are getting calls and there are some conversions reported. We praise God for what we are hearing and what we do not know about.