Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Both teams are leaving this evening for another mission trip to the jungle our big truck is out from the savanna and will be going back in January so Both teams will be going to 3 river villages and do a total of 6 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we travel on the road and river for our safety and for a harvest of sols
God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
As you know we went on a mission trip last week both teams are back safely from another great trip our big truck are out safely also. It only took 14 hours of straight driving to bring it out because the trail was dry. To take it in, it took 22 hours. Praise God
We had 235 persons give there life to Jesus christ
Thanks for your prayers and support over the past years
God bless you Jai
Dear Friends of Guyana,
We have the wonderful report that the churches of two more river villages in Region 1 near Venezuela want to come under our umbrella for training and accountability. We are so thrilled about this. They will be involved in Pastor Carl's training in February. The need is to buy them some sound equipment for their churches. The cost for the two churches will be $370. Please consider helping with this expense.
Also, with Christmas coming up soon, we will be doing our annual outreach to the inmates at all six prisons in Guyana. Our team goes to each facility and has a Christmas program with Christmas music and a Gospel message. Then each inmate is given a simple Christmas gift bag to let them know they are loved. The cost of the travel to the prisons and the gifts is $5000.
If God puts it on your heart to help with either of these needs, please send a check to:
International Celebration Association
62777 Carolina Commons Dr.
Ste 600, #135
Indian Land, SC 29707
OR
Zelle to bethwpuckett@gmail.com
We are so grateful to have your prayer support and your financial help. May God continue to draw the people of Guyana to Himself. It is such a privilege to work in this field where the harvest is so ripe.
Blessing to you and remember that our two teams are ministering in remote villages this week so pray for souls to be saved.
Love, Beth
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Both teams are leaving for another trip Alex and Michael will go to the savanna and will be leaving tomorrow morning and they will be going to 2 villages and do 4 nights of celebration crusade And then they will drive out our truck to load up again It will take about 20 hours to drive it back home.
Markie and I will be leaving Sunday morning for the river we will be going to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we travel on the road river And trails pray also for a harvest of sols
God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Thanks for your prayers and support as you know we was out in the jungle and the savanna for our mission trips
both teams are back from another wonderful trip we had 320 persons give there life to Jesus christ
The harvest in Guyana is still ripe and ready please continue to pray and support us as we continue to preach the gospel all across Guyana
Thanks again and God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Both teams are leaving for another mission trip to the river And the savanna
Tomorrow midday the team will be leaving for the river villages and Monday morning the other team will be leaving for the savanna
Both teams will be going to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we travel on the roads rivers trails and in the air
Pray also for a harvest of sols
God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Thanks for your prayers and support both teams are back from another wonderful trip from the jungle we had a great week of celebration crusade 322 persons give there life to Jesus christ
Also the Thursday before we went to our mission trip we want to the prison where they transfer the timehri inmates to lusignan and 34 inmates give there life to Jesus christ
Thanks again for your prayers and support
God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Because of the bad weather in the savanna Both teams are leaving this evening for our next mission trip to the rivers for a week
Both teams will be going to 3 villages each and do 6 nights of celebration crusade please pray for us as we travel for our safety and for a harvest of sols
God bless you Jai
Dear Friends of Guyana,
I hope you are all doing well. I know there are a lot of summer colds going around and I hope you have escaped them.
I wanted to let you know that one of our very well-used generators has finally given up and must be replaced. It will be $1,100. If God prompts you to help us with all or part of that expense, we would be very grateful.
You can send a check to:
International Celebration Assn
62777 Carolina Commons Dr.
Ste 600, #135
Indian Land, SC 29707
or
Zelle to bethwpuckett@gmail.com
or
Credit card---Go on our website (internationalcelebration.org) and click on Donate
All are tax deductible as we are a 501C3.
If you Zelle or give by credit card, please email me or text the address you want your tax letter to be sent to.....bethwpuckett@gmail.com 561-301-4111
Thank you for considering helping. We stand amazed at what God continues to do in Guyana. His Kingdom is growing and we are thankful to ba a part of it.
Beth
Dear Ministry Friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers for our trip. God answered in miraculous ways. The US Team and the Guyanese team were quickly bonded and we had a great time of serving together and oh, so much laughter.
The first day was the ministry at Alex, Markey and Deanna’s church. We had over 200 children there. Pastor Alan is so great with children and did a wonderful job of teaching Jesus’ power as HE calmed the storm in the boat with his disciples. As we washed the children’s feet and had conversations with them, we found many had already accepted Christ and many were too young to understand but we loved on them and prayed for them. The greatest blessing of the day was that 29 children did accept Jesus as their Savior and will be followed up by the churches who sent their children to the event.
On Wednesday, our prison time was changed to the afternoon so in the morning we had time to make LOTS of salvation bracelets to use throughout the week. The two days at New Amsterdam Prison were wonderful. Jai preached the first day and Pastor Alan the second. Both sermons were powerful and clear. We had 55 men accept Christ and 42 were baptized. Many had only been there a few months so we were grateful that they could hear God’s Word and make decisions for Christ and now can be taught by our Guyanese staff who go there weekly (except when they are in the remote villages). We handed out the Messengers that the Officer in Charge had approved. However, an official from higher up was there and said we could not give them out without the Director of Prisons approving them. We had to collect them and pray that we could soon give them out again. They are the handheld devices from InTouch Ministries that are solar powered and has the Bible and over 200 of Charles Stanley’s sermons on them. PRAISE GOD, the day we left, Alex was able to have a meeting with the Director of Prisons and he wholeheartedly approved so now we will have no problems using them in every prison. He gave Alex his personal contact information so if there is ever any trouble being able to use them, our staff can call him to confirm their approval.
Friday and Saturday we were in Lusignan Prison. What a blessed time. I took a large photo of Chad Hite who spoke there last year. I was able to remind the inmates who heard him speak and for those who didn’t, tell them a short version of Chad’s story of addiction and redemption. So many of the inmates had loved him and his encouraging story. They were shocked that he had died the month before. I was able to tell them that Chad would want you to know that we never know when our life will end. (Chad was only 33.) I told them Chad would have encouraged them not to put off making their decision to trust Jesus for their salvation. Allen Cleveland said that several of the men whose feet he washed said that Chad’s story made them realize that they didn’t want to put their decision off any longer. One inmate came to Pastor Alan who is tall and bearded like Chad and at first thought it was him. When he found out about Chad’s death, he was heartbroken. He said he and Chad had a special connection last year and that not only had Chad washed his feet, he had washed Chad’s feet as well. That inmate had written a song while in prison about the end of life and asked if he could sing it as a memorial to Chad. It was very touching. On Friday, Pastor Gene preached and Saturday, Alex preached. Each message was ordained by God to cut through strongholds and reach the hearts of the men.
At Lusignan Prison, we had 76 salvations and 44 baptisms. That is a total for both prisons of 131 salvations and 86 baptisms. We are so very grateful for God’s harvest. Our team also goes to Lusignan every week except when they are in the remote villages. That is a two hour trip each way but we consider this follow up so very important; it is a priority.
The last day, we had a wonderful time with the Hararuni girls. These girls have been either abused or abandoned or both. We have been involved with them over the years. Emily has spent extended time with them as she and Tracy spent several days at their home. Emily has had her prayer team at home each choose a girl to pray for and they have been faithful to do this for a few years. There were 8 girls there. The younger ones had gone out to visit relatives. Emily did the Bible story of Gideon and a powerful explanation of what it looks like to be separated from God for eternity. She made the way to be forgiven so very clear and at the end of the day, the seven girls who had never accepted Christ made that decision. One was already a Christian. Emily brought them little gifts for their hair, Bibles and study books for teens. It was a blessed day.
Other highlights were that Emily led the guard at the hotel to faith in Christ. His name is Rawell (sounds like Royal) and at the airport, she led Harmony to Christ. This young lady was on her way to boot camp. Please pray for these two as well as all the others who made decisions for Christ.
We were blessed by being able to serve and enjoyed continually having our team quote together our Bible verse for the week, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9. We saw a wonderful harvest. Hopefully we will remain faithful at home and continue to share the Good News of the Gospel. Thank you again for being a part of this trip through your prayer cover.
DAILY PRAYER GUIDE FOR THE 2024 SUMMER TRIP TO GUYANA
Our team verse for this year is GALATIANS 6:9. We have all memorized it and will say it together each day. Please pray that God will bring in a harvest.
“LET US NOT BECOME WEARY IN DOING GOOD, FOR AT THE PROPER TIME WE WILL REAP A HARVEST IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP.”
MONDAY—July 15—Please pray for our travel day as 6 of us from the US join our Guyanese team of 7. Here is the list so you can pray for us by name:
Alan Patrick
Gene Flack
Emily Edson
Allen Cleveland
Steve Puckett
Beth Puckett
Jai
Tracy
Alex
Michael
Vanessa
Markey
Deanna
Charlotte airport is going through major renovations right now and we have been informed by the airlines that navigating it is extra hard so pray that we will not have any problems as we arrive very early to patiently wait in the longer lines. We are to arrive in Georgetown, Guyana at 10:40 PM then go through customs and drive an hour to our hotel. Please pray for a good night’s sleep after a long travel day.
TUESDAY—July 16 —We will spend some time doing a meet and greet with our Guyanese team. We will have breakfast and our team devotional time. Then we will head to Berbice about 2 1/2 hours east where our Guyanese team live. We will settle in at Jai and Tracy’s house where we will stay for two nights. (They are great cooks so we are in for a treat!!!) They have created lodging for teams at their house with lots of extra bathrooms. After lunch, we will have a children’s event at a church at 1:00. We will tie a bracelet with colored beads on each child’s arm. The colors represent the details of the plan of salvation. Here is what the five colors stand for.
Black Bead- Represents the sin in our lives which we can’t get rid of on our own no matter how good we are.
Red Bead- Represents Jesus’ blood that He shed on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the world. Those who repent and accept Him as Savior and receive the free gift of forgiveness are born into God’s family.
White Bead- Represents being clean in God’s sight. If we accept Jesus’ free gift and are forgiven, our sins are gone and God sees us as clean.
Yellow Bead- Represents the streets of gold in Heaven. That is where we will spend eternity if we have had our sins forgiven and are deemed clean by God.
Green Bead- Represents growth as a new believer. Just as grass and leaves are green and grow, we must grow as Christians so we can serve and tell others. We do that by studying the Bible, praying, hearing the Scriptures taught, encouraging other believers and sharing what happened to you with others who need to ask Jesus to be their Savior.
Our service will include fun songs with motions, Alan will teach a Bible story and Beth will explain the colors of their bracelets and make sure the children understand the plan of salvation. Then our team will sit across from each child and wash their feet and have a talk, being available for whatever questions they may have. If they are ready to make a decision to accept Christ, we will pray with them. We will give them new flip flops and lots of love. Those who make decisions will be followed up by the leaders of the church. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will draw those children who are ready to make a decision.
Back home, we will rest a little then have dinner and team time. That is when we take turns sharing testimonies with the team, either how we came to know Jesus or what He has been doing to grow us and use us. During the week, we will each have a time to share with the team.
WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY—July 17 & 18—We will be at the New Amsterdam Prison for two days. It is near Jai’s house. Our Guyanese team goes there weekly to do Bible study and to disciple those who want to learn more. We will greet the inmates as they come in and tie a bracelet on each of them. We will have about 200 come to the services. We will sing worship songs led by our Guyanese team. Jai will preach Wednesday and Alex will preach Thursday. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to speak powerfully through them. Then they will clearly explain the plan of salvation and explain baptism. We love to teach these men that even though they are behind bars, they can be spiritually free if they accept Jesus as their Savior and ask for his forgiveness and repent of their sins to have a new life as a part of God’s family.
After the service, each person on our team will sit across from a chair with a basin filled with water in front of us. They will bring the inmates one at a time to sit with us and have his feet washed. We will have one on one conversations with them, answering questions they have about what they heard in the sermon and just listening to their hearts and encouraging them. We will pray for their families and other concerns. This is where we use the bracelets to make the plan of salvation very simple for them. Some will have prayed the prayer asking for forgiveness during the service and others will want to do it with us if they make that decision after more discussion. Some aren’t interested and we respect that and just pray for them and show them that we care. We will then give each one new flip flops, toothbrushes and toothpaste and a Bible. Our team will follow up closely with these men as they go back to this prison for services weekly.
For those who accept Jesus and want to be baptized, we use a baby pool and have a time of baptism each day. We carefully explain that baptism doesn’t save anyone but is an outward symbol of what has already happened in their heart when they prayed the prayer to accept Jesus and were forgiven, their sins were buried and they were raised to walk in their new life.
Wednesday after lunch, we will have some rest/game time and make more bracelets. Today if there hasn’t been too much flooding from the recent nearby hurricane, we may get to go “net fishing”. Afterwards we will have team time where we share testimonies, pray and share the events of the day. We will have dinner and play games or just visit.
Thursday after lunch, we will pack up and drive the 2 1/2 hours back to Georgetown and settle into our hotel. We will have dinner and team time and prepare for the next day’s events.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY—July 19 & 20—Today we start our two day work in Lusignan Prison, the largest prison in Guyana. We were there last year for 3 days. Each day we see about 200 inmates. Last year, Chad Hite , 33, was with us and was very effective telling the inmates about his struggle with addiction and that he had spent some time behind bars also so he understood how they felt. He told the how God had redeemed him and turned his life around. Many of them gathered around him after the service to ask him questions and learned from him. Sadly, on June 10th of this year, God took Chad to Heaven after he had made a huge difference for the Kingdom by being transparent and sharing his story of redemption. Many of those inmates in attendance will have been there last year so I am going to show them a large poster with Chad’s picture and remind them of his story and his encouragement. I will make the point that we never know how long we have on this earth so if they are putting off a decision to follow Christ, now is the time. Chad’s encouragement will continue to be told even after his death.
Alan will preach Friday and Gene on Saturday. Please pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit to make their messages powerful as they clearly proclaim the truth to these precious souls that God loves so much.
On Friday after lunch, we will do a little touring and souvenir shopping and going to our favorite museum. Emily will have a chance to have a reunion with a young Guyanese lady that she met in our hotel 8 years ago, This lady was at the darkest time in her life and Emily led her to accept Christ. They have kept up for these 8 years and another family member came with her a few years ago for her visit with Emily as also accepted Christ. It is so wonderful to have these ongoing relationships with those God leads us to. Please pray Emily and her spiritual daughter will have a sweet reunion.
SUNDAY—July 21—Today we will have a church service with our team at the hotel. Alan will bring our message. Then we will travel an hour to visit with our Hararuni Girls that we have worked with for years. There are 13 girls, abused and/or abandoned, who have been displaced from their facility because it is under much needed renovation. Last year when we visited there, we identified lots of problems with the facility and initiated the updates. The girls are bering housed in another facility where we will visit. We will sing, Emily will teach a Bible story and share her heart with them. She has been very involved with these girls over the years, We will provide a pizza lunch and then have a fun time of playing games.
We will go back to Georgetown and have our last TEAM DINNER at a nice restaurant. We will each share the highlights from our week. This is always a VERY special time. Being on this mission team always creates special friendships for life. We love seeing how God puts our teams together each year.
MONDAY—July 22—Please pray for problem-free travel. We have to get up at about 3:00 AM for a 3:30 departure from the hotel. The airport is about an hour away and we have to be there early for a 6:45 AM flight. We will look forward to getting back and sharing with you how God blessed the trip and changed lives. Thank you for praying for us.
Dear Friends of Guyana,
Jai's email isn't working so I am sending this report. which brings me a lot of joy and thankfulness. The Holy Spirit touched many hearts and between the trip to the river and the savanna, there were 367 new brothers and sisters who became part of God's family. One family, mother, dad and two sons asked to be baptized in the river. Our new staff, Markey who traveled to the river with Jai did a great job and is a wonderful new addition to our team. We are very grateful. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.
Blessings,
Beth
Good afternoon ministry friends,
Jai's email is not working so he asked me to write the prayer request for these trips.
Tomorrow morning both teams will leave to do the village ministries.. Jai and Markey will go to Region 1 in the river villages and do two nights of Celebrations in 3 villages so a total of 6 services. They will also spend time in the daytime distributing clothing, flip flops, reading glasses and Bibles. They will spend time talking to the people in the villages.
Alex and Michael will do the same in Region 9 which is the savanna. Please pray for both teams, for safety, health and big harvest of new believers. Pray that they can encourage those who are already Christ Followers.
Blessings,
Beth
This pastor training conference was interesting since it was a joint effort between InTouch Ministries and International Celebration Association. The 30 Life Principals created by Charles Stanley, the former Pastor of First Baptist Atlanta and the founder of InTouch Ministries was the foundational content of the training sessions.
I was looking forward to the InTouch men meeting our team and I was assuming the chemistry and coordination would work well and it really did exceed my expectations. At the conclusion plans were being made for another training session in Berbice next year.
It was great catching up with the pastors I had previously met at the pastor training sessions.
Three pieces of technology were rolled out at the conference that had been 18 months in the planning stage. The first were the projectors provided by International Cooperating Ministries from Virginia. We are conducting an experiment in Region 1 to see how the pastors utilize this technology to provide Bible study materials to their congregations. What is the profile of the pastor that is most likely to put this technology to work in their ministry?
If this is used wisely over the next six to nine months and we are seeing discipleship growth then we will roll out the distribution of these projectors in other regions of the country.
The second technology was android tablets provided by InTouch that contained all the seminar content covered in the two day sessions as well as a seminary on a tablet. The content is robust from several translations of the Bible, several commentaries, Strongs Word Greek and Hebrew dictionary, childrens content and several Christian movies such as the Jesus film.
In Region 1 which was the first two day session we conducted training on the projectors. As expected some pastors were quick studies on the use of the technology and some were not. I was working with one pastor that could not get the concept of using a track pad on the projector by using you finger to move the cursor on the screen. Fortunately Alex is very accomplished in teaching technology and trained the pastor on the concept.
The afternoon of the second day of training was devoted to training on the tablet. We will have to follow up with the pastors over time to ensure they are getting the maximum use and how they integrate the resources in sermon preparation.
The third piece of technology was the “Torch” from InTouch. This is a four inch in diameter by 8 inch tall wireless sound system. In Charity we were in a church that measured 30x80 feet. It was hot but we had fans that were great but loud. Alex used three of the Torches (they network wirelessly over an FM frequency and also have a wireless headset the pastor/trainer can use). They were fantastic and the sound filled the room even when we had the fans on and there was a rainstorm on the metal roof of the church. This was the first time the InTouch people had used the Torches and we made several videos of them in operation so they could take the experience of using this technology in the field back to Atlanta. It was a huge success and we can really use these in the churches we work with. We used them all day and the batteries were still above 80%. These can recharge with solar. This is an incredibly low cost solution for small churches to have a state of the art sound system. They have hooks so they can be hung from the ceiling and very bright LED lights so they are both a lighting and sound solution for a church.
I am excited how technology can support these remote churches in a way I never thought possible.
Now for some statistics. We had 20 pastors trained in Region 1 near Venezuela and 10 pastors trained in Region 9 near Brazil. Each location had challenges for the pastors to travel. Region 1 was having a drought so the rivers where the pastors live were low and in some places the larger boats couldn’t use their large motors. They had to use small boats with 15 hours power engines to tow the larger boats through those low areas. In Region 9, the opposite problem arose. They had massive flooding and the bridge some of the pastors needed to use to travel to the training event collapsed. There was a lot of prayer around this situation and equipment showed up in time to raise the bridge and allow the pastors to travel across the river and make it to the training. We were so very grateful that both sets of pastors were able to come and be blessed by the wonderful conference.
Another highlight of the trip had to do with the Muslim lady who owned the restaurant where the Region 1 pastors ate. She observed the prayer before the meals and someone saw her standing off to the side with her head bowed. As Jai went to her to pay the bill, she asked him to pray for her. He asked her exactly what she wanted prayer for. She said she wanted know the TRUTH. Jai used the Steps to Peace With God tract and explained all the verses that told the plan of salvation. She said it all made sense and she prayed to accept Jesus and have her sins forgiven. She said her husband is a devout Muslim and wouldn’t be happy but she knew that she wanted to become a Christian. Every month, Jai goes back to Charity where this took place as he travels the the river villages. He will be able to continue to talk to her and we pray he will be able to talk to her husband too. God is continuing to work in so many ways.
Thank you for your prayers for God’s ministry in Guyana.
GUYANA PASTOR TRAINING PRAYER GUIDE
MAY 2024
Dear Ministry Friends,
Please pray for the upcoming pastor training trip. This trip is in connection with our partnership with InTouch Ministries. Two talented men from InTouch will be teaching a LIFE PRINCIPLES CONFERENCE. These are the life principles of Charles Stanley. Ron McCants and Joel Zaldumbide will join Steve and our three Guyanese staff, Jai, Alex and Michael to encourage and train the pastors.
They will go to two locations in Guyana where our staff has been working, Region 1 near Venezuela and Region 9 near Brazil. Here is a breakdown of the daily schedule so you can pray.
SATURDAY, May 11- US team travels from Atlanta and Charlotte and meet in Miami. From there, they fly to Georgetown, Guyana for a late arrival. They will stay in Georgetown overnight.
SUNDAY, May 12- They will drive to the river and take a ferry across and drive to Charity. There, they will be met by 19 pastors who will be in the training. A few will be new pastor friends but most are those who have been in 3 of our previous pastor training events. They will be coming from two different rivers where the other trainings have been held. There will be a time of rekindling old friendships and making new ones. I look forward to Ron and Joel getting to know these pastors.
MONDAY and TUESDAY, May 13-14- There will be two days of intense teaching and sharing. I am sure all the pastors and our staff will benefit gratefully for Ron and Joel’s teaching. Steve and I went to their conference in Atlanta and were blessed by it. I know there will be a lot of questions and answers as the day and evening unfold.
Tuesday evening, our US and GUYANESE team will take the ferry back to Georgetown and spend another night there.
WEDNESDAY, May 15, there is an 11:00am flight from Georgetown to Lethem, the only town in Region 9 which is in the savanna. This is where our last pastor training trip took place in February and where Alex and Michael have been going on their monthly mission trips. Ten pastors from all around this area, some remote, will come to Lethem.
THURSDAY and FRIDAY, May 16-17- Ron and Joel will teach the two day seminar that they taught in Charity. By watching these two gifted teachers do these conferences, our Guyanese team will be able to teach future conferences in other locations in Guyana. It is such a blessing how God multiplies opportunities as we trust Him.
SATURDAY, May 18- Team will fly back to Georgetown and probably get some rest and maybe a little sight seeing done.
SUNDAY, MAY 19- Ron, Joel and Steve will travel back to home.
Please pray for travel mercy, health for all the pastor and our teams, and that the training will be a huge blessing for the pastors as they mature in their faith so they can lead their churches well. Thank all of you for being so important to this ministry as our prayer partners.
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
As you know we went to a mission trip to the savanna and river both teams are back safely from another great trip both teams went to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade the team from the savanna have 200 persons give there life to Jesus christ the villages were a lot bigger than usual the team from the rivers have 265 persons give there life to Jesus christ these villages were also a lot bigger than normal one night there were about 400 people there. l lot who accepted Christ were Jehovah Witnesses and 7th Day Adventist
Thank you for your prayers and support with our you this could not be possible
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Both teams are leaving this week for mission trips to the jungle and savanna but different days the team going to the river villages are leaving tomorrow morning and the team going to the savanna will leaving on Wednesday
Both teams will be going to 3 villages each and do 6 nights of celebration crusade please pray for us as we travel on the road river And trail pray also for a harvest of sols
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
We are back from another wonderful week of ministry from the river and savanna we have 280 persons give there life to Jesus christ
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus christ
Both teams are leaving tomorrow morning for another trip to the jungle and savanna we will be going to 3 villages each day do six nights of celebration crusade please pray for us as we travel for our safety and for a harvest of sols
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless you
Jai
It’s Sunday morning March 3, 2024 and I just arrived back in Charlotte yesterday evening from our trip to the Savannah in Guyana for a pastor training conference. This was the fourth pastor training conference and the first in Region 9 (Savannah). Our staff have been working in this Region for the past year.
We flew from Georgetown (the Capital of Guyana) from Ogle Airport to Lethem the major town in the area. There is a bridge over the Takatu river that serves as the border between Guyana and Brazil and there is a “trail” from Lethem to Georgetown which is a major route for Brazil to access the deepwater port in Georgetown to supply world markets from Northern Brazil. It’s 263 miles from Lethem to Georgetown and depending on conditions and the vehicle on the “trail” it takes between 16-23 hours to traverse.
The airport in Lethem is a paved strip that is surrounded by a chained link fence. You exit the turboprop plane and walk across the street to enter the “terminal” which is smaller than our house. The population of Lethem in 2012 was 1,702 people and this is the largest town in the region.
We grabbed a taxi and went to Pastor James’ house where we park our big truck that serves as our supply depot. There we picked up Pastor James and drove to Wowetta where we held the conference in a Benab which is a traditional Amerindian community center. Think open air circular structure with a thatched roof that is beautiful. It can seat 300 around the circle on wooden benches similar to our high school football bleachers all covered by the massive roof.
The dust from the “trail” is red because of the clay soil used to build the trail so red dust is everywhere.
We had eight pastors and numerous church leaders from Region 9 in attendance including worship leaders, assistant pastors, Sunday school leaders and childrens leaders. There were several denominations present such as Christian Brotherhood, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Baptist, etc. Everyone had great fellowship and communication flowed freely. There was excitement about cooperation to reach their people for Christ. The population is majority Amerindian from two major tribes and several smaller tribes in the area.
Dr. Carl Martin led the three days of pastor training. Everyone took copious notes from his lectures. Carl used a whiteboard to outline his talks and after each session, the folks would come up and take photos of his notes as well. They are so hungry for teaching and training it is fantastic.
Because of Carl’s leadership, the people became very transparent about their issues in their churches and themselves which lead to breakthroughs in communication. Carl is talented.
During the three days I interviewed each person attending, took their photograph with a sign with their name, church and town so we can have a directory of pastors. I asked them to name three things they needed for us to pray about, concerning them, their church and their community. From these needs, our team is developing a specific strategy of outreach to Region 9. We will be refining this plan which is unique and tailored for this region and will be communicating this with you as it is finalized by our team. Another example of how we use these interviews is that one of the people wants to be a worship leader so the next day we set up our keyboard, generator and speakers from the truck and let him lead worship. He passed the test with flying colors so now we have a musical resource in Region 9 in addition to Alex and Michael both extremely talented musicians.
We had two pastors that had been captains for their regions. This is like a mayor in the US. They gave me a history lesson for Region 9. In the 1960’s this region housed a 2 million cattle herd and massive cashew groves. I saw maybe 100 cows and the cashew groves are decimated though lack of care.
When Guyana gained independence in 1968 a communist government came into power and the two main families that had the massive cattle heard left Guyana and the herds collapsed due to disease and lack of management with the same story with the cashews. Now there is subsistence farming and poor land management.
They are hungry for help other than from their government. Carl and I are going to meet with the Dean of Agriculture and Dean of Animal Husbandry at Clemson to see if we can get a linkage going between this school and these local leaders. Carl is a big deal at Clemson since he was on the Clemson National Champion Football team in 1981 (defensive back). I requested he wear his ring to the meeting. He agreed! If for some reason Clemson is not interested I will swallow my pride and approach Auburn.
I am so excited about Region 9 and the potential to spread the Gospel of Christ and to help them spiritually and culturally over time. We can have a major impact. Thanks for your prayers it really showed this past week.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
