Report from 2024 Summer Trip

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.