They left on Monday night. Thank you for praying.
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ We are back from another wonderful trip from the jungle As you know we went to our August trip to the jungle we were supposed to go to 3 villages but last moment one of the village canceled so we went to 2 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade and 210 persons give there life to Jesus christ and 20 persons were baptized these villages were very bigThanks for your prayers and support God is doing great things in Guyana God bless you Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are leaving this morning for another trip to the jungle we will be going to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade Please pray for us as we travel on the plane and boat in the river for our safety pray also for a harvest of souls
I want to thank you for praying for me during the time I was sick I'm feeling good now and ready for the mission field
Thanks also for all the birthday greetings and gifts
GOD BLESS
JAI
REPORT FROM THE PASTOR TRAINING AND PRISON TRIP
Now it is time to expound on the short report I sent about this trip. I needed time to hear back from the Five Guys (US team members) and learn some stories and victories. It will be in two sections, the Village Training and the Prison Ministry. I will tell you that one team member said that those were the five most impactful days of his life. That is an amazing statement. Also, Pastor Carl said that because of your prayers, he sensed the power of the Holy Spirit while teaching in the village and also that the freedom he felt while preaching in the prison was a phenomenal experience. Thank you so much for praying.
PASTOR TRAINING IN THE VILLAGE
There were supposed to be 13 pastors in the training but one sadly couldn’t make it because he was coming by trail rather than river and the very heavy rains made the trail impassable. The twelve who did come have sent reports back already saying how much they learned and asking for more. What a blessing that they can put in practice what they learned and better lead their churches.
Five of the church leaders traveled together in a very small boat. Jai said when the boat pulled up, he couldn’t believe they came such a distance in such a small boat. It had a 15 horse-power motor and they had to come out of their river and go into the Atlantic for a short distance and then back into the river to get to Canal Bank for the training. It took them over 11 hours and the rain was falling very hard much of the time. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that must have been? Jai reported that with the five of them and their load, there was only about six inches between the top of the boat and the water. They were determined to get there for the training! What dedication that took and what a hunger they had for the Word of God and a desire to learn how to lead their churches.
Our US team unloaded their gear up a slippery bank and into the very small church to set up what would be their bedroom shared by the American team, Guyanese staff and the 12 pastors. There was a combination of blow up mattresses and hammocks. The same small church was also their kitchen and classroom.
For the first session, Carl started by getting to know everyone, hearing each pastor’s story, their life with Christ, their struggles, about their families, churches and villages. They told of God’s redemption and provision in desperate times and how God’s love had been poured out on them. One team member said they showed a vulnerability that created a faith-filled and open atmosphere. Carl had them sit in a circle so everyone could see each other and he moved around the circle and sometimes even got down on his knees to listen and interact. Carl
encouraged them to stop him anytime if they had questions or comments. There was a lot of discussion and sharing.
Carl hammered home the importance of shepherding their people. He made sure they understood that their responsibility is to God because their church members are God’s, not theirs.
He taught them these subjects: basics of the Bible, how to study it, leadership and how to train disciples, what makes a healthy church and Body of Christ, how to identify false teachers, how to put a sermon together, how to apply Scripture to their lives and how to evangelize. They were each given a study Bible and taught how to use it with the references and extra materials.
There were different levels of education, some even being unable to read but they were all treated as equals and shown respect. Carl used lots of stories from the Bible to teach truths. When asked if they needed a break from the lessons, they all asked for Carl to continue. Jai said that he has never heard anyone who could explain the Bible truths so clearly and our staff learned a lot as well. When the teaching was done, the pastors asked for the team to come back sometime because they wanted more! There were deep theological discussions and one of our team members said it was transformational for him.
The rains fell a large portion of the time and on the tin roof of the church, it is hard to hear people’s voices. It was reported that, MIRACULOUSLY, it would be pouring until Carl started teaching and the rain would stop until the end of the session. We serve an awesome God and it was very evident that HE wanted Carl’s teaching to be heard. Carl reported that there was a great unity of the four groups, the Americans, the Guyanese staff, the pastors and the people of the village. He said there was a camaraderie between them that was wonderful.
The children of the village had a grand time. Between sessions, there were many soccer and cricket games on what was reported to be the most slippery field ever. There was joking and swimming in the river. When our guys were resting, the kids would come to the open church windows and chant for them to come out to play. I am sure those kids will never forget those Christian men spending time with them and loving on them. They also saw Pastor Carl and Ned insisting they be the ones to wash dishes down at the river. The kids saw humility and a servant’s heart. They also saw Jai doing all the cooking, another great lesson for them. It was reported and I can tell you from past experience, Jai is a fabulous cook and our team bragged about having three big, delicious meals a day. They said they didn’t get much sleep but got lots of great food.
PRISON MINISTRY
The last ministry opportunity was in Lusignan Prison where 700 men are housed, not in a building but in makeshift cells surrounded by fences and barbwire at the top. There is a roof overhead. Guyana is building a prison to house them but it isn’t finished. They live in these conditions because the largest prison in Guyana burned down several years ago and there was no place for these men to be housed. This is called the holding bay. We rented 150 chairs and put up our ministry’s large tarp that stays at the prison as our staff goes once a week to do services even though it is two hours away. They disciple those who were already Christians or have accepted Christ through our ministry. They always explain the plan of salvation each time they go since there are new prisoners coming in all the time. Before the service began, our guys had time to mingle with the prisoners who were chosen to come out into the courtyard where the tarp and chairs were. The courtyard was adjacent to the living quarters. These men were chosen to attend the service because of good behavior. There were conversations about their lives, families, hopes and some about faith. They shared and prayed with some. All the other inmates were close by and could hear the service.
The service started with praise and worship songs. Then two of our guys gave their testimonies that let the prisoners know they had struggles as well and could identify with life lessons that had to be learned and dealt with. They explained how a relationship with Jesus was the way to handle hard life issues. Pastor Carl then brought a challenging and encouraging message. Jai explained how they could have a relationship with Jesus and have their sins forgiven. When the sinner’s prayer was offered, 25 men raised their hands to indicate that they each had prayed and received Jesus as his Savior to start a new life with Him. There were already some new Christians there who were waiting to be baptized and several of these men who had just made this decision decided they wanted to be baptized to publicly declare Jesus as their Savior. The blow up pool had been filled with water and Tony and Carl took turns baptizing the prisoners. There were 30 men baptized. Praise God for this blessing. The men who were behind the fence wanted Bibles, too so our team took them over.
This is what one team member said about the prison ministry:
It was almost like it wasn't even real. like something you'd see in a movie. There were men climbing up the fence, reaching through barbed wire so we could hand them Bibles. Dozens of men were running to where we were handing the Bibles out. Carl would hand me a Bible and I'd look up and just see dirty hands reaching over the fence.
I know this report was long but I wanted you to be able to get a good feel for the powerful work of God that took place. May the Holy Spirit bring to mind all the
teaching that the village pastors received and the words that the prisoners heard from song, testimony, preaching and a friendly conversation. Let the Body of Christ continue to draw more people to faith. We pray that Guyana will be saturated with the Word of God.
PRAYER GUIDE FOR PASTOR TRAINING TRIP
JULY 6-12
TEAM MEMBERS
…..Carl Martin
…..Chase Barbe
…..Holland Johnson
…..Tate Lucci
…..Ned Lewis
GUYANESE STAFF
…..Jai Ramnauth
…..Tony Moniz
…..Alex Seunarine
Trip Verse: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal processions in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.” II Corinthians 2:14
Wednesday-July 6— Pray for travel mercies as our 5 travel to Miami and then on to Georgetown, Guyana. Arrival is 11:28 PM. Pray for good sleep even though it won’t be long.
Thursday-July 7— Pray for a 7:00 AM flight on a small airplane that will land on a grass strip in the jungle in the north/western part of Guyana called Region 1. We will board a boat and travel on the river until we reach a village called Canal Bank. This is Brother Clifford’s village. We will set up our living quarters in the church, blow up mattresses on the stage area and our Guyanese staff will also set up a cooking area. Our Guyanese staff and the pastors will hang hammocks in the church at night to sleep in.
We will have lunch and have a meet and greet. Then we will have our FIRST SESSION in the afternoon. The goal is to train 13 church leaders/pastors to lead the churches in their villages. Each of them will have traveled to this one location to be together for the training. Each of them have expressed a desire to be trained by our ministry and be accountable to our ministry. Here is a list of the 13 so you can pray by name…
Brother Karl—Arakata Village
Brother Basil—4 Miles Village
Brother Leo—Quarry Village
Brother James—Oriuck Village
Brother Philbert—Grandfather Creek
Brother Clifford—Canal Bank
Brother Philip—Ceeby Creek
Brother Festus—Bush Mouth
Brother Kingsley—St. John Wani
Brother Tyrone —First Lagoon Wani
Brother Vernon—Aruka Mouth
Sister Carmen—Unity Grant
Sister Rita—Katcha Kama Wini—These two ladies have felt God calling them to lead since the men in their village have to leave to go do gold mining and aren’t there to take leadership
Please pray each day for the Holy Spirit to speak through Carl as he teaches and the other 4 men as they mentor and discuss the truths of the Word with the 13. Pray for health for everyone and for a unity that will bind them all together.
Friday, Saturday—July 8 and 9—Each of these days, there will be three teaching sessions will lots of discussion and interaction time. Subjects will include
…Basics of the Bible and they will be taught how to use their study Bibles that we are giving them.
…Old Testament Survey
…New Testament Survey
…Leadership and how to train disciples
…Body of Christ and Spiritual Gifts
…How to put a sermon together and deliver it
…Evangelism
Any of these can change as Carl sees needs and is flexible to hear from the Holy Spirit.
Please pray for mentoring and friendship and fun and laughter and prayer time and serious conversations and emotional and spiritual healing if needed. We want these 13 churches to be healthy and produce mature believers who are willing to go and share.
Sunday—July 10—Our team will travel out by boat to make a morning flight back to Georgetown. We will have lunch and check in to our hotel and have a rest afternoon and evening.
Monday—July 11—We will have a day in Lusignan Prison, not sure if it will be morning or afternoon. Our Guyanese team will lead in worship music, two of our US team will give their testimonies and Carl will preach. There will be a baptism. Men who have recently accepted Christ when our Guyanese team does weekly services are ready for baptism and others who accept Christ this day can also choose to be baptized. Please pray that these prisoners will realize that even though they are behind bars, they can be free if they have their sins forgiven. Pray that those who are already Christian will be encouraged by our team.
Either in the morning or the afternoon that is free, we will do a little sight seeing and souvenir shopping.
Tuesday—July 12— We have a 7:00 AM flight out of Guyana and go back through Miami. Please pray for good travel. Pray that we will all have lots of chances to share what God did in Guyana to be able to start Gospel conversations with those in our everyday paths.
Thank you for praying….
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We just got back from another wonderful trip yesterday afternoon as you know we went to four villages and do 7 nights and Sunday morning celebration crusade
We had 208 persons give there life to Jesus christ We also had 5 persons gets baptized and 4 babies dedication
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless you
Jai
We are praising God that Jai is well and able to resume the mission trips..........Got this from him this morning......
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ We are leaving this morning for the holding bay prison to do service then tomorrow morning we take the early morning flight to the jungle we will be going to 4 villages and do 7 nights and Sunday morning celebration crusade Please pray for us as we travel on the plane trail and rivers for our safety and pray also that God will go before us and prepare many souls for his kingdom
God bless you
Jai
I just got a call from Jai as he finished his check-up at the hospital. The doctor was happy to report that the doctor in the jungle hospital did exactly what was needed and the treatment worked. The tests today showed NEGATIVE for malaria and dengue fever. Jai has two more days of pills and then is just to rest and go back in two weeks to be rechecked to make sure all is well. We are so grateful to God, our great physician. The throne of heaven was flooded with prayers for his healing and God answered our prayers.
In the jungle, his fever was so high, he was delirious. He tried to jump out of the moving truck, pulled a poster off the wall at the hospital and pulled out his IV line. He remembers none of that. What a blessing that a pastor who lived near the hospital stayed with him until Tony and Alex got back.
Jai told me something that I didn't know before. On Friday night, they had the Celebration Service before Jai got real sick. The next morning, Saturday, is when they drove him several hours to the hospital. Tony and Alex drove back several hours on Saturday to gather their things but before they packed up, they had a second evening of Celebration Service. Now that shows me how dedicated our team is. In the crisis, they went ahead and proclaimed the good news of the Gospel and then drove back to the hospital to be with Jai before the 7 am flight that became a noon flight because the weather prevented them from leaving.
Last month, as part of their ministry, our team went into a mining camp to share the gospel and that is where the mosquitoes were very bad. Jai said that is where he got both diseases. There is now a malaria prevention shot that they just found out about and all three of our team will get it. It lasts two years.
The prayer request now is that Jai's appetite will return. He is having trouble eating. Also, it will be hard for him to rest for two weeks. Please pray he will.IT IS A GREAT DAY AND I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR JAI, TRACY AND OUR TEAM!!!!!!!
Beth
Dear Friends,
I have some very sad news. When our team got to the village for the May ministry, Jai soon got very sick with a high fever. On Saturday, Tony and Alex took him to the hospital in the jungle that was several hours away and he was diagnosed with malaria and dengue fever. He was very sick and couldn't eat or drink anything. After getting some bags of saline, he got a little better. Tracy was able to get them flights out for Sunday morning so a pastor who lives near the hospital stayed with Jai while Tony and Alex drove the hours back, loaded up the gear and drove the hours back. They arrived back at the hospital about 10:00pm and stayed with Jai until the 7:00am flight. The rain was too heavy to fly so they had to wait until noon to leave. Jai got home to Berbice and to Tracy at about 3:00 this afternoon (Sunday) and is resting with the help of strong medication. He will go to the hospital in Berbice in the morning for them to set up his treatment plan. He will be able to be at home. Please pray for complete healing and comfort.
We know this didn't come as a surprise to God and that even though we don't understand why certain things happen, we can trust HIM ALL THE TIME and HE CAN USE ANYTHING THAT ENTERS OUR LIVES. There is still a lot of work to do in Guyana and I know Jai will want to get back to it. Please pray he doesn't try to rush it and will give himself time to get well and strong.Thank you all for your concern for Guyana and for our team.
Love, Beth
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are leaving this morning for the holding bay prison to do service then spend the night at a hotel in Georgetown and then took the early morning flight to the jungle we will be going to 4 villages and do 8 nights of celebration crusade We also will go to couple mining camps in the day and do celebration crusade with the men there
Please pray for us as we travel for our safety on the plane on the trail and the river pray also that God will keep us in good health
As we go pray that God will go before us and prepare many souls for his kingdom
As you know we do three days a week prison ministry when we are not in the jungle last week we had 12 persons give there life to Jesus christ so far this week we have 3 persons give there life to Jesus christ
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We just got back from another wonderful trip from the jungle we went to 5 villages and 341 persons give there life to Jesus christ We had 22 persons get baptized and 12 baby dedication.
Thanks for your prayers and support God is doing great things in Guyana and the harvest is still ripe in Guyana and we will continue to go and preach the gospel and win Guyana for God kingdom
Please continue to pray and support us so that we can reach the end of Guyana with the gospel of Jesus christ
God bless you
Jai
Hello Ministry Friends,
This request is coming from Beth because Jai's email isn't working so he asked me to write this request for him. Tomorrow, he and Tracy and Wayne will be leaving on the April trip to the jungle. They will go to five river villages where they will do 9 nights of Celebration services and one Sunday morning service. Please pray for safety, good health and that many will come to accept Jesus and those who already know Him will grow closer to Him. You noticed that Tracy is going rather than Tony. Tony's sweet wife, Ruby, had a tragedy in her family as he brother died a few days ago. Of course, Tony will stay home with her. They couldn't change the trip because of the airline tickets being purchased. Please pray for Ruby's family. Her father is a pastor.
I will be excited to write again and share what God does the next ten days.
Beth
Dear Friends,
I hope each of you had a blessed Easter, celebrating our Risen Savior and the finished work of the salvation plan. His love and forgiveness is what we want to spread all over Guyana.
I want to let you know several wonderful things that have been happening. Prison Fellowship has provided 2,200 Bibles for us and they are especially made for prisoners, giving footnotes that explain how the truths in the Bible highlight redemption and powerful second chances. 200 of the Bibles are Spanish since we sometimes encounter prisoners from Venezuela. Thank you Prison Fellowship.
There is a region in Guyana that our team has been visiting a lot lately. The villages are all on the rivers. The bi-vocational pastors from thirteen of the villages have asked Jai if they can come under the authority of our ministry for accountability and help in growing and maturing. We are thrilled and have helped several of them build church buildings. One village is fairly large but many of the people in the area live up to five miles away and can't get to church. The people of this villages decided they want to have a boat ministry (like our churches sometimes have bus ministries). They have built a boat themselves and needed a motor because the current is strong. The people there have large gardens and all pitched in and gave part of their crops to take to a town to sell them. They have corporately saved $1500 of the $3000 needed for the motor. Praise God, Carmel Baptist agreed to give them the other $1500 so now they can get their motor and start reaching many more people and growing their church. We pray for many salvations and a lot of solid growth.
This summer, pastor from Bluffton, SC will be going down the river with our team to train these 13 pastors. We are so grateful for Carl Martin, Pat and Kay Jones' pastor whose passion is training pastors. We will let you know when the trip is planned so you can pray specifically.
The next opportunity involves you who pray and give. Guyana is building a large prison to replace the one that burned several years ago. Our friend/warden, Deoraj, will be in charge. The government did not include a chapel/education facility. When the prison near Jai's home needed a chapel, Deoraj was the warden there and asked Jai if our ministry would build it. Many of you helped us with that project. We bought the materials and under Jai's leadership, the prisoners built it and it was dedicated with a plaque by the door showing it was donated by our ministry. We have the opportunity to do that again at the new prison. It will cost $10,000 for the materials. We are asking you to pray about giving to this chapel building project. We will use this special building every week. If you want to give, it is tax deductible and checks can be made out to:
International Celebration Assn. and mailed to:
6277 Carolina Commons Dr.
Ste 600, #135
Indian Land, SC 29707
Please note that is a new address.
Thank you all for being friends of what God is doing in Guyana.
Beth
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We just got back from another extra wonderful trip we went to 5 villages and do 9 nights and Sunday morning celebration crusade
We have 277 persons give there life to Jesus christ 12 persons request baptism and was baptized we also had 15 baby dedication
At the second village one afternoon while l was swimming in the river a young man was passed by with his boat and went he saw me in the river he turn back and come just to say hello and I invite him for celebration crusade that night but from one conversation to the next my self and tony started to share the gospel with him and he give his life to Jesus christ
He then request that he would like to get baptized so right there we do a convert class with him and he was baptized
Thanks for your prayers and support God is doing great and mighty things in Guyana
God bless you
Jai
Good Morning Friends,
I got this email from Jai last night and didn't see it until this morning so that means he, Wayne and Tony have left this morning, Wednesday, on the trip. Please pray for them as they travel, present the Gospel and reach physical needs with clothes, shoes and reading glasses. They will also be sharing Bibles and InTouch Ministries Messengers that hold over 200 sermons by Charles Stanley. We really appreciate your prayers and can't wait to see what God does.
Beth
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are leaving tomorrow morning for another trip to the jungle we will be going to 4 villages and do 8 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we travel on the road river and in the air on the plane
Pray also for a harvest of souls
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are back from another wonderful trip we went to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade and Sunday morning also 147 persons give there life to Jesus christ 19 of them was seven days Adventist
Thank you for your prayers and support God is doing great things in Guyana
Please pray for my safety as I travel next week Tuesday to come to the United States for two weeks pray for good health and safe travel
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are leaving this morning to go to the holding bay prison then start traveling to the jungle for a week of ministry we will be going to 3 villages and do 6 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we travel on the trails road and river and that God will prepare many hearts for his kingdom
Thanks for your prayers and support
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus christ
We are back from a wonderful first trip for this year because of the high rising of covid right now in Guyana we could a only go to one village the other village last moment call of the service
But the great news is the one village we went to we had 3 nights of celebration crusade and 107 persons give there life to Jesus christ
During the 3 nights celebration crusade they was a police check point right opposite where we was doing our celebration crusade on the trail four police officers was there and they was listening to our music and preaching and the morning when we leave to come home they stop us on the trail and two of them said that the last night when I did the invitation and was leading people the sinners prayer they both pray and give there to Jesus christ
They both ask us for bible I then ask the other two police officers that was there about there salvation and they said that they listened to all the preaching and they will seriously think about it so we give them bibles too
Thanks for your prayers and support
Please pray for the covid situation here in Guyana it getting worse since this new year starts
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends greetings in the name of our lord and savior Jesus Christ and a blessed new year to to you
I just want to say thanks for your prayer and support towards our ministry here in Guyana
We are getting ready to start a new year and we look forward for an even greater year
Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the jungle for a week of celebration crusade we will be going to 2 villages and do 5 nights of celebration crusade
Please pray for us as we go that God will prepare many souls for his kingdom pray also for our safety
God bless you
Jai
Hay ministry friends season greeting for all of us here in Guyana
We get back Monday night from another wonderful trip we went to 2 villages and do 3 nights and Sunday morning celebration crusade and 91 persons give there life to jesus christ and 5 persons that give there life to jesus christ take the second step to be baptized.
This morning we went to the newanserdam women prison and do a Christmas concert and 5 women who are new to the prison give there life to jesus christ
Tomorrow morning we are going to the newanserdam Male prison and then on Thursday morning we going to the holding bay to do Christmas concert also
Then next week Monday we will be going to the hararuni girls home also to do a Christmas concert with them and we will taking gifts and other goodies for the girls
We have some other Christmas activities late down in this month witch we didn't plan as yet
Please pray for all these activities that God will prepare many hearts for his kingdom
Thank you for your prayers and support it have been a great year
God bless you
Jai
“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.”
