Dear Friends of Guyana,
Please pray for this upcoming trip. We have two simultaneous trips leaving August 9. One is the pastor training trip that Carl Martin does every six months and the other is a new outreach to the Women’s Prison. We are so grateful for Carl’s commitment to go every six months to train pastors in the remote villages of Guyana. Besides being a wonderful teacher, he is so relational with them that they feel they can open up about any issues they are facing. This trip, he will be accompanied by Gene Flack, our church’s retired pastor and he has the same passion that Carl has to see these pastors encouraged and equipped. Jai and Markey will be with them. They will go to Region 1 near Venezuela.
A little background concerning the Women’s Prison….About 18 months ago, our staff was told that they would have to discontinue their weekly visits to the Women’s Prison because a man from some other church group had done something inappropriate and no more men were allowed. It was heartbreaking. When Jai was visiting us in June, we took him to Bluffton, SC to visit the Jones’ and the Martins’. While there, we discussed the issue of the lack of ministry for the women. In a brainstorming session, Kay volunteered to go with me and spend a week working with our staff wives, Tracy and Deanna, to teach the women. We prayed that we could get permission. Kay is an artist and has been trained by Prison Fellowship to lead an art-based ministry for women in prison. Martha Ackerman, the wife of the former President of Prison Fellowship wrote the curriculum.There are 10 sessions in the curriculum. The topics are as follows.
VULNERABILITY, FORGIVENESS, RECONCILIATION, EMOTIONS, EMPATHY, SHAME, SELF DOUBT, PRIDE, ACCOUNTABILITY, and COURAGE
Each lesson is taught by using different types of art. We will also bring in fresh flowers. In some prisons, it has been years since women have seen a flower and it is very meaningful.
Jai went to the Women’s Prison to get permission and the female warden asked him where they had been. She was desperate for our staff to come back. He told her the government had banned them and she said that she would fix that by writing a letter and calling the authorities. Some inmates saw Jai at a distance and started yelling, “PLEASE COME BACK!!!”
Long story short, not only did we ladies get permission to do a week long ministry but now our male staff can go back weekly to teach and encourage them.
Following are the prayer requests for both arms of ministry.
SATURDAY, August 9—Please pray for our travel day. Carl will start in Savannah while Gene Flack, Kay Jones and Beth Puckett will meet Carl in Charlotte and we will all travel to Miami and then to Georgetown. Pray for flights to be on time and for opportunities to engage people we encounter if God opens the door. Pray that our 130 pounds of art supplies will get there safely. We will arrive in Guyana at 11:15 PM. Pray for an easy time getting through customs. The hotel is about an hour’s drive from the airport so we will be very late getting to bed.
SUNDAY—August 10—We will sleep in a little that morning then have our own church service. Michael and Deanna will lead our music and Gene will bring us a sermon as we all prepare to start our Gospel work. After some prayer time together, Carl, Gene, Jai and Markey will drive to Parika and take the 3:00 pm ferry. It is a 2 hour ferry ride to get to the other side of the river. Then they will drive for one more hour to get to Charity where they will spend the night in a hotel. Pray for a good travel day for them.
The ladies will spend time in the afternoon having Kay train us in the assignments we will need to do to assist her teaching and we will get the art materials ready for each day’s different sessions. I am taking 130 pounds of art supplies. Michael is staying with us to be our driver and help any way we need him to. We may have time for some card games for a little relaxation.
MONDAY, August 11-Pray for the men as they leave their vehicle and take a speed boat up the river. They will stop and pick up 14 of the 20 pastors along the way. Three of the 20 pastors who will be there are new to our training. Please pray that they will catch the vision that the other pastors have come to treasure. The boat ride will be 5-6 hours long. Please pray it won’t rain on that stretch of the trip. When they arrive, they will set up in the open air church where they will sleep on blow up mattresses or hammocks. They will set up their kitchen there where Jai will cook for them during their stay.
Pray for the first day of ministry at the prison. There are 55 inmates and they can choose whether they want to attend. We pray most will want to. Some are Hindu and Muslim and may not want to participate. May God draw just the right ladies to the sessions. We will have a morning session, leave for lunch and then go back for an afternoon session. Please also pray for the guards to hear the teaching and also be influenced.
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, August 12, 13, 14 —Pray that the twenty pastors will be teachable and will retain what they are taught. There will be several sessions each day as well as one on one time for questions and answers with our four team members. They will discuss how to apply what they are learning and listen to concerns the pastors have about their lives and churches. Carl will be using Acts 16 as his launching pad to teach and encourage these pastors. He wants them to be aware of HOW GOD WORKS IN ME, AROUND ME, WITH ME, FOR AND THROUGH ME AS I MINISTER TO HIS PEOPLE. Every time Carl has gone and tells the pastors it is time to end a session, they say they don’t want to stop. Carl is a gifted teacher who knows how to make the Word applicable. The churches these pastors go back to will be blessed to have a pastor who has sat under Carl’s teaching.
At the Women’s Prison we will have morning and afternoon sessions. On Wednesday afternoon, we will forgo the art session and have an evangelism service. Michael and Deanna will do the music and we will have some Christian inmates give their testimonies or sing a song. Then Beth will share a Bible lesson with a Gospel presentation at the end. An explanation of how they can accept Christ as their Savior will be shared. Since our staff hasn’t been there in a year and a half, there are most likely lots of inmates who haven’t heard a clear presentation of the way to have their sins forgiven and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Please pray for open hearts and decisions.
FRIDAY, August 15—Pray for the Pastor Training Team as they travel back out by boat and ferry and truck to get back to Georgetown.
Pray for the last day of ministry at the Women’s Prison. Kay will teach the 8th lesson from the 10 part series. Our Guyanese team wives will go back and finish the last two Hopefully, by that time, Vanessa will be back with them. She can’t be with us on this trip because she has a newborn at home. For the afternoon session, we are just going to play games with the women. I bet they haven’t had fun playing games in a very long time. We are taking in jump ropes, hula hoops, and will play Simon Says and Charades. We want them to feel our love and encourage them to live for Jesus while they are incarcerated. We want to make sure they know that even though they are behind bars, they can be FREE……
Friday night, we will have a team dinner and share with each other some favorite stories from our week. That is always a highlight.
SATURDAY, August 16— We have a 7:00 AM flight from Georgetown so will have to leave our hotel about 3:30 in the morning. Pray for a good travel day. Thank you for praying for God to supply these pastors with renewed zeal as they serve their congregations and for the inmates. Pray for the women who have made decisions to follow Jesus and for those who need to grow in their Christian maturity. We appreciate all of you who pray for us.
