Report from August Pastor Training and Women's Prison Trip

Dear Ministry Friends,

We are so grateful for having the prayer support of so many of you as we served in Guyana last week. We saw God work in a powerful way even as some of our original plans had to be altered. Our flight left Charlotte 2 1/2 hours late because of bad weather in the Miami area. That caused us to miss our connecting flight to Guyana so we had to spend the night in Miami and were booked on the flight the next evening. That caused us ladies to miss one of our days in the Women’s Prison. Jai was able to pivot and came up with a way for the men to get to the pastor training on time. He hired them a speed boat to make up the time and they were able to reach the village for the Tuesday training as planned. We were so grateful Jai thought of that option. He was going to have them fly but all the planes were full.

There were 20 pastors and a few church workers who attended the three day training. Five of them were new to our training which is a real encouragement and  blessing. There were wonderful reports of how much more open and engaging the pastors are now that they have established a relationship with Carl and our team. Carl emphasized how important it is for them to not only make disciples themselves but to shepherd their leaders to do the same. The dominoes will fall so the congregation will catch the vision if the pastor and leaders are very intentional. They seemed excited to strive to put that into practice and continue to work on growing healthy churches, Gene taught a few sessions and had them all laughing with his winsome way of story telling along with making serious points for growth.

There was a lot of one on one conversation to answer individual questions and address any issues the pastors were dealing with. Jai had a chance to speak with each pastor and was very encouraged by how much they have learned and that they are taking the leadership of their churches very seriously. Jai is amazed how Carl can make the lessons so clear and practical.

Markey was not able to go with them as planned because his father had brain surgery a few days before the training so he stayed home to help him. His father was able to go home from the hospital but still needs our prayers. His name is Lloyd.

Now about the ladies….Tracy, Deanna, Kay and Beth…We were thankful to have Michael to drive us back and forth and arrange our meals. He also took care of the sound system for us in the prison. Monday, Michael was driving the men to the boat so we ladies spent time preparing for the lessons and organizing all the art supplies for the lessons. We needed flowers and there were no flower shops so we went for a walk in a neighborhood near the hotel. Two ladies with yards full of flowers graciously let us pick some of their beautiful flowers and along with wild flowers we found on our walk, ended up with a beautiful arrangement to use on Tuesday.

Our lessons on Tuesday were Vulnerability and Forgiveness, When we first arrived, the women were distant and seemed closed off. By the end of our time with them, they were hugging us and wishing we could keep coming back. They enjoyed all the art projects but I will just explain  one of them on the topic of Forgiveness. They had a paper and pencil and were told to write a letter that no one else would see. It was to be to someone they needed to forgive or to someone they wished would forgive them, even God. The next step was to tear up the paper however they chose and glue the pieces on another piece of paper making a piece of art that expressed how they felt. They then used acrylic paint to turn it into a work of art. It was amazing how talented they were and how beautiful and varied their creations were.

Wednesday morning we did the lesson on Reconciliation. Wednesday afternoon was to be our praise and worship time and the Bible lesson after which I would explain the plan of salvation. When we arrived, the guard told us someone was in the prison and we had to wait for them to leave so we were 30 minutes late going in. We had the praise music and worship time which was great. One of the inmates has a beautiful voice and she sang for us each day. I began my Bible lesson on God being our Shepherd and why we as sheep desperately need a Shepherd. I was a third of the way through when I received word that we had to leave at 2:30 which meant with our late start, we only had one hours total. I rushed through the bullet points of the lesson because I wanted time to present the plan of salvation. They were very attentive. We didn’t have time to wash feet so left that for the next day, Thursday morning. Since the ladies like to paint, we provided that opportunity while we four ladies washed the inmates feet, thankful that  we were not rushed at all while having one on one conversations with them. Many of them poured out their hearts to us. What seemed like a negative situation the day before, having to start late and end early, turning into a blessing with more time for the most important thing we did. FOUR WOMEN ACCEPTED CHRIST and we were able to talk to a lot of the women who were already Christians and encourage them. It was a huge blessing.

The afternoon session, we just played games and enjoyed a warm relationship with them. Their favorite games ended up being Simon Says and one activity we never dreamed they would like. We blew up 6 balloons and told them to work together and keep them in the air as long as they could. Then hilarity began, slowly then built….Before we knew it, inmates of all ages, even those in their 50’s were running around, laughing and squealing and bopping the balloons all around the room and very high in the air. We couldn’t have our phones in the prison so couldn’t take pictures or videos but that scene will forever be a movie in my mind. The women were having fun and acting like they were young children. What a great way to end a great week.

The prison authorities sent us word in the middle of the week that something had come up and we couldn’t come on Friday. SO..we went to the Hararuni Girls Home where we have been often. We took them lunch and did the forgiveness art project. We left the paints so they can enjoy them later.

We had no travel problems coming home so were very grateful for that, Thank you again for praying for us. You are so much a part of this ministry as you approach the Throne on our behalf.

Blessing,

Beth