[Guyana-Mission-Report] Flyin Home

"The journey of four thousand miles begins with a prayer..." Every pilot who has an adventurous spirit and enjoys flying cross country, dreams of one day island hopping through the Caribbean.   It is truly a journey like few others, covering vast expanses of cobalt blue ocean, punctuated by an occasional rugged green outcrop.  While we carry an inflatable raft and life jackets for each passenger, we fervently pray that we never have to use them!   Our journey back home began by skirting up the North coastline of Guyana, bypassing Trinidad and Tobago on our way to the island of Grenada.  The winds were very favorable, and at one point in our decent into Grenada we were approaching 180 knots!  Brandtley and James flew the airplane while Joy took care of Jenna in the back seat.  At first Jenna was excited to be flying, but as the hours clicked by, her interest wore thin.  Several times during the course of the trip she became very airsick, and at one point she threw up all over her daddy's lap (what are dad's for anyway???).  She finally resigned herself to the trip, and in moments of sheer boredom, she took fiendish delight in kicking the back of James' seat.   From Grenada, we swung up the chain of islands on our way to "Beef Island" (aka British Virgin Island).  There we met some really nice Adventist Christians that Brandtley had coincidentally met four months before on his flight down to Guyana.  They were so helpful to us, offering to driving us to and from our motel, and even taking us out to eat.  The next morning we got a very early start.  We knew that the winds were going to be against us pretty much the whole way, and we wanted to make sure we had enough time and fuel to make it up to Florida before nightfall.   We flew up to Grand Turk Island for a fuel stop and then turned Northwest toward Florida.  Just like we expected, the winds were pretty brutal, slowing us below 90 knots for some of the journey.  But we doggedly plowed on, and barely made it to Opalaka by sunset, and with our minimum fuel requirements. Oh, what a blessing to be back on American soil again!  The next day was Friday, so we decided to fly up to Collegedale to spend the weekend.  Since we got a late start, we made it into Collegedale airport just after sunset.  Evonne Richards from Gospel Ministries was there to pick Joy, Jenna, and I up, and we spent a most delightful weekend at their house.  Sunday morning was clear, cold, and icy.  We got off a little later than we had planned, and enroute Brandtley filed an instrument flight plan.  These extra delays, coupled with heavy head winds, caused us to change our plans.  Our original plan was to fly to Rawlins Wyoming, but as dusk was fast falling and the fuel was getting low, we decided  divert to Laramie instead. It turned out to be providential that we did, because the next morning soon after takeoff, the prop governor decided (on its own) to stop functioning.  While the airplane could technically fly, it was like driving a car that was stuck in first gear.  We hoped that it would start working again once it warmed up, but no matter how we fiddled with the nob, it refused to work. Brandtley closed the flight plan and we returned to the Laramie Airport to try and troubleshoot the problem.  Three hours and many phone calls later we discovered what we already suspected, that we needed a new governor.  Hmmm...  What to do? The mechanic Brandtley called happened to have a Brother that lived 60 miles East of Laramie.  After a few phone calls, they offered to drive the 60 miles to come and pick us up.  We ended up spending three wonderful days with them, enjoying their warm hospitality, sharing mission stories and pictures.  Looking back now, it's pretty clear.  If we had continued on to Rawlins we most likely would have broken down in Rawlins and missed connecting with this wonderful family.  Finally on Thursday the new governor arrived by UPS, and in a couple hours the airplane was back together and the new governor working beautifully.  We were hoping to push all the way to the Pacific Coast, but once again the Lord had another little detour.  Several icy storms were rolling inland from the coastline with 50-60 mph surface winds.   So we opted instead to stop in Walla Walla for the weekend.  James' brother and sister-in-law live near Walla Walla, and were happy to have relatives drop in for an unexpected visit. Sunday morning we awoke to crystal clear blue skies.  There was no rush since the weather was fabulous, and the flight relatively short.  Shortly after noon we touched down in Tillamook, Oregon.  We praise the Lord for such a blessed trip.  What was supposed to be 6 day trip, turned out to be 11 days instead.  But we arrived back safely and that's what really matters. During the trip Brandtley took a picture of the shadow of our airplane as we were flying through a thin cloud layer.  It was one of those Kodak moments.  The angle of the suns rays as it hit the water molecules, created a perfectly round rainbow around the shadow of the airplane.  Sometimes we forget that God's promises are always surrounding us.  Even when we are suspended in a little tin can with not a hint of dry land in sight, God's faithfulness never lets us go. God bless, James, Joy & Jenna James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Final Days in Shea

Well we're back in the States (for a little while). It seems like we've been caught in such a whirlwind of activity which has taken our breath away. For the last two months Joy was stationed out in Shea and I was riding back and forth on a motor bike since the airplane was out of commission during this time. Many people have been asking about the church project. I'm pleased to report that the church project has been moving forward. But the devil is putting up a ferocious fight at every turn. One member from the Sand Creek Church came to Shea village to cut rafters for the church. But when he started cutting with his Stihl 051 Chain saw, that's when the problems began. The tree didn't fall right, and when he started cutting up the lumber, his chain broke three times in one hour. Finally in frustration he stopped and began to pray. After that everything began to go smoothly The same thing happened with our bible worker. When our bible worker started cutting materials, the brand new Stihl chain that I had personally bought started breaking. He borrowed another brand new chain and kept on working. And then the rings on the piston broke. We bought him a new piston and rings and within a week he was happily cutting again. Then the piston and rings gave out again!!! Now it looks like the block might need to be replaced as well as a piston and rings. He borrowed another saw from our other bible worker, and now this saw has broken down!!! Midway through the cutting, one of the villagers came forward and demanded that we give him some of our boards because we were cutting on his farm area. We had previously asked the Tosaho (captain) of the village for permission, but this person began making a big stink about it that we had to stop. Since we dare not give boards away for fear that the other villagers would try the same trick, we abandoned the site and found another area to cut from. Fortunately it was a bigger log and better wood. The devil is challenging every inch of progress, because he knows full well that this church is more than just a worship center. It's a training center from which we're planning to reach the rest of the village and the surrounding villages. So far we've gotten three tracker loads of sand and a load of gravel built up to start the concrete columns. We need about 4 or 5 times this, but everything takes time and effort since almost everything going into the church has to be carved out of the jungle and the ground in 95 degree weather. The church members are all dirt poor and can't help much financially, but they've been working really hard, and one of the older ladies is carrying sand on her back in a nylon rice sack! Unbelievable!!! Sometimes they'll carry boards out on their backs for 3+ miles in the dead of night! If they get an early start they say they can do two trips (12+ miles) Before we left, we gave the leaders $150 USD so that the work could proceed. One of the church members from Sand Creek has also come to help with the concrete construction. During our final week in Shea we had a 7 night Spiritual Revival. Joy preached most of the sermons, and I filled in a few times. Again, we encountered difficulties. Half way through our video projector blew a bulb and stopped working. Fortunately we had a 21" Color TV, and so we just kept plowing ahead. We had a nightly attendance of 35 -50 persons. In a village of 350, that's not too bad! Even the captain/toshao of the village came out to see what was going on. People are searching for real answers to their real problems. There is a terrible scourge of alcoholism and spousal abuse in Shea. About a month ago, most of the village was drunk, in celebration of republic day. What is interesting is that the toshao believes that this is a sign of a spiritual problem within the village. Even though the village is predominantly Catholic, and he's a staunch Catholic, he admitted that Catholicism hasn't made their village any better. In fact, things have gotten a lot worse, and people are starting to look elsewhere for the answer to their problems. This is why the devil is trying to throw all sorts of road blocks in our way. This is why other religious groups are trying so desperately hard to get their foot in the door. This is also why we have such mixed feeling about coming back for eight weeks. But this is God's work, and we're only a small part of the bigger picture. In the next couple GMR's we'll tell you about the amazing 4000 mile trip home in a Cessna 172RG. We'll keep you updated on the new preparations to take a Cessna 182 back down to Guyana. God bless, James, Joy, Jenna James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Spending New Years Alone

Dear Friends and Family, Christmas time was a very busy time for James.  It was the week after Christmas that he had to bring back the body of the baby that died.  (As mentioned previously)   It just seemed like one thing and then another was happening to keep him away from Shea, and Jenna and I had been alone for several nights. The day before New Years I was dealing with another situation of a baby with vomiting and diarrhea who was very very dehydrated.  Fortunately, the regional hospital had sent IV supplies during the week.  I was getting my first opportunity to use them.  As I was preparing my equipment I felt the impression to turn on the radio.  Within a minute or so, James voice came through asking for me to respond.  I instantly felt relieved.  It was later in the afternoon, but I felt that if he came right away he would still have time to evacuate this latest baby to Lethem before dark.  After losing one baby that week I didn't want a repeat.  James told me that he had unexpectedly had to travel to Georgetown and that he was calling me from our flightbase there.  I was pretty shocked and disappointed.  Now, there was no way to get that baby out.  I would just have to deal with the situation by myself.  On the radio, I said, "ok".  Inside my heart just sank and I wanted to cry, but I had a baby to care for so I went inside my house and knelt down to pray for God to help me.  I knew that I couldn't deal with the situation alone. Jenna stood by my side and watched as I tried desperately to start an IV on that baby.  I prayed and tried my best, but was unsuccessful.  Two veins gave me a flash of blood, but then I couldn't thread the catheter successfully and they blew.  "Oh no!" Now my heart really sank.  In the end, I had to give up.  Thankfully,  the baby was able to still take oral fluids and breastfeed although at ten months of age it was very weak and was having difficulty holding up it's head at times.  I wanted the mother to stay at the clinic so I could keep an eye on her baby during the night.  Unfortunately, the patient room is more like a tool/junk room and the bed has no mattress. (Mucking that out is a project I just hadn't gotten too.)  The mother didn't have a hammock either, so I decided to send her to the place she was staying.  I told her to bring the baby back first thing in the morning.  I also gave her rehydration drinks and medication along with careful instructions.  I had been expecting a group called the National Association for the Prevention of Starvation (NAPS).  For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they are a mission group from Oakwood University that does relief and mission work around the world.  Anyway, I had made a big pot of lentil soup for them.  Well, since James had been called away (by no choice of his own) they weren't able to fly in with him, so I had this large amount of food with nobody to eat it and no refrigeration.  I asked the kids of this family with the sick baby if they were hungry.  They were famished.  So, I was able to feed them.  I gave them all huge portions and then just to be sure asked if they were still hungry and they said they were.  I felt a little bad because in the process of taking care of Jenna and the baby I forgot to give them more food.  The baby and 3 year old child looked especially malnourished so I knew they weren't getting enough to eat at home.  Well, I thought to myself,  "The NAPS group won't be coming because James can't bring them and we have all the food they sent to feed themselves on their trip."  So, in the morning instead of waiting for the mother of the sick baby to bring it to the clinic I went out with Jenna to get a lady from our church to translate and we packed a large quantity of the food from those bins into bags and off we went.  When we got to the house where the family was staying the mother was down bathing so we were able to take a discreet look around.  It was a thatch hut with a dirt floor and some clothes hanging on the walls.  I didn't see any hammocks or other sleeping mattresses.  A fire had just been put out near the door.  A couple of dirty looking puppies were running around the yard.  Jenna wanted to play with them. When the mother came she had the baby with her.  Surprisingly, the baby had noticeably improved.  He seemed stronger and his fontanel wasn't sunken as far.  I was soooo relieved to see some improvement.  The mother told me he had been taking the fluid and medications.  Through a translator I was able to give the mother some vital education about her child's condition and about malnutrition.  I explained why it was so important for her to eat so that her baby would get what it needed from her breastmilk.  She told us that they had nothing in the house to eat, so they had given the baby tapioca porridge for breakfast.  She thought that this was a fine breakfast! Wow! I was so thankful that we had been able to have food to bring them.  The family was particularly bad off because the father had been away in Lethem with one of the other sick children.  The mother allowed us to pray with her as well. I felt good as we left the house, but I was still nervous about that baby.  I was also feeling sorry for myself because Jenna and I were going to spend New Years alone.  Later that day I was preparing some lunch for Jenna and myself when a truck pulled up in the yard carrying 6 people wearing navy blue shirts that said, "NAPS" on them.  Now I was embarrassed.  I had given their food away.  They were very gracious and glad to help.  It was wonderful not to be alone anymore, especially, since they had brought a doctor with them.  The doctor, a young lady named Marlo, was literally Heaven sent.  It was such a relief to me to be able to talk with her about some of the patients I was worried about and take her to visit the sick baby and its sibling.  We started telling people that an American doctor was there to help people.  In no time at all people started lining up at the clinic to see the doctor.  So, that evening and all the next morning she saw people.  When we visited the dehydrated baby she agreed with me that he seemed to be improved based on what I had told her.  We had a nice time with the NAPS group and one girl watched Jenna for me so I could spend time with Marlo seeing patients.  They even made an outdoor oven for me, for the purpose of making my own charcoal.  Well, the next morning the infant had obviously started to worsen again.  Marlo tried to start an IV and it was just impossible.  We decided that that baby just needed to go out to Lethem, so NAPS packed their things and left a little early with the mom and baby.  I was sorry to be alone again, but was so relieved to know that infant would have more advanced care available. So, you might be thinking, "Why didn't God answer my prayer for help when I was trying to start that IV?"  God did answer my prayer, just not in the way I thought He should.  God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  I don't understand all of the whys and wherefore's but God is working to strengthen my faith in Him.  He has a thousand ways of solving our problems of which we know nothing.                                                    "The Lord's our rock,                                                       in Him we hide,                                           a shelter in the time of storm." Joy James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Joy's World

Dear Friends and Family Jenna and I just returned from 3 weeks in Shea. James has been in and out doing some medivacs and other things. I have so many stories to share from the last three weeks that I could keep you reading for an hour, but I'll try to keep it short. Jenna has been getting a serious introduction to medical work for one so young. She loves to be in the clinic with me and sit on my lap while I'm talking to patients. She has a soft heart for sick babies and wants to hold their hands and play with them (much to the consternation of her mother!). I feel torn because I don't want her getting some of the contagious things that patients have, but neither do I want to give them the impression that we don't want to associate with them. So we've reached a compromise, and Jenna has been getting a lot of extra scrubbing in private. My eyes are really being opened to the true needs of the people. I'm sure a bigger picture will emerge as we experience their culture more and see how they live. So far, I'm a bit overwhelmed by what I see. The village has about 400 occupants, not all living within the village proper. Last week I had 33 patients. I'm seeing what a terrible scourge alcoholism is. The parents with this problem spend more of their day drinking rather than farming. In certain families, all the kids are hungry and malnourished. The mothers drink home brewed alcohol while they are breastfeeding and don't eat healthfully themselves. Their babies are thin and malnourished. Then when they become ill they are really sick. On top of the whole problem of alcoholism is the problem of drinking water. We're supposed to be in the middle of rainy season, but it hasn't been raining. It's very dry and some families are drinking stagnant pond water. These ponds are very dirty and the cows and pigs also drink from these ponds. People don't boil the water either. They also don't wash their hands before they eat and eat with their hands. A good number of the kids under 3 appear to have worms. One particular family lives out in the bush about 4 hours walk from the village center. They don't have a house, just some type of leaf shelter. They have at least 6 kids, all with sad eyes and dejected expressions. The parents are both alcoholics. We sent out the 12 year old girl for suspected Leishmaniasis. She had 5 sores on her legs, one of which she had had for three months and was over 2 inches in diameter. I tried treating the sores with some generic topical medication in the clinic, but it didn't seem to respond. So James took her to Lethem to get IV medication. I also sent out the 10 month old infant to Lethem with the mother from the same family as well because he was weak and dehydrated. He had had a bout of malaria and a couple of bouts of diarrhea and vomiting, all within the last month. The 3 year old boy in the same family also has a sore on his leg, but I'm hoping it can be treated locally and we won't have to send him out as well! These children are so hungry. The mother confessed to me they had nothing to eat since the father had gone out a couple of weeks earlier to Lethem with the sick daughter. Thankfully, a group from the US had left two big bins of food and I was able to give them a whole bunch of supplies that will hopefully last the children, until the parents return. It just makes you want to cry when you see how some people live. Most of the families don't live this way, but there are some who are destitute, and living in extreme poverty. The poor families appear to grow only cassava and bananas on their farms. There's lots of room for agriculture education. There's currently a region wide outbreak of diarrhea and vomiting in children under two years of age. It has been so rampant that the regional field hospital has been running short of liquid medications. In Shea it appears that the problem may be slowing down. I've been trying to spread the word to parents to not wait to bring the children in for treatment. We had to evacuate 3 babies in the last month due to severe dehydration. Two weeks ago we flew to a village 15 minutes flight away from Shea. Friday night the parents of a sick infant in Shea both went out to a drinking party. Concerned villagers told me the baby was getting worse, but the parents didn't bring it back to see me (for whatever reason). Sabbath morning James and I flew to Sand Creek to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the church. In the hours that we were gone, the baby took a turn for the worst. Still, the mother waited for us to return on Sunday. As soon as I arrived back in Shea, they met us at the airstrip and said, "Please come, a baby is dying, It's getting cold." I went up to the clinic to find this very dehydrated and weak infant. It had a fever, but I was still able to give it medication by mouth and it was still breastfeeding. There was also another child with a fever and abdominal infection who needed to go at the same time so James rushed off to Lethem with both of them. Unfortunately, we found out that the dehydrated baby died 18 hours later at the Lethem hospital. James flew the mother and baby back to the village for the funeral. I cried when they put that small box in the ground. That baby should not have died. I kept thinking, "If only I had IV supplies... If only we hadn't been out of the village... If only the parents had brought her in sooner... If only they had gotten an IV on the baby when it arrived in Lethem". There are a lot of "What-If's" in this kind of situation. We have emphasized to the villagers that in future if we happen to be out of the village, to please try to contact us on the radio and we will come. We don't want to lose more babies while they wait for us to come back. The good news is that the 3 year old boy with the abdominal infection is doing better. He will have to undergo surgery at some future time to completely solve his problem. Everywhere we go there are physical and spiritual needs. We're getting ready to come back to the States to have our second child. We're excited because we haven't been back in over a year, but we're reluctant to leave our post of duty. Sincerely Joy James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] The first 13,000lbs.

We received the first truck load of 13,000 lbs of cement and rebar.  This will build the foundation of the new Shea Church.   We also began leveling the ground in preparation for pouring the foundation.  A group from Brazil will come and help in the construction.  We're racing to finish the church by the end of February when Joy and I plan to return to the States for the birth of our second child. We hope to launch an evangelistic series at this time as well. Thank you to those who have prayed for us, and those who have helped to make this possible.  We'll post more stories and pictures as the church goes up. God bless, James James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 Blog Site: www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Latter Rain

Guyana's weather is roughly divided into four seasons.  We have two dry seasons, and two rainy seasons.  Right now we're in the midst of the "latter rains" of December and January. Last Wednesday when we arrived in Shea Village the rain water tanks were filthy, and the pipes connected to the health clinic gutters were broken and disconnected.   It hadn't rained in months and the wells were beginning to dry up.  I tried asking some of the villagers if it had rained recently, but the best answer I could get was, "Not really". Hmmm.  What to do? I decided to take a hours to fix the water tanks in hope that it might rain.  When I drained the scum water out of the back tank, a dead frog came out!  Yuck!  This called for more than a swab job.  Crawling into each tank I vigorously scrubbed them out with bleach water.  I then scrubbed down the gutters, and finally finished by fixing the pipes and setting everything back up.  What a job!  I thought it would only take a couple hours, but it ended up taking almost a day and a half to complete.  When I finished the last tank on Friday afternoon I felt a certain satisfaction knowing that if it rained we would be ready to collect all the rain water, and that it wouldn't make us sick.  Around midnight that night, while we were sleeping, without warning the sky opened up and dumped on us for about an hour solid, giving us almost 1000 gallons of fresh rain water.  If you've ever heard the sound of heavy rain on zinc, you know that it is absolutely deafening.  It was like music to my ears! As we were lying in bed listening to rain drops thundering on zinc, the Lord spoke quietly to my mind about the Latter Rain.  Just before Jesus returns to this earth, God is going to send a spiritual rain shower to drench this earth (Joel 2:28,29).  Only those who have been cleansed from sin, emptied of self, connected to the word, and standing upright, will be able to receive the Holy Spirit when it is poured out.  Now (in this apparently dry season) is the time to search our souls and to make a special preparation.  If we wait for the rains it will be too late.  I invite you today to consider this little object lesson and to join us in praying that God would prepare each of us for that time.  James James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Pictures

Picture #1 - New literature to our bible worker in Kopinang Picture #2 - Dismantling a motor bike for transport in the airplane. Picture #3 - Medivac from Aishalton Village - Woman with a difficult labor.  The baby was born soon after arrival, but the baby (last I heard) is still in critical condition. Picture #4 - Loading the patient into the Ambulance in Lethem. James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-629-5141 www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org James & Joy Ash Gospel Ministries International Project Name: Guyana Aviation Evangelism 874 South McDonald SW McDonald, TN 37353 1 (423) 473-1841 or 1 (423) 473-1842