[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

[Guyana-Mission-Report] Tale of Three Airplanes

This is the true tale of the three little airplanes.... (forget the three little pigs) Six weeks ago I was driving the mission van around Georgetown when my cell phone rang. It was the chief mechanic who was doing the annual inspection on the Guyanese airplane I fly. His first words were "James - I've got some bad news for you". He then proceeded to tell me that they had found all sorts of metal in the oil filter, indicating that the engine was starting to break down. A thousand thoughts swirled around in my mind, but I distinctly remember thinking "Ok Lord... Now What?" The answer wasn't long in coming. Two days later a close friend wrote me a one line email. "Praying for you, Do you want my airplane?" I didn't quite know what he was thinking about, so I called him up. He said that since I had flown his Cessna 182 two summers ago, the airplane had been mostly sitting on the ramp. In fact the airplane was presently tore all apart in its annual inspection. My friend was intending to sell it the moment it came out of annual. That's when he got the email about our airplane and felt impressed to contact us. He'd already had a couple solid offers on the airplane but told us that he was willing to let it go for half the market value if it would be used for mission work. When I hung up, I remember thinking "Great Lord! Now What?" Later that day I happened to be talking to some people on Skype. Unbeknownst to me they had been praying earnestly that God would provide a Cessna 182 for us to use. When I related this opportunity to them, they were ecstatic. This set off a chain of events, and by the end of the day God had provided the funds to purchase the aircraft. In the mean time I was still months away from having another airplane. Again, I wondered to myself "Now what do we do?" But God had already gotten this covered. Another close friend of mine had heard of the unfolding situation and felt impressed to bring his Cessna 172RG down to Guyana so we could keep flying. This last week and a half I've been flying in the new aircraft. It's been a tremendous blessing, and already we've done a couple missionary flights including a medivac of a snake bite victim. So at this moment, the Guyanese airplane that I flew all last year is in Bethany (minus the engine). About a week ago some of our missionary mechanics pulled the engine off and when they removed the cylinders they instantly saw the problem. The cam followers were pretty beat up on all the intake cams and were wearing down the cam shaft lobes. What was causing this? Nobody is sure. As I write this email the Cessna 182 is finishing up its annual and will soon get fitted up for its flight to Collegedale TN where it will get some huge tundra tires for the rough strips down here. Then it will be ferried down to Guyana. I'll continue to fly the 172RG until the 182 arrives, and then continue the work with the Cessna 182. In the mean time we're working on starting a church building project in Shea. We'll fly back to the States near the end of Febuary for the birth of our second child. I'm always in amazement at how God provides for the work down here. He always seems to have just the right solution at just the right time. What an awesome God we serve! Sincerely James & Joy Ash 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] Dragon was Wroth with the Woman...

Here is a fresh report that indicates how the Devil is working overtime to undo the gospel work in Shea. The Church of Christ has been very active in Region 9 and is doing a strong evangelistic push into the villages. Wherever they go they preach a watered down gospel, and offer all sorts of material gifts (i.e. food, clothing, T.V.'s, VCR's, Bicycles, and even money itself!) Naturally thousands are flocking to the free "loaves and fishes" and are getting baptized. The sad part about this is that it makes a mockery of the true gospel, and feeds the covetous spirit of the poor Amerindians. Just within the last two weeks a group from this church traveled up to Shea Village to meet with the Adventist members to get them to join their church. They met with the new Adventist believers and began to tell them erroneous teachings, such as 1) The Sabbath has been switched from Saturday to Sunday due to Christ raising on Sunday. 2.) Pentecost happened on a Sunday (flatly false) 3) The Law was nailed to the cross, therefore we need not worry about keeping Saturday Sabbath. They also brought out gifts and offered the Shea church members money if they would become baptized into their church! Many prospective Adventists were taken by their ploy, and at least one known Adventist member was "baptized" into their church. Also they performed an instant wedding service for the deputy toshao and baptized him and his wife. The new Adventist Members were confused and many were inclined to join the movement. Fortunately the leader (Sandra Rodrigues) sent a letter to Sand Creek telling them what was going on and implored them to come quick otherwise everyone (including herself) would join the Church of Christ. A group from the Sand Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church set out immediately for Shea. When they arrived the Church of Christ group was just leaving. The Church of Christ people were planning to stay another three days, but when they heard that the Adventist members from Sand Creek were coming to town, they decided to leave early, promising to come back to baptize the others. The group from Sand Creek has spent about a week with them doing bible study, and answering their many questions directly from the bible. Fortunately most of the members didn't apostatize, and the one who did confessed with tears his error and wants to be rebaptized. The members have also talked with the deputy and explained how marriage in Guyana works, and that they aren't legally married. Needless to say he's pretty confused as well. The good news is that the group from Sand Creek helped the Shea members frame up the new temporary structure. This fulfills the Shea Council requirement of starting the building within eight months. This coming week, I'll be traveling with a team into Shea Village and we'll begin building the permanent structure.. I know this report may be shocking, but this underscores several important things. The Devil is not happy that the work is going forward in Shea, and he's going to do everything that he can to disrupt the gospel. The Church of Christ group has promised to come back at a later time to rebaptize the other members. We must not leave the Shea members open to attack until Joy and I can move there permanently. Please pray for the last documents to be written giving us permission to move out there. Part of the group from Sand Creek are staying in Shea until we can go back there to work on the church building. We must work diligently to ground these new believers in the word of God so that they will not be blown about by every wind of doctrine. We must move forward quickly with the church structures as it will encourage the members and send a statement to the community. While it is true that the devil is hard at work, it is also true that the Lord is even harder at work. We praise the Lord that a major disaster has been averted. Please pray for the work. We're moving forward together with NAPS to finish the first phase of the church building and prepare the way for the second phase when plan to come on a mission trip in December. Sincerely James Ash 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] Man's Extremity...

Someone once said, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity"  If this is true, then the great news is that we are facing some awesome opportunities for God to work.   About a week and a half ago I flew the airplane back up to Georgetown for some aircraft maintenance, and to do some errands for the church building project..  I was driving the van around Georgetown when I received the cell phone call from the mechanic.  His first words were, "James, I have some bad news for you".  He then proceeded to tell me that when they drained the oil out of the engine, that they picked up an alarming amount of ferrous metal in the oil filter.  This is concerning since it could potentially cause a break down in the engine.  The mechanic said that we would need a new engine or do a major overhaul, but flying it any further was totally out of the question. I finished up my tasks in Georgetown and took the bus back to Lethem (13.5 hours).  Today I got the results from the oil sample we sent to the States.  The results conclude the same as the mechanic, indicating that we're picking up a higher than normal ferrous content in the oil.  Probably one or more of the bearings are disintegrating causing the foreign particles in the oil. So where do we go from here?  The answer is forward.  We don't know how but God has miraculously provided us this opportunity to work in Shea Village, and we must answer that call.   While we're praying for another airplane engine for the airplane, we'll have to rent or buy a truck so we can keep moving forward.  This is a critical time in our mission, and we can't afford to lose what God has provided for us. Please take sixty seconds to pray for us right now so that we would have lots of wisdom to know how best to move forward. 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