[Guyana-Mission-Report] Three Envelopes and Answered Prayers

We are really praising the Lord for his abundant mercy and grace. Just recently I went down to the Ministry of Health and picked up three envelopes. One was addressed to our ministry, one was addressed to the Regional Health Officer (RHO), and one was addressed to the Regional Executive Officer (REO). These three envelopes are the letters of permission from the Regional Health Services for Joy to become the health worker in Shea Village. Two days ago I delivered the letters to the RHO. After carefully reading it over, he looked me in the eye and said "this is what we've been waiting for." What a relief! The only thing that is slowing us down right now is the airplane. The airplane is presently in Georgetown going through its annual inspection. Please pray that there will be no major snags with this inspection. The inspectors from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority will go through the airplane, stem to stern and look at everything. During this inspection, they are constantly looking for any snag to remedy. The airplane could potentially be down for several weeks, or even drag out longer if they insist on replacing a lot of parts. This is God's work and we are learning how to depend on Him. I finished another small video on the bible work that we have going right now. Here's the link to the two video's we have on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JspZBbJvQCg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKwr3NHqazc You can see pictures and read other reports on our blog - www.guyanaaviationevangelism.org God bless 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] Moving forward while we wait

We're still waiting for the final green light to move out to Shea Village. But in the mean time God has been moving in some truly amazing ways. Here's a couple examples. Last Monday we received an airmail package with some donated funds for the bible workers. Soon after receiving the package, I went to the local store and bought some groceries to fly out to the bible worker in Aishalton village. Allow me to pause the story for a second -- Our bible workers are an integral part of the gospel work in the interior. We give them a small monthly stipend, and in return they do full time outreachministry. The bible worker in Aishalton has a little chinese-made motorbike and travels from village to village meeting new people, studying the bible with interested persons, and supporting the new Adventist believers in Shea and Aishalton. Our other bible worker here in Lethem runs the TV station, studies the bible with people, and leads out as an elder in the local church. A number of baptisms, and the whole church in Shea Village is a direct result of their hard work and selfless sacrifice. These two bible workers are such an inspiration to Joy and I, and we're happy to do everything we can to support them. So when the funds arrived, we immediately went to get groceries for the bible worker in Aishalton. As I was loading the airplane, I got an impression to call the Regional Health Officer (RHO) and ask if he had anything that needed to be transported to Aishalton. He almost shouted "YES!" Evidently the hospital in Aishalton was low on propane to run their refrigerator. They had thousands of US Dollars worth of vaccines in the fridge and they were worried that if they ran out of propane that the vaccines might spoil. So I ended up flying about 250 pounds of propane tanks. When I touched down, the Aishalton hospital administrator met me at the airstrip, beaming from ear to ear. So was I!!! A day later (Thursday) the RHO called me again on my cell phone and asked if I could transport some of his health workers from Aishalton to Lethem for a workshop. It was too late in the day to fly them out on Thursday, but I promised to try and help them on Friday. Back to Aishalton I went to pick up two nurses and a health worker. They were very grateful to take a 35 minute flight instead of an 8 hour bumpy road trip, and I was once again grateful for the opportunity to serve! When the taxi came to collect them at the airport the RHO took me aside and asked if I could help with a medivac. A 16 year old girl with severe abdominal pain was in Annai, and couldn't travel by bus to Georgetown since it was too painful. Most likely it was kidney stones, or a possible appendicitis. I was planning to fly to Georgetown on Sunday since the airplane was due for its 200 hour inspection on Monday, but when the RHO told me about this situation, I decided to fuel up the airplane before sunset (just in case). Sure enough! Right after Sabbath School this morning I got the call. The RHO informed me that the family had traveled from Annai to Lethem and were ready to go. I met them at the airport and after preflighting the airplane, we departed immediately. Before we lifted off I prayed a special prayer, asking God to give us favorable winds so that we would arrive early. Usually the flight back to Georgetown is long and bumpy since you're fighting a huge head wind the whole way. But today was different. The wind for the most part stopped blowing, and at times we got gusts of tail wind! My ground speed edged up to 105 knots per hour, and we arrived over 20 minutes earlier than normal (which is absolutely phenomenal!). The Lord had another small blessing in store for me. I had no transportation to take me from the airport back to the hospital, and I didn't want to hire a taxi on the Sabbath. So I prayed about it and started down the road in 100 degree sun. Soon a car pulled up beside me. It was the airfield inspector from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). I had flown her out to the Bethany Airstrip just a month before. She asked me where I was going and when I told her, she said she was going to going to her seamstress which happened to be close by! She also had wonderful air-conditioning! God is so good! Joy and Jenna are still in Lethem. We're still waiting for the the letter of approval from the director of regional health services. The airplane is facing a 200 hour inspection on Monday. In one sense we're waiting on God. But ironically God is calling us to move forward while we wait. We count it a huge privilege to play a small part in this wonderful gospel work. Thanks for your earnest prayers, and positive encouragement. You have no idea what this means to us. God bless 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] Answers to Prayer

Hi Everyone   We are pretty excited right now.  We just got back from a nice meeting with Medex Xavier (Regional Health Officer).  We delivered the documents and letters that he was requesting.   He then related to us what had happened during his trip to Georgetown.  Evidently, word had traveled up through the ranks of the ministry of health that an NGO had sent mosquito nets into Shea Village.  Evidently it had caused some serious waves, because  unbeknownst to us the Ministry of Health was planning to do something similar.  They had (and still have) 5000 mosquito nets neatly packed away into 150 large bales.  But for some strange reason, they've not given the final approval to distrubute the nets, inspite of a major malaria outbreak in Shea, inspite of the fact that there's 80+ cases of dengue fever in Lethem!  So with this background in mind, in steps this little NGO and preempts their project.  You can now see why it got their attention.  It basically thrust the issue of our move to Shea into the spotlight.  Word traveled up even to President Jagdeo himself!  The Toshao from Shea told him last week that we were helping their village through mosquito net distribution.    The RHO is so frustrated with the situation of the unused nets.  He had a meeting yesterday about this, and is scheduled to have yet another meeting tomorrow.  He's also asked that James join him at the meeting!    5000 nets sounds like alot, but Lethem alone has 6000-7000, let alone all the villages in the interior.  It's hardly a drop in the bucket!   In fact, during our conversation, RHO Xavier took out his cell phone and called the director of Regional Health Services and requested that he immediately write a letter of approval so that we can start working in the region.  The director promised to fax it across tomorrow.  When the letter arrives the Medex wants to attach it to the documents we gave just him, and then immediately go with him to meet with the Regional Executive Officer.    As we reflect over the events of the last three weeks, we're amazed at how God has led in each event.  The very day I was planning to fly from Georgetown to Shea, I took sick.  Then when I recovered there were two other flights that needed immediate attention, further delaying our departure.  When we finally did go to Lethem we were further delayed in trying to get the nets treated.  This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to interface with the RHO personally, and for us to work together with him and his wife.  This broke down barriers, and now the RHO is anxious to help us get our approval and he's personally driving the process forward.  If we would have gone directly to Shea a week before, we would have short circuited the process, and it would have taken much longer.   The bottom line is that we wouldn't be where we are right now if people hadn't responded to our call to prayer.  Thank you to one and all who have stood together with us during this uncertain time.   James & 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] Mosquito Nets and Cassava Currie

Last Wednesday I personally delivered seven huge garbage bags containing 80 hammock mosquito nets into the care of the deputy toshao of Shea. When I told him how many were donated, he said that there would be just enough for each family to receive one. I had the privilege of giving each family their net. Wow! This will really help to prevent the present and future spread of malaria in the village. Praise the Lord! Thank you for those who helped with this project! This is the core of need based evangelism. When we scratch where others itch they are so grateful! It breaks down barriers and opens hearts to the presentation of the gospel. We're itching to do that too! For now we're trying to share our love in tangible ways. I spent some time on Thursday mosquito proofing the clinic with styrofoam. It's a pretty daunting task when you think of all the different ways those critters can come through the cracks and holes. I had a real eye opening conversation with the Deputy Toshao. He related to me the story of how he had started out dirt poor, farming peanuts. Through back breaking hard work, he worked his way up the economic ladder. Now he owns the best shop in the village, and has a herd of 22 cows. He says that he hopes to have 40 cows by next year. I asked him how many other villagers raised cows. He mentioned that surprisingly very few people in the village own livestock. My curiousity was piqued by this anomoly and so I had to ask a follow up question. "Why don't other people follow your example and build themselves a better life?" His answer was really sad. "As long as they can grow just enough cassava to make their alcoholic currie they're happy." Three weeks ago when I was working on putting in window screens into the health clinic we heard about a snake bite victim in the village. When I arrived at the hut the first thing I saw was a guy sprawled out face down in the sand. At first I thought that he was the snake bit victim, but the villagers assured me that it wasn't. As it turned out, the man sprawled on the sand had drunk too much currie and had passed out. About half of the villagers standing around the snake bite victim were drinking currie from old butter containers. One man was even slow dancing. The devil has some deep strongholds in this village. God's power can break these strongholds and we ask for your continued prayer for us because Joy and I know very little about helping people overcome alcoholism. A complete set of materials for a 12 step program have already been very generously donated. Would anyone be interested in conducting a 12 step program for the village? Seriously! James James & Joy Ash 121 Durban Backlands Georgetown, Guyana 011-592-227-2184 http://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