[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