Building a School of Evangelism
You simply can't win a war if you don't have troops! In the same way, the gospel work will never be completed until people are prepared spiritually, equipped for battle, and sent out into the fields. Jesus said it so well in Matthew 9:37,38 "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the workers are few..." For this very reason, three years ago, Pastor David Gates saw a need for a school of evangelism in Kaikan village.
Kaikan village is a quiet Amerindian village of about 450 people on the extreme western edge of Guyana. The village is only separated from Venezuela by a small river. What makes Kaikan and it's neighboring village Arau unique is that both are isolated from the rest of Region 7 by some large mountains. Most of Region #7 is interconnected by a system of rivers, but Kaikan and Arau are over the mountains, and linked into a different system of rivers. There are also a vast number of Venezuelan villages in the regions beyond the border that haven't even been tapped into.
This presents a unique opportunity for a project. If we are to effectively take the gospel to these remote locations on the extreme edge of Guyana, we must build a strategic outpost training center, that will train, equip, and send Amerindians Bible workers to travel all through those parts.
As of today, about half of the Administration building has been completed. Our goal is to complete both upstairs and down stairs of the Admin. building, and build a separate duplex for teacher housing by next August. We plan to begin classes in September 2013. It's a high goal, but we feel it can be reached if we push hard. As I've discussed the project with the new village captain, who happens to be an elder in the local Adventist church, he's 110% behind the project. The local villagers are also very supportive and are coming out to give volunteer help for the project. During the last volunteer work day they had about 30 people come out to help.
The village captain mentioned to me that one of the biggest hindrances to the working going forward was the shortage of gasoline. The price of gasoline in Kaikan village is $15 U.S. per gallon! The people are willing to use their own saws and tools to help build, but they simply can't afford the price of gas to operate the equipment! So recently, I flew 95 gallons of gasoline out to the project so they can move forward more quickly. Pictured above is Alex, a carpenter who is helping to construct the school.
We're praying for a project director to lead the project. We're looking for a married couple, or family with older kids who have a vision for this type of front line mission work. The sky is the limit. The people are waiting. If you would like to organize a mission trip to come and help build the school, or would like to teach, or have administrative experience, please contact me at ashjam7@yahoo.com.
