The following is a mission report from Brother Tom Musick on his latest
trip to Guyana , where James Pendley and Pat Lambert have been.
Greetings to all. This October marked the sixth
mission trip that I have been a part of into the interior of Guyana,
South America, in the Rupununi Region working with the Amerindians. A
group of 16 from the U S A and 2 from Trinidad were joined by a number
of Guyanese brethren in the village of Lethem. We were divided into 3
teams and went into the villages of Sand Creek, Awarewaunau, and
Aishalton. The teams witnessed 30 souls baptized into Christ and 16
were restored.
I was on the Aishalton team, deep into the
southern Rupununi, 100 miles and about 8 hours from Lethem. The road
was rough to say the least, water came up on the hood of the pick up
truck in one of the mud holes we went thru and then got stuck in another
and had to be pulled out by the big army truck. We were fortunate to be
able to sleep in the village guest house, off the ground, on a mattress
about 2 inches thick. Water from a well had to be drawn to be used for
bathing, and was it cold. One day someone came up with the idea, put
some of the well water in empty water jugs and place in the sun.
Slightly warm bath water!!!
This village council has not been the friendliest
to the Lord's Church in times past, and this time proved no exception.
We were allowed to have public assembly at night at the sports pavilion,
and although the Captain of the village is a member of the church of
Christ, a majority vote of the council prohibited us from going door to
door to solicit Bible studies. We had to be asked to come to a house to
study, but could ask at the nightly services and at worship on the
Lord's day, which a number of non-Christians attended. (The Church
meets under a temporary structure at the home of one of the members.) A
number of studies were set up this way and also when meeting people on
the paths throughout the village. We have been granted a piece of land
to build a building for worship, but it is 1.1 mile from the center of
the village; they are trying to put us "out of sight, out of mind".
Hopefully we will be granted land that is more centrally located.
The Church in Sand Creek is doing well and again we
have been told we will be granted land to build a church building, but
it is yet to be put in writing. Leaders of one of the denominational
groups are leading resistance to our being in Sand Creek. This is the
same delay tactics that were experienced in Karasabai, but there is now
a nice building where the church of Christ meets in that village.
Thomas George believes permission will be granted in the January or
March village meeting. People keep telling me, "This is Guyana, this is
Guyana".
Glencoe will be supporting a student named Paul
Daniels. He and his family walked 3 days from Paramakatoi to Monkey
Mountain and got a ride in a vehicle for a 12 hour trip into Lethem last
February. He had heard the school of preaching would begin then, but
it did not. They stayed in Lethem and he and Lucia, his wife, have been
working as security guards until the school began. The house his family
of 6 are living in has no electricity, water is from a pipe outside,
there are no beds, they sleep in hammocks, the roof leaks..... Give
thanks to God for our bountiful physical blessings.
To all those who had a part financially in sending
me to Guyana, thank you, and for all the prayers offered in our behalf,
thank you again. God is blessing this work and I hope to be able to
continue to have a small part in it as long as I can. Am I getting too
old? Well, let me put it this way, there were 2 men on this trip that
are 73 years old and being 76 has not stopped some. We need to
encourage more young Christians to get involved in mission work while
they are still young. Lord willing, I plan to go again in
February/March 2008.
The fields are white unto harvest.....Tom
