Tony & Leslie Millet just returned from visiting the church in Georgetown, Guyana. They have prepared this update to let everyone know how God worked in a great way! They are forging a relationship between their church in Trinidad and the congregation in Georgetown, Guyana.
They also want to express thanks to those who made contributed to help make this much-needed trip possible. ** Thank You! ** To subscribe to the Newsletter from the Trinidad church click here>>
Guyana (pop: 754,000) is located on the northeastern part of South America. Their neighbors are Venezuela to the west, Suriname to the east, and Brazil to the south -click here to check it out on a map>>.
To the average American, Guyana is that place where Jim Jones made people drink the Kool-Aid and from where the word "cult" was popularized. But to the Guyanese, it's the Land of Many Waters with large, powerful rivers flowing through it's interior. It's an eco-tourist's Disneyland. There are literally 100's of square miles of never-touched tropical forest in Guyana. Guyana is also home to a spectacular waterfall that boasts the world's highest single drop.
One of the significant challenges we face in evangelizing the Carribean is a relatively high cost of living combined with generally lower incomes. Most of the Caribbean is blessed with warm weather year-round. This allows us to have a wonderful supply of fresh fruits & vegetables in season at a reasonable price. Labor-related services (auto repairs, housecleaning, car washing, etc) are also very affordable. A really good car wash and detail job in Trinidad only costs about $10US!
However, most everything else must be imported to our islands, and with that comes higher prices. Anything electronic in Trinidad (cell phones, TV, laptops, etc) can easily cost 2,3, or even 4x (or more!) than what you would pay in the US. Clothing and basic toiletries tend to be more expensive as well. Gas in many parts of the Caribbean can cost more than $5US per gallon.
This higher cost of living mixed with substantially lower incomes (many live on less than $1,000US per month) limits the amount of money given by the members and is available for hiring full-time, trained ministers. The result is that a Caribbean church may need to be 2-3x the size of the average US church before the contribution can support someone full-time.
Unfortunately, the spiritual needs of a congregation aren't reduced just because we're in the Caribbean and enjoy beautiful beaches...incredible weather...kind people...excellent food...& magnificent scenery!
Our churches need trained leadership to shepherd the flock and train others to advance the gospel!
Since many of the congregations on our islands can't afford to hire trained leadership, the next best thing is for an experienced couple to mentor and train the existing, lay leadership. All this with the hope of the church growing to the point that full-time ministry staff can eventually be supported.
Our purpose in visiting was to build this kind of relationship with the leadership and learn how we in Trinidad can support the health of the church.
After a quick, one-hour flight from Trinidad, Leslie & I landed in Guyana to a drizzling rain. We were picked up by Roger Jackman who, along with his wife Rashell help to lead the church with the other leadership team members.
Roger is a great brother, full of energy and faith.
We drove about 45 minutes through a few small villages before we reached the capital city - Georgetown. One thing that stood out to me immediately was the large number of horse drawn carts. They use these carts like we would use a flatbed pickup truck to haul building materials and other items. They were all over the place.
Upon entering Georgetown, the poor infrastructure of an undeveloped nation was obvious. There were few sidewalks so everyone walked on the side of the road. The homes were mostly wooden and of poor quality, and there was a lot of trash.
We stayed in a modest hotel for about $65US per night that would be the equivalent of a lower-end hotel in the US.
We got to meet Ave, the Church Administrator, at the hotel. Then we went to lunch with 2 of the sisters who are also biological sisters (Claire & Shalon)! They took us to get a local dish called "cook up" and "met-m-g" (that's the best I can do with the spelling). Cook up is basically rice with meat & whatever you want mixed in and "cooked up". Met-m-g is what we call "oil down" here in Trinidad and is sort of like a thick dumpling soup. It was mmm-mmm good!
Wanna guess how much that lunch was for both Leslie & I? $2,000!! No joke. The Guyanese dollar is incredibly weak ($200GYD : $1US). So it really cost us only about $10 USD - not bad. After lunch I went exploring in Georgetown. It was quite the experience. Think of the wildest, craziest flea market you could imagine where you can buy ANYTHING you need, with incredibly loud music, out of this world smells, and everybody trying to get you to buy something from their stall.
That night we went out to dinner with the leadership team. Leslie & I were encouraged by their warmth as we listened to their experience leading over the last few years. I believe brothers & sisters like this who have held our smaller churches together after "the letter" while holding down secular jobs are true heroes.
With little training, they have stepped up and been willing to sacrifice to shepherd God's people - (big round of applause!). We slept in Saturday morning (amen!). That afternoon another couple on the leadership team picked me up and we crossed the Demarara River for a drive through the country to a little port village called Parika. Parika is known as the Gateway to the Interior. People who live deep in the forest villages catch speedboats from here to their homes. The river was absolutely massive and is home to over 300 islands! Incredible...
That night we had the chance to meet with the church and do a little teaching. The church has about 40 members & meets in a small home that's been modified for worship services. Leslie & I taught a lesson on priorities in marriage. Then we split men/women for another lesson. The brothers were all encouraged to be passionate men for God, and the sisters had a great time as well.
Worship on Sunday morning was lively. I preached a sermon from Romans 12 on their theme for the year, "Passion For The Things Of God".
It's always so much fun to visit sister churches and learn new ways to sing our songs.Click here for a quick sample of the singing!>> The first you will almost certainly recognize, the last 2 are original & were performed by one
of the brothers at the end of service.
After service we met with the Teen Ministry and were blown away by their maturity and love for God. One of the Teens had recently been baptized in December!
Finally, it was off to the airport to catch our flight back to Trinidad!
Please keep the church in Guyana in your prayers. They have been through a hard time recently and have battled with some division in the church. Pray for strong leadership, renewed faith & passion for God among the members, and a larger (but still affordable) meeting space.
We here in Trinidad look forward to continuing to partner with Georgetown in the evangelization of the Eastern Caribbean.
The Millets - Tony, Leslie and Family