Sunday, September 29, 2013: Home, our Final Comments, Part 1 of 2

Our day really started yesterday in that while Tammy was able to get some sleep during the afternoon and evening yesterday in preparation for our flights home today, I, unfortunately, got little if any sleep. In fact when we woke at midnight last night, I should say Tammy woke up, I just got up! After we showered we worked on keeping our luggage to a weight of under 50lbs. This was a struggle with the food we were bringing back...oh yes, it is worth bringing back! We arrived at the airport around 220 AM this morning, checked in and was on the Caribbean Airlines flight by 5 AM. We had to say good bye to some dear friends, Pastor Foster and Marie Caines, and Alesa Frasier, aka Lizzy. The Caines were excellent hosts and treated us like royalty and family combined. Our greatest thanks to the Caines and Lizzy for making our stay a memorable and pleasant one!

(left to right) Lizzy, Foster and Marie Caines

(left to right) Tammy, Foster and Marie Caines, and me

We had a short layover in Trinidad and then was off to Miami. I was able to get some sleep on the flight from Georgetown to Trinidad to Miami. I prayed that customs would go smoothly in Miami because we had just under 2 hours to go through customs, checkin with American Airlines and get to our gate. God answers prayers. We were through customs in about 30 minutes and although we had to walk a long distance to the American Airlines counter, we were checked in and at the about 1 hour before the flight. We landed in Atlanta a little ahead of schedule, around 420 PM. Dan and Kate picked us up at the airport, and for a post mission trip dinner, we went to The Coast Seafood and Raw Bar in Buckhead. If you've never been, check it out, wonderful food!

Our Final Thoughts on the Trip

Kent:
This was my 4th trip to Guyana and the more I go, the more it feels like a second home to me. I love the people of Shekinah Worship Center and this trip definitely strengthened the relationships that I already had and also moved some relationships, like with the Caines, to a new level of relationships. The Caines are truly a humble family who treated Tammy and I like family and were always trying to meet our needs. Foster still managed to teach me something. On the day that I was suppose to do prayer and music, I was challenged with coming up with a lesson in 3 hours...and I did it! While the heat was starting to get to me in that toward the end of the trip my body was just not cooling down and if I had to spend a few more days there, I might have been having some trouble physically. However, I look forward to my next trip to Guyana whether it is to minister at Shekinah and the surrounding churches or to go into the interior and minister to the Amerindians. This trip was a success in every sense of the word, in ministry and in renewing and strengthening relationships.

I want to thank Foster and Marie Caines for their hospitality and friendship, they went above and beyond what we could ever ask for. Clifford Caines, you're an awesome musician and I admire how you are able to find the key of the song that is being sung and know the chords you need to play in that key...I could not do that...you're incredible! Mahalia...you are going to make an awesome Worship Director. Just seeing how you handled the people that you serve on your team shows a genuine care, compassion and that goes far in leadership! And finally Lizzy...what can I say.... you are an awesome woman of God who is truly humble. You are not only an excellent cook (your food was incredible), you have such a caring and sensitive heart that will minister to many! I love you all! God Bless and see you next time!

Tammy will be adding her thoughts tomorrow, so stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!

Saturday, September 28, 2013: Our Final Day

Can't believe this is our last day in Guyana. We slept in a little bit and then kinda chilled around the house. We did drive over to Aracari Resort and toured the facility. It looks very nice and the prices appear reasonable if you have 2 to 4 people in a room. Afterwards we took a little nap as tonight is going to be a long night (I'll explain later). Unfortunately I didn't sleep at all, what with the cars honking and the rooster cock-a-doodle-doing next door. Tammy tried to get some rest and she thinks she did.

This evening, Tammy learned how to make roti and curry, as well as one of my favorites, channa (a chick pea recipe with onions, celery and some other spices). Lizzy brought over red bread to take back with us, as well as white pudding and sour. She is an awesome cook! Hopefully it will all make it back to Georgia!

Like I said, tonight is going to be a long night. Because our flight leaves at 535 AM Sunday, we need to be at the airport at 230 AM. We are leaving the Caines' at 130 AM so really we are not going to get any sleep. This will be like pulling a midnight shift, except I'll be able to sleep once I get on the plane...hopefully! We enter the US in Miami where we will go through customs, and then catch our flight to Atlanta. We have just a little UNDER 2 hours to go through customs, check in with American Airlines and get to our plane...PRAY!!!!!!

Tammy and I will have a full re-cap of the trip when we get home tomorrow. All I can say is that this has been a successful trip, the Caines have been wonderful hosts...and the food was fantastic!

Friday, September 27, 2013: The Road to Parika

Yes, another very hot day. I don't think it was any hotter than yesterday, but I also don't think it was any cooler than yesterday. Ok, enough about the weather. We took a trip to Parika, Guyana which is on the bank of the Essequibo River. On the way we passed a few rice fields, and also this man selling hot dogs...I found that kind of odd, but hey, why not.

We also stopped at the sea wall which goes along 280 miles of coastline in Guyana, mostly centered around Georgetown. The sea wall began construction in 1855. It protects the coast lands of Guyana which are mostly below sea level during high tide.

Me on the sea wall (Atlantic Ocean in the background)

Foster Caines and Lizzy on the sea wall

When we got to Parika, we walked to the dock. I was here in Parika in 2008 when I took a team into the interior of Guyana to work with the Amerindians. The speed boats pictured below are what took us across the Essequibo River and beyond. At that time all the speed boats were open air, but some now have coverings. This is due to the rough waters on the Essequibo as it is interacting with the Atlantic and can become very rough. When I rode across the river in 2008, we got drenched!

Parika is also a place where the Amerindians, as well as other Guyanese, bring in their produce to sell. You can buy the produce right off the dock, but you better hurry because it is meant to go to market in cities across northern Guyana. We almost didn't get to buy any red bananas, in fact they were already on the truck ready to go, but they were able to sell us 3 lbs...I missed those red bananas!

Plantains ready to ship

On the way back to the Caines', we passed a Hindu funeral. The building you see in the picture below is where the people gather and the service is done. The smoke you see rising is the body being cremated.

After we got back, Lizzy made a wonderful meal of fried rice, potato salad, macaroni and cheese and bbq chicken. We then went to their worship team rehearsal, and when we got back, Marie asked me if I wanted to try souse made with cow face. Yes, you read correct, cow face. They use all parts of the cow face to make this souse. And yes, I tried it. I figured if Andrew Zimmern can do it, so can I. Oddly enough it was good, in fact it had a lot of good flavor...but man was it spicy hot! Phew! We got a video of me eating this and then my reaction. I'll get that up on youtube when we get back. Meanwhile enjoy this picture of a flowing bush in front of a friends gate.

Thursday, September 26, 2013: A Trip to the Guyana Zoo

Today was another hot day, in fact one of the hottest days since we arrived in Guyana. We decided to go into Georgetown, do some grocery shopping at Nigels grocery store to pick up some needed spices for home (Spence, we picked you up a few spices as well), along with Roti flour (Dan you get to be our guinea pig for curry and roti), and also the ingredients for a breakfast casserole that Tammy is going to make for the Caines. At this grocery store they had a lot of American made products, such as Oscar Meyer, Johnsonville Sausage, Crisco, Pam cooking spray, Vlasic pickles, and more. We were going to buy the Johnsonville Italian sausage for the casserole, but it was $3000 Guyana dollars...this is $15 US dollars...I said...hmmm, perhaps there is something else we can use.

After we finished shopping, we headed to the Guyana Zoo. On the way we passed a monument that was raised in 1976 celebrating the 10th anniversary of Guyana Independence. The statue is of a slave named Cuffy who, in 1763 led a rebellion against the Dutch.

This was my 4th trip to the Guyana Zoo but it was Tammy's first. They have made some changes since I was here in 2010. The lion is no longer there and neither is the black panther nor the leopard that tried to attack us when we were here in 2010 (I say attack but he really didn't if not for the fence in between the panther and myself). Anyway, here are a few shots of the zoo....oh, Lizzy, Tammy and I were able to shake hands with a monkey!

Check out this video of Tammy shaking hands with a monkey, pretty cute....

On the way to lunch, we passed by the President's Office building (see pic below)

We stopped at White Castle for some Fish and Chips on the way home. This is becoming more of a tradition for me than anything else as I have been to this place on every trip to Guyana.

This evening Tammy did her women's ministry. Foster and I were suppose to meet with a young man to do some counseling, but he never showed up. Anyway...here is Tammy writing her own words...

Tonight was a great night with the women that attended the women's prayer meeting at Shekinah Worship Center.  We started off the night with singing praise and prayer lead by Marie  Caines, then opened the floor up for testimony.  There were several ladies that shared, and as the shared there was a common theme to their testimonies, trust in God.  The awesome thing about it was that trusting God was the topic that I was sharing with them this evening.  It made me smile, I love when God does something like that!

 During our stay here over the last few days, Tammy and I have apparently made a couple of new friends. Jaleel and Ethan seem to gravitate toward Tammy and I. Jaleel really likes Tammy, I'm hoping that it's more than her phone. Ethan is always wanting me to hold him, carry him, etc. Check out our new friends (by the way, they are both the grandchildren of Foster and Marie)....

Wednesday, Sept 25, 2013: Worship Symposium Day 2

Yesterday the weather turned out really nice. High clouds from some thunderstorms moved over this area and really cooled the afternoon which made it very pleasant, especially during the service. Today, quite the opposite. Sunny and very hot! I think I've sweat so much today that I've been drinking water and drinking water...and...well...the only water coming out is through my pores as sweat.

Today, for lunch we had dhol with rice, okra chopped and stir fried with shrimp, and chicken stew...very delicious!

What I didn't know is that Foster Caines rode a bike. Not sure where he went, but he did it on a bike.

Today I got thrown a curve ball. The plan, I thought, for tonight for the worship symposium was for worship and prayer, no teaching, just music and prayer. Well about 1 PM today Pastor Caines said he would like for me to do a short lesson for tonight. Hmmmm, a short lesson...in just a few hours....do you have any idea how challenging that is for someone who likes to really investigate the material he is going to teach????? It was a challenge...but I did it. Took me about 3 hours to put it together, but I did it, woohoo! Tammy thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of me while I was frantically working on getting a lesson done.

Sunday morning I spoke on the How and Why of Worship, Tuesday evening I spoke on Worshipping in Truth. Tonight, I did a re-cap on Sunday and Tuesday, but my main lesson tonight was on Doing Your Job with Excellence. While it may not have been my best message, I did it!...and about 45 minutes worth of lesson too!

While I was writing my message, Tammy gave a tutorial on EasyWorship 2009. With the introduction of the projector, they decided to get EasyWorship to run their lyrics. I have to admit that they have a big learning curve ahead of them as well as a new "normal" to adjust to. But Foster and Marie have the determination to see this work and I think they will do it! Anyway, Tammy's tutorial helped a lot.

This, for me, was my last day of ministering, so I get to sleep well tonight...woohoo!!! Tammy, on the other hand, has her big night tomorrow evening...I hope she is able to sleep well tonight. She will be talking to a group of ladies from the church and also from a few churches around here. She brought gifts for the women and I'm sure they will be received well!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013: Worship Symposium Day 1

Today was more chillaxin with sleeping in and relaxing around the Caines' house for much of the day. This morning we had my favorite Guyanese breakfast. Its called a "bake" which is a pastry that, when cooked, puffs up. Then you pry open one end of the pastry, which is hollow inside, and stuff it with anything from meat to eggs to whatever. This morning was a more traditional bake using salt fish stir fried with peppers and onions...delish! We also had fresh pine (pineapple to us Americans) and the small bananas. Pictured below is Tammy helping with making the bake (left) and the breakfast table (right)

During the chillaxin I decided to take a wee bit of a nap. One must, you know, because it is hot and...well...it seemed like the right thing to do...

That evening was the Worship Symposium, Day 1. I spoke about worshipping in Spirit and in Truth. Although the crowd was small, God still got His message to the ones that He wanted. The worship was great and the prayer was awesome. Here are some pictures from tonight...

Clifford on drums

Pastor Caines and I praying a this young man

 Last night after writing yesterday's blog, a lady from next door, Sheri, came over and I got to meet her. Very interesting woman. She is the region counsel in this area and she represents the opposition party to the current party in power in Guyana. I learned a lot about Guyanese politics and how they operate. Needless to say it is not any worse than ours...its not any better but its not any worse.

Monday, September 23, 2013: Chillaxin Day in Georgetown

This morning was a "sleep in" day. Didn't really do too much except for a little ready and some nice conversation. In the afternoon we decided to go into Georgetown and do some shopping and some sight-seeing.

One of the places we visited was St. George's Cathedral. Although the history of this church can be traced back to 1781, the current building, which is the 4th St. George's church, was completed in 1899 and is now designated as a National Monument.  It is one of the tallest wooden structures in the world.

After visiting the church we did a little shopping in the main shopping district. Because we were looking for something specific, we happen to pass by this guy that was selling drinks. The first time we passed by him he just hollered something out to us as we passed by, I didn't pay any attention to him. The second time we passed by him we called out "hey white boy, want to buy something to drink." This time I said no, I was good. The next time we passed by him, he called out "hey American dude, come and buy something to drink." Again I said no, but told Tammy when we pass by him again, I'll buy something from him...and I did. It seemed, however, that total strangers were wanting me to give them the fist-bump greeting, not sure why? To reward ourselves for not spending too much, we went to Bruster's Ice Cream (yes they have that in Guyana). I got a single scoop of coconut chip ice cream...delish!

When we got back to the Caines', we had one of my favorite dishes and one of my favorite drinks...Banana soda and cook-up. Cook-up is a Guyanese dish made of rice cooked in coconut milk, chicken, vegetables/bean, and spices...delish!

Tomorrow is the first day of our 2 day worship symposium. I will be teaching on Worshipping in Spirit and Truth, focusing more on the truth part than the Spirit part. Wednesday will be the second night of the symposium where we will dedicate the whole evening to worship and prayer.

Sunday, September 22, 2013: Sunday Service

It's been an awesome day...its also been a very HOT day, not much of a cool breeze, but it is Guyana in the hot season. Anyway, the day got started off well with church service at Shekinah Worship Center. Worship was great, led by Mahalia and Marie with Lizzy on background vocals, Clifford on keys and Curtley on drums.  After that, Pastor Caines introduced myself and Tammy and then I spoke on the "How's and Why's of Worship...why we do what we do"

My lesson on worship went really well, the people seemed to get more into the message, mainly because I had them "practicing" each form of worship that I discussed, ie clapping, shouting, lifting hands, kneeling, singing, etc.  After church was over we came back to the Caines', had lunch made by Lizzy and Marie (see photo below of Lizzy at the stove), then I took a "5" which Marie calls it. I call it a nap.

We had a service during the evening. It was a DVD, using the new projector, on Love and Sex. It was very good. What is even better is that Pastor Caines is getting many ideas on utilizing the new projector and the new possibilities! Later we went to eat a Marios Pizza where we, that is myself and Tammy, Foster and Marie, Clifford, Mahalia and Lizzy had a nice dinner. Across the street was a steel drum band playing...check out the video....

Earlier in the day, right before we left for church, Tammy said a bunch of cyclists went by. A little later Marie said they were coming back. Apparently there was a race, not sure what it was, but is was interesting to see cyclist in a race here (especially for as hot as it is here).

Saturday, September 21, 2013: MFWI Conference

Today we got an early start. I know, we didn't get to sleep until after midnight, but the rest did us some good! Got to get use to the sun rising around 6 AM (but it also sets around 6 PM...go figure). We went to the MFWI (Ministers Fellowship West Indies) conference held over in Georgetown. At the conference was a pastor from Las Vegas, Pastor David Walker, and also a pastor from Trinidad, Pastor Trevor (can't remember his last name). Small world, both knew Rick Snow, my former pastor from Atlanta City Church. Below is a picture of Pastor David Walker speaking.

There was another pastor from Trinidad (can't remember his name) but had a great message that really applied to my church (Connection Church). I am going to try to get the CD of it. At the very end of the conference they introduced Tammy and I and had us speak a few words.

During the middle of the first session, Pastor Caines and I had to get away for a few minutes to meet up with Pastor Roberts (also from Trinidad). He organizes trips into the interior of Guyana to do mission work with the Amerindians. I talked with him for a few minutes before he had to head to the airport. It was good to meet him and I look forward to working with him on future trips into the interior of Guyana. He has also invited us to come to Trinidad and spend a few days.

On our way over the Georgetown we had to pass over the worlds 2nd longest floating bridge, pictures below. According to Tammy, it wasn't that bad!

After the conference we were all hungry and went to a really nice Chinese restaurant (pictured below). Tammy tried the beef with bitter mellon. I have to admit that the mellon was too bitter for me. I had the pinecone fish, very good. It was as close as you could get to sweet and sour fish without being sweet and sour fish.

Foster drove us through downtown Georgetown after we ate. It may look like chaos, but it is an organized chaos...I love it!

During the evening we went over the the church and set up the projector that Connection Church donated to Shekinah Worship Center. It works great and looks fantastic! I will be using it tomorrow for my first installment on Worship during the Sunday morning service.

The weather wasn't too bad today. It started out rather warm but cooled off in the afternoon when outflow from thunderstorms to the south blew in rain-cooled air making it rather pleasant to sit outside on the deck of the Chinese restaurant.