That outreach where I didn't lift a finger but God ensured everything was taken care of

It all started on March 19th when my friend Tricia, who I know from ITNAC, told me she wanted to do something evangelistic to celebrate her birthday this year. I suggested to her that she could come to Aripero, which is the village next to mine, and the one that I believe is responsible for the increase in crime in my neighbourhood. She was in agreement, and a date was set, but neither of us could have predicted that on the selected date, I would not have been feeling well, so would have to depend on God to bring in the manpower to do everything that needed to be done, and as expected, He did not disappoint!

This is the only photo I am in because I spent the majority
of the outreach lying down on the couch upstairs LOL

I approached Candice, a believer who lives in the area, and whose children attend Bible Club. She has a modest home, but there was a front yard and the road in front of the yard that we could use. She was worried about the mud under her house, but I told her that was not an issue (it turned out to be an issue on the day of the outreach but we eh reach dere yet!) She suggested that we use the yard of one of the churches in the area (Aripero Open Bible and Aripero New Testament Church of God) but I told her I didn't want this outreach to be identified as a 'church thing' so we preferred to have it at her home. She finally agreed so we had a date and a venue, all we needed now were the attendees!

Our beautiful hostess welcoming persons to the outreach

Initially we had planned to target 100 children in the area, (as this was the capacity of the venue chosen) but one week before the outreach, we discovered that the majority of the young children attend Sunday School at one or both of the two churches in the area, but whenever these churches had evangelistic outreaches in the community, the teens would never come out. We told Candice this was the age group we wanted to target, as they were unchurched and therefore more vulnerable to being recruited by the gangs that are now operating in "The Ghetto" where most of them live. She asked if we were sure and we assured her that we were, so she walked around to each home to invite the teens to come out to the outreach.

Eventually we had close to 30 young people in attendance

On the Wednesday before the outreach we hit a snag. We only had $1000 in cash, but the caterer needed at least $2640 by Friday so she could buy the ingredients to make the meal we requested, as well as a birthday cake for Candice, who celebrated her birthday that week. We wanted to appreciate the hard work she did in preparing her home for us and also walking through the community to invite persons. I sent out a message to my network and within two days, not only did we have enough to cover the cost of the ingredients for the meal, but also the cost of tent, table and chair rentals, bibles for those who gave their lives to Christ, prizes for games, love gifts to persons who gave their services for free, as well as make a contribution towards the funeral expenses of a mother from the area who died suddenly last week leaving six children behind. Talk about a God who provides exceedingly and abundantly above all we could ask or think!!!!

Candice wasn't expecting the cake so it was
a lovely surprise :)

I messaged Tricia on the day of the outreach to tell her she had to do everything because I wasn't feeling well. Thankfully this was were the youths from Bible Club stepped in and helped out. One of them helped to pack all the drinks and ice in the coolers so they could be cold in time for the program. Others offloaded the bags of clothing from the trunk of my car to under the house, where others along with members of Candice's church were able to lay them out on the tables. Volunteers from the church also helped to lay out the chairs, and to pack them up after. All I had to do was to direct where everything went - I didn't have to lift a finger, and God provided the manpower to ensure that everything was done by the time the rest of the team arrived from Port-of-Spain.

Laying out the tables

 

The weather forecast on the day was thunderstorms although the morning started off bright and sunny. Around lunchtime the dark ominous clouds appeared and the rains burst down. I alerted my prayer team and eventually the rain eased up about 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the program. Remember the mud that I said would not have been a problem? It was now soft and every step we made in it, our feet sank down. It was messy, but we didn't allow it to stop us. In fact, the rains returned at the point in the program when the speaker was scheduled to bring the message. He jumped from tent to tent to under the house in delivering the message God downloaded to him, in the pouring rain. That is the kind of trooper we had on our team.

Our sound man, trying to protect his equipment
using garbage bags

Everyone huddled under the tents when the rains came down

 There were other team members who had challenges on that day too. Tricia's mother was not feeling well and she contemplated not coming but she still came to the outreach. The driver of the maxi that brought the team from Port-of-Spain was asthmatic and was not feeling well so they prayed for him. When they were leaving, they saw a nearby pharmacy that was closed, but the workers were still inside. When they saw how the driver was looking, they opened the doors so he could get the medication he needed. Jehovah Jireh certainly was our Provider!

There were many points along the way when
she could have given up but she persevered
in spite of discouragement and GOD SHOWED UP!

The youths enjoyed the games by Aunty Karen

Garryn was asked to present the gospel, and he was assisted by his wife Leannya (this was after they set up the tent and helped the sound man Steve set up his equipment). Garryn brought an extension cord that wasn't plugged in, and Leannya tried to charge her phone using it. He used this analogy to show the youths that they had a purpose, but like the unplugged extension cord, unless they were plugged into Jesus Christ as their source, they would be useless. After challenging them to resist following the ways of the world which would lead to death, he invited those who wanted to follow Jesus and be powered by Him to indicate, and 9 young people responded! We give God all the glory for these lives that will now be lived for the kingdom of God, and ask that you keep them in prayer that they would get the necessary support needed so they can live godly lives.

Uncle Garryn getting up close and personal with the youths

We found out afterwards that some of the youths who responded to the altar call have had behavioral issues, so we trust that Saturday's outreach would be the first step in their turning their lives around. The beautiful thing is that we had representatives from both churches  there, so with the churches partnering with the community, transformation is possible, one life at a time. Prayer was said for these young people who responded, and each was given a Bible to help guide them on their spiritual walk. We then distributed the food and the clothing, and there was more than enough. We are tremendously grateful for all who gave of their time, energy, resources and prayers - this outreach would not have been possible without you!

The fields are ripe for harvest