Team
Missionary Joan St Louis (Mission President)
Evangelist Janet Brown
Evangelist Jerome Pierre
Evangelist Jenny Robinson
Convention Theme: 2nd Chronicles 7 v14
On Sunday the 7th December 2008 the team met at Missionary St Louis's home. We had a prayer and set off for St. Pancras International from where we would be travelling on the Eurostar train to Paris. Our journey was excellent - great conversation and before we knew it, we were in Paris.
We were met by Pastor Maccene, Sister Roselyne and Brother Mathurin who took us to our hotel for an overnight stay. As we entered the room Sister Janet prayed a prayer of thanks.
On Monday morning we were up at 6am. At 7am Brother Jerome was in our room as we the ladies shared a room. We had a prayer session and oh, the Presence of the Lord just visited us in such a special way; I knew then that this was truly the will of God that we should be on this trip.
After breakfast we took the shuttle bus to the airport; no problems, even though some of the cases were a little overweight, we obviously found favour, as they didn’t charge us.
After almost nine hours of flying, we arrived in Cayenne, French Guyana to 32-degree heat and were met at the airport by Brother Nelson, Pastor Felix and Sister Ivera, the Pastor’s wife. On arrival at our hotel at about 4.00 pm we were told they would be back for us at about 6.30 pm for service. Of course being on Mission there was no mention of 'I am tired' or 'I am jet lagged'. Sister Janet had a cold and she never once complained.
On that first evening we were taken to Pastor Mony Ivera’s home for a meal. This was strange as the Church was built above the house, very unique. We got to understand that Pastor Ivera and his wife had built the Church. They also bought the van (minibus), which they are still paying for and this is used to take people to and from Church. Sister Ivera does all the driving and as some of the people live miles from the Church, she has to make several trips. She cooks and feeds everyone; she makes all the uniforms and hats for the choir, which looked so beautiful. I have never seen one women worked so hard. (I will never complain again)!!
The worship was very lively and exuberant. It was good to see so many men dancing and worshipping God. On our first day at the Convention, Pastor Felix introduced Sister Joan who then introduced the team. Pastor Felix talked about the tremendous change in the Church in France since the team had been visiting and this was the reason why he had asked for the team to go to French Guyana.
Breakfast each day was lovely - fresh fruits, the sweetest pineapples, melons, papaya, oranges, mangoes etc. Each morning after breakfast we would go back to the room and have a devotional together.
With the exception of Sister Joan, we would go out early to walk and pray on the beach; we even saw a monkey swinging in the trees! However, that part of the Atlantic Ocean was far too rough to swim, but just to be there early in the morning to see the beauty of God’s creation was something to behold!
One night whilst waiting in the foyer of our hotel to go to Church, Sister Joan noticed a rat in the rafters; needless to say we never waited there again and Sister Joan made sure not even a fly was allowed to come near us.
The night services were just tremendous. In one service when we sang, "Lord You know I have no friend like You", the Presence of the Lord came in and even the babies were dancing.
Each day the services became richer and richer and each night more and more people came. Each speaker was a blessing. The Lord used us to minister and each night as Brother Jerome gave the altar call it was as if the people couldn’t wait to come forward.
At the end of each service Sister Janet had her bag of sweets, which she handed out to the children and each night they looked forward to receiving their sweets.
In one service five young men gave their hearts to the Lord. In each service, people came forward for salvation and prayer and for many other issues. One night a whole group of people came forward with their immigration documents. Their application for residency had been declined and they brought in their documents and asked for prayer. As we prayed, the Power and Presence of God moved in the place.
We now realised that we were the five Js (representing Jesus). Having Brother Jean-Baptiste Nelson (the fifth J as we named him) interpreting was a blessing.
One night when Brother Jerome spoke about David and Goliath, before he could get to the sling, Brother Nelson was on the floor killing the giant; he had taken us right back to the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines.
Even with the language barrier the Holy Ghost just allowed us to pray and minister to the people who were very receptive. When we sang, "I command my hands to praise the Lord", I thought we would never stop and when we got to 'I command my body', the Church erupted. The great thing was that no one was falling over each other to preach, but as a team we stood, worshipped and prayed as the other person ministered.
On the Sunday we attended Sunday School and then Morning worship. Brother Jerome was asked to lead the worship - we sang "Bless the Lord with me", then went into "I command my hands to praise the Lord", "The Lord Reigns" and ended with "Here I am to worship". It was just tremendous. Afterward Sister Janet brought the Word and spoke about “Why do we doubt when Jesus is able” - it was a tremendous blessing.
Following the morning service, we were invited to a meeting with the local Church leaders and Pastor Felix to talk about a number of issues concerning the structure of COGIC and the work in French Guyana. This meeting was fruitful as it gave us an opportunity to explain something of our organisational structure and it also gave us an understanding of the local concerns, issues and present situations of the Church in French Guyana. Much help is needed both physically and spiritually. The team felt it would be worthwhile to organise some Bible Studies and teaching especially for the younger people.
In the evening, we had a Communion Service and this was our last night. At the altar call every person present in that building was in the prayer line and wanted to be anointed with oil. The line stretched around the Church and out of the door; there were young and old, teens and children and the Presence of the Lord moved richly in the Sanctuary. Even those who were listening to the service from outside came in for prayer.
It was sad saying goodbye, and everyone wanted to hug us. A group of young men gathered in the house after the service to speak with us; they were so eager to learn and wanted to know much more about God.
I thank God for the experience of this trip and for the anointed people who went. Mission needs willing workers. If you are willing, God needs you!!