February Newsletter

SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST MISSION
5440 ALABAMA HIGHWAY 202
ANNISTON, ALABAMA 36201

February 19, 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, by now I guess you are saying, “What happened to the Hunters?”. Kathy and I have not dropped off the face of the earth. We arrived in Guyana on the 22nd of January. After a long trip by car and ferry, we came to the Corriverton Baptist Church for a wonderful welcoming service on Wednesday at which all five of the men I had worked with last year spoke.

After two more days of settling in and visiting, Kathy and I went to work at the Skills Training Centre where Kathy is helping with bookkeeping and library work. She is also teaching a teenage Sunday School class, working in the Library at the Corriverton Church and is supposed to teach remedial reading in our local community one afternoon a week. At the Centre I am teaching 9 classes a week and presenting flannel graph Bible Stories. I also act as a counselor and disciplinarian. I have been called as the Interim Pastor of the mother church at Corriverton although it is the smaller of the 2 churches already established by Brother Katryan. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings we are usually at one of the 2 mission works. On Saturdays I spend 2 hours teaching a class in Theology and one on Old Testament Survey. The attendance at these classes has been running at 5-6 adults. The Lord has been gracious in providing strength for our busy schedule.

But I have not explained why it has taken so long to get in touch. In Guyana nothing works with any kind of efficiency or speed. Dial-up Internet it is so slow that you may be over a half hour getting to your email then it will not allow you to send more than a few lines. We have applied for DSL but it has taken several faxes, and a trip to the nearest outlet in New Amsterdam to sign up and then had to wait for their installer to come and hook us up. We will still have our same email address at j-khunter.gbca@juno.com but we have also added another address at hunter.jhkp@yahoo.com. Some of our emails sent from the Yahoo address have come back as undeliverable so I don't know how much we will use it. We hope to be able to talk to folks via SKYPE when we are set up, so if you are on SKYPE let us know. We will be using the Yahoo address for that since our other computer is using the Juno address.

Prices in Guyana have risen dramatically with a 16% value added tax and the rain that has spoiled 2 rice crops. Cement, paint and other building materials have soared because of the fuel costs and increased demand. I am glad the Lord knows it all.

We have had to make many adjustments and the work load sometimes it seems heavier than we are able to bear, or at least far beyond what we are used to or expected. But our God is able. Those who promised to pray for us, please hold us up daily. There is great need all around us. The mission at #57 Village has been trying for weeks to get a start on a church building but the biggest hold up has been the rain. So far about half of the money for the project has come from right here and half from the States. If you would like to help, send money to the address above and designate it for the building project. Your money will be well cared for and be a great encouragement to the Church here.

I would like to help all the men who are presently serving in the Missions as mission leaders but not allow them to be come dependent on overseas money. I believe the way to do this is to help each of them to start their own little business. This would allow them to set their own hours so they can do more of the Lord's work. If anyone wants to help, here again designate your offering for the church workers.

Our setup expenses have been much higher than expected but we hope after this month that will settler down to a much more manageable amount.

Sorry to ramble so much, but so much has happened and there is so much to tell. With all the difficulties there have been more than equal blessings. The people here have received us so well and seem to be responding to the Gospel. The seed is being sown and we look for the Lord's harvest. May Jesus Christ be praised.

To contact us here, our address is: Corriverton Baptist Church, Line Path D, PO Box 936, Corriverton, Berbice, Guyana, South America. (Please be sure to include South America because it does get confused with Africa.) We appreciate everyone's interest and trust the Lord is blessing in your lives as we continue to remember you in our prayers.
In Christ,
John Hunter