LAND PURCHASE AT TUSCHEN, GUYANA, FINALIZED

The elders at Westside in Griffin, GA, gave me permission to do what I could to secure the land purchased at Tuschen, Guyana, years ago. This land was about to be returned to the government because the proper legal work had not been done regarding the purchase. In Guyana, you must go into the government office and sign what is called the Deed of Transport and this had never been done.

Our team traveled up the mighty Essequibo River, a one-hour-fifteen-minute boat ride to Bartica for the Gospel meeting. Once we had the Gospel meeting and VBS underway Sunil Joseph, and I traveled back down river on Tuesday to Georgetown during the day to work on getting the Deed of Transport finalized. (Sunil Joseph is a faithful Guyanese brother who makes all our travel arrangements and transports us around Guyana while we are in the country.) I was told that most likely this could not be done during the time I had there. However, we had prayed asking God to assist us in getting this accomplished. We contacted an attorney, visited several government offices meeting with officials and requesting that they put things on the fast track. At the end of the first day it appeared that we would get the task accomplished by returning to Bartica that night for the Gospel meeting and then returning to Georgetown the next day. We traveled the hour-and-fifteen minutes back up the river that night to Bartica, participated in the Gospel meeting, and got up early the next morning for our boat to Georgetown back down the Essequibo.

On Tuesday, we discovered that the board of trustees for the congregation was totally out of date and that the government was demanding that a new board be established. This time they suggested that it be composed of more Guyanese than Americans. Thankfully, we have strong dedicated Guyanese brothers qualified for the task. So, in order to get the Deed of Transport done, we had to establish a new board of trustees. I was told that it would take more time to do this than we had. However, again I prayed and pressed forward. I went to an attorney and requested that the process be fast tracked and the attorney said it might be possible if everyone in the government offices cooperated. The good folks in those government offices recognized the importance of my getting this done while there to prevent my having to make another trip to Guyana just for that purpose. They fast-tracked the paperwork and told us we could return on Wednesday.

By lunch time on Wednesday a new Board of Trustees had been put in place and the Deed of Transport had been made finalizing the land purchase for the Tuschen Church of Christ. God is good, all the time!