Sixty-five Americans worked in Guyana, South America, under the direction of Partners In Progress. A medical clinic was conducted for 4½ days at the Leonora Elementary School with the assistance of the Leonora church of Christ. One thousand nine hundred twenty-five patients were examined and treated. Practically every patient was taught the Gospel and given religious literature. Hundreds of Bibles were distributed. Attendance at the nightly preaching services grew from 105 to 250. Forty-two people obeyed the Gospel.

A detailed account of this mission follows:

The Dunavins, a Christian couple from West-Ark church of Christ, arrived in Guyana one week ahead of our team to assist with final arrangements for our arrival and to teach the Bible in churches and schools.

They were joined by 45 other Christians from West-Ark church of Christ who left Fort Smith on Saturday, 3 June 1995, on an American Airlines flight and a Northwest Airlines flight. The planes departed around 5:55AM and 6:25AM. Each person checked 1 suitcase. There were also 49 boxes of medical and teaching supplies from Fort Smith, all of which were carried by American Airlines. (Three had been shipped earlier.) Our flights went to Dallas and Memphis where non-stop flights to Miami were boarded.

In Miami we were joined by 18 other members of the medical mission team to Guyana, who were from Mayfield and Wingo, KY; Dallas and Lubbock, TX; Jackson, TN; and Texarkana, AR. We departed aboard British West Indies Airlines (BWIA) at about 5PM. The plane stopped in Trinidad, but we did not disembark, though we were quite delayed before departure. We arrived in Guyana about 11PM. Of 125 total pieces of baggage, all personal luggage arrived with us, but 4 totes did not arrive till Monday. We were met at the airport by Steve DeLoach, director of Partners In Progress in Guyana.

We stayed at the Pegasus Hotel, the highest rated hotel in Guyana. We met Sunday morning for breakfast at 8AM. Afterward we were transported to church. After church we were returned to the Pegasus Hotel for a buffet lunch which was at our own expense. We enjoyed the steel band playing at poolside till the rain began.

Sunday afternoon, decisions were made about how we could set up the clinic on Monday morning. The nurses met to work out details of how they would be working in the clinic.

We had a devotional/worship service after supper in a conference room at the hotel. Steve emphasized those rules which we thought needed repeating. After this meeting we divided into separate meetings of personal workers and medical workers.

Monday through Friday mornings we ate breakfast at 7AM. We divided our group alphabetically and ate in two separate areas as the hotel was unable to serve us all together. We reunited every morning for a brief devotional as soon as breakfast was completed. We left the hotel daily by 8AM. We crossed the Demerara River each morning without delays caused by bridge closings.

On Monday we arrived at the Leonora elementary school building about 8:45AM and immediately began to set up our clinic. The students were still having classes. They gave us 4 rooms, each about 20 by 30 feet. The first 2 rooms toward the front of the building were utilized by the personal workers for Bible studies with waiting patients. We divided the third room into examining areas by hanging bedsheets over ropes strung between the walls. It took us about 1½ hours before we could see our first patient.

The adjacent room was divided between the pharmacy and a break room. The drugs were kept secured at night by some Christians from Leonora spending the night in the schoolhouse. The headmaster (i.e., principal) of the school was very cooperative with our work. He allowed our American workers to use his flushing toilet in his private office.

The medical workers met for a prayer each morning prior to seeing the first patient. We had 6 doctors, 3 dentists, 2 pharmacists, 7 nurses, and 2 dental assistants. The remainder served as personal workers. The temperature at the clinic never exceeded 86 F during the week.

One of the 5 boxes containing a disassembled generator purchased by the Fort Smith team arrived late. The generator was reassembled Monday night and was functioning for the use of the dentists the remainder of the week. The generator was also used to provide lighting for the evening services. This gasoline-powered generator was left in Guyana for other teams to use. One team preceded us to Guyana and we understood several others would be following us.

Several Guyanese Christians also participated in one-on-one Bible teaching while patients were waiting to see the doctors. Baptisms were performed in the ocean, within walking distance of the school. Baptismal garments were brought from West-Ark.

Many of the Bible teachers from the States, especially the teenagers on the team, led the school children in Christian songs during their recesses. Several of our group were permitted to spend many hours in the public school classrooms teaching Bible stories and songs. The school has 625 students in attendance. New Testaments were distributed to all students who indicated they wanted one.

We were very fortunate that most of the rain fell at night and had no noticeable effect on our clinic. It was very humid and there seemed to be more mosquitos than in past years.

The first of 5 vans usually left the clinic about 3PM, carrying only personal workers. The fifth van stopped one afternoon and purchased 22 pineapple from roadside vendors for $9 U.S. These were prepared by the hotel for our enjoyment after that evening's service.

We also worked in the Leonora area during our 1994 medical mission trip to Guyana. It was good to renew old friendships from last year as well as some from earlier years. As much as possible we encouraged those who had been converted during last year's clinic to remain faithful. Only God is fully aware of the impact our trips to Guyana have had for the expansion of His Kingdom.

This year one of our doctors examined the girl who suffered a broken leg when the stairwell collapsed at the secondary school while we were conducting our clinic there in 1994. Our response to that calamity has continued to help the reputation of the local church of Christ.

We were able to get all vans back to the hotel for supper by 5PM every day except once. Tuesday afternoon a van had to return to the clinic site as we had left an American worker behind by accident. We departed the hotel around 6PM to return to the school house for evening services. The trip took about 40 minutes one way.

Songs at the evening services were led by Guyanese or American men. Each evening a different man on our team preached the sermons. One of the preachers on our team taught a class on Nehemiah every night at another congregation. We arrived back at the hotel around 9 to 9:30PM.

Two years ago we could buy 3 Cokes for $1 US. Last year we got 2 for $1 US. This year we paid about $85 Guyanese for a Coke at the hotel. The exchange rate was around $140 Guyanese to $1 US. Everywhere we went would accept U.S. dollars.

By Thursday we were running the clinic very efficiently and had our biggest day. The physicians saw 482 patients. I personally saw over 100 patients Thursday. The dentists treated 88 patients. On Tuesday we distributed reading glasses to 67 patients. We were unable to provide this service any other day as this used all the supply of glasses.

On Friday it was necessary to close the clinic, pack all our equipment and supplies, and leave the site by 11:30AM. Many items were left in Guyana for use by future medical teams. Comparatively few boxes returned with us to the States.

Our physicians had treated 1,543 patients. The dentists served 315 patients.

Heather Wilson, one of our team members, remained behind in Guyana to continue serving in a different capacity for several weeks. The remaining 64 departed for the airport about 3PM. Our chartered BWIA flight left Guyana about 6:45PM Friday evening. We arrived in Barbados around 8PM.

Saturday we relaxed and played in Barbados. We stayed at a resort hotel near the beach on the Atlantic side of the island. This provided needed rest from the week's work. Sunday morning at 8AM we met together for a very special Communion service before being transported to the airport for our return to the States.

Most of us ate lunch in Miami at Burger King before we went our separate ways. We returned to Fort Smith on 3 different planes Sunday night arriving between 9:30 and 11:30PM. Three people spent the night in Dallas at the airline's request and returned Monday morning.