Sometimes you get more than you bargained for on placement, as
degree student Liam discovered during his second year placement.
He thought he was going to be working in a Bible College in Guyana. Instead, he spent three weeks working alongside Full Gospel Fellowship in Haraun, at one point preaching five times in a weekend! Then he travelled into Aranaputa in the jungle to meet Ryan, a minister with the fellowship. The following is an extract from an email sent at the end of his placement:
“I’ve prayed for sick people in small villages in the middle of nowhere, helped to set up a kids’ group in another village, encouraged pastors and fellow Christians, preached in the local church, shared at a youth group, made bricks, painted and plastered toilets in a school, chopped down trees with a machete (hard work!), learned to rope cows, and came face to face with a poison arrow frog (one touch and you’re disabled!). I've swum in cayman infested waters, been eaten alive by insect repellant-resistent flies and just generally served God in any way I could.
“I had the chance to go for a long walk up the mountains on my own and spent some quality time with the Lord. I feel so tired physically but so refreshed spiritually.
“The food has been amazing, I’ve been climbing mango trees every day and finding the juiciest mangos known to man. God has been so faithful providing for us when we were out in the villages just when we needed it. He has proved himself to be a mighty, mighty God!”
Liam says the placement confirmed his calling to Guyana long term - in the meantime he is working in a Christian drug rehabilitation centre in the UK.
Find out more about the Redcliffe approach to mission training