"I have to read before I die..."

These are the Bennies. Frankie is our branch president.

His wife is holding their granddaughter and Pres. Bennie is mending his fishnet. Normally he works as a sugarcane cutter, but when the cane is out of season he is a fisherman and fishes for shrimp.

He, like so many Guyanese, has never learned to read. One day he said to me, "I have to learn to read before I die."

We are working together to accomplish this goal for him. We meet three times each week and every time we meet for a lesson we pray for the Lord's help. I need it as his teacher and he needs it as the student. Together we'll make this miracle happen.

He wrote this sentence, "I can read by the power of Jesus Christ" on a piece of scrap paper at one of our lessons and I loved it so much that I secretly framed it and gave it to him at our next lesson.

I know the Lord will do his part and I'm working hard to do mine. I'm excited for the day when he can finally read on his own. There is a whole world of wonderful things to be read out there!