Greetings,
It is hard to believe that
fall is already here. The summer months
were jam packed with many great things that God is doing! We had a wonderful time seeing so many people
being saved. There were also a number of
baptisms, weddings, child dedications, in addition to several teams. What a glorious and awesome God we serve!
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| First Baptist, Parsons, TN VBS |
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We are thankful for all of
the teams that came to minister to the people of Belize in so many ways. In a period of six weeks we hosted five
different teams from various locations that were very instrumental in changing
lives for the Kingdom of God. These
teams served in both northern villages and southern villages. Their ministry activities included VBS, adult
Bible study, food distribution, door to door evangelism, and revival services
and the anointing on each was undeniable.
It was amazing to see these folks from various backgrounds and of all
ages ministering to both the physical and spiritual needs of others from a very
different cultural background as they shared the love of Jesus Christ. The impact made by these teams was phenomenal
with eternal rewards!
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| Young boy examined by Milan, TN medical team |
In addition to the activities
mentioned above, one team that was comprised of three different churches
provided medical care and conducted a pastor’s training workshop for the
pastors of the GEM churches. The medical team saw 866 patients in five
different villages over a period of four days.
As patients were being seen in the make-shift medical clinic, other team
members were teaching Bible stories to the children. Meanwhile, another “branch” of this team was
at our southern campus teaching an introduction to all of the books of the
Bible to some of our pastors. As the
number of
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| Some pastors & wives at training |
churches has risen to 20 (18 in Belize and 2 in Guatemala), one of
our primary focuses has been on adequate training for our leadership. It was such a blessing to see the local
leaders feasting on the truths they were being taught!
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| Valley of Peace Preschool |
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| More Tomorrow Preschool |
Amongst all the teams, we also had the
joy of seeing 34 students graduate from our two preschools on June 27th. The preschool in Valley of Peace had 30
graduates and the preschool in More Tomorrow had 4graduates. These students not only did a wonderful job
on learning basic school-readiness skills, they also learned English as a
second language. Special thanks to all
of our preschool teachers as well as Kingdom Mission Fund, Zion Baptist Church
of Fordyce, AR, and Living Hope Bible Church of Eldon, IA for providing the
funding for our preschools for the 2012-2013 school year.
All in all, it would be
impossible to accomplish everything that is happening without your prayers,
encouragement, and financial support.
The opportunities to win people to Jesus are even greater now than when
we first began our ministry in Belize.
Please continue to stand with us as we press on for Christ Jesus our
Lord. Now more than ever we need your
help with funding the growth of the ministry we are experiencing as well as
sponsoring the preschools for the current school year.
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| Monkeys on jungle vine |
As far as Gaither family news, we are
still trying to catch our breath from such a busy schedule. This summer was bitter sweet for us as we
thoroughly enjoyed all the teams and activities, but we knew that the end of
summer meant the end of Brandon being with us full-time. Brandon is now a college freshman at Ouachita
Baptist University pursuing a degree in biology. He is enjoying college life, though he admits
it would be better if he didn’t have classes to interfere with his
schedule. In Brandon’s absence, Micah
(a.k.a. Batman) has appointed Randy as Robin and Sheila as Batgirl, but Micah
gets a little frustrated with the lack of speed and endurance from his trusty
sidekicks as he tries to save the world.
“Infinity and beyond” seem a lot larger when you are trying to keep up
with a 4 year old…oh, wait…wrong character.
Nevertheless, we are now taking volunteers for the Justice League!
Randy, Sheila, Brandon, and Micah
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