June Newsletter

Greetings,

It is difficult to put into words all of the amazing things we have been able to see God do in Belize.  In the last couple of months there has been an overwhelming explosion of people coming to Christ and requests from villages for churches.  With everything going on, this has been the most challenging year for us yet, but also the most blessed year.

As you can see from the picture at the right, there have been literally hundreds of people lining up along the river banks for baptism services.  There is a lot of excitement and joy in the hearts and lives of those who are coming to Christ.  New Christians are coming together in their homes to study the Word of God in the villages where they live.  With all of this in mind, we are focusing on and gearing up for intense discipleship training for all the new believers.  We are also faced with the challenge of not having facilities for the folks to gather for corporate worship, but what an exciting challenge to be facing.  

The school year will be coming to a close at the end of June; therefore, we are nearing graduation time at both of our preschools and are very excited to have a total of thirty-four students graduating. We would like to mention a very special word of thanks to some groups that made this school year possible.  Kingdom Mission Fund out of Little Rock, AR; Zion Baptist Church from Fordyce, AR ; and Living Hope Bible Church in Eldon, IA provided the funding for our two preschools for the 2012-2013 school year.  Thank you all for such a tremendous blessing!  We would also like to thank those of you who sponsored primary and high school students for this school term.  School fees for the 2013-2014 year will be due soon so please contact Sheila at sgaither37@yahoo.com if you would like to sponsor a student for the upcoming school year.  The cost is $250.00 per student for the entire school year.

 

We have also had the privilege of hosting several teams in the past few months.  A team of physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and students from Bethel University in Tennessee worked in some very remote villages in the southern part of Belize providing much needed health and wellness services.  A group of teens from Rogers, AR ministered through VBS activities as well as working on the construction of a church building in one of our southern villages.  And in the past couple of weeks a team of engineers from the University of Arkansas completed the foundation for a water tower to provide clean drinking water for the village of More Tomorrow.  We are so thankful for the teams who came and for all of you who support and pray for the ministry.

Congratulations Brandon!

Regarding the Gaither family, Sheila and the boys are wrapping up their time in the states and will be joining Randy back in Belize later this month.  Brandon had a fantastic senior year of high school here in the states and graduated 3^rd in his class while concurrently earning six hours of college credit.  Although Brandon is a little sad that school is over already (which was NEVER the case with home school), Micah is glad that “Bam Bam” is home with him in the mornings when he wakes up.  We are all looking forward to a great summer!

Blessings,

Randy, Sheila, Brandon, and Micah

March Newsletter

Greetings,

The first two months of this year have been filled with a lot of activity as the ministry continues to grow.  Several teams have helped us minister to both the spiritual and physical needs of the people in Belize.

We started off the year with a team from NW Arkansas who worked in the village of Otoxha.  Otoxha is a remote village in the southern part of Belize near the border of Guatemala.  This group has had a burden for the people of Otoxha and their need for a church building as the structure they have been using is literally falling apart around them.  These college students from AR braved the heat and humidity to dig the footing and pour a slab for the new church building.  Several members of the local congregation came out to help as they are so excited about their new building.

 

Villagers gather to watch the Jesus film in their native language

As a result of a new program the government of Belize has implemented, GEM has been assigned villages in the southern part of Belize where we have been given the task of providing ongoing health and wellness services.  We hosted a medical team from Tennessee (and one couple from Iowa) for two weeks in January who came to help us meet these needs and requests of the government.  This team really had their work cut out for them as they saw 1245 people in 9 different villages over a period of 8 days.  One village is not accessible by road so the team had to walk for two to reach the village.  Not only did this team minister to the medical needs of the villagers, but they also distributed food and Bibles.  Most importantly, they shared the Gospel to many through personal testimony and by showing the Jesus film 28 times including 7 times in schools. 

A second team from Tennessee (from the same church as many of the people on the medical team) also spent two weeks in Belize working down south.  This was a construction group consisting of three men.  They also had a burden to help construct a church building so they went to Otoxha and picked up where the previous team had left off.  By the time this construction team arrived the foundation was dry, so they were able to begin building the walls.  These guys completed all four walls ready for the top beam to be poured.  It is wonderful to see teams from different areas coming together to accomplish a common goal. 

Brandon rock climbing in Albertville, AL

As far as Gaither family news, we are learning to fly by the seat of our pants….maybe a little more literally for Randy.  Randy has made several trips back and forth between Belize and the states just since January.  One trip back was to attend a mission conference in Albertville, AL.  This was a fantastic weekend for the entire family.  The host church was generous enough to fly Randy in from Belize and Sheila and the boys to AL from Little Rock and all four of us met up in the Houston airport.  It was a great weekend of pampering, meeting old friends and new friends, hearing and sharing the Word, and overall being blessed tremendously.  Thank you Albertville First Baptist for a wonderful weekend!

Otherwise in the Gaither household, things are moving right along as usual.  Brandon is busy applying for scholarships and trying to decide where he should attend college.  (It is hard to believe he will graduate from high school in May)  Micah turned four in February and thinks he is twenty-four.  He has even started shaving every morning. (Don’t worry; the blade has been removed from the shaver)  Sheila is just trying to keep up with what day it is, which country Randy is in at the moment, and what can we eat for dinner besides beans and rice.  Where she left her head….well that is a problem for another day!

Micah getting ready for the day

Blessings,

Randy, Sheila, Brandon, and Micah                         

 

December Newsletter

Greetings,

There is nothing more powerful than a personal testimony when telling others about Christ.  In recent months we have seen many lives in Belize changed through the love and labor of our churches and teams sharing the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ.  A few people filled with the love of our Savior taking a few moments to share that love has had a tremendous impact on several villages throughout Belize as well as the Kingdom of God.  There have been so many great things taking place that in our last newsletter we literally ran out of space to print everything.

                 

River of Life Church at Santa Rosa

River of Life Church at Maya Mopan

As more and more people are coming to know Christ, the requests for churches continue to grow.  In the United States we no longer think much about having a neighborhood church within walking distance from our homes.  However, in a country where roads and vehicles are limited and in villages where the primary mode of transportation is walking, a “neighborhood church” becomes very important.   It is a place where Christians can learn, grow, mature in their faith, and reach others.  In response to some of these requests we have recently started two new churches.  One of these is located in Santa Rosa in the central part of Belize and it is primarily a Kekchi congregation.  The other church is located in Maya Mopan just outside the capitol city of Belmopan and is a multicultural congregation including Maya, Kekchi, and Spanish. 

Speaking of new churches, we are excited to share with everyone that we now have a church building in Hope Creek.  The congregation has been meeting in homes for over a year now since we did not have a building.  We were able to acquire some land and God put it on the hearts of the people of Hopewell Baptist Church in Parsons, TN to provide the funds and build a building.  The Hopewell team has dubbed their project “Hope to Hope” as they are working in Hope Creek, Belize.  The Hope to Hope team completed the foundation and walls of the new building in the summer of 2011.  In July of this year, the team returned to Belize to put the roof on the building and we have since added the windows and doors.  The team actually finished the roof just in time to have a huge celebration service during the Thursday night service of that week and the crowd was so large it was standing room only with many people standing outside the building just to hear the Word of God and rejoice in the new building He provided.

In August we were privileged to host a first-time team from Milan CP Church in Milan, TN.  This team was comprised of physicians, nurses, ministers, and several other professionals who volunteered their services providing much needed medical care in remote villages in the southern part of Belize.  These guys did a fantastic job and we are looking forward already to them being back in Belize in the summer of 2013.

In this season of giving we would like to take a moment to express our gratitude to all of you who have given and those of you who continue to give faithfully to the ministry in Belize.  Your prayers and financial support have helped in making so many great things possible.  The ministry and work is growing so rapidly that now more than ever we are in need of your continued financial support to reach as many people as possible for Christ.  There are a number of villages we are reaching with the gospel that are waiting for us to start a church.  We are also asking that if you have not already done so, you would prayerfully consider being a part of the ministry through monthly support or a one-time gift.  It is because of you and your heart for missions that we are able to carry on the work to which God has called us.    

As far as family news, the Gaither family has been buried under boxes.  Not Christmas boxes…moving boxes.  With Sheila, Brandon, and Micah remaining in the states for the duration of the school year, we have moved our home office to Bismarck, AR.  This location puts us much closer to family as well as an airport Randy can fly in and out of on his trips back and forth between the US and Belize without an overnight stay in Miami or Dallas as he continues the work in Belize.  Please note that our new office mailing address is PO Box 348, Bismarck, AR  71929 and our new phone number is 501-865-2257. 

Otherwise in the Gaither household we are getting ready for Christmas and trying to figure out how to stay warm when the mercury drops below 70° F.  Brrrrrrrrr…..  Though the four of us prefer to believe that living in a tropical climate for several years caused our bodies to be altered physically so that we are unable to withstand colder temperatures, the common comment from the rest of the world is that we are just wimps.  Nevertheless, we are enjoying the changing seasons and Micah is hoping to see snow for the first time in his life.      

Merry Christmas!

 

from the Gaithers