Gilbert and Melissa Sissons

Bethany Medical Missionary College

Guyana, South America

May 14, 2009

MISSION TRIP TO MASHABO VILLAGE

A continual breeze sways the palm trees and jungle foliage as the white sand gradually descends into the warm lake of Mashabo village.  Our college was granted permission to build a mission outpost in this tranquil area on a small point near the middle of the lake.  Not only is the beauty spectacular, but it is strategically positioned.  Our missionaries can now reach the widest variety of people in the shortest amount of time.  On March 20, 2009, Pastor James Shires (father of Liz and Alexis Shires who are staff at BMMC) lead a group of 20 persons from Lewiston SDA Church in Idaho to construct our first mission outpost.  Although the group was only here for a mere five working days, a large amount of work was completed.  The building is 20’x 24’ and has been designed to have two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a small living room.  The group was able to install the floor, erect the interior and exterior walls and start on the roof.  In addition, they were able to construct a water tower which has the capacity to hold 2000 gallons of rain water.  But the group had many other talents besides construction.  Dr. Scott Gardner, a general surgeon, held daily medical clinics in the village.  He treated over 100 people during his stay.  Many of the group members did daily visitations and assisted in the Primay school with children’s programs.  Nightly meetings were also in session that focused on the life of Christ and the wonderful plan of salvation.  The mission trip was a huge success, and the village is very pleased!  We plan on this being the template for many future mission outposts that are critical for the housing of medical missionaries working on the front lines promoting church growth and development.

FIELD SCHOOL 2009

As Pastor Shires and his group departed, we had about two weeks to prepare for Pastor Andrew Farrel, (Ministerial Secretary, Caribbean Union), and his team to arrive for the third annual field school at BMMC.  His group members included: Pastor Carlyle Bayne (Personal Ministries Director, Inter-American Division), Pastor Philip Bowman (Stewardship Director, Guyana Conference), Pastor Richard James (Personal Ministries Director, Guyana Conference), and Pastor Alexander Isaacs (ADRA Director-Guyana Conference).  The overall emphasis of the eight day seminar was to prepare and challenge mission and church leaders to go and finish the work of spreading the gospel.  The topics were diverse, well planned, and very informative.  We learned how to preserve church membership, stewardship principles, how to reach souls and missing members, as well as community development.  In addition to our students, several locals from Bethany and Mashabo were able to attend the meetings, making a total attendance of about 30 individuals.  We praise God that our global leaders are so interested and willing to invest their time and talent into our students and local area.  We look forward to many more field schools at BMMC!

STUDENT FEATURE

Vilissa Gordon (pictured below) is a 19 year old from the Berbice River.  She is a graduate from Kimbia Mission Academy (our GAMAS secondary school on the Berbice River).  She has been an outstanding student and has developed a deep desire to faithfully serve our Lord.  Her post graduation plans are to either do pioneer work in a new village as a medical missionary or to get more hydrotherapy and massage experience in a sanitarium in Venezuela.

Kimberly Flemming (pictured right) is an 18 year old female from a village named Malali, on the Demerara River.  She has grown tremendously during the last nine months.  Her post graduate plans are to join Sabrine Bourne (one of our second year graduates) as a medical missionary in the village of Black Water.  Sabrine has been engaged regularly in 14 bible studies and local church planting and is looking forward to the help of another committed medical missionary.

In Christ’s service,

Gilbert and Melissa Sissons

sissons4@gmail.com

Tax deductible donations can be made payable to:

Gospel Ministries International

P.O. Box 506

Collegedale, TN 37315

*Please include a separate note indicating “Sissons/Bethany Project” to insure we receive the needed funds.

June 22, 2008

FIELD SCHOOL IN ACTION
What is field school? It is education that centers around Christ with the intent to equip mission leaders with the knowledge and skills required on the front lines. This was the second annual field school held on BMMCs campus and was organized by Pastor Andrew Farrel, Ministerial Secretary for the Caribbean Union Conference. Our students really enjoyed Pastor Farrel’s warm personality and one on one interaction. We were also blessed to have Pastor Stanton Adams, Pastor Sherwin White and Elder Branford Burke from the Guyana Conference of Seventh Day Adventists lead out in lectures. The meetings were conducted from May 15th-23rd and some of the topics that were lectured upon included: biblical foundations for family life, communication, preparation for marriage, evangelism techniques, and how to prepare a sermon.

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A Newborn Missionary

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Ginesse Tiffney Gomez who was born on March 26, 2008 and weighed in at five lbs. She was delivered by C-Section at the district public hospital one hour from our school. Her parents, Garnett and Nansha, have been active students at BMMC during this school year. Garnett continues his studies while Nansha is a part-time student and a full time mommy. This new family has many opportunities to serve after graduation, including going to a new village to share the gospel or returning to Garnett’s home village as Bible workers. We are thankful to have a healthy baby on campus with parents who love the Lord and wish to be active workers for God.

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TIMBER!!! During the summer of 20007, we gave a mission update at the Redding SDA Church in Northern California. After our presentation, Kent Dacre, a local church member, wanted to know if a portable Wood Mizer sawmill would help speed up our work of building while at the same time providing better material. Previously, all our framing material was cut by free hand using a chainsaw and many times produced poor quality materials. Unfortunately, the two men who were cutting the majority of our materials have left our village leaving us in a tough spot. After much ha rd work by Mr. Dacre and the Redding SDA Church, all the funds were raised for the saw mill and it was transported to Guyana. Since the time of the saw mills arrival in Bethany, it has proven itself to be a tremendous asset. We have been able to cut studs for interior work in our main school building as well as our woman’s dormitory and it is currently cutting materials for our hand rail around the main school building.

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Hello again,
We have had a very sober day here at BMMC. Wendy’s parents and her aunt came this morning along with some elders and the village council members/captain. We sat on our porch and tried our best to reason with the parents to let Wendy stay on campus. The mother refused to listen.

The elders and Gilbert told her that Wendy is an adult, she can make her own decisions, and we want to stand behind Wendy’s desires. Any time that she has been thinking clearly, she makes it very known to all who are round that she does not want to go home and she wants to stay at school. We wanted to hear from Wendy, but the mother refused to let her speak saying she was mentally ill and not herself. Finally, the counsel was able to speak with her in my home for just a few minutes until the mother stated that this was enough and ordered the father to go and physically remove Wendy from my home. I was standing near the door and as they carried Wendy passed, she grabbed onto my shirt collar and would not let go. I was pulled half way down my stairs and nearly choked. She was screaming and crying to Gilbert and I to not let them take her. The father, mother, and aunt had to drag her across our campus. The whole time she was crying out and reaching for Gilbert saying “Sir, Sir, please don’t let them do this to me, please save me, please help me!” Gilbert followed at a distance, but he could do nothing. The parents have reported to the police that we have brainwashed Wendy and turned her against them. The village counsel just stood there and let her be abducted-we feel they should have intervened as what
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Dear Family and Friends,
We have gained a victory with Wendy, but the devil is now attacking from a new angle – he is relentless and we are tired! We struggled with Wendy for over 24 hours with the elders and the local pastor. We were up for two nights in a row and finally it seems that Wendy has over come. Sabbath morning she seemed at peace, although she was unable to speak as something was holding her throat. She was able to write messages to us and she told us Jesus had given her the victory – by Sabbath afternoon she could sing and pray.

As I said though, the devil is not giving up that easy. Her parents came to campus on Friday and wanted to take Wendy home. Wendy told them no, she was not going. Sabbath morning they returned to take her home, and she once again said no. Her mother became very angry and told us that she does not believe that Wendy was possessed, but that Gilbert and I have done this to her. She said she has never seen her daughter openly rebel against her parents until Gilbert and I got involved.
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I encourage every one of our worldwide ministry leaders to pray with your teams for the Sissons.

Dear Friends and Family,
We are urgently requesting that you uplift one of our students, Wendy, in earnest prayer right now. She is currently demon possessed and we have been fighting this or these demons for over 12 hours now. She has been struggling with some personal issues and last night she collapsed in the kitchen. We brought her over to our home, thinking it was because she had not eaten much all day long due to depression. We gave her some honey and she seemed to do better. Then she started to run for the door, upon stopping her she fell to the floor, and continued to fight with us. She laughed in a demonic manner, especially when we mentioned the name of Jesus. She was speaking to someone telling them ” No you can’t kill me, ouch that hurts, I give up….” We ran down to the village and brought the local elders and we were up all night in prayer and singing and laying our hands on her. It has been an awful struggle. There are certain Bible texts that really seem to irritate her and cause her to laugh and say “No, No, No!” She indicated to the elder that she had five demons inside of her. We seemed to gain a victory early this am and she began to sing some hymns and respond to our questions. Unfortuately within the last few hours, she collapsed again, began to fight and try to run, and the same story as last night all over again. continue

“What happened to the guy’s outhouse?” It was a question that seemed to be circulating around our campus rapidly. The heavy rains of one night eroded the toilet’s meager sand foundation with a result that only a picture can adequately describe. During the month of November, a sizable and well needed project was in the making. And although the project was large, the group to lead out was small, Melvin Brass, Haley Hamilton and her dad Louis were big in heart. Haley is a senior in high school and chose for one of her senior projects to help us improve our water sanitation at BMMC. Her project included helping to organize the project as well as raising the funds for all the materials. This project included building three septic tanks, connecting over a 1000 feet of PVC pipe, as well as installing toilets, sinks, and showers. continue

Little Rovin has been with us at Bethany for the last week after his discharge from the hospital. We have seen great improvements during this week and he was even able to run while chasing our Abby across campus. We still notice some weakness, especially on the right side and his speech is still not very clear. But praise God he is alive and with us today! He has been enjoying the “physical therapy” (playing in the creek, rolling in the sand with Abby and Josh etc…), good food, and lots of love from all of us on campus. He will be traveling home in a few days and we will be sad to see him go. Thank you all for your prayers and for your concern over Rovin.


God bless,


Gilbert and Melissa Sissons
Bethany Medical Missionary College
Guyana, South America

Dear Family and Friends,

I wanted to update you on Rovin, the little boy that needs your prayers. He was doing very well earlier this week, even walking and talking. We were all looking forward to his release from the hospital today. Unfortunately, he had a seizure on Wednesday and became verbally unresponsive and very weak. Since then he has had more seizures and Dr. Wilson is trying his best to figure out what is causing the problem. Please continue to uplift this precious child in your prayers.
Sincerely,

Gilbert and Melissa Sissons
Bethany Medical Missionary College
Guyana, South America
8R1AN@winlink.org
sissons4@gmail.com
www.gospelministry.org