Uncle David’s Message

Sacrificial Joy – By David Gates

“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Yesterday, while flying our mission plane 10 hours from Grenada to the US, I was reading about Jesus’ great sacrifice for us. Then I read about the deep poverty of the early church pioneers and the long hours of labor they endured just to survive and the sacrifices they made to advance God’s work.

We are part of a very large family of people who sacrifice monthly to advance God’s work.  Examining myself I asked, “How much am I sacrificing?” Some people consider us to be sacrificing because we don’t earn a salary, receive a stipend, or because we don’t have our own house or assets other than the car that was given to us. Yet, Aunt Becky and I don’t consider this a sacrifice at all. It’s a great privilege! Our reward will be a smile from Jesus and companionship with souls that were saved for eternity.

Think about the people that are being persecuted or killed for Christ’s sake. To me, that’s a sacrifice. But even that kind of experience brought rejoicing and praise from the disciples! After being flogged in the temple they went away rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. So even in suffering for God’s cause, God holds our hands and carries us through. There really is no true loss to those who place all on the altar of God. It’s only gain!

“And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, ‘Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’.” Mark 8:34

From the Frontlines, Uncle David

Frontlines Mission News

Venezuela Medical Aviation (VMA)

Venezuela’s moral, spiritual and financial situation is the worst that it has ever been in its history. Inflation makes it near impossible for families to survive.  Monthly wages of $20 are about 1/10th of the average family’s budget of $200.

In the process of counteracting this situation and not becoming immersed, we are doing everything possible to expand our planting and agricultural production. The indigenous community where we are located has given us authorization to plant on their lands.  To do this, we are in need of a tractor and a deep well for irrigation.

With the current drought, no seeds have survived.  However, we are still on track to provide this service, but we need the funds to be able to pay for the tractor, the digging of the well, the water-pump and all other necessary materials.

In addition, remote villages in Venezuela have been requesting visitation from Bible Workers and medical personnel.  We have been interacting more and more with nearby indigenous communities using river canoes and on foot. By God’s grace, after 7 years without an aviation program, 4 weeks ago we flew a donated airplane! We will be able to utilize it to reach many communities that don’t have any civil agencies or military help in cases of emergencies or needs.

We still don’t have the registration of the airplane in Venezuela, but we are currently in the process of Nationalization of the plane, in order to start operating it.  Communities that are as far away as 15 days of travel by river and by foot have been sending us messages that they already have an airplane landing path ready and are eagerly awaiting visitation.

We have several procedural and financial challenges to overcome before getting to the desired point, but with prayer and financial support from the association we will be able to help many more people.

We pray that God continues to guide us and that the funds come in promptly in order to take full advantage of this time of sowing corn and other crops as well as beginning our aviation program.  Thank you for having us present in your prayers and for your help.

Servant in Christ,

Elias Daniel Baquero

Student Mission Expo

We received a call from a previous volunteer inviting us to participate in a Student Missionary Expo at Southern Adventist University (SAU). It’s been a while since GMI has participated in this kind of event, and it was my first one as a Volunteer Coordinator based in Tennessee. The expo was one week long and on Friday evening, a special vesper service took place. Pastor Elden Ramirez, the Volunteer Ministries Director from the North American Division (NAD) was the special speaker for the night. In his presentation, he motivated and encouraged the students to join in the mission and not to miss the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

After the service we moved to the University Church Hall where several other ministries had their booths.  There, we interacted with several students that we had not met before during the week. We were so impressed to find many students that had already participated in a volunteer service overseas and that they were willing to do it again! Perhaps for many of them it’s just a fun adventure to be in a different setting from their normal lives, but the reality is that the little seed of service is being implanted in their hearts!

Please pray for those who are considering to be exposed to missionary volunteer work and for those who are already in the field as student missionaries. If you or anyone you know would like to participate, we have many available opportunities in different countries. You may visit http://www.gmivolunteers.org/opportunities/ for more information or call us at the office number provided at the end of this letter. God Bless!

Hilda Ramos

Ministry Adoption

Kisiikids Orphanage

Kisiikids Orphanage, located in Isebania Migori County Kenya, began in 2009 with 4 orphans. To date, it has grown to 115, caring for widows, vulnerable and abandoned children and also has become a refugee center for young girls against FGM.

Stevenson Maranga and his wife Damaris are so excited to be part of this mission so they can work together towards achieving the goal of taking the gospel to the world through practical Christianity.  Their focus is to provide a well-rounded knowledge and experience for the kids and become a center for it.

Our current needs include:
1.    Fence and gates
2.    Better structures
3.    Drainage and water tanks
4.    Staffs’ salary
5.    Lightning arresters
6.    Kitchen wares
7.    Books, desks, tables
8.    Latrines
9.    Farm tools
10.  Volunteers in Agriculture, Tailoring, etc.
11.  School fees for these children, Uniforms, etc.

-Stevenson and Damaris of Kisiikids Orphanage in Kenya

http://www.kisiikids.com/index.html

New GMI Volunteers

Our Story

For more than 30 years, Diógenes Dominguez has been a music producer for the SDA Hispanics and other Christians. After becoming aware of what God’s likes and expects from us regarding music, he decided that keeping his ministry the way it was, the way most people like it, was not a good idea. He decided to talk with some friends to change his ways of doing music, but first he talked to his wife, Marlene. He had a name in his mind and Marlene had the same name although she didn’t have a reason for having Pastor Gates’ name in her head until Diógenes mentioned it. All of a sudden she realized why and said to Diógenes: Go and talk to him.

They tried many times to go and see Pastor Gates, but it was not possible until they had a concert in a Hispanic church in Tennessee and Pastor Gates was at GMI in the US on the same date! They went to see him without any speeches prepared, and he said to come for a week as volunteers and we will see what the Lord has for all of us.

We are now in the media team as Audio & Music Producers for GMI.

To God be the Glory!

Diogenes, Marlene, José and Daniel

Para subscripciones en Español reception@gospelministry.org

If you’d like to donate to one of our projects or missionaries in the field, please kindly specify the project or name on the memo line and mail a check to the address below:

For Donations: PO Box 506, Collegedale, TN 37315

You may also donate online by visiting http://gospelministry.org/donations/

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Gospel Ministries International

874 S McDonald Rd SW, McDonald, TN 37353

Tel: (423) 473-1841

www.gospelministry.org | www.gmivolunteers.org

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”