5-1/2 Years

"Lord, please teach us to number our days"

While reflecting, we’ve been encouraged and reminded of God’s amazing grace.

Reflecting: 
1998 – Praying, planning, preparing, 1st mission trip
1999 to 2008:  30 Global Outreach trips – 9 to Africa
2006 – Training – missionary commissioning  – "Sent to Serve"
2007 – Properties & House sold, shut down businesses
2008 – Final transitions – Full time ministry
2009 – Moved to Ghana

Change – Brokenness – Surrender – New Friends – protection & provision

    Home fellowship, team building, northern Ghana survey/outreach trips:
                    Learning – Listening – deeper submission

We are so thankful to God for you, our partners! It is through your love, prayer and financial sacrifice that the Lord has enabled us to serve in the following –

• Serving children:
  

  • Children (ages 5-16) rescued from child labor & slavery (usually, "owned" by fisherman) in the anti-child labor/trafficking effort in the Lake Volta region
  • 2 children’s homes (Orphanage/Foster homes) constructed/served in, a third under construction
    
  • 3 schools constructed
    
  • Feeding programs, VBS environments, teacher training, school supplies
    

• Serving pastors and churches:

  • 4 churches constructed
  • 3 church roofs constructed
    
  • Financial support for a number of pastors and ministries
  • Showings of The Jesus Film and The Passion of the Christ in different villages
  • Teaching/mentoring opportunities: conferences, seminars, preaching, pastors fellowships, women’s ministry, marriage ministry
    

• Serving as Ambassadors for Christ:

  • Many children accepted Christ, with Siham, Annie & Joseph Odei who served in children’s home/ministry (anti child labor efforts) and other children’s outreach environments
    
  • Various small groups for both believers, and non-believers
  • Numerous decisions/baptisms in church and conference environments
    
  • 12 men accepted Christ while building one of the children’s homes and school, some continue to work with us
  • 65 baptisms God has allowed us to perform
  • Many decisions for Christ in conference environments (329 decisions in a 2010 conference)
    
  • 8 non-Ghanaian friends have come to the Lord, including 5 Americans, who have each returned to their countries

• Serving the communities through village outreach:

  • 62 goats given to widows through the Give-A-Goat outreach project, which comes with commitments of giving 1st female offspring to other widows paired with initial recipients
  • 2 deep water wells
  • physical aid and benevolence
  • school feeding assistance for children
    
  • housing support/relief
  • medical aid

  
  

• Specific resources provided to ministry partners and pastors:
  

  • 9 motorcycles provided/given
    
  • 22 laptops donated
  • Hundreds of bibles and learning resources donated
    
  • Pastoral housing support
    
  • Many bags of clothing distributed

• Miscellaneous short term service to other mission organizations, including building projects and teaching environments
  

(These are what we can remember)
"God is faithful and He will do it."

Currently focusing on 2 new church community’s (many salvation’s/baptism’s in recent months). Building relationships and community; working towards a school/foster home campus here in an undeveloped region of the upper east. We are financially partnered with several local pastors and ministries, including the Christ For Youth(CYI) ministry. Accra (capital city) based CYI is now engaged in the outreach efforts in the north. A team of 30 young adults just returned from a short term mission trip in the north, serving in the communities mentioned above, Yeah God!

One or both of us have been able to be home for the birth’s of 6 grandchildren (# 8 arrived July 16), although being away from family and grandchildren continues to be our most difficult challenge.

We thank God as he has given us work in the U.S. each time we have been home, providing for our travel expenses. Our fiscal goal continues to be that donated funds be used for service on the ground in Africa.

We Go because He Came

        We Give because He Gave

"Oh, how He loves us!"

We thank God and we thank you.

Thank you for giving; thank you for sending us.
In Him,

gary & siham

"No one ever became poor by giving." Helen Keller

Building For Eternity Foundation Ghana

Jasmund Outreach

International Fellowship of Chaplains