Christmas in the States
We were able to have Christmas in the States this year with my parents and in-laws. We really enjoyed the time spent with family and friends in the States. The day before we left Peru, Faith Baptist Church had a Cantata for Christmas. We had 257 people in the church on a Wednesday night and I preached when it was all done. God has given us a great Christmas this year, and we are thankful for it. While back in the States, we will be preaching in many churches; we are excited about sharing all that God is doing in Peru to reach the entire world with the Gospel.Â
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Kids are doing great
Please be praying for us since the kids have spent so much time with their grandparents. Needless to say, the discipline that we knew as children is nothing like what our children get from their grandparents. The grandparents have loved spending time with the kids, and the kids have definitely loved spending Christmas with them. Jacob will be turning 4 while he is back in the States as well. I am afraid that they are going to think that the States is nothing but fun and games and getting presents. Andrew is growing quickly. He had some problems when he was first born because he wasn’t getting enough nutrition from Mom but now he is doing great. Pray for our kids as they go back to Peru on the 25th of January.
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Bible College
The Bible College is revving up for a new semester; pray for the teachers—especially that this semester will be the best ever. We have already heard from 60 students wanting to be in the Bible College. We will not be able to accept this many students because of financial reasons. Pray for us that we will have wisdom in choosing who we can accept in the college and who will have to be turned down. While back in the States, we had the privilege of going to the 3rd Summit in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. This was an incredible time and we saw God do some amazing things. During this time we had $9500 donated to buy property for Kevin Hall in South Africa to start a church with, we had $8100 donated to Jason Holt in Chile to help him buy the piece of property that they need for the church that they already started, and then we had $2400 donated for the Bible College. Also, we had 40 people commit to sponsor a student in the Bible College while he is studying there. What a blessing to see this happen because the Bible College currently has a $3000 deficit each month, and this promised support will help with this problem. If you would like to sponsor a student, please let us know by emailing us at gardner@uttermost.net. We are excited about all that God is doing in Peru and we are looking forward to many other things being done. Pray for the Bible College to continue to have the kind of fruit that it has had in the past.Â
The Gardners
Chris, Andria, Jacob, Hannah and Andrew
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