<<Salutation>>
Happy September! We have been back in Gembu a full month now and it is past time to update you all on what’s going on in Gembu. We are far overdue on a newsletter, things just seem to get busier each and every day.
We have had a very productive summer this year, visiting current partners in ministry and also potential new partners. We traveled west from Minnesota through Canada and clear down the west coast, finally ending back in Indianapolis for the Converge Reach Conference. We were thankful for time with family and friends in between all of the traveling and for the connections, we made as well as the information we learned about various organizations while on home assignment.
We have new partners that are coming on board not just with financial support but in other areas. We had several contacts with organizations and individuals to help us with developing and agriculture program. We have some Nurses coming early in 2019 to help. We have an individual that is doing some research on small grant applications. So much help in so many areas!
Late last year we had several children that were severely burned and we had 2 of them in the Hospital for some time. Many of you know that the young boy finally died but the young girl is doing well and the Sunday after she was released from the Hospital, before returning to her village, she went to church with her mother to give thanks to the God who healed her!
We are thankful for the development that took place in Nigeria while we were traveling. Our staff now numbers over 80. The hospital continues to grow and offer additional services. We have more people coming all the time and many are commenting that they no longer need to go to Cameroon for treatment! Not only has our staff grown in number, but we continue to see leaders emerge within the organization and help with development. With the news of the quality of care at the hospital staffing continues to be a challenge. In so many areas we are understaffed, under-equipped and under-funded. But God continues to provide and our staff has many opportunities to share the Love of God!
We are both excited about this coming year of ministry! Tina is training some non-profit organizations at the end of September, beginning of October on how to make the Days for Girls kits and she has been able to find a few materials that we haven’t been able to find before to make it possible for other organizations to make the kits and teach others about reproductive health as well! This will enable us to get kits into places such as Borno State, where there are many living in camps because of Boka Haram and tribal attacks.
The Technical Training Program classes started last week and we have 18 new students in the Preparatory classes for reading and math, 17 students in the business class and currently 24 students in the afternoon reading classes. We are gearing up for many more reading students and so excited about the progress each person is making in each area. We have young Adult orphans coming every day from remote villages to apply to the program. Tina was able to visit some of our students who have their own shops now and have graduated from the program. We are so excited to see these young people confident in their abilities and making their businesses work with the skills they have learned through us. The TTP program is working well and we are excited for that! This program gives us the ability to speak truth into young peoples lives that we would ordinarily not have contact with. Pray as this program moves forward that we will be able to find additional funding.
We are preparing for the Leadership Summit on October 18 & 19. This is a great opportunity to help our staff develop as well as many local leaders.
A big thank you to those of you who donated to purchase third and fourth-grade reading curriculum! It was ordered and is being prepared by Bonnie Porter to come to Gembu with the next person coming!
In His Service,
Dan & Tina Gibbs
Standing Beside
Visit our website at www.StandingBeside.com
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