Tom and Linda Gilmer : June-July 2023 Prayer Letter

Dr. Thomas and Mrs. Linda Gilmer – Church Planter, Bible Translation in São Paulo, Brazil

June-July 2023

Dear Friends of Zion:

Thank you for patiently praying and giving, even in the absence of a prayer letter last month. I think we may have worked harder and prayed more during the past two months than ever!

The following excerpts from the recent obituary of my cousin Janie and my letter of comfort to her family will help you understand more our Prayer Request No. 3 in May: “Need offerings for Bible Reprinting Fund, depleted.”

“Mrs. Janie Louise (Buffington) Fauscett, age 81, of Gainesville, Georgia, passed away peacefully, Sunday, June 25, 2023. . . surrounded by her family. . .In lieu of flowers the family has requested donations be made to Mt. Abarim Baptist Mission, Int. c/o Tom Gilmer (Zion Ministries – Bible Fund). . .”

Janie was a first cousin who was born in the same year I was and was saved and baptized at the Pleasant Union Baptist Church in New Holland (Gainesville), Georgia, at the same time I was. Her greatest prayer burden the last weeks of her life was for the $250,000 needed now for the PORTUGUESE BIBLE REPRINTING FUND. Her family said that, when she learned of the need at the end of May, she spent entire days on the phone, calling people she knew and asking them to donate to this cause. No one gave as a result of her calls, but 20% of the need has been met by two children´s “penny offerings” for missions, one from a church in Brazil and another in the USA; the sale of a TV by an elderly couple who no longer used it; and a company that requested permission to print 700,000 Bibles. (Publishers are encouraged to print our Bibles, giving us some copies or cash offerings. In this way we get out more Bibles, even in secular book stores).

From my letter of comfort to the family: “The Lord has answered her prayers with $4,710 so far from the USA and Brazil, and with promises of another $50,400, also from the USA and Brazil. To GOD be the glory. May the SEED—HIS WORD—be fruitful for the salvation and spiritual growth of thousands of Brazilians and other Portuguese-speaking people in every Portuguese-speaking country in the world where these BIBLES will go when printed.” WE COVET YOUR PRAYERS AS WELL. May God richly bless!

Yours for the Messiah,
Tom and Linda Gilmer

PRAISE:

1. Professions of faith: 5.
2. 20% of the $250,000 needed for the Bible Reprinting Fund has been promised or given.
3. Pastoral transition in the Cajuru church will be completed this month.
4. Transition almost complete in a church that nearly closed and requested our help.

PRAYER:

1. Salvation decisions: Jews and Gentiles.
2. Electronic media, preparation and publication of Bibles and study helps.
3. URGENT NEED: offerings for Bible Reprinting Fund.
4. Transitions of some pastors of our Brazilian Churches. (More news on this next month.)
5. Upcoming nationwide conference of Apoio, a Brazilian Baptist Mission, in November