Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2013

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Kodiak Island!  Yes, I’m writing from Kodiak, Alaska.  Let me begin by wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas. God continues to work in our lives in a very special way and we look forward to Christmas 2013.  It’s been a good year!  We had a blessed summer in every way!  Great weather, lots of mission teams, effective summer missionaries and growth in church plants as well as an excellent year of two-way encouragement with and from the missions-minded churches of Hatcher Pass Baptist Association, Alaska.  Now we look forward to ministry, ongoing discipleship and missions in 2014!

After seven and a half years in Alaska as Associational Missionary/Church Planting Catalyst we still deeply appreciate God’s hand guiding churches, our Associational Leadership Team and our personal direction as Shirley and I serve and travel in this beautiful place and sometimes into places that we might identify as the uttermost parts of the world.  Missions ministry continues to be very exciting, yet challenging, especially when it comes to church planting! Miraculously, I thank God that even in church planting He has blessed with effective pastor/planters beyond my dreams.

Over the past two weeks Shirley and I have had the privilege of spending some of Thanksgiving week with my mom in Ozark, Missouri, then with Shirley’s mom in Doolittle, Missouri and then with our daughter, Katie, and her family (two of our three grandchildren) in Southern Indiana.  In two weeks of travel we enjoyed visiting with both of Shirley’s siblings and my five siblings as well as some of their families.  We also took time for a special date in Branson, Missouri that included The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theatre!  Considerable driving allowed for five visits with pastors to raise church planting dollars and to enlist mission trip leaders for summer 2014.  I never dreamed that one of my challenging responsibilities as a Southern Baptist missionary would be to raise funds to support the church planting efforts and enlist the incoming mission teams that are essential as we seek to reach Alaskans for Christ.

Following about 2000 miles of driving across the Midwest, Shirley and I spent several days at Lifeway in Nashville, Tennessee. This was my 24th December meeting or Summit.  We still appreciate the fellowship we have with the guys and gals at LifeWay and the state convention leaders who come together each December. We drove from Nashville back to St. Louis for the flight home, trekking thru about 12 inches of snow and finally got to the point we had to find a place to spend the night. Alaskans are supposed to know how to drive thru all road conditions but this was a frightening adventure!

We did arrive in Anchorage safe and on time, spent the night there and then I got on another airplane and flew to Kodiak to preach this morning.  When I visit places like Kodiak, I still like to hike and enjoy this beautiful state. Unfortunately there is rain today.  I did visit a historic site and walked for maybe 30 minutes but certainly didn’t get the hiking as planned.  Next Friday I fly to Valdez, again another beautiful place and I just pray some sunshine is present.  Although Valdez gets lots of snow that does not always eliminate a hike.

Shirley did not come with me to Kodiak. She drove home yesterday morning so she could babysit our grandson as she does several days a week.  Our son, Evan, graduates from University of Alaska, Anchorage in a few days and is building a house west of Wasilla so the babysitting schedule may change in the future but we certainly enjoy having this “vivacious” two year old at our house several days a week.  We do miss him when we travel.  And speaking of travel, pray for us as we put final plans together for our seventh mission trip to Guatemala.  We will travel with a small team, departing on January 2 to serve with a church planting team, conduct VBS and share God’s love.

Again we’re looking forward to summer 2014 and several friends have mentioned that they’re coming our way for vacation, for a mission trip or just for a visit and we love company! Please, let us know your schedule as soon as possible but we look forward to spending some time with you! We deeply appreciate your love and friendship! Again, may God give you a glorious Christmas season and a special time with your family and your church family!

Serving alongside you!

Gary and Shirley Bearce