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planters, we need preachers and Bible teachers,
Sunday school and Christian school teachers,
children’s ministry workers, people to help with
music, tech guys (or gals), and craftsmen, etc. A
Christian business owner or investor could start
a lucrative company to employ the unemployed
and underemployed masses of young people in
Botswana (think of Levi Strauss and his impact
on the world). Our main goal will always be
undying burden to see God call co-laborers to train national church planters and the lay
into this harvest field. In the mid to late 1800s, leaders who help them, but what if we had an
a newspaper writer issued a public challenge army of skilled diggers helping us to do it?
that is still familiar to us today, “Go West, Young
Gold rushes are exactly that, a rush to get to the
Man, Go West!” And they did! I often wonder,
gold before the opportunity is gone. No matter
“Where is that spirit today?” Thank you to every
how great, they soon become a part of history.

pastor who has a heart for missions, but where
No one knows how long they will last. Every
are the parents, professors, and pastors who
Bible-believing Christian knows Jesus will come
dare our young people to believe God and GO
soon. We must do whatever we are going to do
to the ends of the earth in response to our Lord’s
with a sense of urgency, knowing our opportune
command? Why is it that more missionaries
time will come to an end.

are leaving the foreign fields instead of going to
them? Is the rush over? No! We live in a moment As the 49ers journeyed across the country to the
of time when literally around the world fields gold fields of California, they would sometimes
are ripe unto harvest! Do not succumb to the be asked why they were going. One man’s reply
doom and gloom faith of the naysayer. God is became a famous idiom, prompting songs and
movies even to this present day, “There’s gold
doing a mighty work in our generation!
in them thar’ hills.” I can tell you that there are
Not all who came to California found gold as
souls here in Botswana, precious people waiting
miners. Some made their fortune supporting the
for someone to tell them of Christ! Would God
efforts of the diggers. I appreciate our supporting
have you to come? If you cannot come, please
churches and prayer warriors back home. You
pray and ask God to send someone in your
are vital and we could not do it without you!
stead, then do all you can to help them get here.

However, we must have some co-laborers in
There is gold in this land and we need to get it
the field if we are going to hit the mother lodes
while there is still time! W
in our mission fields. In addition to church
TO BE ABSENT FROM THE BODY IS TO BE PRESENT WITH THE LORD
Dr. Roy Ackerle went Home to be with the Lord on February 1, 2019.

Roy and his wife Marjorie (who went Home to be with the Lord in 2008) were
missionaries in Cuba from 1948–1961, establishing churches that continue to
this day and training preachers in the Bible school. A radio broadcast was begun
that reached all the Caribbean and portions of Central and South America.

After joining BIMI in July 1970, Roy continued the radio broadcast La Capilla
del Aire (The Chapel of the Air), which reached into remote areas where there
was no one to tell them of the Gospel. Requests from the radio believers led
to the establishment of the Chapel in the Home. These were complete church
services that were printed and mailed to believers who had been following the
radio ministry. Countless souls have been saved through these innovative methods. As a missionary
with BIMI, Roy served as South America Director and Candidate School Director.

6 Roy married Carol Philips (2009) and they have been involved in Bible correspondence courses for
Spanish-speaking prisoners. Over 900 prisoners have received the courses with scores being saved.