"Gratitude is a choice. And when we do choose a lifestyle of heartfelt, humble gratitude, we are mindful of the benefits received from our gracious Savior and those He has placed around us. By intentionally thanking God and others, bitterness and entitlement are replaced with joy and the humble realization of just how undeserving we really are.
"This same pastor visited her faithfully – he was a loving son to her, looking out for her good. He said that when she was in a coma for a long, long time (I think like a month) he would sit beside her bed and hear her whispering prayers for us and others. Our names were on her subconscious mind… that is how much she cared for us.
"Kay recuperated from that and was in her right mind when I called her one day from Bogota. I asked her what was keeping her from going Home to Heaven? She said that even though her body was wasted and tired, she was needed to keep praying for the Gumbs family (our former students from Colombian Missionary Training Program) in Africa. She said their first names and could not remember the name of the tribe (Jahango, a large tribe that extends itself to 3 different African countries). She felt that she could slip off to Glory if there were someone to take her place in prayer for them. Interceding intelligently, calling out to God whom she knew heard her, making her requests known to Him… all of that was her work and she did not feel ready to retire from it until someone else was raised up. You can just imagine what the family said when they heard how committed she was to them and their difficult ministry.
"I will check out the story, but as I recall, the Gumb’s little equipment shed was set on fire one night – a very scary thing for them. It contained gasoline for their motors and equipment of value to them in that isolated land. In a wonderful way God had Kay Thompson ready and willing to dedicate time in prayer even though she had no idea what was going on in Guinea, Africa. While she was praying, God was helping Gustavo and Cristina to wake up and get out there in time to put out the fire before the gasoline exploded and everything lost. This is the story as I remember it. I will write to them to get better details.
"Oh yes, Ron and Aunt Pearl, Kay did pray for us faithfully during at least 35 of our years there, including the hostage crisises where some of those she prayed for were delivered physically and others delivered from their suffering as hostages when they were assassinated and went to Heaven. We do not know just how God used her prayers for our own deliverance, as you say… many times when we had no idea how dangerous it was for us and our children far away at the MK school. The traumas from all of that are not easy to get over, but God continues to bring healing.
"She is definitely someone to be honored… and she is being honored in Heaven. She is a blessing to me as I think of dedicating time in prayer for others. Praise God."
Love, Carleen (Taylor Newton)
[Carleen and Ken Newton served as missionaries for New Tribes Mission, bringing the Gospel to the people of Columbia for many years; since then they have ministered the Gospel in Brazil and the southern states of the USA, and are continuing to do so. Their daughter is still on the field in South America, and other grown children are also New Tribes missionaries in a number of mission fields.]
[Beth Ann and Dan Templeton are New Tribes Missionaries who serve the people of southern Brazil and bring the Gospel to them, for many years now, their family joining them in the same Gospel outreaches; their 95 year old mother is serving still as a prayer warrior and in othe ways as well from her residence in Brazil since she "retired" after 60 years of faithful service there]
"Kay Thompson was a very unusual woman- she had a heart for the Lord, and served Him with all of her heart. She and Gunder sent monthly gifts to us for many years--until they passed away. When we would go back on furlough they received us in their home so well. One time they took us to the Seattle Needle, another time to Mount Rainier for a picnic. Our last visit with Kay--we took our children to see her, and she was in a Rest Home. She met us at the door and said she wanted to visit with us outside. So we had a meeting together--singing, having out children singing, playing our saw and autoharp, reading Scripture, sharing from the Word and testimony, hearing Kay's remarks, and praying together. We praise the Lord for Kay--she truly lived her life to serve the Lord--Dan, Beth and children"
From: Carleen Newton [mailto:carleen_newton@ntm.org] Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 11:57 AM To: gustavo.gumbs@gmail.com; Gustavo y Cristina Gumbs
Hello Gustavo and Cristina,
We cannot afford to lose track of you or lose your fellowship in the Gospel. You mean so very much to us. How are things with you right now and how are the children? We also pray for your family in Venezuela, Cristina.
I have a question about the following paragraph:
“I will check out the story, but as I recall, the Gumb’s little equipment shed was set on fire one night – a very scary thing for them. It contained gasoline for their motors and equipment of value to them in that isolated land. In a wonderful way God had Kay Thompson ready and willing to dedicate time in prayer even though she had no idea what was going on in Guinea, Africa. While she was praying, God was helping Gustavo and Cristina to wake up and get out there in time to put out the fire before the gasoline exploded (and everything get burned) and everything lost. This is the story as I remember it. I will write to them to get better details.”
My cousin’s family first put us in contact with Kay Thompson in the 1950’s, I believe. My cousin wants to record a few facts about this amazing woman and how God used her in their lives and in ours. If you could correct my paragraph for me, I would greatly appreciate it. WOW, even if you could re-write it, that would be great!
With much love from Carolina and Alfredo (Carleen and Ken)
Dear Newtons, sorry again for my delay!
How much we miss “aunt” Kay. Even though we just exchange a little bit through snail-mail or e-mail we felt as if we knew her for a long time. We felt so loved and secure knowing that she cared and was praying for us. Most of the time she would be one of the first to know about a need or a prayer request. I believe that, with the little communication we had and with what her pastor share of her that she had special experiences with GOD as an intercessor. She “invested” the time, she sacrificed other important things, why shouldn’t GOD commune with her in a unique way, and lead her in how to pray for others?
One more time we miss her. And we pray that GOD would raise an army of intercessors like her (and better) in this needy generation of ours. The church needs it, the lost wait for it!
Love in Him,
Gustavo for the Gumbs
P.S. And yes the story below is correct. To this point we still don’t know if it was a person trying to spend the night in a shelter or if it was an evil person trying to harm us (and our property). Something most people don’t know is that 3 years later when I went back to Panama on a furlough, the Lord introduced me to one or two more people that shared with me personally how they felt a burden to pray for us a certain night in the middle of the night and they did it obediently. For our amazement it was pretty much the same night (three years before) when we were delivered from that terrible disaster. GOD is good, all the time!
Only God could have preserved our missionary families all these years from so much possible harm and danger. Lives have been sacrificially given still, as we know. Terrible accidents have taken missionaries in our family. But yet God has spared so many that could have been hurt too in other incidents. Are we grateful? Yes, we are! But we need to remember why we are being protected like this-- through faithful, sacrificial prayers of friends of the family who serve God this way. They didn't have to do it, but the Lord called them to do it for us, and they deserve all the gratitude we have to give, and then some. In heaven we will see revealed all they accomplished for all of us by their prayers and sacrificial giving of money, when they had little of their own. Kay Thompson's praying, even through sickness and near death, that is a story that can't be passed over lightly. She was truly an alabaster box broken open in love of the Lord, in obedience to his call on her to pray and pray and pray! She was a true daughter of Zion in the work she did lifelong since she held child evangelism classes back in the Forties (which we Ginthers attended here in Washington) and all through her decades and decades of prayer and financial support for our missionary families. Her own pastor was like a son to her, ministering to her in the sick times and when she was lingering on, still praying, in the Rest Home where she spent her last days. He wrote to Mom and kept her informed how Kay was doing, which we much appreciated. She wrote to Mom when she was able to write, and kept Mom as a dear friend to the end. Now is this an "outsider"? No, she was as much a part of our Relationship as any one of us could possibly be, not by blood, but by participation in the work of God being done by our families on the mission field.
I say this in love, but those who call themselves Stadems may be Stadems in name only (Gasp, but Jesus said it about his own Jewish people, who claimed to be sons of Moses, his descendants, but he said no, they weren't, as they didn't follow what Moses taught and they also rejected the One that Moses had prophesied would come as Messiah). But those who demonstrate the love of Jesus for the sake of Jesus' Gospel, they are the ones who are truly part of us as descendants of Alfred and Bergit Stadem, not by blood, but more importantly by the living Spirit of God. And so we are greatly honored that these saints, such as Kay and Gundar, came alongside us for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the evangelization and saving of lost souls. Their reward in heaven will be GREAT indeed!
Good Cheers in Him, Ron Ginther