{"id":296,"date":"2015-02-18T15:33:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T15:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/?p=296"},"modified":"2015-05-26T13:55:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T13:55:20","slug":"alesa-akerman-now-in-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/alesa-akerman-now-in-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Alesa Akerman Now in Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alesa Jo Thomas Akerman went to be with the Lord Wednesday morning, February 18, 2015. Alesa <a href=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/Alesa-Gary-Akerman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-297\" src=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/Alesa-Gary-Akerman-257x300.jpg\" alt=\"Alesa &amp; Gary Akerman\" width=\"257\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/Alesa-Gary-Akerman-257x300.jpg 257w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/02\/Alesa-Gary-Akerman.jpg 338w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 257px) 100vw, 257px\" \/><\/a>was born on July 2, 1958 in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the second of two children to Juretta and Jesse D. Thomas, Jr. She grew up in Davis, Oklahoma, where she graduated in 1976. She attended East Central University in Ada before transferring to Southwestern Oklahoma State University and graduating in July 1981 with a bachelor\u2019s in pharmacy. It was during her senior year that her best friend, Karen Akerman, introduced Alesa to her brother, Gary. They were married two years later on October 23, 1982 in Davis, Oklahoma. They have twins, Larissa and Thomas, who were born October 30, 1984.<\/p>\n<p>Alesa accepted the Lord at a young age and faithfully served Him throughout her life. She ministered in her local church as a Missionette leader, Sunday school teacher, youth director, drama coach, Women\u2019s Ministries president, and praise and worship leader.<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, Gary and Alesa accepted the call to missions and began serving with World Missions Ministries and continued until the fall of 2014. After spending one year in language school in Costa Rica, they accepted their first assignment in Honduras as People to People coordinators for Latin America and the Caribbean. They later transferred to Costa Rica until 2009. Upon hearing the need for workers in South Sudan, the Akermans began to work with a newly established ministry, Hope4Sudan, to establish a medical clinic, school and People to People feeding program for the destitute in this war-torn region.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Alesa radiated joy and happiness everywhere she went. The Akerman\u2019s family motto is, \u201cGo where God says go; do what God says do, and everything will be all right.\u201d To some, the Akermans are best known for their children\u2019s ministry, Clown Crusaders. Alesa was \u201cShirley Goodness\u201d. Today we know that surely goodness and mercy have followed her all the days of her life; and she will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalms 23:6)<\/p>\n<p>You may leave comments and condolences on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gary.a.akerman\">Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Photo: Gary Akerman<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alesa Jo Thomas Akerman went to be with the Lord Wednesday morning, February 18, 2015. Alesa was born on July 2, 1958 in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the second of two children&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28],"class_list":{"0":"post-296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world-missions","7":"tag-memoriam","8":"entry"},"title_es":"","content_es":"","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Ar-4M","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}