Linda Gove is an evangelical missionary working with the people of East Africa. As a Christian woman speaker, Linda has addressed many faith-based organizations, churches, ladies events and conferences all over the world. Since 2004 She has overseen the building of eight churches, four wells, one safe house, and one school. She has spoken in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Canada & the United States.
Biography
Linda Gove grew up in Kennebunk, Maine along with her three sisters and two brothers. Going to church became part of Linda's life at a very young age. Her church days began in the same church her parents were married in, Kennebunk Baptist Church on Main St. in Kennebunk, Maine. Rev. Chaunsey Stuart was the pastor at the time. Her parents, Ted and Charlotte Towne were faithful to attend each service scheduled throughout the week. Good weather, bad weather, good day, bad day, her Mom had everyone ready to go to church. Her grandmother, Olive Nichols, taught Sunday school and was a great influence in Linda’s life. Her grandparents and parents covered her in prayer every day. Linda accepted Jesus into her heart and was water baptized around nine years old. In the same time period she wrote a school paper explaining that she wanted to be a missionary when she grew up; she wanted to tell everyone that Jesus died for them on the cross so that they could go to Heaven.
Linda remembers being a shy, quiet, skinny little girl. She would feel very lost at times in the crowds at school, but she would feel the presence of God all around her. It was the presence of the Holy Spirit that made her feel so loved and so special. God began to show her things at a young age. You will hear her dad, a lobsterman, and her mom tell of the time she stepped off the bus and said "Dad had trouble out on the water today didn't he." This particular day the raging waves took her dad and his boat over a cluster of rocks. Everything in the boat was washed away. Yet her dad held on. A man God placed on the shore that day was watching him with binoculars and called the coastguard - within minutes help was on its way.
Being sixteen and the oldest brought many responsibilities. Linda was always looking out for her younger siblings, but this day she was put in charge. Her parents had gone away for the day with a friend in his car. They came home at the expected time, and when her mom came through the door Linda watched her mom grab for the stair railing and then collapse right before her eyes. Her dad, only steps behind, grabbed her mom and dragged her outside into the fresh air and laid her on the ground. Linda completely bewildered at her father's actions didn't realize that he understood that the gentleman's car had a muffler problem. Quickly she called the ambulance while her dad continued to try to bring her mom back; however when Linda went back outside her dad was on the ground also. Here she was sixteen years old with five younger siblings and both parents were dying before her eyes. Soon two ambulances arrived, her Uncle David, an EMT, was pounding on her parents' chests. Her youngest brother, Tim, was in the upstairs window looking down on the whole scene. While everyone headed for the hospital, her grand parents, Bob and Olive Nichols, quietly sat in the living room, prayed and waited. Linda found her way to her bedroom closet, stepped inside and shut the door. She cried and prayed, "God let them live. God please let them live. I will serve you all the days of my life." Her parents survived, and Linda continues to keep this promise.
Linda enjoyed the closeness of the Holy Spirit and she knew He was working in her life. One day, during the time while she was attending a Pentecostal church with her parents, she was filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing.
Lee Russell spent twenty years with the Lopez Orchestra as a vocalist. The influence of Lila Ginter, a missionary from South Africa, started him singing the Gospel which took him half way around the world. He took part in a national weekly radio show “That They Might See” directed by the blind evangelist Rev. Ralph Montanus. He received an award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for his contribution to Gospel music.
At seventeen when most teens are looking forward to their high school graduation, Linda became ill with a rare form of leukemia. One afternoon her pastor, Rev. Robert Cole, and a visiting missionary from Africa, Lee Russell, came to visit her. Without the knowledge of Linda’s diagnosis Lee Russell began to pray specifically for Linda's blood stream to be healed. Fifteen minutes later, Linda was scheduled to leave to have more blood work done. It was this blood work that came back free of disease, totally normal. The doctor told Linda he didn't understand this good report and to expect the disease to return. He also told her she could have a walk in appointment at anytime she started to feel ill again. For years after, even though Linda felt great and the reports came back normal, she was denied health insurance because she was thought to be a high risk.
With a clean bill of health and a heart full of joy Linda married her high school sweet heart, Manley Gove, on July 19, 1975. Along with the desire to be a missionary she also wanted to be a wife and mother. God has granted her the desires of her heart and blessed her with three children: Manley, Katie and Mark and three grandchildren.
November 6, 1979 was a day when the world came to an abrupt stop for Linda. Her sixteen year old brother was killed while deer hunting with her husband, Manley. Mark’s gun, which was later determined had a faulty safety, went off as he was moving down from a tree stand. Words cannot express the pain, the heart reaching groans of mourning that come from deep within. Linda never expected her day to end in such a tragedy. It still brings tears to her eyes to talk of it today, but God held her and her family close to his heart and gave them the strength to continue on. She knows that one day they will meet again.
At the age of 32 and with three small children to raise Linda faced another storm of life. As she sat in the doctors office she was told that she had stage III cancer and needed a radical hysterectomy. Everyone knew that this was a grim report. Even though she tried to protect her children from the worries of such a report her youngest son, with big eyes, asked the question that everyone was thinking. "Mommy are you going to die?" Linda’s prayer was that God would give her enough years to raise her children, to be the mother that they needed. With eight hours of surgery and many prayers from family and friends, Linda regained her strength over the next two weeks in a Boston hospital. She was sent home to enjoy Easter with her family and made weekly trips to Boston to keep a close eye on her condition. Tests upon tests were performed to monitor what was going on within. After months of the weekly trips and good reports the space between visits was slowly lengthened until it was necessary for only a yearly visit. Then one day, five years later the doctor told her with a smile, "I see no reason for you to make this trip anymore, just find a doctor in your area."
Linda’s health returned and she was given strength to raise her children and be a part of their lives. During their teenage years she traveled the country for ten years managing two Christian alternative bands that her sons Manley and Mark were in / (Manassas Junction & Mu5tard ). From churches, outdoor events, rehab centers, prisons, groups of more than a thousand to just a handful, they would take the Good News in song and testimony. They saw many encouraged and accept Jesus into their heart through this ministry.
Then in 2004 Linda’s youngest son, Mark, asked her to go to Africa with him. He was returning to the orphanage he had helped build in Tanzania. She had always quietly longed to go to Africa, it was a seed God had planted deep within her heart, and it was very easy for her to say, "Yes, I'll go." Once in Africa, this seed began to grow. God took her heart in His hands and began to squeeze and squeeze. Her heart began to burn within for Africa. She felt the call ever so strong but didn't understand how it could ever come to pass. Her husband was happy to stay right in the States. She quietly watched as God began to change her husband's heart, and in November of 2005 Manley joined her for his first trip to Kenya.
On May 27, 2008 an early morning call brought the news that her youngest sister had been killed by a hit and run accident. Debbie Archer, the loving mother of six children, had taken her early morning walk as usual. This morning only a few steps from her Berwick, Maine home someone hit her, left her beside the road and drove away. Her steps here on earth came to and end. No one had prepared themselves for such an early morning tragedy, but Debbie was prepared for that moment when God would call her name. She had asked Jesus into her heart.
In a moment the earth beneath your feet can cave in and the whole world spins around you as you stand frozen in disbelief. On May 14, 2011 Linda walked her quiet, long driveway with her little granddaughter. It was a beautiful afternoon which soon turned to heartache and horror, as a six year old boy's lifeless body had been placed under some trees at the end of Linda’s driveway. Camden Hughes of Irving, Texas had been killed by his mother. Linda helped officiate Camden’s funeral at Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, Texas, along with Pastor Bill Skaar. A young life taken, a smile forever gone.
Life is precious and Linda knows how quickly it passes, how quickly it can change. She understands how important it is that the Gospel is heard and that she is faithful to be a voice. Linda believes that everyone in all parts of the world and in all walks of life need to be given an opportunity to say yes to Jesus.
Linda was once a quiet, shy, country girl, but now she stands in the power of God before hundreds even thousands and declares her love for Jesus Christ. She travels into the remote villages and shares the Good News with the primitive tribes. She walks through the slums of Kenya and ministers to the poorest of the poor,the rejected, the outcast, the homeless, those that are abandoned because of disease because everyone has a heart and every heart needs Jesus.
