"Gilmar 'Gil' and Rosa Lya 'Lya' (Hoff) Santhon, members of The Village Baptist Church (also known as Northwood Baptist Church) in West Palm Beach are assigned to Southern Africa where he is involved in church and leadership development and she is assigned to community and home outreach. The Santhons previously served as International Service Core volunteers in Southern Africa. Gil graduated with a degree in business administration from Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey in 1980. Rosa Lya received an associate degree in economics from Farleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey in 1981. The Santhon's three adult daughters are Cynthia, Elisa and Priscilla." (Florida Baptist Witness, May 20, 2004)

The Santhons came home on furlough to the United States from mid-November 2005 through mid-January 2006, visiting California, Florida and New York, then returned to their assignment in Angola.

Santhons are welcomed at the airport when they returned on furlough in November 2005.

Current Pictures

Pictures from Gil & Lya in Africa
on their recent trip to the outback.
Gil says these folks have never seen a car
or a white man!

Gil and Lya with the local villagers

These are the type of rough roads
they have to travel

Gil performs a wedding

Trying to find water by digging a well.
Notice the "ladder" they use.

Click here for more pictures of a recent trip to South Angola to train church leaders.

A Video Postcard from the Santhons (one minute) Kids' Missions Video on Angola (This is a very large file)

IMB Mission Videos Click on one of the missions videos to the left to view it if you have a fast connection (DSL or cable). Be patient for it to start playing, especially with Internet Explorer's Phishing filter turned on! Or, to get a smoother viewing, right click and choose the option to save the file (save target) to download it to your computer and then you can view it there with Windows Media Player or other video player on your computer. Don't forget where on your hard drive you save it to!

Dale and Darla Thomas attended the Santhons' Commissioning Service as representatives of Northwood.

Gil Santhon with the missionaries he and Rosa Lya replaced.