Jimmy Carter Teaches Sunday School Three Days After First Cancer Treatment

Carter spoke briefly about his health before quickly moving on to church lessons.

The stores across the area have been selling Carter memorabilia and peanut souvenirs. Visitors stop by after touring dozens of properties associated with the Nobel Peace Prize victor and his extended family, including Carter’s boyhood farm and a gas station once run by his brother, Billy.

The Carters’ home is just outside downtown Plains, surrounded by an iron fence. It’s now encircled by an iron fence with a guard checkpoint, and locals know Secret Service agents by name, along with their snack preferences. They both were born and grew up in the area.

Carter began radiation treatment for his cancer on Thursday, a week after announcing he had undergone surgery to remove a tumor from his liver.

According to the Atlanta-Journal constitution, residents of Plains distributed over 500 of signs in the hopes they would encourage the 39th president.

“He wanted to accommodate as many people as possible”, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremy Shoulta, told People.

“They have always supported Plains, even down to (choosing) their burial place here in Plains”, Stuckey, 54, said.

Carter served as president from 1977 to 1981 and became active in humanitarian causes and monitoring elections after leaving office.

“I plan to teach Sunday school this Sunday and every Sunday as long as I’m able”, Carter said.

Jan Williams, a friend of the Carters, manages the crowds eager to see Carter teach at Maranatha Baptist Church. She had a huge Bible in hand in which she planned to take notes as on any other Sunday.

Her pre-lesson rules also had a new suggestion: Positive reinforcement.

“We are studying the most important aspect of Christianity”, he said, and read from the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew: “I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. “He already knows he has it. Let’s be positive”.

“We ask for your continued prayers for President Carter and for Mrs. Carter as she walks alongside him”, the message continued.

His hometown of Plains in Georgia has always been close to his heart and the residents have been voicing his contributions in the time of distress saying that Carter has never forgotten his hometown. It was the 689th time he’d taught there, said Carter’s grandson.

“Hopefully the girls can wave at him”, she says.

“I’m going to cut back fairly dramatically on my obligations”, he said. “He was the first President I voted for”, said Gurley.