Chapter 39 - No Time To Quit

“Praising God, and having favour with all the

people. And the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved.”

—Acts 2:47

Leaving my wife at a hospital near Atlanta,

Georgia, for twenty-eight days was the hardest
and most heart-wrenching thing I have ever done in
my life, but she needed help that I could not provide.
Linda was prescribed medicine to help her chemical
imbalance in the brain and was told she would need
to take it for the rest of her life. That did not sound
promising to us.
    What should we do about missions was now the
question before us. Was the Lord trying to tell us
something? Was Foreign Missions over for us? Had
the Lord brought us this far, but now it was over?
This was a serious matter to consider, and we began
praying diligently. After much prayer, we believed
the Lord would have us to continue in missions,
but at another location. We felt it was no time to
quit. We did not want to retire from missions, but to
“refire” and go somewhere else to preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ to people who needed to know Him
as their personal Saviour.
    Our first thought was to move to an English speaking
country. Jamaica came to mind, but we
had no money to make a survey trip. It was tax time;
however, and I had already completed my tax form.
We were expecting a refund of eighty dollars, but
when the check arrived, it was actually for twenty four
hundred dollars. Wow! This was the money we
were waiting, off to Jamaica we went, and what a
great trip it was. After traveling throughout Jamaica,
however, we concluded it was not where the Lord
wanted us. The question was what should we do
now? Give up? Quit? Not on your life!
   We headed to South Africa to see if the Lord
would have us there to start a church. We met up with
John Doyle and his family. John was a great help in
helping us find a house to live in and getting our
container out of port. My wife and children would go
to John's church while I went out to certain areas to try to win
people to the Lord. One family came to know Christ as their
Saviour and we begin in their garage. This lasted for about a year
and then we turned the small group over to a local pastor
and we headed down to Cape Town our destination from the
beginning. Meeting and fellowshipping with John Doyle
and his family was a cherished time and will always be
remembered.
  In Cape Town we met up with Rex and Ginnie Switzer,
Jeff and Judy Blanton who were a great help to us while
living there. We spent a year in Cape Town winning people
to the Lord but after a year we came to the conculsion that
this was not the place the Lord would have us to serve.
What were we going to do now? Quit? Give up? Not on
your life!
    I had heard that Belize was an English-speaking
nation that needed the gospel of Jesus Christ,
we now packed our car and headed to Belize via
Mexico. As we were heading into Houston, Texas,
the air-conditioning went out on our 1990 Nissan
Sentra. We desperately needed the AC, since my
mom, who had a bad heart, was with us, so we took
the car in for repairs. It took them all day to get
the parts and make the repair, but at last they were
finished. However, as soon as we tried out the air
conditioning, the compressor locked up.
    When the shop opened in the morning, I
returned. The owner could not understand why the
compressor was not working properly, but I did. I
said, “If you look over there in the trash, you will
find the new expansion valve and new dryer that
your mechanic did not replace when he replaced the
compressor.” Walking over to the trash, the owner
was shocked when he found the discarded parts.
When the mechanic arrived at work that morning,
the owner fired him on the spot. Then the owner did
the work himself, and the AC was restored to a Very
comfortable temperature.
    As we were going through this setback, we
could have quit and returned home, but we did
not. Instead, we persevered through the difficulty
and now headed for Brownsville, Texas. But at the
Texas-Mexico border, we ran into more trouble. In
order to obtain a permit to drive through Mexico,
we needed a credit card, which we did not have.
The officials told us that as long as we had a credit
card with the same last name as ours, we could get
the permit. We then called my brother Johnny, and
he agreed to send us his card by overnight mail. But
it still took three days to arrive—so much for overnight
delivery!
    Credit card in hand, we returned to the border;
however, they still refused to grant us the permit.
Not knowing what else to do, we were about to give
up when Brother Jack Henderson, a missionary to
Mexico showed up out of nowhere. I am still amazed
at how help shows up just when you need it. Conversing in
Spanish, he was able to obtain our permit in no time
at all. Soon we were on our way through Mexico.
    The trip through Mexico was rough but
uneventful, for the most part. In Villahermosa, the
starter did go out on our car, and we had to replace it.
After three days, we arrived in the city of Chetumal,
Mexico near the Belize border. It was late, and we
booked a room at the Holiday Inn and tumbled into
bed, exhausted. At two in the morning, a trumpet
blast roused us from our deep sleep. Sitting upright
in bed, we were sure it must be the Lord’s rapture!
We waited for a few minutes, but nothing happened.
We then went back to sleep, a little disappointed.
The next morning I asked about the trumpet blast
and discovered it was nothing more than some
drunken people having a party.
    In Belize, we made contact with Steve and Teresa
Hopkins, who was gracious to show us the country of Belize.
Orange Walk Town impressed us as a place that needed the
gospel. After a few days there, we headed home.
    The transmission in our old Nissan gave us
trouble in the extreme heat of Veracruz, Mexico, so
we slowed down. Then, in Tampico, a taxi appeared
out of nowhere and slammed into our side. When
it became apparent the driver was not going to do
anything about the damage, we continued with our
journey. Somewhere in Texas, the power steering
malfunctioned, and the old car, which was already
limping, now steered like a two-horse wagon. We
discussed our situation, but having no other options,
we kept driving, praying all the way that this old
car would get us home. Praise the Lord, our prayers
were answered!
    With our safe return home, we began praying
about the possibility of moving to Belize to minister
the gospel. Impressed by the Lord to return to
Orange Walk Town, we did that in July 2000. We
rented the only house we could find, one with a two

carport garage, and we used it to begin a church.

The Lord blessed, people began getting saved, and
the church started growing. We have ministered in
Belize for more than ten years, thanks to the Lord’s
goodness and grace. Give up? Quit? By His grace, Never!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)