Epilogue

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ;”

—Titus 2:13

The calling of God to be a missionary is a monumental
challenge to any Christian, his spouse,
and his family. It is life-changing and ongoing—
not a one-day process. One person said it this way:
“You cannot rush the brush.”
    Being a missionary often means going in another
direction from that which had been planned. My
wife and I had planned for a normal working future,
but the Lord planned a future totally dependent upon
Him for the provision of all our needs, financial and
otherwise. At the time of the call, I looked forward
to being in His service, and today I still look forward
to it with all my being because I am totally His.
    Because the call came early in my Christian life
and was distinctly from the Lord, it was not difficult
for me to respond. It did mean, however, that I must
convince my wife that God had called us into His
service (which was not difficult) and that I would
have to give up my job and the security that went
with it. It meant leaving our country, our family,
and our friends. It meant living a life of dependence
upon the Lord, a life of faith rather than a life of
dependence upon our abilities and ourselves. When
we ventured forth on our journey with the Lord, we
burned all bridges so that turning back would never
be an option.
    To be called of the Lord to serve Him for life
is really a wonderful, incredible, and adventurous
experience! To realize, first of all, that God will personally
communicate with you is amazing. To have
faith that God can prepare you to serve Him in a different
nation and tongue is an exceptional blessing.
In the jargon of the day, “It is awesome.”
    As a Christian a person must be willing to die to
self and to be alive unto the Lord. As Isaiah responded,
“...Here am I; send me.” (Isaiah 6:8) And as the apostle
Paul said in answering God’s call, “...Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6)
    As missionaries we have learned the real meaning
of living by faith. In times of difficulty and lack,
when our faith begins to falter, God always comes
to the rescue. God has emphatically taught us that
He is still in command and still meets our needs in
response to our prayers. These are times of great
thankfulness and praise to our Lord and Saviour.
    The Savior was clear when He said,

“…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.”
Mark 16:15

    We must not fail to realize that this command is for
every believer.

“…he that winneth souls is wise.”
Proverbs 11:30

    It has even been suggested that all Christians
should willingly surrender to the Lord for missions,
unless the Lord specifically directs them elsewhere.
    It has been a special blessing for me to recall
the actual events of our lives as missionaries to
Africa and Belize, Canada and the United States.
Each account recorded in our book "Oh Yes...God Can!"
either met a certain urgent need or caused us to lean
more heavilyupon our Lord. Each praise to the Lord
Jesus Christresulted in our loving Him more with a desire
to serve Him futher. Each soul won to the Lord brought
joy in heaven and joy to those involved.
    Every true Christian, young and old, may be used
of God to reach others. We are called to those who
need to be assured that their sins can be forgiven
and a place reserved for them in Heaven. Let us not
be satisfied until and unless we are reaching souls
for Christ, and let us never forget (Jeremiah 33:3),

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew
thee great and mighty things, which thou knoweth
not.”
  
    My prayer is that these stories in the book "Oh Yes...God Can!"
will be an encouragementand blessing to all who read them.
Together we can look forward to the great and mighty things
God will do in the future, whether here on Earth or
there in Heaven. Let's git er done!

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Chapter 63

 

Faith in Action

.

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall

find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

—Matthew 7:7 We had not been back to this church since the

early 80s when they started supporting our

ministry. Linda and I were very excited about the

opportunity to give an update of what God had been

doing for the last twenty years. We were also looking

forward to getting reacquainted with some dear friends.

Having left Belize for a six-month furlough, we

had three goals in mind for spending this time: one was

to pray for a vehicle for our ministry. We were driving

our daughter’s car, for which we were thankful, but

we needed one of our own. We continued to pray and

trust the Lord to fulfill this need.

We packed the car and headed off to Aubrey,

Texas, about an eight-hour drive. As we arrived,

the church looked much different than we last

remembered. It had been about twenty years or more

since our last visit. A small building which still stood

to the right was the old meeting place. Now we saw

that a massive and beautiful church building had

been erected to the left. This is where services are

held today. The attendance for the Sunday morning

church services used to run about one hundred fifty

persons, and now it had grown to over five hundred.

The hosts for our visit were Bill and Joann,

whom we had known for all these years; they are

our liaison at this church. We had the privilege to

lodge in their beautiful home for one night, and the

hospitality that was shown to us was so generous

that we didn’t want to leave. Thank you Bill and

Joann for your kindness and love for others.

Sunday morning came quickly with a delicious

breakfast that Joann had prepared for us, and then

off to church where we were to set up our display of

Belize.

I met with the Pastor and he explained to me what

was going to transpire that morning during the service.

After we had prayer together it was time for service to

start. The congregation joined in praying and singing

and then the time came for me to give an update.

I had ten minutes to speak, and I packed into those

ten minutes all that I could. After finishing, I headed

to my seat, which was way in the back row. As soon

as I sat down I was aware that I had forgotten to say

something and, before realizing it, I was standing up

in the aisle shouting and waving my hands in the

air at the Pastor. “Pastor, wait a minute! I forgot to

mention something!” It felt like all five hundred sets

of eyes turned around to see who was shouting from

the back row. The Pastor shouted back at me and

said, “Yes, Brother Ayers, what is it?”

“Pastor, I forgot to mention that we need something

to drive.” The Pastor announced to the congregation,

“You heard him, he needs something to drive.”

The Pastor preached, gave an invitation, and

dismissed everyone. We headed to our display and

waited to shake hands with the congregation. The

first couple out of the doors came directly to our

table; the wife did all the talking. “Bro. Ayers, we

have a vehicle we would like to give you.” “Yes!”

I said excitedly. She explained, “It is a Ford.”

“Yes!” I answered. “It is a 2003 Ford Escape.” I

happily replied, “Yes!” yet again. She continued to

say, “We will have it here at the church tonight.”

With slight disappointment I replied, “We won’t

be here tonight. Can you bring it about three

o’clock this afternoon?” “We want to clean it up,”

she told us. “Do not worry about cleaning it,” I

said with a smile. “Okay,” she said, “we will have

it here at three o’clock this afternoon.” Then they

quickly left as fast as they had come. Here we

stood amazed at what God had just done! We were

excited and eager to see our new vehicle that He

had so miraculously supplied!

When we met up with our hosts and told them

all about how the Lord had supplied a vehicle, they

were delighted for us. We also told them that we had

to be back at the church at three o’clock to receive it.

They told us not to worry, we would be there.

We all piled into our vehicles, and went off to

lunch together with our hosts and the Pastor and his

wife. We all had a great time of fellowship and a

delicious meal, but the main thing on our minds was

that 2003 Ford Escape the Lord had just given us! All

I wanted to know was what color it was. Our favorite

color is white. Will it be white or some other color?

Many questions were running through our minds,

and it would not be long until they were all answered.

Praise the Lord! It was almost three o’clock and

we headed back to the church to get our 2003 Ford

Escape. Our hosts were with us and they entered into

the church to see the action. Here we all stood in eager

anticipation! Slowly, a beautiful WHITE 2003 Ford

Escape drove up! We were all smiles! The husband

was driving the Escape and his wife pulled up behind

him in another car. He got out of the Escape and left

it running. His wife got out of the other car with the

title in hand which she signed and gave to me. We

shook hands and gave them a big thank you, and they

were gone in what seemed like in an instant! There

we stood in awe, beside our new 2003 WHITE Ford

Escape. Words cannot describe how we felt at this

moment. Our host came out of the church and we all

had a good time rejoicing. We loaded up our brand

new 2003 WHITE Ford Escape, which was full of

gas and the AC blowing cold, and we were ready to

head to our next church. Thanking our hosts, Bill left

us with these words: “I have heard of faith all my life,

but today I saw faith in action.”

Chapter 62

 

Cell Phone to the Rescue

.

“…For your Father knoweth what things ye have

need of, before ye ask Him.”

—Matthew 6:8 Furlough was on the horizon. Bro. Jack and Lois

McLain had traveled down to Belize to take our

place while we were in the USA. We were in need

of a place to live for a year while visiting our supporting

churches. We wanted to give a report and to

seek funds to buy land and erect a church building

in Orange Walk Town. This is the town where the

Lord had blessed us with the starting of Freedom

Baptist Church.

In Jacksonville, Florida, our youngest daughter,

Joy, had been attending a church and wanted us

to visit it with her. It was an absolutely beautiful

Sunday morning. My wife and I, together with

Joy and our two grandchildren headed to church.

Arriving, we were greeted by some of the members

and led to our seats.

The service was great with good singing and

preaching from the Word of God. The Pastor just

happened to mention that their missionaries, who

were living in the mission house of the church, were

leaving for Russia in a few weeks. My mind went

into overdrive thinking that here is a mission house

that would be empty in a little while, and we needed a

place to live during our furlough. I did not know these

Christians, and they did not know us, though we all

had one Person in common and His Name was Jesus.

When the service ended we headed to the

nursery, picked up our grandchildren, and headed

to my daughter’s SUV. Although I had wanted to

talk to the Pastor about the mission house, I didn’t

get the opportunity, so we all headed to Famous

Amos for some lunch. As we were driving down the

road my cell phone rang, and I saw that it was my

daughter Joy, who was in the back seat, calling. So I

asked her, “Joy, why are you calling me when I am

right here?” “Dad, I’m not calling you,” she replied.

Well, the cell phone indicated that Joy was calling,

so I answered it and heard a voice say, “Is this Joy’s

dad?” I was a little shocked to say the least, but I

said, “Yes, it is.”

The lady calling said that she was the daughter

of the Pastor whose church we had just visited. She

explained that she had been walking to her car in

the parking lot when she spotted a cell phone lying

on the pavement. She picked it up and called the

number that said “Dad.” Meanwhile, Joy had been

looking for her cell phone, and when she couldn’t

find it concluded that it must have dropped out of

her purse. The Pastor’s daughter said that she would

wait in the parking lot for us to return.

We whipped around faster than a tornado and

headed back to the church. When we arrived, guess

who else was there? Yes, the Pastor and his wife. Joy

recovered her cell phone and we had our little chit chat.

You know, of course, what I was thinking all the while.

This was a great opportunity to talk about the mission

house since the opportunity had presented itself.

“Pastor, do you think it might be possible when

your missionaries leave for Russia, that we could

use the mission house while on furlough?” To my

amazement, the Pastor replied, “Yes, that might be

a possibility.” Wow, did that make my day! We all

thanked the Pastor’s daughter for rescuing Joy’s cell

phone and thanked the Pastor and his wife for the

possibility of using the mission home. Only God

could arrange this little episode.

We headed off to lunch again discussing what

had transpired because of a dropped cell phone at a

church we had visited for the first time. We talked

about how loving the Christians had been to us

without even knowing anything about us except that

we were missionaries to Belize. I suppose that was

enough for brothers and sisters in Christ.

We continued to visit this church when we were

in town, and about a month later the Pastor suggested

that I come by, and he would give us the keys to the

mission house. Praise the Lord! The church had

decided to let us use it while on furlough. The house

was beautiful, comfortable, and exactly what we

needed for our furlough time.

What are the odds that the only person out of the

entire congregation to find the cell phone would be

the Pastor’s daughter? When we had left the parking

lot on that day it was still full of cars, and the Pastor’s

daughter was next to the last one to leave. It is awe

inspiring to see the amazing ways that God chooses

to place you where He wants you to be.

This time it was a small cell phone!

Chapter 61 - The Mad Man!

Psalm 23:4

^“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

     On another day of visitation at Highland Park Baptist Church, after a delicious meal, a partner and I headed off to some townhouses to witness for the Lord and to give out tracts.  We were knocking on doors with good response.
     Knocking on one door, a huge man, not fat, just big, filling the door side to side and top to bottom answered.  Though I was six feet tall, he looked seven feet tall as we had to look up to him.  I said, “Sir, we are,” and that was all I got to say.  He said, “I told you to stay away from my door and never come back here again.”  I started to say something and he said, “Leave and do not ever come back,” as he slammed the door. 
     Well, that was an interesting encounter, but little did we know that was not the last we would see of this big man.  I started to put a gospel tract on his door as we usually do.  Suddenly, the door flew open and a wild man filled the door.  We backed off.  I looked at my partner and he looked at me (I knew we both were thinking the same thing) RUN!  But we didn’t.  The wild man got right up in our faces and said, “I thought I told you to get away from my door and never come back.”
     By this time we were backing down the sidewalk and he was coming along after us madder than a bear when you had messed with her cubs.  We continued to back down the sidewalk and the last words we heard was, “If you ever come back to my door I will beat you until no one will ever recognize you.”  We said, “Yes sir.” 
     We left the townhouse complex that night with a new respect for big, mean, wild looking mad men.  But it didn’t stop us from being a witness for the Lord.  We went right up the road to another set of townhouses and were treated great by everyone we met.  No, this man did not get saved, which was regrettable, but we never saw him again, Praise the Lord for His protection!

Chapter 60 - The Mad Dog!

Matthew 28:18-20

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”     

      While attending Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee we were required to attend Highland Park Baptist Church for the first year. We would go soul winning on Thursday night after being provided a delicious meal. The main reason for going out, of course, was that people needed to know Jesus as their Savior.
     One particular night a partner and I went out to a certain section of the city while it was still light outside. We drove up to a house where it looked as though no one was at home. When no one is at home we would leave a literature hanger on the door. I alone went to the door, and then heard some noise from the rear of the house.  Thinking someone was at the back; I started down the side of the house and could not believe what I was seeing.
     I froze in my tracts and was staring at the biggest, blackest, meanest looking Do  berman I had ever seen. I looked back at the car and back at the dog.  “Run!”  But my legs would not more an inch. My partner in the car shook his head as if to say, “You’re on your own with this one.”  The dog was so mad that he was biting the air and running straight toward me, madder than any dog I had ever seen. I froze like a Popsicle that had been in the freezer for months. 
     Why was the dog so mad? I had done nothing to him. My heart was about to beat out of my chest and sweat was beginning to pop up on my forehead. Fear gripped me and would not let me go.  “Help, Lord,” was all I could think of. All of this happened in a flash. The dogs breathe smelled by now. His eyes were that of a mad dog who wanted revenge and it looked like he had zeroed in on his victim. He was about a dog’s length from me when suddenly a man came around the corner from the back and yelled, “Whoa boy.”  The dog seemingly stopped in mid air and I said, “Thank you, Lord!”                
     The man walked up to where his dog was growling, slobbering, and shaking his big old head and asked, “May I help you?”  “I’m out visiting from Highland Park Baptist Church and I would like to invite you to come to church.”  I handed him a gospel tract and calmly, yea right, walked back to the car. 
     It took me awhile to get my composure back. Then we headed off to another house and this time I made sure that someone was home and no dog before getting out. From that time until now, I’m very cautious about dogs, especially big, black, growling, slobbering at the mouth dogs who wanted revenge for no reason, as I saw it

Chapter 59 - Can God Pay This!

Matthew 6:8

“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

    Deputation was a time of calling one pastor right after the other, but that was the only way to get meetings so that we could raise support to go to Africa to spread the Gospel. 
    At one time, our telephone bill rose to $1200 and I knew why--I stayed on the telephone eight hours a day calling requesting meetings. We did not have a cell phone back in those day that had unlimited calling. The Lord gave us many meetings.
    This large telephone bill was weighing heavily on my mind as we headed to Texas for a meeting on a Friday. We spent Friday night in a motel and were going to finish the trip on Saturday lodging the night in the mission apartment at the church.
    On Saturday just inside the Texas line we started to smell burnt oil. At a truck stop, I found that oil was pouring out from a blown intake gasket. We weren’t going anywhere for a while. A trucker at the stop suggested that I take off the intake and seal it with gasket sealer. Others thought that was about the only thing I could do this late in the evening with no auto parts stores open.
    Therefore I bought some gasket sealer and took off the intake. The gasket that had blown was nowhere to be found so I used the sealer to make a gasket and sealed all the other gaskets, replacing the intake. We would have to wait three hours for the sealer to set up enough to drive.
    I called the Pastor and he said that the mission apartment would be open when we were able to get there. There we sat in the truck stop patiently waiting to continue our trip. Three hours later I fired up the old van. Since no oil was leaking we cautiously hit the road.
    We arrived at the mission apartment about daylight Sunday morning and got a few hours sleep before the 9:45 AM service at the church next door, not feeling the best in the world.
    All the men gathered for prayer before the service and they asked if anyone had a prayer request. I had one and let it be known that we had a $1200 telephone bill resulting from calling pastors which we needed to pay right away. Along with other requests, prayer was lifted for my request.
    We had a great service followed by a time of food and fellowship. While fellowshipping the Pastor came to me and said, “Brother Ayers, the men of the church voted to give you a $1200 check to pay your telephone bill.” I jumped for joy. Praise the Lord, what a blessing! The Pastor also gave us a generous love offering to help with our expenses and the church even took us on for monthly support.
    The devil tried to hinder us from this blessing, but the Lord saw us right on through to the end and He will you also. Glory to His Name!

Matthew 6:33

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Chapter 58 - Do You Have Eternal Life Insurance?

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

    I headed out to the church to do some work on a sign that I was painting on the side of the church building. The first letter, which was a 24 inch letter, was an E and guess what, yes, you guess it, I made the E backward which was a little annoying. You may be wondering why the letters are 24 inches in height? People needed to be able to see them from the road which is about 60 feet away. Not letting this little mistake hold me back I got the wall paint out and painted over the backward E. The paint took a little while to dry. This time I did not make the same mistake and was able to finish up the writing on the church wall which people would be able to read from the road. The verses I was writing on the wall was Matthew 7:12-14 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

    After finishing, it was clean up time, which is always the fun part of any job. After finishing I got into my car to leave. Before I could get it into drive a truck pulled across in front of me. A man got out of the truck, came to the window of the car and handed me a sheet of paper. He commenced telling me all about how terrible the economy was here in Belize and if I would bring my receipt where I was buying my insurance for my car that the company he works for would beat their price. That did sound reasonable to me and would be considering his offer the next time insurance was needed.
    Carlos was about to leave when I gave him a Gospel tract and asked him did he have any eternal life insurance.  Carlos said that he did not have any of that kind of insurance. I went on to tell Carlos about the eternal life Insurance that Jesus gives and this life Insurance will take him to heaven one day if he decides to receive it. He said that all religions say they have the way to heaven and what makes what I am talking about any different. I open the Bible that I keep in my car and let Carlos read John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Jesus is what makes the different whether you go to heaven or hell. Then Carlos remarked, “hell is here in Belize because it is so hot here.” I said, “Carlos, Belize is nothing compared to how hot hell is going to be.”
    By now Carlos was getting pretty hot standing out in the sun therefore I invited him to sit in the car. After Carlos was seated, we went straight to the Bible. He read John Chapter 3, and like Nicodemus he did not understand how a person could be born again. Then I explained the different between the physical birth and the spiritual birth. The more scripture Carlos read and the more I explained about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the more he began to understand. Before long Carlos bowed his head and asks Jesus to forgive him of all his sins, come into his heart and be his personal Savior. Carlos assured me that he had become a born again Christian; was trusting Jesus to take him to heaven when he died and would be in church Sunday.
As Carlos was getting out of the car, I gave him a Bible. In front of the Bible, I wrote the time and the date he received Christ as his Savior. Thank you Beams Bible Ministry, Gulfport, Mississippi for supplying Bibles so that new Christian will have the Word of God to read and meditate upon.
    Carlos though he was stopping to sell some insurance, whether it be for my car or something else but instead of selling me some insurance he received the Eternal Life Insurance, Jesus, that cost him nothing but cost God His only begotten Son.
I never saw Carlos again after that day, but I do know if he meant what he said he became a Born Again Christian and one day I will see him in heaven.

 "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:20)

Chapter 57 - Sixteen Padded Pews!

"For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37

    While on furlough, I received a call from Pastor Campbell. “The church pews are ready for you to pick up; they are in my way, when can you come and get them?” he asked. Taken back, I honestly did not know what to say, “Well, Pastor, I will have to get back with you about this.”
    Two years before this call, I had called Pastor Campbell when we were in the Houston area; we needed a place to lodge. He pleasantly offered us the modular home that they had set aside for missionaries.
    While staying there, we visited his church. The message was right on target, and the people were exceptionally friendly. In the church, we sat on a beautiful 13-foot pew; there were about 16 of them. Just in passing, I said to Pastor Campbell, “If you ever remodel your church, I sure would love to have these pews for our church in Belize.” They were planning to remodel in the near future and intended on using different seating. The Pastor responded that the pews would be ours, and he would give me a call when they were ready to be moved. I was praising the Lord, though I didn’t have any idea how I would take them to Belize, Central America - 2000 miles away.
    Telling my wife the happy news she asked, "How would we get them to Belize?" I had to admit that I didn’t know. A truck would cost too much, and the cost to ship them would be overwhelming. But I believed the Lord wanted us to have those pews for our church in Belize and was sure that He would provide a way; how was the question.
    Wow! Wait a minute! I remember we had visited a supporting church in Universal City, Texas, Pastor Warren. We had seen a large yellow bus sitting in the back of the church. “I wonder if they are using that bus”, I said aloud. My wife responded, “Let’s give Pastor Warren a call.”
    “Hello, Pastor Warren” I excitedly proclaimed as he answered the phone.  “Hello, Bro. Ayers. How is everything going?” “Great, Pastor, and I pray all is well with you and your ministry. Pastor Warren, I remember seeing a yellow bus sitting behind your church, and was wondering if anyone is using it.” “Bro Ayers, we were going to use it but haven’t as yet. Why?” he replied.
    “A church in Cypress, Texas, has given us 16 13-foot padded pews to take to Belize for our church, and we need a way to transport them. I was thinking if you are not using that bus, that maybe you would give it to us to take to Belize.” I explained.
    “Bro. Ayers, a man donated the bus for us to use so I will have to call to ask him”, he said. “Thanks, Pastor Warren, I’ll be waiting for your response”, I replied.
    Shortly I received a call with the verdict; “Hello, Bro. Ayers, this is Pastor Warren. THE BUS IS YOURS!” “Praise the Lord and glory, hallelujah. Thank you, Pastor Warren; we will be by in a few days to pick it up; and thank You Lord”, I replied with such thankfulness and joy in my heart for the answered prayer.
    In a few days we were in Universal City, Texas. Pastor Warren was at the church. He got his tool box out and helped me install a hitch on the rear of the bus so we could tow our vehicle. It didn’t take long. We thanked the generous pastor for the bus and all of his help.
    We headed back over to Cypress, Texas, and Pastor Campbell had the pews ready for us to haul. They had already disassembled them.  We loaded them in the bus. Praising the Lord; we were off to Belize via Mexico.
    The bus we were driving was running on propane, and it was not as cheap as gas in the USA. We arrived at the Mexican border and headed across to purchase a vehicle permit to drive across the country of Mexico into Belize; that was a no go. I explained to them that the previous year I had driven a bus through Mexico, and they gave me a permit to do so. They said that the rules had changed, and I had to get a broker, pay him $300 and wait 3 days. WHAT? We did not have the resources to cover all of that. What to do now was the question? It was late, so we settled into our motel room and considered our options. We had prayer and finally came to the conclusion that a decent night sleep would be the best option at this time.
    The next morning the Lord impressed me to call a Pastor friend at First Coast Baptist Church, Jacksonville, FL and explain to him our dilemma. He asks me how much was needed to continue our journey to Belize. I told him the amount. He did not hesitate to say, “I will send it to you Western Union.” I thanked Pastor Edwards and hung up the phone praising the Lord for the need He had supplied once again. Now we were able to get the broker, wait 3 days in the motel, and pay the broker for his services. After this was said and done, across the border we went.
    Our journey through Mexico was uneventful- except in Tampico. The bus needed propane before heading out from this city. We stopped at a gas station, and were told it was back the other way. O no, back through the city of Tampico? I did not want to go that way because I knew what would happen; but I had no choice. Finally, we got the propane and traveled back out of the city, onto the road toward Belize, when low and behold, it happened. The police pulled us over, and said that we had run a red light. I know I did not; but this is the way the police in Mexico obtain money from foreigners; and if you argued with them you could end up in jail. I tried everything. I gave them tracts and Bibles, but to no avail. It was told to me, “Go to the police station or pay up right there.” Well, it ended up not costing us too much. We had to pay in cash. They did not even give a receipt, and they finally let us go. I turned left at the next light and yet another policeman jumped on the bus while I was making the turn left! I was going slow to make the turn, and he demanded money. I told him (I was hoping he understood English), “Your two friends at the other light got all that you policemen are going to get from me.” He must have understood English because he jumped back off the bus and we continued on our journey south.
    The rest of our trip was uneventful, and we are now enjoying those 16 padded pews at Freedom Baptist Church, Orange Walk Town, Belize, Central America.


I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus!

Chapter 56 - Caught off Guard

  “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”

 Jude 1:23  

    “I never would have been saved in a church, or anywhere, really,” wrote Dana Heacox. “I always believed in God, but I didn’t trust or understand the church or salvation. I remember that I’d met Pastor Jay before and ran into him a few times in Orange Walk.
     In Belize, most expatriate Americans notice and remember each other. Sundays were my busiest days during export season. The ship sailed on Monday, so Sunday was the day that we would harvest and pack the produce that we shipped to the U.S.
     I went to a restaurant, owned by another expatriate American, to get some burgers to take to my managers while we were packing. There Pastor Jay and Linda were eating lunch. I spoke to them and asked what they were doing."
    “Just came here after church,” replied Jay.
    I said, “Oh, you go to church?”
    “Go to, yes, the Lord has blessed us with a church here in Orange Walk.”
    “I didn’t know that Pastor Jay was a missionary, and may not have visited with him if I had known. We continued to visit while I waited for my burgers. I believe that Pastor Jay knew that I was in and out of Belizean jails quite a bit, due to bribing the police concerning competitors.
    He asked me if I had a Bible, and I told him that I did. He asked me to read Acts and think about it. Upon reading Acts I was moved by how much time the disciples spent in jail, their toughness, and their dedication. I was actually able to identify with them. During that later visit Pastor Jay asked me if there was anything he could do to help. At the time, my wife was pregnant and I was working 18 to 22 hours each day, so I asked him if he could check on my wife. He came by often, checked on her, and answered all her questions referring to the Bible.
    Pastor Jay and Linda caught me off guard, showed me things in the Bible I didn’t know existed, ministered to my wife and I, and after a few months we were saved and he baptized us together in the New River in Orange Walk, Belize. Our lives have never been the same.”
    Pastor Jay writes, "After our chat at the restaurant my next encounter with Dana was at a garage where I had my vehicle serviced. We got to talking and I invited him to come to church, which he did every now and then when he wasn’t working. Dana had already asked us to go by and check on his wife which we did from time to time. After awhile, his wife MaAva started coming to church.
    One afternoon we went to visit Dana and his wife and they readily accepted Christ as their Saviour. Dana’s wife was expecting and she brought forth a baby girl. Afterward, they started coming to church regularly. Dana would come when he was not working, but MaAva and their children came on a regular basis.
    Then Dana and MaAva wanted to get baptized. One Sunday after church we went down to crocodile-infested New River here in Orange Walk Town, Belize, Central America where I baptized both of them.
    Dana and MaAva were both faithful to the Lord until the day that they moved. It was a sad day for us, but the Lord had so graciously let Dana and MaAva come into our lives for awhile. What a blessing they were to us. We still hear from them now and then.
    I thank the Lord that we had the privilege to meet and win Dana and MaAva Heacox to the Lord and to have been able to have fellowship with this wonderful family of God."
   
There is pow'r, pow'r, Wonder-working pow'r In the blood of the Lamb!