A Little Child Shall Lead Them

David Receives the Lord

While we were in Hong Kong, my brother, Mike, who was on shipping rounds with the Sydney Morning Herald, came to visit us. Mike was not a believer in the Lord. The first evening of his visit we sat down together at the meal table and, as was his custom, Paul prayed the Lord’s blessing over the food, thanking Him for the provision. At the end of the prayer 5-year-old David piped up:

“Uncle Mike didn’t close his eyes!”

We all laughed at the obvious fact that he, of course, hadn’t closed his eyes either. But, oblivious to this, David continue,

“Why didn’t he? Why didn’t Uncle Mike close his eyes?”

The child was obviously both concerned and curious. He had never met anyone before who didn’t pray with us when we prayed over the food.

“I’ll talk to you about it later” I said to him quietly.

My brother was highly amused by the whole incident. That night, when I tucked him into bed, David again asked...

“Why didn’t Uncle Mike close his eyes”.

“Because he’s never asked Jesus into his heart” I explained.

A frown creased his little brow and very seriously he said...

“But I’ve never asked Jesus into my heart either.”

“Would you like to ask Him in now” I asked, holding back my joy at his realization.

He nodded, “Yes”.

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll go and get Daddy and we’ll pray with you.”

I excitedly told Paul and we both went back into the bedroom. Paul talked some more with David, explaining clearly why Jesus had come and what it meant to ask Him into his heart and life.

"Do you want to pray now and ask Jesus to come into your heart?" Paul asked him.

"You pray, Daddy, and I'll follow" he said.

So Paul led him in a simple prayer to receive the Lord. The next morning we greeted him as he woke up...

"What's it like now with Jesus in your heart?"

We had to smile at his reply. "Oh, He's gone out already".

Paul then explained to him the wonderful promise the Lord has given that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

Unforgettable Experiences

At the same time we were hearing from the Lord about leaving Hong Kong and returning to Thailand (see our previous post "Supernatural Guidance"), we received an invitation to visit a church in California and, from there, to minister to a number of churches in the United States. In view of our plans, we felt it would be a great opportunity to share the need for the Gospel in Thailand. We decided to stay and minister there for three months and continue on from there to Thailand. We were to make many new and lifelong friends in our first visit to the United States and for the children it would prove to be not only an exciting time (they got to see Disneyland) but a time of unforgettable experiences with the Lord. Two such experiences come immediately to mind.

The Faith of a Child

We were on our way to minister to a church in Phoenix. Our time in the States was spent driving during the day and ministering at night. Some friends in California had kindly lent us a car for the journey to Phoenix and, in our ignorance, we set out early in the morning with the plan to arrive at the church that evening. We learnt later that no one travels through the Arizona Desert during the day! The air-conditioning of the car was not working and in the high temperature of the desert the car’s water kept boiling. On top of this, because Paul was very tired, the long monotonous road was causing him to be very sleepy. There was no shade anywhere and it was too hot and dangerous to stop. I watched his eyes the whole way to make sure he did not drop off to sleep. I had packed snacks in the car and about half way there, around lunch time, the children asked for something to eat. For one short moment I took my eyes off Paul’s eyes and bent down to give them something to eat. In an instant the car was jumping up and down. Paul had fallen asleep and gone off the road. As we bumped along in the sand visibility was zero. The whole windscreen and surrounding windows were enveloped in the sandy dust. At last, after what seemed an age, the car came to a stop. When the dust finally subsided we could see behind us the slope we had come down. We knew that if we had gone off the road a few minutes earlier we would have hit a crevice and were to learn the same was true of a short distance ahead. Paul tried to drive the car back up the slope but the more he tried the deeper the wheels sank into the sand. We were stuck. There was no shade anywhere. We learnt later it peaked at 120 F (48.8 C)in the shade. We had no water left as we had had to use it each time the car had boiled. There were no other cars on the road. We tried to push the car out, to no avail. Again Paul tried to drive it out but deeper and deeper went the wheels. We knew we were in grave danger. Finally we heard a little voice behind us.

“Why don’t we ask Jesus to push us out?” said David.

Paul and I looked at each other and smiled. Of course.

“Good idea, son. You asked Him” said Paul. So he prayed.

“Lord Jesus” came his simple prayer, “please let an angel push us out”

Paul tried to drive the car again. Suddenly, there was a shove behind us and the car jerked forward, out of its ditch, and we were back up on the road. The children clapped their hands excitedly (David peering out the rear window hoping to see the angel) and we continued our drive with a great sense of joy and thankfulness to the Lord. We knew an angel had pushed us out.

Let There be Light

The second incidence was a similar answer to prayer. The children and I were staying in Portland, Washington, while Paul had gone for ministry into Canada. It was winter and very cold. Again, someone had lent me a car to use while I was there. As we got into the car one Sunday evening to go to church and I turned the switch to put the headlights on, nothing happened. I suddenly remembered that the owners had told me not to drive at night as the lights didn’t work and they needed to take it to a mechanic to have them fixed. I said to the children...

“We can’t go. The lights don’t work.”

Again David said “Let’s ask Jesus”. And he did. “Please Lord Jesus, let the lights go on”.

As I turned the light switch again the beam of the lights matched the beam on David’s face. Again, a lesson from the simple faith of a little child. When I shared with the people who owned the car, they were amazed.

These incidents still remind us today of what Jesus said in Matthew 18:2:

"...'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'".

Supernatural Guidance

Despite experiencing the riots (as I described in a previous post - "The Riots of Hong Kong"), I was loving being in Hong Kong. Its modern shops and its life-style made life very comfortable; the children were going to an English-speaking preschool; the ministry was going very well. I was very content. After about a year, though, I began to sense a restlessness in Paul. I knew the signs. I knew the Lord was stirring him to move on. However, whenever Paul sensed the Lord directing him he never came to me and just told me what we were to do. Always he would come and ask me to pray about what the Lord was wanting us to do. Together we would hear from God. And always we prayed with the children also.

So it was he came to me one day. “I think the Lord may be calling us back to Thailand, darling” he said. “Would you seek the Lord about it?

In my heart my immediate reaction was, “I love it here. I don’t want to go back to Thailand.” But above everything I wanted to do the will of God and I knew also that that was what was best for us. I agreed to pray. I dropped the children off at preschool and went down to the city to walk and pray.

“Lord” I said silently in my heart as I walked up one of the shopping areas, “You know I want to stay in Hong Kong. If you want us to go back to Thailand I ask you, please, to give me a sign.”

What happened next was amazing. The moment the prayer was uttered, I turned the corner and almost bumped into the Prime Minister of Thailand!

I had heard nothing on the news of his visit but I recognized him immediately. A number of Hong Kong officials were with him, and obviously some body guards, but there he was - right in front of me. I walked on utterly amazed at the Lord!

Then, whether as a hopeful excuse on my part not to acknowledge what the Lord had just done or whether as a genuine desire to know His will (or both), I don’t know, but, as I walked some more, the thought came, “Even the devil can give signs.” The scripture then came to my mind...

“Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 1:15).

I knew the all-important aspect of knowing God’s will was that sense of peace about it deep within. I went into a coffee shop, ordered a cup of tea and sat down to seek the Lord some more. As I pondered, I knew that in order to hear clearly from the Lord and know His peace I had to get my heart into a “neutral” position. In others words, I had to changed my heart from what I wanted and be willing for whatever He wanted, whether it was to go or stay. I lifted my heart to the Lord and asked for His help. I gave Him all my own desires and said... “Okay, Lord, whatever you want.”

I sat quietly in His presence for a while until I knew my heart was in “neutral”. Then, immediately I remembered also the Amplified Version’s translation of that verse in Colossians...

“Let the peace of God act as the umpire or referee...”

So I decided to do exactly that. In my mind I held up Hong Kong to the Lord. Nothing. I had no sense of peace about it at all. Then I held up Thailand.

“Do you want us to go back to Thailand, Lord?”

A wonderful sense of peace filled my heart. Again I held up Hong Kong. Again, nothing. Again I held up Thailand and again wonderful peace filled me.

I looked at my watch and saw it was time to pick up the children from preschool. I had previously met a Thai woman there whose little girl also went to the preschool. She always picked her little girl up. Only on one occasion had she sent her Thai maid but I had never met her. The preschool was situated on the roof garden of the apartment block, and to collect the children, the mothers would come through the ground floor entrance and line up the stairway till they reached the entrance to the roof garden where their child would be brought to them.
I wanted to be very sure. I remembered the scripture...

“...every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Matthew 18:16)

...and thought of the account of Gideon when he wanted to be sure it was the Lord directing him to go into battle against the oppressors of Israel. He asked the Lord...

“...If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said” Judges 6:36-37.

So I said, “Lord, you have given me a sign. You have given me Your peace. Now please confirm it to me in one more way. Like Gideon I put out a ‘fleece’.” I think I was amazed at even my own boldness. “Let the Thai servant-girl come to collect the little girl.” I asked “and let me stand next to her in the queue and, then, let her ask me if I am ever going back to Thailand.”

The Lord was very gracious to me. As I came through the front gate of the preschool building I caught my breath. There was the Thai maid coming through the back gate. As we met at the bottom of the stairs a sense of wonder and excitement filled me. There we were standing next to each other in the queue. We chatted together in Thai as we gradually ascended towards the rooftop. We were almost at the top when the girl suddenly asked,

“By the way, Ma’am, are you ever going back to Thailand?”

I was stunned. “What did you say?” I asked, dumbfounded by the chain of events so exact to my request of the Lord.

“Are you ever going back to Thailand?” she repeated.

“Yes” I answered her with a smile.

She, of course, knew nothing of the depth of meaning behind that one word.

Overcoming Fear

It was not long after we had arrived in Hong Kong when a tragic aircrash occurred. Hong Kong airport was notorious as a dangerous place to land. The pilot of the plane had misjudged the runway and the plane had plunged into the ocean. I watched the TV news and wept with the husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, expressing their grief over the loss of their loved ones. I had no idea, as I listened, the dramatic effect it would have on me.

Paul and I were due to fly out for ministry in a number of S.E. Asian areas. It would mean many flights. As we boarded the first flight, the moment I sat down, tightened my seat belt and the plane began to take off, an horrific fear hit me. I began to shake all over, hardly able to breathe, grasping tightly onto the seat. My imagination ran riot. I could see the crash. I could see the panic and the screams. I could see my mother and brother reading the headlines of the newspaper and finding my name on the list of victims. I was terrified. Paul prayed with me but still the fear gripped me. Once we were airborne I began to relax somewhat, but the moment we began to descend for landing, again the terror hit me. This was repeated every flight on that trip. I was so relieved when we finally got back to Hong Kong.

The experience was most troubling, not only to me personally but because I knew that our ministry was going to involve many flights. I knew I had to have an answer from the Lord. So I began to seek Him. As I prayed and read the Word my eyes fell on a wonderful promise in the Psalms and I knew it was the Lord speaking directly to my heart

.“The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” Psalm 121:8. KJV.

A sense of peace filled my heart. I continued praying and reading, asking the Lord for one more promise. I turned my Bible to the book of Exodus and began to read the passage in chapter 19 relating the account of the Children of Israel at Mt Sinai. Suddenly verse four “leapt” out at me...

“...I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” (NIV)

It was such a clear promise to my heart. The Lord was going to be like "eagles’ wings" under the plane.

Soon the time came for us to travel again. I boarded the plane and sat down at the window seat which was directly over the wing. I could feel the fear beginning to rise. I looked out the window and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There, stamped on the wing, was a large picture of an eagle. I know it was the stamp of the brand of the engine of the plane but in all my travels I had never seen it before and I knew the Lord was using it to encourage my trust in Him. As the plane took off I reminded myself of the Lord’s promise that he would preserve my going out and my coming in, and I kept my eyes transfixed on that eagle.

"My faith is not in this plane or in the pilot", I said in my heart. "It is in You Lord. Thankyou for your 'eagle's wings' under this plane."

Every flight we took on that journey, and there were many, without any pre-arrangement I was seated at the window over the wing and on each flight there was the eagle. At the end of that missionary journey all my fear was gone and I have never had it since. On all the missionary journeys we have had since, I have sat many times at the window over the wing but not one time has the eagle-stamp been there. The Lord knows I no longer need it.

The experience had underlined for me the very important truth that, in every situation of life we face, we need to hear from the Lord and to stand on His Word.

The Riots in Hong Kong

Our year in Hong Kong - 1967 - proved to be a very eventful time. Paul travelled during the year much of the time, ministering into many of the S.E. Asian countries. Of these, Vietnam was a major destination. The Vietnam War was in full swing and Paul would go there regularly to minister to the wounded South Vietnamese troops constantly being brought into the hospitals. He saw many of them come to the Lord.

Just prior to Paul leaving for one of these visits riots broke out in Kowloon, across the harbour from the Hong Kong island. We kept on the Hong Kong side during that time, for obvious safety reasons, but listened very carefully to the news of what was happening. Although local reason was given for the riots we all knew the real reason for them. The “Cultural Revolution” had broken out in mainland China. Multitudes of people were being imprisoned and slaughtered there. We knew the riots in Hong Kong were a ploy to distract the world’s attention off what was happening in the mainland. We also knew China had the power to take Hong Kong back from Britain whenever she chose. So the occurring events were of great importance to us. The news of the confrontation of the rioters with Hong Kong police was disturbing and hearing of the rioters throwing petrol over some police and setting light to them was very distressing, as was the news of Westerners being attacked and cars or taxis in which Westerners were riding being overturned and set on fire. Paul was due to fly out for another visit to Vietnam but refused to go while the trouble was astir, even though it was across the harbour and not on the Hong Kong island side. Then, suddenly, everything seemed to calm down. Paul waited several days. Nothing further happened and life seemed back to normal. I encouraged him to go.

“Everything’s all right now” I said.

Little did I realize what lay ahead. I had no idea as Paul’s plane took off and the children and I waved him goodbye that very soon the airport would be closed and he would not be able to get back into Hong Kong.

The next morning the riots broke out on the Hong Kong island.

Rampage

I woke to a sunny morning. The morning news was filled with very ordinary events. The main item was the expected return of the Governor who had gone to England to get advice on how to handle the recent events. It seemed an unnecessary trip for him as all was now calm in Kowloon. Everyone was going about their usual business. Life was back to normal. I decided to walk down to the market place with the children.

As I reached the bottom of the hill I received a shock. A large group of “Red Guards” (the rioters of Kowloon) turned the corner and began marching up towards me. All were in uniform...white shirts, navy shorts...all carrying Mao Tse Tung’s little red book and, holding it high, all chanting...

“Mao Tse Tung! May he live 10,000 years!”

Everything I heard about what had happened to some Westerners on the Kowloon side flooded my mind. “What shall I do” I thought. “I can’t run. The children are too small and it would attract too much attention”.

I decided, as nonchalantly as I could, to cross over to the other side. Trying to appear as calm as I could, holding tightly onto the children’s hands, I climbed under the road barrier with them and crossed to the other side. We had no sooner got there when a large number of the Red Guards turned the corner on that side too. They were now spread right across the street (3000 altogether, we learnt later). All raising their books into the air and chanting.

There was nowhere to go. I couldn’t keep walking down through them, I couldn’t go up because the children wouldn’t have been able to keep up and we would have been caught in the midst of them. I could not go back across the road and behind us was a solid brick wall. We were trapped where we were. I pushed the children behind me to hide them between the wall and me, and I began to pray. The rioters were in regimented lines and each line was less than an arm’s length away from me. Every line that passed us I was praying “Lord, please let them just go by....Lord, please let them just go by”. Not one Red Guard turned his head to see me as they passed. It was as though the children and I were invisible to them. I believe the Lord had sent his angel to guard us, as the two beautiful scriptures in the Psalms promise...

"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them" Psalm 34:7.

"If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" Psalm 91:9-11.

I realized later they were all heading for Government House which was situated further up the hill on Macdonald Road where we lived. The balcony of our apartment overlooked Government House, some distance away, and when I returned home (with great relief) I went out onto the balcony with some of our team members to watch what was taking place. Three thousand Red Guards, in regimented lines, covered the road opposite the entrance to Government House. We could hear the constant chant in Cantonese raised in the air:

“Mao Tse Tung! May he live 10,000 years!”

Between them and the huge front gate of the House were the Hong Kong police. I had turned on the radio so we could hear the description of the events even as we watched it happening before our eyes. Then, suddenly we heard a whirring sound above us.

“Look, Mummy” shouted David excitedly, “A helicopter!”

“And here comes the Governor now” said the voice on the radio.

We knew then, as we watched the helicopter, that we were watching the return of the Governor General from his visit to England. We watched it fly over us and then land in the grounds of the Government House, in front of its back entrance. The crowds in front of the House were chanting loudly, still barricaded from the entrance by a solid line of police facing them, with their backs to the wall of the House.

Then, suddenly, I saw movement inside the grounds. Someone was there, hiding behind a tree. I saw the figure run to the next tree, then the next one. He was dodging between the trees heading towards the helicopter. Then...another one appeared from behind another tree. Then another. There were about eight in all, all Red Guards, all dodging behind the trees heading towards the helicopter. All the police were outside the grounds, lined up facing the chanting crowd of Red Guards. No one had seen the intruders in the grounds. I knew the Governor was in great danger.

I ran to the telephone and called the Hong Kong police headquarters.

“The Governor’s helicopter has just landed” I said as the phone was answered, “And some of the Red Guards are in the grounds heading towards the Governor”.

“Just a moment please” was the reply.

Another voice came on the phone. It was the Chief Inspector of Police. I explained,

“I’m watching the events at Government House from my verandah. The Governor’s helicopter has just landed, and there are several Red Guards in the grounds heading towards it”.

“In the grounds!” It was as though he almost dropped the phone. “Thank you for informing us” he said. “What is your name?”

I hesitated. Crazy thoughts went through my head. “What if they win” I thought. “What if they take over Hong Kong? There’s my name in writing for them to see!” I brushed the thoughts aside and gave the Inspector my details.

I went back to the verandah and watched the events. It was like watching a T.V. show but this was the real thing. One of the police, obviously with a “walkie-talkie”, had been contacted. We saw him call several of the police from the lines in front of the House. They broke away, the other police quickly filling in the gap, then they ran through the gates. We watched the chase...with the voice of the radio announcer excitedly giving the comments as the events took place...the Red Guards running now as fast as they could towards the helicopter, the police tearing after them, finally catching them and throwing them to the ground. The Governor, seemingly oblivious to what was happening, stepped out of the helicopter and within seconds was inside the House.

“I think I just saved the Governor’s life” I thought to myself with a smile.

An Assurance and a Caution from the Lord

The days that followed were full of demonstrations, violence and anxiety about what was going to happen. The airport was closed to incoming flights. All expatriots were on 24 hours notice by their embassies to leave Hong Kong. One of the Chinese Christians, who had escaped the mainland when the Communists had taken over, called me with great concern.

“Fill everything you can find with water” he said. “Your bathtub...every pot and every pan. This is just like it happened in the mainland and the first thing they will do is set fire to the Westerner’s homes. Fill everything you can find with water!” He sounded very frightened on the phone.

I decided it was time to hear from the Lord! That night I spent all night seeking the Lord.

“You know what is going to happen, Lord” I said, “You know if they are going to take Hong Kong. Should we fly out now?”

I knew even that would mean the Lord would have to work a “miracle” for us. We had only HK$8 in the bank at that time. I prayed earnestly and anxiously all night, crying out to the Lord for His wisdom and answers.

At 3 a.m. a beautiful sense of peace came over me. I knew everything was going to be all right. I knew it would all pass over. I also knew the next day was going to be the worst day of the riots. Clearly the Lord spoke to my heart:

“Do not go out tomorrow. Do not take the children out.”

Tomorrow was Sunday. We had a visiting ministry staying with us and he was due to speak in one of the churches downtown in the morning. It was my responsibility to take him to the church. When morning came I tried to explain to him what the Lord had told me. I was not to go out that day. I was not to take the children out. The gentleman laughed. It was going to be fine, he insisted. He had to keep his appointment. There was no need to fear. I tried to explain it wasn’t fear but a definite instruction from the Lord but I know he thought I was just being fearful.

“I’m at my best in a crisis” he said.

I know he was trying to encourage me. Finally I submitted and, to my shame, disobeyed the Lord and took him to the church.

As we stood on the curb waiting for a taxi I will never forget how I felt. I knew I was in disobedience to the Lord. Many taxis went by but all refused to stop for us. During the riots in Kowloon, any taxi driver caught driving Westerners had had his taxi turned over and set on fire. We knew in the present situation they were afraid to pick us up. Then a taxi did pull up and we got in. Never have I seen a man so afraid. The driver was literally shaking all over. When he saw the children he looked at me and spoke, in his broken English, words that I knew were directly from the Lord.

“Velly bad you bring children out today!”

As we drove down towards the city centre the crowds in the streets got so thick, spreading off the footpaths across the roads, that the taxi could only crawl along in the midst of the masses of people. The tension in the atmosphere was so high it was as though you could tangibly touch it. I sat in the back with the children, praying.

“Forgive me, Lord, for disobeying you.”

I made up my mind. When we got to the church I would not get out. I would go back home. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the taxi arrived at the church. The visiting ministry got out and I said...

“I have to take the children back home. The Lord told me not to come out today and I've disobeyed Him.”

I told the taxi driver to take me back, much to the poor man’s horror, and he nervously drove off. He was obviously very sorry we weren’t getting out. As I look back now I realize the goodness of the man’s heart to take us. I believe he was sent by God. As we drove around the corner into Macdonald Road a huge crowd of Red Guards lined the street. Their backs were to us. Facing them was a large number of police. It was obvious a battle was about to ensue. The taxi driver called out:

“Get down! Put your heads down!” and he swung the taxi round as hard as he could and headed away from the rioters.

I pushed the children’s little blond heads down below the windows and got down myself. We stayed like that as the driver drove all the way around the island to get us back another way to Macdonald Road. With great relief he let us off outside our block of apartments.

There was indeed a big battle. The rioters taunted the police but got no response until they began to physically attack. The riots, of course, were in the headlines of the newspapers all over the world the next day. Photos of injured rioters lying on top of each other spread the front pages “exposing” the “atrocities” of the Hong Kong police. We knew, however, the truth was very different. The restraint and discipline of the Hong Kong police had amazed us. We knew, too, the moment any order was given to defend any attack from the rioters, the Red Guards would then throw themselves on top of one another and pose, as though injured, for the foreign press photographers.

Our friend ministered in the Sunday morning service but because of the riots was unable to get back to the apartment and had to stay all day and all night in the church. As the Lord had revealed to me, everything calmed down after that day. From then on the only battle was what we came to call “The battle of the loud speakers”. From the top of the Bank of China, the Communists began to loudly broadcast propaganda, proclaiming the atrocities of the police, the evils of the British, and the glories of Communism. In response, the British government began to play (very loudly) very British songs such as “The British Grenadiers” from the top of the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank. The voice from the China Bank would get louder and then the music from the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank would be turned up louder. This went on for several days. After the tension of the previous days, it really was quite amusing.

The airport was reopened and Paul, who had been in his own “danger spot”, ministering to the Vietnamese troops in the hospitals in Saigon, was able to return.

A Word from the Lord for Hong Kong

Towards the end of 1966 the Lord began stirring my heart that He wanted me to visit the United States to share with the Christians there about the need of the Thai people for the Gospel. Unbeknown to me, the Lord was also speaking to Bunty about this. At this same time, we heard from Paul Kauffman in Hong Kong. He told us that 1967 was the year that he and his wife, Janet, were due for a year’s furlough in the States and asked us if, while they were away, we would take their place in Hong Kong, which was the headquarters for the ministry in S.E. Asia. We could stay in their apartment which was on the mid-levels. We felt a "yes" from the Lord to do so. I would go to the States for the three months and while I was there Bunty would pack and prepare for our moving to Hong Kong.

After arriving in the States, I was ministering in Texas. As I came into one of the meetings, a woman whom I'd never met before pointed to me and said:

“I have never met you have I?”

“No” I agreed. She then, to my utter amazement, said:

“I know nothing about you, but the Lord shows me you are going to Hong Kong. I don’t know anything about Hong Kong, but you are going to have a visitation of God amongst the boat people there”.

I learned later this lady was a well-known prophetess, Sister Shreoder. She knew nothing of the fact that Bunty was, at that moment, packing our luggage ready for my return so that we could all fly off immediately to Hong Kong.

My time in the States was to be the first of many visits. The friends we made during this time are still close friends to this day. My return to Thailand was a time of great rejoicing for us as a family. Then, within a short time we were on board the flight on our way to Hong Kong.

Arriving in Hong Kong

Remembering Sister Shreoder's prophetic word from the Lord, and knowing that the centre for the boat people was Aberdeen, after arriving in Hong Kong I began to search for missionaries or Chinese pastors working amongst the fisherfolk there, but without success.

On our arrival, I was asked to speak at the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship and as I did so I also expressed my desire to see a move of God in Hong Kong. I said,

"If anyone is holding an all-night of prayer I will join you."

At the end of the meeting, a Chinese pastor approached me and said...

"We're having an all-night of prayer tonight. Would you like to join us?"

I agreed and that night was to prove very eventful. I discovered that these people worked amongst the fisherfolk on the boats and the all-night of prayer was for special meetings they were planning at Chinese New Year. This was the only time of the year when all the boats came in for 4 days.

I shared with them the prophecy I had received concerning the boat people. They were overjoyed.

"Will you come? Will you come?" they insisted.

So we agreed. They could get the school building for Chinese New Year for free. They also had a choir that had been practising for the event.

The meetings started with great enthusiasm and the first night a few people came to the Lord. Also, a father brought his deaf and dumb daughter, aged about 5 or 6. After prayer I encouraged her to speak and she imitated the sounds of 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. The whole place went wild with excitement. The next three nights were overflowing with blessing with several hundred receiving the Lord and many others also being healed.

After Chinese New Year was over and the meetings had finished they had a big Chinese feast to celebrate the goodness of the Lord and they gave us replicas of the fishing junks the fisherfolk lived on. Lovely mementos of a wonderful time.

Up-To-Date Miracle

We have not been able to post in our blog the last little while because David, our son, who has been battling cancer, was seriously ill and we almost lost him. We want to testify to a wonderful miracle the Lord has done for him. For details please go to his blog "The Journey" on the right hand side of this page, to his post "The Cords of Death".

http://dc1604.blogspot.com/2006/09/cords-of-death.html.

We are rejoicing in the love, compassion and faithfulness of our Lord.