The US Connection

It was David Schoch, a well known prophetic ministry and pastor of Bethany Chapel in Longbeach, California, who first invited us to America and introduced us to numerous churches in the U.S. Another invitation came from Esther Mallett who, while visiting Hong Kong, invited us to her church, Community Chapel, in Longbeach. Esther, with a team including her daughter Kay, was on an evangelistic mission in S.E. Asia (Kay, with her husband Richard, now pastor Community Chapel).

So, towards the end of 1967, we found ourselves in the United States.

A Dynamic Prophetic Word

It was at Bethany that David Schoch prophesied over me concerning some things the Lord was going to do in Thailand. As he spoke he began to weep.

He wept at the failure of the "Latter Rain" movement to answer the call to China. In 1948 the Lord had called them to go and preach the Gospel there. They went to down to San Fransciso's Chinatown and the Lord, like in the book of Acts (2:1-12) supernaturally gave them the language. But they failed to obey the call to go to China and in 1949 China closed. Communism took over and all missionaries had to leave the country.

Weeping and weeping David Schoch cried out...

"Remember China! Remember China! Remember China!"

...challenging the people to not make the same mistake in relation to Thailand.

A Great Evangelistic Ministry

Responding to Esther Mallett's invitation, we visited Community Chapel. The church numbered several hundred and was in revival. The Lord was moving sovereignly and many were coming to Him. Esther was a great soul winner. She had been a real estate agent and, after coming to the Lord in North Long Beach, led many women to the Lord. She took them to church but this, sadly, proved unsuccessful because of a failing minister. She took them to another church but the same thing happened. Finally Pastor Leonard Fox suggested she needed to start her own church to care for these new converts.

Esther discipled them in evangelism and would take them down to the "Pike" in Longbeach to witness for the Lord. Many of the ones won to the Lord there were their future husbands. And so the church grew. As well as this, the Lord would send to her the most needy chronic cases...drug addicts, the mentally ill, the violently abused, damaged and bruised lives. Night and day Esther would stick with them, praying with them until they came through. Some of the converts were original members of the Hell's Angel's motor bike gang. Otto Friedlie, who became a close friend, was the original President of the gang. Once a violent man, after coming to the Lord became the most "gentle" man. There was always someone in the "deliverance" room with a team helping them get free from strong demonic powers controlling their lives. One time I went into the room and several were trying to get a guy free. He had served in Vietnam and had been taken over by a powerful spirit. As I walked into the room, the Lord gave me the name of this evil spirit. I shouted its name and commanded it to leave in the Name of Jesus. Immediately he was free.

Many miracles took place in Community Chapel. One sister, who was blind, had never read the Scriptures, and the Lord would teach her the Word through visions. She would see real life events in the Bible. One time, during a convention in the church, she fell into a trance and called out:

"I see a ticker-tape with the words 'wisdom, wisdom, wisdom'."

Then - "I see a king on a throne and they are bringing two women before him. The women are arguing. There's a baby. And each of women is saying the baby is hers." "Oh no!" she suddenly cried, "No, don't do it. Don't do it."

"What's happening?" Esther asked her.

"The king is ordering his men to bring a sword. He's telling them to cut the baby in half!....oh, it's alright. One of the women has told him no, to give the baby to the other woman. Oh, it's wonderful. The king is giving the baby to her. He says she is the true mother."

There was a real "Berean" spirit in the church (see Acts 17:11). After each meeting they would all gather in a coffee shop/restaurant and, each with their Bible open, go over everything that had been shared from the Word that day.

Our experience in Community Chapel was memorable. We made many wonderful friends there. Many went forth to start churches in other cities. We were to go back there years later and minister for a year in the church and in the Bible College Esther would establish.

Space does not permit us to share about the many churches and ministries throughout the United States that we had the privilege to minister to and the friends we made. To cover all of this would be a book in itself.