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  James's testimony .......Unto Him be all the Glory.

Deuteronomy Chapter 8 verse 2...And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years

I have been requested to write something about the way the Lord has led me since He saved me in 1933.
I shall never forget that night in the Baptist Church, in Greenwell Street, Newtownards, when the Holy Spirit convicted me of sin, and that only the Lord Jesus Christ could save me.
I Praise the Lord that He gave me grace to receive His dear Son as my own and personal Saviour; well might I exclaim with a thankful heart "For all the Lord hath done for me I never will cease to praise Him."

Some months later I was baptized on profession of faith and received into membership in the local church. There were about 20 young people also in membership and the Lord gave us a desire to see others won for the Saviour so every Sunday morning, we met for prayer at eight o'clock.

Then we formed a Testimony Band and had many opportunities to witness for the Lord in our church and in many other churches and mission halls. On Friday evenings we went on out bicycles to the nearby villages and held open-air meetings. The late Tom McCulough and I visited the homes along the Ards Peninsula coast. We received books, bibles and tracts from the Baptist Union and through these we had the opportunity to winess and to share our testimony and, praise God, we made many contacts.

Later in the will of God I met Dorrie and in June 1944 we were united in marriage; the late Pastor George Olley performed the ceremony. Together we were very active in the work of the church.

Through listening to visiting Missionary speakers and especially the late Mr and Mrs William McComb and Mollie Harvey, we were made aware of the needs of many in other lands who were still in nature's darkness and of the great need for workers. We became really burdened for Brazil and the Acre.

The Lord called us both and, after study in the Bible Training Institute, Glasgow, we sailed for Brazil on 3rd February 1949. We joined Mollie Harvey in Sena Madureira in the Acre after 45 days travel on river steamers..a journey we will never forget, but the Lord was with us in all the way and many prayers on our behalf were truly answered.
Then, we were only three in number in a very needy town but, thank God, others were also called and today we have missionaries working not only in Brazil but also in Portugal. and the Canary Islands.

It was our great privilege to take the good news that God's love was so great that He gave his only Son for those who were lost in sin and that, on repenting and receiving the His gift of eternal life, would be saved.
Thank God we have proved in our own lives this saving power and that those, living in whatever town, village, home, along the rivers or isolated in the jungle who receive Christ, have their lives transformed.

We thank God for enabling us to spend 42 years in Brazil, (1949 - 1991)
In 1995 the Lord gave us the desire of our hearts in an opportunity to pay a return visit to Brazil and to see the places where we had laboured. What a joy it was to see the results of Precious Seed sown and to see many who had trusted the Lord in earlier years now serving Him as Pastors, Elders, Deacons and Teachers.

We give the Lord all the praise and glory for all he has done.
It is our continuing prayer that HE will call other young men and women to go with the Good News of the Gospel to those still sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Thank God Dorrie and I heard His call
"Come follow me" that was all,
Life's joys grew dim..our souls followed Him
We rose and we followed, That was all.
               Will you follow if you hear His call?

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