When I was four, my five-year-old brother used Daddy’s matches to light our sister’s red dress on fire. He never liked that dress. Everything in the closet erupted in flames, then the fire spread throughout the bedroom. While I ran next door to Granny’s house to get Mama, my brother tried to put the fire out with water from the kitchen. Before Mama could reach him, our home was ablaze. Thankfully, he raced out the front door, coughing and crying.
Since we lived in the country, the fire department arrived too late to save our home. Everything was lost except for what we wore, and we were barefoot in the hot Florida sun. Then we met Audrey Raffa. Her family had just moved into our neighborhood. When they saw the smoke, they came running to see how they could help.
The Raffa family showed us love and compassion, and they bought new shoes for all of us. Our two families quickly became good friends. During the following year, Audrey Raffa watched the neighborhood children playing outside. She knew that many of us didn’t go to a Bible-teaching church or Sunday school. We needed to learn more about Jesus, so she decided to have a weekly Good News Club in her home. I’m thankful I was able to attend that club with my older siblings.
She taught us Bible lessons, Christian songs, and Bible memory verses. When she shared the gospel clearly in a way we could understand, I realized that I had done many things that didn’t please God. I was a sinner, but Jesus loved me anyway. He loved me so much He died for my sins. Thankfully, He didn’t stay dead. He came back to life! If I confessed my sins to God and prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior, I could be forgiven. Even though I was only five, I understood that I had sinned, and I believed that Jesus died for me. The day I prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior was the most important day of my life.
It was a blessing to go to Good News Club and learn more about Jesus and about the Bible. We even learned about missionaries. I still remember when Audrey Raffa’s sister, Auntie Fern, visited our Good News Club. She was a missionary to India, and she taught us about her work helping people in India and teaching them about the Lord Jesus. She told us how much she loved serving the Lord on the mission field. Her favorite part was teaching others about Jesus. Even as a child I realized that people everywhere need to know how they can be forgiven and live their lives for God. I also knew that I wanted to be a missionary.
By the time I was in second grade, I wanted to be either a nurse, a missionary, a teacher, or a writer. A short time later my Air Force dad was transferred to Mississippi, and the Raffas moved to California. Although my family went to church, we didn’t read the Bible at home, and I didn’t grow much spiritually. Looking back, I realize that for years I was saved, but I was still a baby Christian.
After high school I attended college, got a degree in nursing, and worked as a nurse. I married the love of my life in 1975, and the Lord blessed us with our wonderful son in 1978. A few years later we moved to Georgia, and we learned that the Raffas lived about two hours away from us. When we visited them, Audrey Raffa gave me my first real study Bible. She also gave us books about prayer, Bible study, and missions, and she began to disciple me. I’m so grateful for her love, prayers, encouragement, and patience.
Eventually the Lord called my husband and me to be missionaries. Although we both already had college degrees, we needed more training in the Bible and in missions. We investigated several Christian colleges and asked the Lord where we should attend. Audrey Raffa encouraged us to visit the Christian college she had attended. When we visited Toccoa, we realized that was where God wanted us. While there we even learned how to teach Good News Clubs so we could reach more children with the gospel and disciple them in the Word of God. We soon realized that the Lord was calling us to focus on children’s ministry, and we felt led to attend the Child Evangelism Fellowship Leadership Training Institute in Warrenton, Missouri.
While we were at the CEF Institute, we not only learned how to teach children more effectively, but we learned how to train adults to reach even more children. We also learned how to work with local churches to help them reach the children in their neighborhoods. Good News Clubs can be small neighborhood missionary projects of the local Christian church. The goal for these clubs is for the children to be saved, discipled in the Word of God, and established in the local church for Christian growth. Sometimes entire families come to the Lord through the ministry of these neighborhood clubs.
After we graduated from the CEF Institute, we received further training in an internship program in Texas before eventually serving the Lord as missionaries in Mexico. The four years we lived in Mexico were filled with divine encounters to share the gospel with children and adults. We were also blessed with many opportunities to train fellow believers in local Christan churches to teach the Bible to children more effectively. In addition, the Lord allowed us to teach adult Bible studies and do evangelistic movie ministries. Even today, the memories of those wonderful years are a blessing.
Unfortunately, our health worsened, and in 1991 we had to return to the U.S. The Lord opened the door for us to become CEF directors in Rochester, NY. We also taught Spanish at a Christian school. My health continued to deteriorate, and I became disabled and mostly homebound. I still longed to share the gospel, and I asked the Lord why this was happening. The Lord reminded me that I had wanted to be a nurse, a missionary, a teacher, and a writer. I’d done the first three, and it was time to write.
I’m grateful for the lessons Audrey Raffa taught me, but the most important lesson was how to trust in Christ and receive forgiveness for my sins. Have you trusted in Jesus? If you have, please share the gospel with other people. They need to be saved too. If you’ve never trusted in Christ, it’s not too late. You can do that today. Do you believe you’re a sinner? Are you willing to confess your sins to God? Do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ died to pay the price for your sins? Do you believe that receiving Christ is the only way you can be forgiven?
Consider these words from the Bible:
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” I Corinthians 15:3-4
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10
After we’re saved, God wants us to live for Him! “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” II Peter 3:18
If you want to know more about Child Evangelism Fellowship, check out their website.
Child Evangelism Fellowship is a Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living. To reach children with Child Evangelism Fellowship, visit https://www.cefonline.com.
Such a wonderful testimony Esther! I’m so glad for your time in Rochester, NY. Your friendship has blessed my life.
Thank you for your comment, Adele. Your friendship is a blessing to me as well. I’m truly grateful for being able to meet you and serve the Lord with you in Rochester.
Reading this has been a blessing. Thanks! I share some research about the history of Toccoa Falls Institute (I attended mission conferences there)in my book Soldiers in Petticoats. I gained assurance of my salvation from a presentation by Child Evangelism Fellowship missionary Emma Mackey (sp??). Thanks for your service in Christian ministries.
I’m thankful this was a blessing for you, Betty. I’m glad you attended mission conferences in Toccoa and gained assurance of your salvation from a CEF missionary. May the Lord bless you as you serve Him with your writing.
Esther, what a great memory of Good News Club and the Raffa’s. Rhonda and we’re just talking about them a few weeks back. My Mom also taught at the Good News Club at the Raffa’s. I can see us all in the club in my minds eye. Rosalind was a good friend. We went to the same church. What a wonderful seed God planted in you to follow His path to minister to children as well. Thanks for sharing.
Gayla,
Thank you so much for sharing your memories. I’m glad your mom taught there as well. It was such a wonderful club, and it touched the lives of many people. We need to keep praying that God will raise up more Christians to teach Good News Clubs. The children in our neighborhoods need to hear the gospel and have an opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ!
What a wonderful story of God’s providence.
Thank you for your comment. God truly is faithful!
Thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome, Marlene. May the Lord bless you as you continue to serve Him!
Tom grew up in Taccoa…thank you for sharing…
You’re welcome, Jackie. What a wonderful place to grow up! We loved the time we spent at Toccoa.
Dear Esther, May God grant you many years of writing for His Glory. Love and prayers, Catherine
Dear Catherine,
Thank you so much for your love and your prayers. May the Lord bless you as you continue to write for His honor and glory.
Thankful for your testimony and the power of the gospel, your faithful service to the Lord and burden for souls!
Thank you for your encouraging comment. May the Lord bless you and Ken as you faithfully serve Him!
What a wonderful story, Esther. I remember part of it!
Thank you for your comment, Evie. I’m glad I was able to share my testimony with our Bible study group. May the Lord lead you as you share His Word with others.
Hello Cousin,
You know I know all this, but it was still fun reading it all over again. God is always so good even when we don’t realize it.
Hi, Cousin.
It’s great to hear from you. I’m glad this was a blessing for you. You’re absolutely right. God is good all the time, even when we don’t understand why things happen. He is loving, merciful, and faithful!
Praise God for your obedience to Him, Esther. Isn’t it wonderful that no matter what else is going on in our lives, He can still use us. Blessings on your writing.
Thank you for your comment, Sharon. I’m so grateful that God still uses us. We just need to trust Him, seek His guidance, and obey His voice. Blessings to you as you continue to serve Him!