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Introduction
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Precious MemoriesEpisode 6We left Canada in 1962 after having a wonderful revival, and stopped in Baltimore, Maryland. Dale, George Jr., and Cindy would be enrolled in school wherever we stopped. I know that this was a real task for them at times because we were constantly traveling from one place to another, thus causing them to continually change schools, but they were brave little warriors for the sake of Christ and God always blessed them wherever we traveled. While they were enrolled in the Baltimore schools, the teacher gave assignments to write essays about schools in other places. Dale was supposed to write concerning Canadian schools, so she found this easy since she had just left the little school in Canada. The children came home one day, telling us that they had spent hours with the counselors instead of having class that day. We learned that the counselors had asked many questions, trying to find the secret of how the children could get passing grades so easily even with changing from one school to another, while they had other children enrolled in their schools for all of their lives and they couldn't seem to pass. I told them that if they would have come and asked us, we could have saved them a lot of time and trouble. The secret is in prayer and seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, then watching God do the rest by adding these things. One time in the state of California, we enrolled our children in school and they tried to force us to let them dress out for physical education. George and I joined forces and said, "No, they will not dress out!" The principal said, "They will dress out!" We said, "No! They will not!" Finally, he said, "Are you the only people in the state of California that feel this way?" I said, "I sure hope not. I hope there are other Christians who are teach godly living." Our children did not dress out, even thought the principal said there was no way around it. We know that Jesus said, "I am the way." One time in Arizona, we weren't aware that George Jr., who we call Ricky, was having a battle trying to keep his studies up. He hadn't mentioned it to us at the time, but he felt that he was not able to keep up with the class he was in. So one night, we went to one of Brother Branham's services there in Arizona. Ricky knew we had planned to go that night, so he fasted all day. When we got to the church where he was preaching, it was real crowded, so all the family wasn't able to sit together. Cindy was sitting on the front, and George and I were sitting about middle ways in the church while the other children were seated in different places. As soon as the singing was over, the piano player left the piano, which was right near the front row of seats, and I saw Ricky slip onto the piano bench where he could be close to the front. Brother Branham preached that night, and when he finished, he began to minister to different ones in the audience. He spoke to Cindy that night by the Spirit of God and told her that the Holy Ghost was right beside her, waiting for her to invite Him in. He spoke to different ones and revealed their heart's secrets. As he finished that night and started easing out before the congregation was dismissed, he walked right by where Ricky was sitting on the piano bench. He stopped and laid his hand on Ricky's head and said, "The thing you are asking God for, He has granted it." He told us afterward that he was praying for God to help him catch up on his studies, and the Lord had answered! Precious memories flood my soul so many times when I begin to think back on the years we traveled as a family, doing what we could for Jesus. As Dale, George Jr. and Cindy began to grow up, they joined us in fasting and praying, not because we made them but because they loved the Lord and wanted to follow Him. Many times during our travels, George Jr. was used by God in so many different ways until he learned that faith is real, and even today, though he is grown and has his own family, he travels all over the United States and into many foreign fields, using his faith to receive from God. As a young boy of about twelve years old, he started to school one morning and found out that the baby (Melody Sue) didn't have any milk. At that time, she was on Carnation milk. He had a nickel that he was planning to buy notebook paper with on the way to school, but he tried to give it to me to help buy her a can of milk. I told him, "No, go on to school and don't worry, we will get her some milk." He started to school and had been gone only a matter of minutes, when he came running back into the house all excited, holding a can of Carnation milk in his hand, and told me how he found it laying in the grass close to the sidewalk on his way to school. I said that maybe it fell out of someone's grocery bag since it was close to a grocery store, but really in my heart, I knew that God had placed it there. I remember hearing about a little Christian widow woman who was down praying one day for God to send her some bread because she was in need. The little story told how that her sinner son heard her praying and went and bought her some bread and threw it on the bed where she was praying. When she saw it, she got up and started thanking God for it, and her evil son came in laughing and mocking her and told her that God didn't send it, he had bought it himself. She said, "I don't care if the devil did bring it, the Lord still sent it!" So, it doesn't matter how the milk got there on the day we needed it. I knew God had placed it there. We were in Cincinnati, Ohio and Sue was only a few months old. George was preaching in a little store building, and we were having a great revival. Dale, George Jr., and Cindy had been singing at night during the revival, and their hearts were really stirred. Dale at this time was about 15, George Jr. about 13, and Cindy about 12 years old. I found a note on their dresser that they had written to remind themselves not to eat. They were in a two or three day fast, and I remember how one night, as they sang under a great anointing, that a young man came in and sat down in the back of the little church. He later testified that he was a Church of Christ minister and was in seminary, and was only a few hours away from his B.A. degree. He was also pastoring a church. He said that he had been asking the Lord to make His Word real to him. That night, as he walked down the streets of Cincinnati, he said that he heard voices that sounded like angels singing. He followed this sound and ended up coming into the little storefront church where the children were singing. Then, of course, he stayed and listened to the preaching of God's Word. He said he had never heard the Word expounded in the manner he heard it that night, and he was so spellbound as he listened, until the next morning found him sitting on our doorsteps, waiting for George to get up. He left the seminary and its professors to follow the Word of God being preached by revelation. Brother Frank Taylor is still with us today after twenty-four years, working hand in hand to spread the gospel. We now laugh as we think back over the years since Frank and Lindy, his wife, joined us in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were baptized in the lovely name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and that upon receiving the truth and finding the pearl of great price, they were willing to sell all that they had to buy it, and to take up their cross and follow Jesus. They immediately began to make plans to sell everything and go with us, but we didn't want to see them leave their home and their good positions in life and follow us, because we travel many, many miles, and sometimes don't have a place to lay our weary heads. We knew that they were comfortable with the material things of life, because both of them had good paying jobs. Lindy was a surgical nurse and had graduated from nurses training as the valedictorian of her class. We decided to slip off and write back to them so they would understand why we did it, but they had gotten a hold of something that was like fire shut up in their bones. Since we had no place to call home and were on the road so much, we would have a mailing address so our friends and loved ones could write us and stay in touch. When we would settle for a while, I would contact the ones taking care of our mail and have them send it to us. We had traveled to Tucson, Arizona and rented a trailer, and we were sitting around the table because we had just received our mail. I was taking one letter at a time out of the big brown envelope that the mail was in, and I was reading it aloud so all the family could share the news from home and from our friends. I said, "Look! This letter is from Cincinnati, and it is from Frank and Lindy." As I read, we all laughed, because in the letter, they were telling us how that they had sold everything and were praying for God to lead them as to where they should go, and they felt that God was wanting them to go to Tucson, Arizona. They had no idea that we were there at this time. I read several other letters, and all of a sudden, I pulled out another letter from Frank and Lindy and noticed the return address. We got all excited when we found out they were only a couple of blocks away from where we were in Tucson. We quickly got in the car and drove over to the address that was on the letter, and you should have seen the look of surprise on their faces as they opened the door and saw us standing there. We realized that God had put us back together, and since that time, we have shared many joys and shed many tears together. We are looking forward to spending eternity with them when our lives are finished here in this life. By Sister Betty Pike
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