The August newsletter from the Grace Brethren church in Seal Beach, California (Don Shoemaker, pastor) carries an article about an amazing “coincidence.”
The church had sent a team of high school students to Belize in Central America, where they did construction, conducted church services, and ran a Vacation Bible School. According to the article, during the VBS 65 children accepted Jesus as Savior and 12 of the Seal Beach teens had opportunity to lead children to Christ in a town called Crooked Tree.
Part of the ministry was to provide books for an elementary school. In all, there were eight cases. The teens were able to take two cases with their luggage, but six cases had to be left behind. How would those books get to Belize? We pick up the story as taken from the newsletter:
Jeannie was at the bank and the teller saw that she had just come from tennis. The teller mentioned that it must have been hot playing tennis and Jeannie said that she had just returned from Belize where it was much hotter.
A man standing at the next teller overheard the conversation and asked her what she had been doing in Belize. She told him about the mission trip and asked him if he knew where Crooked Tree was.
His face lit up as he explained that he was from Belize, and he had two uncles who had married ladies from Crooked Tree.
Their conversation ended and they both walked away. As Jeannie was leaving, she felt that she just had to talk to this man again.
She saw him in the market and asked if perhaps he might be able to help her. She told him about the books and asked if he knew a reliable way of shipping the books to Crooked Tree Elementary School.
With a smile on his face he said he could help. In fact, this man was a pilot for FedEx and his regular route included Belize. He said he would be happy to personally take the books to Crooked Tree and would do it for free!