Minnie Goes to Heaven (129)

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“Why aren’t we asking God what He thinks about these decisions?” Shirley said.

They all looked at each other. “We should,” Minnie said.

The women folded their hands and bowed their heads. Nan began, “Dear Lord, you’ve heard our plans. We don’t want our plans to not be your plans. So let us know if you want us to go in a different direction.

They waited.

“I see a peacock,” Hannah said.

“I hear don’t get too proud,” Sue said.

“I hear follow me,” Melissa added.

“Lord, forgive us for going ahead. We want to follow you...lead on O King eternal.” Minnie prayed.

“I heard I am leading you. Those plans are my plans.” Hannah said. “I see. Those were His plans all along. It is pride that makes us think they were ours.”

From there everything snowballed, including the weather. November turned into the snowiest month ever. A beautiful white blanket covered the city. Fresh snow fell every day. The 120 new people went out into the streets designated and filled their notebooks with prayer requests. People in each of the churches sincerely prayed about each request. Prayers all over the city were getting answered on a daily basis. It got so people would look for the prayer teams. Healings were commonplace. Almost everyone thought about prayer before they thought about the doctor. More people joined the teams. By December the Tuesday team meetings filled the gym at the cathedral to capacity.

The newspaper carried more good news stories than bad. Christian terminology was no longer politically incorrect. Instead of Happy Holidays or even Merry Christmas, people were saying, Have a Blessed Christmas. Angels from the Realms of Glory became the number one hit on the radio.

Then a team of young people visited the hospital. They walked down the halls singing, Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring and as they sang and walked people were getting up out of their hospital beds, totally healed.

The hospital practically emptied overnight.

Of course this hit the national and then the international news. People began trekking to Haven to see this great thing that had taken place. The cathedral in the middle of town became a shrine of sorts. Sick people came by the busload. Many were healed when people from Haven prayed for them. Many more gave their lives to Jesus when they saw the great miracles. Life in Haven was good. 

Minnie Goes to Heaven (128)

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That Sunday the invitation went out in every church in Haven. In some congregations they handed out flyers at the door. In others, team member gave a short testimony. In every church at least two people responded. At Rockwood fifty people wanted to be part of the venture. Most of these were men. The entire youth group at Minnie’s church volunteered. All told by Monday morning the discipleship group had 120 new volunteers.

Monday evening Minnie and John pulled out their set of maps. They prayed that the Lord would direct their decisions. Then they went to work. They decided to assign three new teams to each area. They gave the youth group from First Church, which was Minnie’s church the downtown. They put married couples together. There were at least four of those. Beyond that they put women with women and men with men. “Better not give the devil opportunity where there wasn’t any before,” Minnie said.

The next evening at their regular meeting at Nan's Minnie showed the discipleship group the breakdown. They prayed over it, approved it and each took the names and numbers of the new volunteers in their areas. Then they spent an hour assembling packets for the 120 new volunteers with material that Minnie had gathered that morning. They put bags, pens, markers, notebooks, and maps of the entire city on the table and circled round each picking up a bag and filling it with the other items as they walked around the table. When they had 120 packets, each one took six of these and added a map of their specific area to each. Then they tagged the bags with the names of the new volunteers. Jill took packets for the youth group assigned to the downtown and promised to deliver them to the church in time for their Thursday night meeting.

When all the work was done, the group gathered in a circle and prayed. Nan began, “Dear Lord, thank you for all these volunteers. Give us all courage and boldness and protect us from the works of the enemy. We pray it in Jesus name.” Others followed with specific requests for their areas, requests they had written in the notebooks.

After the prayer, Shirley piped up. “I thought we were going to give these requests to the churches to pray over.”

Minnie felt convicted. It was beside the point that her notebook was still blank. In her spirit she heard ‘follow through.’ Out loud she said, “That is something we should be doing. Any ideas about the best way to go about it?”

“Obvious,” Jill said, “The representative from each church should be collecting the requests from each team member in her area and reporting them to her church.” They opened up the bags again and wrote a note on the front of each notebook with the name and phone number of the church representative.

“Really, the church representatives should be at these meetings,” Jill said, “It would make it so much easier.”

“We don’t want to overload anyone,” Minnie said, “We might lose them.”

“Well we are all still here,” Amie said.

“For one thing, we couldn’t have the meeting in my house if there were 32 of us,” said Nan.

“Maybe we should just meet at the cathedral every Tuesday. Then we could invite as many people as are involved,” Melissa said.

“What and miss out on Nan’s tea?” Hannah said.

“Small sacrifice,” Nan said.

Minnie said she would ask Father George. 

Minnie Goes to Heaven (127)

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“Anyone else with a testimony,” Minnie asked.

Mary and her prayer partner, Marie stood up. “We have a story,” Mary said. 
Minnie was taken by surprise. At home Mary hadn’t even hinted about any adventures in prayer. 
Mary looked at her mom. “I didn’t want to share this earlier because I felt bad that you couldn’t actually be walking around meeting people in your area.”

She proceeded to tell how Marie and she had been walking down a street two over from St. John’s United. They came across a group of ten-years-old's or at least Mary guessed them to be ten years old. They could have been older or younger for that matter. These kids were looking down a sewer grate. “What’s the matter?” Mary asked.

One of the children pointed at the grate, “I lost my money down there. I was supposed to buy some stuff for my mom at the store and it fell down the grate.” 
'Not true,' Mary heard in her spirit.

“How much was it?” she asked.

“Ten dollars,” he said boldly.

Mary looked at Marie and then back at the boy. “Do you know that when you lie, it makes Jesus very sad?

“Who’s Jesus?” one of the kids asked.

“He’s only the most amazing guy who ever lived.” Marie said. She proceeded to give the most spell-binding Sunday school lesson Mary had ever heard. 
Marie concluded with an altar call.  “Who wants to give their life to Jesus?” she asked. All the kids, all 11 of them, put up their hands. “Okay, repeat after me: I, (now say your name) give my heart to Jesus. I confess that I have done many bad things. I am sorry. Please forgive me Jesus.” Marie stopped after every few words so the kids could repeat. “Jesus I want you to be the king of my life.”
Then Marie invited them to join her for church school at 10 at St. John’s Sunday morning. They promised to be there.

All in all, the women were greatly encouraged at the meeting. Several of them were scheduled to give reports at their churches. Father George who had stayed in the room throughout, said he would be talking to his parishioners about what he had heard, “Would you be interested in a few more volunteers?” he inquired.

 “Would we? Our areas are much too big to cover with just two people,” Minnie said.

“We could use some men,” Nan said.

“We can each recruit from our home churches as well,” Jill offered.

Minnie Goes to Heaven (126)

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Bea had been out in another part of West New Haven with Daliah from the Methodist church.

“We had an awesome time,” Bea said. “I sort of didn’t know what to do, but Daliah took right over.”

“Correction,” Daliah said, “Jesus took over...He really did.”

They had been walking along Main Street out by the mall on the outskirts when a car pulled up alongside. A big guy on the passenger side rolled down the window, “Which way to the hospital?” 
Bea started to tell him, when Daliah said, “Who wants to know?”

“Look lady, we got a guy in the back seat, badly injured—hunting accident.” 
Daliah peered inside the car. “We’ll pray for him,” Daliah said. She began to pray right there at their car window.

“Look lady, we don’t have time for this. Where is the hospital?” The guy looked at Bea. 
Bea tried again, “You’ll see the blue “H” signs, like the one up ahead, more often once you get to the other side of town,” she said pointing at a small sign way up the road.

The car sped off as she pointed.

They continued walking up the street. Not ten minutes later the same car pulled over onto the shoulder of the road ahead of them. It had come from behind, crossed the road and parked in front of them facing into traffic. Three men hopped out. One of them had dried blood all over his legs and one of his pant legs had been ripped off. He walked normally. “That was one powerful prayer,” the bloodied man said. “The pain just left and the next thing I knew I could use my leg again.”

“That’s our Jesus!” Daliah said. She went right into a salvation message. Those three big hunters fell on their knees and accepted Jesus right there beside the road.

Minnie Goes to Heaven (125)

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“You mean to say that not a single one of these families go to Rockwood?” Minnie said.

“I was looking through our church directory on Sunday night after we left your place and of all the 400 addresses I didn’t find a single one that corresponded. Our people are mostly in Old Haven with a few in West New Haven.

“I wonder if any of the other churches have people from here?”

“We’ll probably find out sooner or later.”

“Wouldn't it be great if everyone living here all became Bible-believing, church attending Christians? Maybe they’ll build a church here, right by the stream on that knoll we keep driving around.”

“That’s pretty well the only logical location.” Judy said.             

Minnie could practically see the church. She prayed there would be a church there.

Every morning except Sunday for the next 11 days, Judy and Minnie drove around and through their area always praying and trusting the Lord to guide their prayers.

Then Judy had a seven day stint of night shift at the hospital, so they spent an hour or so in the early evening prayer-driving through their area.

A month after the kick-off rally, the teams got together again. Father George was more than pleased to have the prayer teams meet in the room at the cathedral. He had four round tables set up for them.
Everyone was there. Each team in turn reported. The strategies varied. The teams in Old Haven invariably met up with Christians who offered to partner with them in prayer. In parts of New Haven several of the teams reported miracles.

Nan and her partner from the Seventh Day Adventist church were out in West New Haven. They had met up with a man in a wheelchair. Nan’s partner Jean asked him if there was anything they could pray for him. He looked at them sideways and asked if they were real. Nan pinched herself and said “Ouch.” He laughed at that. They got talking and he told them about the car accident that had put him in the wheelchair. “The doctors say that there is zero percent chance I will every walk again.”

“Do you believe that?” Jean asked.

“I don’t want to, but doctors usually know what they are talking about.”

“Well, we know someone who always knows what He’s talking about and He can heal you.” Nan said.

“Take me to him,” the man said.

“Jesus can heal you.” Nan said.

“I haven’t been to church for years.” 

“That can’t stop him from healing you. I stop going to church for about twenty years and He still got hold of me.” Nan said.

“Do you want us to pray for you?” Jean asked.

“Okay, it can’t hurt.”

“Let’s just do it the way the disciples did it,” Nan said. She grabbed one of the man’s hands and motioned to Jean to grab the man’s other hand.

As Nan told the story to the women at the team meeting she stopped here and looked around the room. “I can’t explain what came over me. At that moment I had so much faith that man could walk if I only obeyed what Jesus was showing me to do inside, that if I didn’t follow through right then, that man would lose a miracle.”

Jean did grab the man’s other hand. Nan said to the man, “In the name of Jesus Christ who died for all your sins, to save you from hell and destruction, stand up and walk.” They pulled the man up to his feet. He started walking, then dancing around his wheelchair. “Holy crow,” he said. He sat down in the wheelchair and began to cry. “Thank you, thank you,” he repeated.

“Don’t thank us, thank Jesus,” Jean said, a big smile plastered across her face.

The man stood up again. “I can walk. I can really walk, thank you Jesus. Wait till my wife sees this.” He took his chair by the handles, turned it around and headed up the street.

“That was yesterday,” Jean said. “We haven’t seen him since. We don’t even know his name.”

Minnie Goes to Heaven (124)

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They decided, rather than pre-planning a route, to walk through their area listening to the Lord's direction along the way. Judy pulled out her nursing schedule. “I actually have a pretty light month coming up,” she said. “I’ve put in a lot of overtime lately and they’ve just hired a few new part-timers to fill in the gaps. I’ve got twelve free days after tomorrow.”

“I wonder when's the best time to go,” Minnie said.

“Lord, we want your timing on this,” Judy prayed.

“Let’s just go out first thing Tuesday morning and we’ll plan day-by-day from there,” Minnie said. “The more we’re out there, the more He will be able to use us.”

“Agreed.”

On Tuesday morning Judy called Minnie, “I’m so sorry, I have to work today, someone called in sick.”

Minnie decided to go alone. She could at least walk and pray the area. She drove out and parked on Kerns Street which was the most southerly street in their section. When she stepped out of the car, her left foot missed the curb and twisted into the gutter. “Oh crap.” She tried to walk on it, but couldn’t go beyond a hobble. Minnie hopped back to the car. “Now what, Lord?”

If she didn’t put weight on her foot, it didn’t feel so bad. She decided to drive the area. She drove the perimeter praying peace and blessing to every household. She wondered how big the area actually was so she checked her odometer and drove around once more. Her odometer measured 12 kilometres. There was a stream with a bit of a woods running through the centre of the area with designated parkland on both sides. Then she drove up and down the streets first on one side of the parkland and then on the other, always praying for the Lord’s peace to rest on each household.

By the time Minnie got home a few hours later her ankle was throbbing. She put ice on it and prayed. “Lord heal this ankle.”

The next morning when Judy came to the house, Minnie hobbled to the door. Judy took one look at the ankle and said, “You shouldn’t be walking on that. Wrap it, apply ice and rest it as much as you can.”

“We’re supposed to be praying for our area,” Minnie said. “I’m not letting this get in the way.”

“Well, sit down,” Judy said. “Do you have a tensor bandage?”

“There might be one under the sink in the upstairs bathroom.”

Judy went upstairs and came back with the bandage. “What did you family say about this?”

“They were concerned, but they know better than to try to tell me what to do.”

Judy wrapped the ankle. “You should not be walking on this.”

“We could drive our area. That’s what I did yesterday.” Minnie said.

“I’ll drive,” Judy said, “You sit in the back with your leg up.

They drove up and down the streets of the former Christmas tree farm praying for each family as they felt led. 
“I don’t know a single person living up here and yet I'm feeling very connected,” Judy said. 

Minnie Goes to Heaven (123)

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The discipleship group had put together packets for every team member. Each packet included a laminated map of the team’s area with the streets clearly marked, a marker for writing on the map, a simple list of instructions, a spiral notebook for taking prayer requests, a pen and a small Gideon Bible.

Mary partnered with a woman from St. John’s Presbyterian Church. Their area included the Beeky home. Minnie’s territory was up in New Haven with Judy from Rockwood Gospel Tablernacle. She was totally delighted when she found out that the person who had volunteered from Rockwood was none other than the nurse who had helped her at the hospital.

Judy and Rex came over Sunday afternoon to visit the Beeky’s. They talked as if they were old friends. “I don’t know why we haven’t gotten together sooner,” John said. “I like you people.”

“It’s actually feels good to just be me and not have to constantly beware if something I say can be misconstrued as something else,” Rex said. “I’ve learned to choose my words carefully and not always say what I really think.”

“You can trust John to keep what you tell him as confidential,” Minnie said.

“Mostly because I have trouble remembering who said what,” laughed John.

John turned on the TV. “Are you into football?” he asked.

Rex nodded. “Love to watch a game. I’m a Ti-Cat fan.”

“They just happen to be playing this afternoon,” John said.

Judy and Minnie sat at the dining room table with their map, planning their strategy.

“Let’s pray first,” Judy said.

“Dear, God,” Minnie prayed as she remembered sitting  in His lap, “You want this more than we do. This is your plan from the beginning. Dear God help us to follow you, to listen to your direction as we walk these streets. We pray that for everyone on the team. We pray for unity, your guidance and a fun time as we go out into this city and put your name on it. Turn each heart toward you. You are worthy.”

“You are Almighty, the Beginning and the End. Lead us and guide us by your Holy Spirit and in the name of your son Jesus,” Judy added.

“Amen,” they concluded.

They looked at the map in front of them. It was of a relatively new area in the city. “I can remember when that was a farmer’s field,” Judy said. “We used to get our Christmas trees there.”

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“When would you need it?” Father George asked.

“We haven’t even thought of a date yet.” Hannah said.

“Get back to our office when you know. I’ll tell them to let you have it when you need it. Hopefully there won't be a conflict. As long as you don't pick a Wednesday or Thursday evening, you should be fine. The room holds up to 300 people and by all means fill it.” Father George smiled as he shook their hands once more and directed them to the way out. “We’ll look forward to receiving that prayer list.”

Minnie and Hannah could barely contain themselves. Once outside, Minnie said, “That was so God.”

They arranged the kick-off rally in short order. It would be held the second Friday evening in September. Each member of the discipleship group connected with a volunteer from their assigned church.  
Everything was working out.

“You know what’s bothering me,” Minnie said to Mary and John one evening as they were drinking coffee and watching the fake fireplace in the front room. “There aren’t any men in this plan.”

“You wait,” John said. “Once this ground work is done, the Lord will have lots for the men to do. You watch.”

“What are you thinking, Dad?” Mary asked.

“You just wait. You’ll see.” He took a sip of coffee and looked at Mary with that look that said she wouldn’t get anymore out of him.

The rally went off without a hitch. In an attempt to follow Father George's instruction to fill the room, prayer partners invited friends and family.

Thus, about 300 men, women and children listened to Minnie give an inspiring message on the importance to God of each person in Haven. “He loves each one of us. This is our chance to show His love to every person in this town. We’ll listen to the requests of any and every person who wants to make a request. We’ll pray God’s heart into every requested situation.”

The catholic women’s guild surprised the group by offering up a spread of cookies and squares and sandwiches, with a choice of coffee, tea or juice. When Minnie wanted to pay them, they wouldn’t to hear of it. “We’re doing it for our dear Lord and the Blessed Mother Mary,” a spokeswoman said. “She waved her hand and refused to hear any more about payment.