By Vincent Delhal
When Apostle Fidel Donaldson and a team of missionaries from the United States of America landed in Jamaica on July 13, 2023, for their “Mission to Jamaica: Fishing For the Souls of Men” outreach, they had a plan of the activities they would be undertaking while on the island. They were working in partnership with the Assembly of God Church in Jamaica through Bishop Dr. David Ewen and Bishop Michael Grant, and each day, they saw God at work, helping them accomplish their goals.
A cookout for the children in Porus, Manchester, was scheduled for Thursday, July 27, 2023. The intention was to treat the children, gift the needy with items of clothing and shoes, and minister to the young men who were expected to turn up.
Four youngsters (a girl and three boys) and an adult male decided to accept Christ at the cookout. When they informed the team that they also wanted to be baptised, we, the team members, looked at each other—that was not on the itinerary! But if God had drawn these five persons to Him, surely He would provide the means for them to be baptised?
GOD ALWAYS HAS A BACK-UP PLAN
Apostle Fidel chuckled as the Holy Spirit reminded him of the little river he had passed on his way to the cookout. I too had noticed the river while travelling with another brother through Porus to get to Mandeville from Kingston. We were soon to discover that in addition to God’s back-up plan, He also had a major surprise in store for us.
Everyone involved in organising the mission knew that the focus was on winning the souls of men, specifically, so we were in a celebratory mood en route to the river with our four new converts, comprising four males and a female. When we got to the river, having baptised the little girl first, then the three boys, as our attention turned to the adult male, another young man stepped forward! He was from Michigan and was vacationing in Jamaica with his family. He explained that while coming to his birth home, he had made a pledge to God that He would get baptised on this trip. He didn’t know how it was going to happen, but when he saw the words on Apostle Fidel’s red tee-shirt and realised it was a baptism service about to start, he decided that he was not going to miss this opportunity. The words on the Apostle’s shirt were: “Faith Over Fear.”
It was celebration all around as we led Shawn to the LORD. His wife was there too, and she was so happy she came and planted a big kiss on him—we were all witnesses! Halleleujah!
We chatted with Shawn and gave him a copy of Apostle Donaldson’s book, Men Void of Light, Fathers, Where Are You?
The rest of the day we spent at the river, having to go back and get the rest of the team members, who insisted they had to be at the praise party.
