We recently held a conference in Invercargill, a small city in the South Island. We had a good-sized audience for such a small place (74 people). As usual we wanted to give each couple a rose when they arrived—one of the extra small touches we offer—but when the roses were delivered, they didn’t come with water sachets on the bottom to keep them fresh. Someone on the team said, “I know where we can get some of those,” and phoned a local florist named Angela.
Unknown to us at that time, a friend of Angela’s had previously dropped a FamilyLife brochure in her mailbox, and she’d been looking at it with interest. When she received the phone call for the water sachets, she said, “Sure, I can provide those, and I’d also really like to help over the weekend if I can!”
So Angela (top row, far left in the picture) joined our volunteer team at the last minute, keen to help. She was so impacted by the messages and hearing God’s plan for marriage that she came in on Sunday and announced with a beam on her face, “I’m ready to make the decision.”
She emailed us a week later to say she was getting a great desire for knowing God’s Word, had just started going to an Alpha course with her daughter, and recently took her husband to Winter Bible School.
A couple of months later we received this letter from her:
Hi guys, haven’t forgotten about you all—in fact I still think of you often. I am reading Andy’s book and am finding it a great inspiration. Right now I am watching the video of Andy and Nikki on the FamilyLife website. I visit the site often and am thinking of running some groups in the future.
You will be pleased to know that my husband, Chris and I got baptized over the weekend and are studying and walking with Christ. If there is anything I can do for FamilyLife from down here, I am pleased to be of service to you.
God bless you all and the great work you do.
With love and admiration,
Angela Castle