Norm Benson's testimony

Genesis 8:22 "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease."

The part of that saying I know is true is "seedtime and harvest." I am a farmer and every year farmers know that sometime or other there will be a seedtime and there will be a harvest.

Around 1945 I went to a Baptist Convention in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. While I was there, I told the Lord that I wanted to be a missionary. I came back to the famr and continued doing my job. I got up at 5 a.m., milked the cows and fed the cows. In the summer I baled hay for the cows, planted corn for the cows. At night, I milked the cows and fed the cows. The next day, I got up at 5 a.m., milked the cows, fed the cows, fixed the fence for the cows, baled more hay for the cows and at night milked the cows and fed the cows.

In the Fall, I got up at 5 a.m. and milked the cows, fed the cows, harvested the corn for the cows, and at night milked the cows and fed the cows. In the winter, I milked the cows, fed the cows, thawed water buckets for the cows, repaired machinery, and at night milked the cows and fed the cows. On Sundays we went to church after milking the cows and feeding the cows. We didn't do anything but chores on Sundays.

All this time I was learning to weld, to build farm buildings, to pour cement and to repair things using what other people had thrown away.

After almost 50 years, the Lord said, "Now, you are ready."

Earlene, my wife, retired from teaching and the Lord sent us to Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, I have been able to use all the lessons the Lord taught me. I have welded, built buildings, poured cement and have repaired many things using what other people have thrown away. Most of all, I have learned to stick with it until the job is done.

Those 50 years were my "seedtime." The last years have been the "harvest time." We don't know how long the harvest time is going to be, but the Lord has been faithful to us and we want to be faithful to Him.

- Norman Benson

(Norm and Earlene have worked at ESD every winter since 1997. Previous to that, they spent several years at the Safe Harbor Christian Servicemen's Center in Ceiba PR.)