Myra Benedict

It was in August of 1915 that a group of people from the Apostolic Faith in Portland, Oregon, including the overseer, Mrs. Florence L. Crawford, came to Mt. Vernon, Washington, to hold a series of meetings in a tent.

I had never attended their tent meetings, but had heard one street meeting. My neighbors attended every service and told me about them. I was stubborn and would not go. However, I obtained one of their publications and read it over and over until it was worn out.

After the meetings were closed, the group rented a hall and established an Apostolic Faith Church in Mt. Vernon. My husband attended and God saved his soul. I saw the change in his life, and in January 1916, began attending the services, but I was too stubborn to go to the altar to pray.

The last Sunday of February 1916, I prayed through to real salvation in my own home. My husband was praying with me. The Lord changed my heart, taking out the love I had for novels. I would rather have read them than eat a meal, but this dropped from my life along with other sins. Stubbornness left me, and I enjoyed going to church every time I could. We had no automobiles in those days, so we had to walk to church with three children.

Later, due to an affliction that my little girl had, I met with much persecution and opposition from both my parents and my husband’s parents. The Lord saw us through this test though, and in time, He healed our child.

In 1918, the church had so few attending that the congregation was asked to disperse to other established Apostolic Faith churches. About fourteen adults, plus several children, moved to Portland, Oregon, and to Chehalis and Port Angeles, Washington.

We moved to Port Angeles in March 1919, and I served in the Lord’s work for as long as the Lord gave me strength. I attended many out-of-town meetings with a group, and I played and sang in the services. In 1976, after my husband passed away, I moved to Portland to be with my daughter.

Now I am ninety-eight years of age and am no longer able to attend the services. I am so glad that I am still serving the same God after sixty-nine years. I have never wanted or looked for any other way. My heart rejoices in this great salvation and my heart is set on the coming of Jesus, unless He takes me before then.