My name is Pamela and I want to share my gratitude for the small red Bible I received from Irvine Royal Academy.

I received my Bible from yourselves when I was 12, in my first year at secondary school around 20 years ago. I wrote my name in it and kept it by my bed, occasionally picking it up but never really knowing where to start. I had been raised a Christian and always had my faith but as I reached the age of becoming an adult, work, college and social life sadly got in the way.

In 2015 I had my third baby. This was to me a special gift as my husband and I hadn’t planned a third so our plans were stopped or redirected. I felt very lost in myself.

Through this time I was directed back to thinking about my family and their faith in God. I started praying and very much wanted to start reading the Bible to learn more about the faith I had been brought up with but wasn’t sure where any of my Bibles were.

One day during a clear out, I found the small red Bible I was given at school. I couldn’t believe it had made it through two house moves. That day I opened it and read the introduction then started with the 30 day readings. From that day I have read it every morning and sometimes more when I feel I need that extra time with God. It has answered many of my questions and has helped make things clear to me from the last 17 years.

The answers truly are in God’s Word.

Thank you for that gift to a small, quiet 12 year old who never knew until her 30s exactly the power that was put into her hands.

Pamela

The following letter arrived in the post this morning:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am a prisoner currently residing in HMP Wymott.

It’s almost a cliché about prisoners finding God in jail but He has been very patient with me and I have come to realise the love that Jesus has for every one of us, prisoner and saint alike.

I was in church last Sunday and was given a Gideon Bible by one of the Chaplains. On the inside of the Bible it says that I can write if I have been helped. This letter is a thank you for this wonderful gift of God’s Word. I find so much hope and inspiration in what Jesus did and His sacrifice for all of us.

So thank you for spreading the Word of God.

Yours sincerely

Martin

We recently received the following email entitled ‘Changing My Life’:

Hi

I live in South Africa and last year my parents were on a trip in the UK just before Christmas. They were walking down the street when someone offered them both a little red pocket Bible.

My parents aren’t usually the kind of people to take things like this. Living in South Africa you know not to take anything that has been given to you on the street but for some reason or other my parents made the exception and even asked the lady if they could have three more, one for myself, my brother and my boyfriend. The lady, with a smile and without hesitation, handed them three more.

At first, this Bible was just something that was in my bag but as the year progressed I started reading it more and more until it became something very, very dear to me and that I couldn’t do without.

Although I have always been a Christian, my life has significantly changed since picking up this Bible and really starting to read it. Although I understand that it is God’s Word that has worked with me and in me and has spoken to me through this Bible, I just want to thank whoever it was in your organisation for their kindness. For giving away five Bibles to my family and enabling me to build and rebuild my relationship with my Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I pray that your organisation is blessed and that you will continue to change people’s lives and introduce them to the Word of God.

Thank you very very much.

This morning I decided to visit some friends who worship in St Clements Church in Neyland, Pembrokeshire.

As I sat by my friend Betty, a birthday card was handed to me to write a greeting in. I was told it was for Stan who will be 102 years old later this month.

After the service I was having a cup of tea and, seeing Stan in his best suit looking very smart, I decided to have a little chat with him. Stan looked familiar to me and I asked him if he had been present when The Gideons had given a presentation at the church just a couple of years ago. Stan replied that he had, and that he had later received a large print New Testament and Psalms from The Gideons as he now had trouble reading his small Gideon New Testament.

I had been at that presentation and I remembered meeting Stan after the service and he told me how he got that little New Testament. I was blessed that he repeated the story to me again that morning, so that I can share it with my Brothers and Sisters.

Many years ago, Stan’s son Terrence was seriously ill in Morriston Hospital. Whilst in hospital, Terrence was given a Gideon New Testament for his personal use. Sadly, Terrence passed away at the age of only twenty two and his father Stan received the little Testament and took it home.

I remember when we first met Stan and, with a small tear in the corner of his eye, he shared how he had read that Gideon New Testament every day, practically wearing it out. It had meant so much to him.

Later on, his vicar Rev Alan Chadwick, had emailed me to see if we might be able to provide a large print Gideon Testament for Stan, so that he might continue to enjoy God’s Word as his eyesight is now failing. Thankfully we were able to provide the largest size Testament that The Gideons have printed and I was able to drop it off for Stan.

I was told by Alan that the Testament had been very well received and was a great comfort to Stan as he passed the age of 100 years old.

So this morning, after realising who Stan was, I asked him how he was finding the large print Testament. “It’s the best thing I have ever been given” was Stan’s firm reply, wagging his finger as he said those words with a smile. “I keep it in the kitchen and read it after breakfast every day and it’s on the shelf for everyone to see!”

I don’t know who in the Swansea area gave Stan’s son, Terrence, that first Gideon New Testament whilst he was in Morriston Hospital, but I do know that it has been well loved and a great encouragement, especially to Stan. That little New Testament is still treasured by Stan but as he reaches 102 years young he is very, very grateful that the Gideons also do Testaments in large print!

We may never know where our Gideon New Testament and Bibles will end up, or whose lives they may touch on their journey…but God knows, and that’s good enough to encourage me and my Gideon friends to keep giving them out here in South West Wales.

Yours in Christ

Andrew Scadden, Pembrokeshire Branch of The Gideons

Dear all at Gideons,

My name is Neill Hudson. I am a 50 year old Christian who used to work for the Salvation Army. I had just got married, and like most young families we were finding things tough financially. I left the Salvation Army employment and as things became more difficult, the more hours I would work. Eventually I found myself working seven days a week just to keep our heads above water.

A few years came and went and I worked what seemed like incredibly long hours and saw less and less of my family and I missed them as much as I know they missed me. I became incredibly tired and eventually went to see the family doctor who took some blood for tests.

I went back to work and the following morning I received a phone call telling me I had late-onset type 1 diabetes. A diagnosis I was shocked but not particularly surprised by as all my family were diagnosed with the same condition. Anyway, I not only walked away from the Lord but I committed one of the worst sins I could, I led my family away from the Lord also.

On the 13 September 2017 I was admitted to Cheltenham General Hospital where I was operated on and had my left leg amputated below the knee. Today, Monday 18 September, I was sat in my wheelchair feeling sorry for myself, packing my belongings away in my locker when I found a New Testament and Psalms placed by The Gideons.

I let it fall open and you hear of people having these wonderful epiphanies but there it was! Psalm 46, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

What a foolish man I have been. I tried leading my family when all I needed to do was leave it with the Lord. I’ve done that tonight in my hospital bed. I rang my wife and we prayed together on the phone and we are going to go back to church.

Things are still quite tough but I am excited after rededicating my life to the Lord. Please feel free to use this witness statement because I will be telling everyone, not as my own glory, but the Lords.

Neill Hudson