I want to give honor to three young men in their late teens who helped make “My Impossible Dream” come true in 1974.
Maud, Okla. and Rota, Spain, are worlds apart, and even though our youngest daughter, Theresa, and our two-year-old grandson, Jason, and her Navy husband, Jim Storts, had been there for two years and would be there for another two years, my chances of going over to see them were slim to none.
In 1974, we had a missionary sister, Eula Jones, c0me to the Church of God in Maud for a revival, and to share some of her many missionary trips with us. While in Maud, she got Jim and Theresa’s address in Spain, and made plans to visit them for a revival, and some missionary work while there.
She invited me to travel with her, as a suprise for my family there. I began to pray about it and talk to my husband, Dewey Faulkner, about going on the trip.
He was running Dewey’s Service Station in Maud, and was not really supportive of the trip. As that was an expense that he did not feel was neccessary at that time and two weeks was a long time.
One evening, three young brothers, Jack, Barry, and Steve O’Daniel were in the station, and the trip and my desire to go were mentioned. The three of them began to urge Dewey to “let me go, that he really ought to let me go.” Telling him what a wonderful opportunity for me to go see our daughter and grandson, and two years was a long time, and that it would be another two years before I’d get to see them again.
Dewey finally said “Mabel can save the change that comes in to the register and when she has enough saved to pay for it, she can take the trip.”
I still have a warm spot in my heart for these three young men.
When they got their wages at the end of the month for the work that they had done, they took their checks to the bank and exchanged them for rolls of coins and paid Dewey what they owed him with rolls of coins! It was more than enough for my trip! Dewey tried to holler “Foul! That’s not fair!” But they held him to his word, and I had two wonderful weeks with my daughter and my precious little red-haired grandson! And were they ever suprised to see me!
I have many beautiful memories of all that we saw and experienced in Spain.
These three young men are grown and now have grandchildren of their own, but I have never forgotten how they “pulled a good one on Dewey” which they dearly loved to do, and helped make my “Impossible Dream” come true. And God made a way where there seemingly was no way.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
