Dessie Nix

As I look back over my life, I marvel at the way God led our family into this Gospel. My mother was a Christian, and she told me about God and how we must be born again before we could enter Heaven. For years I tried to live a Christian life in my own strength but failed. One time, I joined a church and soon went into active church work, but I became disillusioned and said, “I am through; I will never join another church as long as I live.” In spite of that, God knew my heart. In a most wonderful way He led me to where I could hear about Him.

In 1911, my husband and I were living in a little desert town in Arizona. Our marriage was failing and our plans were not going as we had intended. My health was bad, and the doctor said I could not get well without an operation.

My mother had been receiving papers from a group in Los Angeles, California, that told of how God was healing the sick through prayer. In a miraculous way, God led us to that city. I wrote to a Christian woman who had once been a neighbor of ours, and I told her why I wanted to go to Los Angeles, asking if I could stay at her home in Long Beach. She said I could. I thank God for that trip, because when I got off at the train station, I looked upon the face of that woman and could tell that something wonderful had happened to her. Her whole countenance was different. When we arrived at her home, she told me about sanctification and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. My friend took me to a little mission in Los Angeles that was affiliated with the Apostolic Faith work in Portland, Oregon. I heard people give wonderful testimonies of victory over sin and of healing for the body and soul. I had never heard anything like that before. I told them, “Pray for me that God will give me just what you are telling about!” With my home all but broken up and my health nearly gone, I thought I had nothing more to live for, but that day I prayed. The people there prayed for me and God healed me, but the greatest of all miracles was that God saved me! I became a new person. That was the beginning of my Christian life. Not only did the way I live change, but also my outlook on life became positive. Later, the Lord sanctified me and filled me with the Holy Ghost. A short time later, my husband was wonderfully saved, and there were no more thoughts of separation or divorce.

In a most wonderful way He led me to where I could hear about Him.

God led us to hold cottage meetings in our home until we were able to move to Portland, Oregon, in August of 1913. We lived in Portland until 1919 when we went to San Francisco, California. The work of the Lord in that city holds a special place in my heart. The church owned a Lippert Gospel car at that time. It had a platform that could be pulled out in the back to stand on while speaking or singing. There were many street meetings held in those days, and such large crowds stood to listen! We regularly visited hospitals, care centers, and prisons to share the Gospel and to hand out our church literature.

My husband bought our first car in 1921, and we started out for camp meeting in Portland. You should have seen the roads! At one turn we got stranded, but a kind fellow came along and towed us to Cottonwood, California. We spent three days there in the city park while our car was being fixed. We slept in a pup tent and prepared meals on a gasoline stove out on the ground, but the camp meeting was worth every effort.

In 1938, the San Francisco church was moved to 749 Market Street. There was a steady flow of foot traffic, streetcars, and automobiles along Market Street, and the meetings were well attended by strangers.

My children remember well the twenty-nine steps they had to climb to reach the meeting hall each time we went to church! That location is where we began to have Sunday school. It was a busy time for us, but even as we gave our time to God’s work, He richly blessed our family down through the years. How I thank Him today for this wonderful Gospel!