Many times family reunions only happen as the result of a wedding or a funeral. Ralph Watts, Jr. (former President of ADRA) and his wife Patricia had a different kind of reunion in mind for their family – one that would not only bring them closer together as a family, but would unite their hearts in mission and service to God.

In July of 2007, after months of planning with The Quiet Hour, members of the Watts family traveled to La Ceiba, Honduras to share God’s love and mercy through evangelism meetings, healthcare clinics, and children’s programs.

Meetings were held in five locations throughout the region. Ralph and Pat’s nephew, Pastor Dwight Nelson (who jokingly refers to himself as “half a Watt”), senior pastor of Pioneer Memorial Church at Andrews University, was the featured speaker in the main location of La Ceiba. Pastor Keith Jacobson (Dwight’s brother-in-law) of the Carmichael Seventh-day Adventist Church in Sacramento, California, held meetings at the San Francisco location. Pastor Ralph Watts III, President of the Hawaiian Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, held meetings at the Jutiapa location, and Pastor Vaughn Nelson (Dwight’s nephew) and Chaz Falk (Ralph and Pat’s grandson) were co-speakers for the El Porvenir location.

While the speakers were working on the nightly sermons and visiting with local church members and guests, other team members were working hard in the daily clinics.  Pat Watts and her daughter, Marcia Falk, worked in the vision clinic while Marcia’s husband Dr. Greg Falk led out in the medical clinic with assistance from Karilu Jacobson (Keith’s wife and Dwight Nelson’s sister), a registered nurse. Other family members such as Tessa and Quintin Falk (Greg and Marcia’s children) and Andrew Crane (Ralph and Pat’s grandson) also assisted in the daily clinics and helped with the children’s programs at the various sites.

Daily, as the family united to pray, praise God, and share His love, exciting things began to happen, and people gave their hearts and lives to Christ. On more than one occasion they were reminded how fragile life is and how important the timing of our decisions can be.

Dwight Nelson shared this story: “One night three young men came forward in the appeal. The Honduran pastors and the Bible workers greeted the three men and immediately began to appeal to them to make their decision to follow Jesus in baptism. But in the end, only one of them responded and was baptized. The other two decided to wait. A few days later we learned that the night after they had come forward, all three of the young men were killed in a gangland shooting.”

Another man whose life was changed was a “spy” from a large Pentecostal church in La Ceiba who intended to report the “heresy” preached in Pastor Dwight Nelson’s sermons. On the evening he slipped into the meetings, Dwight was preaching on the subject of the Sabbath. The man sat quietly through the sermon, listening intently. The message spoke to his heart, and when the altar call was made, he came forward to dedicate himself to prepare for baptism.

Lives were changed through the clinics as well. People began to line up before 6:00 a.m. every day for the opportunity to be treated by the medical, dental and vision care teams. The Honduran pastors took waiting patients inside the church so that they could rest comfortably in the pews. These pastors couldn’t resist such an inviting opportunity to share the gospel, so they preached to the waiting crowd. As a result, more than 300 of these patients accepted the gift of salvation and were baptized.  Many of these people might not have made it to the evening meetings – but the meetings were brought to them and souls were saved.

Ralph Watts III stated, “Preaching each night and witnessing the power of the Holy Spirit moving upon the hearts of these precious people as they came forward to commit their lives to God and be baptized is an unforgettable experience. Then, one realizes too that all of heaven is bursting into one giant cosmic celebration over each one who repents and is baptized.”  He also shares, “This trip was a real bonding time for our family. We are all so spread out and stretched out with various responsibilities and schedules that it was nothing short of a miracle this even took place at all.”           

In a poetry journal about this experience, Marcia Falk writes:

As a result of this unique family reunion, more than 1,100 precious souls have been added to God’s eternal kingdom. The Quiet Hour thanks the Watts family for their hard work and dedication to sharing the gospel. We invite you to contact The Quiet Hour and plan your own family reunion – one that reaps everlasting rewards.

Charlene Hilliard West is evangelism and international mission projects coordinator for The Quiet Hour.