Bettie Mitchell

Before 1968, although I was a Christian, I had never been taught that Jesus forgave sin. My mother had stated to me every evening that I could not be forgiven, yet we went to church at least twice each week. This led to massive depression.

In 1968, I was in Israel. In the evening on the first day, we stopped at the Jordan River. There were only three of us, the guide, my mother, and myself. The Lord revealed Himself to me at the Jordan. This was the watershed moment of my life, and the beginning of an extraordinary walk of faith.

I sought the very best training, pushing farther than classes would take me, and I went into the depths of the Word of God, the life of Jesus, and indeed, the Bible as a whole at Portland State University. I taught the whole Bible (Old Testament and New Testament), 75 hours each year for Portland Community College through Adult Education. After this teaching began, it grew rapidly into three classes each week, with 150 students. What made the classes different was that I taught them with a gift of faith.

In 1976, I led a tour to the Middle East and then went to Iraq on a biblical archeological tour with a group from Cambridge University.

When we came to the walls of ancient Nineveh, I climbed alone, to the top of the ruin of the high walls. As I looked out across the walls, I saw children carrying school books, playing and talking. I began to see the world in a different way.

There was an interruption and an important pronouncement was given to me. It was by the Living God that it was spoken, "'Do you see these children?' I said, 'Yes, Lord.' He said, 'Here are the children, where are the teachers? I want you to go home, quit your teaching job and teach nothing but My Kingdom.' I said, 'My husband will never agree.' He said, 'I will take care of that.' I said, 'All right I will do it.'" Thus, a covenant was made that has been the foundation of all the work of Good Samaritan Ministries.

At Irbil, the Lord spoke to me a second time. A small child was playing in a heap of rubble, with a little paper sack in her hand, and she was looking for something worth saving. The Lord spoke a second time and said, "'Do you see this child?' I said, 'Yes Lord.' He said, 'When I look at the world, they are like this child. They are looking for something worth saving, but they don't know what is valuable. This is who you will teach.'"

Through this event, I came to understand the tremendous value the Lord places upon each individual. I learned that we each have great value to God and that through being heard, accepted, and loved, we can each move from being victims to servants in our community.

I worked from my home for five years, never dreaming that the ministry in 2009 would be in 39 countries, that we would have over 150 offices in the world, and that the impact of this ministry would be felt worldwide. Our field of labor is counseling, teaching and international training and development.

Samaritans are connected to each other in lifetime relationships. Faith has taught us to empower others and to create balance among the nations and all of the people. Our leaders are trained to see the value of themselves as equal in importance to the value of each person they meet, who is hurting or looking for purpose.

What does Good Samaritan Ministries do? We meet with the individuals, the families, we study their lives, we develop workers, we develop teachers, we have training available for counselors and for people who want to teach, not only the bible, but other subjects in the world. One of the unique features of Good Samaritan Ministries is “as the Lord gave, we give.” We charge nothing for our work, and we live by faith.

We study each person's life individually. We help them to study their own lives to grow, to become effective, to develop as people, and their faith begins to explode. Volunteers come from all over. Few in the ministry as a whole around the world are ever paid to do the work. It is a tremendous gift that God is giving. For in the spirit of giving, life will come to many.

By faith last year, we educated over 8000 children in 22 countries. The assignment is hard. The resources are very limited, but the call does not change. It came from God and to God we will return what he has asked us to do.

A scripture that has helped me enormously, "Never tire of doing good." ~Galatians 6:9

After years of enormously hard work, I have kept this scripture on my wall, and remembered hour by hour never to tire so the goodness may be done. I recommend the scripture to all who choose to live a life of faith.

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