by Pastors Freeman A & Genetta V. Bennett, 2005
Chapter 12 – Little Heart’s Ease (1985-88)
We left Brighton in 1985 and headed to Little Heart’s Ease, Trinity Bay. Our daughter, Hazel, would be attending Grade 12 that year. She had attended the Pentecostal school in Robert’s Arm but now had to go to an integrated school, which was quite different. She planned to stay with her aunt in Robert’s Arm until she completed school.
Before the time came for us to leave, Hazel told us, “I feel the Lord telling me that He has work for me to do in Little Heart’s Ease and that you’ll need my help.” So she moved with us.
Before long, we discovered the work the Lord had for her. Sadie Whalen, who played the organ at the church, was getting up in years and found it difficult to play because of arthritis. One Sunday when Sadie was absent, Hazel walked to the organ and played it without much previous practice. However, she knew how to play the piano accordion. It seemed to be a gift from the Lord. Two other musicians helped, as well.
Hazel went to school to see the courses she would be taking. It was discovered that she had already completed the courses that were being offered, which gave her quite a few spare classes.
When we arrived in the community, we saw that a new church was being built and the old one was still being used. The church began about fifty years ago. The congregation was made up of people from Little Heart’s Ease and Caplin Cove, maybe ten people altogether.
We started work on the new church in the fall and tried to winterize it outside, so we could work on the inside during the winter. We continued to conduct services in the old church. In the spring, the new church was completed enough for us to hold services there.
One Sunday, we decided to hold our last service in the old church. When it came time to preach that morning, I told the congregation, “We’re going to sing ‘Marching on in the light of God…’ as we move from the old church to the new one.”
We began to sing. Everybody stood and continued singing as we marched into the new church next door. We felt much of God’s presence. When we were finished singing and worshiping the Lord, I preached the first sermon in the new church.
Much work remained to be done before the new church was finished, but we had plenty of help from the Bakers, Dodges, Norrisses, Pierceys, Smiths, Stringers and Whalens. They lent a hand and donated many things.
Elsie Whalen donated the pulpit in memory of her late husband, Pastor Joseph Whalen. Almost everything in the new church was donated by individuals. They did all they could to see it completed. The Lord prospered and blessed them and, around 1987, the building was ready for the dedicated service.
We set a Sunday and General Superintendent Roy D. King and others arrived from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland headquarters at St. John’s. The building was full. It was a special day.
From there, we dismantled the old building and conducted services in the new one.
We invited Pastor A.W. Rowe for a week of services. A young boy in the church, Gregory Whalen, suffered with asthma and was allergic to almost everything in the house, including many kinds of food. He was prayed for in the morning service. When he went home for his dinner, he told his mother he could eat potatoes because he was healed. He was never again bothered with asthma or allergies. Today, he is strong and healthy.
One Sunday in 1987, there was a snowstorm and nobody could get to church. We also had to close Sunday school. Two young men decided to go for a hike in the woods. The storm got worse and they lost their way. It caused quite a commotion in the town that night when the boys failed to return home. I went to their home to comfort their parents while the searchers looked for them. Approaching morning, the young men saw a light and headed toward it. They were rescued and brought out of the woods cold, wet and exhausted. The people were thankful that we had prayed with family during the ordeal.
We had good services in Little Heart’s Ease. One week, we held early morning prayer meetings. An elderly gentlemen, Wilson Baker, came down from Caplin Cove. He had not received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. One morning, he was really blessed of the Lord and spoke in tongues.
After the service, he said, “Pastor Bennett, I’ve been saved for a long, long time, but this is the first time I’ve ever spoken in a language I never learned.”
A couple of seniors – Wilson Baker’s wife and a Mrs. Drodge, who was a resident at the Clarke’s Beach Pentecostal Senior Citizens Home – passed away while we were at Little Heart’s Ease.
Someone brought a prayer request for a non-Pentecostal, Anita Kelly, who was living at Southport. My wife felt to visit with her. We discovered her in bad shape. She had a brain tumour and was unable to help herself or do anything. She was taking treatments and had swollen greatly. We talked with her, after which my wife prayed with her.
Long after, we met Anita’s mother and asked how her daughter was doing.
She told us, “She went back to the doctor and he gave her a clean bill of health! He also told her there was no trace of the tumour.”
We asked about her again in the process of writing this book and learned that to this day she is strong and healthy and has not been bothered with the tumour since.
It was nearing the time for conference in the spring of 1987. We felt that we would like to move from Little Heart’s Ease. In those days, pioneer pastors were appointed by the District. I had little choice as to where to go, and few places were open.
At the Conference, Pastor A.W. Rowe said, “Brother Bennett, we have no where to place you this year. There’s nothing open. You’ll have to take a year off.”
We had no place to live, so we were offered a parsonage in a community in which there was no church. However, when the conference ended, I heard that Harbour Breton was still open. I asked Pastor Rowe if we could go there.
He said, “That’s not much to offer you, but you can go there if you want to.”
We went home and prayed about the matter, then decided to go. When the time came for us to move, I packed a U-Haul and we began the long drive to Harbour Breton.
Dedication of New Pentecostal Church, 1985 – PDF
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Transcribed by Maria Drover, June 2023
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material