My name is Heather Gilley. I am twenty-six years old. I have been married for two years and three months. My husband, Bob, and I have a three month old baby boy named Samuel. We are on full time deputation heading for the country of Brazil. It looks like we will be moving there in the spring of 2002.

I was not reared in a Christian home. My mom had my twin brother and I in her teenage years. I have never met my father because he left before we were born. My mom had a few boyfriends but she never did marry. 

On a warm day near the end of July, my brother, Chad, and I were outside in our yard playing when two young men approached us. They invited us to ride a bus to Vacation Bible Time at the First Baptist Church in Rosemount, MN. We got permission from my mom and we hopped on a red and white church bus the next evening. I attended every night and on that Thursday night, I put my trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was thirteen years old. I continued riding the bus to church and my bus captain quickly made me a bus worker. My brother started to get into trouble our seventh grade year and before the year was over, the public school system would not allow him to go back the following year. My mom gave us a choice between the Christian school at First Baptist or the Catholic school. We, of course, chose the Christian school. My mom allowed us to get baptized and join the church to receive a 10% discount on tuition. After our eighth grade year, however, my mom wanted us back in the public school. I pleaded for her to let me stay in the Christian school. After much begging, she gave me permission to remain in the school but she said that she would not pay for it. I had saved money from baby sitting and later that year I got a job working at Dairy Queen.  The Lord enabled me to work my way through the Christian school. Our Senior year, Chad got saved - Praise the Lord!! (He has married a good Christian girl and they now have two children.) I had decided that I wanted to go to a Christian college because I wanted to someday have a Christian home and where else to find a good Christian guy than at Bible college? I went to Bible college and graduated with a degree in education. It wasn't until I was teaching kindergarten in a Christian school, though, that I met my husband. 

A verse in the Bible that is real special to me is Isaiah 64:8. It says, " But, now O Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay; thou our potter and we are all the works of thy hand."

Heather with her husband Bob and their 'peanut', Samuel.

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