THE VISION - Pine Tree Retreat was birthed in the heart of God, and the call was given to me on February 15, 1969. I was a newborn in God, having been born again in January of 1968 while I was crying my heart out to God, whom I had known about since early childhood because my dear mother was a Christian and had taken my brother and me to Sunday School and church from early childhood. Kathryn Kuhlman was having one of her "heart to heart" talks that day on a Boston radio station, but the radio was in the kitchen, and I hadn't been listening. But suddenly, as I was praying and crying out to God, telling Him that I had totally missed the mark and that my life was a big round "0", it was as if someone turned up the volume on my radio, and I heard the Holy Spirit saying through Kathryn Kuhlman, "You there, who are crying, God sees your tears and hears your prayer, and He is , not only going to answer your prayer, but He is going to grant the desires of your heart!". Then it was as if I saw my life like an album with all it's pages flipping over and falling into place, and God spoke to my heart and mind and told me that He had heard every prayer that I had ever prayed since the very first one. (I had prayed since early childhood because I had a very abusive dad - not sexually, but verbally and physically - more against my mom than my brother or me.) I had joined a Missionary Baptist Church when I was sixteen years of age and thought that I was a "Christian". I was a regular church attendee, and at times, a Sunday School teacher. I was a "good" person. It wasn't until life brought me to the end of myself that I was truly born again. That was a marvelous day! It was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders, and I suddenly had a wonderful peace and joy.

In October of 1968 I accompanied a sister in Christ, Beverly Young, and her mother to an Episcopal Church in East Bridgewater, Mass. to attend a seminar. We arrived on a Saturday morning, not realizing that the sessions didn't begin until afternoon. However, the pastor, a guest minister, and a layman were meeting in the pastor's study, and they invited us to join them. That occasion turned out to be my appointed time to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The visiting minister was a former Baptist minister that had been relieved of his pulpit after receiving the Baptism himself. He laid hands on me and prayed, and I received the Baptism with laughter. The gift of tongues came a month later in my personal prayer time.

On February 15, 1969 Beverly invited me and another sister-in-Christ to attend a weekend seminar at Gray Ledges, a Christian Retreat near Grantham, New Hampshire. I was hungry for anything God had for me. When I was saved I really turned my life over to Him, lock, stock, and barrel! I wasn't feeling physically well that day and certainly didn't expect anything spectacular to happen, but when we entered the closed-in front porch of the beautiful old red New England farmhouse on top of a mountain, God spoke "so loud and clear" that I turned to see if Beverly and my other friend were hearing it too. They weren't. He said, "This is what I want you to do with your dad's farm down in North Carolina. You will call it Pine Tree Retreat, and you'll be there within two years.". That was all He told me at that time. I had many questions because I had never been to a retreat before and had no idea what He was talking about.

My brother had gone on to be with the Lord in 1951, but my mother and dad were still living. I was divorced from my husband in 1969 and was setting off on the awesome journey of rearing five children - ages 5 to 12.

When I sat down to write my dad a letter to let him know of my plans to return to North Carolina, I couldn't get the pen to write; so I tried another pen. It wouldn't write either. After a try with a third pen I realized that it wasn't the right time. Out of curiosity, the next day I tried all three pens, and they all wrote just fine. It was nearly two years later before God released me to write my dad and mom about my call and plans to move back. My dad was not happy about it. He told a cousin of mine that he did not want me to come. Thank God that I knew who my real enemy was; the devil, not my dad.

From 1969 until November of 1971, when we finally made the move, God confirmed my call on several occasions. The most concrete way was through Scripture. A young woman whom I had known for some years came to stay with me. She wasn't saved and had multitudinous problems. It overwhelmed me so much that one night, upon retiring, I cried out to God to show me what Pine Tree Retreat was for and just randomly opened my Bible, and my eyes fell on II Kings 4:8-11. What a relief when I saw that it was for a man of God who traveled by the Shunamite woman's house. A few days later God confirmed that Scripture through a Catholic priest at a prayer meeting in the home of the aforementioned Spirit-filled Baptist minister.

There was a lady in Massachusetts who had a vision of the farm and told me that she felt God would have me start with the existing house at the end of the lane. My dad built the house out of cement blocks in the early fifties. He originally planned to make a barn out of it, but my mother talked him into making it into a house. They lived in an old wood-frame house built back in the nineteen twenties, and she wanted something better to live in. However, my dad let tenants live in it first. That's just how mean he treated my mother. Anyway, I put the idea about starting with the block house, as we call it, aside in my mind. I had other ideas. The most beautiful thing about her vision were the words God gave her - "I entreat thee to enter in". What a beautiful invitation. I plan to use those words on an arch over the entrance to the retreat.

After moving to North Carolina the Lord continued to give me words through others that He wanted me to start with the block house; so I finally said "O.K., Lord, what do you want me to do with it?". He showed me how to remodel it. The children and I felt like it should be bulldozed down, but God wanted to redeem it. He showed me that HE wanted it paneled with pine paneling inside and out. He confirmed that later.

Another wonderful thing God did for me was save all five of my children during those two years that we were still in Massachusetts. He knew how difficult the way would be for the next twenty years or so and how intense the spiritual warfare on the farm would be. How gracious He's been to me.

February 15, 1994 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of my call. Most of those years were spent in struggling to rear my children, hold down a teaching job in the public schools, and walk through both of my parents' last days. My mom died in 1973, and my dad died in 1977. My dad, to my knowledge, was never saved. He did not will the property to me, but since I was the only heir, I inherited it anyway.

Soon after relocating to the farm, I, along with my older daughter, Deborah, and my oldest son, Bob, drew up by-laws and incorporated under the name "Bountiful Christian Fellowship". There's a story behind that name that began back in Massachusetts. One Sunday afternoon the children kind of gathered around me in our living room at 751 Whitman Street in Hanson, Mass. It was like being thrown into the sea of life after my divorce, and I felt like I was going down for the third time. I told the children that it was like being in a row boat, and I exhorted them not to knock holes in the bottom of the boat; that we had to pull together. The next Sunday after we got home from church we gathered in the kitchen, and God picked up the symbol and enlarged our vision. Our row boat became a sailing vessel. The Holy Spirit used my oldest son, Bob, to envision the ship. He said that it was to be called "the Bounty", and that it was a 3-master, representing the Trinity: one mast for the Father, one for the Son, and one for the Holy Spirit. The middle mast would be the tallest with a cross bar representing the cross is the center of Christianity. I saw God, the Father, as the Commander-in-chief; God, the Son, as the Pilot; and God, the Holy Spirit, as the Wind that would fill our sails and direct our course. I was dubbed "Captain", and I ranked the children as mates, as follows - Deborah became First-mate; Bob, Second-mate; Christopher, third-mate; Douglas, Fourth-mate; and Laura, Fifth-mate.

July 1, 1994 I retired from teaching, and am now devoting myself to my call full-time.