 Meet Ellen Fendley 84 years old on June 9, 2001
Mother, wife, nurse, and missionary, Mrs. Ellen Fendley, spoke, “Prayer changes things and it changes people” without hesitation. She says, “There’s nothing in the world that will take the place of actually winning souls. Put your heart in it, your mind in it, your money and your talent in it and God will answer your prayers.” Mrs. Ellen is still a soul winner for Jesus.
After Hurricane George destroyed her Mobile, Alabama home, she moved into Robertsdale Health Care Center in April of this year. She says, “That’s another testimony of what Jesus will do.” An hour before the hurricane hit, her granddaughter, who she hadn’t seen in a couple of months, decided to come and get her. “A tree would have landed right down on the bed I was in if I had been in the house. The Lord still takes care of me,” she says.
Mrs. Ellen’s desire to help others and spread the good news didn’t stop when she moved into the nursing home. She delivers the daily mail and teaches two bible classes through “Source of Life Ministries”. A couple of the ladies are bedfast so she goes to their room and helps them with their studies. She says, “As long as I’m able to breathe, I’m ready to testify
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for my Lord.”
Mrs. Ellen was born in Georgia, and moved to Mobile, Alabama when she married at the age of 17. As a child they went to church each Sunday in a two horse wagon, unless it was raining, then they took the buggy. She had 12 brothers and sisters but only 6 were home at that time. She says, “It was still pretty crowded in the buggy though!”
Mrs. Ellen outlived her husband of 47 years and both their children, a daughter and a son. In her 60’s when her husband died, she heard the call of the Lord and went into the mission field. Although Mrs. Ellen was a nurse, her work in the field was more in the soul winning department, giving out bibles and tracts and ministering through God’s word. She has been in 12 different countries doing mission work. The greatest work she says was done in Brazil and Mexico.
Many wonderful memories and experiences are in Mrs. Ellen’s ‘still sharp mind’. She said, “When we were on the Amazon, we were not in a very good boat, then we got into little skiffs which were worse. “I thought we were going to drown out there. We went out into big swamps with lily pads, some 9 feet in size. The river was filled with piranha's, a flesh eating fish. If you put your hand in the water, even just a little, the piranha's would draw blood pretty quick.” The anaconda (a snake) was there also. They came in contact with one that was 30 feet long! That was quite an experience.
She says, “Jesus was |
with me all the time though. I’m severe insulin dependent diabetic. The temperature was 103-108 degrees, day and night. I like to have smothered to death. With temperature like that my insulin would have spoiled overnight. I told our guide I could not go without something to keep my insulin cool. A call was put in to the mission leader who called Brazil and talked to the mayor. They put an American made refrigerator in our kitchen.” She states, “That is an answer to prayer. No one had a refrigerator in their home, except the governor.” She knows she would have never answered the call to the mission field without prayer. Mrs. Ellen said they started having prayer meetings two months before going to Brazil. “We knew what we were going for, what we had to do, prayed specifically, and the Lord answered that prayer!”
Mrs. Ellen is a lady who not only believes in, but also depends on prayer. When you want to meet an example of a precious saint of God, one who will encourage you to fight the good fight, to never stop sharing Jesus, just stop by when you’re in Robertsdale, Alabama and meet Mrs. Ellen Fendley.  Mrs. Ellen loves flowers. A beautiful fall bouquet covers her lap. |
