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Show A Traslt B Margaret Van Noy Profiles Writer Trusting in Cod makes a great difference in a Hrsons life. malia ala, lives by those words and has found them to lie true. MRS. YYAI.A is pastor of Tooeles Christian Faith Churih located at the top of Mam St reel. Mt hough her flock is composed of oulv seven families, the little churih has lieen aide to accomplish great things. As pastor, a jolt not unusual for a woman to fill in the Christian faith denomination, Mrs. vala is responsible for decisions for whatever the church does. The love that she feels for her congregation is evident as she speaks of the "wonderful times spent working together." She is responsible for the preaching and watihes over the churih. Mamlv I encourage them to Ire faithful in what we teaih and preach. It also falls on her to see that everything that is done will Ire done orderlv and on time. ' E II WE dedicated our lives to the laird. We are available to do anything that will be for the glory of Cod, Mrs. vala said. The Christian Faith Church is well known in the area for its fine musicians. They visit the Tooele Valley Rest Home regularly and will go wherever they are invited. Many other organizations and groups have enjoyed their musical talents suih as the Senior Citizens and the LDS Singles group. There is also a young peoples group that visits the rest home twice a month and often goes to jrnvate homes such as elderly couples w ho invite them. "We have singing and reading from the Bible. When we dont have a home to go to, said Pastor Ayala, "we go to church and study the Bible and sing THE I OI NC people engage in different projects. Mrs. Avala says she uses the young people as often as possible whenever there is an oj)jortunity to help somebody. We have a wonderful group that w ill do whatever I ask them - that will church, the community ot even Aep the nation. The pastor lited her ihurchs involvement in the recent elections as an example of how both young and adult members are willing to w'ork for a good cause. She heard that different Christian groups fast. I were going to have a three-dacalled on my churih to ask God to help in choosing the man who would be the next president. It was really bearing on me," she said, I felt niv responsibhty to encourage people to do whatever is right to build a strong nation." She pointed out that there was quite a large group of Christian peo-pl- e fasting and jjraying. y he organized the group to distribute pamphlets for the candidates that they felt were right for positions. It was a wonderful experience for them," she said. They came to my home first and had prayer, and then they went from dixir to door. They were delighted to do something. As Christians we need to watch out for our nation in whatever way possible for us to do it. MRS. AYALA came to Tooele in 1967 after lieing converted to the Christian Faith Church in San Francisco in 1962. Her conversion follow ed years of t roubled searching for answers to questions in her the prices of Toshibamas: Toshibama. We ll get it at that little shop everyone else heave a sigh of relief and fall exhausted into bed, a victim of the previous two months of frenied shopping for Christmas presents. n But unlike most of you, my condition stems from the shopping not the buying. YOU SEE, our yearly quest goes like this: We start out early in October or perhaps even September to get the shopping done early this year. Look, I cried to my husband as we stopped at a Grand Central in Brigham City on our way home from a fishing tip in late autumn, Heres the model of that Toshi-bam- a that we want to get for Lorin for Christmas. Its $4 less than it is out home. Ilmmm. Youre right, he said. SHALL we get it? We ll get a better price before Christmas, Im sure. I low do you know? I asked. run-dow- Trust me, and he sagely tapped his finger to his forehead. SO I trust him. What else can I do? As the holiday season wears on, we continue our pursuit. W'e trek around the corner from Clambakes, he said. IM SORRY, said the clerk. Were all sold out of Toshibamas. After that, there is a mad dash all over town until we finally buy one for $2 more than we could have gotten it in Brigham City, and $4 more than we would have paid two weeks before. But at last, we have the Toshibama, and our search is over. Well, not exactly. NOW WE begin an even more frantic search. We hit every store that might conceivably sell Toshibamas to see if we could have gotten a better price some place else. You go across the street, while I go around the comer and Ill meet you in 20 minutes. Half an hour later we compare notes. It was $10 less at Dunkins, I said. He looked so crestfallen that I hastened to add, but that didnt include batteries. ! he said jubilantly. What do you think it cost at AII-IIA- Rightprice? I cant wait to hear, I said feigning an intense interest. It was exactly the same price we paid for it, but it had only the bare essentials - no attachments. THE NEXT day at work I answered the phone and heard him say, Pick me up at the North gate at 3:31. Whats up? I asked, as he slid 10 percent tithing dona- knows what my life has lieen like since I dedicated it to the Lord. We dont have any debts. When we have money we buy what we want - we really dont need much. I give the glory to God because he is the one that has given me the wisdom to direct my life to tbe way Im doing it. The Christian Faith Pastor lost her other son Charles in 1972. It was when the craze for 10 sjieed bikes first liegan. The two boys had written to their father who sent the money for bikes. "I felt something was going to hapjien. My thoughts were troubled. The lxivs were playing on a hay stack and she told them to get down. They took their bikes and rode out to highway Charles was 36, where thirteen-year-ol- d struck and killed by a car. As her former pastor accompanied her to the hospital, Mrs. Ayala praised the Catholic-Churcfor its firm stand on morality. Leaving it was a imjxirtant decision in her life. I wanted a real change, she said. It is real to know and keep the word of God. We reap the results of our obedience. SEVERAL years ago. Pastor Ayala had an experience which deepened her testimony that trusting in God will make a difference in life. She received a telejihone call informing her that her sons father had died. Back in San Francisco, Mrs. Ayala decided to separate from her husband although she had two young sons. She was Amalia Ayala: God rewarded me for my obedience when I gave my life to seeking fora Christian church like the one Him. her sister belonged to and invited herself into a little branch of the Christian Faith future pastor felt neverthelevs that if she do, she said. Here she was assistant pastor and a Sun- was with the. life her to He Churchy"! consecrated God, impressed would, - their dress and their she From on day School teacher at the same time. In that time congregation put her help her. 1972 the pastor left for a new assignment looks, she said. I wanted to change my trust in God, and her life immediately bein life; I wanted to find out whether my marTacoma, Washington, and she took to change. gan over his position. riage was wrong and what was right withAnyway, I can say that the Lord gave out anybody telling me so. For her own personal work. Pastor me more than I deserved, she said. She The pastor and his wife invited her to felt God had paid her for her obedience Ayala gives herself to whatever she can do have coffee with them. The first question to help people. As many residents of the that she already owed to him. SHE JOINED the little church in San they asked her was whether she was marcommunity can testify, it doesnt make ried or not. They explained to me from Francisco and little any difference what kind of help. by little got involved WE FOUND that it is better never to the Bible what the Lord said about marin its work. She started by singing in the riage. I said, Thats all I need to know! choir, then began teaching in the Sunday help people with money because some SHE PRAYED and then sent her husSchool. Later she worked in teams visiting people use the church to make money. If band back to his first wife. I felt freedom is hungry, I call the restaurant someone people in rest homes and jails and evenand satisfaction to see what was happenthem ask and to set up a meal, and I will was come to and the tually assigned help she said. to pay. In the same way, later there minister here in Tooele. I decided to ing, get Afraid to face life with two chldren, the come and see what there was for me to she will pay for a room for someone who Heres one, I cried in Its $8 off, and $6 less supported by 1 Church. DURING a visit to Guatemala, one of her sisters told her of her own conversion to the gosjiel. It meant nothing to me at the time, said Mrs. Ayala, but on a later visit home, she saw the changes that had come into her sisters life. There were no drinking or smoking - her life was completely different from mine - from whatever I had known before. than the one we saw last Sept. TRUST ME. he muttered as we tramped down to the next shop and the next. Finally, the great day arrives! No, not Christmas - the day that we finally decide to buy a As the late evening hours of December 24 roll around, I like is tions and offerings. I dont have to push them. Its in their hearts, she said. We have a very deep doctrine in our churih. The Bible teachings are deep. We relieve in doing, not only in hearing. personal life. A native of Guatemala, she grew up as one of a family of five children in a Catholic family. She came to the United States in 1957. There she met and married a man who had lieen divorced from his first wife. Her family disapproved because of the Catholic views on divorce. She herself was much troubled alwmt the marriage, and it was this uncertainty that eventually led her to seek help from the Christian Faith w'ith was so wonderful, said Mrs. Ayala, the estate was divided so that the children shared evenly w it h a step sister. We didn t even have to hire a lawyer. It was a remarkable thing. We see the hand of God. It took only three days to take care of things." The pastor of the Christian Faith Church supports herself and her son David bv teaching in special education at Oquirrh I lills. I went to school for three years as a child nurse in Guatemala which is similar to w hat Im doing now. She has a class of 10 ihildren and enjoys her work. Her son David presently attends technical college in Salt Lake with plans to enroll later in engineering in a large university. He is a wonderful son, Christianity is real to him. I le has his own choice," she pointed out. MY SON has had a picture before him. He can take a look," Mrs. Ayala said. "He needs a place to stay. 1 like to help older people," Mrs. I have different ladies who said, Ayala know they can call me anytime or any day. I take them shopping, to the bank, or to pay their lulls. It is a service that I really enjoy very much. If I have to leave a meal or get up early in the morning to go and help, I vs ill do it. Thats part of my ministry. I enjoy what I am doing very much. One of her opportunities came when a girl who was in trouble and pregnant asked to come and stay with her. I had the privilege to deliver the baby mvself at my home, she said. It was wonderful." PASTOR AYALA said that her church -- uphill and down mall, and my hus- C God I FELT that as citizens we could do something. We felt that people who had good principles or who is a good man well vote for them." M rs. Ayalas son David took over the of gathering informat ion from different candidates' headquarters in Salt laike City. As leader of the young people, bands disposition rises and falls Jus Talkin Him behind the wheel. Jim told me Biloxbys in Ogden are selling Toshibamas for 25 off. OCDEN! I cried, But weve already bought our Toshibama and the gas is goiVig to cost... my voice died away at his determined look. Yes, we do have Toshibamas going at a cut rate, but they are the 1979 model, said the salesman at Legal matters were quite complicated and Mrs. Ayala didnt know what to do. Somehow her former husbands landlady got her address and began sending all his papers to her. She went to Chicago to try and straighten things out. People here and in Portland and Tacoma were fasting and praying for us, she said. I felt the Lord went before me and opened doors. A judge gave an order for a safety deposit box to be opened when she had been told he said, Amalia, it is God's will. God gave me wonderful strength. I felt so sorry for the man who had hit him. At the hospital, the doctor said, Im sorry this hajijiened this way. I told him it was Gods will. Hes in heaven, I said, If we die in the Lord, there is hope in our it was impossible. A bank vice president hearts. declared certificates as lost when she could not find the originals, and paid her the money. The Lord provided wonderful people; wherever we went. She found he had she said, 1 would be sick told me although people if I didnt. It was in the twinkling of an eye. Another great event that I could see how real God was in my life. To Amalia Ayala, life is wonderful. My shares in New York. At first his employer, General Motors told her there was no in- surance compensation. The landlady mailed his insurance card to her. His payment had lapsed, but Blue Cross accepted the payment a month late, and paid the hospital bills. THE PAPERS automatically went into probate court in Michigan although she had been told it would take a long time. Everything was taken care of so easily. It I COULDNT even cry, -- - future looks bright every day. Im thankful. I look at it this way. Even things that we are not exjiecting are a reward that God gives me for my obedience when I gave my life to Him. The little church at the top of Main Street doesnt expect publicity for what it does. Like Pastor Ayala, its members go from day to day dedicating their lives to Cod and trusting in Him. The young people of the Christian Faith Church perform at Christmas and Eastertime. The talented group also per' forms for the public whenever they are in vited to do so. Biloxbys. There as a triumphant smile on his face as we drove the 80 miles back home. CHRISTMAS eve finally ar- rived. Haggard, and beaten, I wrap the Toshibama. My husband, on the other hand, seems not to have a care in the world. Ill bet theres not another person in town who was able to get Toshibamas at such a good price, he said. Oh, I said, I forgot to tell you. I went into Hourbacks for some extra wrapping paper. They had Toshibamas on sale, 50 percent off, including batteries, five year warranty, electronic strobe, telephoto lens, carrying case and a rebate. I COULD have bitten my tongue off as soon as I said it. His face fell so low you could have shoveled it up with a shoe horn. He uttered not one word the rest of the evening. It was 3 a.m. I was dead to the world with visions of sugar plums (all wearing price tags) dancing around in my head when he shook me roughly awake. Are you sure it was half price with batteries and a five-yewar-- ' ranty? he said mournfully. NO, I lied, I made the whole thing up. I was just teasing you. There was a silence followed by a contented sigh and in a few minutes a hearty snore. Another Christmas season of shopping had come and gone. ar . I ,1 t |