Disaster hits our Wells School - 1945

Disaster hits our Wells School - 1945

I was in bed in my parent's room, I was so sick. I heard our doctor tell dad and mom,"I am sorry, Billy  may have Infantile paralysis - Polio, we must send him right away to the hospital by ambulance." When I heard the word polio, I froze with fear.

I remember on that day while I set in our science class room, I felt my back fell down to my hips. I was so sick in my stomach. I turned to my friend, and said,m "I am so sick, I got to go home". The nine blocks seemed like it was taking forever. I kept falling to the ground, crawling on my hands and knees to the nearest tree and pulling myself up, falling again and again till I arrived home.

It was not long before the ambulance arrived. My aunt Delphia was at my side quoting scriptures. The one that I remember the most is, 'In HIM we live and move and have our being'. Why was that scripture so precise to me? I was a member of Wells Assembly of God church but I knew that I was not living for Jesus, I held onto those words. I need God's help; my whole world was collapsing from under me. I was in all the sports, the fastest runner in my school, and now I'm told I have polio. My mind goes back to all of those in our school that were told this same story.  

The next day the doctor put a long needle in my spine and I was told again that I had a high count of the disease. After three days in this hospital, I was on my way in another ambulance with my mother, Emily, at my side. I was so sick that I kept vomiting, poor mom who had to care for me all the way to Minneapolis till we reached Mt.Sinai Hospital. My father Harold followed the ambulance. They were not allowed to come in so they said their goodbyes and I did not see them again for the next five and a half months when my father came to pick me up to return home in Wells.

I was placed in a private room for the next two weeks. The only thing that I could keep down on my stomach was 7 UP. My body was sore and stiff that I could not have a pillow under my head and I could not stand to have anyone to touch me. Every night about 2 am in the morning I would scream out in pain and a nurse would come in with a long needle and give me a shot of penicillin to allow me to sleep again. About a week and one half in that private room, I again I was in so much pain that around 2 am in the morning I screamed out in pain but no nurse came in.  

Instead, Jesus appeared at the foot of my bed. Jesus was in a long white robe and I know that it was HIM. I remember I was filled with fear was because I was running with some boys that lived near our home and we were stealing from stores. I knew that I was running away from Jesus and living my life my own way. I felt my body falling from the right side of the bed and I was falling into Hell fire. I screamed out again and Jesus reached out with His right arm and His hand took hold of mine and He pulled me out of the fire. When He touched me, I asked Him to forgive me of my sins and to be my Lord and Savior. I was crying and so happy at the same time. I felt that I was floating about a foot above the bed. It seemed that I was this way for some one hour. Jesus then returned to the foot of my bed and He asked me to preach His gospel. I said, how can I, I'm paralyzed, I'm stupid, I cannot speak - I went on and on with my excuses. Jesus did not answer.

He gave me a vision of ethnic people that I never seen before. Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, dressed in their different long flowing garments. He showed me Hawaiian men in their short pants with a red sash around their waist and down their right hip and the Samoan men wearing, not pants but something like a ladies long skirt. I had never seen people like this before! There were thousands of these people on the ocean beach and they were as far as I could see. These people were facing me but moving back off the beach into the ocean. It appeared there was an undercurrent and when these people stepped into the water, they were swept underwater and were drowning. I realized then that Jesus wanted me to understand that if I did not tell them about Jesus and His love for them, they would never hear about His love for Him.

It was then I said, "Jesus. I don't know why you chose me to do this,"  and I surrendered my heart and life to Him. I'm glad that I obeyed my Lord for now at the age of 85, I am still giving the message of God's love from England to Japan, and across the mainland for the past 63 years. Forty seven of those years have now been in Hawaii, ministering to those people God showed me in his vision.  

Say yes to Jesus and He will use you in His ministry! - Pastor Bill Ashpole 

   ashpolebam@gmail.com         ashpolebam.org