God's Errand Boy

In 1981, we used a printer in Worcester, Mass., called Saltus Press.

When the owner heard my father was starting a mission in Haiti he joked and said, “I own a piece of land in Jamaica. Want to start a mission in Jamaica?” He and his former wife had taken a vacation to Montego Bay and on the trip bought a new house lot. He offered to give my father the land as a donation to our ministry. My father accepted, but his former wife owned half. My father met with her, and she donated her half-interest. 

We found a buyer from New Jersey who owned a house next to this land. We hired a lawyer in Jamaica to prepare a deed. We waited over a year, and one night after a phone call with the lawyer, my dad was angry and felt the lawyer was trying to take advantage of him. I said to my father, “I will go to Jamaica and get the deed.” He agreed. My plan was to fly on the weekend and surprise the lawyer on Monday morning. 

A month later, Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. I knocked on the door to the lawyer’s office and told her, “I am George DeTellis, Jr. and I have come for the deed.” The first thing she said to me was, “Did your father die?” I replied, “No, he sent me here to get the deed!” She was visibly frightened by my surprise arrival. She said, “The deed is ready, it just needs to be recorded in Kingston and my courier can go tomorrow.” 

Her office was on the second floor of a stucco building; she asked me to wait in a side room. The window was open and down below, purple bougainvillea was growing on a security wall. In the other room, I could hear her talking on the telephone. Then I heard her go to a liquor cabinet and pour herself a drink. An hour or more had passed. 

Suddenly, I felt frightened by the situation. I had run out of a plan. I was just 22 years old, alone, in a second-floor office in Jamaica engaged in a confrontation with a lawyer. At that moment I remembered the Scripture, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.“ (Psalm 34:7) I began to imagine that I was surrounded by angels. They were sitting on the windowsill with me, and they filled the whole room. I began singing worship songs. Tears came to my eyes, and my heart was filled with courage. I was re-energized with faith. 

The courier arrived and the three of us had a conversation. He said we could take a five-hour bus to Kingston tomorrow. I said, “No, we will fly to Kingston, and I will buy your airline ticket.” He liked that idea, and said there was a daily flight that leaves at 7:00 a.m. The next morning, we flew to Kingston and took a taxi to a courthouse to record the deed. Weeks later a deed arrived by air mail. Then, I flew to Newark airport to meet our buyer. I gave them the new deed, and the buyer smiled and gave me a certified bank check. I took the next flight back home to Boston.  ~George DeTellis, Jr.