There were not many like Doreen who responded so openly and clearly to the Gospel. A few people made their acceptance of Christ public in those early days. Others quietly drank in the Word of God, read the Gospel pamphlets and tracts, and attended the meetings. Outwardly, one could hardly measure the results of the Jacksons’ work in the communities around Lac La Biche. Yet, thirty years later, one man from Buffalo Lake told Shirley and Bill how well he remembered those meetings in his grandmother’s house. The seed had been sown in his life and he himself found the Savior during the intervening years. 

        Another man, Ed Heron, has a testimony of God’s grace being brought into his life through the Gospel. Only, the seed was sown many years before the fruit was shown. Bill tells the story this way. 

        “It was my first visit to Buffalo Lake. I went with Frank Wilson. This was before I left for my second year of Bible School. Frank and I went to the sports ground and started talking to people. Lots of people didn’t want to speak to us. They seemed a bit suspicious of who we were. But one young man, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, listened with interest. That was Ed Heron. 

        “Ed stayed around and then we gave him a ride towards his home. As we went, he talked about other families who lived back in the bush. He said he would show us where these houses were. 

        “With Ed as our guide, we visited all around the district back in the bush. Ed stayed in the car. Then we dropped him off at his home. Later the same summer, I went back to Buffalo Lake alone. I talked some more with Ed. He listened very carefully but didn’t make any outward response. Then I went off to Bible School that fall. 

        “The next summer I saw Ed briefly and we talked once more about the Gospel. That was the last time I saw him for over a quarter of a century. Any time I visited Buffalo Lake, he wasn’t there. Maybe he lived somewhere else in those days. Over the years, I prayed for Ed, not every day, but when he came to mind. He was in my heart and I wanted him to believe on Jesus and be saved.” 

        In the wonderful way that God works, Bill was there at Kikno Bible Church one evening when a man called Lyle Anderson was preaching. This was twenty-five years after Bill’s last contact with Ed Heron. A group came from Buffalo Lake to attend the meeting. Ed was in the group. 

        “Alter the Gospel was preached, Ed and some others came forward to receive Jesus,” Bill says, as he remembered the moment. “I had the joy of seeing Ed come to the Lord Jesus that night.” 

        Since that evening in 1980, Ed Heron has grown in the things of the Lord. He is a member of Buffalo Lake Evangelical Church.