Celina Worley and Ben Dawson first met at a wedding in Florida, which turned out to be a most providential get-together. Eighteen months later, they were at another wedding: their own!
The daughter of teaching missionaries, Celina grew up in Zambia and Zimbabwe. At an early age, she saw the power of the gospel as it brought healing to those in her community. When people suffering under the “spell” of the local witch doctor came to her family for help, she saw how prayer and a relationship with Jesus provided them with hope, healing, and lasting freedom.
“For many in the community and surrounding areas, getting enough food could be a daily challenge. Physical troubles were constantly present. But it was plain to see the change that came over people when they accepted Jesus—they had hope! They had freedom!” Celina said.
Experiences like these led her to make a commitment to use her talents for God’s Kingdom. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, Celina worked as the assistant to the president for communications at the Pennsylvania Conference.
Ben also had a heart for evangelism. When the couple met, he was finishing a master’s degree in social work, and had already worked as a colporteur and evangelism trainer, teaching young people how to share their faith across every state and conference in the Southern Union for nearly nine years.
Like many couples marrying later in life, Ben and Celina struggled for several years with infertility. In time, they consulted with specialists who recommended in vitro fertilization. When two implants proved unsuccessful, the specialists implanted three embryos on the third try.
At the following ultrasound, they became excited as the physician watching the monitor began to verbalize what the faint blips on the screen were telling him. “I see one heartbeat,” he started. “No, there are two . . . I’m detecting three . . . wait, now I see four!” One embryo had split, producing a quadruplet pregnancy.
After recommendations to “reduce” the number of embryos to improve the survival chances of the remaining ones, Ben and Celina prayerfully felt this was not an option they could conscientiously pursue. They wanted to give all four babies a chance for life.
Scouring the country, they finally found a specialist in Arizona who specialized in high-order multiple pregnancies. Providentially, the couple found temporary housing with an Adventist family there, and Celina was admitted to the hospital for careful monitoring as the babies grew.
Finally coming into the world at 26 weeks and six days, all four weighed less than two pounds each! On respirators and with oxygen and tons of prayer, Gracie, Thomas, Cienna and William began to grow. Finally, three months later, they reached their official due date and were able to fly by air ambulance from Arizona to Washington where grandparents, siblings, cousins, and neighbors helped care for these four very special tiny babies.
Without question, these parents and everyone else in their family and church family recognize these miracles of God. The next miracle was Katie, a miracle baby born without medical intervention, who came along about 18 months later. At birth, she weighed more than her four siblings put together!
Imagine, raising five—quads plus one!—and all the diapers, bottles, car seats, play toys, teething rings, rocking chairs, etc., used for this growing tribe. Friends teased Ben, saying he needed to purchase not a family van, but a school bus!
The Dawsons are so grateful for their Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith. Involvement in mission work and helping others who don’t know Jesus has been a priority for their family.
“When my Uncle Jeff [Wilson] retired from full-time work at the GC, I was interested in his new ministry at AWR,” Ben added. “He told us of the amazing ways the five 100,000-watt transmitters daily broadcast the Three Angels’ Messages in so many languages into the 10/40 window—covering all of China and Southeast Asia. It’s exciting to have a part in getting the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue and people!”
These stories and the good examples of others have led them to become major supporters of Adventist World Radio. “When we heard about how Adventist World Radio is reaching into the most prohibitive and dangerous countries of the world—countries where because of national laws, Christian missionaries are not allowed to enter, like North Korea—we knew this was a ministry we wanted to support,” Ben reflected.
Maybe you would like to join the Dawson clan in helping spread God’s last-day message to the world. You can do that by contributing at awr.org/give or by using the enclosed envelope.
AWR’s Planned Giving team is also available to assist you in preparing estate plans that protect your family and return assets to God’s work. This service is provided without cost for the legal preparation of revocable living trusts, last wills and testaments, powers of attorney for health care, advance health care directives and financial powers of attorney. Just call 1-800-337-4297 or visit awr.org/plannedgiving. You’ll be glad here and in eternity that you did.
By Jeff Wilson
