We both loved the Lord, and our faith in Him was growing. At that point we really didn't know much about the Holy Spirit, but we were preparing ourselves to share the Lord. We were getting interested in cottage studies and were inviting people to our home study on salvation. We wanted to share Jesus but weren't sure how to become that living sacrifice as Paul said in Romans 12:1.

One Sunday morning as the contributions were being taken up, we asked each other what we could do for Jesus besides put money in a contribution plate and let other people control what to do with it? We wondered how we could become involved in helping people directly by venturing outside the walls of our building? We became more serious about focusing our studies and our prayers on “what is Jesus’ plan of service for our lives?”

As it turned out, we were defining service in our terms but soon discovered that Jesus’ terms did not necessarily match ours. We were thinking of serving Him through our strengths. As things developed, we saw that His idea was for us to serve from our weakness, a term we used a lot to encourage each other in the unfamiliar developments in our lives.

We did a lot of studying on tradition versus scripture. One of the biggest benefits that came from all this was a deepened understanding of the Holy Spirit – He is alive, He is with us, He directs us.

That's our watchmaker Wayne Perkins on the right. Our saleslady Leigh Smith is on the left, with Diana and George in the middle.

WOW! It is now 2026 and we (George & Diana Franklin) are looking back at our 50 years together.

50 years ago, we were both single. Diana, who lived in Garland, Texas, was recently widowed, and George, who had recently moved to Dallas from Florida, was trying to re-start his life after failing to win a long-fought battle to avoid a divorce. George was a controller at a software development company, and attended Skillman Avenue Church of Christ. Diana was a stay-at-home mother and attended Garland Road Church of Christ.

Garland Road started a new singles' class on June 1, 1976, and the elders suggested that Diana might like to join the new class. Across town, the elders at George's church suggested that he might like to be part of Garland Road's new singles class.

We had never seen each other until that class started, but looking back it was clear that the Spirit was encouraging us, you know, He had a plan. It was like one of those movie plots. Love at first sight!

We were married in August 1976 and moved to Clovis, New Mexico in December. Choosing Clovis as our new home made things easier since George was raised there, his family was well-known in the community, and we felt that a small town environment would be more attractive than the huge metropolis of Dallas-Fort Worth. Also, George had a lot of old friends who attended the church we chose.

We got into retail when we bought a fine jewelry store. The owner of the store stayed for a while, teaching us how to run the store, and George was blessed to be invited to learn jewelry repair, such as ring sizing, by Doyal LaRue, a local jeweler who did custom work - another evidence of who'd-a-thunk it - the competition helping George become a jeweler! George had known him as an acquaintance for many years, and he was a fine Christian man who became our good friend as well as our teacher.

Referring back to the Sunday we talked about contributions, that was the time when our lives changed - we just didn't realize it! The Lord answered our prayer about doing something more; we didn't realize it then, but we had to be educated first, and that took about 3 years, and then suddenly graduation day! we came face-to-face with what we’ve come to call an ‘out of the blue’ experience - an international opportunity – World Bible School correspondence courses and follow-up. Even though we had never considered the possibility of going on a foreign mission ourselves, in 1985 the Spirit somehow pointed us toward a World Bible School campaign to Ghana, W. Africa.

This biography exercise we're doing right now is long because it involves Praise-the-Lord events in our lives! We are going to say this: there are 3 things that we want to share with you in detail: the first is World Bible School. the second is Eyeglass Clinics. All this is leading up to what we're doing now, which is Pads.

We have worked on 3 different ministries and want to share them in greater detail.

After 18 years we closed the store and I went into short-term mission work with World Bible School. In 1995 Diana became an optician, earning her CPOA. In 1998 we organized an ongoing ministry conducting eyeglass clinics along with the Mbale Mission Team, which we continued every year until 2015, primarily in Uganda and Kenya, E. Africa, with 3 trips to South Sudan and one to Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Diana continued working in optometry until her retirement in 2010. Since that time she has devoted all her time to SEE Ministries.

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“Out of the blue”, in mid-2016, there was a plea for us to help schoolgirls stay in school by providing them with free disposable sanitary pads. The Luchivyas had been learning how to assemble a quality product, and were making pads entirely by hand at their home – their tools were a butcher knife to scrape banana stems, scissors to cut the pad material and shred paper, and basic sewing tools. They could only make about 20 pads per week – enough for 3 girls.

When the new ministry idea was shared with Dr. Blackburn, he immediately sent us a check to help provide them with a sewing machine. We added to the fund, allowing them to buy a sewing machine with a cabinet, scissors and other sewing tools, and they started making pads by the hundreds! Shortly afterwards, we made an agreement with 2 Primary Schools to provide pads for their girls, numbering about 100 each, every month, 12 months a year. Now, 10 years later, we’re up to 15 schools and over 2,500 girls every month.

One final comment. Jesus showed us our plan and how to implement it. He also provided us with the assistance of dozens of other people who mentored us through all the highs and all the lows. We give God the glory and a heartfelt thanks to all the Christians who have helped us along the way!