The Gold Coast annual conference usually brings unexpected but welcome experiences. The June, 2016 program, however, was special. It was held in Boca Raton in June on a Friday night and Saturday. The program did not proceed as planned, but there is a story of miracles to be told. Gina Preziosa was the main facilitator, and I handled registration and finances, as well as backing up Gina as needed. Martha Loveland, A.R.E. Southeast Region Coordinator, was also involved in the planning, and attended the program.
I do not believe that our intended speaker was under the influence of alcohol. There is no question, however, that he was experiencing some kind of medical crisis. Perhaps it was drugs, perhaps it was an adverse reaction to medication, perhaps it was something within his brain, but there was no smell of alcohol or any other obvious indication of alcoholism. At the program he blamed his aberrant behavior on not sleeping for several nights.
Gina spoke to him on the Thursday just prior to the program, and he was acting confused then. He didn’t know what the date was; then he called her to apologize for missing his flight when, in fact, he was a day early. The next day Gina checked on him and he hadn’t left for his flight, thinking it was several hours away. He had confused the arrival time and the departure time. Then, to compound matters, his flights were rearranged due to an incident that closed his intermediate airport in Houston.
We didn’t know where he was until he texted Gina Friday night that he was standing outside the Atlanta airport waiting for us to pick him up! He stayed in Atlanta overnight and was back at the airport in the morning to fly to Ft. Lauderdale (he thought he was supposed to fly to Boca Raton airport, which doesn’t exist). He arrived by cab at the hotel where we were having the program just before the lunch break on Saturday.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, Gina started making phone calls looking for someone to fill in Friday night. She was unsuccessful. Out of desperation she turned to Google. Was there anyone who could talk about angels? The weekend topic was Edgar Cayce on Angels and the Afterlife. [Here is where you should start paying attention.]
Lo and behold, she got a hit! Someone about an hour away in Tequesta has a metaphysical store, and gives talks about angels. Gina called and had to leave a message with the store clerk. “Please ask the owner to call me right back,” she said. “There may be an opportunity for her to speak tonight.” Gina got a call back right away. The owner’s name is Angela Boswell. She met all the criteria that Gina posed. Yes, she gives talks about angels. Yes, she knows of Edgar Cayce, and is actually a student of the Work. Yes, she is available tonight. Yes, she could stay overnight in case she is needed on Saturday.
When you need an angel, what could be better than having an Angela? In spite of having an appointment she had to keep, in spite of the worse-than-usual South Florida Friday traffic, she reached us in plenty of time. She spoke for the full evening session. She related her personal journey, tying in angels and the Cayce readings. She was mesmerizing. The audience loved her! As people left the meeting room they told us how fantastic the presentation was, and how thrilled they were to be there.
Our angel stayed up most of the night reading A Search For God, Books I and II. Since our speaker was still in transit, in the morning she presented a workshop based on the Study Group format, each round table where the attendees sat getting a quote and a set of questions from different chapters. The group embraced the exercise enthusiastically.
Gina had arranged for other people who were attending the program to then get up and talk starting with a young man, Adrian Castillo, who had been playing guitar at some of the breaks. He was passionate about the speaker’s books. He told his story, and again people loved him, especially the ladies! Then we broke for lunch.
Martha: “You may be unaware that another miracle occurred on Saturday. I’m still stunned:
“We had been expecting [our speaker] to show up late Saturday morning, but by noon he hadn’t arrived. Gina and I were in the meeting room just before the lunch break when she looked up at me with those serene brown eyes and said, quietly, ‘He’s here.’ I just shook my head and said, ‘I sure wish that was true, but...’ She said, ‘No, he’s here,’ and she grabbed my arm and we left the meeting room to head to the lobby. We turned right into the corridor and looked up about 20 feet to the entrance, and there he was, looking at Gina.”
We sent him to his room for a little rest, and after the break he got up to talk. It was immediately obvious that he was having trouble. He walked with a stoop. He couldn’t get the words out. He had developed a severe stutter since I saw him last in Miami. He couldn’t find his notes. He took a few questions from the audience, had continued trouble speaking, and after almost an hour decided we needed a break because he needed a cigarette.
Gina, Martha, and I went after him. We knew we couldn’t allow him to continue. Four or five people had left during his talk. He was relieved, and we four went back inside in unity so that he could apologize to the group that he was not able to continue.
I escorted him to his room, and Gina again reached into her bag of tricks and brought out additional substitute speakers. We had our dinner break, and almost everyone stayed for the final evening session. Gina had one more person who filled in.
Finally, as the evening concluded, the attendees gave a rousing applause, and as they filed out told me over and over what a great time they had, and how it was such a wonderful seminar. Gina kept telling me that the program gave the people an opportunity to live the lessons of the Readings, and so they did.
I sat with our speaker at dinner and he seemed to be pretty good, and I heard that the next morning he was good. He got lost again going home, however, while passing back through the Atlanta airport. He eventually made it home okay. I hope this gives you an idea of what transpired that weekend. All kudos to Gina for her intense efforts to rescue the weekend. During Friday evening and Saturday it was so obvious to me that we were receiving the promised help from the spiritual realm. You don’t just Google up a speaker, and one named for an angel, to boot.
About the Author:
Ron Feldheim has studied, promoted, and taught the Edgar Cayce Readings for over thirty years. Beginning with the formation of the Miami Council in 1980, Ron’s focus has been on organizing and developing local field programs. Ron expanded his role as a field volunteer when the Miami and Palm Beach Councils later merged to form the Gold Coast Team. At this same time, A.R.E. Headquarters chartered the Southeast Region, and Ron was invited to join the Region Core Team of active volunteers. He then became the first Chairman of the Region’s Management Team, and after a six-year stint developed the position of Retreat Coordinator. He has been a member of two A Search For God Study Groups.
Currently residing in Miami Beach, he is Area Team Coordinator and just completed a one-year term as Chairman of the Region’s Management Team. Ron is a speaker, writer, healer, and intuitive. Ron’s professional career has been in Clinical Microbiology and Information Technology.