Testimonies

Andy Acamon

My name is Andy Acamon. I was born in Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft. I come from a family of 5 children, having two brothers and two sisters. My father is Spanish and my mother English.

As I grew up I had very little discipline and soon started getting into trouble with the police. At about aged fourteen I was put into a remand home for riding motorbikes under age. When I was fifteen I was back in court once again for the same offence and received a 1-3 years approved school sentence, where I got bullied and pushed around. I soon learned to look after myself and made a name for myself as a fighter. After nineteen months I was released.

I was soon back in court for assault and got another 3 months in a detention centre. I came out a hardened man and carried on my life of crime. I thought nothing of lying, cheating and stealing anything for my own gains.

In 1968 I married my wife Janet in a Registry Office; and we had a son. My wife wanted him christened but I would not go to church for any occasion at all. My life continued as before. By now I was a bouncer in the evenings at a seedy night-club in town and I became the local tattoo artist and my life in sin continued.

My wife had always wanted another child and as the years went by we thought this would never happen but after 17 years, in July 1985, we had a baby daughter. My wife wanted to have her christened and this led to several arguments, but in the end I agreed.

At the time I was having a speedboat built and spent quite a lot of time over in the boatyard. When I was there, the men had to shut the doors so that the women could not hear my filthy language. One day, I was talking about my wife wanting the baby christened when a man who worked there asked me to go along to his church: he said they didn't do christenings, but did dedications.

Well, we went along one Sunday morning and we continued to attend each Sunday morning, and on my daughter's 1st Birthday she was dedicated to the Lord. We continued to attend each Sunday. The Lord had already started a work in my heart. I knew I had to ask forgiveness for my past sin but I didn't know how. Gradually, as the weeks went by, I realised, as the Gospel was preached, that God had sent his Son Jesus to die for MY sin and that I had to go and ask him to forgive me and ask him to come into my life and save me. One Sunday afternoon in November 1986 I cried out to the Lord Jesus for mercy and asked Him to forgive my sins and save me.

From then on my life changed. I found I couldn't swear or do any of the things I had been doing. A few weeks after I had asked the Lord into my life, I stopped tattooing, because I knew this wasn't what He wanted me to do. The Bible says; If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

(2 Corinthians 5 v 17)

Now I live each day for my Lord and Saviour, who suffered and died for me so that I could have my sins forgiven and receive eternal life. In John ch 14 v 3 Jesus says And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself: that where I am, there you may be also.