Strong to the End

0:00This week at Vons and Albertsons, USDA Choice Tri-Tip Rost untrimmed are 599 per pound, limit 4 roasts with membership wear applicable, and medium-ripe Hassovicados are 99 cents each, with membership wear applicable, plus Kellogg cereals 8.8 to 16.1 ounces, selected varieties, or peppered farm goldfish, 5.9 to 8 ounces, are 190.9 each when you buy three, limit 3 offers with membership wear applicable, visit Vons or Albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save. Some battles you see coming, others change your life in an instant. Today we're setting down with someone who has walked through the unimaginable, and the story about what it means to remain strong to the end. Hey guys I'm Trav, I'm Tyler, welcome to the podcast.

1:08Yep so as always we're gonna start off with our scripture today, is found in 2nd Timothy 47. I've fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith. Yeah this the month of September we just wanted to cover we've been doing themes every month, we talked about freedom during July back to school there in August, and with September 11th and everything coming you know in the month of September, we wanted to cover for the month about what it means to be built for battle, and what better way to do that than talking about a book that's very near and dear to our family, strong to the end, and we want to introduce our special guest today David Lloyd, my brother-in-law, who's missionary him and my sister Elisa are missionaries to Haiti, Dave, welcome to the show. Hey thank you Travis, thank you Tyler, we just want to start off just tell us a little bit about you and Elisa and your family there and kind of how you guys got involved with missions.

2:09All right that goes way back, I grew up in a very mission, my new church, and we had missionaries came through continually, and I was probably about nine years old when the first when a mission came through to Haiti, and I just felt like the Lord spoke to my heart and said someday you'll be there. Of course I wrestled with that, always I got in my teens and said I don't want to be a missionary, that was just a kid, God didn't really speak that into my heart, but as I was pursuing other directions it just kept coming back, coming back, you needed looking to Haiti, you need looking to Haiti. Finally after my first year at the community college there after I graduated high school, first semester I was just, I knew I wasn't following God's will, going to school to try and figure out where I was, what direction to go, and I said all right Lord off next year I'll go to Bible college and with the idea of working towards Haiti and maybe someday we'll be there, and I know with Alisa she shared that she has had a burden for missions and

3:10didn't really know, didn't really have a particular place just missions, and I might always joke with her on that, and I said yeah you found out that at Bible college here in the Oshul, Missouri at OBI, I was our Bible institute that I was the only young man that had a call for missions, so you start pursuing me since I could choose to do with your life, and she caught me at the rest of my first year there, and if we finished Bible college you got married and went to Haiti all within a year there, moved to Haiti, we went to Haiti for a week in April of 1998 and then moved in September of 1998, and so going on 28 years of full-time mission work in the country of Haiti, so when you said that you felt like you were called the missions, when did you think that it was Haiti? When that missionary that was at church speaking on Haiti, okay okay, assembly God church I grew up in, and there was actually two missionaries from the assemblies that were attend that were in

4:15Haiti at that time, and I've tried to research and figure out who it was, but it had to be one or the other that was there at our church, but both of them that's passed on because that was long time ago. Well we're going to talk about the book a little bit, but before we kind of get in the whole story of it, just tell us a little bit about Davy and Natalie and Jude. Oh, tremendous people. Davy growing up in Haiti, he loved Haiti, I always tell people after he met Natalie, he loved Lord, he loved Natalie and loved Haiti in that order. When he was very little, we'd come to the States, and he's happy to see uncles and cousins and grandparents, but after a couple of weeks, about two weeks in, he would start to get homesick, and a little guy he could eat and he couldn't sleep, and then as we was getting back to Haiti, once you hit Miami, and you're around the Haitian people that was flying in a quarter prince on that flight, and hearing

5:17the Creole, his countenance would just change, and he was headed home, and that's actually a lot of after he finished Bible school, and was coming back to Haiti to work with us full time, he would introduce himself, when he was speaking at a church, he spoke at a few churches before he came in Manatelli, and he would say, Natalie's the missionary, I'm going home, and that was his focus to get back to Haiti, to help the people, and just work with the kids in the children's home, teaching in our school, and preaching in our church, and I know when he was little, probably, I think he was, I'll pop my head, maybe around five, we had a, there was a bunch of kids, I guess you'd been four, because it was 2004, we got a call that there was a three hurricanes that hit this area back to back, and just tremendous flooding and loss of life, and there was a bunch of kids that had been picked up and needed somewhere to go on, at that time we had room for three,

6:22and maybe he was in the background, and he overheard the conversation, and I think they had had 50 kids, they were trying to play so approximately, and we get off the phone, he turns to a lay son, he says, when I, when someday, when I'm the missionary, I'm going to take all the kids, because he was upset that we only had room for three, but that was his home, that was his love, and you know, he told, he, he, he, laced it, told him when he was coming to Bible school, he said, make sure that's what God's will for your life is, to come back to Haiti, and you're not just coming back because you feel sorry for me and dad, because we got a lot, you know, load to caring, you want to help us, so you feel sorry for the Haitian people, because of the poverty, and spiritual needs that they're facing, but come back because you make sure that's what God's will for your life is, and then after finishing four years, you know, he said without a doubt that it's what God's will for his life was, so, like him and Natalie moved after they got married to work with

7:22missions in Haiti, and we were expecting many years, but just a little, you know, a lot of year and a half is all the time the Lord allowed us for him to work with us there. Natalie, tremendous young lady, that was one of the things that we were concerned about with Davey, finding a wife, it being somebody that can leave the comforts of the United States, go to a third world country, and be okay with that. You know, young ladies and guys, you know, in the United States, they like coffee shops and balls and wallmarts and Amazon, and you know, none of that's available there, so it takes a tremendous person that says, I'm willing to be uncomfortable, willing to have things that are not easily accessible, and just a difficult difficulty facing things on daily basis, and leave that all behind and go serve the Lord and work with my husband, and she came to Haiti before they got married and just fell in love with the kids in the place, and you know,

8:26if that people come down and the children's home there and young people and older people both alike, all the, you know, the kids dirty, don't touch me, and you know, different things, and she never had that attitude, there's noses running, she was wiping them, and if they were dirty, they could climb all over and fix her hair, whatever they needed to do, she just loved on them and the tremendous family. Jude, he'd worked force for over 20 years, everything that Michigan and Haiti had has accomplished there, and in Haiti, he had his hands in it, and it was a big part of it. Tramines, man of God, loved the Lord, wonderful family, he'd been married for, I guess, about seven years when his name was killed, and two children, an Esther and Timothy, and just tremendous man of God who loved his family and loved working for the Lord and loved his country and just believed that better things were ahead for Haiti if we continue to pray and believe.

9:28And how long have Jude been working for you guys, can total with the mission? 20 years. Okay, wow. So I want to kind of lead in, we've got a little, you shared with us about Davey, Natalie, and Jude, kind of leading into the book, where that title, strong to the end, where did that come from? I think Dean, our writer, developed several, a couple different titles, our something similar, and because we have a publishing company, Moody Publishers, they have a team that works on the graphics, works on titles, works on catch phrases, you know, the back of it and everything to make sure it's something that will grab people's attention if they're walking by. So I think it was a combination of, of all three, you know, we were Dean and I, and Lisa, we had talked about some different ideas, different thoughts on what the title could be and then Moody also, but Moody was ultimately the one that had the final saying, it has been the publisher and I think that's it, they chose a great

10:36representative of the book. Yeah, yeah, I do too. So what you guys, I know, I remember you guys talking a while back where you wanted to write the book while the story was fresh on your mind, and I know that's obviously very difficult, but when did you guys decide that the book needed to be written and was there any points where you know, obviously it was challenging to do it, but you think that you couldn't, wouldn't be able to complete it? No, so I answered questions, so you know, their death or murders took place May 23rd, 2024, and I think funerals were the first part of June and then myself and Hannah, daughter and Natalie's dad, Ben and her Uncle Bobby, the four of us, we flew to Haiti about three weeks to two and a half weeks, three weeks after the funeral and just started talking hearing stories of what took place the night of their deaths and the gangs were attacking the first group that came and the second group that came and all that

11:41Davey had done during that time to continue to quote scriptures to them, to preach to them, just to tell them the gods love, even as they were beating and different things and shooting at him and he just continued to preach. Just hearing all the different things that took place that night when I got back and was sharing that with Alisa, you know, we're in our grief, we're in our trying to figure out what next with the Lord have us to do next, not being able to go home to our compound because of the gangs that are over in the area and the children we've had to relocate them. So I'd say probably in the July first part of August she says, there needs to be a book written to tell what they went through but also to tell the testimonies of the strength that Davey and Natalie shown that night and Jude and just so their story can be told. So she goes, we're not emotionally in a place where we can probably ride it and pat it quickly and I couldn't

12:42that ride it adequately even if I didn't have emotional problems and it's not my forte. So she said, I got to reach out to somebody that can help us. So she wrote a couple different riders and she remembered she'd read a book in the presence of my enemies by Grayshire Berman and that she had a rider named Dean Merrill that helped her and her story as she was missionary in the Philippines and her husband they were kidnapped and held in the jungles for almost a year before her husband was killed and during their rescue attempt by the Filipino army. So Dean wrote their story and this several years ago. So she reached out to him and the next morning he calls us and he said, hey, I've been following your old story. It's been on my heart. I've been praying for you guys and yes, I'd love to meet you and see if this would be a book that you know we could we could write together. So he flew out there just a couple weeks later to Tulsa from Colorado Springs and met with us and

13:44we discussed the book process and he says I'm going to begin for me putting together the chapters the and then he'll use my agent to reach out to all the Christian publishers and see which one would be interested in being our publisher. So that started there in August and then so we got the first chapter kind of much pretty well wrapped up when he was there that time and then he flew back again in October and met Natalie's parents and came to Nioh show and just where David had built a house and where they're buried and visit the school, the Bible college and everything just trying to get an adequate feel of what their life was kind of like and then just we'd do a chapter a week he would call and we would just go through a chapter on the phone. He would write it and then call Senate to me the next week. We would edit it and correct it and then we'd do another telephone call with him and make the corrections and then he would correct it and then so it's about two two and a half week process each chapter until it was completed

14:49and then during all that time it was just working on trying to get Moody get their part, get their contract. All that was accomplished in May of last year May of 2025 and then Moody requires one year from when you submit everything to put it all together for the graphics and the advertising and everything so it was released May the fifth 2026 this year so it's been released now I guess going on four months. During the process it was never that we know we can't go on it was some very stressful times you could as you went through especially the night of horror and yeah re-living that just you could feel our blood pressure is rising so when you get done it was definitely took several hours to get over that yeah but we knew it was something that need to be done in order for their story to be told so Lord helped us get it out there and

15:52then of course rereading the book after it was finished making sure everything was correct as much as we could you know to our acknowledge our knowledge from everything correct that was a difficult time to reread everything but you know you just you just pushed through because you knew it was something that need to be done yeah that's awesome I I know a little bit of this next question I wanted to ask you but as we were telling you earlier every week when we do our podcast we talk about faith, business and legacy and strategies for success and so rolling into that our first part of that is faith and I know you guys did a devotion on the Bible app and I honestly I don't know if I've been able to share this with you're not but that really helped me a lot and there's three questions on I just kind of throw at you here and let you answer these so as your since May of 2024 how has that affected your faith how did you deal with anger toward God and how about the

16:58moments when you ask why okay repeat the first one again let's do one at a time no problem so how is it affected your faith directly since May of 24 so I've told people I've shared that for our through doctor ministry in Haiti I've always had a lot of faith in two areas one was finances that God provide what was needed to meet the needs and he always has for 28 years I mean you know there's the banks bank accounts been empty at times but as the knee would arise God would speak to somebody's heart and it was met and then God's always been there providing protection for us whether you know what the kids being kidnapped in 2005 through the earthquakes through the hurricanes through being shot at I mean there's this tremendous you know story after story we can tell that we pray in God answered our prayers like we prayed and even that night we've felt like you know we just gonna come through that the way we was praying that they would be delivered and

18:01everything would be worked out so yeah it's been it's been some challenging questions on faith to read go through and and back to that being like God you didn't show up and that was one of the questions that I was really struggling with those first couple weeks is like God where were you why wasn't she there and then when I went to Haiti and they started telling me how the first group baby it would preach to them and they would slam his head in the concrete and they would hit him or throw him on the ground and Jonas looked at him and said baby just shut up what Jonas wanted young man that we've raised in Haiti grew up with baby and he said baby just lay there and shut up and you know let him take to what they're gonna do and you get looked at Jonas and he said Jonas I can't this might be their only chance to hear about Jesus so he continued so and then um they left and then Jude went over that's how Jude ended up being over there with them and let him use their phone to call me baby called me and just was able to talk to him after

19:05that first group left and he was telling me about the blood running down his head and kind of just a little bit of you know the shape that he was in and then he's like that I got to go something else is happening and that something else was the second game came and just shooting in every direction and then it barricaded themselves in our little home of our personal home there and to hear how he preached for the next two hours is what I can pretty much put together it may been a little longer than that nobody knows exactly because time kind of stood still during all the hut and all really no figuring out how long everything what was between them yeah so just to being able to hear that he was able to stand and preach at the windows of the after they'd been shot out and as the gains continued to attack they said every time the guns fire quit they could hear Davey preaching and then one time I did get another call through shortly after they were being attacked maybe 30 45 minutes and he's like that I'm tired we need some help and I you know

20:11I'm assuming he probably had a concussion and different things he was facing there and but hearing the testimony that he was able to stand there and his voice was echoing out through that the darkness there because the sun had set and they said they could hear him preaching in his voice across the yard as he preached to the estimated hunter gang members that had come and was in that area plus the neighbors that to hear that I know that God did show up because in his own strength he would not be able to do that yeah after what he had been through so I had to settle that like okay God you answer that question you know as far as my faith you didn't show up but now I understand you did and you gave Davey supernatural strength to be able to preach until they've killed him and so you were there so that was one area of faith of course you know some days you as life goes everybody faces it's some days your faith is stronger than others yeah and then you have to work through

21:13and turn the lords and God help my help my unbelief help me get through this help me continue to realize that you're walking with us through this and he does he comes behind comforts us and gives us strength and helps us get through that that that moment what was the second thing on that so dealing with the question of why and and anger maybe even toward God over what had happened I know you mentioned a little bit of that there yeah I don't really I don't know you know the anger part on it I don't know that I can really ever say I've had at least and I both it's more disappointment I would probably be a more correct correct word for us and we had you know we've been disappointed in the outcome and God letting us hurt and that was something one of the things I've struggled with is especially for the months that are after initially is like God you know you

22:14don't care about how much you're a lot you know we're hurting you don't care you know about all this that we're going through and dealing with and you not know I think that was kind of the word I was asking him do you not know what we're going through do you not know how much pain we're in and that was one time when I was coming back from Tulsa in Claremont and I've told this testimony on other podcasts as I'm driving down the four lane and I turn on to the two lane there to go to my house um it's a little curvy hilly road and after I'd ask God all the way down highway 20 on the two lane you not know do you not you know how much we're hurting do not know how much pain we've been going through and how much you don't know how much this is cause confusion and all the different things I've asked in God by myself there in praying I turned up and started up the little two lane and there was a neon sign by somebody's mailbox and it just said God knows so I was like well I guess maybe you know God and maybe they had put that sign there I'd never

23:18noticed a sign at that mailbox before I have noticed since then they every now and then they'll put out a sign with something about God you know God's love or God loves you or something but I believe God had him put out that sign for me that day that he does know he does care for us and um yeah I can still have those moments so I'm disappointed in him um but um we're allowed to ask those things as long as we don't dwell on them another one of the things that was point out to me when this started they said for a long time you're gonna ask for a while you'll say why God why God yeah and that's okay that's a natural process but you gotta get to the point of some some at some point that you say okay God what now what now God and I think the book was part of that what now God you know what's to to further his kingdom to for eternity what now and um so we still have the days where we ask why but um we are trying to have more days where we ask okay God

24:19what now that's awesome well so we we usually always talk about the business side of things too I think in this situation you know most of the time we talk about business we're talking about leadership whether that's actually in business or another aspect of life but now going through that grieving as a father people are still looking to you as a leader too and so what were some of the challenges where all that was going down going through the grief process yourself but you still had to lead because you still had a lot of people looking to you to to figure out what to do next and kind of what to do with the other people that were depending on you still in Haiti yeah I'm thinking interesting question yeah as I actually when we went back a few weeks after their deaths Jonas the unmanned that was with Davey they're at the first group and and he come up to him because he he had taken all the responsibility of Jude and Davey and move the kids and was helping us in every way that he could and he comes up to him and he goes tell us what we're

25:23supposed to do now and I look at him and I'm like what do you mean he's like well you're the guy that's in charge because you just tell us what we need to be doing and we're going to do it and I was like Jonas I'm in no place to be telling people what to do because it's taking one day at a time and that's another way I've kind of described this whole thing and so I felt like the table was set and God comes by and pulls the tablecloth out and everything comes crashing down and he says you know I've got a different thing for you to do now I got a different direction for you to go so I'm still trying to figure it out you know I used to have my life planned out you know a year at a time where I was going to be preaching how much I was going to be in Haiti and now it's kind of a one day of the time thing Lord opened the doors for us to work at Bible College so we fill it and we teach up here three days a week in Missouri and I'm still going back to Haiti monthly or every six weeks or so we've relocated shoulder and all the way up to the northern part of Haiti where the gangs are currently not operating and pray they

26:25don't get up there but just I don't know it's one of those things you just try to be there for people to help get them through it because there are families that you know we've lived in Haiti longer than we've lived in the United States and along these people you know a lot more leading with those with the Haitians there are children and our staff and and I'm just I think it's more of a maybe instead of just saying me it's more of a group we got our leaders there young people that we've raised fact I told them that when I was there just a couple weeks ago they were we was having a couple of issues and they're like well tell us and I said well there's the problem I said I've talked to three of you and you all had given me a different or different what's the word I'm looking for description of what was going on in particular situation we needed to deal with yeah so I said

27:26I'm having to listen to all three of you and come up with a conclusion and said here's what I come up with but you guys have also got to communicate because you're here on the ground and I'm not you know I can just come in for a couple days a week and I said I'm not going to see everything that's going on and then that will make the accurate decision that needs to be made based on just a few days so I need your input I need your you know your advice on what we think we should do and then maybe all of us putting our minds and thoughts together can come up with the with the right answer to it so I don't know Tyler I don't think I answered your question I think it did you was looking I think it did I've been working looking at it more of the as a group with the three or four leaders that we have I'm working with the station leaders that we've raised so I've got one for you here it's it for a business owner a pastor some you know any kind of leader who is listening

28:27and maybe they're in the middle of a crisis right now what what would you what kind of advice would you share with them guess just hang on and if you can hang on the Lord will pull you through it sometimes it's hard to hang on but I'm believing in me and it's going to be worth it I preached a message probably my first message after this was all over me after their death it was several months go one maybe six eight months I don't remember exactly and it was the basic the battle of Jericho you know when the walls fell and you know that they had to march around every day you know the seventh day seven times and I said you know what what would have happened if they had a quit on the sixth time on that seventh day and I said they would have not had the victory we're too close to the end of this not to finish not just to continue to battle on through we could look around and the world's not getting any it's getting more wicked this is Wilson last days perilous time she'll come

29:30so we're in those last days so I believe we're maybe on the seventh time around the city so let's not give up let's just hang on and on the interviews I said you know we're going to miss out if the Lord Terry's is return we've missed out on maybe 25 years you know if I was the lid to be 75 maybe you know 30 years of Davie and Natalie and it breaks my heart thinking about that but in the light of eternity 25 30 years is not a long time yeah we'll get to spend eternity with them and I'll make up for all the time that we missed yeah absolutely well the the third main thing that we talk about is legacy and I know Travis and I've done other episodes talking about Davie and Natalie enjoyed and and their story but what what are you legacy or are you hoping they leave behind and that when people finish this book what do you hope they take away from it well they're several different ideas when writing the book and first first and foremost was that salvation and it'll be a

30:33result of it people read Davie and Natalie story and when I ask Jesus Christ into their life um I've had some people use the book as a witnessing tool and we're believing that lives have accepted Christ as a result of Davie and Natalie and Jude's testimony another one would be that more people will be burdened to do something for Christ for eternity more called the missions more willing to to do something for Christ here in the States to be challenged as Davie's favorite saying was I want to live my life intentionally in light of eternity yeah that more people want to live do things intentionally with the focus of eternity and I've gotten some feedback on that from the book we had a church to reach out to us from Georgia and they say we've we've got your books and of us read it in the church and we have now started a ministry on the other side of the tracks meaning the the the the side of town that's not the best and they said we were going

31:38over every Saturday now ministering to the people helping the people and we would have never done that if we weren't mentioned after by reading this book so they said we're going to continue to do that because we're going to live our life intentionally in light of eternity so that's the two main things and there's other reasons you know but just Davie and Allie's legacy of what they were able to accomplish in their year and a half in Haiti but they're going to what their story is going to continue to accomplish I know we did a video well it's been about four and a half years ago now after Davie and Allie came and our guy came down that did our video for showing what missions in Haiti was doing there in the country of Haiti and it was a lot of focus on Davie and Allie and then being there and and what they were going to accomplish and in that video Nally is a little clip of Nally and she says you know it's it's been great to come in and to establish mission to see what the Lloyds have been able to accomplish but I'm excited to see what God has for Davie and

32:39myself to accomplish for him and I know in her heart she was thinking Haiti yeah that she was looking forward to what God was going to do in her and Davie's life in the country of Haiti but I believe God had bigger plans you know the stories went across the world I've been reached out to people from I mean just about every country after their deaths and even now that the book is out there just next this coming up a week from this Thursday where we're going to be doing an interview with a radio station in Australia and when they sent me the information for it's a Christian radio station over there and they said it covers the whole country of Australia and the whole country of New Zealand so their life it's their testimony their legacy is going to continue on over there anybody's listening to that you know to that radio station is going to be able to hear so yes I don't know if the Lord lets Nally look down and see what God is doing with Davie and Nally's life you know from heaven otherwise she can see that but there's going to be someday where she's

33:43able to see all that it's been accomplished through their story you know normally we start off these episodes with talking about a moment in history and as we were preparing for this one I I had a quote that came to me and it was a Ronald Reagan quote when they were trying to do a nuclear disarmament and he said that if you want to do something good he's like we'll change the but if you want to do something great you'll do something that will impact the entire next generation and that's a legacy and I thought man that that goes hand in hand with this right here the impact and legacy I did you know I've shared a little bit as we travel to churches setting up boys ministry I use the book to challenge men to hey setting on the pew is not what you need to be doing you know there's a work to do and there's been a lot of churches that I've showed up and they've already got the book and they're like hey we've got the book man we're so excited and that is such an encouragement to see men who have come back and asked for the book or ask how can they be

34:47strong to the end well Dave as we get ready to wrap up here tell tell everyone about the kind of where the proceeds from the book go and then also how they can get a copy of the book good so um here at the Bible College that David he loved he loved this four years the Bible College and actually it's where Alisa and I are working it now three days a week the president I went to him after the funerals and everything was over a few and I said what is there something we can do here in the Bible College to kind of be a memorial for them and I was thinking something small you know there was maybe some books or something a little you know mission something mission oriented and he came back about a month later he says how about the Davie and Nally academic building he says I believe this Bible College is going to grow and we need bigger classrooms and chapel and so he presented a new building and we ended up being reworked a little bit but there's going to be a new

35:50entrance a new gymnasium a new classrooms all and it's going to be under the name of the Davie and Nally academic building so for the book park all proceeds from the book go to the Davie and Nally academic building to help get that finished and built it's in the process right now of being built the first phase of it is is going up it's a three phase process and the book is available pretty much anywhere online and major retailers course amazon's the easiest you just going there type in strong to the end and that the book should come up and purchase it but if you need multiple copies if it's like a church devotion that you want to do or get it give them out in your church and just go directly to movie publishers and they'll give you a discount I think if you order 12 or more they'll give you like 40% off so they're available through them also that's awesome we always wrap up the show with the challenge this one's going to be pretty simple get the book and read it yeah get the book and read a challenger listener to do that and and we thank you very

36:54much for doing this I know it can be difficult to rehash some of those memories but we really appreciate you coming on believe it'll have a big impact thank you appreciate you having me on yep thank you Dave yes have a good time strategies success courage we invest business legacy that's our strategy for success our 99 cents each with membership or applicable plus Kellogg cereals 8.8 to 16.1 ounces

37:55selected varieties or pepperage farm goldfish 5.9 to 8 ounces are 190 nine each when you buy three limit three offers with membership or applicable visit vans or albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save