Harold Wildish (Prayer Meister)

In my travels around the internet I came across the name of Harold Wildish, an early 20th century Christian missionary who spent many years in South America and the West Indies.

The stories these missionaries tell about themselves always seem to follow the same pattern. They are keen young believers desperate to serve god but completely lacking in imagination so they can never reach a decision on their own. They invariably cast their fate to the winds. They pray to god for guidance and then do nothing; just sit back on their arse and wait to see what happens. Wildish had several stories about himself that followed the pattern:

Story (1)

After completing his education, he expected God to dramatically show him what to do next. No brilliant light shone from heaven, however. In desperation, he prayed one night to know God's will before midnight. He came home to find a note propped on the mantle. Someone had written him a letter quoting the great commission (which tells Christians to go into the whole world) and with it other words encouraging him to be a missionary.

Story (2)

(a) Three years later, Harold received a letter from Christians in Many Lands asking him to take the place of a man who could not go to the Amazon. He had less than five dollars (one English pound) to his name. He spread the letter on his bed and asked the Lord to supply what he needed. The next morning, he received 25 pounds in a letter from a Christian businessman. 
(b) "But I must have 35," he told the Lord. The following day, he received ten more pounds (about $49) from the same businessman. "I could not sleep last night for thinking about you," wrote the man. "I believe you must need the enclosed ten pounds."

Source

http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/

• In story (1) he starts praying for guidance at night time and when he gets home later that same night (before midnight) there is a letter waiting for him with a suggestion that he become a missionary.
• In story (2a) he prays for money and the very next morning a letter arrives with cash.
• In story (2b) there wasn't enough cash so he prayed again for even more - and blow me down if another letter full of cash didn't arrive the next day!

Wildish (and those who repeat his stories) are all convinced that god answered his prayers but that cannot have been the case. Back in the 1920s it took the post office about three days to deliver a letter, so each of the letters he received must have been posted long before he started praying. His prayers served no purpose at all. He was going to get those letters whether he prayed or not.