Good afternoon
again, ASI family,
00:00:20.02\00:00:22.32
it's good to be here with you.
00:00:22.35\00:00:24.35
Thank you for your
coming this weekend
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to be a part of our ASI program.
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You've been a blessing to us.
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We hope it's been
a blessing to you.
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This afternoon as our
theme throughout this weekend
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has been Business Unusual.
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We're talking about sacrifice
unusual this afternoon.
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You know, I'm wondering today
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if we in our generation
00:00:48.01\00:00:50.68
really understand
the concept of sacrifice.
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Most of us live in a world
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where we expect
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or maybe even demand
that our lives be lived
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pain free, stress free,
and sacrifice free if possible.
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You know, it's a little bit
of a different story though,
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Jesus Himself said
this in Matthew 16:24,
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He said, "If any
man would come after Me,
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let him deny himself,
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take up his
cross and follow Me."
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And Ellen White comments
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on this in the book
Acts of the Apostles,
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where she says,
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"Self denial and sacrifice
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will mark the Christian's life."
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Are those ideas just
remnants of our past?
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Or are they a reality
that should apply to us
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today still here in 2019?
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Today's program
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we'll focus on telling stories
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of people who
have lived their lives
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in total abandon for the gospel.
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These pioneers of our
church willingly gave their all
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and allowed God to use
them to advance mission.
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As Dr. Trim
told us this morning,
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as we were kind of
enjoying this program.
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Many of these
people are unknown to us.
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We don't know their names.
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They're not recorded in books
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that we regularly read.
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But I believe
today if that you will,
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if you will listen,
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you will be challenged.
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God is still
looking today for people
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who are willing to step out
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and advance mission
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even if it requires sacrifice.
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Dr. David Trim will
be sharing with us today.
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He was born in Bombay,
India to missionary parents,
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and spent his
childhood in Sydney, Australia.
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Educated in
Australia and England,
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he earned a BA in
history from Newbold College
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and a PhD in history
from King's College in London.
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Trim was on the faculty of
Newbold College for a decade
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and held the Walter C. Utt Chair
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of History at
Pacific Union College.
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He currently serves as Director
of the Office of archives,
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statistics and research
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and has been
serving there since 2010.
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So this afternoon, as
we listen to these stories,
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as we hear the passion
of the lives of these people
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who serve before us,
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may we be inspired
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to follow in their footsteps.
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After our special music,
Dr. Trim will be presenting.
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Darkness around me
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Sorrow surrounds me
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Though there be trials
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Still I can sing
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For I have this treasure
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My God reigns within me
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And I am determined
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To live for the King
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I am determined
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To be invincible
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'Til He has finished
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His purpose in me
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And nothing shall shake me
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For He'll never forsake me
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And I am determined
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To live for the King
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This is the best part
of the song right here.
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Listen to these words.
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Hell's gates are trembling
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From our prayers ascending
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Darkness is crumbling
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From praises we sing
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Our Sovereign victorious
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Is marching before us
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And we are determined
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To live for the King
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I am determined
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To be invincible
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'Til He has finished
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His purpose in me
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And nothing shall shake me
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For He'll never forsake me
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And I am determined
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To live for the King
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When I am weary
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I'll look to His face
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And when I am tempted
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I'll trust in His grace
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Yes, I'll trust in His grace
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I am determined
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To be invincible
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'Til He has finished
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His purpose in me
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And nothing shall shake me
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For He'll never forsake me
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And I am determined
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I am determined
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I am determined
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To live for my
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King
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Thank you.
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Thank you for
that beautiful item.
00:09:14.58\00:09:16.62
Good afternoon, friends.
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It's great privilege for me
to be with you this afternoon.
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And I thank Steve Dickman
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and the committee for
inviting me to speak to you
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and to share from our history.
00:09:27.50\00:09:31.40
But first, a word of Scripture
from the Apostle Paul's
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epistle to the Romans 12:1-2.
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"Therefore, I beseech
you, brothers and sisters,
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in view of God's mercy,
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to offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice,
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holy and acceptable to God.
00:09:53.72\00:09:56.93
This is your true
and proper service.
00:09:56.96\00:10:02.10
And do not be
conformed to this world,
00:10:02.13\00:10:05.47
but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind,
00:10:05.50\00:10:09.20
that you may test and prove
00:10:09.24\00:10:12.71
what the will of
God is, His good,
00:10:12.74\00:10:15.88
pleasing and perfect will."
00:10:15.91\00:10:19.91
This is the word of the Lord.
00:10:19.95\00:10:25.02
On November 3 in 1920,
00:10:25.05\00:10:29.62
a young missionary called
00:10:29.66\00:10:31.69
Eva May
Clements died in Rangoon,
00:10:31.73\00:10:34.96
the capital city of Burma today,
00:10:35.00\00:10:37.33
Yangon in Myanmar.
00:10:37.37\00:10:40.14
We know little of Eva's life
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and there is no
known photograph of her.
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She had been
born on July 25 1897,
00:10:45.54\00:10:49.04
near Bundaberg on
the northern coast
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of Queensland, Australia.
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We know nothing more
about her until September 1914,
00:10:54.95\00:10:58.62
when at the age of 17,
00:10:58.65\00:11:01.52
Eva took a
position in the headquarters
00:11:01.56\00:11:03.46
of the
Australasian Union Conference
00:11:03.49\00:11:06.03
in Sydney, Australia.
00:11:06.06\00:11:07.43
She worked there for more than
five years as a stenographer.
00:11:07.46\00:11:11.70
The term we used to use in
the church, it means a sec,
00:11:11.73\00:11:15.37
a secretary essentially.
00:11:15.40\00:11:17.54
She made a good impression.
00:11:17.57\00:11:18.97
When people
remembered her later,
00:11:19.01\00:11:21.11
the term they
would use to describe her
00:11:21.14\00:11:23.71
was regularly
devoted to her work
00:11:23.75\00:11:26.72
and devoted to
the Adventist Church.
00:11:26.75\00:11:30.15
In January 1920, the
Southern Asia division
00:11:30.19\00:11:33.22
called for a
stenographer to serve
00:11:33.25\00:11:36.19
at the division
headquarters in Lucknow, India.
00:11:36.22\00:11:38.73
Today, of course, we
probably wouldn't call
00:11:38.76\00:11:41.00
an administrative
assistant as a missionary,
00:11:41.03\00:11:43.87
but when there's almost
no members in the country,
00:11:43.90\00:11:47.70
you have to call everyone
00:11:47.74\00:11:49.34
who's going to
work for the church.
00:11:49.37\00:11:51.44
Australian church
leaders pass that call
00:11:51.47\00:11:54.14
for a stenographer on
to Eva and she accepted.
00:11:54.18\00:11:58.61
On March 3, 1920,
Eva May Clements sailed
00:11:58.65\00:12:02.42
from Sydney on the
P&O steamer Ventura
00:12:02.45\00:12:05.29
which you see on the screen.
00:12:05.32\00:12:07.92
Having landed in
what today is Mumbai.
00:12:07.96\00:12:11.09
She then took the train
00:12:11.13\00:12:12.53
for an 880 mile
journey to Lucknow,
00:12:12.56\00:12:15.93
where she arrived
safely on March 29, 1920.
00:12:15.96\00:12:20.60
She was assigned to
assist the division president
00:12:20.64\00:12:23.17
John E. Fulton.
00:12:23.20\00:12:25.47
And Eva knew
Fulton and his wife Susan
00:12:25.51\00:12:29.18
from Fulton's time as president
of the Australasian Union.
00:12:29.21\00:12:34.85
Eva seems to have settled
well into life in Lucknow.
00:12:34.88\00:12:37.99
According to her obituary,
00:12:38.02\00:12:39.89
she entered heartily into
her work at the Lucknow office
00:12:39.92\00:12:43.16
and much enjoyed life.
00:12:43.19\00:12:45.26
She was popular
among her new colleagues,
00:12:45.29\00:12:47.23
thanks to a bright disposition
and spirit of helpfulness.
00:12:47.26\00:12:51.37
A former colleague
in Sydney recalled that
00:12:51.40\00:12:53.34
in her letters
that she wrote home,
00:12:53.37\00:12:55.97
she had no complaints to
make concerning the climate
00:12:56.00\00:12:58.87
or culture in India.
00:12:58.91\00:13:00.61
And, in fact,
in one such letter,
00:13:00.64\00:13:02.21
Eva wrote, "I want to tell you,
00:13:02.24\00:13:05.08
I'm glad I came to India."
00:13:05.11\00:13:09.08
She'd been there for
less than five months
00:13:09.12\00:13:10.69
when around August 31,
00:13:10.72\00:13:12.39
she left with Susan
Fulton on an itinerary to Burma,
00:13:12.42\00:13:16.86
intending to rendezvous
in Rangoon with Elder Fulton,
00:13:16.89\00:13:20.40
who was then in Southern India.
00:13:20.43\00:13:22.00
Susan and Eva traveled
first by rail to Kolkata.
00:13:22.03\00:13:25.67
Remember that, we'll
come back to it later.
00:13:25.70\00:13:28.87
From Kolkata
they traveled by ship
00:13:28.90\00:13:31.04
and small boat to Kamamaung,
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a remote mission
station in South East Burma.
00:13:33.68\00:13:38.81
And there they stayed
for nearly three weeks
00:13:38.85\00:13:41.02
with the Fulton's daughter Agnes
00:13:41.05\00:13:43.35
and her husband Eric B. Hare,
00:13:43.39\00:13:45.72
and you can see them
00:13:45.75\00:13:47.09
on the screen on
their wedding day.
00:13:47.12\00:13:50.56
The name Eric B. Hare
will be known to many of you,
00:13:50.59\00:13:52.83
I suspect,
because he later became
00:13:52.86\00:13:55.43
a legendary teller of
tales from the mission field.
00:13:55.46\00:13:59.77
At Kamamaung they
were nearly 80 miles
00:13:59.80\00:14:02.50
from the nearest European.
00:14:02.54\00:14:04.21
And I would guess
that even now felt here
00:14:04.24\00:14:07.08
deep in the jungle remote,
00:14:07.11\00:14:08.68
I'm really getting
into the mission field.
00:14:08.71\00:14:13.68
She and Susan Fulton
enjoyed their time there,
00:14:13.72\00:14:16.25
but Eva suffered
from an unknown fever.
00:14:16.28\00:14:20.36
Still it seemed to
pass and in October,
00:14:20.39\00:14:22.86
they moved on to Rangoon,
00:14:22.89\00:14:24.73
where Elder Fulton
had a series of meetings
00:14:24.76\00:14:26.73
culminating in a 10 day
00:14:26.76\00:14:28.50
general meeting of
the Burma Union Mission,
00:14:28.53\00:14:30.73
effectively a mission
session, a union session.
00:14:30.77\00:14:34.50
So in early
October, Eva was kept busy
00:14:34.54\00:14:37.01
with Fulton's correspondences
00:14:37.04\00:14:38.41
as he tried to keep
up with the business
00:14:38.44\00:14:40.18
of the division on the road.
00:14:40.21\00:14:41.88
Later in the month,
00:14:41.91\00:14:43.24
she spent time writing programs
00:14:43.28\00:14:44.95
and copying budgets for
the Burma Union session.
00:14:44.98\00:14:48.75
She kept up this
work, Susan Fulton wrote,
00:14:48.78\00:14:52.15
almost to the day
she went to the hospital.
00:14:52.19\00:14:55.89
For unfortunately, Eva
had developed appendicitis
00:14:55.92\00:14:59.19
and had to be admitted
to Rangoon General Hospital.
00:14:59.23\00:15:02.63
On the penultimate
morning of the Union session,
00:15:02.66\00:15:05.87
a Sabbath as it happened.
00:15:05.90\00:15:07.50
October 30, her appendix
00:15:07.54\00:15:09.44
was removed
without complications.
00:15:09.47\00:15:12.24
Now, Rangoon General Hospital
was a modern institution.
00:15:12.27\00:15:16.38
She ought to have recovered,
00:15:16.41\00:15:18.75
but the fever she had contracted
00:15:18.78\00:15:20.88
in Kamamaung in September
had greatly weakened her.
00:15:20.92\00:15:25.05
When the Fultons
visited Eva in hospital,
00:15:25.09\00:15:27.96
they noted that though
she was quite cheerful,
00:15:27.99\00:15:30.46
she was anxious that
00:15:30.49\00:15:31.99
her illness might
terminate fatally,
00:15:32.03\00:15:36.30
and sadly her
fear was justified.
00:15:36.33\00:15:38.17
On the night of the
31st, she slipped into a coma.
00:15:38.20\00:15:41.70
She never
regained consciousness.
00:15:41.74\00:15:44.11
In the early
morning of November 3, 1920,
00:15:44.14\00:15:46.31
she passed away.
00:15:46.34\00:15:48.34
Without the strain and
sickness of missionary service,
00:15:48.38\00:15:52.75
Eva would almost certainly
have successfully recuperated
00:15:52.78\00:15:56.05
from a
relatively routine surgery.
00:15:56.08\00:15:58.85
As Susan Fulton wrote,
00:15:58.89\00:16:01.26
"Her term of service in
India was short indeed."
00:16:01.29\00:16:05.99
Full of grief she wrote too,
00:16:06.03\00:16:07.46
"We cannot understand
00:16:07.50\00:16:08.83
why one so young, so
useful, so eager to serve,
00:16:08.86\00:16:13.40
and so greatly
needed in the mission field
00:16:13.44\00:16:15.77
should be so
suddenly taken away."
00:16:15.80\00:16:20.44
Eva May Clements
was just 23 years old.
00:16:20.48\00:16:24.81
She had spent just seven
months in the mission field.
00:16:24.85\00:16:27.85
In fact, from the
time her call was voted
00:16:27.88\00:16:31.02
by the General
Conference Executive Committee,
00:16:31.05\00:16:33.99
to the time she was
buried was a mere 10 months.
00:16:34.02\00:16:37.99
Some of you, I am going to guess
00:16:41.93\00:16:43.97
are wondering why am
I telling you this story
00:16:44.00\00:16:46.87
of an unknown and
apparently unimportant
00:16:46.90\00:16:49.24
young woman?
00:16:49.27\00:16:51.04
Partly it is precisely because
Eva seems so inconsequential,
00:16:51.07\00:16:56.58
she is not alone
in being forgotten.
00:16:56.61\00:16:59.35
Friends, too often we tell
00:16:59.38\00:17:01.75
just the same few
stories from our past
00:17:01.78\00:17:05.99
and we ignore
dedicated men and women
00:17:06.02\00:17:08.82
who literally took
their lives in their hands,
00:17:08.86\00:17:12.53
but could do so
because they had put
00:17:12.56\00:17:14.70
their lives in the
hands of the Holy Spirit.
00:17:14.73\00:17:18.20
And yet most of them are
moldering in their graves
00:17:18.23\00:17:20.97
in obscurity and Adventist today
00:17:21.00\00:17:22.87
know nothing of them.
00:17:22.90\00:17:26.21
Another reason to telling you
00:17:26.24\00:17:27.58
about Eva May
Clements is that though
00:17:27.61\00:17:28.98
she disappeared from
history for nearly 100 years,
00:17:29.01\00:17:32.08
some parts of her
story can be recovered.
00:17:32.11\00:17:36.28
We know little of
what she thought or felt.
00:17:36.32\00:17:39.49
But at least we're
able to piece together
00:17:39.52\00:17:41.42
a timeline for the
last year of her life,
00:17:41.46\00:17:44.16
if not much earlier.
00:17:44.19\00:17:46.06
And we can do that
to a degree impossible
00:17:46.09\00:17:48.53
for many other missionaries
00:17:48.56\00:17:50.17
and there were many,
many Adventist missionaries
00:17:50.20\00:17:53.10
who died in the mission field.
00:17:53.13\00:17:56.10
Sometimes, all we know of them
00:17:56.14\00:17:59.64
is the date that they died.
00:17:59.67\00:18:03.21
Eva stands for them.
00:18:03.24\00:18:05.61
Her experiences remind us that
every missionary had a story.
00:18:05.65\00:18:11.55
No matter how
anonymous they were in death,
00:18:11.59\00:18:14.62
they were wives and daughters,
00:18:14.66\00:18:16.76
sons and
husbands, beloved in life,
00:18:16.79\00:18:20.80
lamented in death.
00:18:20.83\00:18:25.23
And I'm also
telling you this story
00:18:25.27\00:18:27.04
because Eva's
fate was not uncommon.
00:18:27.07\00:18:30.91
And I don't just mean in
dying in the mission field.
00:18:30.94\00:18:33.71
Eva story is so tragic partly
00:18:33.74\00:18:36.04
because her
passing seems so pointless.
00:18:36.08\00:18:39.41
It seems almost meaningless.
00:18:39.45\00:18:42.28
She perished prematurely,
00:18:42.32\00:18:43.99
having never accomplished
great deeds for Jesus
00:18:44.02\00:18:47.39
because she never
had the chance to.
00:18:47.42\00:18:49.62
She was cut down
in the prime of life.
00:18:49.66\00:18:53.60
And yet that was because
00:18:53.63\00:18:54.96
she was willing to give her life
00:18:55.00\00:18:58.73
in order that others
might have eternal life.
00:18:58.77\00:19:03.30
And in that
willingness to serve,
00:19:03.34\00:19:05.31
in her willingness to die,
00:19:05.34\00:19:07.64
her life was not meaningless,
00:19:07.68\00:19:10.48
not in the eyes of
her Heavenly Father.
00:19:10.51\00:19:13.72
And yet many
other missionaries died
00:19:13.75\00:19:15.55
having only had
limited opportunities
00:19:15.58\00:19:17.79
to make an impact.
00:19:17.82\00:19:19.32
Friends, today we
often have to romantic view
00:19:19.35\00:19:22.32
of missionary service.
00:19:22.36\00:19:24.06
In 1902, William Spicer,
00:19:24.09\00:19:25.99
then secretary of the
Foreign Mission Board,
00:19:26.03\00:19:28.23
set things out
starkly but clearly.
00:19:28.26\00:19:30.83
"Those who go into the fields"
00:19:30.87\00:19:32.83
he wrote, "must be
ready to lay down their lives,
00:19:32.87\00:19:37.31
and at the least must
be ready to lay everything
00:19:37.34\00:19:39.97
they have in the world
upon the altar of service."
00:19:40.01\00:19:44.15
Spicer knew what
he was talking about.
00:19:44.18\00:19:46.08
He had suddenly and unexpectedly
00:19:46.11\00:19:48.28
become superintendent
of the India mission
00:19:48.32\00:19:51.15
when his predecessor
Doris Robinson was struck down
00:19:51.19\00:19:54.96
with smallpox, a
death that Spicer
00:19:54.99\00:19:58.36
witnessed at his bedside.
00:19:58.39\00:20:00.60
All missionaries,
not just Adventists
00:20:00.63\00:20:02.36
had to be ready to
lay down their lives.
00:20:02.40\00:20:05.87
In 1900, there were 17,400
00:20:05.90\00:20:09.40
Protestant
missionaries worldwide.
00:20:09.44\00:20:11.74
More than 92% of them
from Western countries.
00:20:11.77\00:20:16.98
Only one in six
was working in Africa,
00:20:17.01\00:20:20.02
because at this stage
as one historian writes,
00:20:20.05\00:20:22.75
"There were still no
answers to the killer diseases,
00:20:22.78\00:20:25.55
malaria and sleeping sickness,
00:20:25.59\00:20:27.39
and we can add blackwater fever,
00:20:27.42\00:20:28.92
yellow fever.
00:20:28.96\00:20:30.76
In West Africa, for example,
00:20:30.79\00:20:32.29
the casualty rate
among Western missionaries
00:20:32.33\00:20:34.86
was so high that in
the late 19th century,
00:20:34.90\00:20:37.60
they were expected
to live just two years.
00:20:37.63\00:20:42.57
And this poor life expectancy
00:20:42.60\00:20:43.94
was true of
Adventist missionaries.
00:20:43.97\00:20:46.31
Often they quickly succumbed to
00:20:46.34\00:20:49.71
and they frequently died off
a range of tropical illnesses,
00:20:49.74\00:20:53.38
various fevers and
infectious diseases,
00:20:53.42\00:20:56.48
of course the two
year average implies
00:20:56.52\00:20:59.25
both shorter and longer spans,
00:20:59.29\00:21:01.99
but all clustering
around the two year mark.
00:21:02.02\00:21:05.33
And I'm going to give you
a number of actual examples,
00:21:05.36\00:21:09.40
and I could if time
allowed had many more.
00:21:09.43\00:21:11.70
Either Clements
was far from unique
00:21:11.73\00:21:14.67
in the short period
she served before dying.
00:21:14.70\00:21:17.47
The brief snippets
of missionary lives
00:21:17.51\00:21:20.41
I'll share with you.
00:21:20.44\00:21:22.88
Lives cut short remind
us of the cost of service.
00:21:22.91\00:21:28.52
They also remind
us though of the cost
00:21:28.55\00:21:30.79
of building up this church
00:21:30.82\00:21:32.89
that we know and love today.
00:21:32.92\00:21:34.66
When the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
00:21:34.69\00:21:36.29
was established 156 years ago,
00:21:36.32\00:21:40.46
there were only
around 3,500 members
00:21:40.50\00:21:43.57
found only in the Northeast
00:21:43.60\00:21:45.53
and Midwest of the United States
00:21:45.57\00:21:47.40
and a handful in Canada.
00:21:47.44\00:21:49.90
Now its members are
found all around the world.
00:21:49.94\00:21:54.24
We too easily take
that outcome for granted.
00:21:54.28\00:21:58.65
It was achieved
by God's blessing,
00:21:58.68\00:22:00.35
of course, but
it was also achieved
00:22:00.38\00:22:02.25
by commitment and sacrifice
to a degree that today is rare.
00:22:02.28\00:22:07.86
Past generations of
Adventist willingly undertook
00:22:07.89\00:22:11.69
what the Apostle Paul
called the Christian's
00:22:11.73\00:22:14.86
proper service to God,
00:22:14.90\00:22:17.27
presenting their
bodies as living sacrifices.
00:22:17.30\00:22:21.97
This afternoon, I'm
going to be telling the stories
00:22:22.00\00:22:24.21
of some martyrs
of Adventist mission.
00:22:24.24\00:22:26.68
Stories come from a
book that I've just published
00:22:26.71\00:22:29.44
with Pacific Press
called A Living Sacrifice.
00:22:29.48\00:22:32.85
As I wrote it, I
have to tell you, truly,
00:22:32.88\00:22:35.88
I was humbled and deeply moved
00:22:35.92\00:22:39.19
by what I found in the sources.
00:22:39.22\00:22:41.92
And I truly feel privileged
00:22:41.96\00:22:43.46
to share these
stories with you today.
00:22:43.49\00:22:46.49
I hope that you
will find them inspiring
00:22:46.53\00:22:49.76
and that you will
want to share them in turn.
00:22:49.80\00:22:52.27
And if so, the book includes
00:22:52.30\00:22:54.30
most of the stories you'll hear,
00:22:54.34\00:22:56.24
as well as many others.
00:22:56.27\00:22:57.61
And so I hope it can
be a valuable resource.
00:22:57.64\00:23:00.81
But one reason these
stories are inspiring
00:23:00.84\00:23:05.58
is because so many
of these missionaries
00:23:05.61\00:23:07.55
were young.
00:23:07.58\00:23:09.08
Many women, many
were committed laypeople,
00:23:09.12\00:23:13.25
and some were self
supporting rather than
00:23:13.29\00:23:15.22
on the church's payroll,
00:23:15.26\00:23:16.59
but all were willing
to pay the ultimate price.
00:23:16.62\00:23:21.13
We still need that willingness,
that spirit of sacrifice today.
00:23:21.16\00:23:25.60
As much as this
church has grown,
00:23:25.63\00:23:27.24
there are still areas
where the Adventist presence
00:23:27.27\00:23:30.44
is minimal and tenuous.
00:23:30.47\00:23:32.97
And so we continue to
need missionaries today
00:23:33.01\00:23:35.44
and the people who support them.
00:23:35.48\00:23:37.48
The story of Eva Clements
00:23:37.51\00:23:39.35
and other forgotten
heroes of this church,
00:23:39.38\00:23:42.85
the church for which
they gave their lives.
00:23:42.88\00:23:46.55
These stories have
the power to move us.
00:23:46.59\00:23:50.03
I believe they can
inspire young and old
00:23:50.06\00:23:52.69
to recommit to
the prophetic mission
00:23:52.73\00:23:56.30
of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:23:56.33\00:23:58.03
On October 3,1895, a party
00:24:01.54\00:24:04.17
of American
missionaries disembarked
00:24:04.21\00:24:07.14
at the port of Cape Coast,
00:24:07.18\00:24:09.78
which you see
here in what was then
00:24:09.81\00:24:12.01
called the Gold Coast,
00:24:12.05\00:24:13.58
a British colony in
West Africa, today Ghana.
00:24:13.62\00:24:17.25
They were not the
first Seventh-day Adventists
00:24:17.29\00:24:19.15
in West Africa.
00:24:19.19\00:24:20.52
They actually joined
the body of local believers
00:24:20.56\00:24:22.89
led by a man
called Francis Dolphijn,
00:24:22.92\00:24:25.19
who had been convicted
of the seventh day Sabbath
00:24:25.23\00:24:27.33
by reading Adventist literature.
00:24:27.36\00:24:29.13
And he wrote several times
00:24:29.16\00:24:30.60
to the General
Conference saying,
00:24:30.63\00:24:31.97
"Please send us missionaries."
00:24:32.00\00:24:34.90
And in response
eventually came a team
00:24:34.94\00:24:37.87
led by Elder Dudley U.
Hale who you see on the screen.
00:24:37.91\00:24:42.94
Hale was accompanied by
three other missionaries
00:24:42.98\00:24:46.25
of whom we know little,
G. P. Riggs, a colporteur,
00:24:46.28\00:24:51.12
two nurses George and Eva Kerr,
00:24:51.15\00:24:53.66
along with the
Kerr's two children.
00:24:53.69\00:24:56.22
The photograph that
you'll see on the screen
00:24:56.26\00:24:58.16
now shows Hale,
00:24:58.19\00:25:00.80
the Kerr's and Francis Dolphijn,
00:25:00.83\00:25:03.57
he's the man standing
in the middle at the back.
00:25:03.60\00:25:07.94
There's no known photo of Riggs.
00:25:07.97\00:25:10.94
Things didn't go well.
00:25:10.97\00:25:12.81
Twenty days had not
passed after their arrival
00:25:12.84\00:25:16.24
before Elder Hale was stricken
with the blackwater fever.
00:25:16.28\00:25:20.55
He recovered but by mid
1896, within eight months
00:25:20.58\00:25:24.69
of their arrival at Cape Coast,
00:25:24.72\00:25:27.36
both of Kerr's
children had died.
00:25:27.39\00:25:30.93
Riggs was sent to
Liverpool in England
00:25:30.96\00:25:32.89
suffering from dysentery,
00:25:32.93\00:25:35.06
but despite treatment
Riggs never recovered,
00:25:35.10\00:25:37.33
and he died on January 8, 1897.
00:25:37.37\00:25:40.60
From his arrival at Cape
Coast to his death in Liverpool
00:25:40.64\00:25:45.27
was just 15 months.
00:25:45.31\00:25:48.14
And by the spring of
1897, George and Eva Kerr
00:25:48.18\00:25:51.51
had suffered repeatedly
from blackwater fever.
00:25:51.55\00:25:54.28
And on April 16, they
two sailed for England,
00:25:54.32\00:25:57.52
having served for 18 months.
00:25:57.55\00:26:00.19
Hale trying to carry on.
00:26:00.22\00:26:02.29
He wrote, "For lonely,
00:26:02.32\00:26:03.66
I am left alone
with the work here."
00:26:03.69\00:26:06.09
Well, in fact he had Dolphijn
and other local believers,
00:26:06.13\00:26:08.70
but he was suffering
chronic, severe malaria.
00:26:08.73\00:26:12.83
On June 3, 1897,
he sailed for England.
00:26:12.87\00:26:16.30
Hale had been a
missionary for 21 months.
00:26:16.34\00:26:20.18
Three of the
original party had perished
00:26:20.21\00:26:22.64
and none had
lasted even two years.
00:26:22.68\00:26:27.52
Meanwhile, on July 5, 1894,
00:26:27.55\00:26:29.98
a party of seven
Seventh-day Adventists
00:26:30.02\00:26:32.75
had arrived in Bulawayo,
00:26:32.79\00:26:34.86
the new capital
of the newest part
00:26:34.89\00:26:37.03
of the British Empire, Rhodesia,
00:26:37.06\00:26:39.09
which spanned what today modern
00:26:39.13\00:26:41.00
Zambia and Zimbabwe.
00:26:41.03\00:26:42.86
The Adventist established
a mission station at Solusi
00:26:42.90\00:26:46.23
in present day Zimbabwe.
00:26:46.27\00:26:48.50
Most of them returned soon
after to South Africa leaving
00:26:48.54\00:26:52.54
a South African
layman Fred Sparrow
00:26:52.57\00:26:54.71
in charge of the
property which today,
00:26:54.74\00:26:56.68
of course, is Solusi University.
00:26:56.71\00:26:58.61
You saw the picture before.
00:26:58.65\00:27:01.25
In July 1895, a
second party of missionaries
00:27:01.28\00:27:04.62
arrived and they stayed.
00:27:04.65\00:27:07.66
They included
Elder George B. Tripp,
00:27:07.69\00:27:10.06
who became the
first superintendent
00:27:10.09\00:27:11.69
of the Solusi Mission,
00:27:11.73\00:27:13.29
and his wife Mary
and his son George Jr.
00:27:13.33\00:27:17.00
George Sr.'s first wife had died
00:27:17.03\00:27:19.27
and he had married,
only married in March,
00:27:19.30\00:27:22.40
and then
immediately departed America
00:27:22.44\00:27:24.34
for South Africa.
00:27:24.37\00:27:25.71
And as we'll see
00:27:25.74\00:27:27.08
many missionaries
married right before
00:27:27.11\00:27:28.44
they left for Foreign Service.
00:27:28.48\00:27:30.65
Other
missionaries in the 1895 party
00:27:30.68\00:27:32.91
included Elder
William H. Anderson,
00:27:32.95\00:27:35.95
known by his
middle name of Harry,
00:27:35.98\00:27:38.45
he was only 25 and his wife Nora
00:27:38.49\00:27:41.52
who you see in
the photo was younger,
00:27:41.56\00:27:43.02
though the
photo was taken later.
00:27:43.06\00:27:45.33
They were also
Dr. A.S. Carmichael
00:27:45.36\00:27:47.53
and Fred Sparrow's brother Chris
00:27:47.56\00:27:49.93
and his wife Mahalo.
00:27:49.96\00:27:52.03
They helped to
manage the mission farm,
00:27:52.07\00:27:54.14
they were lay people.
00:27:54.17\00:27:55.50
And you can see
Chris in this picture
00:27:55.54\00:27:58.47
is shown with some of
the local farm laborers
00:27:58.51\00:28:01.34
in their families.
00:28:01.38\00:28:03.35
In 1897 Frank Armitage,
another American missionary
00:28:03.38\00:28:06.75
joined the group at Solusi
along with his wife Annie,
00:28:06.78\00:28:09.68
and their 10 year
old daughter Violet.
00:28:09.72\00:28:13.49
They would serve as missionaries
00:28:13.52\00:28:14.86
less than 12
months because in 1898,
00:28:14.89\00:28:18.06
as Harry Anderson
wrote to church leaders,
00:28:18.09\00:28:20.06
"An epidemic,
almost a plague of malaria
00:28:20.10\00:28:23.97
swept across Rhodesia,
and Solusi was not spared."
00:28:24.00\00:28:28.34
Dr. Carmichael contracted
the disease on February 14,
00:28:28.37\00:28:31.84
two weeks later he died.
00:28:31.87\00:28:34.14
Elder Tripp
conducted the funeral,
00:28:34.18\00:28:36.34
and the next day he collapsed.
00:28:36.38\00:28:38.75
On March 7, he
died and was buried.
00:28:38.78\00:28:42.95
You see, his
grave, his tomb here.
00:28:42.98\00:28:44.99
He had served at the
mission just three years.
00:28:45.02\00:28:47.62
On the same day, March 7,
Chris Sparrow's young daughter,
00:28:47.66\00:28:51.29
whose name we
don't even know died.
00:28:51.33\00:28:53.80
Her mother Mahalo was sick,
00:28:53.83\00:28:55.46
but she survived for the moment,
00:28:55.50\00:28:57.03
but later she was laid to rest
00:28:57.07\00:28:59.37
by the side of her daughter
in the cemetery at Solusi.
00:28:59.40\00:29:03.00
And on April 8,
1898, George Tripp Jr. died
00:29:03.04\00:29:08.88
and was buried
next to his father.
00:29:08.91\00:29:13.11
Nora Anderson, the
widowed married Tripp
00:29:13.15\00:29:16.05
and the three members
of the Armitage family
00:29:16.08\00:29:18.12
were all suffering badly.
00:29:18.15\00:29:20.19
And so they were all
sent by train to Cape Town.
00:29:20.22\00:29:23.66
But Annie Armitage
never reached there.
00:29:23.69\00:29:26.03
She died and was buried
00:29:26.06\00:29:27.73
by the railway
track along the way.
00:29:27.76\00:29:31.63
Now Harry and Nora
Anderson were reunited at Solusi
00:29:31.67\00:29:34.80
and they raised a
daughter there called Naomi,
00:29:34.84\00:29:36.94
but Solusi cemetery
still bears silent witness
00:29:36.97\00:29:42.01
to the mortality rate
of mission in Matabeleland.
00:29:42.04\00:29:47.55
Many
missionaries are buried there.
00:29:47.58\00:29:52.09
But there are other graveyards
that testify enduringly
00:29:52.12\00:29:55.06
to the high cost of proclaiming
00:29:55.09\00:29:57.49
the everlasting gospel
to every nation, tribe,
00:29:57.53\00:30:00.96
tongue and people.
00:30:01.00\00:30:02.83
In June 1903,
Joseph Watson arrived
00:30:02.86\00:30:06.20
in Malamulo Mission
station in Malawi then,
00:30:06.23\00:30:09.90
what was called
British Central Africa.
00:30:09.94\00:30:12.34
Now, Thomas Branch
had only established
00:30:12.37\00:30:14.28
the Adventist Mission in
Malamulo the year before.
00:30:14.31\00:30:17.78
So Watson was one of
00:30:17.81\00:30:19.15
the first Adventist missionaries
00:30:19.18\00:30:20.52
to serve there.
00:30:20.55\00:30:21.88
His family farmed outside
the small town of Banbridge
00:30:21.92\00:30:25.72
in the north of Ireland.
00:30:25.75\00:30:27.66
Joseph and several
other family members
00:30:27.69\00:30:29.42
had been converted in
1898 when Joseph was 36.
00:30:29.46\00:30:33.33
And by 1900, he
decided to volunteer
00:30:33.36\00:30:35.83
for mission service.
00:30:35.86\00:30:37.43
He wasn't a pastor.
00:30:37.47\00:30:39.40
His job was to
run the mission farm.
00:30:39.43\00:30:43.30
Sadly, Joseph
contracted cerebral malaria,
00:30:43.34\00:30:46.54
and he died on
December 11, 1903.
00:30:46.57\00:30:49.61
His grave is at
Malamulo, you see it there.
00:30:49.64\00:30:53.15
He had only served as a
missionary for six months.
00:30:53.18\00:30:58.49
On February 20, 1904,
00:30:58.52\00:31:02.92
Christian Wunderlich,
00:31:02.96\00:31:04.46
a layman in his
50's sailed from Hamburg
00:31:04.49\00:31:07.16
for Dar es Salaam
00:31:07.20\00:31:08.53
to join the
recently founded mission
00:31:08.56\00:31:10.83
in German East Africa,
today part of Tanzania.
00:31:10.87\00:31:14.57
Like Watson,
Wunderlich was a layman too.
00:31:14.60\00:31:17.74
His job was to
help with construction
00:31:17.77\00:31:19.97
of the mission
buildings and he also managed
00:31:20.01\00:31:22.24
a steam traction engine.
00:31:22.28\00:31:24.81
But in 1905, he and
two other missionaries
00:31:24.85\00:31:27.72
became seriously ill and
were sent back to Germany.
00:31:27.75\00:31:30.92
Despite being treated
at Friedensau seminary
00:31:30.95\00:31:33.56
for two weeks,
Friedensau sanitarium,
00:31:33.59\00:31:36.42
I should say for two weeks,
00:31:36.46\00:31:38.19
Christian passed
away on October 31, 1905.
00:31:38.23\00:31:43.47
He was buried in the
cemetery at Friedensau,
00:31:43.50\00:31:45.53
you see his tomb,
00:31:45.57\00:31:47.10
and there he
awaits the resurrection.
00:31:47.14\00:31:49.34
The president
of the German Union
00:31:49.37\00:31:50.84
wrote that his modest tombstone
00:31:50.87\00:31:53.34
was placed where
students would see it.
00:31:53.38\00:31:56.95
It's Friedensau's
side of the seminary.
00:31:56.98\00:32:00.65
A place where
students would see it
00:32:00.68\00:32:02.28
and be reminded of the spirit
00:32:02.32\00:32:04.49
that it takes to
build up missions.
00:32:04.52\00:32:07.19
Christian Wunderlich had spent
less than two years in Africa.
00:32:07.22\00:32:11.43
But meanwhile,
starting from around
00:32:11.46\00:32:13.86
1905 Adventist
mission in West Africa
00:32:13.90\00:32:16.77
finally started to make headway.
00:32:16.80\00:32:19.07
Three years later,
Thomas and Catherine French,
00:32:19.10\00:32:23.20
both teachers
accepted a call to work
00:32:23.24\00:32:25.47
in education in Sierra Leone,
arriving there in May 1908.
00:32:25.51\00:32:30.58
Thomas was 25,
Catherine was just 21.
00:32:30.61\00:32:35.08
Both suffered from
malaria in Sierra Leone,
00:32:35.12\00:32:37.72
but both survived.
00:32:37.75\00:32:39.22
But after two and a half years,
00:32:39.25\00:32:40.72
they were moved
to the Gold Coast
00:32:40.76\00:32:43.39
and to the
mission station of Axim.
00:32:43.43\00:32:46.16
They've been
there only a few days
00:32:46.19\00:32:47.60
when on January 17, 1911,
00:32:47.63\00:32:49.83
Catherine was taken
ill with a severe attack
00:32:49.86\00:32:52.67
of blackwater fever.
00:32:52.70\00:32:54.60
This is how Thomas
described it in her obituary.
00:32:54.64\00:32:58.01
She lived only one more day,
00:32:58.04\00:33:00.24
dying of heart
failure on January 18, 1911
00:33:00.28\00:33:03.85
at the age of 24.
00:33:03.88\00:33:06.18
In writing of
Catherine's passing,
00:33:06.21\00:33:08.22
Thomas
articulates the bewilderment,
00:33:08.25\00:33:10.95
the distress and
yet the determination,
00:33:10.99\00:33:13.62
typical of many Adventist
missionaries in this period.
00:33:13.66\00:33:16.52
He wrote, "As I stood beside
00:33:16.56\00:33:18.86
my dying
companion a few years ago,
00:33:18.89\00:33:21.86
and realized
that my own strength
00:33:21.90\00:33:23.93
was fast
failing, in my perplexity,
00:33:23.97\00:33:27.04
my mind turned to my brethren
00:33:27.07\00:33:29.07
and sisters at home,
00:33:29.10\00:33:30.71
who have so nobly supported this
00:33:30.74\00:33:32.54
cause by their
prayers and by their means,
00:33:32.57\00:33:35.78
and the question
came forcibly to me,
00:33:35.81\00:33:39.21
'What can this crisis mean?'
00:33:39.25\00:33:42.18
We appeal to our
people at home to support
00:33:42.22\00:33:45.32
the languishing
hands of our workers
00:33:45.35\00:33:47.76
in these heathen strongholds.
00:33:47.79\00:33:49.12
Brethren and sisters,
seek God earnestly in behalf
00:33:49.16\00:33:53.23
of his cause in West Africa.'"
00:33:53.26\00:33:56.06
Thomas was exhausted mentally,
00:33:56.10\00:33:57.87
spiritually and physically,
00:33:57.90\00:33:59.27
and in February he was sent home
00:33:59.30\00:34:01.27
to regain his health.
00:34:01.30\00:34:02.84
He and Catherine
were replaced in Axim
00:34:02.87\00:34:05.91
by two lay
missionaries, C.E.F. Thompson
00:34:05.94\00:34:09.88
and his wife whose
name we don't know.
00:34:09.91\00:34:13.01
We know little of
Thompson, but he was Jamaican,
00:34:13.05\00:34:16.35
well educated,
a skillful writer,
00:34:16.38\00:34:19.39
and his studio photograph shows
00:34:19.42\00:34:21.62
he was a very stylish dresser.
00:34:21.66\00:34:23.16
The Thompsons had
served in Sierra Leone in 1908,
00:34:26.73\00:34:29.76
and then the Gold
Coast colony in 1909.
00:34:29.80\00:34:32.53
Although
Thompson was not ordained,
00:34:32.57\00:34:35.10
he was a successful soul winner.
00:34:35.14\00:34:38.31
The rare
photograph you're about to see
00:34:38.34\00:34:40.41
on your screen shows
members of the Nsymba Church
00:34:40.44\00:34:44.95
with David Babcock,
00:34:44.98\00:34:46.31
the West African
Mission superintendent,
00:34:46.35\00:34:48.92
and Thompson who
I have highlighted.
00:34:48.95\00:34:51.22
And, you know, we
have many photographs
00:34:54.49\00:34:56.89
in the archives of white men
00:34:56.93\00:34:59.26
sitting in the middle of a group
00:34:59.29\00:35:00.96
of African's islanders,
00:35:01.00\00:35:04.23
they're very redolent
of an age of imperialism.
00:35:04.27\00:35:07.07
It's nice to have a photograph,
00:35:07.10\00:35:09.24
in which there's
a dark skinned man
00:35:09.27\00:35:12.54
sitting in the center as well.
00:35:12.57\00:35:16.44
In March 1911, he and his wife
00:35:16.48\00:35:18.48
replaced the Frenches in Axim,
00:35:18.51\00:35:20.12
but Thompson
contracted Bright's disease.
00:35:20.15\00:35:23.59
He eventually left
Ghana to seek treatment
00:35:23.62\00:35:26.22
for his failing kidneys,
00:35:26.25\00:35:27.92
but he stayed too
long, he left it too late.
00:35:27.96\00:35:31.73
And after having
served in West Africa
00:35:31.76\00:35:33.46
for fewer than four
years, C.E.F Thompson died
00:35:33.50\00:35:36.56
in Freetown on March 25, 1912.
00:35:36.60\00:35:41.47
Less than two weeks
later, Charles Lindsay Bowen,
00:35:41.50\00:35:44.14
known as Lynn, who was age 31.
00:35:44.17\00:35:46.54
His wife Ida, who
was four years older,
00:35:46.57\00:35:49.04
and their daughter Ethel,
00:35:49.08\00:35:50.41
who was six
sailed for South Africa.
00:35:50.45\00:35:52.28
They took up
station at Tsungwesi Mission
00:35:52.31\00:35:54.48
in what was then
Rhodesia, today Zimbabwe,
00:35:54.52\00:35:57.35
though it's 400
miles east of Solusi.
00:35:57.39\00:36:00.79
The photograph here
that you'll see shows Lynn
00:36:00.82\00:36:03.53
before he left the US.
00:36:03.56\00:36:05.93
No, that's the...
00:36:05.96\00:36:07.30
There we go, thank you.
00:36:07.33\00:36:08.83
The only photos we
know of Ida and Ethel
00:36:08.86\00:36:11.37
are from their passport photos
00:36:11.40\00:36:13.27
taken in 1920.
00:36:13.30\00:36:17.71
In 1913, there was an outbreak
of smallpox at Tsungwesi
00:36:17.74\00:36:21.54
and Lynn contracted the disease.
00:36:21.58\00:36:23.55
Chris Sparrow brought supplies
00:36:23.58\00:36:25.45
from Solusi and he
stayed to help nurse the sick.
00:36:25.48\00:36:29.88
Ida recorded,
"Lynn had complications
00:36:29.92\00:36:33.46
which made it very difficult
00:36:33.49\00:36:35.02
and painful for him to breathe."
00:36:35.06\00:36:37.29
Sparrow later described
Lynn's three weeks of suffering
00:36:37.33\00:36:40.03
in frankly grueling detail
00:36:40.06\00:36:42.23
and recorded his
final painful prayer,
00:36:42.26\00:36:44.60
"That if it was the
Lord's will for him to recover,
00:36:44.63\00:36:47.74
it might be speedily,
00:36:47.77\00:36:49.77
and if not that
the Lord released him
00:36:49.80\00:36:51.37
from the agony he was in."
00:36:51.41\00:36:54.61
On June 2, 1913, Lynn
Bowen passed away, age 32.
00:36:54.64\00:36:59.21
He had served at
Tsungwesi just a year.
00:36:59.25\00:37:02.98
News of his passing
was received the next day
00:37:03.02\00:37:06.69
at the 1913
General Conference session,
00:37:06.72\00:37:09.49
which probably seems remarkable,
00:37:09.52\00:37:12.26
but the telegram
had reached Tsungwesi
00:37:12.29\00:37:14.50
and Ida had wired
the GC headquarters.
00:37:14.53\00:37:17.27
Her telegram had a simple
but profoundly sad message.
00:37:17.30\00:37:21.04
"My husband died
yesterday at 1 pm."
00:37:21.07\00:37:24.01
It was not Africa alone
00:37:27.18\00:37:28.78
where Adventist
pioneers risk death.
00:37:28.81\00:37:31.31
It was a danger too
00:37:31.35\00:37:32.68
in Central
America and the Caribbean,
00:37:32.71\00:37:34.52
so close to the United States.
00:37:34.55\00:37:36.82
For example,
Albert and Ina Fischer
00:37:36.85\00:37:39.79
went as missionaries
to the newly acquired
00:37:39.82\00:37:41.92
American colony of Puerto Rico
00:37:41.96\00:37:44.16
to open up the work in May 1901.
00:37:44.19\00:37:47.50
You see a
photograph of Ina here.
00:37:47.53\00:37:50.93
Less than six months later,
Albert became seriously ill.
00:37:50.97\00:37:56.10
After 36 days
during which he suffered
00:37:56.14\00:37:58.77
five severe hemorrhages,
00:37:58.81\00:38:01.38
Albert died of typhoid fever
in Mayaguez on March 23, 1902.
00:38:01.41\00:38:06.48
Elder A.J Haysmer
who helped to nurse
00:38:06.51\00:38:08.85
Albert on his deathbed hinted
the grief felt by the widow
00:38:08.88\00:38:12.45
writing back to the States
that Ina who survived her fever
00:38:12.49\00:38:16.59
knows that the Lord
has made no mistake,
00:38:16.62\00:38:19.86
although she cannot now
see why this blow has come.
00:38:19.89\00:38:23.87
But his report dwelt on Albert.
00:38:23.90\00:38:26.84
He was afraid,
Haysmer wrote that
00:38:26.87\00:38:29.07
many would think
that he and his wife
00:38:29.10\00:38:30.74
had made a mistake
in coming to this field.
00:38:30.77\00:38:33.84
He wished me to
express his strong belief that
00:38:33.88\00:38:36.61
the Lord had sent them
and that they did not regret
00:38:36.64\00:38:39.95
the movie they had taken,
00:38:39.98\00:38:41.52
but that if the
Lord should call him
00:38:41.55\00:38:43.18
to rest awhile,
00:38:43.22\00:38:44.55
he was glad to be
found at his post of duty.
00:38:44.59\00:38:48.26
And Haysmer
concluded his report,
00:38:48.29\00:38:50.73
"Who will step in and
carry on the work begun."
00:38:50.76\00:38:56.60
In 1905, Charles
Enoch, a nurse in Mercer
00:38:56.63\00:39:00.07
who worked at
Portland sanitarium
00:39:00.10\00:39:02.34
went with his wife,
00:39:02.37\00:39:03.71
also a nurse and
their young child
00:39:03.74\00:39:06.07
to the West Indies
as medical missionaries.
00:39:06.11\00:39:09.54
The Enoch family landed
at Barbados in November, 1905
00:39:09.58\00:39:12.81
and open treatment
rooms in Bridgetown.
00:39:12.85\00:39:15.38
But in 1906, they
relocated 200 miles
00:39:15.42\00:39:18.25
to the southwest to
Port of Spain, Trinidad
00:39:18.29\00:39:20.69
where Charles's brother George
00:39:20.72\00:39:22.76
had served since 1901.
00:39:22.79\00:39:26.06
The Enoch's opened
a new treatment room,
00:39:26.09\00:39:29.40
but they weren't able
to treat Charles himself
00:39:29.43\00:39:32.53
when he contracted yellow fever.
00:39:32.57\00:39:34.47
On February 1, 1907,
00:39:34.50\00:39:37.14
he suffered with
the intense symptoms
00:39:37.17\00:39:40.08
of that virulent disease
and died four days later.
00:39:40.11\00:39:43.85
He had been in
Trinidad for one month
00:39:43.88\00:39:46.38
and in the Caribbean
for a little over 14 months.
00:39:46.41\00:39:51.29
But he was neither the first
00:39:51.32\00:39:52.65
nor the last
Adventist missionary
00:39:52.69\00:39:54.09
to die in Trinidad.
00:39:54.12\00:39:55.46
In fact, there's
another missionary,
00:39:55.49\00:39:56.93
Ovid E. Davis wrote,
00:39:56.96\00:39:58.89
"This makes three of our workers
00:39:58.93\00:40:00.46
laid away in Port of Spain."
00:40:00.50\00:40:03.33
But Charles's
brother George Enoch
00:40:03.37\00:40:05.57
was almost upbeat.
00:40:05.60\00:40:07.40
He used words
similar to those that Haysmer
00:40:07.44\00:40:09.80
had used about Fischer.
00:40:09.84\00:40:11.44
"I am thankful"
George wrote of his brother,
00:40:11.47\00:40:14.24
"that he died at his
post of duty, thankful.
00:40:14.28\00:40:18.01
We have no regrets to
offer, but take this bereavement
00:40:18.05\00:40:21.02
as one more link to
bind our lives on the altar
00:40:21.05\00:40:24.99
of missionary endeavor."
00:40:25.02\00:40:27.52
Now, George acknowledge that
00:40:27.56\00:40:28.89
"Our hearts are
bowed in sadness,"
00:40:28.92\00:40:31.03
but his real concern
is evident when he writes,
00:40:31.06\00:40:34.00
"still the thought
presses heavily upon us,
00:40:34.03\00:40:37.43
will this branch of
the work in the West Indies
00:40:37.47\00:40:40.14
which we strove together
00:40:40.17\00:40:41.87
so hard to get upon its feet,
00:40:41.90\00:40:44.44
be now left to languish
00:40:44.47\00:40:46.81
for the lack of
consecrated workers?"
00:40:46.84\00:40:49.84
Friends, again and
again missionaries cared
00:40:49.88\00:40:52.18
as much for the
future of the work
00:40:52.21\00:40:55.65
as they cared for themselves,
00:40:55.68\00:40:57.89
or their deceased
friends and family.
00:40:57.92\00:41:01.06
Later that year age just
23, Robert Price was called from
00:41:01.09\00:41:05.43
Kansas to the Watchman
Publishing House in Trinidad.
00:41:05.46\00:41:08.86
Robert and his wife
Betsy accepted the call.
00:41:08.90\00:41:11.73
And in September, 1907,
00:41:11.77\00:41:13.23
with their two
year old son Robert Jr.,
00:41:13.27\00:41:15.04
they sailed from New
York to Port of Spain.
00:41:15.07\00:41:17.77
On May 26, 1908, Robert
was stricken with fever.
00:41:17.81\00:41:22.68
Four doctors attended him,
00:41:22.71\00:41:25.21
but he passed
this life on May 31.
00:41:25.25\00:41:28.75
Although delirious with pain
for much of his last 36 hours,
00:41:28.78\00:41:33.42
he was conscious in intervals
and an hour before he died,
00:41:33.46\00:41:37.19
he asked the Adventists
around his bed to sing to him,
00:41:37.23\00:41:41.73
Jesus lover of my soul.
00:41:41.76\00:41:46.10
Robert Price was
buried in Port of Spain,
00:41:46.13\00:41:50.21
having been a
missionary in Trinidad,
00:41:50.24\00:41:51.71
not quite eight months.
00:41:51.74\00:41:53.07
Other islands far
from the Caribbean
00:41:56.44\00:41:58.75
could also be dangerous
places in terms of disease.
00:41:58.78\00:42:01.78
In 1897, two missionaries,
00:42:01.82\00:42:03.92
new missionaries
landed on the largest island
00:42:03.95\00:42:06.55
of the Japanese
Archipelago Honshu.
00:42:06.59\00:42:09.76
The first Adventist
missionaries to Japan,
00:42:09.79\00:42:12.19
William Grainger,
along with his wife Elizabeth
00:42:12.23\00:42:14.86
age 53 and 52 respectively.
00:42:14.90\00:42:18.83
At their age, it was courageous
00:42:18.87\00:42:20.37
to accept a call to go
as missionaries to Japan.
00:42:20.40\00:42:23.44
In the photograph,
you'll see in a moment,
00:42:23.47\00:42:25.41
this is a wonderful photo.
00:42:25.44\00:42:26.94
William and
Elizabeth are pictured in Tokyo
00:42:26.98\00:42:29.84
with a local person
00:42:29.88\00:42:31.21
who was studying
the Bible with them.
00:42:31.25\00:42:33.82
But in early October 1899,
00:42:33.85\00:42:35.62
having been in
Japan for two years,
00:42:35.65\00:42:38.39
Grainger
contracted an unknown fever,
00:42:38.42\00:42:41.12
and after suffering
for more than three weeks,
00:42:41.16\00:42:43.12
he died on October 31, 1899.
00:42:43.16\00:42:48.80
In June 1902,
two young physicians,
00:42:48.83\00:42:51.90
Alfred Martin Vollmer
and Maude Otis graduated
00:42:51.93\00:42:55.50
from the American
Medical Missionary College.
00:42:55.54\00:42:57.77
They're shown
here in photographs
00:42:57.81\00:43:00.08
that were taken
for their graduation.
00:43:00.11\00:43:03.98
The following spring
Alfred accepted a call
00:43:04.01\00:43:06.72
to serve at the
sanitarium in Samoa.
00:43:06.75\00:43:09.62
And perhaps the call
was conditional on him
00:43:09.65\00:43:11.45
being married,
00:43:11.49\00:43:12.82
which was typical of
the era because soon after,
00:43:12.85\00:43:15.52
on July 14, 1903,
00:43:15.56\00:43:17.29
the two former
classmates were married.
00:43:17.33\00:43:20.76
He was 27, she was 24.
00:43:20.80\00:43:24.40
They sailed in
October and arrived in Apia
00:43:24.43\00:43:27.14
in Samoa on November 12, 1903.
00:43:27.17\00:43:29.60
And in Apia
almost 10 months later,
00:43:29.64\00:43:32.07
their only child, a
daughter, Dorothy was born.
00:43:32.11\00:43:36.08
A colleague wrote of how Alfred
loved the work in that field
00:43:36.11\00:43:39.88
and left only when
compelled to on account
00:43:39.91\00:43:43.08
of his health for Alfred
had contracted tuberculosis.
00:43:43.12\00:43:47.76
In October 1905,
not quite two years
00:43:47.79\00:43:50.56
after arriving in Apia,
00:43:50.59\00:43:52.46
Alfred sailed for
the States for treatment
00:43:52.49\00:43:54.73
and his family with him.
00:43:54.76\00:43:57.60
The colleague who
I quoted a moment ago
00:43:57.63\00:43:59.23
wrote that Vollmer
left with the deepest regret
00:43:59.27\00:44:02.10
but by then he was very sick.
00:44:02.14\00:44:04.74
In fact, it was thought
he might die on the voyage.
00:44:04.77\00:44:07.74
But his obituary observes,
00:44:07.78\00:44:09.11
the Lord was merciful
00:44:09.14\00:44:10.61
and spared his
life to reach his home.
00:44:10.65\00:44:14.05
But Alfred didn't
long survive his return,
00:44:14.08\00:44:16.22
the obituary soberly records,
"He suffered a great deal
00:44:16.25\00:44:20.36
in the last three
weeks of his life."
00:44:20.39\00:44:23.69
Alfred Vollmer died
on February 15, 1906,
00:44:23.73\00:44:27.53
eight days short
of his 30th birthday.
00:44:27.56\00:44:30.47
Maude was left
husbandless at the age of 27,
00:44:30.50\00:44:34.37
and Dorothy
fatherless at 18 months,
00:44:34.40\00:44:38.11
the result of just 23
months of mission service.
00:44:38.14\00:44:44.11
The Vollmer's had been joined
in Samoa by Sarah Mareta Young,
00:44:44.15\00:44:48.05
a Polynesian woman
00:44:48.08\00:44:49.62
who had graduated as a nurse
00:44:49.65\00:44:50.99
from Sydney
Sanitarium in Australia in 1903,
00:44:51.02\00:44:54.32
and went to Samoa in May 1904.
00:44:54.36\00:44:57.56
Four months
after Vollmer's death,
00:44:57.59\00:45:00.00
in mid July, 1986,
Sarah died of pneumonia.
00:45:00.03\00:45:03.40
According to an
Adventist physician
00:45:03.43\00:45:05.03
who worked with her,
00:45:05.07\00:45:06.40
she was loved by
all who knew her.
00:45:06.43\00:45:08.80
And her last letter to
friends from Samoa survives.
00:45:08.84\00:45:13.54
It was written on
the first of July, 1906,
00:45:13.58\00:45:16.91
not long before her
death, and the letter urged,
00:45:16.95\00:45:21.62
"May many more be
found who are ready to say,
00:45:21.65\00:45:25.89
'Here am I, send me.'"
00:45:25.92\00:45:30.66
Sarah perished two
years and two months
00:45:30.69\00:45:33.23
after she joined the
staff of Samoa Sanitarium.
00:45:33.26\00:45:37.20
In January, 1915,
00:45:37.23\00:45:38.57
two young Australians
Hubert Lenard Tolhurst,
00:45:38.60\00:45:41.80
and Pearl Philps were married,
00:45:41.84\00:45:43.77
and you can see
Pearl in this picture
00:45:43.81\00:45:46.57
taken with her
family eight years earlier.
00:45:46.61\00:45:49.31
You can see they
had many daughters.
00:45:49.34\00:45:52.31
When they married
Hubert was 25, Pearl just 24.
00:45:52.35\00:45:55.58
Both were graduates
00:45:55.62\00:45:56.95
of Australasian
Missionary College,
00:45:56.99\00:45:58.52
today's Avondale.
00:45:58.55\00:46:00.22
And within weeks
of their wedding,
00:46:00.26\00:46:01.66
they sailed for
the Tonga archipelago.
00:46:01.69\00:46:05.26
Four years later,
00:46:05.29\00:46:07.00
the global influenza
epidemic reached Tonga.
00:46:07.03\00:46:11.37
Although Hubert and Pearl
00:46:11.40\00:46:13.97
toiled long hours
ministering to the sick
00:46:14.00\00:46:16.77
and stricken people,
00:46:16.81\00:46:18.27
as a colleague recorded,
they succumbed themselves.
00:46:18.31\00:46:23.68
And then Pearl
contracted pneumonia
00:46:23.71\00:46:26.01
and gradually grew weaker.
00:46:26.05\00:46:27.48
She died
literally in Hubert's arms
00:46:27.52\00:46:29.85
on March 14, 1919, four
days after her 28th birthday.
00:46:29.88\00:46:35.82
Hubert wrote Pearl's obituary
00:46:35.86\00:46:38.29
for the Australian church paper.
00:46:38.33\00:46:40.23
His anguish could not
easily be articulated,
00:46:40.26\00:46:44.63
given the emotional
constraints of the era.
00:46:44.67\00:46:49.50
But as with
other grieving spouses,
00:46:49.54\00:46:51.84
it becomes evident in
little points of detail
00:46:51.87\00:46:55.41
that would only be
noted in a loved one.
00:46:55.44\00:46:59.21
It is there for
example when he writes,
00:46:59.25\00:47:01.12
"She suffered much,
00:47:01.15\00:47:02.58
knowing no bodily
comfort for many weeks.
00:47:02.62\00:47:05.29
And often the cough
was most distressing."
00:47:05.32\00:47:09.32
He ends the obituary,
00:47:09.36\00:47:11.63
the writer had to
conduct the service.
00:47:11.66\00:47:15.03
As with Ida Bowen's telegram
00:47:15.06\00:47:16.90
from Tsungwesi
six years earlier,
00:47:16.93\00:47:19.30
go, terseness in
the face of tragedy,
00:47:19.33\00:47:23.30
hints at depths of emotion.
00:47:23.34\00:47:27.38
Not long before
Hubert and Pearl married,
00:47:27.41\00:47:29.38
another pair of
Avondale graduates were wed.
00:47:29.41\00:47:32.51
In late 1914,
having just graduated,
00:47:32.55\00:47:35.52
Norman Wiles volunteered
to serve in the New Hebrides,
00:47:35.55\00:47:38.92
today's nation of Vanuatu.
00:47:38.95\00:47:41.02
But Norman was single,
00:47:41.06\00:47:42.82
and the
Australasian Union committee
00:47:42.86\00:47:44.43
felt that a
missionary ought to be married.
00:47:44.46\00:47:47.60
But the committee
members could see a solution
00:47:47.63\00:47:49.73
because Norman had
been friends at college
00:47:49.76\00:47:52.20
with a woman called Alva Butz,
00:47:52.23\00:47:54.27
who herself was the daughter
of American missionaries
00:47:54.30\00:47:56.47
who served right
across the South Pacific.
00:47:56.50\00:47:58.37
And so the Union
Executive Committee suggested
00:47:58.41\00:48:01.21
that he could marry her.
00:48:01.24\00:48:04.41
Initially she wasn't happy.
00:48:04.45\00:48:07.72
But she later wrote,
00:48:07.75\00:48:09.08
"Norman never
proposed in the usual way.
00:48:09.12\00:48:12.19
We simply felt that
00:48:12.22\00:48:13.56
if this was the
action of the committee,
00:48:13.59\00:48:15.76
the Lord was leading and
that settled the matter."
00:48:15.79\00:48:20.90
They were very happily
married, I'm happy to say.
00:48:20.93\00:48:23.83
They married, in
fact, on December 14, 1914,
00:48:23.87\00:48:26.53
you see them here, and in 1915,
00:48:26.57\00:48:28.70
they sailed for
the Island of Action
00:48:28.74\00:48:31.01
in the New Hebrides
where they were stationed
00:48:31.04\00:48:32.54
for several months.
00:48:32.57\00:48:33.91
In February, 1916
when Norman was 23,
00:48:33.94\00:48:36.68
and Alva 21.
00:48:36.71\00:48:38.61
These are
astonishingly young people.
00:48:38.65\00:48:40.78
They became the
only missionaries
00:48:40.82\00:48:42.68
of any church on
the Island of Malekula.
00:48:42.72\00:48:46.02
The tribes living
there were known as
00:48:46.05\00:48:48.09
warlike cannibals
and they had murdered
00:48:48.12\00:48:50.56
and eaten both missionaries
00:48:50.59\00:48:53.36
and European traders before.
00:48:53.40\00:48:55.86
But Norman and Alva spent time
00:48:55.90\00:48:58.13
getting to know
the local people,
00:48:58.17\00:49:00.44
learning their
languages and making friends,
00:49:00.47\00:49:02.77
and this is evident
in this wonderful photo.
00:49:02.80\00:49:06.31
It's one of my
favorite Adventist photos
00:49:06.34\00:49:08.08
because I want you to...
00:49:08.11\00:49:09.91
I hope you can see.
00:49:09.94\00:49:12.18
Do you notice
how relaxed they are?
00:49:12.21\00:49:15.28
These are people with
whom they feel comfortable.
00:49:15.32\00:49:19.85
But by November 1917,
Norman was suffering badly
00:49:19.89\00:49:22.89
from repeated
attacks of malaria.
00:49:22.92\00:49:25.26
After two and a half
years in the mission field,
00:49:25.29\00:49:27.40
church leaders in
Australia recognize that,
00:49:27.43\00:49:29.73
"Brother and Sister Wiles
had been working to the point
00:49:29.76\00:49:32.87
of breaking down their health,
00:49:32.90\00:49:35.04
and therefore
they were brought home.
00:49:35.07\00:49:36.91
Norman pastored in
Australia for two years,
00:49:36.94\00:49:39.64
but in January
1922 to their delight,
00:49:39.67\00:49:42.91
they returned to
Malekula, January.
00:49:42.94\00:49:46.61
Less than four months later
00:49:46.65\00:49:47.98
on the 1st of
May, 1920, a Sabbath,
00:49:48.02\00:49:51.45
Norman succumbed
to blackwater fever.
00:49:51.49\00:49:54.12
Four days later
Elva confided her anxiety
00:49:54.16\00:49:56.93
to her diary in terms that
is still distressing to read.
00:49:56.96\00:50:01.43
"Hard as it all was,
00:50:01.46\00:50:03.10
my Father strengthened my faith.
00:50:03.13\00:50:06.10
Again and again I
pled that if it could be
00:50:06.13\00:50:09.10
to His honor and glory,
my darling might be spared.
00:50:09.14\00:50:14.28
But he gave me strength
to add, 'Thy will be done.'"
00:50:14.31\00:50:19.91
On May 5, 1920 Norman Wiles
00:50:19.95\00:50:22.32
died after five days
of terrible suffering.
00:50:22.35\00:50:26.22
Alva washed her husband's
body, dressed it in a new shirt,
00:50:26.25\00:50:31.49
covered it in a linen shroud.
00:50:31.53\00:50:34.16
And then with the help
of the local tribes people,
00:50:34.20\00:50:37.63
she buried her husband.
00:50:37.67\00:50:40.97
Norman was only 27
years old when he died.
00:50:41.00\00:50:44.24
Alva was 25
when she was widowed.
00:50:44.27\00:50:47.08
In both periods in
the New Hebrides together,
00:50:47.11\00:50:49.14
they had not served
three years as missionaries.
00:50:49.18\00:50:52.61
Well, we could tell stories
00:50:52.65\00:50:54.72
of China,
00:50:54.75\00:50:58.92
of Southeast Asia,
of the Middle East,
00:50:58.95\00:51:01.69
but time doesn't permit.
00:51:01.72\00:51:03.06
We'll go to the
Southern Asia division,
00:51:03.09\00:51:04.79
which is the home to the remains
00:51:04.83\00:51:06.46
of many Adventist missionaries.
00:51:06.49\00:51:08.03
Earlier I mentioned the
death of Doris A. Robinson,
00:51:08.06\00:51:11.83
that you see on the screen,
00:51:11.87\00:51:13.64
but he didn't die alone.
00:51:13.67\00:51:15.74
Frederick W. Brown,
00:51:15.77\00:51:17.51
a nurse, his wife,
Catherine, a teacher,
00:51:17.54\00:51:20.24
and their two children sailed
for India on December 14, 1898.
00:51:20.28\00:51:24.38
This was the teaser
I gave you this morning
00:51:24.41\00:51:27.38
when I said, "What would you do
00:51:27.42\00:51:28.75
if you were
told to leave an area
00:51:28.78\00:51:30.15
because of illness."
00:51:30.19\00:51:31.72
They arrived in
Calcutta on February 9, 1899,
00:51:31.75\00:51:34.92
where they joined
the staff of the mission
00:51:34.96\00:51:37.33
located on Bowbazar Street,
you see a group photo here.
00:51:37.36\00:51:43.03
But in the
summer, Fred and Katie
00:51:43.06\00:51:44.50
was sent northwest to Ranchi,
00:51:44.53\00:51:46.90
the capital of
the state of Bihar,
00:51:46.94\00:51:48.80
among the first
Adventist missionaries
00:51:48.84\00:51:50.31
to work in the north
of India and that part.
00:51:50.34\00:51:53.48
But in the autumn of 1899,
00:51:53.51\00:51:55.21
as smallpox
epidemic broke out in Bihar,
00:51:55.24\00:51:58.95
most of the, if
not all of the British
00:51:58.98\00:52:01.22
colonial officials and
merchants left the region,
00:52:01.25\00:52:05.82
and they advised the Adventists,
00:52:05.85\00:52:07.46
leave until the
epidemic has run its course.
00:52:07.49\00:52:11.89
But instead the
Brown family remained,
00:52:11.93\00:52:14.43
and they were joined by
00:52:14.46\00:52:15.80
Robinson and his wife
Edna, who you see here.
00:52:15.83\00:52:18.83
The four missionaries
actually moved to Karmatar,
00:52:18.87\00:52:23.04
where there was a
small Adventist school
00:52:23.07\00:52:24.74
and orphanage and
where the epidemic
00:52:24.77\00:52:26.74
was raging with
particular intensity.
00:52:26.78\00:52:29.81
All four worked
closely with smallpox victims
00:52:29.84\00:52:32.85
and all four
contracted the disease.
00:52:32.88\00:52:36.28
Edna Robinson and
Katie Brown suffered
00:52:36.32\00:52:38.32
but survived, their
husbands were not so fortunate.
00:52:38.35\00:52:42.22
On December 21, 1899,
Fred Brown passed away,
00:52:42.26\00:52:46.43
having served as a missionary
for little more than 10 months.
00:52:46.46\00:52:50.33
Eight days later, Doris
Robinson passed away too
00:52:50.37\00:52:53.74
after three years in India.
00:52:53.77\00:52:55.50
Robinson's deputy
William Spicer traveled up
00:52:55.54\00:52:58.84
from Calcutta and
as he later wrote,
00:52:58.87\00:53:02.18
"I was with him in
his last conscious hours.
00:53:02.21\00:53:05.68
I told him that if he
must lay down his work,
00:53:05.71\00:53:08.88
then perhaps God would use that
00:53:08.92\00:53:10.82
to draw
attention to India's needs.
00:53:10.85\00:53:14.29
He replied with
his swollen lips,
00:53:14.32\00:53:16.93
'Perhaps, perhaps I hope.'"
00:53:16.96\00:53:21.26
They were his last words,
spoken on December 29, 1899.
00:53:21.30\00:53:26.74
He and Frank Brown
00:53:26.77\00:53:28.10
were buried together in Karmatar
00:53:28.14\00:53:29.54
and here you see a
near contemporary photograph
00:53:29.57\00:53:32.94
of their graves in the cemetery.
00:53:32.97\00:53:35.81
Twenty one years later,
00:53:35.84\00:53:37.18
of course, Eva
Clements died in Rangoon.
00:53:37.21\00:53:42.25
Her death after
only seven months
00:53:42.28\00:53:44.29
in the mission
field ended a bad year
00:53:44.32\00:53:47.29
and a half for the
Southern Asian division,
00:53:47.32\00:53:49.82
during which six
church workers died.
00:53:49.86\00:53:53.66
There was another missionary
in American had died in Burma,
00:53:53.70\00:53:56.63
and four American
00:53:56.67\00:53:58.00
and British
missionaries died in India.
00:53:58.03\00:54:01.50
Friends, if you
calculate the mortality rate
00:54:01.54\00:54:04.47
for Adventist in the
Southern Asia division
00:54:04.51\00:54:06.61
in those two years,
00:54:06.64\00:54:08.14
it was two and a half times
00:54:08.18\00:54:09.74
worse than the mortality rate
00:54:09.78\00:54:12.81
for other Europeans
and British in India.
00:54:12.85\00:54:16.79
Adventists were
two and a half times
00:54:16.82\00:54:18.59
more likely to die.
00:54:18.62\00:54:21.92
Well, 1919 and
1920 may have been
00:54:21.96\00:54:24.73
especially bad years.
00:54:24.76\00:54:27.23
But had they?
00:54:27.26\00:54:28.60
And in fact, how
dangerous was mission service?
00:54:28.63\00:54:32.57
Individual
stories are often moving,
00:54:32.60\00:54:35.20
but are they
indicative of wider trends?
00:54:35.24\00:54:37.84
You know, my job title includes
the word statistics in it,
00:54:37.87\00:54:40.78
and I'm contractually
obliged to share statistics
00:54:40.81\00:54:43.31
in every presentation I give.
00:54:43.35\00:54:47.58
So what's the trend?
00:54:47.62\00:54:49.25
To what extent are the stories
00:54:49.28\00:54:51.79
that I've been
telling you typical
00:54:51.82\00:54:53.89
for Adventist missionaries?
00:54:53.92\00:54:55.72
You can see from this chart,
00:54:55.76\00:54:58.36
it shows the annual
number of missionary deaths
00:54:58.39\00:55:01.20
in the mission field,
00:55:01.23\00:55:02.70
the deaths each year
from 1903 through 1939
00:55:02.73\00:55:06.33
when the Second
World War started.
00:55:06.37\00:55:08.60
I want to draw to your attention
00:55:08.64\00:55:11.07
that despite the death toll,
00:55:11.11\00:55:14.51
there were
always enough volunteers
00:55:14.54\00:55:17.15
to replace the fallen
00:55:17.18\00:55:18.85
and indeed to
add to their number.
00:55:18.88\00:55:21.75
You can see in this next chart,
00:55:21.78\00:55:24.75
that the number
of new missionaries
00:55:24.79\00:55:26.65
going out always
exceeded the number of deaths.
00:55:26.69\00:55:29.32
Those at the back won't
be able to see too well.
00:55:29.36\00:55:31.09
The blue line shows the
number of new missionaries
00:55:31.13\00:55:33.76
being sent out.
00:55:33.80\00:55:35.13
The red line shows the
number of missionary deaths.
00:55:35.16\00:55:38.97
There were always
more men and women,
00:55:39.00\00:55:42.14
mostly young men
and women willing to go.
00:55:42.17\00:55:47.98
But at the same time, friends,
00:55:48.01\00:55:49.64
let's not understate
00:55:49.68\00:55:51.51
what they were signing up to do.
00:55:51.55\00:55:54.88
The last chart
brings home powerfully
00:55:54.92\00:55:59.62
what they faced,
00:55:59.65\00:56:00.99
because this
shows the death toll
00:56:01.02\00:56:03.32
calculated as deaths
per 100 new missionaries.
00:56:03.36\00:56:08.56
And for those of you
at the back who can't see,
00:56:08.60\00:56:10.30
I think you can see the trend.
00:56:10.33\00:56:11.80
And what you can see
is that in certain years,
00:56:11.83\00:56:14.30
you're getting 12, 14, 16
00:56:14.34\00:56:17.57
of every 100 missionaries dying.
00:56:17.61\00:56:20.54
Those aren't such good odds.
00:56:20.58\00:56:22.38
If the mortality rate
of Adventist missionaries
00:56:25.75\00:56:27.68
in India after
World War I was bad,
00:56:27.72\00:56:29.68
the death toll of
Adventist missionaries
00:56:29.72\00:56:31.65
in general up to World War II
00:56:31.69\00:56:33.39
was such that no
one could be sanguine
00:56:33.42\00:56:36.26
about going as a missionary.
00:56:36.29\00:56:41.16
And yet, and yet, and yet
00:56:41.20\00:56:45.47
committed men and women
still went to the mission field
00:56:45.50\00:56:50.24
and they served
there if they survived,
00:56:50.27\00:56:52.81
often for decades.
00:56:52.84\00:56:54.38
In my book,
00:56:54.41\00:56:55.74
you'll find
stories of missionaries
00:56:55.78\00:56:57.18
who served for 30, 40, 50 years,
00:56:57.21\00:57:02.42
in addition to the stories
of missionaries who died.
00:57:02.45\00:57:05.52
And here is the
astonishing thing,
00:57:05.55\00:57:08.62
the humbling
thing, all the Adventists
00:57:08.66\00:57:13.19
who went as missionaries,
00:57:13.23\00:57:15.13
up to around 1940 went,
00:57:15.16\00:57:18.27
knowing that there
was a very strong chance
00:57:18.30\00:57:22.00
that they would
die in a foreign land.
00:57:22.04\00:57:24.81
This is what I think.
00:57:24.84\00:57:26.17
Those of us who
live where the church
00:57:26.21\00:57:27.68
is strong need
to commit ourselves
00:57:27.71\00:57:30.61
to contributing
00:57:30.65\00:57:31.98
in whatever way we can
00:57:32.01\00:57:33.72
to the work of the church
in the areas where it is weak.
00:57:33.75\00:57:38.05
How can we contribute?
00:57:38.09\00:57:39.99
By praying, by using
technology skillfully,
00:57:40.02\00:57:44.09
by giving and
some of us, by going.
00:57:44.13\00:57:48.40
But the key point is,
each of us has a part to play
00:57:48.43\00:57:52.13
and the contribution to
make, how can we let them know.
00:57:52.17\00:57:58.07
We need each of us
to recommit ourselves
00:57:58.11\00:58:01.31
right here right
now to the mission
00:58:01.34\00:58:03.85
of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
00:58:03.88\00:58:07.78
With this
audience, you may think,
00:58:07.82\00:58:09.42
well, surely that's a
given that you're committed.
00:58:09.45\00:58:11.69
I just want to challenge
you and challenge myself,
00:58:11.72\00:58:14.22
how committed are you?
00:58:14.26\00:58:15.59
Are you willing to
do whatever it takes?
00:58:15.62\00:58:19.43
That was the
case with the people
00:58:19.46\00:58:20.80
whose stories we've told.
00:58:20.83\00:58:22.83
We need to
recapture that Spirit,
00:58:22.86\00:58:25.83
the Spirit of selfishness,
00:58:25.87\00:58:28.34
which led many
Adventists in the past,
00:58:28.37\00:58:31.27
and will require
some in the future
00:58:31.31\00:58:34.34
to offer their bodies
as a living sacrifice.
00:58:34.38\00:58:37.55