The importance of valuing and recognizing fellow laborers in ministry, using examples from Paul's epistles and personal experiences in Africa. It emphasizes that true worth is found not in worldly status but in faithfulness to God and service to others, as illustrated by the stories of Sanji, Sao Wimbo, Chimo, Lungongba, and Sakaya. The message underscores the need for deep biblical understanding, unwavering trust in God's provision, and a commitment to serving even amidst hardship and personal tragedy. Ultimately, it calls for a Christ-like perspective in evaluating and supporting those who labor in the gospel, recognizing them as messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.03 → restored 4.40
Don't worry together, please. In Second Corinthians chapter eight, second epistle to the Corinthians chapter eight. And we'll read from verse sixteen. Second Corinthians eight, verse sixteen. But thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for years. For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord he went on to you. And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
And not that only, but who also was chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind. avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is ministered by us, providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with him our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent upon the great confidence which I have in you.
whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you or our brethren be inquired of. They are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Wherefore show ye to them and before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf. In the words we have read together, we give Paul's estimation of his fellow workers. And I think that it's a test of any man how he regards those that labor with him.
It's about a dozen men that were associated with the Apostle Paul and his missionary labors. And it's the most interesting study to look at each one, the work that we're doing, and what Paul has to say about them. But I don't know of anything more beautiful than what Paul has to say about his fellow liberals of what we get here. Speaking about Titus, he said, whether any do inquire of Titus, he's my partner and fellow helper concerning you or our brethren be inquired of, they are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. I think that's supremely beautiful. It's certainly an indication of the character of the Apostle Paul and what he thought of those that were laboring with him.
I thought tonight, in a very simple way, I would like to continue what we have been looking at each successive evening in connection with the work of the Lord. Just a few simple little stories concerning those with whom we have been associated in the work of the Lord in Africa. All the men that I want to talk about tonight, I have known intimately for many years, and all the circumstances that I want to describe of them we were present when they took place. So I want in a very simple way to describe some of the things concerning our African brethren and also concerning those with whom we have been associated in the work of the Lord in Angola.
We were first of all speaking about pioneer work. Give a little outline of that. And then we were looking at personal work. We were looking at pastoral work, not as the building up of New Testament assemblies. And tonight I want to speak about some of the personalities with whom we have been associated. Now, first of all, I would like to mention a few names of African brethren and tell one or two stories concerning them. just as the Lord might bring it to our mind. I think that the first man connected with the work in Central Africa in any part of the country that was brought to the Lord was a man called Sanji.
I knew him very well. In my early days in Angola, he was an old man. He must have been coming up between eighty and ninety years of age. He himself didn't know his age, but he must have been around eighty, between eighty and ninety years of age. Sanji, as a boy of sixteen, went into the interior with a caravan that were in collecting ivory and slaves in the interior of Africa. It was before the grab for Central Africa and before the country was divided among the European nations. And in those days the Ovimbundo used to go into the far interior and capture men and women shackle them and bring them down to the coast and sell them as slaves to the Portuguese.
And then, of course, from there they were shipped overseas. They also used to go in and collect ivory and rubber. And when Sanji was about sixteen years of age, along with other men, he went into the caravan. Now, when I talk about a caravan, I mean a long line of men carrying a sixty pound load on their heads. A caravan to us. is a kind of a mobile home. But in our day, we used to call a caravan a long line of men walking in single file with a load on their head. And so Senji, along with a caravan, went into the interior with a number of moving wounded to collect slaves and to buy rubber and ivory.
So when he got to the frontier between what today is Angola and the Congo, he came down with smallpox. and he was deadly sick. In those days, the early missionaries had arrived in that area. They'd come out with Mr. Fred Stanley Arden. And at a place called Kazambo, the caravan had arrived there. There was a lady, one of the first ladies from the assemblies to go to Central Africa, was a lady called Ginny Gilchrist. And when she heard that Sanji was down with smallpox and had been abandoned by the caravan, and was liable to die not only from smallpox but from starvation.
She took some men with her and they went out and built a little hut and put them in it. And she took care of them with her own hands, night and day. And she sat beside that boy and she told them the simple gospel of the Lord Jesus. And as a result of it, saying she got saved. Now, it would be interesting to go into a little bit of his history. I only knew him when he was a very old man, but he was one of the pioneers that we have been talking about, and God richly blessed the testimony of that man among his own people. But there's just one little incident that I want to speak about. Towards the end of his life, there was a lady here in the United States had heard about Sanji and the work that he was doing.
Used to go around the villages preaching the gospel, and God had widely used him. And this lady thought she would like to be responsible for his support. And she sent a letter to Mr. Charles Swan, who at that time was living at Chalanda, and suggested that if he would tell her just how much it would take to keep him, that she would send so much a month out to Angola, and he would be completely self-supporting from that time on. Well, Mr. Swan, when he got the letter, he went to, he called Sanji, and he said, look, He said, I have this letter from a lady in the United States, and she would like to send you some money for your support.
He said, what do you think about it? And so you looked at him for a minute. He said, how are you supporting? And Mr. Swan said, well, he said, I look to the Lord for my support. He said, I don't know tomorrow where it's coming from. He said, I look to God completely for my support. And he said, next week, I don't know that I will receive a penny or next year. But he said, all the years that I have been on the field, I have been looking to God alone for my support. And Sanji looked at him and he said, do you mean to say you want me to take a salary if you'd look to God for your support? Now, he said, I'll tell you something.
He said, I'm going out hunting tomorrow. And I said, I want to test. He said, whether it's the Lord's will, whether I accept your offer or not. He said, I'm going to take my bow and arrow. And he said, tomorrow I'm going out hunting. And he said, if I happen to see and kill a deer, they call it a Numbambi. Very beautiful little creature that they have in that part of the country. And he said, if the Lord leads an animal to me and I shoot it, he said, I'll take that as an indication that the Lord's going to take care of me. Well, he went out the next morning at dawn and he had hardly gone out onto the plane till a Numbambi jumped out and he lifted his bow and arrow and he shot it.
and he put it across his shoulders and he carried it back again and he showed it to Mr. Swan and he said the Lord has taken care of me and he said he'll do that for the future. Now that was the way he settled the argument about whether he should have a regular salary for his support. I just want to add one little thing here. I believe that sometimes methods are used in connection with our African brethren that are not solid and real. I believe that the missionary, when he goes out to the field, that he trusts God absolutely for his support. But sometimes people think that for the work of the Lord, they should take Africans and pay them so much a month for doing the work of the Lord.
And I believe it's undermining their faith. And we have always proved that for a man looks to God entirely for his support, the Lord will take care of him. I have known Sanji right to the end of his days. He was a good man, and the Lord wonderfully blessed him in the pioneer days of the work. So that's Sanji. Now, there's a thinking man I knew intimately in my early days in Angola. His name was Thawimbo. Again, a very gracious, kindly old gentleman. White hair, black face, and not dressed very well. But he was a real man of God. And one of the great difficulties, one of the great problems we had in the early days of the work was polygamy.
I've already mentioned this. And you know, there are differences of opinion, what attitude a missionary should take to a person who is a polygamist, that is when they become a Christian, whether they should be baptized and received into assembly fellowship. It was one of her great problems right at the beginning of the work. I was present at many meetings. of brethren gathered from different parts of the country, not only missionaries, but Africans, considering what we should do when a person got saved on the babyhood, five or six wives, what we should do about it. Now, I should explain that in African culture, the way the African thinks, if a man gets married, say in his early twenties, the first wife that he marries is called the Andomba.
Now that word means the bride. That is his wife. Now, as time goes on, if he wants somebody to work for him in the fields, he'll maybe get eight yards of cloth, or maybe so much Portuguese money, that's what they do today, or maybe two or three cows or goats, and he'll marry another wife. Now, the second wife is not called the Andomboa. She's called an ukain. And that word, it means a concubine. So that actually the only one that's regarded as the wife is the first one. He may have five, he may have six. If he is not satisfied with the work that the person is doing, he'll simply give her a little present and he'll send her back to her friend, send her back to her relatives from which she has come.
But the point with us was this. When a person like that, a person in their pagan heathen life is five or six wives, and maybe husband divorcing and remarrying his concubines, what are you going to do about it when they get saved? Now, that is a very great problem. I remember being at a meeting and this old gentleman, Sao Wimbo, was sitting there, an old African full of wisdom, not only the wisdom from the Word of God, but also practical wisdom, a man with very sound judgment and common sense. And one man got up. on his argument was, he said, do you mean to say that at our stage of development in our culture that you expect us to have a higher standard of morality than a man like Abraham or a man like Jacob or a man like David?
Why they were all polygamists, Abraham had two wives, on David had several wives, Jacob had two wives. They were all polygamous. And at our stage of development in our culture, do you expect us to have a higher standard of morality than a man like Abraham or David or Jacob? That was his argument, and he sat down. Another man got up when he had some knowledge of the New Testament, and he read that passage that we quoted this morning. The elder, we read, must be the husband of one wife. And he said, well, he said, that is the standard for an elder. But he said, the inference is, that of the standard for an elder is the husband of one wife, a one-woman man.
That's what it actually means. Well, the inference is that an ordinary member of the assembly could have more wives than one. And therefore, it's perfectly all right for us to have more wives than one. And they went on, and they argued the point from every angle. And finally, I think I can see old Salimbo. Lovely, lovely old gentleman. And he got up and he said, My dear brethren, he said, I think you have all forgotten what the Lord Jesus said when he was here and there. You remember when the question of marriage and divorce came up to him, he said, In the beginning it was not so. He said, We don't want to go back to Abraham or David or Jacob, but he said, Let's go back to the head of the stream.
The Lord said, In the beginning it was not so. One man, one wife, and it became one, one body, one flesh. And he said, Instead of going down the stream, where the water has been befallen by the feet of animal, and maybe crocodiles pushing bodies into the bank, and it's contaminated, he said, If you want a drink of good, clear, pure water, go right to the head of the stream. So he said, Let's start off clean. Go to the head of the stream and he said, don't forget the words of the Lord Jesus. In the beginning it was not so. Now that has cut down numbers as far as church fellowship is concerned, but right from the commencement when assembly started to be formed in B.A.
and in Choke we land on not only there but right across Central Africa. The attitude that we take to polygamy is this, that a man Living as a good testimony with one wife is accepted into assembly fellowship. A man who is a polygamous, he's perfectly welcome to come to the meetings, but unless he has his home straightened up, he is not regarded as a full-time member of the local assembly. So it was some weanball that settled that matter from us, and he took it from the Word of God, and I believe rightly so. Now, there are some other things connected with that I can't take time to talk about tonight. I know that people could bring up arguments, oh, what about the poor women and so on?
But that is the way, our way of thinking. That is the white person's thinking. But to the African is the concubines, those that are not the wives. He keeps the endowment. He keeps his wife. But the other concubines are sent back again to where they come from. That is no hardship for the woman. She takes her children with her. On the fields that she has cultivated over the years, they belong to her. And actually the person that suffers is the husband, not the wife. Sawima. In the beginning, it was not so. You know, one thing that we have always aimed at in her work over there is men that are able to teach and preach the word.
And over the years, all of my dear brethren that have been over there on our sisters too. I think we can honestly say that what we have had in mind throughout the years is the same New Testament assemblies functioning with all the gifts on men that are able to preach, on men that are able to teach the word. Now I want to give two examples of men that I know intimately over a period of more than forty years on just the kind of men that they are. The first is a man called Chimo. He's a little fellow about five foot high. I don't think he ever had a shoe in his foot in his life.
And many a time I have seen him up preaching on the platform and he had a jacket but not a shirt. Very, very poorly dressed. But a man that was deeply taught in the Word of God. He's our tabernacle expert. I suppose here in the United States we have certain men that have specialized in tabernacle teaching. We have our dear brother Lawrence Chambers, who is an expert on the tabernacle. And then we have another man over in Africa, a missionary called Tabernacle Braun, we call him. He has specialized on the tabernacle. But, you know, we have an African who has specialized on the tabernacle.
And that is Chimo. And if you had been at some of our conferences, say, twenty years ago, And you saw the preachers lined up on the platform. You'll see Chimo sitting in the corner. A little fellow about five foot high. Nothing prepossessing about him at all. But he'll get up. When this turn comes, and they read a passage from the Book of Exodus, and they'll give an address on the incense altar, and all the different typical teaching connected with it that would do justice to any teacher of the word here at home. Many a time I wondered, If Chimo ever were to come to this country and turned up at one of our conferences and if he was able to speak the language here, I believe that he would be able to edify the people of God.
He has no ambition to do that. And I don't suppose he ever will. But we're awfully thankful for men of that type that are able to open up the word in such a delightful way as to edify and encourage the people of God. That's Chimo. Now there's another man called Lungongba, and he's a very great friend of Chimo. By the way, just a short time before we left, the last time he came to me one day and he said, I'm having an awful lot of trouble with my teeth. And by the way, a missionary has to do lots of things. I don't suppose there ever a day passed that we didn't have to extract teeth.
He had a lot of trouble with his teeth. And he said, Nala, he said, I would like you to take out all my teeth. Well, I said, come on over. And I gave him local anesthetic. And he sat down. And sitting there, he sat while I took out fourteen teeth without a groan or a whimper. And after I had taken out fourteen, there were nine others that had to come out. I said, Lungongo, what about the other nine? I said, don't you want to go home and have a little rest? No, he said, I want you to finish the job. And he sat there and I took all the teeth out of his head. And then later, I took an impression of his mouth and sent it over to the United States on a friend over here, Senbank, a couple of very nice dentures that Lungonga wore to the day of his death.
He's with the Lord today. But in any case, that's only by the way. But in any case, I was having meetings some years ago at Capango. And what we did regularly is get some of the more outstanding young men in the rice agent and get them together for systematic Bible study. And I remember one day we had a crowd of these men. There must have been a couple of hundred of them. All young, intelligent Africans all gathered together, and we were going over some studies in the scripture concerning the person of Christ. And I remember one day speaking of the three offices of the Lord. His prophet and his priest and his king.
And I happened to mention in the course what we were talking about. I said the only three men in the Bible who had the anointed head, who was anointed at the inauguration of their office, was the prophet and the priest and the king. And I could see a smile come over Lungonger's face. And when the meeting was over, I asked them for questions. And Lunganga put up his head, put up his hand, sitting on the front seat. He said, No, he said, You've forgotten somebody. I said, Have I? Yes, he said, There are four men in the Bible that had an anointed head. Oh, I said, Is that so?
I said, You just come up right here and you tell the man who the other man was, the fourth man, the prophet and the priest and the king. And looking out of the sight of his eye at me and with a smile on his face, he says, Gannet, Did you ever read Leviticus XIII, Leviticus XIV? I said, of course I have. He said, you know, in Leviticus XIII, the leper. He said, when it was discovered, that horrible disease of leprosy, he was segregated, he was put outside the camp, and his head was bare and he had a covering upon his upper lip, and he cried, On clean, on clean. On all the days, that he had that disease of leprosy, he was outside, segregated from the camp.
But he said, if God intervened, and the Lord healed him of that disease, he said he had three days when he was recovered. And of course he went over it. And he said in Leviticus chapter fourteen, we read, on the first day, something happened. On the seventh day, something happened. On the eighth day, something happened. I said, Lungonga, you go ahead. And again with a smile on his face, he said, you remember what happened on the first day? The priest took two little birds alive and clean. And, you know, they love these lovely types in the Old Testament. It's along the line of their thinking. It said, these two little birds alive and clean were taken.
And they said, one of the birds was killed in an earthen vessel over running water. He said, Nana, he said, isn't that a lovely type of the death of the Lord Jesus? That earth and vessel, isn't it a beautiful picture of his body, the running water speaking of the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God? And he said, the little bird, it died in the earth and vessel over running water. But he said, the other little bird alive and clean, he said, the took the blood and the sprinkled it on its wings. And he said, that little bird alive and clean with the blood on its wings, he let it go and it flew up into heaven with the blood on its wing. He said, isn't that a lovely picture of the resurrection and of the ascension of the Lord Jesus that God's right hand?
I said, Lungong, where it certainly is, go ahead. Well, he said, on the seventh day there was something happening. He said, on the seventh day he was brought to the door of the tabernacle. And his clothes were washed in water. and then a razor was taken and all the hair was taken off his body. There was the washing of the water of his clothes and the razor that took off all his hair. He said, Isn't that a picture of the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit and the life of the believer? I said, it certainly is. I said, go ahead. And he said, on the eighth day, just before he was brought in to the camp and reunited with his family, he said, on the eighth day, He said there were sacrifices offered.
And he said the blood of the sacrifice, it was placed on the great toe of his right foot, on the thumb of his right hand, and on his ear. His ear, his thumb, and his foot. He said the ear, that means that his head, his intelligence, his mind, it was redeemed by blood. And his thumb, his hand, his actions, it was redeemed by blood. And then the great toe of his right foot, his walk, he said, was redeemed by blood. And the last thing that the priest did, and he passed, he said, he took some oil, and he said, he put it on the top of his ear, on the top of the blood on his ear, his thumb, and the great toe was right foot, and he said, the last thing he did, he poured the remainder of the oil into his left hand, and the last thing he did, he anointed his head.
He says, again, he says, don't forget the fourth man. that had the anointed head. Do you think I ever forgot that? I certainly never, never will. You know, the prophet and the priest and the king, they were anointed, but the poor leper, outside and segregated, he too had the oil of God upon his head. Now, that came from an African. And I could tell many stories here tonight of some of the wonderful ministry that some of these dear brethren are able to take out of the typical teaching of the Old Testament Scriptures. We have an awful lot to learn from them, and we certainly can. And we love being with them to hear the way they're able to explain in their own language some of these lovely things from the typical teaching of the Word of God.
Now, last night, I think it was, I mentioned a man called Von Gula. Von Gula was the man, you remember, with a big calluses on his heels and on the soles of his feet. Dear, dear old man, I've known him ever since I went to Africa. He too has long since gone to be with the Lord. But some of these Africans we don't like to talk about publicly while they're alive. Because we never know what's going to happen before the Lord takes them home. Whether they'll have a fall or not. But these men that I'm talking about, most of them are already with the Lord and their account is closed. And I feel perfectly happy in talking about them.
Vongula, dear, dear old brother, again with his white hair and his top-marked face, a real pioneer and a real evangelist. I remember at one of our conferences, we were sitting there at Chalanda, and there were three thousand people gathered together for one of these general conferences before the present emergency. And I was sitting alongside of them. And just before the conference started, there was that large crowd of three thousand people. And he poked me with his elbow. And he whispered to me, he said, Brother, you have the opportunity of speaking the word of God.
He says, Don't forget. He said, God's people are hungry. He said, They're hungry. They've come here, he said, to get food. And he said, Please give them food. Please give them food. You know, I don't think I'll ever forget that, dear man. Long since he's with the Lord. And again, his account is closed. And many a time when we have the opportunity of standing up before an audience, I always think of what he said. God's people are hungry. Oh, please do give them food. What God's people need today is food from the Word of God to feed their souls and to build them up. And the things of the Lord.
Now just one more story and then I'll turn over to some of our brethren with whom we have been associated, that is the missionaries in the country, some of our beloved brethren and sisters with whom we have been associated in the work of the Lord in Angola. Those men called Sakaya. I remember he came to me one day and he told me he was a Sango and speaking the Sango language he said, I have been a slave. But in the most remarkable way, he was able to get freed. And he came to him one day and he asked for a job. Now, we were building a house at the time, and the only thing I had to give him to do was to cut grass.
Of course, in those days, the houses were all fetched with grass. There's a very, very tough kind of meadow grass, and we use it for fetching the roots. So I said, Sakai, if you'd like to go out on the plains out there and cut grass, I'll buy it from you. On every morning at six o'clock before the men started their work, we would have a little meeting around the fire. We would read a portion of Scripture, sing and pray, and then they would disappear for their work. And then every night, seven nights a week, again we had a gospel meeting every night on the week. And one day Sakaya came to him and he said, you know, I have been listening to these words for quite a while.
And they have sunk into my heart. And he said, I want to tell you. He said, I have accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior and Lord. Now he said, I would like you to give me a New Testament. He said, I buy it. He said, but I'd like to give you a New Testament. Now in those days it was wartime and the only copies of the Word of God we had was in Chokwe. Now it wasn't in Sakaya's language at all. Because his language was Sangal. We only have the Gospel by Mark and Songo at that time. But he said, I want a New Testament. Well, I said, we only have Chokwe New Testament. Well, he said, that is what I want. And he said, I want to learn to read from it.
But I said, Sakai, you can't read. And they're so valuable. I only have a few copies, and I'm saving them for those that are able to read and put them to good use. Oh, he said, please let me have it. And he said, if you do, I learn to read from it. but I had to harden my heart. And I said, no, I have to keep it for those that are able to put it to good use. He went away very crestfallen. A day or two later he came to me and he said, I would like, he said, if you would give me a load to carry. In those days we had to bring in supplies, a journey of over three hundred miles. Well, I said, Sakaya, down at rail head we have a load of window glass.
And I said, if you like to go down and pick up that load of glass, and I have another load of sand down there, I said, you're perfectly welcome to do that. The next day he turned up with a little boy that was going to carry his foot, and he picked up the sixty-pound load, and he started off on that journey. Now, between where we live, at Chittuto in the Sango country, and down at Monte Esperanza, it's lion country. and it's quite the common thing to find man-eating lions on the way. I'm not going to talk about lion stories here tonight, but just to mention that, it was really a dangerous trip. On every night that man had asleep beside a fire with a little boy with him carrying his food and cooking his meal each night, on carrying a sixty-pound load on his head.
Ibn Darin picked up the load of glass at Montish Paranza and started back, and he was away for over a month. And I think I can see him coming with a perspiration glistening on his bare body, the upper part of his body completely bare and the load on his head. And he put the load down. And I went out and I gave him the native greeting, clasped my hands and told him how welcome he was. And I said, You give me your Lusango. That is your gossip. What has happened? And he sat down and he told me all that had happened to them on the journey down and the way back again. And after he was through telling me his gossip, now I said, come on, let's talk about your pay.
I brought him over to the house. I said, what do you want for your pay? Do you want money? Would you like Portuguese cash or would you like cloth? Sometimes in those days we had trade calico and sometimes they wanted cloth. He said, would you give me what I want? I said, I'll give you anything that you want. I said, do you want money or do you want cloth? And he looked at me with a queerest look in his eye. He says, Gander, would you let me have that New Testament? He had done a month's work carrying a sixty-pound load on his head, and he had walked for several hundred miles. And he wanted a New Testament for his pay. Well, I couldn't refuse him.
I said, come on in. And I gave him the New Testament, and I gave him his pay as well. And I think I can see him. leaving the door and going down the path, and he had it like this. He was patting it. I wonder how we regard her by them. You know, he turned into a good preacher, and I'm awfully sorry to tell you that during these troubles he was executed. He was absolutely innocent of any political crime or error, but he was shot. and he's with the Lord tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing Sakaiya one day.
I'm awfully thankful that I ever knew him and ever had the privilege of giving him the gospel. Now these are some of the men that we have been associated with and we could go on and on and on telling stories along these lines but again my time is gone. I just want to mention some of her fellow workers over there and how we regard them. in the word of the Lord. And again, just to help my memory, jotted down a few names. You know, one thing that a missionary finds sometimes when he gets up on the platform and starts to talk, absolutely, not with any intention at all, there's some name that he should have mentioned that has dropped out.
And I want you to understand, beloved brethren, if there is a name that you may know that I don't mention, it's not done intentionally. We have nothing but the highest regard, an honor and affection for our beloved fellow workers over there in Angola. I've already talked about some of the older men, and I want to talk about some of the younger ones with whom we have been associated in recent years. Now, the workers in Angola today, if you were to land there, as we hope to do before very long, if you were to land in Luanda, The first person you would meet there is Clifford Beggs. We have known Clifford for many years.
He is working in Luanda among the Portuguese people in Luanda, that is the capital, and God has richly blessed the testimony of Clifford. Some of the officials in the Portuguese government have been saved, some that have quite important positions. We were over there a couple of years ago. And one of these officials from the Portuguese government that was saved, we had the privilege of seeing them baptized in the Atlantic Ocean. We went down on a Sunday morning, and some of these dear souls, white Portuguese people, went out into the Atlantic Ocean there on the shore, and they were baptized. And later in the afternoon, we had a breaking of bread meeting up in the city.
La Wanda is one of the oldest occupied places in West Africa. occupied by the Portuguese for almost five hundred years. And the man that is responsible for building up that work today, and God is richly blessed, his testimony is Clifford. Will I get to pray for him? We hope to see him before very long. And then coming up into the interior, leaving the coast, and coming up into the interior, the first tribe that you would meet there is the Ubimundo. We lived there for twenty years. The last twenty years of her service was spent in BA. And again, I want to mention that the only missionary from the assemblies today in BA in that large area is a young woman.
And she comes here from Florida. I wonder, do you remember in her prayers, Betty Betty? Her father and mother are here tonight. We're awfully thankful to see them. And you know she's surrounded by a sea of black humanity. And there's not a soul there with whom she can speak a word of her own language. Oh, we do want you to pray for her. She's mostly engaged in domestic schools with the young women and older women too. The last time we were there a couple of years ago, we picked up a Land Rover that had been sent out by Christians here at home.
A Land Rover... is a vehicle like a jeep with a four-wheel drive. It had arrived at the customs and we were able to get it cleared from customs and my wife and I had the privilege of driving it up from Lobito Bay at the coast and driving it up through the mountains where the early missionaries used to walk and handing it over to Fadig at Chalanda. It's a wonderful vehicle and she plows through the forest, sometimes over a country that looks like a plowed field and there she is today working among those people. do pray that God would raise up some fellow workers for Betty absolutely alone there at Chalonda and then there's George Wiseman last night when I come out of the meeting somebody mentioned his name and of this one man that we love more than another we love them all but George is a prince of a man the last time we were over there his wife was coming very near the end We spent a little while with them at Bula in Choquiland, and we could see that Emma, his wife, was fast failing.
The few days that we were there, she had lost ten pounds. She was down to about eighty-seven pounds weight, and we could see that there was something seriously wrong. After we were there, George took her down to Salisbury, flew down there to get some medical help. On a Friday night, They went to the prayer meeting in Salisbury just after they arrived there, less than twenty-four hours. And when they came back again from the prayer meeting, they sat down in a room in the place where they were staying, and she took off her hat and laid it on the chair and just put her head down and passed into the presence of the Lord. You know, when we heard that, we felt awfully sorry.
good woman that has spent years and years among the Chowkwee people and George is there alone today. He has done a wonderful work in the northern part of the country in Camashilo. Again, we haven't time to talk about that tonight, but a great work has been done in Camashilo in the northern part of the country and the man responsible for it is Crawford Allison and George Wiseman. We do thank God for him. And then the Zina Bale. on two other ladies at Bula, the two other ladies that are with Ina who is a nurse. I think Dr. Beer used to say that Ina was as good as a doctor.
Lovely, lovely person, very capable. On two other young women have gone out in recent days, Marjorie Beck with and Doris Pittman are working with Ina there at Bula in Shopewe Land. We spent a little while with them a couple of years ago on a night We heard shots going off and grenades. And in the morning, when we got up, we said to George Wiseman, what's going on here? Oh, he says, maybe they're shooting at pigeons. Or he said, maybe it's target practice. But it was something worse than that. And I'm going to describe to you what did go on. But we had to be escorted by an armored car ahead in a convoy, and another armored car behind, and then a third one patrolling up and down the convoy.
moving from one place to the other. That's the environment where these young women and where George Wiseman is working today in Chopra land. And then there's Elizabeth Davis. She is the granddaughter of a Mr. Pomeroy who in the early days worked with Dan Crawford at Luanda. And she too is absolutely along at a Portuguese settlement called Luso in the country. Now there's just one other couple I want to mention and then I'll finish. Last night, when I was leaving the meeting, someone mentioned the name of the Shartons and they wanted to know how Winifred was. You know, there's one couple in Angola that our hearts have been absolutely entwined with.
It's that dear couple, Charlie and Winifred. A few years ago, they lost a little boy. We happened to be there at the time. I never forget that night. We were passing through, going up to the Sango country for a baptism, and their little boy, two years of age, had a birthday party. And their parents, the grandparents over in London, Ontario, had sent some little presents. And we were present at the birthday party. Had a delightful time with a young couple and their little boy. And they put him to bed that night. The next morning we started off on our journey up to the Sango.
And we had hardly left till the little boy came down with malaria. And when Charlie was putting him to bed that night, he had a temperature of a hundred and three. Now, he knew that he had to get quinine, which is the prophylactic for malaria, had to get it into him. And Charlie, he took a tablet of quinine and he broke it in two. And he put it on the little boy's tongue. But it's vile tasting stuff. And the little fellow, of course, when he tasted the quinine, he spat it out. But he had a raging fever and his father could see that he had to get the medicine into the child. He broke another tablet and he put it on his tongue. And on the struggle in trying to get him to swallow it, it went down the wrong passage.
And it lodged deep in his chest at the bifurcation to the two lungs and stopped his breathing. Charlie could see immediately that he was in trouble. He was in the medical corps during the war and had all kinds of experiences and was a very, very capable man, but he could see his child was in trouble. He turned him upside down and he held him by the feet and he slapped him between the shoulder blades and tried to dislodge the tablets of quinine, but he couldn't. And he had the terrible experience of laying the little fella across his two knees and watch him slowly die. He died in about half an hour.
Winifred, the mother, she couldn't stand to see the death of her child. She left the room and went outside, and Charlie sat there in that terrible half hour and watched the child slowly suffocate to death. After he died, they sent for us. I don't think in all my life I'll never forget that experience as we went back. And when we entered the room, they had already buried him. Of course, they had to bury there very quickly, on account of the tropical heat. And there was a raw little grave on the edge of the African forest. And the father and mother were sitting there, and their eyes swollen with tears.
They couldn't cry any longer. And all that we could do is just sit down between them and put our arms around them and try to comfort them. You know, sometimes when you try to say anything, you just choke you. And to say anything to them under circumstances like that would be utterly impossible. But we just sat with them and silently wept. There were five Africans came into the room, and they stood there with their backs up against the wall, fine, big African brethren. And Winifred, who was sitting there, she said to them, Have you ever had an experience like that? Oh, yes, Donna, he said, we had. We have had five children, and today we have only two.
We saw three of her children die. And she went down the five and every one of them had had a heartbreaking experience with her family. I'll never forget the feeling in that room. After these Africans had explained what had happened to them, Winifred got up. And there was a little harmonia, a little organ, a pedal organ sitting in the corner. And Winifred has a beautiful voice. And she got up and she sat down at the organ and she started to sing. and she sang the first verse about him. Someday the silver card will break, and I no more as now shall sing, but all the joy, when I shall wait, within the palace of the king.
I'll never forget the feeling in that room that night. After it was all over, we took both of them back home, and they stayed with us for two weeks until after a little while they were able to get their equilibrium and go back again to their work. And just a little time after that, Charlie himself, Charlie Shorten, he had a terrible experience in the garden. Again, we happened to be there at the time. An African had dug a hole and put spears in the bottom of the hole to catch an animal that had been eating vegetables in the garden and didn't tell Charlie what he had done. He had covered the hole with bracken and bamboo and camouflaged it.
And Charlie came down. in the evening to try to get some vegetables far to the table, jumped over the fence, and not knowing that the hole was there, about ten feet deep, he jumped and he landed right on the hole. And as he did so, one of the spears that were sticking up in the bottom, it penetrated his body between his two legs, and left him suspended there in the bottom of the hole. You know, for an experience like that, after what had happened to the child, it must have been a horrible blow. He's a brave man, and he knew what had happened after he got over the shock. He took off his belt, and he put the belt around his thigh as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Fortunately, the spear had missed the main arteries, but it had penetrated right up into his abdomen. but he put the belt around his thigh and he tightened it as a tourniquet and then there were some roots sticking out of the side of the hole and getting a hold of the roots he lifted himself up off the spear and then he collapsed on the side of the hole and then he was able to get up to the house in a way that I'd never be able to understand but fortunately nothing serious at least there was nothing happened that could have taken his life but it took him a long time to recover from that horrible experience that he had. I just want to say in closing, our friends last night said, how are they getting on the day?
You know, Winifred, at the present time, is dying. She had cancer, and at the present time, she's coming very near the end. She's in London, Ontario, and one of the most gracious, kindly souls that I know anywhere, Charlie has taken care of the home, and at the present time she is dying with cancer. Please do remember them in prayer. Can you imagine how we feel about our fellow workers? The Lord knows we love them. And all that we have had to do with them over the years, it is bound as very closely together in the ties of love and affection.
And I think I can understand a little bit. of what the Apostle Paul said about Titus and his fellow workers. They are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ. Shall we pray? Our God and Father, we lift our hearts to thee now in the name of the Lord Jesus. And we do pray that thou will bless thy word to each one of our hearts. Our Father, we thank thee for that noble band of men and women. in every part of the world tonight that's making Christ known. And our Father, we pray for them. Many of them we know, others we don't know. But we think that they're all known to thee.
And we do pray that the richest blessing of God may rest on those that have gone to the far reaches of the earth to spread the gospel of thy grace among people who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Bless, we do pray, especially... the shortened family tonight. Remember, Charlie, we pray, and the family, and especially we commend to thee, Winifred, for our Father, we pray, that in these last days of her life, that thou will draw very close to her, and comfort her, we pray, and give her a sense of thy presence right to the end of life's journey. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus.