I was born April 6, 1917 in Cosmopolis, Washington. That was the day that USA declared war on Germany. I don’t know if all that had anything to do with an early labor or not. It was also my Grandmother Charlotte’s birthday. Dad was working in a lumberyard at the time.
My folks left Cosmopolis (It rained so much they thought I would be getting web feet) and moved to Portland, Oregon where dad worked in building wooden Liberty ships. They used wood because they would not attract magnetic mines.
Sometime after that we moved to Salt Lake City. I don’t know how long my folks stayed there. Dad got a job with the railroad and was sent to Shasta, Nevada. It was here that my memory first stored a few bits of data that I can recall.
Shasta was a water stop for the trains. Dad worked with the [railroad] in this regards. He even moved an engine from one place to another and I can remember riding in the engine with him. That was exciting. Not too exciting when I got my finger badly cut on a coal shoot. I still have a bad scar on my right index finger. One time a trainload of Shriners stopped and a man gave me an ice cream cone. First one I can remember. With all the trains coming and going, somehow I got a cinder in one of my eyes and they had to take me by train to Salt Lake City to have a Doctor take it out. Shasta had a total population at that time of 50, 5 of which were in our family. One lady had school for all the kids–6 or 7 of us. I remember a snow that was just about as deep as I was tall.
Sacramento, California, Here we come. Mother didn’t like it at Shasta so we moved. Mother’s sister Elsie lived there which was another reason for the moving. That is where I started school in the first grade. I was to meet my sister after school at a certain spot and I got lost. Did I cry? I just remember that she finally found me…
When we were kids [mother] sent us to Sunday School. I remember going one Sunday morning to find that the church had burned down. We quit going for a while. Someone came to our door canvassing the neighborhood an invited us to Sunday School. I, being the oldest, took my 3 younger brothers and went to the Westminister Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, California, which is just across from the State Capitol on 13th and N. Streets. We went there for several years. I somehow got the thought in my mind that I was too old for Sunday School and we all quit. I have always been sorry that I quit, but thankful that I had the Word of God in my heart, even though I had not accepted the LORD Jesus as my Savior at that time. That happened when I was in the navy…
One day, my friend Corkey said to me, “Heber, let’s join the Navy.” I thought it over and said, “OK.” Guess what happened? We called him Corkey because he walked with a limp. That’s right, I passed the physical and went to the Navy Jan 10, 1936 and Corkey stayed at home. I don’t remember seeing him again. I was in the Navy from Jan 10, 1936 to Jan 10, 1940.
Boot Camp – Sand Diego, California
I was billeted next to a slow talking man from Texas, named Oran Bell. We marched side by side in our squad. He became a good friend of mine. The fleet at that time was going to make a cruise to South America and they hurried our company through boot camp so that we could join the fleet for that trip. However, I became very sick with pneumonia and was rushed to the naval hospital. That was the days before anti-biotics and I had to sweat it out in intensive care for several days before the fever left me. I remember being so sick that I didn’t even enjoy the presence of a pretty navy female nurse – that’s sick. Eventually they put me on the USS Texas. I didn’t think I knew a soul on board. Then one day I ran into Oran Bell. I was real glad to see him. Something had happened to him since we were last together. He had been a nominal Christian when I first met him, but now he had dedicated his life to the LORD and was serving HIM.
My New Life
Oran witnessed to me and I went to church with him. It seems like a civilian worker in the navy yard in Bremerton invited us to their church and it was that evening that I went forward seeking the LORD. However, it was not until a few weeks later, after our ship returned to Long Beach, that I really found the joy of knowing my sins were forgiven and that I was then Born Again. This happened at a meeting of the Navigators in Long Beach where Dawson Troutman was in charge. I raised my hand when he asked who wanted to accept the LORD. He took me aside and showed me from my Bible how I can have eternal life and KNOW it. That is when I had a real turn about in my life. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation” 2 Cor. 5:17. Christ did something for me that I never could have done. I was a changed man. Christ, whom I now love, became the motivation that not only blessed my life but also the lives of others I have met, this includes my family. This will be seen later on in this manuscript.
Fellowship and Service
I discovered that there was a Christian group aboard the ship who were meeting for Bible Study. I joined them and also attended the Navigator meetings ashore. These meetings along with memorization of God’s Word gave me a good foundation for my future service. About 6 weeks after being saved, I went to Sacramento to visit my folks on a leave. I told my brother Vernon that I had something special to tell him. We went into the bedroom and the best I could, I went through God’s Plan of salvation with him. He said that he wanted to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. We both got on our knees and prayed together. He invited Christ into his life. We hugged each other and had a “bawl game.” Vernon immediately got involved in church work. He later married and raised a family. Vernon and his wife Louise were killed in an auto accident in March of 1957. They left 4 children, all who are serving the Lord today. Two are in Germany doing the Lord’s work.
The Lord used my testimony and witnessing to win others to Christ.
USS Mississippi
The USS Texas was being decommissioned by the navy and was going to the east coast to be used as a training ship and I was transferred to the Mississippi. I had already met some of the Christian men on that ship at our Navigators meeting ashore. I immediately joined them in their Bible study. It was during this time, that the Navigators had a gospel team, which was composed of Christian sailors from various ships. We would be invited to a church or mission to give our testimonies and one of the men would give the message. I enjoyed this very much. I can still remember how scared I was the first time I gave my testimony before a group of elderly people. It was an encouragement to me to have someone come up afterwards and say something like this, “God bless you, sailor boy, we enjoyed your testimony.” Later on the Navigators considered me their key man on the ship. I was involved in our group Bible study and had Sunday School in the ship’s library for anyone who wanted to attend. Before I left, there were as many as 40 men out.
I could relate many experiences that the Lord gave me while in the navy, but I will spare you. My term of service was to expire in a few months and I prayed much about what I should do. I felt like I would like to be in the Lord’s work and so decided to go to Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) when I was paid off. On Jan 10, 1940 I left the Navy in Bremerton, Washington, and bought a one way ticket to L.A. Of course I stopped off in Sacramento to visit my family for a week or so. I started BIOLA the last part of January in 1940.
Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA)
I found studying hard my first semester but I learned and got better grades the rest of my 3 years. Quite a few of the students at BIOLA had part time jobs to help pay the bills. I worked in the cafeteria of a large department store (Robinsons) 3 or 4 hours a day. I got 2 of my meals there besides the 38¢ and hour they were paying. I later got a raise to 45¢ an hour. Remember, that was 1940-1943.
Phylis worked at a restaurant, dime store, and at Robinsons.
BIOLA students were all required to have practical work assignments. Phylis taught Sunday School in 2 or 3 different churches; had an open air class for Hispanics; and did hospital visitation. I was also involved in the same activities as Phylis was. I was asked by an old navy buddy (Harvy Myrick) to help him as Sunday School Superintendent in a new church he was starting. I worked there for over 4 years. Our first Sunday we met in a home with 50 people present. Later it became necessary for us to build a church to accommodate our increasing number. To make a long story short, Phylis and I were married in that church on June 10, 1943. We served there together for another year before leaving for Nigeria. This church supported us while on the mission field for 24 years. I was also ordained in that church.
Backing up a little, I was introduced to Phylis by Wilma (Lambert) Nash in April 1942. I found her to be a delightful girl. During the summer of 1942 Phylis returned to Kansas to be with her folks. Her father was seriously ill. He died that summer. Later I visited her on the farm in Kansas and there became engaged in August of 1942. Phylis thought she would have to stay on the farm to help her mother, but she was able to find some one to help, so that [she] could return to BIOLA. Once when Phylis’ mother Daisy Swinney was praying, the Lord indicated to her that Phylis was going to be a missionary in Africa. This came to pass. This may have had something to do with Phylis’ mother being anxious that she return to school.
Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)
We left for Muskegon, Oklahoma after we were married. We traveled in a car with three other Biolans who were also going to attend the SIL. The wartime speed limit was 35 mph and it took us two nights and two days to arrive there from Los Angeles. We drove non-stop except for gas and food. The course there was very difficult because we arrived several days late and it took a lot of work to get semi caught up. We did not go to that school because we thought we would be doing Bible translation work, but in order to help us learn a language when we arrived in Nigeria. It was a great help.
After school was over we visited Phylis’ mother on the farm in southeastern Kansas. Shortly afterwards we headed back to Los Angeles so that Phylis could finish her schoolwork at BIOLA. I heard that they needed a dentist in the mission field, so I enrolled in a Jr. College to start getting a foundation in dentistry. It didn’t take long for me to discover that was not my calling, so I dropped out of school. In the meantime I was working as a mechanic’s helper for the Los Angeles Motor Coach Co. When we returned to Los Angeles after our SIL training we got a small apartment in the rear of a university professor. They gave us free room and board in exchange for cooking and housekeeping. This lasted a few months and because it was not allowing Phylis the time she needed for her studies, we moved into an apartment for $38 a month, just a few blocks from BIOLA.
Deputation Work
This started out on a sour note when one church in Santa Ana didn’t give us any help when they seemingly were looking for a missionary to help. That was discouraging, but we knew that the LORD was leading and we started to move. We left Los Angeles after Phylis finished at BIOLA and visited my mother and father in Broderick, California (across the river from Sacramento on the west). While there and waiting to hear from the mission about church openings, we had 30-50 kids in a Vacation Bible School in a church just a few blocks from my parents’ house. In the meantime I worked as a clerk in the YMCA.
We had little money for anything. A friend sent us $50 and immediately after that the Mission asked us to come to New York. Well, the $50 got us as far as Kansas on the train. While there we had meetings at some of the Churches Phylis knew about and then had enough money to take us to New York. At that time the Mission had just moved into an old eight-story apartment building and we helped out there getting things cleaned up. We then got a call to go to Michigan for a Mission Conference. To make a long story short, the Bible Church in Three Rivers, Michigan, and the First Baptist Church in Howard City, Michigan, Mr. And Mrs. Jim Hokezma, and our home church in Bassett took on all our support.
There just remained $1,300 for transportation to Nigeria. Phylis stayed in the New York Mission Headquarters while I went to Wisconsin to participate in two missionary conferences. The Lord provided the rest of the money that we needed for us to sail for Nigeria. He was sitting on the platform when the people were asked if they would like to help in the outgoing expenses of the Richins. One widow lady stood up and said, “I need a new chimney for my house and have been saving up money for it, but I feel that the Lord wants me to give it for the Richins’ travel to Nigeria.” It was a good-sized sum for those days. Someone else stood up and said, “I’ll give $500.” Another and another and when I boarded the train for the trip back to New York, the Lord had provided all our transportation money. I had the check in my pocket. Isn’t God faithful?
Sailing for Nigeria
On January 30, 1945 we boarded the SS Serpa Pinto in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The War was on at that time and the only travel that could be obtained had to be on a neutral ship. All ships traveling during the War were blacked out at night, but our ship had the word “PORTUGAL” painted in letters so large that it took up the whole side of the ship. They were illuminated at night as well as their flag and the rest of the ship. The ship was stopped on its way to America by a Nazi sub and they asked for a certain passenger by name and the ship had to deliver that person to the sub. We had no problem on our crossing. We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal February 11, 1945 and were there a month before we could get another ship out. While there we got to do a lot of touring and visiting old castles, forts, churches, etc. It was nice. We left Lisbon on March 10th aboard the SS Lourenco Marques (Portuguese ship). Accommodations were hard to get and the men had to all sleep in the same rooms and the ladies also. By doing this they could carry more passengers.
On March 25 we were transferred via launch to a small riverboat and went up the Congo River to Boma. We stayed at a mission station there. We had met the folks there in New York in 1944. It was nice to see them, but I had a throat infection with a temperature of 104° F. I had to get to a Belgian doctor who gave me sulfa tablets. I was allergic to them, but endured until my fever was down. We then proceeded up river to Matadi for the night and boarded a train to Leopoldville where we were hoping to get a plane back to Nigeria. They were booked for weeks; finally we were able to cross the river into French Congo, get an all night train to Point Noire on the coast where we were for a couple of days before we got a plane to Nigeria. While at Point Noire we met some Swedish missionaries who were about to return home, having been away for over eight years because of the war. We were able to give them some of our clothes: suit, dress, etc. They were glad to get them as they didn’t have anything to go home in.
We left there April 7, 1945 and flew to Douala in the Cameroons. I was still sick and spent the day in bed in the hotel while the rest of our party did some sight-seeing. The next day we traveled to Nigeria and few days later we took a train north to Minna where we arrived Friday, April 13th.
Language School at Minna, Nigeria
We were met at the train depot by Wilma Nash. She was the girl that introduced us to each other in 1942. She was also the Maid of Honor at our wedding. There were many others from the language school who met us at the depot also.
It didn’t take us too long to get settled [into] our two-room mud block house. There was a veranda on the front. We had running water-you ran after it. The outhouse was nearby. That explains how modern it was. We used kerosene lamps also.
Because of the conditions in the Congo, Phylis arrived with amoebic dysentery and was in bed the first two weeks that we were in Minna. Before we left we both had malaria also. Any way we got busy with our language study and kept at it for seven months. We all had exams at the end of our time there.
May 7th was VE Day and there was a celebration in town. Then not too long after there was VJ Day and we were all glad that the war was over.
During our time at language school we were involved in various activities. We cycled to a town four miles away to teach the children-we went there many times. The chief had fifteen wives living and four that had died. I worked with the Boys Brigade. Most of these kids knew some English and we were able to help them. One afternoon three boys accepted the LORD. We also visited the villages to try out our new Hausa language. We took a mind up phonograph with Hausa records and played it to the people. We always got a good crowd.
Our language study involved classroom work with a missionary teacher. We would learn grammar, etc. Then in the afternoon we would have a Hausa informant to help us get the correct pronunciation.
Wilma and Joe Nash were married on June 23rd in the church in Minna. I performed the ceremony; Phylis was the Matron of Honor and Joe Mooney was the Best Man. One African got the couples mixed up and went to Phylis and Joe Mooney, thinking they were the bride and groom and said, “May God give you many children.” This is an accepted greeting after a wedding.
At Minna we made friends with many missionaries. Walt and Ruth Erbele were real special among them and still are. They are now retired in Salem, Oregon.
While in Minna a messenger came to say that Al Diamond, a missionary fifteen miles away, was very sick with no one to look after him. The powers that be appointed me to go and look after him. I had to take medications: quanine if he had malaria, and sulfa if he had spinal meningitis. The latter was quite prevalent in the area. He didn’t have a stiff neck that is caused by spinal meningitis, so I treated him for malaria and in four or five days he was better. It was a hard bicycle ride there, as I hadn’t ridden one for a longtime.
We were assigned to Zambuk by the field Council and headed that way in November. We got permission to visit the newlyweds for a few days on our way to our station. We had no transportation, so Dr. Harris drove us to our station, which was a 200-mile trip from headquarters on a dirt road. It was three years later that he delivered our firstborn, Charlotte.
Zambuk, Nigeria (December 1945 – April 1949)
The people of Zambuk are of the Tera tribe – over 20,000 people living in over a dozen villages in an area roughly 25 miles long and 25 miles wide. Zambuk is approximately in the center of the tribal territory, and was the third largest village in the area, with approximately 1,000 people at the time we arrived. Later it increased in size. Each town was ruled by a local chief, which was responsible to the Emir of Gombe, who was not a Tera, but rather a Fulani. The Tera resented this, and a few years later they were granted their own Paramount Chief.
The English District Officer called all the chiefs together, and asked them to choose the man they wanted for their leader. Of course, they all wanted the leadership, but no one would say anything except, “Long may you live. Whoever you give us, we will follow.” This was not what the District Officer wanted to hear. After several meetings he gave up, and decided to appoint one himself, but he was unsure how to proceed. One day when I was in the District Office, the District Officer asked me who I thought would be a good man for the job. I suggested a name, and he was appointed when we were on furlough.
The new tribal leader was from the second largest village, and very friendly to the mission. Of course, the chief from the largest village, who was “anti-Mission”) thought he should be the tribal leader, and refused to follow the man appointed by the District Officer. The District Officer had to send a truckload of Government police to dissident’s town to move him out to a remote village. He was told to stay there, and keep out of trouble, or he would be arrested.
During the time the government was determining who would be the Paramount Chief I had several of the local chiefs ask me, “You are a white man, and you know the ways of the white men. Can you tell me what to say to the D.O. in order that I would be appointed Paramount Chief?” I gave none of them encouragement. I wanted to keep out of it, or I could get in trouble.
The Tera people fled from the Muslim conquest years and years ago. They were Animist at the time, but at the coming of the mission, they were mixed – Animist and Muslim. I have no good statistics for this area, but the last I heard, Nigeria as a whole was 50% Christian.
Missionaries began working in Zambuk in 1930. When we arrived in 1945 there were 80 people attending the church. Five out-station churches also had been built. Shortly after our arrival a conference was held in Zambuk for all the area churches. It was a joy to see 300 hundred people attend our little church, which was built for 150. To accommodate the extra attendees, the front wall of the church was removed, and replaced by straw mats. After the conference the church was enlarged. Within a few months the Lord brought in more people, and we enjoyed a congregation of 180 people in a short time.
In January 1946 we had nine young men leave for Bible school training – a few also took their families. A few years later these and others who followed in their footsteps were used of the Lord to build up the church. By the time we left Zambuk in 1959 there were over 1,000 people in all our combined churches. Several more out-stations were opened. In order to progress you have to train the nationals.
When the missionaries first arrived in Zambuk none of the people could read or write. The missionaries began teaching them to read and write. Later they opened three schools for children with mission-trained national teachers ¬– one at Zambuk, and one each at two other villages. Adult education continued, in association with tour Bible teachings.
The house we moved into had been renovated by Alex Ireland, from whom we took over the supervision of the mission station. It was a good-sized house with seven rooms. The kitchen was out back in order to keep the heat of the wood stove away from the house. One of the first things we did was to screen the house to keep out the mosquitoes and flies, as both are disease carriers.
Locally we could get eggs, chicken, and tough meat from the market. They butchered on market day, which happened to be Saturday. There were cattle in the area and we were able to get milk. When the milk arrived at our house we had to process it before we could safely drink it. First we strained out the flies and other stuff. Then we boiled the milk to pasteurize it. Local fruit and vegetables were readily available. Oranges, grapefruit, mangoes, limes, and guavas grew on the grounds of the mission station on trees planted by our predecessor. We really appreciated his foresight. African grains, peanuts, tomatoes, onions, okra, and squash were also available. We ordered other foodstuffs such as sugar, flour, spices, coffee, tea, and canned fruit once a month from the mission headquarters. After the first year we enjoyed fresh vegetables from our own garden – string beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, and lettuce. I also was able to keep us supplied with wild game, such as gazelle, wart hog, bush fowl, and occasionally, a goose.
Building materials like cement, lumber, glass, corrugated sheet metal roofing panels had to be ordered from Jos [?] and came by truck. Once in a while I had a team of sawyers come through and they would find a good tree locally, and saw it into the size of boards I needed. It was very crude. For example, a 2 x 6 would likely be 1½ x 5 at one end, and 2½ x 7 at the other end. Some of the fellows did fairly good work. Years later, someone started a sawmill in the area 250 miles away, and we were able to get very nice lumber.
We had a dispensary for treating the people. We had one African dispenser with a helper. Shortly after our arrival the mission sent us a nurse to look after all the medical work. She was a midwife, and we built a delivery room for her. She started delivering babies, and caring for them. This was a great help to the people. We also had an African woman who was a midwife, but she was not as well trained as our nurse.
Eva, our nurse, arrived just in time to save the life of a man bitten by a viper. The poison of a viper thins out the blood so that a person starts bleeding from any old would or even the mouth and eyes. This man was losing a lot of blood from where the snake bit him. Eva put a clamp on the blood vessel to stop the bleeding. His people didn’t like that, so they tried to remove the clam, and take him away. Eva had to argue (almost fight) with them and said, “If you take him away now, he will die.” They finally agreed to let the man stay in Eva’s care. The next morning the patient was bright and smiling, and had a normal pulse. He went home well. Over the years we treated a lot of snakebites. If they got to us in time, we could usually help them. If not, they died.
We had to always be on the lookout for snakes. During the time we were in Nigeria we found six vipers in our house. One was wrapped around a curtain rod. Another time, when Charlotte was small, she called, “Mommy! There is something behind the trunk. It’s too big to be a worm.” It was in fact a viper. We educated our kids early to watch out for snakes and scorpions. Later, when they were older, the children would go around the yard, pick up stones, and see how many scorpions they could find and put in a jar. It made us a little nervous, to say the least. One day I found a cobra nest in our backyard, and killed ten snakes. However, the mother snake was not to be found.
One of our Christian women had her tenth child in our maternity hut. She only had one other child living. She didn’t have enough milk to feed the baby, so we rigged a bottle for her to use. I soldered the shell of a bullet onto the too of a jar, and we attached the rubber top of an eyedropper to it, creating a bottle. We kept the lady supplied with milk for her baby.
Every year around Christmas we would have a three-day Bible conference for all our believers. Some walked from as far away as 17 miles. We had over 350 people attend, and I baptized eleven of them. The meetings were not always held in the same town. Over the years the numbers kept on growing. I will not mention this further, except to say that by the end of our last term at Zambuk in 1959, we had close to 1,000 present. We always had a baptismal service during these conferences.
In 1947 were ready to go on a much-needed holiday when permission came through for us to build a house for our nurse. If we waited until our month vacation the rains would arrive and we would be unable to make the brinks. Besides this, all the people we could get to help us would be working on their farms. We tore down an old house and used the clay to make new brinks. These were sun-dried and then piled on the edge to form a large kiln. We had wood brought in from the bush and fired the kiln for two days. After that we started the building. We worked hard for six weeks and finally got the roof on. Then we left for vacation. It was a four-room house with a porch in the front and back. This was my first and last experience firing bricks.
We didn’t know the language well enough to start any preaching, but we did start having Sunday School classes. I would get together with a teacher and help him prepare his sermons. This was a help to the teacher and also a learning experience for me. After our second year I felt confident enough to start preaching in Hausa.
In June 1947 we were able to buy an old used motorcycle from a missionary friend of ours. It was a great help in getting around. We did have a bicycle, but that was all.
Eva finally got everything set to start weighing babies. There were 17 babies to weigh the first week; over 20 babies the second week; and over 40 babies the following week. Weighing included giving the baby any necessary help to ensure the well being of the child. The women were coming out to church in greater numbers, and the clinic played a significant part in this.
We have a story about a woman named Tukum whose husband is a fine Christian. His name is Dogo, which means “tall.” Tukum used to never come to church unless someone went for her, and then, very often she would refuse. She seemed to have the attitude, “They’re not going to get me to follow Christ.” While we were away for our rest, she had a baby at our clinic. When we returned she was a changed woman. Her baby was getting along fine, and she continually brought it to the clinic to have it checked and weighed. She always had a bright smile for us, and she went to church every Sunday without anyone going after her.
When we asked her husband about it, he said he had noticed the also. Dogo said that before, when he would make Yohanna (John) get ready for church Tukum would get mad at him, but now, when the bell rings for church, she starts getting Yohanna ready herself. Christ can give new life. Years later their hut burned down, and they lost everything, including their Bible. The people found Dogo crying, and asked, “Why are you crying?”
He said, “My Bible is burned up.”
“Why cry? Your life doesn’t depend on that.”
“Oh, yes it does,” he replied.
The Christians helped him get his house repaired, and we made sure that he got a new Bible – free.
Dada was a Longuda who lived over 50 miles from Zambuk. His mother died when he was quite small, and he was raised by an uncle, even though his father was alive. You see, according to the customs of these people, a child is the property of the mother and her side of the family. So after his mother’s death, he had to go live with an uncle.
One day he heard an evangelist preaching in town. In his heart he accepted Christ. After hearing this, his uncle did everything he could to get Dada to give up his “religion,” but Dada said he couldn’t. His uncle made it hard on him, so he ran away, and one Saturday afternoon, he arrived at our mission station for any help we could give him. He was around 18 or 19 years old at the time. We needed someone to help with our yard work, so we gave him a job, and also got him into elementary school in the afternoon. He learned rapidly, and proved to be a good worker, and a strong Christian. A few years later he went back home, and by this time his uncle was willing to accept him as he was. He got involved in the local church.
There was a good good-sized church in Difa, six miles away from Zambuk, and the Christians wanted an elementary school built. By this time we had nationals who were graduates of our teachers training schools and were qualified to teach. We did a lot of work to get the school built. The local Christians did most of the work. Finally, school started, and we began having good success.
There were a lot of Muslims in town who didn’t want the school, and wanted the government to build a school for them. We are not sure what happened, but several years later the school burned down during a storm. Some say the school was hit by lightning, but the Christians feel the Muslims torched it. Immediately the government stepped in and built a school with Muslim instructors.
Sometime around 1970, after Nigeria gained its independence from England, the government nationalized all schools and hospitals. Whatever the mission had control of had to be turned over to them. However, there was still freedom to teach Bible classes in the school for those who wanted to come. Even before the nationalization of the schools, I held Bible classes in two schools in Gombe, 15 miles from Zambuk. One class was in the higher Teachers Training School, and the other in a craft school.
Phylis wrote her mother on November 16, 1947 as follows:
“This morning before breakfast a fellow came from our farthest outstation with a letter from the evangelist. He said a big palaver had come up there and he wanted Heber and the elders to come at once today. Heber jumped on his motorcycle and ran into town to call the elders. I had the cook make some biscuits for his lunch, as we had toasted our last bit of bread for breakfast. We have a camp cot there and he took a blanket. It’s almost 6 [PM] and he isn’t back yet, so I’m a bit doubtful about his coming today. I guess he’ll have to have a chicken cooked with rice in a native pot for supper. Maybe he can fill up on boiled eggs for breakfast.
Next day. Just as I finished writing the above, Heber came. He was tired, and shaken up, but O.K. He brought home a big catfish, which we enjoyed. The outstation is near a river. The palaver was one (Christian?) was seeking the church leader’s wife when he happened to be away for a day or two. Things like that seem to be so common among the people out here. Oh, me! They certainly need our prayers.”
Phylis wrote again on March 9, 1948:
“We enjoyed our time on trek very much. The women there were so eager, and anxious for the little help I could give them in the week I was there. Sometimes we get a bit discouraged at their indifference here. Heber taught the men Revelation with the chart he made in Biola. They were just thrilled with it. Sometimes their ‘½ hour’ class would stretch to 2 or 2½ hours. They wanted to be sure he finished the book before we had to leave. We enjoyed our time with them, but were glad to get back to the comforts of home again. It as real hot while we were there. This wee we’re having dust again, and some cooler weather.
The chief here at Deba has always hindered the work to some extent. He is Muslim, and one of the kind that keeps his wives inside the 4 walls of his compound. His first wife of about 35 or more years had been very sick. The chief asked Heber to come in to see if we could help her. (Muslims do not allow any men to come in their homes to see their women folks.) Seeing the condition of the woman, Heber told him he needed to take her to Zambuk to see our nurse. Can you imagine suggesting that to a Muslim? Surpise of all surprises, he agreed, and she is now in Zambuk receiving treatment. Everyone is amazed. Perhaps the Lord is softening this hardened heart.”
(She later returned home well.)
On the 11th of March, Phylis went to Jos to be near the hospital to wait for Charlotte’s arrival. Dr. Harris gave her injections of iron and other medication to build up her blood. He said that she didn’t realize how tired she was. During this time, I was left behind at Zambuk to do some trekking, finish building a school, and do some dry season repairs. On April 15th I left for Jos to be with my wonderful wife.
Phylis started labor and went into the hospital the evening of April 25th. She slept better that night than I did. Anyway, Charlotte made her presence known at 7:38 AM on the 26th. Phyls had an adherent placenta, so she had to have a D&C to remove it. While Dr. Harris was waiting, and wondering what to do next, another mission doctor just happened to drop by the hospital and was able to help. “Just happened to drop by” – later a lady in Michigan [USA] said that on the day this was happening the Lord laid Phylis on her heart, and she did a lot of praying for her.
I had a lot of trouble with my throat since arriving in Nigeria, and I went into the hospital shortly after Phylis did, and delivered twins – one named “left tonsil,” the other “right tonsil.” This was my second operation of this nature.
While Phylis was at Miango gaining her strength back, the mission sent me to Zobolo, 20 miles from Jos, to help the Christians put a new roof on their church. I had to supervise and help in putting together the A-frames for the building. It took us a week to complete the job. Two lady missionaries there kept us well fed, and kept bringing cold orange juice to us as we worked in hot sun.
Charlotte was five weeks old when we returned to our mission station. We had a crib ready for her. It was one that was left behind by former missionaries. We had it cleaned and painted. Charlotte had a lot of trouble with diarrhea and fever during teething. She finally got her first tooth at nine months. At six months Phylis took her to Jos to see the doctor. She had her small pox vaccination at this time.
The Africans were delighted to see a white baby. Many of them had never seen one before. For some reason they all wanted to touch her, or hold her hand. Some of them may have just wiped their own baby’s bottom, and since they wouldn’t think of washing their hands, Phylis felt nervous. After they left she would immediately take Charlotte into the house, and wash her hands and arms.
The time finally came for us to leave for our furlough. We had to pack away a lot of our things in a spare room in the house. We then left for Jos on the first leg of our journey. After arriving in Jos, we got word that our ship was delayed for a couple of weeks. The mission then asked us to go to Miango, and help out in Kent Academy with supervision of the kids. It was while we were in Lagos that Charlotte took her first steps.
We boarded the Norwegian Motor Ship Talisman Sunday afternoon on May 15, 1949. We arrived in Accra, Ghana where we were for 3½ days loading 12,000 bags of cocoa beans, and 100 mahogany logs. Our next stop was 200 miles away in Takaradi, Ghana. We waited four days in the breakwater before we could get to the dock. We did a lot of loading and unloading, and finally left for New York, arriving around the 10th of June. The ship was very clean, and had 13 passengers. Five were SIM’ers, 3 were Baptists. We had a great time with the passengers. We were treated, and fed well.
We did some sightseeing in Accra. I got a haircut there by someone who came aboard, and called himself a ship’s barber. After arriving in New York City I went in for a haircut, and the barber said, “Who in the world cut your hair?”
Phylis was seasick a large part of our trip, and I had to wash by hand in the bathtub, 1,000,000 [sic] diapers. I was up early the day we were to dock in New York to do some ironing for Charlotte. A missionary lady traveling with us saw the miserable attempt I was making, and offered to do the ironing. The offer was accepted with gratitude. Her only child was an 11-year-old boy who was traveling with us. The lady said she always wanted a girl, and loved to iron little girls’ dresses. She did a beautiful job.
