NOTE- In 1917 Orley and Lillian Ford, both in their early 20s, sailed from New Orleans to South America to serve as Seventh-day Adventist missionaries near Lake Titicaca, Peru. Sensing the call of God, they left having no idea if they would ever see family or friends again.

Here is a written record of the first thirty days of their mission adventure, taken from Orley’s typed and handwritten diary by his granddaughter, Pat Ford. (This diary is not to be published in any form without permission from the Ford family since all rights are reserved for possible future publication.) To preserve the original document there have been no corrections for spelling, grammar, or what might be considered today to be politically incorrect statements.

As you read you will be inspired by two young adults, ready to go to the ends of the earth to let people know about Jesus and His return. For more stories of the Ford’s mission adventures read the books These Fords Still Run, by Barbara Westfall, and Mission in the Clouds by Eileen Lantry. [Add hyperlinks to Amazon.com page for each of these books]

 

On Board the S S Abangarez in the Gulf of Mexico

Dec. 23, 1917

To our dear friends in the Homeland:

I am out on deck passing the time away by writing on my typewriter. Instead of writing a regular letter I am just going to copy part of my diary and send that to you. Probably that will tell you more than a letter. I will begin on the day we reached New Orleans.

 

Thursday, Dec. 20th Reached New Orleans 12:00AM. My expectations went down several degrees. Instead of the pretty city I had expected I think it is one of the most unattractive cities I have seen in the U.S. The streets are narrow and most of them seem to be paved with cobblestones. At least all except a few of the most important ones. There are a few nice buildings but along side the few nice building are a multitude of old buildings and dirty shops. Every thing has a dirty appearance and the large negro population does not make things look more attractive. About the first brake we made was to sit down in the back seat of a street car and the conductor had to come and tell us that the back seats were for negros only and that we would have to move forward. We have been very busy this afternoon getting our tickets arranged and doing some final shopping. On account of a meeting in session in Atlanta, Ga all the conference men are out of town so we have had no help in arranging passage. Our room is in the Hotel St. Charles, a very nice place but rather expensive. Had to pay $5.00 for room and bath. They say tho that all the good hotels here charge the same at this time. The city looks dirtier than ever tonight as the war condition causes them to only light the streets very dimly and things look dark to us tonight anyway as this is the last night we expect to ever spend in the U.S. Lillie and I have just been talking of the alls our friends we are to leave behind and of the many things that will probably happen before we see them again. We never expect to see any of them again until we meet in the New Earth.

In March of 2009, Ohana Christian Fellowship of Seventh-day Adventists (West Linn, Ore.) and Portland Adventist Academy co-sponsored a mission trip to southern Ethiopia.

The 34 participants engaged in evangelism, construction and development of an adult literacy center and medical and dental ministries in the towns of Awassa and Tula. Students from PAA preached to more than1,000 people in Tula and Doug Franzke, Ohana Christian Fellowship pastor, preached to approximately 1,500–2,000 people in Awassa.

Read the rest of this story on the Oregon Conference Web site.

When I was invited to preach in Tabossi, I asked myself why God wanted to take me there? Tabossi is a small town close to the first church in South America. Adventism is present there since more than 70 years ago. And the Tabossi church building is 54 years old. It is an old church in a very small town. It is not the place where every evangelist dreams to go.

When I arrived I discovered that Tabossi never had an evangelistic series. It was the first time in it’s history. The membership was fascinated; we had more than 20 guest and 8 decisions of baptism. They decided to have at least two series yearly. Now, they are seeding for the next one, and looking forward for the next evangelist.

I learned that every church in the world could and needs to have a public evangelistic series.

As you might imagine, the gap between Muslims and Christians seems to get wider and wider with each explosive newscast. As I travel around the country speaking to Christians trying to share with them basic ways to be like Jesus in their response to Muslims as people and Islam as a religion, I am often confronted by similar questions and concerns. In this article and others to follow, I would like to give you some practical answers to dispel some of the myths and actually prepare you to be an ambassador of hope in a world torn by chaos. I truly believe it is time for the people that claim to follow Jesus to actually act as He did and be the ones to span the gaps in an ongoing call to reconciliation. That means we might need to be the first ones to try to build a bridge.

Just one more “rule” before I begin sharing some insights into this people group that represents nearly 22% of the world’s population and much of what Christians label the “unreached”: I am responding to all these issues from a biblical principle of searching for truth within another worldview, not error (1 Thessalonians 5:21 is one example, 1 Corinthians 13:6 is another). This is markedly different from the prevailing perspective that seems to say the Good News for someone is the bad news about their religion. The Good News is that God is the God of Truth wherever it is found and He uses it to lead all people into a closer relationship with Him, the God of Love. So, all of my responses are based in this kind of search for redemptive truths wherever they can be found and build upon them toward a biblical understanding of faith.

The first question almost always is what or who Muslims worship. The simple answer is, according to the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam), Muslims worship the Creator God. This would be the same Creator God referenced in the Bible as the God of the Jews and Christians. In fact, more than 20 biblical prophets and characters are mentioned by name with allusions to their stories! Muslims believe they are praying to that same God. In fact, there are Arabic-speaking Christians who still pray to Allah whenever they pray – that is the Arabic word for the Creator God! So, even though it is rather popular in some circles to say that Muslims worship the moon, the facts do not defend that position and it will not empower your witness!1

Sometimes I am asked if we should take the gospel to the heathen, as they are happy when left alone. Having worked amongst many tribes of primitive people before the gospel reached them, I am happy to give my thoughts on the subject. My experience has been primarily with the warlike heathen of the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

They have customs that are drastic, to say the least. None of the people of this area believed any death of young or old was due to natural causes or by any disease. They believed all were caused by their enemies, who were to be identified and eliminated. They have devised several methods of identifying the supposed killer and I will mention the three I have been told about. This payback applies to much of the large island of Papua New Guinea, with some variations in its operation.

When a person dies, the body is wrapped in bark and hung on a stick between two poles. Several will watch the corpse at night till a dull light appears on the body. A chosen person will then stand next to the body and call different names of suspected guilty persons. When the imagined correct person is called the body will shake violently and men will rush over to prevent the body from falling. Now that the guilty person is identified, they waylay him when he is on his own and club him to death or poison him. This latter method is usually accomplished by using the power of the witchcraft man of the village to invoke a curse on him that produces death.

Another method is for a man to sit in a hut at night and call to the spirits. They will announce their presence audibly or by a dull light. When this happens, they shoot an arrow with a burning tip high into the sky. The arrow will fall to the ground, but a light will sweep back and forth till it falls suddenly onto a hut and the owner will be declared the victim. Several men have been posted amongst the huts to identify where the light falls. Thus another victim is killed to avenge the death in the village.

Dr. Miller was walking with Stella Houser, one of his older students, when she inquired about his plans for the future. As a former secretary to the Foreign Mission Board of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she was constantly on the lookout for possible missionaries.

BLENDING IN: Soon after their arrival in China, Harry and Maude Miller pose in the dress of those they came to serve.

“I think I’ll continue with surgery and teaching,” he answered. “Why?”

“I think it would be a wonderful thing if you and your wife would go to China,” she said earnestly.

Miller had thought vaguely of an excursion to Mexico or Australia sometime, but China had never entered his mind. Her suggestion followed him wherever he went. He talked it over casually with his wife, Maude. Suddenly questions tumbled over one another. Was there a divine plan behind all of this? What was China really like? They knew only that China had two cities, Peking and Shanghai, and that it produced Chinese laundrymen.

Getting Serious About Service

Miller talked to his former roommate Arthur Selmon, whose fiancée, Bertha, was also a physician. He and Bertha volunteered to go, [as well as] two nurses. The idea was snowballing. [It] was one thing to decide to go to China, and quite another to get there. None of the group had more than a few cents apiece.

Stella quickly passed the word on to the secretary of the mission board. The sad news came back: “the board has no funds to send you.” If they were to go, they would have to find their own way, their own money, their own transportation. Read More

CAMPUS 
PRAISE: The Campus 
Ministry Department of 
Korea’s Sahmyook University mobilizes professors, students, pastors, and others to reach out to the school’s high ratio of non-Adventist students. Students here are praising 
and worshipping God. 


Sahmyook University in Seoul, Korea, had much to celebrate when it reached its centennial milestone in 2006. Named Euimyung College when it was first established more than 100 years ago, what was once considered a small school now boasts some 5,500 students studying in 33 academic tracks in six colleges and four graduate schools. Sahmyook has provided theological education for 60 years of its 103-year history; other departments gradually have been added since 1967. It moved to its present site on 200 acres situated 12 miles (20 kilometers) from downtown Seoul in 1949.

Deluged With Students

Each January more than 10,000 anxious youth applying for acceptance to Sahmyook University pack its campus. Only about 10 percent, or 1,242, of them—mostly non-Adventists—are accepted as new students. The ratio of successful applications from Adventist students is much higher than that of non-Adventists, yet the actual number of Adventist students annually accepted hovers near 200, or about 1 in 6.

Sahmyook University faculty and staff view this situation positively as an opportunity for mission, observing that every year 1,000 new seekers of truth are “storming” the school. The exuberant youth walking around campus are reminiscent of the fish that crowded around Peter’s fishing net in response to Jesus’ command: “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets” (Luke 5:4, NIV). The question now is how to handle the situation.

The Triple-S Principle

Sahmyook University operates a multidirectional campus ministry to win these young adults to the Lord. Campus Ministry functions with the financial and administrative support of the school and fully mobilizes pastors, professors, and Christian student peers. The chaplain’s office calls this mission approach the “Triple-S Principle,” an acronym for Spirituality, System, and Strategy. Read More

Oh, no, please do not make me go to that town. I have lived there before, for several months serving on an interim basis, and I really don’t like that place. It is so small. It’s certainly not a place of culture or beauty. The university is only beginning—it is without reputation, without resources.”

Martin Luther was begging his friend and superior Staupitz not to make him move to Wittenberg. The points he mentioned were understandable. He had served in Wittenberg on this temporary assignment teaching in the university and living in the monastery. Duke Frederick wanted to build up a university in the town, but it was just beginning; and Luther had been living in Erfurt, where scholarship flourished. Wittenberg had only about 1,500 to 2,000 people during the early 1500s when Luther was asked to transfer there. The surrounding countryside was not picturesque. Besides, at the time Erfurt was the only city in Germany where it was possible to study both Greek and Hebrew.

What a town Wittenberg was! Of the 400 or so homes in the village, 270 of them had a license to brew beer. In his characteristic manner of speaking, Luther said that the lowliness of the worship area in the church resembled the stall where Jesus was born. He also said that going to Wittenberg was like going into exile.

Without our vantage point in history, without knowing what we know now, we, too, would wonder if this was the right move. How could Luther influence the world, or even Germany, from this small town on the Elbe River?

STUDYING INTENTLY: Church members come prepared each Sabbath to study and learn with Bibles, notebooks, pens, pencils, and other materials. They sit at pews designed for study with writing ledges.

Tell me more,” Meifen* insisted of her neighbor Zhu. “I need to know more.” Zhu’s answer was emphatic, “No, no, not now. I have to go. I’ll come back tomorrow and tell you more.”

Zhu was nervous discussing Bible verses of hope and encouragement at her friend’s house. In China some 40 years ago the law did not allow her to talk about God or share the gospel. She and Meifen were good friends, but if anyone—including neighbors or even children—reported what she was doing, there would be trouble for everyone involved, and probably punishment for Zhu. She was afraid, yet she knew she was doing the right thing.

It Started With a Dream

After finding Meifen sick one day, Zhu visited her friend frequently to help her during her illness. Then one night Zhu had a dream that troubled her because of its vividness and urgency. She felt it held personal meaning for her. She told her husband about the dream and asked him to help her interpret it.

“I dreamed I was home and that I had one seed,” Zhu told her husband. “Then a very real voice told me that I should go to my neighbor Meifen’s house and plant this seed in her front yard. Then Meifen and I took care of it and watered it, and in time it grew to be a thin, small tree. The tree grew and had a large trunk and many, many branches that spread out and up, until it was a massive tree with thousands of leaves. Then the dream ended and I woke up.

“It was not like other dreams,” she added. “I’m sure there is a meaning and that I must do something.” Read More

Words from Angela:

Thanks to Ms. Patzer for that marvelous effort that she is making for me through God’s help. The wheel chair makes me feel happy because I can move. I used to live in my room. Now I can go out and around and see things I hadn’t seen in a long time. I am also going to make the effort of going out to the streets. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. May God bless you. I hope you can do this with others also.

Click here to watch a video of Angela in her new wheel chair