A Family Affair by Adele McFarland

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    A

    FAMILY

    AFFAIR

    Adele Mcparland

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    A

    FAM I LY

    AFFAIR

    ByAde l e M cF a r l an d

    Copyright 1976By Adele McFarland

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    DED ICAT ION

    This book is d ed ic ate d to my husband, Har ro ld , andto o u r s i x c h i l d r e n .

    To Harrold, whose v isio n, fa ith and pers is tence, Godused to publish news of His laborers around the world.To our six children, who have matured so beautifully

    to the glory of God, and thus are a par t of the solutionto this world 's problems, and not a pa r t of the problem.

    -Ade l e McFa r l and , 1976

    Copyright 1976 By Adele McFarlandF i r s t Ed iti on Nov embe r 1976Second Edition (Illustrated) August 1977

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    P R E F A C E

    From time to time over the years, it has been suggested to me, "You ought to write a book about Mission Ser -vices from your point of view; how it began and grew andhow i t affected the family. "

    I always rather airily said, "Someday I will. "This seemed to be the r ight year to do it. M ission

    Services is 30 years old this year of 1976. It seemedappropria te to get the beginnings down in black an d whitebefore memory became even more inaccurate and hazy.So, after a New Year's resolution, on January 2, I got outmy typewriter, set up a folding table and began.This is a very personal story. This is because Miss ionServices was a very real part of our personal lives! Itshaped our marriage and our personal growth. It shapedthe lives of our children. It showed up our strengths andour weaknesses. Just as God used us to bring into beingthe work and inf luence of Mission Services , He used Mis-sion Services to enhance our lives and give meaning to ourbeing alive and wanting to expend our energies within Hisw i l l .

    In the same manner as wise paren ts le t loose of a childwhen that child is ready to take his place in the world,Harrold felt it was wise to turn Mission Serv ic es ove r toother capable hands while he was s t i l l alive to advise o rhelp as needed or asked. Harrold has always been something of a pioneering spirit; preferring to go on to somethingelse, after what he has started is doing well and can beturned over to other able people. That is one reason weare in Place rville, California today.

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    CONTENT S

    CHAPTER PAGE

    1 War's End: New Beginning 1946 12 PREACH 1946 53 Firs t Big House 1947-1949 94 Disappointed, But Not Quitting 1949-1950 135 New Baby, New Opportunities, Many Problems 196 Consolidat ion and Growth 1952 297 Fea r vs Fai th 1952 378 Crowded Out: Moved Away 1953 499 Raising The Roof; Settling in 1954 6l10 Weekly HORIZONS; First Grip to California 6511 Visiting Missionaries A Blessing 7112 Making Room to Expand; McGilvreys Come 1956 7513 Setback; Family Trip; First Wedding 1957 8714 Joy, Sorrow, Reunion 1958 9715 From Editor to Truck Driver 1959 11116 New Press; Second Wedding; First Grandchild;So r r ow Renewed 11917 "Singing Victory" 1961 12918 A Hard Decision; A Second Grandchild 1962 14119 The Move West 1963 15120 The Years March On 157Epilogue

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    I L LUSTRAT IONS

    Adele McFarland Opposite IPREACH MagaT-iiie 4Big House in Southeast Minneapolis 3McFarlands in front of Willernie, Minnesota house 17Editorial, Typesetting and Mailing Department 18Everybody Helped! 43Mission Manor/Church Women/Ready To Mail! 52First Church Men Raised the Roof 60McFarland Family in 1954 ,2Joan Getter and Hindi-style meal 70McGilvrey Family joined Mission in 1956 74McFarlands Moved to Oneida Street Property 76Mailing the weekly HORIZONS 77Sprenger Family 1958/McFarland Family Reunion 1958 96Harvey Church Farewell to Macs 1959/Mission Trucks noApartment House Bought in I960 H3Remodeled, Repainted Mission Manor USSinging Victory! j23Adele, Tim and Julie McFarland 2^4Kelleys, Gibsons, Baseys Opposite 164Christensens, Jon McFarlands Last Page

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    S- ' ... S

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    CHAPTER 1

    WAR'S END: NEW BEGINNING 1946I t didn't seem like a particularly important day. Itstarted out normally ; excep t that there was a man in the

    house. After ten months of being apart , my husband,Harrold McFarland, was f inal ly discharged from theArmy Airforce Chaplaincy and was home for good. I hadleft him in Texas before our f ou rth baby was to be bornbecause he was scheduled to go overseas . Now the warwas over and he was home. The children no longer hadto look at a picture to remember what their father lookedl ike. There was a future minis t ry ahead of us that Ithought would follow the pattern of the years before heentered the chaplaincy: a located ministry. This daywould change th at!

    I was in the kitchen ironing; Carol, our oldest was insecond grade in school, the baby was napping, the othertwo girls were outside playing. Harrold was upstairs inthe partially finished attic unpacking his books, trying tobring some semblance of a study to the back end of theattic. The front end of the a tt ic a lr eady was closed offinto a bed room tha t Caro l occupied.I gathered up Carol's freshly ironed clothes to putaway in her room, carefully manipulated the narrow att icstairway with arm's full, and paused alongside Harrold ashe was bending over a box of books.

    "How's i t going?" I asked.He looked up at me from his kneeling posi tion beforethe box. His face had an in tense look tha t reg i s t e red onmy mind but didn't hit me with it 's ful l- impact until weekslater.

    "I'm going to star t a magazine!" he announced.Amused, I asked, "What kind of a magazine? ""A magazine to challenge young men to enter the mini

    s t ry I "I laughed aloud! I don't remember what I said but I doremember I actually laughed in his face! I have never sincelaughed at anything he has said he would do. I have livedto be ashamed and appalled at that laugh over and over again.

    After I had convinced him tha t I took him ser ious ly , hebegan to talk to me about what he was considering for con-

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    A FAMILY AFFA IR

    tent of the magazine, how we would finance i t, what he wouldca l l i t , who he would a sk to wri te fo r i t . I t s t i l l s e emedlike a preposterous dream that people like us had no busin ess a sp ir in g to .

    However , in th ree sho r t months , he had e nro lle d inThe University of Minnesota, school of journal ism, andcreat ive writing; He had accepted an ad interim ministry with the Universi ty Church of Christ that met in themain building of Minnesota Bible College; and we hadmoved f rom our li tt le house in St. Pau l to the church pa rsonage in southeast Minneapolis. He had decided on theimperative word. Preach, for the name of the magazine;and I had agreed that we use the money from our warbonds to launch the magazine, believing that by the timethat money was gone, the magazine would be self-support ing.

    This was the spring of 1946. At this time we had beenmarried nine years. We had fou r child ren; th ree g ir lsand one boy. Carol Marie, born in California while wewere still in college in 1938; Ann Louise, born in Clinton,Iowa in 1941; Judith Jo , born in Can ton, I ll in ois when weministered in nearby Lewistown in 1943; and Jon Harrold,born in Ft. Snelllng Army Hospital out side S t. Paul in1945 .

    This was a year of tremendous adjustment for all ofus; the basic and most difficxilt one being that of becoming a family again. I was not the same person I had beenwhen Harrold went into the Army and I wovild not be again.That was something of a surprise to him and not easy toget used to. I had been pretty much a totally submissivewife . I had made no dec i s i ons on my own; neve r oncewent shopping by myself; had no money of my own; hadnever paid one bill. Now, for the last three years andespecially the last ten months, I had made all the day-to-day decisions; paid all the bills and saved money, did allthe shopping, and even kept the car running in Minnesota'scold winter weather . I found tha t my j udgemen t wa ssound, my abilities adequate, and that if I had to, I wasable to get along alone.

    This changed the whole relationship of our marriageand I think the adjustment of this year was more difficultthan the first year of our marriage. But we loved eachother, respected each other, growing and maturing in the

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    War ' s End; New Beginning 1946

    process. We made it through to a stronger bond than wehad be f o r e .Another thing Harrold had to get used to again wassmall children imder foot. He loved his children and hadmissed being a part of their lives, but now he had to getused to nurturing his brood while learning to know meand preparing for a new phase of his ministry which wasstill fairly hazy. As for my part, I had to remember thatI was not both father and.mother now, and that all the decisions did not have to fall on me. After I got used to theidea, I liked not having to be the last word; I liked havingsomeone to consult, someone to lean on. I am glad Ilearned I could stand on my own two feet if I had to, butI think my basic nature is I 'd rather not.However, it is a good thing I learned that I could andthat my husband had confidence that I could, or he neverwou ld hav e b ee n ab le to do wha t he found was nec e s s a r yto do in the years ahead as Mission Services developed.A clinging, dependent wife I could not be!

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    A FAMILY AFFA IR

    p r e a c h, os, istoihm that pertsh foolishness,

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    CHAPTER 2

    PREACH 1946

    We ministered to the Univers ity Church of Chris t only16 months and lived in the parsonage just one year, but asI look back on that t ime, it seems like a lot of th ings happened. The f i rs t thing that happened that summer was afrightening polio epidemic. The city government orderedthat no children be taken into crowds, specifically not toleave the ir yards fo r th ree weeks. This also included Sunday sc hool a nd church. Some fami l ies with one o r twochildren had problems keeping their children occupied.We had no problems at all. Our yard was good size. Ourthree girls would spread a blanket, each in one corner ofthe yard and that would be their house. They had theirdolls, dishes, chairs, etc. ; visited each other, playedhouse, school , and church for hours on end with no boredom and very little quarreling. I counted by blessings.

    However, polio came very close to us that summer.A young couple lived next door and they had a little boyjust over a year old. I used to hear the mother playingwith him on their screened-in front porch. She wouldread to him and frequently I would hear her say, "motherloves you, " One day an ambulance rushed her to thehospital and grandparen ts came to take care of the littleboy. Three days later we learned the mother had died ofbulbar polio, A week later the yotmg bereaved fathermoved out, and in with his parents so his mother couldc are for the little boy while he worked. We hurt for thisyoung family and the children prayed for the little boy intheir evening prayers. This incident was to come backand haunt me a few years later.When the summer session began at the University ofMinnesota, we took into our home a young couple andsmal l baby from Lincoln, Nebraska. He had come toenter the engineering school at the university on his G. I.bill. Many young people were coming into Minneapolisfor that purpose and apartments or rooms were just notto be found. We took the young couple in with the idea, ofcourse, that it was only until they found a place of theirown. They were a real blessing to us. They were a delightful couple and we thoroughly enjoyed them, I think

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    A FAMILY AFFA IR

    they profited by being with us and she gained experienceand assurance with her first child. What I remembermost was the lines and lines of diapers we put out between our two babies every other day. We would go outinto the back yard with our babies and sit in the shade,look at those lines of diapers plus the other clothes andsay, "All for the love of a man! " Then we wo\ild hug ourbabies to ourselves and voice how happy and thankful andblessed w e w e r e .

    When fall came, they had not yet found an apartment,so we obtained permission to put a small house trailer onthe back of our lot and they moved into it. However, bythe end of the semester , they had decided i t was no use totry to stay in Minneapolis. He transferred to the University of Nebraska and they moved back to Lincoln. We hatedto see them go and missed them greatly.

    When Minnesota Bible College opened in the fall, E\aniceWarner became a part of our family. She was a studentfrom Gering, Nebraska. She became a sister to me.She was not able to go home for holidays or even the summer months, so she became a part of all our family activities and my parents, who lived in St. Paiol, accepted herlike another daughter. We helped her by giving her roomand board and she helped us in every and any way shecould with the house, the children, and by just being herself. She stayed with us three years, then married JoeVeach and moved around the corner from us. She had herfirst baby the same year I had my fifth, so we remainedvery close. (At this writing, we still keep contact witheach o the r . )

    Also with the opening of the fall semester, Harroldlaunched into the production of Preach Magazine. Hehired one of the students , Beth Jones {later Brooks) , ashis secretary. He set up an advisory committee so thathe would have input from wise, exper ienced men to addto his zea l and t echn ic al know-how. They incorporated asMission To Youth. The f i rs t publication was datedOctober , 1946.

    Preach Magazine included challenging ar t ic les , inspirat ional ar t ic les , doctr inal ar t ic les , shor t , thought-provokingarticles, quotes, ideas, etc. As time went on, issues began to include missionary presentations and challenges,youth activities around the country, pictures; and a year

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    CHAPTER 3

    F IRST B IG HOUSE 1947 -1949

    In the spring of 1947, the University church issued aca l l to Ar t h u r Po l l to be come t h e i r fu l l t ime min i s t e r .He was to come in the fal l , so we began to make preparation to move out of the parsonage so the church could remodel the kitchen and do the redecorating they wanted todo. We looked for a house to buy with some fear andtrembling because we had very little money to do with.The Lord was with us, and we found a huge beautiful old-fashioned house in the s am e s ou th ea st Minneapolis area ,just what we wanted and for the downpayment we had. Ithad a fu l l ba s emen t a nd fu ll a t t i c , f ive bed r ooms and abath on second floor; large l iving room, dining room,kitchen, front hall , and what today would be called afamily room, large with windows all around and adjoining half bath on the first floor. It had a beautiful windings taircase that came down into the large front hall andopened onto the living room. The living room even hada fireplace ! It was everything we could ask for.My mother looked at the house and said, "Oh, Adele,a ll those w indow s!" Y es , t he re were lots of windows,but I delighted in them until I had to curtain them.

    Eunice and I had a wonderful t ime deciding how touse the rooms , how to decora te and use as l i t t le moneyas possible. That house really kept Eun ice and I hopping. It took two days to clean each week, jus t ord inaryweekly cleaning. Our days went like this: three days towash, two days for ironing, two days for cleaning. Afew of those days overlapped because we didn't work onSunday a'nd we beiked on Saturday.

    We moved into the house in la te June 1947 af ter public school was out. By that time we had two children inschool. Of course , i t took us all summer to get sett ledin and straightened around. In the fall we filled tKe roomswe did not use with students from the Bible college. Thiswas true of the next three school years . The f i r s t yea rwe housed four single girls. The second year we had twomarr ied couples, p lu s Eunice. The third year we hadjust two single girls. Subsequent events will explain whyonly two.

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    10 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    The year we had married couples was interesting.Wayne and Shirley Armstrong moved in shortly a fte r theirwedding. Both were in school full time and not having tokeep house was a big help to both of them. Joan (McNa-mara) and Bernel Getter lived with us the first year oft he ir mar ri age , too, while they waited for visas to enterIndia for th eir fir st te rm of missionary service. They,too, were both continuing to take college courses as theywaited. Living with us saved putting money into the trappings of temporary housekeeping, and being in the midstof a busy household helped ease the tension of waiting. Idid all the cooking and washing for them. They kept theirrooms cleaned and did their own ironing. It was a workable ar rangement fo r a ll of us.

    We continued our policy of trying to have every studentin our home sometime during the school year. But thestudent body was growing so i t was getting a little harderto do each year. We kept up the Sunday dinners and alsoadded large gatherings. We invited the students to havesome of their parties in our home and we instigated partiesourselves. Our home was also used for small weddingsand wedding recept ions. The s ta i rcase made a beautifulbridal approach. The downstairs was so arranged that wecould direct people from the foyer to the living room to thedining ro om , through one corner of the kitchen back to thefoyer again. We really had a perfect set up for whateverwe wanted to do in entertaining.

    We had a good number of over-night guests in that house ,also, and their comings and goings and length of stays werevaried and covered all three years.In the fall of 1947 Harrold began teaching at MinnesotaBible College as an assistant to Conley Silsby in the speechdepartment; he also taught visual aids and did some private tu to ring in remedia l English to those students whoneeded to bring their grammar skills up to college level.He began going out weekends with Gospel Teams of studentsfrom the college. Vacations would bring longer trips withthe students. One summer he took the "Six Shirleys" out toCalifornia on a tour of singing in the churches, present ingMinnesota Bible Col lege .

    He continued to at tend The Universi ty of Minnesota working toward a degree, and each month Preach Magazine wentinto the mails. The circulation was growing slowly, not as

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    First Big House 1947-1949 U.

    quickly as we hoped for , but we were not discouraged because those who were receiving the magazine seemed sopleased with i t and its contents .

    In the spr ing of 1949, Eunice marr ied Joe Veach and,af te r a br ie f t ime in another apar tment , moved in to abasement apar tmen t just around the corner from us. Sowe continued to have a close s i s t e r relat ionship.

    Also in June of that year , Harrold graduated from theUniversi ty of Minnesota with a B. A. degree i n jou rna li sm ,with a minor in creat ive writing. He turned rig ht aroundand regis tered for the summer session, intending to go ontoward s h is Master ' s degree. He was not going to be teaching at the co lle ge in the fall , so he began accep ting ad in terim minis t r ies within driv ing d is tance of Minneapolis . Heaccepted dates to speak at youth camps, at Life Work Recrui t Ral l ies , and as mi ss io n ar y s pe ak er . Fo r a t ime, healso went out speaking fo r the Minnesota Temperance Associat ion. All of this helped make money to l ive on, buti t a l s o me a n t th e c h i l d r e n a n d I w e r e a l on e a lo t o f week end sand much of vacation per iods . We went with him on weekends as often as practical , but most often the children andI went to Universi ty church by ourse lves .

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    CHAPTER 4

    DISAPPOINTED, BUT NOT QUITTING 1949-1950In September of 1949 the last issue of Preach Magazinewent into the mails. To the subscribers it was a surprise,

    but to us and the advisory committee, it had been a threatfor over six months. Actually, we published the magazineseveral months longer than we should have, going into debtto do it. Finally, we had to face up to the fact that continuing was not good stewardship for the Lord, so reluctantlypubl ication stopped.

    Harrold was greatly disappointed and vascillated betweenbeing angry and being desolate. I think I preferred the angerto the depression. I was at a loss as to know what I could doto help. I didn't know whether to sympathize and weep withhim or to encourage and "buck him up. " I suppose I did alittle of both. One thing I did believe and tell him: whilethe magazine was short-lived, the people who received andread it were blessed and it did the job it was designed to do.Its short life did not keep i t from being effective while itdid live. We were too naive to know how much money itactually took to launch and keep a specialized type of magazine like Preach going.

    During the years of publishing Preach, Harrold becamewell acquainted with most of the missionaries as they corresponded about contributing articles. There was a growing idea about a general missionary magazine that would bea vehicle for all the missionaries to become known in allthe churches. Up to this time each missionary did his ownpublicity to his own supporters on a rather sporadic schedule, usually as they had money. Few put out anything regularly. All the missionaries had difficulty in becoming knownbeyond the few churches they could personally speak to ontheir furloughs. On the churches side, those churches thattried to be missionary minded had great difficulty in findingmaterial for missionary studies and education except forwhat was being printed in The Christian Standard at thatt im e . ~~At the close of the war, in 1945, the Christian churches/churches of Christ had only 90 missionaries at home andabroad. Now in a few short years,, many young people whohad been G. I. 's in the war zones, and ministers who had

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    14 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    been chaplains, were preparing themselves to go back asmissionaries to the countries where they had served assoldiers. They were inspiring other young people to do thesame. So there was a growing army of missionary recruits finishing their education, raising money and getting overseas as fast as they could go. Away of gettingthe news to the biggest number of churches, of spreading the enthusiasm and zeal, and of inspiring the peoplein the pews to support this growing army of the Lord,needed to be found.Although Harrold was afraid that confidence in himwas lessened because of the death of Preach, he wentahead and cautiously began mimeographing a newspapertype sheet ofmissionary news in January of 1950. Therewere no long articles; just short newsy notes about whatwas happening on the mission fields and to the missionaries. He called it Among Ourselves and jus t sent it tothe preachers and missionaries, themselves.It was an instant success ! Missionaries wanted it fortheir supporting churches; preachers wanted it for theircongregations. We increased the number of pages formore news, but we continued to mimeograph it.We had an old hand-operated mimeograph in thosedays. I can remember going to sleep at night hearingthat thing cranking away, and waking up in the morningto the same sound. The only way I knew Harrold hadbeen to bed was the depression on the pillow next to mine.He printed both sides of the paper so each one had to beslip-sheeted and time allowed for drying before the otherside was run. It was all done by hand and the older children helpedwith the slip-sheeting. All of us helpedwiththe stapling and I got in on the addressing. And it grewand grew ! !By October of 1950, it was no longer possible for us.tocontinue mimeographing and again we launched out on faithand began to have it printed by off-set. This method allowed us to save some money by Harrold doing all the typesetting and paste ups, preliminary to the actual making ofthe plates and printing. It also allowed us to brighten upthe paper with pictures and different colored inks and different sized types. We were excited and thankful to Godfo r what was happening.

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    Disappointed, But Not Quitting 1949-1950 ^

    Other things were happening, too. Tom Rash, in Kul-pahar , India, wro te ask ing what i t would cost for us toprint their paper Salute and mai l it for them. They hadbeen t ry ing to prepare it , print i t , and mai l it all the wayfrom India. It was taking so much of their t ime away fromt he ir mi ss ionary work and they had no idea how up-to-datethe ir mailing l i s t was. Yet they knew the value of at tract ive, in te re stin g, r egula rly p rin te d contact with the i r supporting churches. H arro ld did some figuring and told Tomwe could do it for $5 more than what they were spending atth e t ime . Tom sho t back i n s t ru c t i on s f o r u s to do i t .Shortly we received copy for printing and a while l a te r ,the ir mailing l ist . The f i rs t month we saved the Kulpaharmission quite a bit more than the $5 of added cost ju st bybringing the ir mailing l ist up-to-date. So many on the irl i s t h ad mov e d o r d i ed o r f o r s om e r e a s o n we r e no t r eceiving the paper . So much was being wasted. The U.S.postoffice does not send change of address or re tu rn undelivered mail to a foreign address. This was the beginning of a service to missionar ies that grew g re atly ove rthe succeeding years and is today the major portion of theservice offered miss ionar ies by Mission Serv ices .

    We heard from another missionary during that t ime.Th i s t ime f r om Al a sk a . One o f th e mi s s i o n a r i e s wro t ethat their old Ford had broken down. It was just a smallpar t that was needed, but it kept the car from runn ing andw as no t to be found in A l a s k a . F o r t h r e e we e k s he had no tbeen able to go out and vis i t the sick and housebound or doany evangelist ic calling. Could we find the p art fo r him?

    Harro ld went looking and discovered the ca r was soold that the company was no longer making the part . However, Harrold found a man who ran a junk yard, amongother things, who wovild make the part . It cost us about$1. 50 to have the part made, $8 to airmail it to Alaska.So, for around $10 cost, and 10 days from the time wereceived the request to the t ime they received the part ,the car was back on the road being an inst rument for God'sminis t ry .

    This began another service we could offer the miss ionaries: the purchasing and mailing of th ings they coxild not get on their fields. We found we could purchase almostanything asked for a t wholesale o r below cost and save themissionary money. We answered some odd requests over

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    16 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    the years. Among them, such things as rat poison. Cole-man Lantern slide and filmstrip projectors, a dozen metalmen's collar stays, and a machine for making mud bricks.This service continued until sometime in the 1960's whenit gradually faded out as wholesale houses proliferated inthe country and it was as easy for forwarding agents to getthese things as it was for Mission Services.A personal thing happened that winter of 1949 that precipitated a reevaluation of our condition, although I thinkwhat fol lowed would have happened anyway. I became pregnant w ith our fifth child; much to my delight, a nigglingfinancial worry to Harrold, and the utter dismay of mymother. Jon would be entering kindergarten the next fall,and for me to start all over again was hard for my motherto understand. I could see her point, but I had no doubt inmy mind that we would get along just fine in every way.However, we had some dec is ions to make. The growing opportunities to serve the missionaries and the missioncause in the churches was taking more and more of Harrold's time, and money to live on was becoming more ofa concern. We still had a debt from publishing Preachhanging over our heads, although gifts from people in thechurches was reducing i t little by l i t t le.

    After discussion, thought and prayer, we decided tosell the big house in Minneapolis and find a smaller placein some small communi ty outside the Twin City areawhere tzixes and general expenses would be less. Wefound a house in the community of Willernie outside St.Paul near White Bear Lake. It had only three bedrooms,but we felt we could manage. It had a full basement whichwas good, and a large window-enclosed porch running thefull width of the front of the house. That is where we planned to set up the office. It wasn't heated but a window andFrench doors opened onto it from the living and dining rooms,and with them open, there was sufficient heat out thereduring the winter months.With the sale of the big house and the purchase of thelittle house, we cleared enough money to pay off the restof the debt on Preach and have a little reserve. Harroldapplied for and got a job of driving the school bus for thelocal school, which was a consolidated school from kindergarten through high school. This gave us some regxilarincome we coxild depend on.

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    Disappointed, But Not Quitting 1949- 1950

    m

    McFar land fami ly in f ronto f h ou se in Wi lle rn ie , M i n ne so ta

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    Fron t Po rc h; Ed it or ia l, Type se tt in gand Mai l ing Depar tment

    \

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    CHA P T E R 5

    NEW BABY, NEW OPPORTUNITIES, MANY PROBLEMSAs the s umme r wore on, and the deta i ls and red tapeof the sa le of one proper ty and purchase of another drag

    ged on, I began to w onder if we would get m oved b efo reschool s ta r t ed and the new baby a r r ived , due the f i r s tweek in September . Everything worked out just in t ime,and we were pret ty well sett led in the little house in Wil-lernie by the t ime the children had to be in school andHarrold had to begin d riving tha t bus.

    We had to msike a few changes in how we used the house,though. A young m an by the name of Ray Downen had joinedus to help Harrold with the publica tion work. We gave himthe downstai rs bed room we had meant for Carol, put up apart i t ion between th e dinin g room and l iving room and m adethe dining room into Carol ' s bedroom. We made the livingroom into the dining room and put the living ro om furniture in one end of the porch. That squeezed the officeequipment into the other end of the porch, which wasn ' tthe mos t convenient ar rangement . However, we got everything in , storing some things in the garage and in theb a s em e n t .

    Harrold and Ray immediately got down to the work ofmeeting publication deadlines, keeping up the mailing l is ts ,answering requests , and recording gifts. While s t i l l inMinneapolis we had begun a missionary slide l ibrary .Missionar ies sent us a se t of sl ides with accompanyingscrip t o r tape with the story of their work. We wouldduplicate these and rent them out to the churches fo r missionary programs. We star ted with just two or three sets ,but the l ibrary grew quickly. Churches eagerly used themand the miss ionar ies soon rea l ized the value of having thei rwork become known in this way. Much support and in teres tcame to miss ionar ies by way of these se ts that might neverhave been generated without them. Today Mission Serviceshas the mos t extensive l ib ra ry of sl ides , f i lmstr ips , tapesand scr ipts in the world. The l ibrary is s t i l l growing;churches are sti l l gladly using them, and old sets are being compiled into his to r ica l se t s .

    The chi ldren s ta r t ed school and so on were adjus tedand se t t led into a regula r reg ime. I spent my t ime un-

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    20 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    packing boxes and trying to get some order out of the usualchaos of moving, plus trying to put a ten-room family intoa six-room house. I wanted to get everything in its placeand make the house a home before the t ime came fo r meto go to the hospital. So at first I was grateful when dueday came and went. Then time began to drag, and insteadof being grateful for time to rest up from the rigors of moving, I became impatient and restless and terribly t ired ofhaving people meet me at the door of the church with, "Areyou st i l l here? "Finally, early on a Monday morning, September 18,Claudia Margaret made her appearance. She had kept herfather in suspense most of the day before, but was considerate enough to arr ive in time to allow him to get al it tl e s leep before getting up and driving the school bus onMonday morning. Claudia was a beautiful, doll-like baby.She was fair , round and chubby, no hair , with big blueeyes and a sweet smile. One of the older women in thec hu rc h sa id when she f i r s t saw Claudia , "Now, that is theway all babies shovild look. "We had put our membership in the little church inWhite Bear Lake, which met in a basement building.Pheraba Hoskins (yes, a woman) was the minis te r a t thatt ime. Our family became quite a boost to the smal l congregat ion as we entered into the full church program.The children added to each department . Since none ofour children a re o r ever were the bashful type , they eachput some new life into their classes . After the next churchelect ion, Harro ld became one of the e lder s , and I foundmyself playing the piano ra ther often. Ray Downen has abeau t i f u l t e no r vo ice and he added much to th e mu s i c in th eservices.

    We s oon bec ame involved in the congregation 's hopeto put a top on the basement and build the church buildingthey had always wanted to build. With Harrold 's encouragement and a little of his know-how, they discoveredthey could borrow money to build. As the winter weathercleared , the work began. It was the with great joy andthankftilness that the people of the congrega tion watchedthe bui ld ing take shape. When the building was f in ishedand dedicated in June of 1951, severa l in the congregat ionwere h eard to voice the opinion, "We should have bui l t i tbigger . " The communi ty was paying attention to the evi-

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    New Baby. N'ewOpportunities, Many Problems ^

    dence of our grow th, and we were re ap in g some resul tsf r o m i t .

    T h e w i n t e r o f 1 9 5 0 - 5 1 w a s a w i n t e r o f i l l n e s s e s f o rthe family. F i r s t Ann had a bout with pneumonia. Shedid not need hospitalization, but th ere were frequent t r ipsto the doctors as well as a lot of nursing c a r e by me. Thenthe baby became v e r y i l l and the doctor d e c l a r e d she hada n i n n e r e a r i n f e c t i o n , t o n s i l i t i s , a n d b r o n c h i t i s . S h e w a sonly three months old! I kept wondering what I was doingw r o n g .

    Before they were comple te ly we ll , I became i l l andwas no good to anyone f o r three weeks . I t s t a r t e d with asore throat and general symptoms of flu, but I r a n sucha very high fever and nothing seemed to bring i t down.The doctor could not say definitely wha t was causing it.The i l lness was complicated by the fact the doctor had tocome to m e and heavy snow f a l l s a t th at tim e made tha tdifficult and time consuming. I fought to maintain my milksupply and nurse the baby, at the same time not wanting toreinfect her with whatever I had. Eventually we all got well,except that Ann, and then Jon, continued to have problemsand that resiilted in both of them having their tonsils out inApri l .

    That was an interest ing experience, although I don'tthink they would agree. The hospi ta l was overc rowdedand they were put in beds in the hal lway, I sat betweentheir beds after the surgery watching and caring first forone and then the other, Harrold came twice that day tobring the baby and s i t with the older children while I tookthe baby down into the nurses lounge and nursed her.Then he took the baby home and I went back to Ann andJon, Jon recovered quickly from the surgery, but Ann hadsome painful congest ion in her e a r s that took a while toclear up. Actually i t was summer before I felt the wholefamily was really well and on our feet again.Two months af ter we had moved to Willernie, we had avisit from Leah Moshier and Dolly Chitwood, They had withthem the first child, Sosun, who had been given to them asthey began their work of Kulpahar Kids Home in Kxilpahar,India. Sosun was about three years, old at this t ime and i twas the first furlough of Dolly and Leah after beginningtheir work at Kvilpahar, They stayed with us several days.

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    sharing our crowded house, and we had a happy time together .Their visit happened to coincide with Jon's fifth birthday, so Sosun was a part of his party with some of theneighborhood children. Sosun probably does not rememberany of this visit, but Jon still has among his memoirs thebirthday card given to him by Sosun, signed with her Hinduname.

    Th i s was not the f i r s t v is i t of miss iona r i e s tha t we enjoyed in our home, of course , but it seemed to set the pattern that continues sti l l today of miss ionar ies home onfurlough visiting Mission Services.

    While we lived and began the work in Minneapolis, wehad visi ts from the V. Alex Bill fami ly , Frank Rempel,Mr. and M rs . Pau l Nielsen , Mr. and Mrs . Owen Sti l l ,Mrs. Letha B. Shepherd and Mrs. Selina Hulin, EvelynJones, and the Wm. Gates family . There were briefv i s i t s f r om o t h e r s , a l so .

    In the summer of 1951 Edna Hunt spent a week with usand the next year during the late summer, Tom and LeotaRash spent a few days going over their mailing list. Theyalso attended a missionary rally at Redwood Falls with us.There was never anything we enjoyed more than having themi s s i o n a r i e s in o u r h om e .

    I r emembe r o the rs who v is i t ed us w hile we we re inWillern ie . I r emembe r Dr. Zoena Rothermel scoldingme for feeding the baby a banana without washing the outside skin f i rs t . In India one does not eat anything withoutwashing it thoroughly first. I remember Rodney Northrupwith his trick glass and spoon at our table one evening.The glass with holes so your drink dribbles down your chin,and the spoon in the sugar that had no bottom so no onecould spoon out sugar. We had Ray carlson and family inone visit , and the Elston Knight family when they were preparing to go to the Philippines for the first time, in anothervisit. Again there were others that paid brief visits.In January, 1951, we launched a pocket size magazinecal led Horizons which stated purpose was to "encourageand stimulate missionary evangelism among free churchesof Christ. ' While Among Ourselves was a newspaper ofmissionary news. Horizons was a feature magazine ofnews and stories of missionary evangelism around the world.It also contained complete new youth programs for the churc h e s .

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    New Baby, Nuw Opportunities, Many Problems 23

    Today I can ad mit th at I was not enthusiast ic about thisnew venture. I had little fa ith th at i t would be anymorefinancially successfxil than Preach was. It was a good,interest ing l it tl e magaz ine, and as I reread some of thoseissues, they are still interesting and some of the youthlessons would be usable yet today. However, I fel t thati t did not appeal to a large enough marke t to m ake i t financially. I did not voice these feelings because I also feltthat I did not have enough knowledge of the whole situationto voice any opinion. I wanted to be wrong.A mai l order bookstore began to develop from our

    efforts to help the missionaries by purchasing and mailingfor them. We soon were able to supply at a discount tothe missionary anything he might need by way of teachingmater ials ; books, Bible school materia l , flannelgraph,cards , etc. In t ime, we began to offer to the churchescertain i tems such as rel ig ious gree ting cards . By fall,we had a fairly good variety to offer.During the early months of 1951, we began to bringin Bible college students from Minnesota Bible Collegeon Saturdays to help in addressing and mailing publications. We'd have the house full every Saturday. We alsos ta r ted a Saturday Bible school fo r chi ldren in the Wil-lernie Village Hall . We had an e nro llm e nt of 26 chi ldrenfrom the area and they were led by two women studentsfrom Minnesota Bible College. In the back of our minds,we thought it might mean the nucleus of a new congregation, but it never developed beyond a children 's program.Perhaps it would have if we had stayed in Willernie andpers i s t ed in the effo r t . H ow ever, the miss ion work wasgrowing so fast, we soon had to expend our efforts all int ha t d i r e c t i on .

    In March Ray Downen left to re turn to his home inMissouri . We moved Carol into the downstai rs bedroom,took down the partition between dining room and livingroom, and brought the living room furniture into it 's proper room. Thus we were able to stretch the office equipment over the whole front sun porch, and give us moreb re ath ing room.

    However, w ith Ray gone, Harrold had more w ork thanhe could do by himself. We began to recruit secretarialhelp from the Bible college. We had several good ones.

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    14 A FAMILY AFFAIK

    but their help was intermittent and subject to the collegeschedules . One woman came regular ly that spring, oncea week, and stayed a ll day. Ina Mae Jackson was topsand what she was able to accomplish in that one day keptthe work up until school was out in the spring. Ina Maewas married and had a baby boy about Claudia's age. Wewould put the two of them together in th e play-pen and theyenjoyed one another while Ina Mae and I did our respect ivejobs .

    That spring two taings happened that brought me directlyinto the daily work of the mission office. Ina Mae's husband,Bob, graduated from Minn esota Bible College and they moved.That left us with no secre tar ia l help at all. With school out,we had no help on Saturdays, either. Then Harrold madethe decis ion to not drive the school bus another yea r . Wehad been adding, one by one, other miss ionary papers toproduce and mail, until the load had become so heavy thatHarrold did not have the time to stop three t imes a day todrive a school bus. This meant that we had to ask individuals and churches to suppor t us in like manner as anyo the r mis s i ona ry .

    This was a very uncer ta in time for me. We had neverhad much money beyond our needs and now we had no savings, nothing, to sustain us while we waited for response toour requests for support. I dreaded the approach of thef i r s t of each month w hen the bil ls fe l l due . Our groce rybill grew until we were told we could not charge any more.My parents agreed to make our house payments as theircontribution to our work. My father was a Christian business man and as a good business man, he really didn't thinkwe were on a sound basis a t a ll in our publ ishing work.Wisely, he did not criticize but helped and encouraged wherehe could, and he supported and loved us and prayed for usdaily. My parents had always helped by providing the children with the more expensive clothing, like win te r coa ts ,and giving them as birthday or Christmas gifts. In ourearly married life, this largess from my parents was hardfo r Harro ld to accept, but gradually he believed that Dadand Mother had faith in us and in our minist ry fo r God andthat their giving to us was no reflection on him. Dad usedto say he would rather give his money while he was aliveand could see the results of h is g iv ing, than wait until af ter

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    New Baby, New Opportunities, Many Problems ^

    his death and not know what was done with his money. Thatis the way it worked out. When nny father died, there wasmoney to sustain Mother , but that is all.

    So, I took over all the secre tar ia l work, plus the maintaining of the mailing l is ts , the typing of the address plates ,the scheduling and mailing of the slide sets , recording ofgifts and sending receipts . I did i t to keep my mind off ofo u r f in a n c ia l s i t u a ti o n an d be c a u s e t h e r e w as no one e l s e t odo it . Because of my main occupat ion as m other and home-maker , I would not get to the day's mai l until sifter supper .I would begin af ter the ch il dr en we re put to bed and con tinueuntil I had f inished a l l the opera t ions that whatever was inthe ma il re qu ire d, regardless of how late i t was. When Ibegan, I was usual ly t hrough by midnight . As the monthswent on, requests, questions, gifts, mailing l ists grewuntil I was not getting to bed until three and four in the morning. Then 1 would s le ep la te and Harrold would get up, feedthe ch ild ren breakfa s t and get them off to school or whateverthe i r act ivi ty was. Sunday was the only day tha t was differen t. H arrold was and is an ear ly- to-bed, ear ly- to-r i seperson. I became a la te- to-bed, l a te - to-r i se person , andalthough the years since have modif ied our behavior some,we are s t i l l essentially like that today.

    That s chedu le con tinued fo r the next yea r and a half.Gradual ly our f inanc ia l si tuation got off the cr i t i ca l l i s tand just became se r ious . Litt le by l i t t le we paid the grocery bill so we could charge more . The dentis t did theneeded den ta l wo rk on the chi ldren bel ieving we would eventually get h im paid . Once the doctor called the pharmacis tand sa id she would stand good fo r the money, so we couldget medica t ion fo r Ca ro l when she had a seve re e a r infection. Paying on our bills a l i t tle e ach mon th, somehow wekept people 's faith in us and we kept going.

    Then suddenly i t was December and Chris tmas wascoming and not one cent available that did not have to beapplied to an existing bill. I remember watching the daysget closer and closer toward December 25 and deliberatelyclosing my mind to the thought I had not done anything toward gifts, nor could I. Each day I would think, "there iss t i l l t ime . " Decembe r 18, 19 cam e and went . Then on the20th, as I was going through the stack of mail, I opened oneaddressed to us personally from Mrs . Ruth Morse , J. Russell 's mother . I thought i t might be news about J. R ussell.

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    26 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    He had been held prisoner in communist China since Marchof that year 1951. We had heard in August that he wasalive from a fellow prisoner who had been released. Sincethen, there had been no word. As I began to read MotherMorse 's letter, I was praying for good news about J. Russe l l . Ins tead I read of concern for us .

    She wro te tha t she had been thinking about us a ll dayand wondering what in the world we were going to do aboutChristmas. So, she was sending us $50 to be used for ourown personal Christmas with her love and blessings andGod's blessings on the work we were trying to do for Him.She made one request. She asked us please not to tell anyone she had done this until af ter she had gone on to Heaven.Can you imagine how I felt? This sweet wonderful ladywas in h er 80 's ; she had a beloved son in a communis tprison in China; and she was concerned about us and ourneeds! ! ! I sa t there and wept, thanking her and thankingGod. I have never felt so humble and I said aloud to God,"I'll never doubt again, I ' ll never doubt again!" Then Itook the le t te r to Har ro ld and lef t him alone with his ownthoughts.Again this winter the children had a series of illnesses,although compared to the winter before, I felt we got alongpretty well. In the fall Jon had a bout with pneumonia thatkept him out of school almost a month. Toward spring heand Judi both had the measles . Carol had ea r infectionsand I had the baby, Claudia, to the doctor several timeswith ea r infections and tonsi l i t is . Then I had the flu againwith an after affect of swollen joints. This scared the docto r and she did t e s t s fo r rheumat ic f eve r . It tu rned out tobe a f r eak a f t e r a i f ec t of the f lu v i ru s .So when spring weather melted the snow and the treesbegan to bud, my spirits lifted. In spite of the rather largedoctor bil l, I felt life was good and every effort was worthwh i l e .

    In December of 1951 we put out the f i rst MissionaryPrayer Calendar. It contained pictures of the missionariesand their families on their b irthdays, names and birthdatesof each member of each family. Scripture and prayer suggestions for each month, monthly missionary topic, and acomplete list of home and foreign missionaries with theircorrect addresses.

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    New Baby, New Opportunities, Many Problems 2.^

    Of course, preparation for this had to be done monthsahead. Compiling the materia l , getting the pictures fromthe miss ionar ies , checking and rechecking fo r accuracytook lots of t ime and effor t before the actual typeset t ing,paste up, and printing. Then to keep the cost down, weagreed to do all the gathering of the pages into calendarsourselves , which wou ld then go to the binders fo r the plastic spira l bindings. We had continued to use the help of theBible college students on Saturday as we did the year before. However, the pages came from the pr inter afterc l a s s e s we r e ou t f o r Ch r i s tma s vaca t i on . I f w e we r e toget the gathering done and to the binders in t ime to get thec al enda rs ma ile d out by January, we had to work fas t andneeded lots of help.

    So we turned to people in the White Bear church. Threecouples agreed to help us and we had a calendar gatheringparty . We se t up the 12 pages plus f ront and back coversin s tacks arotmd th e dining room table. Then the eightadults , plus our o ld er c hild re n unti l their bedtime, walked' round and ' round the table gathering the separate pagesinto a complete calendar until it was a ll done. With briefbreaks to res t and eat the r ef reshments p repared , it tookus unti l one or two in the morning to complete. By thist ime we were all si l ly, dizzy and having a wonderful t ime.The next day, of course , they probably never wanted to seeus again. This procedure was gone through again the nextyea r when we were prepar ing the 1953 Missionary Praye rCalendar. The same people helped us so I guess theyei ther had poor memories o r were willing to sacri f icet h em s e l v e s f o r th e c a u s e .

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    CHAPTER 6

    CONSOLIDATION AND GROWTH 1952In June of 1952 Horizons and Among Ourse lves wereconsolidated into one publication, keeping the features of

    both and ma i l e d to bo th s e t s o f s u b s c r i b e r s . In announcing i t , Harrold wrote, "We find i t necessary to withdrawand consolidate our forces so that we may continue. " Itproved to be a good move. It was accepted by everyoneand circulat ion grew.

    Al so in J une of 1952 Chr i s t i a n S t anda rd mad e an announcement tha t was a big boost to the need fo r our workand kind of pointed the direct ion it would take in the nextten years . Bu rr is Butler , then edi tor of Chris t ian Stand a r d , announced t ha t the Chr i s t i an S t a nd a r d wou l d nolonger p rint mi s si ona ry s tudy mater ia l s . Bro. Butlerasked Harro ld to wri te a column of miss ionary news to bep rin te d e ach week in the Chris t ian Standard , and sa id thatexcept for miss ionary s tories of unusual news value, Har-rold 's column would be the l imit of t he ir mi ss ionary coverage . They had reached that d ecisio n, B ro . Bu tle r s ai d,because the growing miss ionary picture was more thanthey could handle newswise since they were pr imar i ly avehicle for news of local congregat ions in this covintry andthe ir act ivi t ies . He gracious ly pointed the churches to usf or m i ss io na ry information, and suggested th at Hori zonsbe the p ap er fo r promoting the independent miss ion s to ry .

    This meant that we had to begin producing monthlymiss ionary mater ia l that lo ca l c hu rc hes used for th eirwomen 's stud y g ro up s an d y outh groups , and we had tofind some way to f inance a la rger Horizons to accommodate the- increase in miss ionary news and p romo ti on . Astrong appeal went out fo r m ore support and more consistent regula r monthly suppor t .

    The decision was also made at this t ime to change then am e o f th e w o rk f r om M i ss io n to You t h to M i s si o n S e r vi c e s b e c a u s e th e latter b e t t e r d e s c r i b e d th e d i r e c t i o n a n dgoals of the effort as i t was developing. This d ec is io nwas made by the executive committee composed of Russel lE. Boatman, G. H. Cachia ras , Conley S ilsb y, C orw inGeringer, and W. H. Sperry. They also se t the guidel ines for enlarging Horizons and the other services , plus

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    the work of preparing the monthly lesson materials. Under their agreement and direction, we received new impetus and enthusiasm for the job that seemed to loom reallyhuge before us.I remember driving home late one night during this time*with sleeping children all around us, Harrold intent on hisdriving, and thinking about all that was happening and praying, "Lord, is this what you want for us? Are we really totake on this job? Can we do it? " I had the same feeling I'dhad at the very beginning; of awe that people like us shouldeven th ink about doing something that could be so importantin God's work of getting the Gospel out into all the world.I was learning that God does use "people like us" for Hismomentous doings. He presents us with the work that needsto be done, puts it in our hands to do, then says, "I'll giveyou the ability to do it. "

    About this time I began to feel I was losing my house;that we were living in a publishing house rather than a publ ishing work being done in our house. The office equipmenthad been creeping, piece by piece, into the living room. Inevery open place against a wall or under a window v/as atable with a typewriter on it, or a cabinet full of drawers ofaddress plates or a table for sorting and packing, or abookcase stacked with an orderly array of missionary slidesets . Boxes, boxes ev erywhere, in eve ry corner, full ofprinting waiting to be addressed and mailed. Our largestprintings would be brought in at the back door and droppedon my kitchen floo r right at the back door. They were toobig and heavy to be moved, so there they sat as we gradually emptied them by addressing the copies and gettingthem into the proper mail bags, I rarely got that spot onthe kitchen f lo or s cr ub be d because by the t ime we got oneprinting in the mail so the boxes could be moved, anotherprinting had come in and was sitting on the very same spot.Cleaning the house got to be a contest of obstacle courses.The only thing that kept m e even trying was my str ic t Nor-egian upbringing in cleanliness. All I could hope for wastha t the boxes in the co r n e r s would move f rom one co r n e rto another as they came and went during the week, so thatth e c o r n e r s we r e c l e aned a t l e a s t once o r tw i ce a mon th ! Then I began to lose my furniture . Piece by piece,things that someone would consider in the way, perhapsfa lle n o ve r o r we had to c lim b ove r , w ere t aken ou t to the

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    Consol idat ion and Growth 1952 31

    garage and covered with someth ing tha t hopeful ly wouldprotect them. In the course of the next year, the onlythings left in the living-dining area were the piano, davenport, dining table and chairs , sewing machine, buffet withdishes, and a birdcage complete with bird. Everything elsewas office equipment, and we still stepped or fell over things.

    That summer of 1952 there was still just Harrold and Itrying to keep up with the work. With the college out, weno longer had the college students help on the weekends orthe intermittent secretar ial help that we still used fromt ime to t ime, I just did not have time to keep house. Sowe worked out an agreement with the children to help.

    Carol was 14 that year and a very capable girl. Shemuch preferred to be busy doing something than spend hervacations doing nothing. So she took over the washing,ironing and house cleaning. I did the cooking with her helpand she did the cleaning up afterwards with the help of hertwo younge r s i s t e r s .

    Claudia was almost two years old and a toddler wholoved to be o utd oo rs w ith he r b ro t h e r and s i s t e r s . I workedout a schedule with Ann and Judi to be responsible forClaudia, one in the morning and one a fter her nap in theafternoon. The next day they would switch.

    After a couple of days of tha t routine , one morning Joncame to me with a hur t look on h is face and asked , "Whatabout me. Moth er, d on 't you th ink I can take care of Claud ia , t oo? "

    I was real ly surpr ised . I said , "Of course , Jon, It rus t you to look af te r her , but a re you sure you want to? "Now he seemed su rp r i sed that I would ask . "Yes,

    mother, I really want to take my turn with the girls . "So we made a new schedule and it worked very well.

    No one felt burdened at any t ime. S ince they dearly lovedClaudia, they even enjoyed having her with them and shewas th e b e s t c a r e d fo r t odd l e r a ro un d th a t s umme r .

    During the past year , Harrold had begun to t ravel forthe mission. He coxildn't be gone very long at one timebecause of the work load. He was still the only one doingthe typesetting and paste-ups. However, I began to see thepa t te rn developing that would escala te in the years ahead.He was often gone over the weekends to spesdc in chu rche s.He wotild attend missionary rallies that were beginning tospring up in various areas. He would go to Bible colleges

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    and hold three or four day seminars in missions. Few ofthe Bible colleges at that time had mission departmentsso they were graduating preachers who had very lit tleknowledge or information about missionary endeavors ormiss iona r i e s . In the summer , Har ro ld was in camps , asmany as could fit into his work schedule.

    Guess who was left holding the fort? Yes, Me! Somebody had to; besides, how often does one tcdce four childrento camp? It shouldn't have been too bad. We lived just ashor t distance from White Bear Lake. My parents livedright on the lake. But taking the children swimming meantleaving my work, so they didn't get to go as often as theywou ld h av e l i ked .One day when Harrold had already been gone a weekand was not going to be back for another week, and theweather was hot and humid, I was t i red and in revolt . Ideclared that on Friday we were going to take the wholeday off; we were not going to do one stick of work, noteven cook. We were going to go to the lake, stay as longas we liked, eat whatever was available without cooking;just be sinfully lazy. Carol was horrified!"Mother, " she said, "We have to wash clo thes! We'llhave twice as much to do on Saturday to be ready for Sunday! "

    But I was fee ling s tubborn. So we had our lazy day. Idon't think Carol enjoyed it as much as I did. And she wasright. We had twice as much to do on Saturday. Somehowthat one day of revolt satisfied me and the rest of the summer I w a s c on te n t .

    In September I got help. Dorothy Adams, a recentgraduate of Minnesota Bible College, came on a perma- ^nent bas i s to work with us . She moved in with Ca ro l andshared her tiny bedroom and double bed. I look back onthat now and think what t remendous people those two were(and are). Imagine a woman old enough to be a collegegraduate willing to live with a 14-year-old in order to bea part of a missionary endeavor as much in the infant stageas Mission Services was. How patient and loving Dorothywas! Also imagine a 14-year-old gir l willing to give upwhat l it tle privacy she had to accept an older woman to livewith so closely. How magnanimous Carol was. Oh, youcould say Carol had no choice; she had to. In a sense, perhaps that is true. But she sure could have made life miser-

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    Co n so li da ti on a nd G row th 1952 33

    ab l e f o r u s a l l i f s h e r e s e n t e d th e s i t u a t i on a n d c h o s e to t a k ei t out on us. They seemed to get along very well , andDorothy soon was into the routine of the household as wella s th e o ff ic e wo r k . Sh e t o ok a l o t o f th e wo r k o f f m e a n dHarro ld , both. We lo ved a nd apprecia ted h er from thevery beginning.

    Dorothy became famil ia r with things jus t in t ime fo r meto be free to accompany Harrold to the Fifth National Missionary Convention in Dodge City, Kansas. Dodge City isHarrold's home town; and although h is parents no longerlived there, he still had many friends whom he enjoyedseeing and talk ing w ith again . By this tim e in 1952 themissionary convention had separated itself from being anappendage of the North American Convention and was anentity of i t ' s own. Each year the at tendance and in teresthad increased, but we were not yet large enough to meetin convention halls or auditoriums. This year of 1952 theconvention was held in the old square brick bui ld ing ofF i r s t Chr i s t i an Church . The church s ince has b uil t alarger , more modern bui ld ing on another location. Theconvention attenders filled the old build ing to capacity andwe were big enough to le t the town know we were there .

    The high point of the convention was when J. Russel lMorse spoke. He had been suddenly, unexpectedly released from communist prison on June 20. Although hesometimes spoke slowly, hal tingly , groping for wordsfrom his tired brain, his message was powerfvil ands t rong, moving profoundly the hear ts of the l i s teners .He gave all power and glory to God for his deliverence,and to the power of prayer. He urged everyone to memorize Scripture; the Bible as a book can be taken awayfrom us as i t was taken from him , but no one can take theWord of God hidden in ou r hea r t s .The convention was a refreshing, uplifting experiencefor us, especially for me since I hadn't had much opportunity to attend the meetings and r al li es Harrold had. Wecovildn't go back and forth from St. Paul to Dodge Citydirectly. That never happened any time that we ever traveled to a convention or large meeting. We always stopped along the way, going and coming, in local congregations, speaking and promoting missions every opportunitywe had. So, fellowship in the churches and in the homesof church families has always been a large part of the joy

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    34 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    and satisfaction and rewards we have found in this work ofpromoting missions. We might arrive home tired physically,but always refreshed spiritually.We arrived home to something of a shock. The childrenall rushed to greet us, and there was Jon with his head allswathed in bandages looking like an Indian swami. PoorDorothy! Both she and my parents were feeling guilty, butno one can ever account for what a boy, any boy, will do atany given moment. It seems they had been over to my parents' fo r Sunday dinner, which is what we did rather regularly. My brother and family were there, also. Thecousins always had a good time playing together. Well, Jonand a couple of the others were hanging on grandmother'sclothes line and i t broke. The others just fell on the ground,but Jon happened to be right where he fell back against theedge of the cement housing of the septic tank iron lid. Thesplit in his head required seven stitches when they finallygot him to the doctor. It was Sunday, so it took a whilebefore they located our doctor and met her at her officewhere she could take care of him. I was concerned aboutthe blow to the head, but when I took him for a check on thestitches, the doctor said since he had had no symptoms ofconcussion, we need not worry. She concluded by saying,"The head is pretty hard. "

    Jon's accident seemed to s tar t a sequence of accidents,or so it seemed to me at the t ime. Every t ime Harroldwould go out of town for speaking engagements and be gonesome time, one of the children would have an acc iden t orbecome ill. I was always rushing to the doctor with one orthe other and having to make decisions by myself abouttheir care.

    Judi t r ied to see if she could ride down the cement f rontsteps (at least 12) of the house behind us on her bicycle andended up with stitches in her chin.Jon was jumping in a pile of leaves in the fall not knowing there was broken glass on the bottom. He cut his bigtoe down to the bone and that required quite a lot of repairing. How I got him to the doctor that time is a story initself. We had a little Crosley as a second car at that t ime.I had a terrible time shifting it into high on our way to thedoctors, so drove most of the way in second. Whateverwas wrong with the car, or whatever I might be doing tothe car driving it that way, made no difference to me. 1

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    Consolidation and Growth 35

    had to get that child to the doctor. Going home was evenworse; the gears ground, but I got i t into a gear where itwould move and so we c rep t home. When Harrold got homeand took the ca r to a mechanic to see what the p ro blem wa s,they found there were broken motor mounts causing themo t o r to b in d on the d riv e sh af t !

    Another time during winter, Judi was jumping in a hugesnow pile, and again there was glass at the bottom whereshe landed on he r knee . T h is t im e I was without a c a r a tall and my neighbor wasn' t home. That knee should havehad s t i tches , but I cleaned i t and pulled i t to ge th er a s bestI could. She has a r a the r la rge s c a r which she wil l ca r ryth e rest o f h e r l i f e .

    Then there w ere tim es when I had to ask neighbors tot ake me and a c hild to s e e the doc to r ; Ca ro l with a s eve r eearache and Claudia severa l t imes with high fever , earache ,bronchitis. It got so that whenever Harrold came homefrom a trip, after greeting me, his f irst words would be,"Well, what happened this t ime!"Oh, I know th ere w ere lots of t imes the ch il dr en we res i ck o r had acc iden t s when Har ro l d was home , bu t thosedon't stick in my memory as much as those t imes when Ihad to handle things by myself.

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    CHAP T ER 7

    FEAR VERSUS FA ITH 1952

    Two weeks af ter we returned from Dodge City, weente red a per iod of anxiety such as we had never knownbefore. Jon's s even th b ir thday was coming up on October21, We were planning on an evening dinner party withsevera l of his neighborhood friends as guests. This wasto be on a Monday.

    The Fr iday before , Jon came home f rom school andsaid he was going to get into his pajam as so he could goto bed r ight after supper . I was immediately aler t . Thisis what he had sa id the yea r before when he had come downwith pneumonia. I followed him upstairs , helped him undress , quest ioned him about how he felt and took his tempera ture . He said he was j us t ti red; he didn't hur t anywhere.His temperature was just a little over 100. I relaxed al i t t le, willing to watch and wait .

    Sat urday morn ing his tempera ture was 101. He st i l ldidn' t hurt anywhere. He spent the day in bed; didn't ea tmuch but drank a lot . In the even ing h is temperature wasdown to normal and he acted perk ier . I dared to give hima bath in the hopes he could go to chu rch in the morning.

    Sunday morning his t empera ture was s t i l l normal , andoutside of looking a little pale, he seemed himself again.We all went to church and B ib le school in the morning, andla ter went over to my parents fo r Sunday dinner with mybro ther and his family. The cousin s p layed together anda l l s e em ed a s u su a l . I conc l uded t h a t Jon h ad h ad th e comm on 24-hour flu and was a l l r ight again.Monday Jon went to school and we had the b ir thday d inneras planned. Jon didn't eat much but I put that down to theexc i t emen t , fvin and a t t en t ion .

    Tuesday morning the temperature was back but no higherthan 101. I kept him in bed, which was not hard because hedidn't feel lik e being up. He s lept a lot . I would go to thefoot of the s ta i r s and l i s ten to his fas t , shal low breath ingand think how he sounded so much l ike l as t year . The thingthat fooled me was the re la t ively low t empera ture . Towardevening he began to compla in tha t his neck hurt. I questio ne d him closely as to where and how i t hur t , I discovered t h a t he d id n o t h u r t i n th e mu s c l e s or c o r d s o f th e n e c k

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    where one usually has aches and pains during the flu, butthat it hurt at the base of his skull in the spinal cord itself.I began to get mental warning signals that flashed brightly.That past summer, the Twin City area had been suffering from another dreadful epidemic of polio such as we hadhad in 1946. Daily throughout the summer, the radio reported the new confirmed cases and the deaths. There weremany adults as well as children. Remembering our neighbor 's death back in 1946, my heart hurt for all the parentsof the sick children and all the children of sick parents .But, as with so many things, that was happening to otherpeople; it wouldn't happen to us. Now in October, the epidemic was waning and the danger supposedly past.During the summer, I had taken the time to read everything I could get my hands on about polio: what the symptomsto look fo r were, warnings, words of Sister Kinney, evensuppositions, since very little was really known of the diseaseat th at time. One little four-year-old boy in the WhiteBear congregation had had a 24-hour fever and a week laterbegan to limp with weakened leg muscles. It was diagnosedas polio and he was under treatment. I found out all I couldabou t what the doctors sa id about his case from his mother .I t r ied to be as in fo rmed as I knew how to be .

    When Jon told me exact ly where his neck hurt, one ofthe things I had read leaped into my mind. I decided notto panic and tell anyone my suspicions since no other symptoms were present to confirm them. I took his temperatureand it had not changed. So I decided to wait until morningand see if anything more developed.

    To say I spent a rest less night would be an unders ta tement. I prayed a lot, and I suppose, repetit iously: f irs tof all , that my suspicions were completely wrong and thatI would know that for sure the next day, or, if I were right,that I would recognize tha t, too, and we would get him tothe doctor and hospital in time to save his life. I don'tthink I deviated from those two thoughts all night long.The next morning the temperature was no nigher, theneck st i l l hurt. I asked him if he could put his chin on hischest . He could not. His speech was slig htly s lur red .He had difficulty saying some word s. I b rought h im sometoast and milk because he said he was hungry. He gaggedon the toas t and had s uc h p roblems with swa ll ow ing tha t hegave up and just slowly drank his milk.

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    Tear vs Faith 1952 ^

    1 waited no longer . I went downstai rs and s t r a i g h t tothe phone. I cal led our doctor at her home. I didn' t evenapologize f o r doing that but abrup tl y to ld h e r :"Jon has symptoms of bulbar polio. His neck hurts andis stiff. His speech is s l u r r e d , he can ' t swallow soft toastand must sip slowly to drink milk. He has temperature of101 and has been sick since yesterday morning. " (I wouldt e l l her l a t e r about the weekend i l lness . )

    "It c e r t a i n l y sounds l ike i t , Adele , " she a n s w e r e d . "Butf irs t bring him to me so I can look him over myself beforeI send him on to the hospital. I hope you are wrong. "

    I turned from the phone to confront Harrold and Dorothystaring at me. I can just imagine Dorothy think ing aboutwhat in the world she had gotten into, l iv ing with us.

    Harrold said, "It can ' t be! Surely you a r e wrong. "I told him, "I hope so , but I c a n ' t take that chance. "I went u p s t a i r s , to ld Jon we w e r e going to the doctor ,

    and h elped him into his robe and s l i p p e r s . I c a r r i e d himdown the s t a i r s because I wanted him as quiet a s poss ib le .H a r r o l d m e t m e a t t h e b o t t o m of t h e s t a i r s a n d a s k e d ,

    "Do you want me to go with you? "I knew that both he and Dorothy were working long hours

    to meet a print ing deadline and I couldn't say posit ivelywhether this would be a shor t trip o r how long it would take.So I s a i d ,

    "No, t h a t ' s not n e c e s s a r y . You have a l l th at work to doand I have no idea how long this is going to take or whetherI w i l l b e b a c k i n a n h o u r . "

    So Harrold c a r r i e d Jon out to the c a r fo r me, sa id good-by and we left . The doctor was waiting for us and examined Jon on h e r l iving room couch. I watched h e r careful lymake the t e s t s and check the symptoms . Before sh e tu rn edand looked a t me, I already knew the answer . She steppedto the telephone and called the Ramsey County Hospital ,to ld th em she was sendin g in a polio suspect case , who hewas and about how long i t would be before we a r r i v e d .Ramsey County Hospi tal was the receiving c e n te r f o r a l lpolio pa tien ts in that a r e a . She k i s s e d Jon, (she was especially fond of him) with t e a r s i n her eyes said she-wouldp r a y fo r us, and h elped me out to the c a r with him.

    I t w a s a b o u t 30 m i l e s f r o m White B e a r L a k e t o the hospital. As we drove a long, Jon and I talked. I explainedwhere we were going and what he coxild expect in the way

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    40 A FAMILY AFFAIR

    of tes ts and examinations when we got there. Then we chatted about other things for a little and f el l s il en t. I am surehe was trying to understand things in his own mind, and Iwas praying that I would get him to the hospital before hehad any serious breathing problems.

    They were waiting for us at the hospital. As the nursetook him from my arms, she said, "I hoped we were allthrough with this for this year. " She took him into the examining room and I was led away to the office to fill out theforms that would admit him to the hospital.After I was through, it was not long before they finishedexamining Jon and they rolled him out on a gurney into anempty examining room where he and I were to wait for theresults of the tes ts . The nurse and doc to r we re high intheir praise of Jon 's cooperation and behavior during thenecessary tests. The doctor said, "I wish all of our patients were as good as he was. "

    I smiled at Jon and to ld him I was proud of him. Hewas in terested in the different things he saw in the roomwe were in. I answered h is que sti on s as best I could.Then he tu rned to me and ask ed , "Mother, am i going tod i e ? "

    I t n e v e r c e a s e s to ama z e me how f a s t th e m ind cansuddenly race when confronted with such a crucial question.I could not lie and I must not frighten. I know the Lordgave me the answer .

    "No, Jon, I don' t think so , " I answered , " r emembe rlittle Bobbie Vandeventar? He's being t reated for polionow and he didn' t die. Not everyone who has polio dies,you know. In fact, most of them don't. Wc just hear aboutt h os e th a t do . "

    He seemed to accept th is and relaxed. Then he asked,"Do I have to stay here in the hospital ? I want to go home,I don' t want to s tay here . "

    Again, truthfully I could answer , "I want you to comehome, too, Jon. I don' t want to leave you here , but I don ' tknow enough to know how to make you well. They do here.They know exactly what to do to make you wel l and that iswhat is important now, that you get well so you can comeh om e . "

    He nodded and agreed th at th at real ly was the importantthing. The wait for the resul ts seemed an awfully longt ime, so I was surpr ised when my watch point ed out that

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    Fear vs Fai th 1952 41

    less than an hour had gone by since we had entered the hospital. When the doctor finally came in, he gave me a longsearching look, then said, "As you probably already know,the tests are positive. "

    I followed the gurney into the elevator, up and over tothe wing that was st r ic t ly fo r polio pat ien ts , i so la ted f romthe res t of the hospital. They wheeled Jon into the roomr ight next to the nurses stat ion where he would remainduring the next four or five days of the cri t ical stage ofh is i l l ne s s . The nu r s e r e c e i v e d Jon and whi l e sh e w asmaking h im comfortable , the doctor met me and took meinto a private room where he wanted as complete a medicaland emotional history of Jon that I could give him. In thatyear, they were st i l l searching despera te ly fo r some clueto the cause of po lio and how it was contagious. Some ofthe questions asked seemed totally i r re levant to me, but Iknew they were groping for any little thing that might help,so I did my best to give as complete an answer as I could.

    After the doctor was satisfied with my answers, hethen talked to me about what they did know about polio,and bulbar polio in part icular. He wanted me to know thatthree out of four bulbar polio patients lived, and mostchildren recovered comple te ly i f only the bulbar area wasaffected. The crit ical period was the f i rs t four or fivedays and Jon had those ahead of him. Only time wouldtell whether the polio would spread to other parts of thebody, but they would begin immediately to wrap him inhot towels because there was that real possibility.He a l s o a s k ed t ha t we no t v i s i t Jo n whi l e he w as in th ehospital. He said they asked a ll paren ts to not visit. Wecould call every day and check on how our child was; wecould send gifts and cards and le t ters , but they had somany children that if all the parents trooped in every day,they would in terfere with the cons tant care the ch i ld renneeded. He promised that if Jon became critical, theywould call us in time to arrive at the hospital before death ,if it came to that, I accepted that promise knowing, ofcourse, that sometimes circumstances would not alwaysallow such a promise to be kept, I did unders tand tha tfrantic parents could interfere with the care of the children, so I promised we wouldn't insist on visiting withoutbeing cal led.

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    When I r e t u r n e d to Jon, I found h im sittin g up in bedslowly eating ice cream and crackers. The nurse wassitting beside him and she grinned and said, "The firstthing he said to me was, 'I 'm hungry!' He's doing prettyw ell w ith the ic e c r e am . "Jon grinned at me and I grinned back. I wasn't surprised since it was now past three o'clock in the afternoonand he hadn't had anything to eat since the glass of milk athome. The nurse gave me Jon's pajamas, robe and slippersin a paper sack and told me to wash them separately or boilthem before adding them to the family wash. She said Jon'sfather could come see him in the ev en in g a nd have him bringJon's toothbrush and whatever toys he might like, realizingthat whatever we brought o r sent him would have to stay atthe hospital. He couldn't take them home with him later.I explained to Jon about not visiting him and why; promisedwe'd call every day and send him things. Then with thepromise of his daddy coming that evening, an admonitionto do everything the doctors and nurses said so he couldget well and come home fast, I kissed him and left.As I got into the car to leave, I looked up at the floorof the hospital where I thought approximately Jon was andthen at the paper sack in my hand; my mind refused to consider what might be ahead. I felt detached from myself;as if I were standing off watching myself do the automaticthings of starting the car and driving off toward home.This feeling came again and again in the days ahead.I stopped at the doctors office on my way home. Shehad been in contact with the hospital and the doctor whowould care for Jon there. She told me what the count hadbeen in his spinal fluid and interpreted it for me. She saidJon had a good hard case but not necessarily a fatal case.She mentioned a count nvimber that is usually fatal. Shesaid she would go into the hospital and see Jon three orfour time s a week, and I knew that would comfort and encourage Jon. I was so thankful she would do that. Shedidn't have to at all. She said she would report to us eachtime she did and that com forted m e. When I left her I wasfeeling quite a bit encouraged.It wasn't until I drove into the yard at home that I eventhought aboutwhat Harrold andDorothy must have beenthinking all this time without one word from me. I have toadmit I did not once think about calling them. All my thought

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    F e a r v s Fa i t h 19S2 43

    and emotional energy was directed at Jon. By the time Iarrived home, of course, they knew what must have happened. I explained everything that had been told me and I tr iedto r ea ssure them as much as I could. The o the r ch i ld renwere subdued especially when I told them the doctor at thehospi ta l said they should stay home from school fo r oneweek as a precaution and I was to take their temperatureboth morning and evening. The doctor had told me that a tthe slightest rise in temperature, I was immediately tobring th at c hild to the hospital fo r examination becausethe soone r the t r e a tmen t was s ta r ted , the more chance ofrecovery . Evidence up to that t ime showed tha t otherchildren in the same family often came down with the i l lness, too. Some families in the epidemic had lost morethan one child. I did not want to fr ighten the children, butat the same time I had to take the precautions. So my attitude was all importa nt i n s etting the mood of the home inth e n ex t we e k .

    My next task that day was to cal l my fa ther and motherand tell them about Jon. That was harder than cominghome and facing the family. My mother and I talked somet ime during every day, so I knew she had called the houseand sensed tha t someth ing was not right. She had (and sti l lhas) a s ix th sense about when things are "not right. " Thenews of Jon was a sh ock to both o f them and I t r i ed to reassure them as much as I could. They were both strongChristians and I knew the Lord would sustain them just asHe was sustaining us.So began the days of waiting. I jumped each time thephone rang, afraid it might be the hospital. Each morningand evening I took each child's temperature with prayer onmy lips and my heart in suspension. Every morning Iwould call the hospital and ask about Jon. The answerwould come, "He's weak but he's holding his own, nochange. I ' l l tell him you called. "

    Each day we would send him a small package of somelittle thing he could play with: puzzle s, rubber bands,magnet with a long string of paper clips, balloons. Wetried to think of all kinds of things that might be different.F riend s s en t him cards and let ters; friend s in the church,friends in the neighborhood and school. We saw to it thatnot a day went by that he didn't receive someth ing in themail all the t ime he was in the hospital.

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    A FAM I LY AF FA I R

    Also a lot of prayer and love came our way for Jon, forus, for the whole family. It came from near and far, fromall over the country, and all over the world, as the news somehow spread to missionaries, friends and loved ones. Weliterally felt wrapped in it and it was one of two main thingsthat brought us through the experience whole. I also thinkit was one of the early experiences that made our childrenknow that children of God are a par t of a la rger familywhere everyone cares about each other.

    There was a lot of prayer at our house, too. The girlstook turns praying at the table which was our custom, andthey each always prayed for Jon, for the doctors and nurseswho c are d fo r him. I saw other evidence of that also in theirprivate prayers; Jon was at the forefront of their minds.

    Harrold and I each had our own private sessions with theLord. I prayed long into the night before I slept. BecauseI was mother and because I couldn't bear to think of losinghim, I fervently prayed that God would help make Jon welland not allow him to die. At the same tim e, I wonderedif I had any right to ask that when so many other childrenhad not survived the disease and surely their parents hadprayed the same thing. So I just told the Lord all myfeelings; asked Him to forgive me if I was praying wrongly,told Him I was sure He understood and that I trusted Jon inHis hands, then I had to end "not my will but Thine be done. "I have no doubt but that I prayed the same way every night.

    I prayed for the girls, too. I thought of each one ofthem individually and prayed, "Oh, no. Lord, please don'tle t that terrible disease touch my beautiful girls, too. "

    For some reason I never once thought about Harrold orI getting the disease. We did think of Dorothy. We suggested she might want to move out for a while, but sheelected to stay figuring she was already exposed.Gradually the week passed. The girls ' temperaturesstayed normal. Not even a cold^or cough came along to

    scare us. Then came the morning when I made the callto the hospital to see how Jon was, and a joyful voice said,"He is out of intensive care and we have moved him intothe ward with the rest of the recuperating children. He isweak but he has the biggest grin of any child in the ward! "Then she told me Jon never did comple te ly lose his ability to swallow. Even on his worst days, he had been ableto very slowly sip liquid. The polio had not extended to

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    Fear vs Faith 1952 45

    any other area of his body as fa r as th ey cou ld te l l , butthey were going to be a ler t to any weakness anywhere else .It was mainly now a mat te r of recuperat ion.

    What a day of rejoicing and thankfulness to God! Ourrel ief was enormous; as much phy sic al a s emotional . Wehad been going through the motions of daily life and worka l i t t le l ike robots, with our emotions in suspension, butnow a normalcy returned to our days which included renewed in teres t in our work. The gir ls re turned to schooland the neighbors