Posada in Cuenca, c.1954

We admit that our beginning is not the most organized undertaking ever! Little David had his sling, and we, too, have the essentials, such as a building, a couple of missionaries, a caretaker, and a certain amount of supplies and equipment such as tracts and slides and phonograph records.

But the building is somewhat in need of repairs and improvements – electricity, new windows and a bathroom. The eleven rooms boast of almost no furnish­ings save a metal strong box and a lone canvas chair. Moreover, we workers are far from being fluent in Quichua, the language of these indigenous people. Still, we are off! And what is most important, God is with us.

This center that we have opened is essentially an inn or hostel. We have three large rooms where our guests may sleep, plenty of patio space for something like forty horses and mules, and room for the safe-keeping of their saddles and wares.

Behind the building is a small pasture in which the animals may graze. Upstairs are quarters for the caretaker and his family. There are also rooms that can be used for offices, a meeting hall, a classroom, and a room where inquirers may come alone to ask questions and have the way explained more fully.

The purpose of the center is to win friends and establish a Christian witness among the Quichua people from two pro­vinces who come into the city of Cuenca for market purposes. We will offer them the services of our inn, and in other ways try to help them while they are here looking after their affairs. Each guest will be given a portion of the Scriptures or a tract, and a testimony by one of the missionaries or other workers. And we would like to work out a pattern of simple preaching services. The ultimate aim is to win invitations to go out to their country communities for evangelistic campaigns.

The Quichuas live in small country settlements or on haciendas that may date to the colonial era. Almost every week they go in to some town or other for market purposes, and Cuenca is the major market center for this Azuay Province in which we live, as well as for Cañar Province to the north. Thousands of Quichuas from all directions stream into Cuenca each Thursday, which is the biggest market day here. On other days, too, one may see them in town, but in much smaller numbers.

The first important thing upon their arrival is to find a posada or inn where they may safely leave their animals while they themselves go about their market affairs. And if they are in town for some days, they would also like to find a place to sleep. Though they are generally suspicious of Spanish-speaking city dwellers, and fearful, they readily trust their animals and their wares to the owners of these inns.

It is our strong conviction that God has been leading us as we have prayed about a way to reach the Quichuas, and as we have planned the practical details of this first outthrust. We feel that our Lord is slowly but surely going forward with a program for building his church among the Quichuas of Ecuador. Two and a half years ago our Mission entered this field, believing that God had here given us another responsibility. After some time spent in surveying the area, we moved to Cuenca as the place best suited to begin work. Then a year ago Rev. John Johnson and family came, thus raising our staff to where we had two couples. Following this, God began to reveal a plan for our work. And now, after all manner of delay, we have finally made a beginning.

We thank God that he has put us in touch with some friendly property owners, for many would not rent to Protestants, particularly Protestant missionaries. The inn is splendidly situated, and the building adequate. So we are grateful for the friendly police officer who introduced us to the owner, and who has been a constant counselor and friend.

AND WHAT OF THE FUTURE?

Remember, first of all, as you pray for the work, that the missionary staff for this station is not yet complete… Then think of the other areas where we would like to move in and establish similar centers, and lay before the Lord the need for workers to man those stations. We have barely established a beachhead for Christ in this Andean republic. Pray that God may enable us to consolidate quickly – AND TO ADVANCE!

[Excerpted from World Vision, June 1954, pp.5-7.]

Title page from Reina Valera Bible, 1909

Eugene Nida (1914-2011) was a charter member of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and later Executive Secretary for Translations for the American Bible Society. He authored many, many books throughout his long career – every one a durable classic: Message and Mission (1960), Customs, Culture and Christianity (1963), and The Theory and Practice of Translation (1969) are a few well-known examples.

Eugene Nida was best known, however, for the “dynamic equivalence” principle of Scripture translation – what has become the operational principle of every major translation agency in the world.

The idea is simple enough. Nida observed that word-by-word translations result in grammatical inconsistencies and errors in understanding. Phrase-by-phrase translations are only marginally better. He advocated Scripture translation idea by idea. The translator should work hard at unpacking the ideas conveyed by the original text of Scripture, and put the ideas into the language targeted for translation – without slavish concern for the number or sequence of original words or phrases. The meaning of the text is the issue of concern, after all. The translator should aim at a “dynamic equivalent” of original meanings in the language chosen for translation. This indeed was the effort that brought Nida to Bolivia.

When John Carlsen and Ernest Weinhardt arrived in Bolivia in 1938, they used and distributed the 1909 version of the famous Reina Valera Bible. But the version had many inconsistencies, making it awkward and ambiguous. Nida and the American Bible Society advocated a revision. They undertook the project in 1949, and traveled throughout Latin America to collect data and build a translation team. Throughout the next decade they worked on the revision. And in 1960, they presented the result – a new version of the Reina Valera that is widely used to this very day.

Occupied in this translation project, Nida arrived in La Paz in 1950 – just as our young Prayer League was looking for a new field of involvement elsewhere in Latin America. The Bolivia Mission Conference had commissioned Ray Rosales (1924-2000) to survey potential opportunities. It turns out that Ray knew Nida. He had studied under him at the University of Oklahoma. Knowing now that Nida was in town, Ray invited him for supper at the Mission Home in La Paz.

“During the conversation after the meal,” Ray later reported, “it came out that the Bolivia Mission Conference was considering the survey trip. [Nida's] jovial expression changed, and pulling his chair toward me and leaning forward, he pled that I include the Quichua [people] of Ecuador in the survey.” [1] Nida had just come from Ecuador. The Quichua people of the southern highlands, in his estimation, were among the least reached and most strategically significant people groups on the continent.

Ray went on to make his survey, from the pampas of Argentina to the jungles of Panama. He found many, many possibilities for involvement. But in the end he recommended Ecuador, proposed around the supper table by Eugene Nida.

We might say that Ray discovered the “dynamic equivalent” of Carlsen and Weinhardt’s pioneering effort, for our growing work in Latin America.

This is always the task of Christian mission. We don’t follow Jesus by walking in sandals or dressing in togas, after all. We don’t honor Weinhardt by riding on donkeys or making our home again in Mocomoco. Christian mission is about the translation of ideas and commitments – an allegiance to Jesus and a Christian worldview – in ever new settings, languages and contexts. Luther said that the gospel “wants to be taught and preached always and always, in order that it may always appear above the horizon.” [2] The gospel message itself presses us outward, beyond the togas and the donkeys – and Mocomoco, too – to the next horizon of need. So it pressed Paul toward Spain (cf. Romans 15:24), Patrick to Ireland, Carey to India, Taylor to China, and Weinhardt and Carlsen to South America. But today it will press us farther.

And we don’t need Nida to pull up a chair to tell us. We have Jesus. And he has made the issue plain. He aims to make disciples of all the peoples of the world – precisely through people like you and me (Matthew 28:19). He has made us today the “dynamic equivalent” of all the disciple-makers gone before. And if we let him, he will point us again toward the horizon.

[1] It’s About Mission!, by Raymond Rosales. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1998), p.56

[2] WA 10 I, 1, 540, 12ff.

May Rendahl, in Mexico, c.1951

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5

“You’ll have to learn to LEAN, if you’re going to stay in this country,” Paul Lindell remarked to me on our second day in Mexico. He was pointing to a group of Mexicans in various attitudes, some standing, some sitting, some reclining, but all leaning against a wall or some other solid object.

On another corner we saw a man draped over a hitching post, snoring away to his heart’s content. If the post had given way, it would have been just too bad for him.

A little farther on a big white dog was sitting, all relaxed, on his haunches. And believe it or not – he, too, was leaning against a brick wall!

LEAN – that’s what I’m beginning to do, and God has a word for me: “Lean not on your own understanding.” All right, I’ll quit that. I’ve done plenty of it, even while serving the Lord.

Attendance prizes for children in Sunday school, and all kinds of devices to hold interest are fine, but I’m afraid I have leaned on them instead of trusting the Spirit to do the work.

In the matter of language my own understanding is nothing to lean on at present. When we came into our street in Rosario the first time, Ruth [Temple] asked me, “What street is this?” I looked up at a sign and said, “Headache.” It was a medicine ad, not a street sign! I’ll never hear the end of that.

There is another way I’ve been tempted to lean on my own understanding. When I came here I started trying to figure out where my support was going to come from. But the Lord checked me on it. “Leave that to me,” he said. And now he has brought in gifts from places I never would have thought of, to show me that I can trust him in that, too.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” That’s the way to lean. Eleanor [Schulz] went out to La Rastra on Monday to hold meetings in the mountains. That same day Dr. Pedro Berber of Rosario was murdered on that same road. I haven’t heard the details, but will learn them from Eleanor when she comes home today. Do you suppose she will say, “I’m not going up to the ranches anymore. It’s too dangerous”? Oh, no! Not Eleanor! She will be full of plans for her next trip. She has learned to LEAN…

[Reprinted from World Vision, June 1951, pp.11,12.]

When I read this passage from Mark, I typically imagine Jesus full of righteous indignation, using it against those who were exploiting the poor. As I considered the story more carefully, however, I noticed that Jesus drove out those who were buying in the temple courts as well as those who were selling. I had often thought of the buyers as victims
of opportunistic and greedy sellers, but Jesus drove them all out of the temple. Why?

Our sin is not something to be taken lightly. Israelites were required to make certain sacrifices at the Passover feast. Many had to travel long distances to get to Jerusalem. Not only did they have to get themselves to Jerusalem; they would have to bring animals along for sacrifice. Bringing the animals from home would have made a difficult journey even more difficult. Those who were buying animals at the temple were making the process of sacrifice and forgiveness a little bit easier.

Sin is a personal matter. I can imagine that raising livestock could create a certain intimacy with the animals. After spending much time caring for an animal, when the time came to choose one for sacrifice, you would most likely be forced to choose an animal that you have come to know well. This would have made the price of sin very real. Those who purchased their sacrifice at the temple would have avoided this personal loss. For them, atonement for sin became a financial transaction. It could be calculated as a mere percentage of income. It became more like a fine.

Sin is more serious than this; sin destroys our relationship with God. It is not like a traffic violation that can be taken care of with a small fee. According to Mark, Jesus entered the temple the day after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and just days before he was crucified. Jesus’ sacrifice was motivated by love, mercy and obedience to the Father. He became the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling the law in every way. There were no short cuts available to Jesus. Those selling in the temple were bad characters – Jesus called them robbers. But you could say that those buying in the temple were in error as well – they treated sin too lightly. This remains a problem for us today, probably to a greater extent. May God help us to avoid treating sin too lightly as we celebrate Easter and live out our faith!

During the month of February we were able to pay 100 percent of the target allowance to all of our 49 missionary units. After all allowances were paid we had $28,433 remaining in the general fund. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Mother and Child, circa 1949

Afsary, Bibi and I were sitting on a rope bed in front of their small house talking about many things – how expensive goods are in the bazaar, how much I paid for my dress and how much they paid for the materials in their clothes, how many brothers and sisters I have, etc. – when Afsary asked me this question.

Afsary is the 18-year-old daughter of our local Evangelist, and Bibi is his wife. Afsary and Bibi are still Muslims. I go out several evenings a week to spend an hour with them. They are both in “purdah” (live behind walls and won’t let their faces be seen by men other than close relatives) and often don’t get out of their small square yard for months at a time, so they welcome the diversion of my visit.

On this evening we had been talking while Afsary mixed and kneaded bread for their supper, and now she was resting a minute while it was baking. She made the bread out of “atta” (coarse wheat flour) and water. She formed four large balls out of the dough – one for her mother, one for her father, one for herself and one for the two small children – and slapped them back and forth from hand to hand until they became round and flat in shape, about 12 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. She and her mother had made an oven out of mud – round with the opening on the top. Into that Afsary put dry leaves and sticks and started a fire. For about 20 minutes she kept the fire going. When the fire was almost out she took the bread and plastered it on the sides of the inside of the oven. I looked into the oven before she did that and saw that the sides were black with soot. We watched as the bread began to puff and to turn brown. Then she put a tin cover over the top of the oven and we went to sit down while it finished baking.

They wondered if we used that kind of oven in our country, and then, Afsary’s question, “Why have you come to Pakistan? Is your own country a bad country?”

“No,” I answered, “it is a very good country and I like it very much.”

“Well, then” asked Bibi, “don’t you love your mother and father and sisters and brothers – is that why you left them to come here?”

“No,” I replied, putting my hand over my heart as they do when they feel something strongly, “I love them very, very much and miss them every day.”

“Then why did you leave them and come to our country?” asked Afsary again.

Again I put my hand over my heart and said, “Because I love the Lord Jesus most of all and in our Book it says that we should go to every country in the world and tell everybody about him. That is why we’ve come. We want you to love him too.”

They both said, “hao, hao” (“yes” in Pushtu) and Bibi repeated several times, “love for Jesus, love for Jesus.”

Just then Afsary remembered her bread and ran to the oven to get it out. It was done and surprisingly clean on the bottom where it had been on the sooty oven sides. I had to taste a piece as usual. It is very heavy and soggy and not pleasing to our taste, but they are so anxious to have me like it that I must eat it with relish.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was 7:30 – time for Afsary’s father and Frank [Billie's husband] to come home from the Reading Room for supper. We said good-bye with many “salaams” and assured each other that we would meet again soon.

[Reprinted from World Vision, August 1949, pp.14,15.]

Darjeeling, circa 1949

I had reached the point of Jesus’ death in my story, and the little woman who was walking down the road with me clicked her tongue in sympathy and said, “So sin and evil won that time, too.” She thought for another moment, clicked sympathetically again and added, “And he was such a good and holy man, and yet sin and evil overcame him too.”

“Sin did not overcome him, Older Sister,” I cried with joy, glad for the joyous triumphant Easter news of our gospel. “For three days it looked as if sin and evil had overcome him, but then do you know what happened? He arose from the dead. Death couldn’t hold him. He was God and he overcame all sin and evil and did it that we might become victors.”

It was the first time she had ever heard the Good News. That afternoon when I caught up with her on the road she was homeward bound. The basket on her back was full of the week’s rations of flour and rice, and one of her young sons padded along barefooted behind her carrying kerosene and cooking oil.

To begin with we had talked “small talk,” then, curious, she asked me why I had come to their land and how I had learned their language. When in turn I asked her if she had heard of Jesus Christ, she asked, “And what is that?” So we walked down the road together, and I told her the wonderful story of a God who loves us and a Savior who came to save. That she had listened well and taken it in was evidenced by her remark when she heard of Jesus’ death, “so sin and evil won that time too.” And what could I have told her if our Savior had not risen? What message of hope would have been mine then? But oh, praise God! We serve a living Savior.

It was time for me to turn back. She thanked me over and over for our good talk, and then asked if I had any books which would tell her more about this Jesus. She couldn’t read but she had a son who was going to school who could read to her. So out of the bag came some tracts and the brightly colored copy of Mark’s Gospel. We parted, and I turned back to town. Every once in a while we would round a curve which, though it separated us farther and farther from each other, brought us in sight of one another again. I would look across, and the little woman would wave as a long lost friend until a final curve cut us off from one another’s sight.

[Reprinted from World Vision, April 1949, pp.6,7.]

Fellow workers, circa 2010

This month we feature a pair of stories from a pair of our pioneers. You will find an article from Millie Hasselquist (now Tengbom) and the “Nepal Border Fellowship” – precursor to the United Mission to Nepal. Look for another from Billie Wilcox – who with her husband Frank pioneered in Pakistan. Millie is retired and living today in Southern California, with her husband Luverne. Frank passed away some years ago. And dear Billie passed away just a few days ago, in March.

Their testimonies remind me of an image from 3 John.

In this brief epistle, John offers a glimpse of New Testament missionary pioneering. Missionaries traveled about the known world, it seems, planting the church and announcing the Good News of Jesus. John asked his readers to open their homes to these friends – “even though they are strangers to you” (v.5, NIV). “It was for the sake of the Name that they went out,” John reminded them (v.7). We ought to support these sisters and brothers – “that we may be fellow workers in the truth” (v.8, RSV).

Fellow workers in the truth: this is the image I aspire to. I want to stand with Frank and Billie in shared service to God’s good truth. I want to join hands with Ernest and Hildegard in service to the Wonderful News. I want to follow along with Millie, and walk with Dorothy, and Jonathan, and Ray – and all the rest of our company. I want to stand together as synergoi – “fellow workers,” in the language of John – shoulder-to-shoulder, side-by-side, in service to the Truth of the Gospel.

This is an interesting turn of phrase. It is not simply standing together; it is standing and working together in the truth. It is truth that makes “fellow workers” possible. The truth of the Gospel creates the fellow workers, in fact, and binds them together in the Body and the Mission of Christ. Truth sets their path. Truth makes them who they are.

The Apostle John was crazy about truth; his Gospel and Epistles are full of it. The Word became flesh “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Jesus himself was truth incarnate: “I am… the truth,” he proclaimed (John 14:6).

The truth makes us free (John 8:32). The truth makes us holy (John 17:17). The truth guides our worship (John 4:24). The truth illumines our path (2 John 1:4). We are to love in truth (1 John 3:18). We are to know the truth (1 John 2:21). And in John’s third epistle, we are invited to stand with the apostolic company – the pioneers who tell the Good News where it has not been told before – as “fellow workers in the truth” (v.8).

Truth, unfortunately, has gotten a bad reputation in our modern West. In the words of the great Lesslie Newbigin, churches in the modern West have come down with a case of “chronic bad conscience” so that we fear “above everything else the charge of arrogance.” “A profound crisis of faith within the Western Churches has led to a loss of conviction that there is anything in the Christian faith that is so vital that without it [men and women] will perish.” [1] We are consummate relativists. We write our “truth” always in the lower case, and with caveat and apology. But Truth incarnate – Truth so vital that without it we die – this seems to the modern West quite over the top.

But it was not over the top for John, or for Frank and Billie. They do not, you see, presume arrogantly to own the truth: they are owned by it. They do not pretend arrogantly some corner on the truth: the truth has cornered them. They have met the One who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And he has become the vital center of their lives.

Once again, Lesslie Newbigin: “The relativism which is not willing to speak about truth but only about ‘what is true for me’ is an evasion of the serious business of living. It is the mark of a tragic loss of nerve in our contemporary culture. It is a preliminary symptom of death.” [2]

A symptom of living, on the other hand, is to walk in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – crucified, risen, and coming again, the Hope of the world. And walking by faith along this path, we are given a task. We are made into a Kingdom. By God’s good grace and truth, we are made his “fellow workers.”

1 “Mission on Six Continents,” in The Ecumenical Advance, 2:175; cited in Gospel, Church and Mission, by James Scherer. (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1987), p.33

2 The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), p.22

China, c.1910

“The first act of the new regime was to invite foreign missionaries to leave.” [1] Church-related institutions were taken over. Partnerships with international church and mission agencies were suspended. The “Three-Self Principles” church was organized, under formal government supervision while other communities of believers went “underground.” In the years that followed – during the years of the Cultural Revolution, in particular – both communities were severely persecuted. International observers wondered openly if the faith would somehow survive.

But it did.

The Christian church in China today is estimated at more than 115 million – fifty times their number a century ago and 9% of the entire population. [2] Over the century, Christianity has grown at a rate four times that of the general population, in spite of every obstacle and apparent detour.

There are many lessons in this wonderful story. One of them is simply this: the God of mission is the Sovereign of history.

1 Todd Johnson and Kenneth Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity, p.138. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009)

2 ibid., p.140

Lillian Carlson, en route to Kangting

I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” “Go ye therefore” came to mean Tibet to me. I was so thankful that it was that clear, for through the many trials and disappointments that awaited us after we arrived on the field, the call was always clear and I knew that I was where the Lord wanted me to be.

To make a long story short, there were five of us who made up the China party in 1948. My companions were Mildred Hostad, Clarence and Helen Hjelmervik with their baby Lois, and Dorothy Christianson. On April 2, 1948, under the leadership of Paul Lindell, we sailed from San Francisco on the S.S. General Gordon to join Margaret Miller who had preceded us to Kangting, Sikang province in West China.

We had quite a trip. After arriving in Hongkong, we went to Canton where we spent several weeks at the Berlin Mission while Paul went ahead to Kangting to assess the situation. After he and Margaret returned, we went by train to Hankow, China, from where we traveled on the St. Paul, the Lutheran Federation plane that was carrying returning missionaries to various parts of China.

In Chengtu, in Szechwan province, we stayed at the China Inland Mission. From there we went by bus to Yaan where we stayed with Dr. and Mrs. Crook. The final lap of the journey to Kangting was made by whagan, a light hammock-like chair, carried by two carriers unless the person was especially heavy. The American army built a road on the route during World War II, but the years, the rain, the wear and tear and utter neglect had taken their toll and it was no longer usable for motor travel. It took us seven days to make this trip although in miles it was not so long. At night we stayed in Chinese inns, and went to sleep to and awakened with the sickly sweet smell of opium, since most of the carriers were opium smokers. Poor fellows, because of the heavy work, sickness and pain, most of them ended up as opium addicts.

At one inn there were many carriers assembled for the night, and the men sat up gambling noisily. We could not sleep because only a wooden partition with a large opening in it separated us from the drinking, gambling crowd. At length, Dorothy, with the courage of inexperience, got up, took a large flash light, shone it into the room and ordered: “Go to bed. We want to sleep.” Instantly dead silence fell on the players and as one mass they arose and left the room.

Nearly a year later Dorothy had to accompany a patient down country and stayed at this same inn. The woman innkeeper recalled this incident and remembered that it was Dorothy who had disbanded the all-night gamblers.

We were held up for two days at another inn because the road was completely demolished due to a land slide. A path had to be cut on the hillside above the inn. During the delay one of our party did some scouting of the area and discovered a robber’s hideout just above the inn. Fortunately we were not molested during this delay or along the path on the week-long journey into Kangting though the countryside was known to be infested with many robber bands.

Much could be written about the inns. They were dirty and ridden with fleas, lice and bed bugs. We had a generous supply of DDT which we spread around lavishly but this did not insure bug-free sleep or bug-free sleeping bags. Rats abounded and sleep was often disturbed by rats jumping onto the beds and being overly friendly.

Food was scarce on the road to Kangting. Frequently all that could be purchased was unleavened steamed bread and Chinese tea. The remains from tea cups could be slung onto the dirt floor… no disposal problem.

One time we were promised a big chicken feed; we needed it for our diet had been very meager for days. The fellow took off at great speed in search of the fowl, but he must have gone to Timbuktu for it was very late when he returned with the fowl in tow. With the exception of the men, the entire party had gone to bed… hungry. Eventually the fowl was cleaned and cooked and we rose to the occasion and enjoyed a tasty meal of rice and chicken. In that remote village it seemed a feast.

Reprinted from If the Vision Tarry, by Lillian Carlson, Dorothy Christianson and Margaret Miller (Minneapolis: World Mission Prayer League, 1988), pp. 43-46.

Western China, c.1948

Detour and disappointment are the background for a famous little passage from Habakkuk. “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets…. [The vision will] not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come…” (2:2,3, KJV).

The Book of Habakkuk reports a dialogue between a burdened prophet and his faithful God. The prophet is mindful of his Lord (3:2) yet burdened by his history (1:1,12): things have not worked out for him as he had hoped. Chaos is right at the door. It is the sixth century before Christ: Babylon is poised to sweep into Jerusalem and raze it to the ground. Politics. Detour. Disappointment.

What is a believing man to do?

The history of Christian missions is simply filled with moments like these. I have known missionaries deeply called and impressively gifted – then struck by illness before they could get “to the field.” I have known missionaries “detoured” by the denial of travel documents, or an apparent lack of funds, or an illness in their family, or some change in the international political climate. I have even known missionaries jailed unjustly – or worse.

In the early days of our mission we began work in Western China, with a view toward the unreached peoples of Tibet. (You can read a story from that period on the facing page.) Dorothy Christianson, Margaret Miller and Lillian Carlson were members of the team. They arrived in a place called Kangting in August 1948 – just before the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War and the ascendency of the Communist party. By November of the following year they were gone.

Dorothy, Margaret and Lillian wrote a book about that pioneering effort. They borrowed the title from the prophet Habakkuk: “If the Vision Tarry.” It is a good title; things had not worked out as they had hoped.

Our Western China team never again returned to Kangting. Dorothy and Lillian spent most of their careers in Kalimpong, across the border in India. They studied Tibetan. They built relationship with Tibetans in diaspora. Yet they did not enter Tibet itself, as they had longed to do.

Dorothy remained in Kalimpong until her retirement in 1986. Some years later, I visited the place. It seemed filled in equal parts with poignancy, hope and perseverance. It represented a vision that “tarried” a long time.

What is a believing woman to do?

There are no “detours,” precisely, in the history of Christian missions, though it may seem so. The language of “detour” imagines that we know the destination and the very best way to get there. “Detour” imagines that obstacles along the way cannot contribute to our goal. “Detour” supposes that delays or redirections (or maybe Communist takeovers) will lead us inevitably off track.

Sometimes, of course, we are led astray by selfishness or disobedience. (Think Jonah.) There is such a thing as unfaithfulness; I am not talking about that. I am talking about the obstacles and redirections we experience along the path of obedience and surrender. What seems a “detour” along this path is a matter of perspective, in the end.

Remember the perspective of Habakkuk. Habakkuk reminds us that God Almighty remains on the scene – however “detoured” or conflicted our histories may become. God Almighty remains almighty, and will work his will in his own good way – whether it seems good to us or not. Habakkuk eventually surrenders to the Lord’s greater design (3:16). He “rejoices in the Lord” even in the face of calamity (3:17,18). Then his feet become “hind’s feet” (3:19). He climbs to a new perspective – and from that vantage, he will wait patiently for the completion of God’s design (2:2-3). “I am doing a work in your days,” the prophet hears, “that you would not believe if told…” (1:5).

Elsewhere in Asia, in these early years, we experienced breakthroughs. I think in particular of the “Nepal border fellowship,” set up along the border of that closed Hindu kingdom in 1941. The team prayed, and prayed again, and persevered in prayer – for fifteen years. In 1956 the border opened at last, and the United Mission to Nepal was born.

But Dorothy died in Minneapolis in November 1994. The vision that animated this good sister still “tarries.”

And Tibet remains.