Country Facts
Mission History
Culture
Gospel Work
Scenery
|
|
|
Wilson's Journey to
Nigeria |
|
(Faith & Victory : Sept. 1964) |
|
|
Bro. and Sister Ostis Wilson embarked on a ship of the West Africa
Line on Wednesday, July 15, at New York, having been brought over to
the port from KaIamazoo, Mich. by Ralph and Dorothy Wilkins in their
station wagon, and they stayed until all their baggage was unloaded
and in proper hands.
It was a remarkable coincidence in the time and way in which Bro.
Wilson was able to contact, meet and visit about two hours in
downtown Manhattan with his brother, Clifford, whose ship had just
docked at Philadelphia from Japan.
Leaving New York, their ship passed the brightly illuminated Statue
of Liberty about midnight. On July 16 Bro. Wilson wrote us a letter
when they had been out 10 hours. They reported that they had real
nice first-class accommodations. He was doing well, but Sister Opal
had been feeling a little sick. All twelve of the passengers aboard
were missionaries bound for different fields in Africa. The ship was
going up the coast of New England in route to Halifax, Nova Scotia
to take on some more cargo of flour, as this is primarily a
freighter. From there, after a one-day stop, it would head out to
sea to cross to Monrovia, Liberia. At Halifax he mailed the letter
to us which closed with this request, "Pray for us and the success
of our mission, and for our safety and health."
On Aug. 9 Bro. Wilson sent an interesting letter of their sea voyage
from their ship anchored outside the port of Lagos, Nigeria to Bro.
and Sister Stover. It was received on Aug. 14 and read to the saints
assembled here at the Guthrie camp meeting. They had been on the
ship for over three weeks, and were anxious to get to their
destination at Port Harcourt which was not too far away. At the time
of writing their ship was waiting its turn to get into the port of
Lagos.
Bro. Wilson wrote in part: "Opal and I have both been sick, but not
anything severe like we hear of some folks having. It affected us in
different ways-Opal being affected in her head with dizziness and
light-headedness, but not bothering her stomach. I was never
bothered in my head at all, but it hit me right square in the
stomach. I had a few brief vomiting spells," and did not feel like
eating very regularly. "Opal could always get straightened out by
lying down and lying still for a while. So we think we have gotten
along just fine and have been able most of the time to go out on
deck and enjoy the water and visiting with the other passengers any
time we wanted to. We are surely thankful to the Lord that we have
gotten along as well as we have and, in the main, the voyage has
been a very enjoyable one. The trip has been nice and
interest-packed all the way, and has supplied us with several new
experiences. But now we are anxious to reach our destination and get
started in our work there and the experiences it holds for us.
We know there are problems that we know nothing about so could not
possibly make any plans or preparations for meeting them only
through God. But we are looking to Him by day and by night to
qualify and equip us for all eventualities and to meet every problem
that arises both spiritually and physically."
"Give our Christian love and best regards to all the saints . . .
and remind them we are depending much on their prayers."
-Lawrence Pruitt |
|
|
|
Index │
Next Article |
|
