Posted By: Sarah Moss
Missionary stories - 09/05/02 06:51 AM
I had children's story this past weekend and had one all prepared, but with the stress of the past week, forgot all about children's story until Friday evening (Sabbath). So, I went hunting. By this time, I forgot about the one that I had planned out. Fortunately, God cares about all the little things in our lives and reminded me of hte story I wanted to tell. It came from a book - "Model T Adventures For God". Many of you may have heard of it, it is the second book in the series about Peter Rick, the first missionary to be sent from CUC (long before it was CUC). The story is (mostly as I told it):
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Peter Rick was a missionary who had been to India, but he had come home to Alberta and lived in Calgary. He had heard of a man who built beautiful violins and was interested in learning of God. This man's name was Joe Carlson and he was a coal miner at Crows Nest Pass in the Rocky Mountains. Well, Peter Rick was a man who, when learning of someone who wanted to hear about God, went looking for that person to share with them from the Bible. So, of he headed to Crows Nest Pass to meet Mr. Joe Carlson. It was a very long drive on very dangerous roads at that time, so Mr. Rick was very happy to reach a place where it looked as if he had arrived. He checked in at the general store and was told that he was, indeed, at Crows Nest Pass. Well, his second question was "where does Mr. Joe Carlson live?" and the merchant pointed out Mr. Carlson's house to him saying at the same time that Mr. Carlson would most likely be at work right now. Mr. Rick was not a man to give up easily so he headed over to the house where Mr. Carlson's wife told him that her husband was indeed at work and upon questioning revealed what mine her husband worked in. Mr. Rick went over to the mine and spoke with the manager who was amused to know that a preacher wanted to go down into his mine to meet someone. The mine manager gave Mr. Rick a change of clothes and protective gear to go into the mine. The travelled into the mine together and on the way down shared with Mr. Rick some of how the mine works and the safety precautions that they took to protect the men from the dangerous gases and cave-ins. They finally arrived deep in the mine where they found Mr. Carlson working on a vain of coal deep in the back. Mr. Carlson was so black that all Mr. Rick could see where the little slits of his eyes. Mr. Rick introduced himself and said "Hi, my name is Peter Rick, I am from the Seventh-day Adventist Church and I have heard so much about you and the beautiful violins you make." Well Mr. Carlson gave a great big smile (whereupon Mr. Rick could see his white teeth) and said "I can't believe you came all the way down to the coal mine to find me!" Mr. Rick told him that he had heard that Mr. Carlson had an interest in studying the Bible and so that was the real reason he had come all this way to find him. Mr. Carlson was so happy! He said that he was done work for the day and invited Mr. Rick home with him for supper. They got out of the mine, cleaned up and headed to Mr. Carlson's place for a good meal. After the meal, they took out their Bibles and began to study and answer Mr. Carlson's questions. They continued to study for a few weeks afterwards, with Mr. Rick travelling out to their home every Sabbath until one day Mr. Carlson and his wife requested to be baptized. And they were.
Oftentimes, we think of missionaries as only people who witness for Jesus in far away countries, other than our own. But that is not always true. Mr. Rick was a missionary in a far away country, but he was also a missionary in our very own country for many more years than those he spent overseas. Remember that we are all missionaries in one way or another to all the people around us. We can be missionaries in our schools, our neighbourhoods and even sometimes in our own homes.
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You can, of course, read the full version of this story in the book above mentioned. In fact, read both books!! They are very illuminating and challenged me, at least, to do more and to think bigger (and more outside the box) to do things for Christ! An amazing and uplifting story of things "way back when".
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Peter Rick was a missionary who had been to India, but he had come home to Alberta and lived in Calgary. He had heard of a man who built beautiful violins and was interested in learning of God. This man's name was Joe Carlson and he was a coal miner at Crows Nest Pass in the Rocky Mountains. Well, Peter Rick was a man who, when learning of someone who wanted to hear about God, went looking for that person to share with them from the Bible. So, of he headed to Crows Nest Pass to meet Mr. Joe Carlson. It was a very long drive on very dangerous roads at that time, so Mr. Rick was very happy to reach a place where it looked as if he had arrived. He checked in at the general store and was told that he was, indeed, at Crows Nest Pass. Well, his second question was "where does Mr. Joe Carlson live?" and the merchant pointed out Mr. Carlson's house to him saying at the same time that Mr. Carlson would most likely be at work right now. Mr. Rick was not a man to give up easily so he headed over to the house where Mr. Carlson's wife told him that her husband was indeed at work and upon questioning revealed what mine her husband worked in. Mr. Rick went over to the mine and spoke with the manager who was amused to know that a preacher wanted to go down into his mine to meet someone. The mine manager gave Mr. Rick a change of clothes and protective gear to go into the mine. The travelled into the mine together and on the way down shared with Mr. Rick some of how the mine works and the safety precautions that they took to protect the men from the dangerous gases and cave-ins. They finally arrived deep in the mine where they found Mr. Carlson working on a vain of coal deep in the back. Mr. Carlson was so black that all Mr. Rick could see where the little slits of his eyes. Mr. Rick introduced himself and said "Hi, my name is Peter Rick, I am from the Seventh-day Adventist Church and I have heard so much about you and the beautiful violins you make." Well Mr. Carlson gave a great big smile (whereupon Mr. Rick could see his white teeth) and said "I can't believe you came all the way down to the coal mine to find me!" Mr. Rick told him that he had heard that Mr. Carlson had an interest in studying the Bible and so that was the real reason he had come all this way to find him. Mr. Carlson was so happy! He said that he was done work for the day and invited Mr. Rick home with him for supper. They got out of the mine, cleaned up and headed to Mr. Carlson's place for a good meal. After the meal, they took out their Bibles and began to study and answer Mr. Carlson's questions. They continued to study for a few weeks afterwards, with Mr. Rick travelling out to their home every Sabbath until one day Mr. Carlson and his wife requested to be baptized. And they were.
Oftentimes, we think of missionaries as only people who witness for Jesus in far away countries, other than our own. But that is not always true. Mr. Rick was a missionary in a far away country, but he was also a missionary in our very own country for many more years than those he spent overseas. Remember that we are all missionaries in one way or another to all the people around us. We can be missionaries in our schools, our neighbourhoods and even sometimes in our own homes.
=======================================
You can, of course, read the full version of this story in the book above mentioned. In fact, read both books!! They are very illuminating and challenged me, at least, to do more and to think bigger (and more outside the box) to do things for Christ! An amazing and uplifting story of things "way back when".
