Dad’s Slides
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personal testimonies
(Click to enlarge photos)
Last summer I bought a
converter on-line that converts slides into digital photos. The main reason
that I wanted it was to preserve my dad’s collection of slides taken of his
work among the Native Americans. Some of them have already been destroyed by
dampness over the years.
Somewhere close to 1950, a
blind youth by the name of Norman gave Dad the 35 mm. camera and projector specifically
for this work. Norman was one of the unsung heroes of the faith that you will
meet in heaven. He was 18-years-old at the time and already an ‘A’ student in
the University of Wisconsin. I remember when he stayed at our home for a time
and the picture that is fixed in my mind is of Norman
reading his Braille Bible
in our living room. I need to search for the slide that my Dad took of Norman,
sitting on the foundation of a church that Dad was building in Oneida,
Wisconsin, while ministering to the Oneida Natives. Hopefully, it is still in
good condition. Norman is the reason that these slides are available.
 |
| Mrs. Christen and her daughter |
I do have on hand a slide of
another unsung hero… Mrs. Christen. In the 1930’s, my parents, who had never
been exposed to the gospel, moved next door to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Christen.
They observed the uniqueness of this couple, something in their very persons,
beyond what they said and did. Through them my parents came to the Lord in 1935.
Some of you may know the story from reading my book, What Our Hands Have Handled. No slides would have ever been taken
by my dad, who became a missionary to the Native American, had it not been for
the Christens. I am so happy that I can share them with you.
 |
| Similar markings in the center column |
Here is Dad in a slide taken
in 1955, when he became principal of the Mokahum Indian Bible School (Mokahum
means sunrise in the Chippewa or Ojibwa
tongue). I noticed that he was marking on his Bible Reading Record and since I
have the collection of 85 of these records, I searched through them, comparing
them with the slightly blurred copy on his desk. I found this one, in which, in
June 1954, he began his 14th journey through the Word of God. It’s
the same one. My brother, Clarence, has the final one, number 86… 86 times
through the Bible, from the time when he began to keep the records in 1945
until the day he died.
Here are a few examples of
photos taken of those whom Dad called,
stalwarts in the
faith. A good number went into full-time gospel service. These were not “pray
the sinner’s prayer today, drunk on the street tomorrow” converts, but people
that you will see in heaven… 
I tell Clyde’s story in the
book I mentioned above, chapter 8, beginning on page 72. The majority of the
chapters recount Dad’s life and ministry. Clyde couldn’t sleep the night after
he heard my dad preach, so at 4:30 a.m., he went to the house, where he was
sleeping and found the Lord. Not only Clyde, but his whole family came to the
Lord and entered the ministry. I heard recently from our daughter and
son-in-law, who are ministering at the newly restored Mokahum Bible School,
that a couple of years ago, one of Clyde’s daughters, in her 60’s, graduated
from the school.
Here is Andy Bush, a native
lay worker and evangelist, who came to my dad, working in an unheated garage.
They knelt together in -40 degree weather and Andy’s heart was warmed. He holds
in his hand the New Testament my dad gave him on that occasion. Read the story
on page 74 of the same chapter.
Well, I have barely scratched
the surface of a story that goes on and on. I will probably show more converted
slides on this blog from time to time. In fact, the story hasn’t ended and
children of converts from the 1930’s – 1980’s are following in the path of
parents, who found spiritual reality through the ministry of a simple man, who
only finished six years of public schooling. As was the case with the great
apostle, this man’s calling was from God and not from man.
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