THE LIFE OF RICHARD WILLIAM MUELLER, JR.
(Continued)

Dad’s Autobiography – Chapter 12 – In Book, Page 25

Using the Printed Word, The Field Become White Unto The Harvest, A Bible Institute is Envisioned, Our First Furlough

USING THE PRINTED WORD

Our work at home in Lusaka began to settle into a routine. My interpreter and I would translate sermons, Sunday School lessons, and prayers from English into Chinyanja during the week. Irene would take what we had translated and type it on stencils. Those would be run off on a mimeograph machine – leaving almost as much ink on our hands as was put on paper. Irene would also draw Bible pictures on stencils – pictures to accompany Bible Lessons. The resulting literature was used on Sunday.

This literature became a blessing in a way that we could hardly imagine. More and more contacts were given to us by those who received this material locally. They would give us an address of someone in their home village or home country. And thus began a mailing program which produced contacts all through Zambia – and as far away as Southern Rhodesia, Malawi, the Belgian Congo, and Angola. I remember distinctly a man from Angola who had traveled all the way to Lusaka to meet us.

Much of our time was spent on the mailing program – translating, typing, drawing, and printing. After that came the work of putting it all together. We would spread out the sheets of sermons, Sunday School lessons, and prayer on our dining room table. Then – and with the help of our children as they became able to help – we would parade around the table, putting a copy of each piece of literature together into a packet. After this was done, we would type an address sheet and tuck a packet into it. Then it was off to the Post Office to send it on its way to a contact to whom our Lord had brought to our contact list. All of this was done without the aid of a computer. The personal computer had not yet been invented.

THE FIELD BECOMES WHITE UNTO THE HARVEST

Requests for the Lutheran Church of Central Africa to come and proclaim Holy Scriptures came in from far and near. Those which came in from places near, we tried valiantly to fill. However, to those which came in from far away places, we could send a letter of reply saying, “We are sorry we cannot come to you. We do not have the time – or the manpower.” Every one of those letters was written with sadness in our hearts – and with the prayer that it would not be too long before we could say, “We are coming.”

The history of our first four and a half years in Africa would not be complete without a mention of our trip to Capetown, South Africa. It came three and a half years after our arrival in Central Africa. We had been on the mission field for three years – the normal tour of duty. However, there was no one to replace us. So we made plans to have our work taken over by some of the Africans whom I had instructed – and
upon whom we had come to rely. Mr. Kaluluma, Mr. Tonga, and Mr. Kawiliza were three of them. This would have been a blessing to the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. It would have been a large step toward the establishment of an indigenous Lutheran church in Northern Rhodesia. But it was not to be.

We left Lusaka by train with our four children – two had not yet been born – and headed for Capetown in South Africa. It was a most interesting journey. The train was pulled by a steam locomotive – powered by coal. Smoke wafted over our carriage – and many times came in through the open windows. The best way to explain our accommodations is to have you picture an old time train in our wild west. The train moved slowly and stopped often. When we stopped, Africans would gather round our carriage. Many of them were just curious while others were looking for some kind of handout.

We passed the Kimberly diamond mine – and much later on, Table Mountain outside of Capetown. Irene wanted to ascend to the top of the mountain – via a cable car. I persuaded her not to go – because I am deathly afraid of heights – and Irene would not go without the children and me. How I manage to fly in an airplane, I do not know. All I know is that flying is much different from being suspended by cables.

We had booked passage on a ship bound for England – and did spend one night on it. If we had gone to England, we would have taken the Queen Elisabeth to the United States – but that was not to be. A cable arrived from the Executive Committee telling us to return to Lusaka. We were told that if we did not, I would no longer be considered a pastor or missionary of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. So it was that we returned to our labors in Northern Rhodesia for another year.

A BIBLE INSTITUTE IS ENVISIONED

Knowing that we needed help – and that help had to come from inside Africa itself, we began to envision a place where more Africans could be trained to help us. Because a knowledge of the doctrines of the Bible was very limited – limited to the understanding of Holy Scriptures in sufficient measure to be baptized and confirmed – we began to make plans to open a Bible Institute. There men would be trained to teach Sunday School, conduct Worship Services, and preach sermons – all from printed materials with which they would be provided. It would be a three-year course of instruction – after which the graduates would be sent to village congregations to proclaim the Gospel under the supervision of a missionary.

OUR FIRST FURLOUGH

This Bible Institute became the focus of my sermons and lectures during our first furlough – a furlough which began in December of 1961 and lasted until September of 1962. Most furloughs were for a period of six months — because most tours of service were limited to three years. However, our time on the mission field lasted four and a half years. Consequently, our furlough was extended to nine months.

Our flying time back to the States in 1961 was half of what it was when we flew to Africa in 1957. Most of the overseas flights were no longer by propeller planes. They were now by jet planes – flying at almost the speed of sound. Instead of a fourteen hour flight across the Atlantic, it was now a seven hour flight.

The first, and very short part of our furlough was spent with our stateside families. Irene and I distinctly remember our arrival in Milwaukee. A young girl rushed up and gave me a big kiss. Irene looked at me in disbelief. She wondered who this girl was. So did it. It turned out to be her sister. When we left the States, she was nine years old. Now she was fourteen years old. She had become a young lady. We did not realize how much had changed in the four and a half years that we were away from the States.

The second part of our furlough was spent in lecturing and preaching around the mid-west. I do not remember exactly how many preaching and lecturing dates I had but I do remember that it was a lot. It was over one hundred and fifty. I had something to tell – and I wanted to tell it as often as I could.

Irene and our four children went with me much of the time. They could not go with me all of the time because two of our children were in school. The other two were not yet of school age. We had enrolled Debbie and Dick in St. Mark’s Lutheran School in Watertown, Wisconsin.

One of those lonely trips took me over the five mile Makinac suspension bridge. It is high – and much of the top portion is a steel grid. The water is visible beneath the car – and I am afraid of heights. Oh, how I wish the family had been with me – to calm my fears – and to see that unusual sight.

It was on that trip that my voice almost completely failed me. It seems there was some kind of pollen in the air that did not agree with me. I did make it through the next lectures in Michigan, but wondered how I was going to be able to preach four time and lecture once on the following Sunday. Wonder of wonders, the Lord gave me my voice back by that Sunday. As I look back on that week, I thank the Lord for His great kindness to me and my family. In keeping with His promise, He was with us at all times and places.

During our first furlough, on our lecture tour to the West Coast of the United States, we had the privilege of attending the World’s Fair in Seattle, Washington. There are two incidents that I remember about that privilege. The first was our trip to the top of the Space Needle. I did not enjoy it one bit. I clung to the inner wall, hardly glancing into the rotating restaurant at the top of the Needle.

The other was our visit to the Moody Bible Institute Pavilion. Immediately when the presentation began, the presenter told us that if we had come there with a chip on our shoulder, there was nothing he could do for us. We can close our mind to God’s Word, but we cannot open it to the Gospel. It is only the Holy Spirit who can do that. Then he proved to us with many illustration that we cannot always believe what we see or hear. Finally, he asked the ladies to close their eyes as he showed the men something. Then he did the same with the men. He asked the men what they had seen. They had seen a rabbit. The ladies said they saw a duck. He had shown everyone the very same cut-out – but turned forty-five degrees. He pointed out that to see clearly, we must have the correct foundation – God’s Word.

Throughout my ministry, I have always been very careful not to touch money which has been given to our Lord and to His work here on earth. I have even been know to leave the offering on the altar if there was no on around to count it. After one of my mission lectures, I was given a large bag of money and told to give it to our Executive Committee. I took it, drove a mile or so away with it – but turned around to give it to the pastor. I told him to send it in. I did not want to handle. I wanted to flee any temptation.