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

Dad’s Autobiography – Chapter 22 – In Book, Page 48

Africa Lives In Our Hearts

AFRICA LIVES IN OUR HEARTS

There is a saying which goes, “You can take a person out of Africa, but you can never take Africa out of a person.” There is another saying which says, “Once the sun shines on you south of the Equator, you are never satisfied to have the sun shine on you anywhere else.”

During the time that I taught at Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, I heard that the Executive Committee for Central Africa was about to call a missionary to Africa. As soon as I heard that, I got in touch with one of the members of that committee and asked if I could meet with him and the other members of that committee. I was given that permission.

When I met with them, I told them that I had the desire to return to Africa as a missionary in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. I also told them that I had spoken to my wife and children about my desire. I told them that they had the same desire that I had. Our hearts were very much in Zambia and Malawi.

We do not know why the Executive Committee for Central Africa decided not to extend a Divine Call for us to serve as missionaries in Central Africa. I knew the language. I knew the culture. I knew how to go about establishing an indigenous church. Irene and our children were at home in Africa. But the Lord had other plans for us. He wanted us to remain in the United States and carry on His work here.

Many are the times that our thoughts take us back to Africa. In an all too small way, via snail-mail and E-mail, we have kept in contact with some of the missionaries and some of the African pastors. Then, in 2003, we were given the opportunity to return to Zambia and Malawi. Zambia was to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church in Central Africa in Zambia – and Malawi was to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Lutheran Church of Central Africa in Malawi.

Because we were among the first missionaries in Northern Rhodesia and also one of the first missionaries in Nyasaland, we were invited to come to Central Africa for those celebrations. It was the African church that extended those invitations. How happy my wife and I were to accept those invitations – and to be given the funds to make that blessed trip. We cannot thank those anonymous donors enough.

How thrilled we were to see people whom we had been given the privilege of baptizing and confirming. How excited we were to go to many of the places where our Lord had permitted us to preach and to teach His Word in all its truth and purity. How privileged we were to see some of the fruits which had grown from the seed – The Word Of God – which had been planted in sin-laden hearts thirty-five years before. The Seed had germinated, taken root, grown in tender hearts, and borne fruit for eternity.

We wrote an account of our wonderful and blessed 2003 trip to Africa. That account may be found on the Internet at http://www.lutheransonline.com/muellerfam.  When you are at that Web Site, click “Extras”.  Then click  “AFRICA TRIP 2003 ”. The article should appear. God grant that you will enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Our Lord blessed us richly through our two-week stay in Zambia and Malawi. We pray that this article will encourage you to labor ever more fervently and faithfully in our Lord’s kingdom here on earth – wherever that may be. “It Is Worth It!”

This concludes my Memoirs for my birth to the end of our days in Africa. I pray that our Lord will bless them as He has blessed all that my family and I have done to His glory and in His Name.