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

Dad’s Autobiography – Chapter 8 – In Book, Page 15

Expanding Mission Field Outside Lusaka, Chunga Line, Mtakwa, Leper Colony, Munali Secondary School, Brown Chipoya, Chalimbana Teacher Training School, Missionary Work Begins, Language Learning

It should be said that our English speaking Worship Services were held first in the truck garage of the sign painter, then in our home on Suffolk Road, then in an abandoned clinic on the north end of Cairo Road (the Main Street in Lusaka) and, finally, in a church erected on the lot next to a missionary home in a residential district of Lusaka.

EXPANDING MISSION FIELD – OUTSIDE LUSAKA

Chunga Line On one of his walks through Matero to Lusaka, Mr. Timothy Tonga saw the sign on one of our vehicles. It read “Rhodesian Lutheran Church”. As he was mulling over the word ‘Lutheran’, Missionary Habben came out of the home of Mr. Mwambula. He struck up a conversation with Timothy. He learned that Timothy had heard the word ‘Lutheran’ when he was in school. Soon Timothy was being instructed in the teaching of the Lutheran church. He became a member – a faithful member – and later on an evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa.

Timothy’s village was about five miles north of Lusaka, along a ridge of small hills which became know to us as Chunga Line. Every Sunday, Timothy would walk those five miles to attend church in Matero. His wife and his children would accompany him. It did not take long before Timothy told his brother, his family, and his neighbors about the Lutheran Church. He wanted them to be taught the doctrines of the Bible, God’s Word. So Timothy asked us to begin instruction classes and worship services in his village – which we did. Soon a flourishing congregation was established at Chunga Line. At first our gatherings were under a tree, then in a metal shed-like building, and finally in a church built out of mud block with a thatch roof. It was a dream of Mr. Tonga which became a reality.

Mtakwa One day a man came through Mr. Tonga’s village driving a team of oxen with an oxcart behind. Timothy welcomed him as he did everyone who passed through his village. He was always willing to share what he had – which was very little – with anyone and everyone. That included his faith in Christ Jesus as his Savior. He did that with this man, Moses Gasela Mhlanga – and soon a group of people were gathering in his village to hear the Gospel message. That village was about five miles north of Mr. Tonga’s village. When the church at Mtakwa was dedicated, Mr. Tonga spoke these words of confidence in, and gratitude to our gracious God, “While we played, God built the church.” And so the Lutheran Church of Central Africa continued to expand to the north. The next village was Mwanshama.

Leper Colony It wasn’t really a colony, but that is what we called it. Rather, it was the out-patient section of the Lusaka hospital. Patients who needed constant care, but who did not have to be seen by a doctor every day, were housed here. Three of the dormitories were devoted to lepers. Those were the men whom we served. They were men without toes, without fingers, without noses – with many scabs which would never heal over. But they were men with souls, souls which could be healed – sinful souls which could be healed with the Word of God. So we brought that Word to them – saw many of them receive that Word with gladness – and saw some of them receive the blessings of Baptism.

No, we did not touch them, although we could have. It is only through the sore of one person contacting the sore of another person that the disease is transmitted. Yes, we would wash thoroughly when we returned home after a class, but we never shied away from touching their Bibles, their hymnals, or their instruction materials. We were confident that our loving Lord would protect us at the leper colony, too – even as He protected us at so many other times and in so many other places.

Munali Secondary School Missionaries Drevlow and Kohl had begun classes at this school on the eastern outskirts of Lusaka. Young men were being taught temporal subjects – and we were permitted to enter that school each week to teach them those things which would assure them of eternal life. One of those men, Josiah Chisambwe, the Holy Spirit used to bring the teachings of the Bible to the Northwest Province and the Copperbelt of Northern Rhodesia. Another, Laban Nyirenda, used the talents which God gave him to paint scenes of rural life in Zambia. Still another, Brown Chipoya, was sent to Nigeria to study to become an evangelist in the Lutheran Church of Central Africa. We did not have such a school in Northern Rhodesia at that time. Sad to say, Brown Chipoya never became an evangelist. We don’t know exactly what happened, but it seems as though he was unwilling to return to the life in Pre-Independent Northern Rhodesia. The ‘European’ way of life was denied him.

Brown Chipoya If such was the case, Brown Chipoya could hardly be faulted. The Africans in Northern Rhodesia were treated much differently from the Africans in Nigeria. In Nigeria, they were treated as people. In Northern Rhodesia, the African was looked upon as inferior – as people who should be looked upon as servants – as descendants of Canaan – the lowest of slaves. (cf. Genesis 9:25)

Brown Chipoya – and we – witnessed this. When we took Brown Chipoya to Livingstone to catch a plane to Nigeria, we stayed in a hut in a rest camp. We assumed that Brown would be able to stay with us in one of the two rooms. Not so. He was told that he could not sleep where a ‘European’ slept. He would have to stay with the servants – in a hut removed from the sleeping quarters of the ‘Europeans’.

During those years, we saw many evidences of this attitude among ‘white folk’. One day when we were buying ice cream at the creamery, we saw a ‘European’ give change to an African. That European did not place the change in the African’s hand. Rather, he threw it down on the counter – next to his hand. He wasn’t about to touch a black hand.

A very visible indication of this attitude was a public rest room on one of the main streets in Lusaka. It had six doors. Two were labeled European Men and European Women. Two more were labeled Asian Men and Asian Women. And two more were labeled African Men and African Women. Water fountains (bubblers) were also labeled ‘For Whites’ and ‘For Africans’.

Chalimbana Teacher Training School This school was located about twenty miles east of Lusaka. It was the school to which graduates from the Munali Secondary School came who wanted to be teachers. It was a school from which we hoped to engage teachers who would teach in the schools which were under our care in Sala – at the Mwembeshi Mission Station. Unfortunately, none were sent to us. It was one of the higher education schools to which we went every week to conduct Bible instruction classes.

MISSIONARY WORK BEGINS

On Sunday, I conducted Worship Services at the congregation in Lusaka. Then, with our interpreter, I preached a sermon and taught Bible Classes at Matero. Irene, Debbie, and Dick went with us to both places. During the week, visits were made to prospects and members. Instruction classes were held in the homes of those who desired to know more of the teachings of the Bible and the Lutheran Church.

It did not take long, however, before Chibloya, Chunga Line, Mtakwa and Mwanshama were added to the preaching stations. When that happened, we could no longer serve all of them on a Sunday morning. We did go to four of them for a while, but that proved to be too much of a good thing. I should tell you that when we did go to the four places, Irene, Deb, and Dick went to those four places also. It was a very long day for them – especially because, at that time, hardly a word of what was spoken was understood. But they all went with me and my interpreter because of their dedication to the work we had been called to do.

Language Learning The blessing which our Lord gave us by adding more souls and more preaching places to our care brought about another blessing. That blessing was my learning Chinyanja, the language used in all of the villages to which we went – the language which came from Malawi..

My interpreter and I decided that he would go to two congregations on a Sunday morning — and I and my family would go to another two. That meant that I would have to use Chinyanja in the Worship Services – and he would have to have printed sermons to preach from and printed instruction materials to use at the Bible instruction time. This, in turn, meant that I would have to have a sermon in print at the beginning of each week, ready to be translated into Chinyanja. After that had been done, my interpreter and I would sit for hours and hours translating not only that sermon, but also a liturgy to be used during our Worship Services. The Bible had already been translated into Chinyanja by the church which David Livingstone brought to Africa. Christian hymns had also been put into print by that same church.

As we alternated going to four congregations each week, I began to learn Chinyanja. At first, I read each and every word. I did not want to add or subtract anything from God’s Word, the liturgy, my sermon, or my Bible Instruction. However, as time went on, and as I learned more Chinyanja, I would look up from the printed word and speak a sentence or two on my own. Gradually, a sentence turned into a paragraph, a paragraph into a page – and, finally, a page into an entire sermon.

What really moved me to learn Chinyanja was when, after I had begun to learn it, I heard my interpreter saying something that I had not said. There were times when I stopped, even in the middle of a sermon and, as considerately as possible, gave him the word that I wanted him to use.