I'm very pleased to have this opportunity of
being with you.
It's our first visit to this part of
America, and we're going to be down here
for a few weeks, it seems, it's not
longer, and I thought this evening, my first
opportunity of speaking to you, that I might
sort of present our credentials, that you might
know enough about us not to be obliged
to ask questions.
So I thought that this evening I'd spend
a little time in bringing before you that
which helps you to know us a little
better.
I have in mind a verse or two
of scripture, need not turn to it, I'll
read it to you, it's in the Acts
of the Apostles, in chapter two, following, you
remember, Peter with the eleven, when he stood
up and began to preach the word to
those that were gathered there.
Verse 37 of chapter two of the Acts
of the Apostles, now when they heard this
they were pricked in their heart and said
unto Peter and to the rest of the
apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, repent and be
baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost.
For the promise is unto you, and to
your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord our
God shall cause.
And with many other words did he testify
and exhort, saying, save yourselves from this untoward
generation.
Then they that gladly received his word were
baptized, and the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls, and they
continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers,
and fear came upon every soul, and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles,
and all that believed were together, and had
all things common, and sold their possessions, and
goods, and parted them to all men as
every man had need.
And they, continuing daily with one accord in
the temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor
with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church daily,
such as should be saved, or such as
were being saved, or even the saved ones.
One note of that largely has been what
has accompanied our preaching of the gospel over
the past 50 years.
Now, I'd like to try and get you
before you this story, because I think it's
very interesting, that I was born way down
in South Wales.
My parents are not Welsh, I'm not Welsh,
but that's where I was born, and I
went to school down there, and I learned
to speak Welsh.
I spoke English, I spoke Welsh, but I
spoke English with a very strong Welsh accent.
Then, at nine years of age, my parents
moved to the north of England, and I
became the laughingstock of the boys in school,
because of this strong Welsh accent that I
had.
Well, eventually I got over that, and I
managed to speak English without so much of
the accent.
Now, I'm spending a lot of time trying
to learn how to speak American, so I
hope you won't find my accent too difficult.
It'll improve, I've no doubt, as time goes
on.
Well, now then, at nine years of age,
I came up into the north of England,
and then found I had a grandmother there
who was a very fine old Christian.
When I first was introduced to her, she
had a big bible on the table near
his hand, and she often opened that and
read a few verses to me, and then
she would give me a present.
Sometimes it was an apple, or a pear,
or a packet of sweets, something like that,
candies, and of course I went there quite
a lot.
Not for the bible readings, or the sermons,
but for what came afterward.
Nevertheless, I believe that much that my grandmother
said in those days, it really remained in
my mind, and was made a blessing to
me.
I thought at that time that she was
just a religious old lady.
I found out later, of course, that she
was a very fine Christian.
Well now, over and again I visited her,
and as I said, she tried to help
me, and I know that she prayed for
me.
And then when I was about 17 years
of age, I was employed in a very
large steelwork, and I was promoted.
And the next job that I got, a
man had to come along there every Saturday
morning to make an inspection.
And the first Saturday morning he came, as
he came through the door, he saw I
was a new man on the job, and
he looked at me, and then he said,
good morning to you.
I said good morning to you, and he
said, and how are you this morning?
I said, I'm all right thank you.
He said, no you're not.
But I am, he said, I'm all right
for eternity.
So he went on with his inspection, and
when he finished, went back to the door,
and looked at me, and said, morning.
I said, good morning.
I thought, well that chap must be a
bit queer.
He asked me how I was.
I said, I'm all right.
He said, no you're not.
He's all right.
He says, he's all right for eternity.
Queer.
But all that week I was thinking this
over.
Now what did this man mean?
And then the second Saturday morning, he came
through the door.
He said, good morning to you.
I said, good morning to you, and how
are you this morning?
I said, I'm half right.
He said, no you're not.
No you're not.
He said, you're either right or, I beg
your pardon, either right or wrong.
I'm all right.
He said, I'm all right for eternity.
He went on with his inspection.
When he finished, he went back there to
the door, and he looked back at me,
and said, morning.
I said, good morning.
Simply look all happy.
Another week to think it over, and he
came back again.
The following Saturday morning, I said, good morning
to you.
I said, morning to you, and how are
you this morning?
I said, I'm all wrong.
He came over to me, put his hands
on my shoulders, and said, when a young
man finds out that he's all wrong, God
can do something for him.
Now do you mean what you say?
I said, no.
You have obliged me to say it.
Well anyway, we won't argue about that, he
said.
You know, we've got a man preaching the
gospel at our place.
I'd like you to come and listen to
him.
I said, I'm not interested.
He said, I know that, but I'm asking
you to come and listen to him.
I said, I don't want to.
I know that, but I'm asking you, will
you please come?
Why should I?
Well he said, you'll hear a man preaching
the gospel, and I'd like you to hear
him, and then you can tell me what
you think about it.
I said, well I know, I don't want
to come.
I'm not interested.
Now he said, they tell me you're a
good fellow.
You like to please people, he said.
You don't drink, you don't smoke, he said,
but you go out of your way to
help people.
I said, now look, why not be kind
to me?
I'm asking you to come and listen to
this man.
Now, will you be kind enough to come?
Oh, I said, well, maybe.
Well, I'll see.
And now look, he says, the meetings are
starting on Sunday night.
John McAlpine from up in Trood, Scotland, he's
down here to preach the gospel, and you'll
be interested.
I said, oh well, I'll see.
And on Sunday night, I was going, and
I was not going, and I was walking
past this building, this hall, you know, and
as I passed the door where he was
there, evidently waiting, and he put it down
to my shorts and said, oh you're coming
are you?
I said, no, I was just going for
a walk.
I said, if you're calling me to push
me through the door, and he says, that's
all right, you can go for a walk
afterwards.
Here's a bible, here's a hymn book, now
you come in, and I'll find you a
nice seat.
So, as he went through the door, he
was going up to the front, and I
said, I'll sit here at the back.
No, no, no, he said, those are for
the late comer.
So, I thought, oh.
So, then away we went up the front,
he said, I want you to sit with
my brother.
So, I sat with his brother, and for
the first time I listened to the gospel.
I'd been in a church once up to
that time, once only, and I'd been into
a Sunday school once.
I didn't get on well.
It was my first time in, and I
found the other boys could answer questions, you
know, scriptural questions, and well, I couldn't.
So, I said, I'm not going there again,
and I didn't.
So, then I'd been in a church once,
I'd been in a Sunday school once, now
for the first time I listened to the
gospel, and I was deeply interested.
I'd never heard anything like that.
So, the next night I was walking past
that place again.
I was going, I was going, and he
was there again, and he took me by
the chair, and he said, so you're coming
again?
Well, I said, I was just going down
the street to see some friends.
You can see them afterwards, you come in.
Here's a bible and a hymn book.
So, I said, well, I sit on this
back seat.
No, it is my brother's up there, and
he doesn't like to sit alone.
I thought, no.
So, up the front I went again, and
once more I got the full blast of
that preaching, and I was pretty sure that
they'd been telling that evangelist all about me,
because he was telling me all about myself,
you know, and when he pointed, he always
pointed at me, he pointed at me.
I knew he was pointing at me.
He never pointed at anybody else, and when
he looked at anybody straight, you know, he
looked straight at me.
I thought, no, this is terrible, but I
couldn't get away from it.
And so, after that, I didn't find it
difficult.
I went every night.
And so, under the sound of the gospel,
I was beginning to realize that although I
didn't smoke, and I didn't drink, and I
didn't swear, and I was living quite a
good kind of a life, there was still
something wrong.
I really needed Christ as my Savior, and
on the last night of the mission, I
stood to my feet in the midst of
a big congregation of people, and I said,
I'll accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my
own personal Savior.
I had a talk with the evangelist afterwards,
and he gave me some good advice, and
then I came out, and I found there
were three of the brethren there who were
collecting the hymn books and bibles and stacking
them, and among them was this man who
came to make the inspection.
So, he came across to me to shake
hands, and he said, well, how are you?
I said, I'm all right.
Yes, he said, you're all right, so am
I.
We're both all right now.
We're all right for eternity.
Is that it?
I said, yes, that's it.
Then I went outside, expecting to find all
the people had gone, but they hadn't.
They were there, and they were still waiting
for me, and as I came out, they
all wanted to shake hands and say how
glad they were I'd accepted Christ as my
Savior, and believe me, my hands with fingers
were tingling for days after this.
They really meant it when they shook hands.
So, I would say the next thing was,
very soon they said, of course, you know,
those who believed were baptized.
Well, I said, I don't know what you
mean by baptism.
I think I was probably baptized when I
was a baby, sprinkled, and suddenly, but I
said, I don't think about it.
Well, they said all those who are in
fellowship here have been baptized, and so I
said, well, I'm quite happy about it if
you tell me what does it mean.
So, they explained to me what baptism meant,
and I said, well, I'm very happy to
be baptized, so I was baptized.
Well, then I found that in this place,
they had a very large Sunday school, over
a thousand children in it.
You ever seen one like that?
Well, I have, I've seen another one.
I saw one in London.
I spoke to 900 children in one big
room.
Well, this Sunday school that I was in,
over a thousand children, and they said, we'd
like you to be in the Bible class,
the men's Bible class, because you'll learn a
great deal there.
Had a 70 men in it.
I said, that's great, and they said, we've
got a women's Bible class here too.
Got 75 women in that, and we've got
an infant school too.
So, I said, well, and later they said,
now you're making good progress.
Would you like to be a substitute teacher?
I said, well, I don't want anything.
I've never been to Sunday school.
I don't think about it.
Well, no, but if you're willing and ready
to help, well, then we'll put you in
for it, and you'll get on all right.
So, I remembered that I had been praying
ever since I was saying, because I heard
somebody use this verse of scripture, Paul on
the way to Damascus.
Lord, what will thou have me to do?
And I've been praying that, and now I
began to think, well, maybe this is what
the Lord wants me to do, do some
work in the Sunday school.
And at last they called on me, and
they said, we want your help in the
Sunday school.
Go down to the infant school.
Oh, I thought I'm going to begin at
the ladder.
So, I went around to the Sunday school,
and I pushed open one of the doors,
and I got a bit of a fright.
There were 200 infants sitting there, 100 on
each side, and a man standing with a
desk, and he was speaking to the children,
and on the front I noticed the man
standing there, the one standing here, and I
watched them for a moment, and I saw
that they were looking at the children, and
watching the children, and the moment a child
lost interest, you know, it would click the
fingers.
So, I thought, oh yes, they're keeping the
attention of these little ones on the speaker.
So, after a moment, the man speaking says
to me, you come to help?
I said, yes.
You go to the back, he said, and
the man at the back there will tell
you what to do.
So, I saw a man at the back,
so I went to him, and he had
a long rod, like a fishing rod.
So, he said, another one in the corner,
go and get it.
So, I said, watch me.
Well, these at the front could get the
children's attention on the speaker, you see, but
they couldn't reach the back one.
So, he showed me what to do.
Watch the children, and if you see a
child turning his head to speak to the
next one, you tickle the top of his
head with it, and he'll sit up and
fold his arms and listen.
So, that's when I began.
In the Sunday school is the infant with
a tickler, right down, right down the bottom
of the ladder.
Well, I thought, well anyway, I'm doing something,
and then they said, now, after a while,
they said, they want you to speak for
five minutes.
Oh, I said, not speaking.
I can use the tickler.
I keep them in order, but don't ask
me to speak.
Oh, everybody has to take the turn, so
you've got five minutes.
No, I said, I'd rather not.
Oh, you can't refuse, everybody.
So, I said, oh well, I'll try.
So, I got enough material together, you know,
to last me for about half an hour.
And when I stood up, I never knew
where it all went in just about three
minutes.
I said, don't know anymore.
So, they said, you've done very well.
So, this was helping me to come on
in work for the Lord.
Well, then, the first night I went into
that building, the evangelist had gone into the
street, and he had a concertina, and he
was playing hymn tunes, and a crowd of
young people were following him, and they were
singing.
And every now and again, they stopped, and
they called out to the people in the
street, we're having these special meetings, we invite
you to come along, you know.
So, and after they'd been round the streets
for a little while, singing and calling out
an announcement, then they made their way back
into this hall.
And I was sitting right away up the
front, and when they came in, almost dead
on time, they all made their way up
to the front to leave those back seats
for the late comers.
And I happened to turn round to look
at these young people coming in, and some
of them came and sat just over on
the side, and I looked at one of
them, I looked straight into the face of
a girl that I remembered.
She was in the same school, she was
in the same class, I haven't seen her
for years.
Oh, so she must belong to this place
then.
So I said, well, haven't seen her, haven't
seen her for a long time.
So, and the night I was saved, I
noticed that she was among them waiting there
to shake hands, you know, and I looked
at her again, and I reminded her, I
said, you were same school, same class.
She said, I don't remember you.
Well, I remembered her anyway.
Now, as time went on, still interested in
the work of the Lord, going out, open
air meetings, teaching a little here and there,
working in the Sunday school, the war broke
out.
And as a young man, I began to
wonder, well, is there something I should do?
And I listened to the brethren, you know,
the elders, and some said one thing, and
some said another thing, and some didn't say
anything.
And I thought, well, back again to my
text, Lord, what will thou have me to
do?
So I prayed very earnestly about this.
I had a good knowledge of medical work,
I'd been privileged to be with students, medical
students, and also I felt I had quite
a good knowledge of God's way of salvation.
And at last I felt clear before the
Lord that I could use my medical knowledge
to help men who were sick and wounded,
and at the same time I could probably
help them to know Christ as Savior.
So I volunteered to go into the medical
corps, and immediately, because of my knowledge and
experience, I was put on duty with no
training at all, and I worked for a
time receiving all those that came over from
France, wounded, sick, and I had many opportunities
of speaking to these men, of giving them
a tract, of giving them a gospel of
John, and so I thought, well, the Lord
is helping me.
But after I'd been down there for a
time, we were sent up to a depot.
Things were beginning to get very grim over
in France, and all able-bodied men were
being gathered together and sent over there, and
as I was Class A1, I was sent
up to this depot for training.
So when I got there, I found myself
among about 16 or 17 other Christian fellows,
and we began to have some good times
together, although we were there in training.
And then one day the Sergeant Major came
along, and he had a long list of
names, and he began to read them out,
and he said, now all you men whose
names have been read out, you're all on
drought.
You're all going to the quartermaster's store to
draw your tropical kit.
So I thought, well now this is a
terrible blow, because during the the few months
that I had been saved, I had heard
a lot of missionaries.
Most of them came from Africa or India,
and I thought at the time, well we
haven't got missionaries in any other part of
the world, only Africa and India.
And when I listened to them, and when
I looked at the pictures that they threw
on the screen, I said to myself, well
if ever I was to be a missionary,
I would never go to India.
I would never go to Africa.
And I said to myself, if you felt
the Lord wanted you to go out as
a missionary, well where would you like to
go?
And I thought, well I would like to
go to Iceland, because I like the cold
weather, I don't like the hot weather.
I get on better when it's snowing, and
blowing, and freezing, and well I reckon a
cold country would suit me better, but I
didn't know what cold country there was, until
in a missionary meeting I heard somebody talking
about a place called Iceland.
Oh I said, that's the place then for
me, Iceland.
Who's there?
Oh there's a man there named Gook, Mr.
and Mrs. Gook are working there.
Anybody else?
No.
Well I said, I think he needs a
bit of help.
So, Iceland.
And I began to prepare for it.
I prepared for it in such a way
that my mother, and father, and sisters, and
brothers thought sure enough I'd gone mental, because
I was going out almost without anything on
to get hardened up for Iceland, you see.
And I thought, well now this is it.
The Lord will certainly open the way up
for me to go to Iceland.
And now here the Sergeant Major says, all
you men, report to the quartermaster's store and
draw your tropical kit.
I went to him, I said, Sergeant Major,
are you sure that's my name you've got
there?
Yes, he said, this is your name.
So I said, I think there's a mistake.
He said, we don't make mistakes in the
Army.
Well I said, you know there's a lot
of browns, other browns.
Well I said, I'll tell you this, Sergeant
Major, it's not a good use of sending
me out there to the top because I
won't be able to stand a climate like
that.
He said, you'll stand anything when we've finished
with you.
So I thought, there's no getting out of
this.
And so I drew the tropical kit, and
I came back again.
I put it down on the ground, and
I said to myself, well I don't care
what they give me for the tropics.
They can give me a big cork helmet,
and they give me a scarlet spinal cover,
you know, to save me from getting a
sudden stroke, and they give me khaki drills,
suits, shorts, and what have you, but I
don't care what they give me.
If they're going to send me out to
the tropics, then it won't be long before
John Brown's body lies a-moulding in the
grave.
I'll never stand a climate like that, never.
But anyway, the Army's got to do what
you told.
And so, in due course, we sailed from
England in a troop ship, packed like sardines,
chased by submarines, but eventually got away, and
we arrived in Cape Town, and I went
out a few days off in Cape Town.
I went round and found some of the
Christians.
I told them my story, and they said,
we'll pray for you.
I said, I'll need it.
And then slowly went up to Durban.
We got ashore for a few days.
I found the Christians.
I told them my story.
They said, we'll pray for you.
I said, I'll need it.
And up we went until we got to
Dar es Salaam, way up in East Africa
there, and then we were put ashore, and
we began to work in our hospital work.
Well, it was a dreadful place, and I
thought it wouldn't be long before I was
down like the rest of them.
On the ship, we had a lot of
Welshmen, and as I knew the Welsh quite
well, I got them singing.
And so we, in the evening, we sang
hymns, and then I would have about 20
minutes to 25 minutes preaching the gospel to
them.
So these men on the ship, they knew
me quite well, and they'd heard the gospel
from me over and over again.
But when we got up onto the east
coast there, these men began to go down
with typhoid fever, and with black water fever,
and there was no hope for them in
those days when they got there.
And so it wasn't long before many of
them were being buried.
I know some of them, men that have
listened to me preaching the gospel.
And one day I went along to that
little cemetery, and I saw those little wooden
crosses with the names of men that were
with me on the ship.
And I thought to myself, well how long
will it be before there's another wooden cross
there with my name on it, because this
is a dreadful place.
But the Lord kept me fit and well.
And then one day when I went out,
I found a little group of men, Africans,
sitting on the shore, and one of them
reading a book.
He sat in the middle there, and he
was reading a book all year, and they
were sitting around listening.
And the long white gowns on him, white
caps, he put them on his head.
And I thought, well they must be Mohammedans,
you know.
And the man there is reading the Quran.
And I passed several times, and every night
they were there.
Then one night I got rather interested, so
I went to the man as he finished,
and I put my hands out to the
book, and he gave it to me, and
I had a look at it, and I
thought, well, terrible language this is.
But my eye caught sight of a word
at the top of the page.
It was the word Marco.
And I turned over a few pages, and
I saw Luco.
And a few more pages, I saw Ioanni.
And I turned back, and I saw Matteo.
I thought, Matteo, Marco, Luco, Ioanni, well, it
must be a New Testament or a Bible
this fellow's reading.
And I got interested.
And so I looked at it.
Well, I don't know the language.
But as I looked at it, the man
put his finger on the words, and he
began to read them again.
And he read them very slowly, and I
noticed that it was divided up, it was
syllabic, you know.
And it came rather easy.
So I thought, well I'll try.
So I tried, and they all sat down
again, and, oh well, come on, you read.
I don't know your languages.
So, you know, you read.
So I began to read, and I went
every night.
And I got interested in the language.
In about five months, I was able to
preach the gospel in a simple way.
And then the powers that be found out
I could.
And so they sent me a way out
into the bush with about 400 men, and
I had to manage best way I could.
No transport, no supply column.
We had to live on what we could
find.
But I'd lorded in this opportunity that I
was in the army, that I was doing
missionary work.
I was preaching the gospel to the Africans.
Well, now, I've got to make a story
short, this long story short.
After the war was over, I had nearly
four years, we found ourselves back in Dar
es Salaam, and I had this crowd of
men with me.
Some of them had died, but most of
them were there, and they all came round
and said, you know, we, many of us
are now Christians, and you're going back to
England.
What are you going to do when you
get back there?
So I said, well, go back to my
employment.
Well, they said, we think you ought to
come back here.
So I said, well, I've got to go
and pray, Lord, what will they have me
to do?
And they said, well, we're going to pray
that too.
You've got a father and mother, sisters and
brothers, you want to see them.
We've got fathers and mothers and sisters and
brothers, we want to see them.
So when you've been over there and stayed
with them for a while, we want you
to come back.
Come back to us in our country, and
if you come back, we'll build a house
for you, we'll supply you with food.
If only you would live among us and
go on preaching this gospel.
We're going back, and we're going to tell
our people what we can of the gospel,
but we want you to come back.
Now, will you come?
And I said, you pray, and I'll pray.
And so I came back to England, and
I went back to the assembly, back into
the Sunday school, back into the Lord's work
as much as possible, but I could never
get away from that crowd, and I had
eventually to say, Lord, here am I, send
me.
Well now, during this time, I got the
second blessing.
The Lord gave me a good wife, and
so the two of us, we began to
think about missionary work.
She was interested, I found she was interested,
so was I.
But the trouble was, we were pulled apart.
I had been thinking about Iceland, she was
thinking about a nice hot country, and so
we had to pray a lot about this,
but eventually, as you see, the Lord overruled,
and he took me out to Africa and
brought me back.
So otherwise, Iceland for me, Africa for her.
But the Lord took me over there, and
so it was Africa for me as well.
So eventually, we both went out, and we've
been out, as you've heard, for 20 years
in the Congo, about 20 years in Zambia,
and the Lord has blessed that work.
We have been able to establish many assemblies
in the Congo, and they're still going on
very well indeed, managing their own affairs, and
we established a number of assemblies in Zambia,
what was at that time Zorba and Rhodesia,
and they seem to be managing very well.
Then we came down into South Africa for
the past two and a half years, and
whilst there, I've been able to write five
books in the African languages, and they are
now in circulation.
The ministry is proving a great help and
a blessing to them.
By the will of the Lord, we hope
we will be able to get back again
there, and may still be able to do
a little more, and maybe a little more
writing, and we can get a visa and
go up on a visit for about three
months, and visit those assemblies, and I know
they'll be very pleased to see us, and
we can give them a little more encouragement.
So I'll leave it at that, and ask
that you might remember us in prayer.
Remember those people over there who are still
trying to carry on the work of the
Lord, and pray that we too may be
guided and directed.
We are supposed to be on vacation now,
but the moment we leave Africa, after working
in the languages for five or six years,
we get back to England.
They say, Brother, can you give us some
ministry here?
Brother, can you give us a series of
gospel meetings here?
And this is how it goes on.
So we have a kind of a busman's
furlough, you see.
So now part of the furlough is over
here, and we're moving around, and we trust
that the Lord will make us a blessing
for many whilst we're here.
Now there's quite a good deal of teaching,
and if it pleases the Lord for us
to put that model of a tabernacle up,
I'm sure that you will find that these
talks will be a real help and a
blessing to you.
So I'll leave it at that.