The Ohio Independent Baptist, March 1964

B A thur V y y l ,,don Bur au ct,i f ( ,i ago Tribun Pr ss S 1·vic ) 1 ' t , l"t, iJlt'. R 'J t1l Ii'- l f l)r1 """ - ' •1 t 111 t 11 e ,, , · k f t 1, ' I () r I. ~, l t l I t is Rt1tl1 11,gc. n s1,1all ,111,,. ,,,r,. ....., c.r,l) I nir,,,~ \ 1\'l \.l i ,,,, llll:\ 1 ,11.11 \ . ' '\\ 1 11e11 l ,, , atr.1i"J Ht' ! .1, l' 111c J 't' ' '' l1t't1 l ,, , ,, c .1 k. l-l , ua, , , 111 .. ,, e11utl1. ,, 1 l1t'n. 111,111, t1111c,. 111et1 ... tl1rt'atl.'t1e I '"' k. 1 111c. I ,11l,k.t' ll) tl1c111 tl1c 1,1~',,.1!.!l.' "'t l)tir ... J\ tl)f atlli tl1t: .... l r ('h,111~cti t 1 1t.'1r l1cart, l1lc _ .. ,l1t: '-' ,11.11 J)t'ti i11gcr,. ,tr 11g fro111 n l1fc- t1111l' ill IllP,,tl)ll \\l)t"1'. - .. I COtllti , cc he cl1n11gc c 111c o, ~r tl1c1r face ." .... "l ,, ~1, ~ r11 111 P,1"0 R ble". nlif .. DITOR' NOTE: Ruth H go, .1 B.-.ptist Mid· Mi~!iionc.' nu ,on.,ry incc 1937, i from W llington , Ohio. Ir no Fnrr~I, undor 811p· ti t Mid-Missions sin co 1955, w~,s le illed by n poi'>oned arrow and Mis Hoge wa~ woundod in tho Communic.t-lod guerrilla attack on their n,ission station in late January. This p ,:,rc;nn I oto, }' by Ruth H 90 was printed in th Chic,,go Tribune a fow days aftor the attack and is reprintod in the Ohio In– dependent Baptist by spocia l permission. u c '°lat tiO\v11, for tl1c chicfc:; had for (iC cral ua,, bce11 telling tt we ,l1ot1ld go. vcn 0L1r pa tor~ \aid we ,J1ot1ld go. for ot1r prc\cncc brot1ght (i anger tip on the 111. "The pilot flew away. ··1rcne and I went into our hott c ""J' l1 ·y JJttsl1ctl us (lowr1 the stairs. 1 f cl I n ,vn ' S l)tl t 111n nageel lo regain 111y fclOling. "'J' l1c)' JJt1shccl tis a11(l tpt1llctf t1 nc1 ,1"' the grot111(ls lo a big tree. Irene a11cl I 111an ngecl to stay to get her. • ' 'fhings. things. the sl1ot1te... 1. .-I' l1ings, r11 y graciot1s. '"f.hcy were al– rca<.ly t,tking everything ottt of the hot1se. ·• 0111conc clo c by tl1rcw an arrow at Irene. It w,1s an ugly twistccl thing, With a metal point that long, ancl barbed.' ' he showed with her fingers ,1 length of about two inches. "I t hit Irene right here, in the neck, jt1 t on the left ide. It made a terrible '' hen I was afraid, He gave me ' ' peace ••••• 59 , ,ear ago:· he aid. at the be– ginning of her trange tor}'. ''bt1t I n ..,,, call \\ 7 ellington. Ohio. m) hon1e. ..I fir t can1e to the Congo in I 933 but after n1)- fir t term of three , ear . I \\'a ent to enezuela. I wa ~ there 1 )'ear . ··in 1957 I came back to the Congo, to ~Iangungu, where the Mennon– ite had built a Bible chool, primary chool, and di pen ary, which, of cour e. er,,.ed a the nucleu for a ho pita 1. Daily more than 100 people came to u for medical care. Many night \\ e had 50 to 100 ick people in ottr dozen hut which erved as a ho pital. ..But our main work was preaching the \\r~ord of God. So I ,pent much time in the village telling people the good new of alvation. '-' '"In 1960, when the Congo became independent, our station, like mo t of the other , was evacuated. We left 11angungu to our Congo pa tors and the)' then kept it running. When I came back in 1961 I brought with me ID\' friend, Irene Ferrel, who had .. pre, iou l} pent several years in the Congo. We had never before worked together. ..We t\.\ o. alone, were the foreign taff. ··several da)' ago 1·oung men of far village began coming to the ta– tion demanding things. Mostly the 1 \\~anted cloth. Sometime in the pa t , e old cloth to villages. But these )'Oung men were not polite and we ga,,e them nothing. ..Frida)' morning. a small mis ion plane circled the station we ha, 1 e no landing field or radio like some of the larger American stations. The pilot dropped a note sa), ing if we wanted to be e\·acuated we should sit on the -ground. Page 4 MARCH,, 1964 and began packing. We filled our uitca e and got our pa port . The member of the church gave me 1,500 franc ( about $10 at the official rate of exchange) o that I would not go away empty handed. ·we thought a helicopter would come before night. But none came. Perhaps now it i a good thing be– cau e I learned later that the young men on eeing the plane, planned to attack any troops or even U. . peo,ple coming in. There would have been terrible bloodshed. "'My friend and I went to bed. On the urface everything wa normal. Eight men of the station stood guard. Awakened at midnight '"About an hour after midnight we were awakened by an awful din. People were running around. Stones and club began crashing through the windows we had gla s in ot1r window . I put on a heavy skirt and blou e. Irene came in. We didn't know what to do so we went into the bath– room, which seemed to be the safest place. The guard had vanished but only after one was beaten up. '·The young men broke into the house. Apparently they knocked down the door. "They flooded through the hou e. We con idered locking our elve in the bathroom but decided they would on ly knock it down so we left it un– Jocked. Within a few n1inutes the men found u . ' They grabbed u by the arm and pulled u through the house, out into the porch. Someone grabbed my kirt and tore it off. They pulled at my blot1 e, too, but the Lord saved it for me. The}" tore Irene' dre in n1an}· place but did not take it from her. wound. Irene pulled out the arrow. She looked at me and said, quietly 'I'm fini hed.' Then she collapsed. I, too, collap ed beside her. She fell partly on top of me and blood poured from her neck over me. '·At the time I did not realize I too had been wounded. They had been beating me, and someone had apparently thrown an arrow that struck my blouse in the sleeve, the left one, but the cloth diverted the point and apparently only barbs cut my kin. The Lord had again saved me, for later the young men told me the ,point was poisoned and they ex– pected me to die. "I feigned that I was dead. Young men came up to me and kicked me and grabbed me by the hair and pulled it out by the handful, and did other ugly things . Once they grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away from my friend. 11 Lord calmed me' ' "I wa hivering with fright. But once, when a man, an older one I think, came up to me and put his hand on my che t to see if I were really dead, the Lord calmed me and let me lie motionless, without a quiver or even an apparent heart beat. "'For what seemed an endless time, the young men ran around. I a ked the Lord if, plea e, they n1ight go away. HThe young men broke into the school and et it afire. They gathered the book and burned them. They broke into the di pen ary. ··it mu t have been clo e to dawn that I wa left alone. The fire wa at it height and mo t of the men \i\ ere rt1nning around it. I rai ed n1y elf on THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST