M ISS JOY RIDDERHOF . . . M issionary to Hon duras. Founder and D irector o f Gospel Record ings. And every tongue shall confess th a t Jesus Ch rist is Lord, to the g lo ry o f God the Father (Ph ilipp ia n s 2:11, Living Letters). “ You a m issionary?" M r. R idderhof laughed be n ign ly a t his youngest daughter. “ Joy, da rling , be rea sonable!” Mr. R idderhof tu rn ed to the v is itin g Quaker m is sionary and explained, “ Our Joy is much too fun -lo v ing and im p ractica l to be a m issionary. But you m ust meet o u r daugh te r Amy. What a fine m issionary she’ ll make!” Joy R idderhof got the same reaction from her school friend s . "Y ou in A frica?” they would chortle. "O h , Joy, y ou ’ re a fra id o f a frog . You’d never be able to live in A frica, w ith w itch doctors and lions and py th o n s .” They were righ t, Joy adm itted sadly. Her o lder s is te r Amy had all the qua lifica tion s fo r m issionary service. Joy could not do much o f anything. S till, she clung w is tfu lly to th e dream o f serving God in A frica. Joy’s dream was born as she listened to a m is sionary message when she was ju s t five years old. A woman spoke about the needs o f Honduras, and lit tle Joy w ished th a t some day she m igh t go and te ll fo re ign people abou t God. The stream o f m issionaries v is itin g in the R idder hof home in Los Angeles kept Joy’s dream alive and interested her p a rtic u la rly in Ethiopia and the Sudan. Joy attended Bible school, spent two years in practical church w o rk in M iam i, and completed a de gree in professional education a t U.C.L.A. In the s p ring o f 1930, M iss R idderhof was ready to go to the m ission fie ld . Tha t sp ring very few Americans were going any where, except bankrup t. But Joy's God was not bank rupt. He sent her fir s t to the very parish in Honduras whose needs had fir s t aroused her compassion. There the g irl who was “ too im p ra c tic a l” to be a m issionary survived two revolu tions and constan t per secution w ith the trium p h a n t testim on y th a t “ Fierce battles lead to g lo rious v ic to rie s .” Too sick to return to Honduras a fte r her fir s t te rm , Joy seized pick and shovel, hammer and nails, and tu rned a d irt-flo o re d Los Angeles stable in to a snug recording studio. The g irl who “ co u ld n ’t do an y th in g ” mastered the te chn ica litie s o f the fin e s t recording equ ipm ent. She traveled from Alaskan igloos to stone-age New Guinea, recording the Gospel message in the languages of illite ra te tribes. The c h ild who was a fra id o f frog s grew up to
spend a year in the P h ilipp ine jungles. In th e shan tie s o f brown-skinned natives, she endured gekko liz ards and monsoon rains. The g irl who was “ too im p ra c tic a l” to be a m is sionary now d ire c ts a recording studio, pressing and processing plants, and a phonograph fa c to ry in Los Angeles. She supervises a hundred workers, oversees branch officves in six coun tries, and tra in s and directs fie ld workers. “ It is good,” Joy adm its, “ I did not know in the beg inning how vast th e ta sk was to be bu t I d id know th a t God had pledged His Word. Of Abraham he said, ‘ But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, fo r his fa ith and tru s t were strong, and he praised God fo r th is blessing before it even happened. He was com plete ly sure th a t God was well able to do any th in g He prom ised, (Rom. 4:20, 21, Living Letters). Could I not accept th is inheritance too?” Through five m illio n w h irlin g discs in over th re e thousand languages and dialects, Joy R idde rho f's fa ith speaks to th e wo rld. Testim onies to new life th ro ugh th e recorded message pour onto her Los An geles desk d a ily from th e fo u r corners o f the earth. What tu rn ed th e w is tfu l R idderhof g irl in to a wom an o f vic to riou s faith? In th ree stages Joy recounts the experiences th a t led to th e fo un d ing o f Gospel Recordings: The healing o f her d ispo s ition ; The fo l low -through o f obedience; The secret o f rejoicing. Her frien d s and fam ily good-naturedly disparaged her m issionary ideals. Bu t th a t d id not bother school g irl Joy too much. She was not pa rtic u la rly concerned abou t her lack o f a b ility o r a dap tab ility . One th in g tro u b le d her— her d isposition . Joy set high standards. M issionaries m ust be v ic to rio u s C h ristians in every-day life , especially in th e ir homes. Joy knew she d id not qua lify. “ I wanted to be good ,” she says, “ bu t I was w ill fu l. I was often cranky and cross. I was selfish, very c ritic a l, easily aggravated. I fussed a t my m other and blamed her fo r th ing s th a t we ren’t her fa u lt. The man ners o f my b rothers and siste rs annoyed and em ba r rassed me. I qua rreled w ith Amy, my closest s is te r.” To the Friends' m eeting th a t the R idderhofs a t tended in Los Angeles the re came old-fashioned fie ry evangelists who preached the ve ritie s o f sin, o f rig h t eousness, and o f judgm en t; “ . . . one who is not holy w ill not see th e Lo rd ” (Hebrews 12:14, Living Letters), the y thunde red . The te x t dug deeply in to Joy’s consciousness and convicted her o f need in the give and ta ke o f da ily living. Impatience, sho rt temper, irrita tio n — were these normal tra its fo r a c h ild o f God? “ You don ’t act like a C h ris tia n ,” said Joy in d ig nan tly one day, app ly ing her high standa rds to her
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