open doo r before the date o f en te ring in to my con ta c t w ith th e c ity schools. If You w ill give me an open ing, I’ ll go to the m ission fie ld ." O f course, Joy meant she would go to A frica. Several days later, a member o f her church asked M iss R idderhof if she would be interested in w o rk ing in Honduras under the Quaker M ission Board. A needy post was em pty there. “ I was shocked,” recalls Joy. “ I a lm os t fe lt like Jephthah w ith my rash vow. I was caug h t.” Joy R idderhof fe lt no pull toward Latin America. As a little g irl, she had been a fra id o f Mexicans and would cross the stree t to avoid them in Los Angeles. She d id not know any o f the m issionaries in the Quaker wo rk in Honduras. Besides, she planned to apply to one o f the in terdenom inational fa ith m is sions. Though the y attended a Friends church, the R idderhofs had never iden tified w ith the denom ina tion. Joy’s hea rt was heavy. A strange coun try, s tra n gers to work w ith , a denom ination to serve, and o f all fie ld s , Latin America! But in the face o f her prom ise to God, how could she refuse? “ I waited before the W ord,” says M iss R idderhof. “ I hoped in the S crip tu re to fin d some ‘o u t’ o r else some very clear command to go. But no special mes sage was given me, ju s t the general im pact o f the Great Comm ission. I d id n ’t fin d any th ing to bolste r up my resistance or to urge me fo rw a rd .” Her prom ise to God, her realization th a t “ the tim e is sh o rt,” and the plain tea ch ing o f S crip ture caused Joy to accept th e appo in tm en t o f the Friends m ission to Honduras. There her tim e was indeed short, and opposition faced her a t every tu rn . In a remote h ill town, she worked w ith ju s t one Ch ristian companion, an illite r ate native g irl. The Roman Catholic village p riest spared no e ffo rt to destroy her work and get rid of the Protestants. Political upheaval, p rim itiv e liv in g cond ition s, and extreme personal danger to o k th e ir to ll. Joy caught a trop ica l fever. But how could she leave th is little town where she had seen such m iracle s o f grace? She had seen lives changed by th e Gospel; she had been rescued again and again from imm inen t danger. She stood by the death beds o f those who had ju s t tu rn ed to C h rist fo r salvation. She watched helplessly as young be lievers were swept away in to revo lu tiona ry activities. She heard the testim on ie s o f new C h ristians who blessed God w ith all the words at th e ir command. The tim e was sho rt; the w o rk ju s t beginning. In the excitemen t o f service, Joy ha rdly realized the cond ition o f her own health.
Back in Los Angeles fo r a belated fu rlough , Joy yearned fo r the needy in the h ills o f Honduras. A year wasted away and s till she lay in her a ttic room . The tro p ica l disease was stubborn. Seeing no immediate prospect o f sending M iss R idderhof back to th e fie ld , the m ission board dropped her support. Lying the re weak, penniless, w ith the desire o f her heart closed to her, Joy faced what she ca lls her “ re jo icing c ris is .” God had been good to her, she rem inded herself. He had lifte d from her the burden o f a w illfu l tem p e ra ment. He had given her grace to fo llow th rough on her m issionary comm itm en t. He had allowed her six intense, fru itfu l years in Honduras. The way had not been easy, b u t happiness had always followed obe dience. “ I a t la s t woke up to th e fa c t th a t even on my sick bed I m ust rejoice. God could use me rig h t the re in my g a rre t as well as on the m ission fie ld . If I would wait, w ith rejoicing, fa ith , and expectation, God would w o rk in some g rea te r way to reach th e unreached in Honduras.” Thus Gospel Recordings was born. Convalescing Joy c u t a record in Spanish fo r use back in Honduras. The a ttic became an o ffic e where s c rip ts were pre pared. H ig h -fid e lity equ ipm ent, technical aid, finances, appeared as if on cue. By the tim e Joy’s health would pe rm it her to go abroad, m issionaries to o the r coun tries had begun asking fo r Gospel records. Joy hesitated. How she longed to retu rn to Honduras! Bu t God said to her, " I have o the r sheep, too, in ano the r fo ld . I m ust b rin g them also . .. .” (John 10:16, Living Gospels). M illio n s around the w o rld had no m issionary who knew th e ir language and no B ib le to read. Joy p rom ised God th a t she would make records in any lan guage o r d ia le c t fo r which He would help her fin d speakers and tran s la to rs . Rejoicing as each new doo r opened, Joy R idder hof and her team moved fo rw ard. To the Navaho firs t, then the Mexican Indians, and the Alaskan Eski mos; to ninety-two F ilip ino trib a l groups, naked Aus tra lia n aborigines, and on to Ethiopia, the Congo, and th e Sudan. S imple Gospel messages have been recorded in over th ree thousand languages and new d ialec ts are added each week. The m issionary fa ith o f a g irl who has never o u t grown being “ too im p ra c tic a l” reaches ahead to th e day when "e v e ry tongue shall confess th a t Jesus C h ris t is L o rd ” (P h ilip p ia n s 2 :1 1 ). KB
Reprinted from Chapter Seven o f Bom to Climb by Dr. Dick Hillis. Word Books, Waco, Texas. Copyright 1967.
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