ish and the work which had been Spanish Gospel Recordings now was Gospel Recordings, Incorporated. We saw our pile of acetate record blanks diminishing and we could not get any more; every door was tightly barred. We were on our knees for we only had one record blank left, not enough even for a day’s work. We were in earnest prayer about it when there was a knock at our little studio. We disregarded the interruption and con tinued to pray. Soon we heard a knock at the other door. Upon opening it, there stood a delivery truck in the alley and before us one of those lady delivery men they had during the war, coldly announcing that she had brought us an order from the whole sale supply house. It proved to be a large stack of record acetates, just exactly what we needed, three hun dred dollars’ worth, and we had the money to pay for them! We then knelt to thank God for this wonderful answer to our prayers. Another door had swung open. As the work grew end there were more demands, my strength also in creased, and with it a desire which reiterated in our hearts until we felt it was a call. It was to step out to Mexico to make recordings of lan guages of tribes where Wycliffe Bible Translators were working, but where the people did not have a written Bible or Gospel they could read. Hitherto most of the languages we had recorded were for nations or tribes where they had little or nothing at all. Thereupon Ann Sherwood and I made plans to go and make record ings in cooperation with the Trans lators. This was an impossible undertak ing for war time. We would need
The station wagon which came supplied with gasoline ration coupons — donated for for the Mexico trip. This made it possible for them to get recordings in 33 languages.
a small stable many years before. But now it was in disuse, except for one section which was storage space. It had an uneven dirt floor, the walls were all askew and the broken doors hung on their hinges. Perhaps this could be made into a studio. The roof seemed to be pretty good. But of course we had no money, no mater ials, no carpenter, nor did we have the recording equipment necessary for this project. We didn’t even have The first piece of recording equipment was donated. This disc recorder was taken on the first field trip — to Mexico. (Joy Rid- derhof, left, and Ann Sherwood.)
the furniture to put into it. But soon after this a friend invited me to visit their home outside of Los Angeles. While there she said, “We want to make a contribution towards your studio.” They took me over to the wrecking yard and said, “We have de cided that we would like to buy you a door.” So I was given a used door. Frankly I could not see how it would lit in, but received it thankfully. As I rattled home in my old Ford over the 25 miles with this wooden door banging up and down on the roof, I thought, “After all, we have the door, and it is an open one.” Needless to say with that begin ning it was not long before this old shack had been transformed into a neat little sound-proofed studio and by the time it was finished, door in place, we had a desk (for this was to be office and headquarters as well), excellent recording equipment, all donated, a technician who came from time to time to oversee the work and a neat piano with excellent tone! There were many good reasons why our work just could not “carry on” during the war. Everything was tied up. It took high military priorities to be able to get some of the supplies needed, but we always had the open door of communication with the Chief of Staff who is really at the top, and it was to Him that we went at all times, and on Him we depended for every need. I remember once when it looked as though we would have to stop unless a miracle were performed quickly. By this time we were work ing in other languages besides Span
Zopoteco child shows how she practiced with a tin can tor a microphone before making the recordings in her tongue. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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