A n early morning, A l Mace is guest speaker to group of Tamil-speaking Indians. Bill Harris, an O.M.F. missionary to Indians, is seated at left end of bench. The place is Stra its of Malacca in Malasia.
When he was a junior in High School, one Sunday night in a church service, the Lord used a Sunday School missionary story and an article he was reading to call Al to be a missionary. He says he felt so strongly urged: “I asked two of my buddies to go with me to a small back room and pray with me.” Then and there he dedicated his life to mission work. “The Lord gave me this from Psalms 86:11, ‘Teach me Thy way, 0 Lord; I will walk in Thy truth; unite my heart to fear Thy name’.” A few years later, in the time of flowering trees and Spring rains, Al Mace and Doris Herd met. One evening as they stood on the steps of the Church of the Open Door, a mutual friend in troduced them. A few weeks later they had their first date at the Biola Spring Banquet, after
which they went together steadily. They were then both twenty-two years old, Al a senior and Doris a junior in college. After graduat ing from Biola, they joined the Overseas Missionary Fellowship in November 1956, arriving in Southern Malaysia in May 1957. They completed their landscape and residence requirements as missionaries in 1959 and were married that year. When a sked who m ost in fluenced his life, Al r ep lied : “Friends, Sunday School teachers, Scout masters, youth group lead ers — all had a part in forming me into the Christian I am today.” However, trials come to dedi cated Christians, too. Recently, Al suffered from a sore throat, hem orrhaging at tim e s , for ten months. Two doctors said he was through preaching — maybe for life. Also his singing, trumpet
playing and photography in which he had achieved skill seemed gone. But the medical prognosis was wrong! Al and Doris have depended on God for many things, including money. One night Al felt very un comfortable after supper. The next morning he was no better and Doris called in a nurse who was there on short leave. She in turn called Dr. Hogben, who had arrived a week ahead of sched ule. She had Al in a hospital with in hours and they operated, re moving a gangrenous appendix. No infection set in and Al was back in his home within a few days. Al’s life had been saved be cause of the Lord’s perfect tim ing: the nurse, the doctor, the hospital, and even money' from home for the hospital bill. Al said, “We missionaries live from God’s hand to our mouths.”
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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