Our church has a really nice library with a really sweet librarian,and they have the whole Heroes of the Faith series. What is a Hero of the Faith? A Christian man or woman who did good things.My favorite one (so far!)has been this one, Mary Slessor. But, as you are probably wondering, WHO IS MARY SLESSOR!? Mary Slessor was a Scottish missionary to West Africa from 1876-1915,with very few furloughs. She overcome many things to become a missionary, though...
Born on a little farm in Scotland, her family soon moved to the city when her father spent all their money on alcohol. He was sadly often drunk and mean, and this is the reason Mary did not like speaking to men until
she was nearly 30. After her father died, Mary's kind and godly mother, taught her children to love God and want to be missionaries. When 3 of Mary's 6 brother's and sisters died, her mother thought Mary should become a missionary in their place. Mary wanted to be like her hero, David Livingstone, the famous like her. . She liked him because:1. He was Scottish, like her. 2. He'd worked long,hard hours in textile mills from a very young age to support his family, just like her. 3 He was a missionary in Africa, like she wanted to be. But Mary, who was terribly shy, was convinced she was too shy to be a missionary. And, then David Livingstone died. Mary was crushed. For a few years, she forgot her dream until, with her mom's help, she remembered. As soon as she had applied to the Foreign Mission Board, they assigned her to teach in Calabar,a small area in West Africa. Mary was thrilled- she and her mother had heard of and wanted to help Calabar! As soon as Mary arrived in Calabar, she found many horrible,saddening things: 1. All the European missionaries lived in an area known as Old Town, a refined, elegant area with flowered pathways an large houses. They almost never helped with anything. 2.The natives believed twins were devils and abandoned them in the jungle,, killing them. 3.They believed whenever anyone died, people should go with him, so they poisoned lots of people. 4.They bought beer from British ships and were constantly drunk. Mary set about fixing these things, adopting twins, and moving into huts in remote villages instead of an Old Town mansion.Until her death in 1915, Mary cared for the people of Calabar with her doctoring skills and medicines. She held court, acting as a judge, so disputes could be settled without death, the old way.Mary Slessor is now know by a fitting name-Queen of Calabar.
image from http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223628592l/1295365.jpg. Many Thanks.
