Somlandela

By Dr. Ralph Sorensen

She was a young, unmarried missionary who arrived in Africa the year that the 2nd World War commenced, having left her family and friends in her native country of Norway in order to follow the Missionary “Call” in order to witness to the Black peoples of Africa about the wonderful Grace of God through Jesus Christ her Lord and Saviour.

He was a hardened Norwegian marine who was trained in Dumbarton, Scotland as a Canoner with the North Atlantic Convoys which sailed from the USA during the 2nd World War with cargo of fuel and other equipment for the Allied Forces in Britain. He had already been torpedoed twice by German U-boats and spent hours in the sea awaiting rescue. His miraculous conversion in Canada and Missionary “Call” to Africa was almost ended when his ship was again torpedoed by German U-boats on the East Coast of Africa.

This is the remarkable true story of two Norwegians, coming from totally different backgrounds, but who God had so planned that they were to meet in Africa, and together preach the Gospel to those in need of Salvation. I trust that the contents of this publication will be an encouragement to any one who may doubt Gods provision and Him caring about each individual person travelling on life’s challenging journey.

Any income from this publication will be used to financially support pastors, evangelists and preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people in India.

But let them tell you their true story.....................

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Ralph Sorensen
• Release date: Sep 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301811434

Dr. Ralph Sorensen

Dr. Ralph Sorensen is the youngest son of Norwegian missionaries to Africa, Ella and Olav Sorensen. He grew up in Norway and came back to South Africa in the late 1960's with his parents. He was part of the story of the Sorensen family and how God provided for them over the decades thereafter. In the 1980's his parents returned to retire in their native country, Norway. The experiences has instilled in Ralph a strong dependence and trust in God, who through His mercy and grace cares for each of us, if we will only trust in Him. Ralph is happily married to his beloved Ina for the past 44 years. He has a PhD as well as an MBA degree in Business Management, is an inventor with two registered patents and has published several publications, although he and his dear wife Ina are now retired and together serve their Saviour.

Book preview

SOMLANDELA

Published by Dr. Ralph Sorensen at Smashwords

Copyright 2017 Ralph Sorensen

I will stand on my watch

And set myself on the rampart,

And watch to see what He will say to me,

And what I will answer when I am corrected.

Habakkuk 2;1

To my dear, beloved wife Ina,

lover and life companion for

your enduring love.

Ralph

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any for m or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Dr. Ralph Sörensen

FORWORD

Ella Maria Nilsen was born in Gjövik, Norway. At the age of nineteen she surrendered her heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was to become her life-long ambition to follow the will of her Heavenly Father. She did not know that God had planned it so that she was to meet her future husband, also being Norwegian, in Africa, after he had been torpedoed in the 2nd World War of the east coast of Africa.

Even after she was married to my father, Olav Mangor Sörensen in 1945, and having two sons, the most important in her life was her Savior and her ambition of winning souls for Him. After she died at the ripe old age of 84 years, I received her Diary of events recorded by her from an early age of her life, much of which I had little knowledge of, particularly the part prior to me being born.

I became part of some of these experiences after I was born in the mission field in Vryheid, Natal, South Africa, two and a half years after my older brother, Harry Morgan saw the light for the first time in Lorenco Marques, Mozambique. What becomes very evident to the reader throughout these writings, was their unrelenting passion to win souls for their Saviour and Master, a passion which never dissipated throughout their life time, even when strength started to wane. It is this passion for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, which is being portrayed throughout these pages, and not at all the intention of honouring any persons.

May the contents of this book inspire us to seek His face in order to instill in us a strong passion to win lost souls, so that one day, when we reach the end of our journey here on earth, that we need not repeat the words of the song by Grace Reese Adkins:

"By and by when I look on His face,

Beautiful face, thorn shadowed face;

By and by when I look on His face,

I’ll wish I had given Him more.

More, so much more,

More of my life than I ever gave before.

By and by when I look on His face,

I’ll wish I had given Him more"

Dr. Ralph Sörensen. PhD. MBA

March, 2017

Contents

Foreword……………………………………………………

Chapter 1 My Childhood……………………………

Chapter 2 I became ill………………………………..

Chapter 3 I give my life to Jesus……………………

Chapter 4 Born again, and changed………………..

Chapter 5 Witnessing for Jesus…….…….………….

Chapter 6 Prayer and the Bible, Gods Word………

Chapter 7 My Call to the Mission Field……………

Chapter 8 The Mission field starts in Norway……

Chapter 9 Baptism in Surnadalen…………………..

Chapter 10 Excerpts from my Diary while I worked in Gjövik, Norway

Chapter 11 Back at Kolbotn…………………………...

Chapter 12 On my way to Portugal to learn Portuguese

Chapter 13 Back in Norway………………………….

Chapter 14 Traveling to Africa on 26 June, 1938…..

Chapter 15 Swaziland…………………………………

Chapter 16 Laurence Marques, Mozambique and New Haven, Swaziland, 1939

Chapter 17 Back to Mozambique……………………

Chapter 18 I meet Olav Mangor Sörensen………….

Chapter 19 I am in love………………………………

Chapter 20 Olav M. Sörensen relates his story……..

Chapter 21 Olav proposes to me……………….........

Chapter 22 The Wedding…………………………….

Chapter 23 Harry Morgan is born…………………..

Chapter 24 Our voyage home to Norway in 1947...

Chapter 25 We go back to Africa in 1948…………..

Chapter 26 Komatipoort, South Africa…………….

Chapter 27 We travel to Norway in 1953………….

Chapter 28 Granborgen, Norway1953……………..

Chapter 29 The Lords ways are the best ………….

Chapter 30 Additional information (R Sörensen)…

Chapter 1

My Childhood

I have so many times decided to record the work of Grace which has been accomplished in my soul, yet every time after having started with my Diary, I have not progressed much before I would discard it, and then tried to start all over again.

One day I read about the revival in Gjövik, Norway, and then the thought came to me; How wonderful it would be to take out a Diary", especially when one gets older, and then read it. Read about wonderful revivals, God’s wonderful guidance and Grace, His faithfulness, His caring and His personal interest in each and every soul on this earth. Oh yes, that would surely be edifying to the reader.

And should one never become old, well, then that which is written about God and Him leading each one of us may perhaps be of encouragement for other pilgrims who are struggling on their way here on earth to our future land of life and salvation. When I think about the years that have passed, then I can only say as the prophet exclaimed; It was God’s Grace all the way. Oh, what a miracle God has performed in my soul! His name is truly wonderful.

I was born on the 11th of May 1908 at Skjellaug Estate at Gjövik, Norway. My father, Anton Nilsen, was born in 1861 in Östre Toten, Gjövik, in the County of Oppland in Norway, and was an upholsterer employed by the well known wagon and carriage manufacturer H.H. Lingjerde Wagon Factory in Gjövik, a well established carriage manufacturer which was contracted to the royalty.

My mother, Amanda Charlotta Svensson was born on the 12th April 1868 in Väne Ryr, Vänerborg in West Götaland in Sweden, and married my father on 13 September 1896 in Fredirikshald, which has since been renamed Halden, Norway.

My Parents, Amanda Charlotte (Svensson) and Anton Nilsen

Prior to my birth the Nilsen family lived in Fredrikshald, Norway, for several years where my three older brothers were born between 1897 and 1901. Thereafter the family moved to Hamar, where my oldest sister, Gudrun was born in 1904, and then to Gjövik in the County of Oppland, where I was born in 1908.

I was the second youngest of six children, three girls and three boys. My older sister’s name was Gudrun and my younger sister’s name was Gerda. My three older brothers were Tage , Arvid and Egil. Shortly after my birth, our family again moved, this time to Drammen in Norway. This is also where my younger sister, Gerda, was born in 1910. She was to become very close to me over the years.

My younger sister, Gerda and me

When I was six years old we moved back to Gövik, where I commenced primary school. One of my schoolteachers was the town’s well-known chairman for many years, Niels Ödegaard. Just three months before I was to conclude my seventh grade at school, our family again moved, this time to Oppegård in the Akershus province. Had it been entirely my own decision to decide the course of my life, then I most probably would probably have spent my entire life living in Gjövik, the little white town next to the Mjösa lake, but God had other plans for my life.

My birth town of Gjövik on the shore of lake Mjösa, Norway

My childhood was happy and carefree, with good and bright memories, even though my parents were not believing Christians. They were both very decent, honourable citizens with strong characters. As a child I always attended the Salvation Army’s Sunday school, and there I learnt all that is good and honorable. I prayed and sang. Yes, I loved playing the Zither and guitar, and sing songs about Jesus. My favorite song was Once more will I sing about Golgotha.

And especially the song Now to Jesus’ Cross I go, I am His, and being healed by his wounds, I am His. Yes, I live for Him, I bid defiance to cowardice, fear and shame, show the world the Lamb of God, as I am His. Today I better understand that in my heart there was a sincere longing to be His. Even though as a child I was dedicated as a child soldier in the Salvation Army, I never experienced being born again to a living hope as it is written in the Scriptures.

I grew up and out of childhood, and then the world got a strong hold on me. I loved going to parties, dancing and smoking. Bad acquaintances corrupt good morals. But for as long as the heart is uncircumcised, neither does good works or good intentions have any meaning. I think I would have been born again at an earlier age if someone would have had any concern for my soul at the time.

As we moved from the place where we lived to a place where there was neither any Sunday school nor any church or gospel meetings, I lost total contact with any believers, and the devil tightened the grip of sin around my soul. I can remember so well that even when I came home in the evenings from the cinema or having fun dancing, I always felt I had to wash myself. I always felt so unclean, (perhaps the heart was desiring to be clean) and I could never go to sleep unless I had prayed to God. When guests would come and visit our home, I had to take out the Zither and sang and played for the guests. I always sang about Jesus. It seemed that God never let me go.

Chapter 2

I became ill

When I left school, I started working as a shop assistant where I probably would have been employed for a long time had it not been for the fact that I became ill. I became very ill, and even though not life threatening, a sickness which would result in me becoming an invalid for life. Oh, how God worked on my heart during that time. I was bedridden at home for two months, and my mother both cared, as well as suffered with me. In hospital I lay on my back without any cushion in the same position for three months. How I longed to have peace with God during that time! Every evening before I went to sleep, I read Psalm 23, and prayed to God.

But salvation was far from me. I tried to gain salvation by good works. I thought that by reading the bible and try to get God to pity me, He would save my soul. But salvation is not gained by good works, but by faith in Jesus Christ. There was a young girl who used to frequent the shop where I had been employed before I became ill. I noticed her, because she was so unlike the other young folk. She seemed so joyful and content. The day before I was admitted to hospital, she said these words to me: God bless you. These words stuck to my heart. I just could not get rid of them.

Then it happened one night in hospital that I had a dream. I dreamt that I was to die. This dream brought about a turning point in my life. Later I was to learn that this young girl had been praying to God that He would give me a dream or a vision, so that I would seek salvation. This is the dream: I dreamt that I would die. The doctors could no longer do anything for me. The nurse who looked after me walked around, red in her face. I understood it had something to do with me, so I called her and asked why she and all the other staff were so serious and on the verge of tears.

She answered me: You have exactly one hour left to live. They were preparing me and were about to move me to the death ward. Then I started crying out to God for salvation of my soul. I felt the anguish of hell in my inner most being. I cried, begged and prayed, but the words sounded louder in my inner most being: Too late, too late. Then I gave up. I knew that within a short time I would be in the torment of hell, eternally lost, eternally doomed. I asked the nurse to give me paper and a pencil, and then I wrote to all my relatives that they should repent, so that they should not come to the tormenting place where I soon would be……

Then, suddenly I woke up, and realized that it was just a dream…………. Oh no………. this was not only a dream, but a warning to me to seek God before it would become too late. In the book of Job 33;14-18 it is written:

"Indeed God Speaks once,

Or twice, yet no one notices it.

In a dream, a vision of the night,

When sound sleep falls on men,

While they slumber in