When We Walk with the Lord

By James E. Giles

This book is an account of the compelling story of missionaries James and Mary Nell Giles, who spent thirty-four years as missionaries at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Cali, Colombia, South America. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, they invested much time developing new churches in that area and ministering to people in times of disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and a volcano eruption. They and their four children coped with language and cultural barriers and limited communication with family and friends in the United States, but they had a sense of Gods call which kept them on the field in spite of difficulties.

The book reveals the emotional struggles as James and Mary Nell said goodbye to their children when they finished high school and went to the United States for college. Even though they were not close geographically, they were able to keep in contact through short wave radio. These four children finished college, are now married and launched in their chosen careers, and have given their parents a total of nine grandchildren.

James and Mary Nell spent a great deal of time in their last years in Colombia ministering to the survivors of a volcano eruption which created a mudslide which destroyed the city of Armero, Colombia, where 22, 000 people perished the night of November 13, 1985. They took medicines and clothing to survivors in the hospitals and shelters of 8,000 people who survived the tragedy. They helped get many of these people reorganized in adjacent towns of Lrida and Ibagu. These pages are filled with emotion as the people coped with the loss of loved ones, houses, and personal possessions.

After retirement, the couple settled in Dallas, Texas, where James is still active as part-time hospital chaplain in a medical center. Mary Nell stays busy organizing pictures and mementos of their years in Colombia, and in keeping in touch with family. She also finds many people who speak Spanish in the shopping centers, and enjoys keeping her Spanish up to date.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 19, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462841035

James E. Giles

Born on a farm near Muleshoe, Texas, during the days immediately following the depression, the author traveled a long distance to make his contribution of enriching the lives of others in Colombia, South America.. During his senior year of high school, he experienced a growing conviction that his life work would be seeking to enrich the lives of others with the Christian faith. The author relates the financial struggles he endured while getting the formal education necessary to fulfill his life’s dream, including studies for the ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. He completed the doctor of theology degree in May of 1957. In 1954 he married Mary Nell Morrison, whom he had met at Hardin-Simmons University. They were appointed to be missionaries of the Foreign Mission Board, to serve as teachers at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Cali, Colombia. They relate the joys and struggles related to living in a foreign country and rearing their four children there. The author relates critical experiences endured during the thirty-four years that they served in Colombia, including automobile accidents, the near tragic death of a daughter in a swimming pool, being stung by bees, a boat trip to help victims of a tsunami near the Pacific Coast of Colombia, and dangers endured while helping the people who survived the eruption of a volcano. They also had to be alert to the dangers presented by the increasing drug traffic during the 1980s in western Colombia. He and his wife affirm their faith in the truth that trusting in God’s protection brought them through dangerous times. Dr. Giles has written several textbooks in Spanish for theological students. He has written a daily devotional book, “Healing Words,” and “Pastoral Care and Counseling” and “Biblical Ethics, and Contemporary Concepts in English.”

Book preview

WHEN WE WALK

WITH THE LORD

The pilgrimage of a missionary family in Cali, Colombia, South America, from childhood to retirement

By

James E. Giles

Copyright © 2009 by James E. Giles.

Biblical quotations are from the New King James Version, identified as (NKJV).

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

57216

Contents

What The Readers Say

Foreword

Chapter 1

THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY

Chapter 2

PREPARATION FOR MINISTRY

Chapter 3

BEGINNING MISSIONARY SERVICE

Chapter 4

FRUITS OF OUR LABOR

Chapter 5

RENEWAL AND RETURN

Chapter 6

SERVICE AS PRESIDENT

OF THE SEMINARY

Chapter 7

NEW DIRECTIONS IN MINISTRY

Questions for Meditation and Dialogue

Dedication

To the memory of our parents:

Leo Earl and Dora Mabel Morrison

and

Horace Edwin and Gladys Marie Giles

whose dedication to their children and steadfastness

in their approach to life have served as a constant source of inspiration What The Readers Say

The following is the extra-ordinary account of a man driven by a determination to find and do God’s will with his life. It is filled with reality based examples of the difficulties faced and conquered during childhood, and of the challenges which he and his family faced during thirty-four years of service in Colombia.

—Russell Patrick, Th. D., retired chaplain

at Big Spring Veterans’ Hospital, Big Spring, Texas

This book tells of the exploits of the author while growing up during the years immediately following the depression of 1929. It relates hardships during childhood, challenges in getting an education for his future work, and critical incidents which his family experienced while serving in Colombia. It relates how Mary Nell, his wife, found her fulfillment in being the ideal helpmeet and in ministering to people in need. You will see an Indiana Jones type character emerge in the many experiences and critical events that transpired during their years in an area that lacked our modern conveniences.

—Bob Hook, retired wholesale brokerage grocer, Dallas, Texas

The book is so well written and I like the way he wove family memories into all the exciting things God let him do and continue doing today.

—Wanda Smith, former missionary colleague on the faculty

at the International Baptist Theological Seminary, Cali, Colombia.

I received the book last Saturday and immediately began skimming it. Then I returned often throughout the day to read some more. Your and Mary Nell’s experiences brought to mind many of my own. I have enjoyed a trip down memory lane also. I am grateful for the way God has used you and Mary Nell’s total commitment to Him as you have walked with the Lord.

—Betty Law, retired executive, Foreign Mission Board

There are prominent contributors to society who are born to privilege and wealth. Here is an authentic recounting of the life and times of one who had no such advantages. From a background of hardship the author rose above circumstances to be a major contributor to the Kingdom of God. This story is related in inspiring and readable fashion and will benefit all who read it.

—Don Kammerdiener, retired vice-president of

the International Mission Board, Richmond, Virginia

I took the book home and put it on the table. My wife picked it up, and would not let me read it until she had finished. She could not put it down until she had read all of it.

—Joe Musgrove, retired insurance executive

and volunteer hospital chaplain

Dr. James Giles has written an excellent resource which would benefit all professional missionaries and lay Christian caregivers. The book provides valuable information while looking into the exciting lives and adventures of this Christian couple doing the work of the Lord and being protected and cared for by the Lord. Dr. James and Mary Nell Giles’ story should be required reading for all who desire to serve others. I recommend this book unreservedly.

—Bob Campbell, Network of Community Ministries,

Stephen Ministry Leader, Volunteer lay hospital chaplain

"Written as an historical family narrative, When We Walk With The Lord is a masterpiece of Christian love and values. With all the traits of a true-life drama: hard times, humor, love, and family ups and downs intertwined with a calling from God, the author gives us all hope for the future. James Giles has given us a must read book."

—Brenda Duckett, retired public school teacher and principal

"When We Walk With the Lord presents a beautiful picture of how God works in the life of one who faithfully follows His leadership. It will certainly be inspirational for all Christians who can see in a practical way how the Lord protects his servants in times of extreme danger and continues to open new and challenging opportunities for them to minister. For those interested in vocational Christian service, this biography will be especially helpful for it presents, step by step, the required preparation, challenges, dangers, victories, and joys of vocational Christian ministry."

—Dr. James Bartley, retired missionary of the Foreign Mission Board, who served in Uruguay in theological education for over forty years

missing image file

Map of Colombia, showing major cities

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Hickerson Building, named in memory of Dr. Julius Hickerson, appointed to be first President. He perished in a commercial airplane crash in the mountains of Colombia in 1953. Students are raising the Colombian flag to begin the day.

Foreword

Missionaries who go to foreign countries face many challenges. They may need to learn a new language, which requires them to understand what is being said as well as being able to speak and write the language of the people to whom they minister. They are challenged to learn the customs of the people, which often conflict with what they have experienced here in the United States. They may experience a marked difference in the climate, which can affect one’s physical and emotional stamina. They experience isolation from friends and family, which takes its toll on many people. These and other conditions cause families to spend a lot of time in their first years getting adjusted to all these changes. But after a period of time most families adjust, and learn to roll with the punches. They then see the opportunities to make lasting contributions to the lives of those to whom they minister.

Mary Nell and I tell of our pilgrimage through these periods of adjustment, and share how God blessed us and our children through the thirty-four years in Colombia. We look back upon these experiences with a sense of satisfaction and achievement. In the following pages we relate the joys and successes, as well as the pain of loss. Through all these experiences we were constantly aware of the fact that God was walking with us.

Those who are considering foreign missions will find much information that can be helpful to them. They will probably have some of the same experiences which we relate in this account. We only hope that your experience will be as gratifying as ours has been. Pastors and speakers will find illustrations of God’s protection and care, just as He promised to be with us as we go into all the world.

James E. Giles

Chapter 1

THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY

The Great Depression

It was probably the worst possible time to begin a marriage and establish an independent home. The late 1920’s were difficult years for most of the farmers in West Texas. Irrigation and fertilization of the land had not yet become common in the rural community near Floydada, where my folks lived. Farming was still done by teams of mules and horses, and much of the menial labor was done by hand. The days of homesteading and settling on the land in that area had passed. Farmers had to depend upon favorable weather and their own wisdom and willingness to work hard to be successful. But these were the years in which my parents met, fell in love, married and began their family. Their story is filled with struggles to survive in the midst of adverse circumstances.

The Giles name is very prominent in Scotland. Several years ago my wife and I went to England and Scotland. We spent the night in Edinburgh, and I decided to check the telephone directory to see how many residents had my last name. I was surprised to find two columns in the Edinburgh directory and concluded that it would be fruitless to call someone at random and explain that I might be related to them. We did find the Giles Cathedral, an archaic Roman Catholic Church, in a residential area of the city. Family folklore seems to reveal that ancestors arrived in Georgia, but the date is uncertain.

Eventually some families were lured by reports of greater opportunities to the West. Thus we can trace their move to the rural area of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. From there descendants migrated to Arkansas to acquire and farm virgin land. We are told that three sons drifted farther westward. Among them was my grandfather, Joseph E. Giles, who settled near Bridgeport, Texas. He lost contact with his two brothers, and so their fate is unknown. Grandpa bought a farm and managed to prosper as his family grew. He and his first wife had three children, but she died when the two boys and a girl were small. A short time later he married my grandmother, Era Rowe, whose parents lived nearby. This marriage produced ten other children. My dad was an identical twin. Horace and Homer were the fifth and sixth of the ten. Grandpa had a team of horses and a team of mules to plow the land. He had lots of cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens. He had a buggy in early years, but prosperity made it possible for them to buy one of the early Ford Model T’s. They were active in the Thomas Baptist Church, which eventually was named Pleasant View Baptist Church. There is a cemetery on the church property, and Grandpa, his two wives, and several children are buried in the family plot.

My dad’s older half sister, Edna, married Arthur Hartsell, whose family also lived in the same community. After a few years, they decided to go westward to look for greater opportunities in farming. They settled in the area near the caprock of the Palo Duro Canyon between Floydada and Crosbyton. Reports of more fertile land and greater opportunities trickled back to their home community, and so my dad decided to go and live with them and help farm the land which they had leased.

Knowledge of my mother’s family begins in Murfreesboro, Tennessee also. Her father was a Warren, and her mother was a Banks. Her maternal grandmother was related to Colonel Custer, of Custer’s Last Stand fame. They migrated to western Oklahoma and settled near Sentinel and Clinton. Her father was Jimmy Warren, and he came from a large family of farmers and local merchants. Her mother also came from a large family, and some of them migrated to Utah and California. My mother’s parents decided to go to West Texas. They bought a farm in the same community where my dad lived with his sister and her family.

Mother was the oldest of seven children. She told that my grandmother would leave her in charge of the younger siblings. So Mother learned to cook, keep house, sew, and care for children at an early age. Grandmother tells that while she was in the field working, Mother decided to make dresses for her sisters out of the curtains on the windows! One day Grandmother looked toward the house from the field where she was working and saw smoke streaming from the roof. They ran to the house and saw that my mother had all her sisters and brother outside in a safe area. The house was completely destroyed. They theorized that some quilting cotton that my grandmother had bought and placed under the bed was ignited by some sparks from the wood heater in the room.

Mother and Dad were neighbors and were attracted to each other rather quickly. Romance developed, and so when Mother was fifteen and my Dad was twenty-one, they eloped with the help of the children of Aunt Edna and Uncle Arthur. This was November 17 of 1924. Mother explained the details to Elizabeth years later. Mother took her clothing and hid them in the barn. She had the custom of going to the barn at night and checking on the cattle. She waited until everyone was asleep and quietly stole away.

Daddy took her to a pastor’s home nearby, and there they were married. Daddy had reserved a room in a hotel. When they got to the hotel, Mother got worried that her mother would discover her missing and begin to worry. She began to cry and told Daddy that she wanted to go home. He finally yielded to her pleas, and they returned home. Grandmother was still asleep and had not missed her. They spent two nights there and then went to Amarillo for a brief honeymoon.

Soon after their marriage my grandfather leased another farm in the Lakeview community. It had a three-room house and another two-room house. The grandparents lived in the larger house, and my mother and dad moved into the small cottage. There my three older sisters were born. Dorothy Nell, the oldest, was born April 3, 1926. I am told that she was born in a breach position, and my mother almost died in childbirth. On May 14, 1928, another sister, Elizabeth, was born. A third sister, Wanda Lee, was born August 10, 1929. My three older sisters were a study in contrasts during childhood. Dorothy was a blue eyed blond, Elizabeth was a hazel eyed brunette, and Wanda had brown eyes and coal black hair. Relatives and friends were always perplexed by the variety in their features. Mother took a lot of pride in the appearance of her children. She knew how to sew and made pretty dresses for the girls. She kept their hair curled and always took special care in their appearance when we visited relatives.

Early Childhood

My parents moved from Lakeview to farm a plot of land in Goodland that my grandfather had leased. Mother tells that she wrote to Grandmother, telling her that she was expecting her fourth child, and asking my grandmother to come and help her at the time of my birth. My grandmother wrote back stating that she was expecting her seventh child and would not be able to come and help her! I was born on April 7, 1931, on a farm near Muleshoe, Texas, in Bailey County. When it was evident that it was time, my dad went to the closest doctor to seek his assistance. I understand that I was born before Dr. E. J. Hay, who lived in Rogers, New Mexico, arrived. He filled out the birth certificate, stating my name as boy Giles. Years later when I needed a birth certificate in order to get a passport, I discovered that this was how I was registered. After a few months, when the lease on the farm at Goodland expired, we moved back to the farm at Lakeview, where I spent my childhood. I have several memories of those early years

On November 17, 1932, my younger sister, Joy Lynn, was born. Then on July 27, 1936, Ona Beth was born. My two younger sisters had blond hair and were light complexioned. So in a span of ten years my mother and father had a family of six children. This large family represented quite a burden for my parents, and their story is one of the endless struggles to survive. Neither Mother nor Daddy finished grade school, and so they were quite limited in formal education. This fact closed the door to many opportunities that my dad might otherwise have had. He was a hard worker, and I am sure that he could have done better in life had these years not been the most difficult years of the depression and the limitations in opportunities after the depression. He was reared on a farm, and this seemed to be where he felt most comfortable

My earliest memories are those while we lived in that house about two miles south of the Lakeview school near Floydada. Our house sat off the road a short distance, and my mother said that she liked this, because when a car turned into the lane to come to our house, she had time to sweep and straighten up things before they arrived. My father farmed the land with a team of horses. Cotton was the main crop in those days, which involved hoeing the weeds during the summer and picking the white bolls during the fall.

One of the earliest events that I remember is the birth of my youngest sister, Ona Beth. We woke up one morning and were told that we had a new baby sister. My Aunt Georgia was present to help my mother, and she insisted that she have the privilege of naming the baby. We always called her Betty, and few people know her as her real name. My most vivid memory of those days was that Joy, my sister next after me, and I had to play outside while Aunt Georgia was bathing the baby because she did not want the breeze from the open door to give her a cold.

We had neighbors on two farms just a quarter and a half mile away, and we would get together frequently on Saturday nights to play games out in the yard. It seemed that there was always some kind of activity that we enjoyed. There was a Baptist church at Lakeview, and I remember going to Sunday school there a few times during childhood. I remember vividly the brightly colored pictures which the teacher used to tell us the Bible stories. I also remember a baptismal service, in which everyone went to a home with a stock tank not far from the church. The preacher and the candidates entered into the stock tank, and he baptized the candidates. I did not understand the meaning of the ordinance, but it made a vivid impression upon me.

One of my fondest memories was when my dad would harness up the team to the wagon, and we would ride about five miles to my Aunt Edna and Uncle Arthur’s farm to spend Sunday. We would go to church with them at Mt. Blanco and then have a big chicken dinner at their farm. They had a son, James Truett, who was my age, and we enjoyed playing together on Sunday afternoons. Late in the evening we would return in the wagon to our house.

Mother’s Background

My grandparents on my mother’s side had moved to Sentinel, Oklahoma, where their parents lived and had farms. I remember going to visit them. Grandmother would make a freezer of ice cream during the summer. I went to the fields, which were deep red dirt, with Uncle Ralph and the team of horses, to plow. The land did not look very fertile. My great grandparents, Pappy Sam and Mammy Tennie, as they were called, lived in town. An aunt had a store and kept a plate full of candy on the coffee table in the living room in the back part of the store. We enjoyed eating the peanut brittle and other kinds of candy when we went to visit them. My mother took us to a photo studio and had a picture taken of my sisters and me. We all still have one of those pictures. Later, my grandparents moved to Mt. Blanco, near Floydada, to farm the land there. Grandmother told me many years later that she wanted to move away from Oklahoma because Grandfather’s parents kept him occupied in activities for them, and he never had time to get ahead for their own family.

During these years Mother’s seven-year old sister, an aunt named Naomi, was getting off the school bus after spending the day in school. The driver, a young man, was in a hurry to get back to school for a sports activity. Instead of coming to a complete stop, he would slow down and have the children jump from the lower step at the door of the bus. When Naomi jumped from the bus, she fell backwards. The back wheels of the bus ran over her and killed her instantly. For several years the family spoke of Naomi in soft and sad tones. Her remains are buried in the cemetery at Lakeview, and the remains of Grandmother and Ruth now rest beside her.

I pay tribute to our public school program in the United States. Today, many advancements have been made, we debate different philosophies of education; and we pay taxes and make heavy investments in equipment, buildings and salaries for teachers and administrators. However, tests have resulted in a growing concern about the level of effectiveness in all these programs, because many high school students face graduation day but still cannot read comprehensively or do the basic mathematics. It is hard to improve upon the results of teaching fundamentals as they were presented in those country schools where the teacher had the responsibility of all the subjects for three grades during the day. The multiplication tables that we memorized gave us the basis for functioning with numbers that we use to good advantage, even though we have calculators today. Also, some teachers read a portion of the Bible and either led in prayer or asked for a volunteer student to do so each day.

I learned to read before I started to school because I would read the books that my sisters brought home from school. I started in the first grade, and my teacher was Mrs. Ross. She had taught for several years in the same school, and my three older sisters had started the first grade with her as the teacher. She had a jar of jelly beans on her desk and would give one to the students that read their lessons and did their arithmetic perfectly. Her room also housed grades two and three, and she would take turns teaching each class separately. The students could play in the sandbox with the toy soldiers in one corner of the classroom while Mrs. Ross taught one of the other classes. The school had three teachers, and each teacher taught all the students in three grades. The oldest teacher was also the principal and rang the bell according to the daily schedule.

Memories that Linger

The Fall Through the Porch

Childhood memories include the time that I was going to step up from the porch into the house. A plank was loose, and dropped downward as I stepped on it. I hit my mouth on the threshold of the door, loosening my top four front teeth. My parents were told by friends and relatives not to pull my teeth. Later, when my permanent teeth came in, they were buck teeth. We always wondered if the accident could have contributed to their protrusion. This was a topic of discussion between my parents and their relatives. I remember going through childhood with a complex because of my teeth. At times I was teased by the other kids in school. I endured this situation until I was a senior in high school, when I was working and paid for my own orthodontic treatment.

Gathering Eggs

Another memory is that of crawling under the house to get eggs that our chickens had laid. Through an opening at the foundation the chickens could get under the living room of the house. They had made a nest and were laying their eggs there. My dad showed me where they were and helped to push me under the house to retrieve the eggs. The space was too small for him. As I squirmed to maneuver my body toward the nest, my ankle hit