My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 101 By this time, some leaders were aware of the Bible studies. I remember the Division President coming to visit and asking me which committees had approved these lessons. I had had no idea that any committee needed to approve them, and to this day nobody has ever complained about what the lessons taught. Now, years later, I can report that they were ultimately translated into at least twenty-six different languages around the world. In later years, LightBearers sent container loads of them to various countries. I stand in awe of the wonderful way God guided my mind and helped me, using my humble efforts to lead many people to a better understanding of His Word. A few years ago, a leader from the North Philippine Union told me that 50,000 people had been baptized in his area in the past five years. All of them had studied these lessons. Praise God. In preparation for a satellite evangelistic series to be held in Mwanza, Tanzania, members of small group Sabbath School classes used the lessons to study with their neighbors. The first night of the meetings there was a graduation for fifteen thousand who had completed the course and received their diplomas.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 102 Today, the little town of Dodoma has become the new capital of the country. Instead of seventeen members, thousands of Adventists worship each week in many churches that have been raised up since that small beginning in 1968.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 103 My First Baptism We arrived in East Africa in February 1966. Two and a half years later I was ordained to the gospel ministry. J.R. Spangler was visiting Tanzania and held the ordination service that included me and Pastor Gumali. That meant I was now eligible to baptize. I do remember that Pastor Spangler didn’t want me to drive very fast. Unfortunately, years later he died in an accident when the driver was going too fast. As you read in another story, I first used the new Bible lessons in Dodoma, a sleepy town in the middle of Tanzania that had already been chosen to be the new capital of the country because of its central location. The actual change from Dar es Salaam on the coast to Dodoma in the center seemed highly unlikely at the time. At any rate, my first opportunity to hold a baptism took place there. The eight church members had nine baptismal candidates ready. We had to find an available place to baptize them. The church location had nothing to offer. The town swimming pool was the only option. Permission was received, the day was set, and we arrive for the sacred occasion.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 104 It was then that I discovered that the pool had no shallow end. And the candidates were not tall enough to have their heads above water. As the audience plus a few casual observers waited, I looked around for a way to produce a shallow end. It had to be close enough to the edge so short people could be helped into the water and directly onto the shallow part. As I recall, none of them knew how to swim. First, I found some large rocks. That was a hopeful start. Then, amazingly, I discovered a large sheet of metal lying on the ground close by the pool. So, I threw in plenty of rocks, entered the water and piled them into a high enough position, approximating the size of the metal sheet. Next, I got out and lowered in the metal sheet, then got back into the water to fit it over the rocks. At last, all was in readiness. Songs were sung, prayer was said, the candidates were helped one by one into the pool. I held their hands as they gingerly stepped on the metal platform. After appropriate remarks about each person, I invoked the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to note their desire to follow Jesus and lowered them momentarily under the water. Then church members stood by to help them out of the pool. Remembering
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 105 that there is joy in heaven when one sinner comes to Christ, each new Jesus follower was rejoiced over on earth, in Dodoma. When the holy service ended, I had to spend time in and out of the water, first removing the metal sheet, then diving down to retrieve each of the rocks. Everything had to be returned to the place where I had found it. At last that was finished, and I could begin to think about changing into dry clothes. Now the casual observers who had stayed by the entire time came to talk to me. They were Muslim men who were intensely interested in the meaning of this strange service. They wanted to understand all the getting in and out of the water, and the symbolism of each part. I did not yet know enough Swahili language to tell them myself, so I had to depend on my translator to guide their minds to the parts of the service that really did mean something, and not the parts that had only to do with the candidates being too short to get directly into the pool itself. I have since held many baptisms, but none of them has reached the degree of drama that the first one had.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 106 Except the one where the baptismal font fell apart as I had my eyes closed praying. But that is another story.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 107 Our Best African House When we moved to Morogoro, we needed to find a house. The president had a nice big house in town. There were several houses filled with workers on the mission compound on the edge of town, but no mission house for us. Somehow, we heard about a manager’s house that was for rent on a sisal estate thirteen miles out of Morogoro. When we visited with the manager, he told us how much he loved the house. He was being forced to move into a new manager’s house that had none of the charm or shade of the one he was willing to rent to us. The price was right, and as soon as we saw the house, we also loved it. The long driveway up to the house was bordered by flowering trees that were covered with mases of pink blooms. When approaching the house, we saw that large shade trees were all around with manicured flower beds bordering every part of the yard. The grass was green and beautiful. A large bougainvillea bush was trimmed into a gigantic ball, coming all the way down to the ground. Off to the right side of the house was a large aviary for birds. Later we bought love birds and raised them there. It was the most beautiful yard or
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 108 park we ever saw in Tanzania. Even before we looked inside the house, we felt blessed. Going inside was no disappointment. Every room was large and immaculate. There were two big bedrooms, but we had company so often that we made the dining room into a third big bedroom. The living room was plenty large enough to be both a sitting room and a dining room. Throughout the house was a wide hallway, big enough to serve as extra seating area or a playroom. The kitchen was amazing. First it was necessary to walk down a very long hall. I’m sure in the past the kitchen had been a separate building that was later remodeled into a very American looking kitchen and attached to the rest of the house by the hallway. The walls were white, and all the cupboards and counters were bright red. It was a very cheerful room. Throughout the house, the ceilings were high, and every room had a big ceiling fan, so I never remember being too hot. The shade trees outside did their part to keep us cool. A houseboy lived out back with his wife and baby. He was used to caring for the house, so I left all the major cleaning to him, and he did a good job.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 109 Up to this point we had never lived in an African house with electricity. This house had electricity until 9:00 every night. At that hour, someone from the sisal estate office turned off the generator. It was so nice to not clean and prepare kerosene lamps. If we needed light during the night, we could just light a candle. There is one thing Virginia feels bad about regarding that house. She was the only one who never got stung by a scorpion. A scorpion walked across Jennifer’s leg and stung her when she was sitting playing on the floor in her bedroom. Darcy put on a shoe without shaking it out first. I somehow got stung as well, and the intense pain lasted for 24 hours. When that happened, we wondered how our children had stopped crying so soon. Sometimes I traveled for a month at a time. Traditionally the male Adventist missionaries spent a month a year visiting businesspeople in the major Tanzanian towns. At that point in our lives Virginia had a Volkswagen bug to drive so she could get the things she needed in town. I used the Volkswagen combi. Malaria was a fact of life. Each of us had it periodically. One time when I was gone, the month was almost up. On Friday Virginia took the children and went to town to
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 110 buy food for Sabbath. Darcy had a fever, but the thermometer had gotten dropped and broken, so she didn’t know how high it was. Even though he was hot, he was talking perfectly fine and didn’t seem to be too sick. As Virginia finished her shopping and started home, she began to wonder whether she should take him to the doctor. As she prayed about what she should do, she decided she was much closer to the doctor than she would be when she went thirteen miles out into the country to the sisal estate, so she turned around in the road and went back to town. The doctor’s office was in his house. When she reached there and took Darcy inside, he vomited twice before the doctor could see them. That was embarrassing and had never happened before. Darcy’s temperature was 105! How fortunate that she had gone for help. Without it, the doctor assured her he would have died that night. The doctor gave Darcy a shot and said he should be well as soon as his temperature came down. There is no antidote for too much malaria medicine, so the large size of the shot he received scared her. She decided to drive over to the president’s house for half an hour or so to be sure he would be all right. Nothing
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 111 untoward happened so they headed home. She and Jennifer put tepid towels on Darcy to bring down the temperature. When he was hot, he was radiating heat off his body. Then the towels would soon leave him shivering. He said several times, why don’t you put me in the bathtub? That began to seem like a good idea, so Virginia ran warm water into the tube then lowered Darcy into it. He instantly lost consciousness and stopped breathing. She took him out of the water, wrapped him in a towel and said, “Come, Jennifer. Let’s go.” They got into the car, and she drove as she held him. She was too shocked to think of CPR. Down the long driveway they went. Then they turned right, and then right again into the driveway of a Pentecostal missionary couple. The wife was a nurse. As Virginia turned up their driveway, she felt Darcy take a breath. After talking to the nurse for a few minutes, and checking Darcy’s temperature which had come down a little bit, the trio returned home. Darcy was still hot, so once again the barely warm towels were applied for short periods of time. Meanwhile, 9:00 p.m. came and went and the lights turned off. At some point, Virginia went to sleep and didn’t wake up until morning. In panic she checked
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 112 Darcy. He was breathing fine even though he was still too warm. That morning, instead of Sabbath School, Virginia and Jennifer took Darcy back to the doctor’s house for another shot. This one did the trick, and in a few hours he was fine. It was as though he had not even had malaria. The next day, Sunday, there was some reason Virginia needed to go back to the president’s house in Morogoro. While she and the children were there, Mrs. Henning received a phone call and began to weep. Her friends, the Gramkow family from Germany, had waited ten years to have a second child. When their baby boy was born, he was so welcome. At ten months old, he was the picture of health with his big smile and fat red cheeks. His parents protected him constantly from malaria. Every week we got his prophylactic pill. He was always under a mosquito net before mosquitos came out in the afternoon. The day before, on Sabbath, he developed a fever about lunch time, and they took him to Kendu Bay Adventist hospital where there were four American doctors. They worked over him until 10 that night when he died of
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 113 cerebral malaria. It was the same weekend Darcy stopped breathing and Virginia didn’t even give him CPR. How could it be? God’s ways are inscrutable. Back home on Sunday afternoon, Virginia was working where she could see out the front windows. Suddenly she saw a huge snake. It was long and as big around as a husky man’s leg. She called for the houseboy, and he came running with a big hoe. The snake was a huge Puff Adder, much longer and fatter than usual. They are deadly poisonous, with no known antidote, but they aren’t very fast. The houseboy stood in front of the snake and cut off its head with one whack of the hoe. Since I was coming home the next day, they wanted me to see it, so they moved the snake under the edge of the bougainvillea bush in the front yard. When I arrived home the next day, we went to get it so I could see it. Nothing was there. We never knew whether it was able to slither away on its own, or whether some wild animal came into the yard and pulled it off to eat. We did live there on the edge of wild territory where there could be hyaenas or other carnivores. One day a young man from the sisal estate office came to our front door and handed us a note. Our rent would
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 114 be doubled as of the end of that month. Since a new house was being built on the mission compound in town, it would be revised a bit for us, and we would move there. The day came, and as we were packing and loading the cars, we discovered a calendar and found out that it was Christmas Day. Thus ended our delightful time in our best-ever African house. After we unloaded the cars at the new house on the compound, we took our little children up to the nearby government forest and cut down a tree. Then we celebrated Christmas that evening. I wish it were that easy every year. Sometime later we decided to drive out and look at our house on the sisal estate. To our sadness we found all the driveway trees cut down, the front yard turned into a corn field up to the front door, and black smoke all over the concrete at the front, indicating that cooking over charcoal was done there. Probably few other people realized that one of Tanzania’s most beautiful treasures had been lost.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 115 Other Travel Adventures Once upon a time, while we were living in Morogoro, a large gathering of church workers was planned for Tukuyu in southern Tanzania. I spent days writing letters, announcing plans, and advancing money for transportation and lodging. Suddenly I received a letter saying that I was announcing the wrong date. What? When I challenged that with a message to headquarters showing that I had used the date supplied to me, then I received another letter saying the date I had been given had been a typo. That initiated another round of letters with the different date. Plus, the arrangements required for changing the meeting location, lodging and all the other details. Cooks were hired with provisions for them to buy and transport needed food supplies. This, of course, was before cell phones, or any kind of phones, let along email. Snail mail was the only way to go. Before that meeting, we had another large training meeting at Heri Hospital close to Lake Tanganyika on the west side of the country. The plan was to fly in the mission plane from Heri to Mbeya for the southern meetings. When the time came, there was no room for
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 116 Pastor Mbwana in the plane. That was unfortunate because he had been told he would be included. I offered to take the bus in his place, but whoever made the final decisions decreed that I needed to be on the plane since I had made all the arrangements. Plus, my Volkswagen Combi was sitting at Mbeya Mission so we could use it for transportation when we arrived there. Once in the air, we were surprised to hear that the man from headquarters had neglected to file the necessary papers to fly into Mbeya. He was unconcerned about that, but it was a huge mistake, on top of his typo. The Vice President of Tanzania was almost shot down when his plane had not made the proper arrangements. Now what to do? A lot of people were waiting for us, so we determined to continue our flight. At one point, our pilot was in contact with a British pilot heading the same direction. We asked him what we could expect would happen. The pilot facetiously said, “Don’t worry. Even if they shoot at you, they will miss.” What happened was that we landed, and the plane was immediately surrounded by police who told us we had to instantly return to wherever we had left from. That was Busegwe, the Union headquarters. I asked if I alone could stay since my car was parked there. No, I could
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 117 not. I think the police had already gone to Tukuyu and told all the attendees to go home because there would be no meetings. When Pastor Mbwana arrived by bus, he went down to Tukuyu and did what he could to help the disappointed people. We had to turn around and fly north. That meant that we would be arriving at our destination after dark, a very dangerous thing to do. We had no permission to land anywhere else, so no other option existed. In many parts of the world, flying at night is possible with instruments, as well as town and house and car lights that are usually visible. Tanzania had few or none of those. By the time we got to Busegwe, we could barely tell the difference between sky and earth. But thank the Lord, we landed safely. Early the next morning, someone from the Union office drove me the most direct route to Mbeya to pick up my car. Then I found Pastor Mbwana and brought him back with me to Morogoro where both of us lived. Thus ended maybe my worst African nightmare. Another time Pastor Mbwana and I were traveling by bus, sitting in the middle section. We were in southern
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 118 Tanzania again and headed toward Chunya which is up at the top of the Rift Valley, several miles above Mbeya Mission. In those days, all the roads were dirt or gravel. Now you can look up Chunya, Tanzania on Google and see some amazing pictures of paved roads, but they are still very winding with steep edges. As we visited, we suddenly realized the bus had begun to pick up speed. A sharp curve was just ahead. Immediately there was a crash. Many in the bus began to scream. Amazingly, nobody was hurt. Both of the front wheels were pushed back to the middle of the bus. Had we been in many other locations along that road, even half a mile before or after, the bus would have shot down the hillside a couple thousand feet with lethal results. But where we hit there was a large dirt embankment on the edge of the road. We had to sit and wait forever for another bus to come and get us. Again, no communication was possible. But finally we arrived somewhere that we could secure other transportation. Fast forward many years. I telephoned Pastor Mbwana’s son, and he answered his phone on a bus at almost the same location. Our lives so much easier these days.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 119 Canadian Adventures Darcy was born in Mbeya in the Baptist hospital. From his first day he had strange medical problems. He couldn’t swallow for three months. He was not good at sucking, etc. We went to the States on furlough when he was two years old. Doctors there could not figure out his problems either. Two years later he was in lots of pain and finally it was noticed that he had significant scoliosis. My work was going great, and it was a huge disappointment to leave Tanzania. But the consensus of several doctors in Nairobi was that Darcy needed care in the States that was not available in East Africa. Virginia and the children left while I stayed behind to pack up our belongings. I sold most of them, including some Fisher Price toys that my daughter has missed ever since. Who knew they were so cherished? Periodically I have looked for replacements online, but none exist. On Darcy’s fourth birthday he was put in the hospital in Oklahoma City. They checked everything and thought his spinal column was being pinched, so they put dye in his spine and watched it go through. No problem. Well, there was a problem, because they held his head
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 120 perfectly straight, while he always held his head over to one side. They put on a brace to slowly correct the scoliosis, with an extra piece to hold his head straight, and sent us home. We bought a house south of Fort Worth, TX, and I was the associate pastor of the local church. A year and a half later Darcy almost died. Early in the morning he slumped over while he and Jennifer were sitting on the floor listening to music. He was unconscious and barely breathing. Virginia was afraid he had had a seizure. He had never had one before, but it seemed possible that they might start. I had left earlier, asked to drive the school bus for the usual driver who was sick. From the school I proceeded to my visiting rounds. Virginia picked up Darcy, holding him upside down so he wouldn’t swallow his tongue, ran next door to the neighbors and asked them to call an ambulance. She laid Darcy down on the floor in their entryway. Then she asked the neighbor on the other side to care for 6-yearold Jennifer. The ambulance came screaming into the neighborhood, put Darcy in the back and would only let Virginia sit in front.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 121 Darcy regained consciousness just as the ambulance reached the hospital, so at least he got to hear a little of the siren. He loved sirens. He was paralyzed from the neck down, but he could still talk just fine. The pediatrician who met us there thought he had had a grand mal seizure. Virginia didn’t think so because Jennifer had told her he just fell over, and his lips turned brown. She didn’t see him shaking. Everyone felt so sorry for him. A nurse told him he could ask for ice cream anytime. Virginia called her parents when she couldn’t reach me. They arrived about six in the evening, walking hesitantly into his room, afraid of what they would find. Darcy greeted them by saying, “I’m the luckiest boy in the world!” He had eaten ice cream three times that day. I arrived about the same time after learning from the neighbors what had happened. In three days, the paralysis was gone, and Darcy was back home. An EEG proved he had not had a seizure. The doctor was determined to figure out what was wrong with him. He had Virginia come to his office and give him the names and addresses of every doctor who had ever seen Darcy. It was a long list. Then he wrote to
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 122 all of them and ordered Darcy’s records. After they had all come, He called Virginia and told her, “Darcy remains a mystery.” One day Virginia was ironing clothes and decided to pull out of the closet the old TV someone had given us. The instant she plugged it in it turned on without heating up and there was a 2-minute announcement about a hospital that provided free care for children with medical problems. Since we paid medical bills every month, she was interested. She called the number so fast it wasn’t even busy. A lady answered and told her not to stop meeting any doctor’s appointments because all medical records would have to be obtained before he could be seen. Virginia told the lady her that she could deliver all of them immediately. With a trip to the doctor’s office, she received the two-inch high stack of papers the pediatrician had collected. Then she took them to the Scottish Rites Hospital in Dallas. Darcy was soon there for his first appointment. By this time, he was five and a half and they saw the problem with the first x-ray. He was born with a little piece of bone missing on his second cervical vertebra. That
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 123 allowed his spinal cord to be pinched every time he moved his head. As he aged, the cartilage in his spine hardened into bone, which meant the pinches were getting more dangerous. He could not have lived much longer. Those vertebrae would have to be fused. He was admitted to the hospital, put in a crib with a top over it, and warned not to try to get up. Virginia was allowed to visit him one hour a day. Just at this time we were invited by George Knowles to move to Toronto, Canada to participate in a pilot program of involving whole churches in Bible studies and witnessing. It was exactly what Calvin wanted to do. George Knowles was a very good friend from when we first got married and worked with him near Salem, Oregon. We really wanted to go to Toronto. But what about Darcy? The hospital was looking for a specialist to do his surgery. When I told the doctor about Toronto, he said he was thrilled. That was the best place in the world for Darcy’s problems. The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto specializes in orthopedic surgery. Not only that, the Dallas Scottish Rites Hospital also had their own doctor working in Toronto that year.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 124 By then the hospital personnel had decided that Darcy was not such an emergency, so they delivered him, together with all his x-rays and records, to us and we drove to the Canadian border. That was the first day a law went into effect that anyone entering Canada had to apply for permission first. We showed up in tandem with our moving van. The Ontario Conference had told us to do that since that first day we were likely to be allowed in on humanitarian grounds. It worked. We delivered Darcy to the Scottish Rites doctor who was working in Toronto. He chose all the doctors for Darcy’s care. That was something unheard of! Without that connection, Darcy would have been seen by the first doctor available, specialist or not. I was soon very involved in my new work. George Knowles no sooner welcomed me than he received an invitation to work at It Is Written in southern California. He had said he would train me, but the only opportunity for us to work together was in Oshawa just before he moved. Soon I was leaving home on Sunday afternoon to go to my first appointment of the week. The churches had collections of interests who had requested material.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 125 Each location we divided into groups of two. After meeting for thirty minutes of training, we would go out and visit these interests, offering them a personal Bible study. Week by week we would continue taking them lessons as long as they were interested. I would often meet with two churches a day, one in the afternoon and one in the evening and drive back home Thursday night after the last appointment. We would continue the same group of churches for three months, then line up another group that wanted to start. Frequently I preached on Sabbath as well. Once we had completed the three months and I moved on, the church members would continue visiting and would add in more church members to go with them and get trained. One pastor told me at the end of the three months that it was “just another program”. Then later he came to me after he had baptized 64 people that year and apologized saying he had baptized more people than he ever had before. Another pastor made a speech in a workers’ meeting saying this was the only lay activities program that had ever worked for him. In the East Toronto church, there were some who decided to be pastors because they had enjoyed so much the privilege of helping draw people to the Lord.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 126 Darcy had surgery soon after we arrived in Toronto and remained in the hospital for a month. When he finally came home he was in a cast from the top of his head to below his seat. Then he fell and broke his elbow, so it was a hard winter. I was being sent to Thunder Bay to work for the summer. Virginia and the children could not go yet. The last thing Virginia said to me when I left was, “Find us a cabin on the lake to live in.” A few weeks later when Jennifer was out of school and Darcy had his casts removed, I drove back and picked them up, happy that I could surprise then with the nice cabin on Lake Superior that had providentially been provided for us for the summer. That was the only time of our lives that we faithfully took a day off every week. We loved visiting the historical places and hearing the stories about the olden times that had not been very many years before. We also visited the park where amethyst could be pulled out of the ground. It was fun to reach in a hand and bring out something beautiful that no human had ever before held.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 127 We even saw Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip when they came to open Fort William Historical Park on July 3, 1973. We stood in the sun for hours waiting for them to arrive. It was the only day that summer that reached 80 degrees. Thunder Bay is quite a cool town, even most days in the summer. All good things must end, and summer was soon over. Both Jennifer and Darcy went to school that fall. The Tanzania Union wrote and pleaded with us to return. Remembering my dream, we decided we should go back. By mid-January we were on the plane back to Dar es Salaam.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 128
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 129 Leaving Africa In 1977 we had a furlough. Since Virginia’s parents had gone to Haad Yai, Thailand, as missionaries, we were allowed to spend one month with them. Everything was new, beautiful, and exciting. At Mom’s urging, we tasted durian for the first, second and third times. The third time was the charm. Virginia and I have loved it ever since. Darcy, who vomited with his first taste, and Jennifer, eschewed it forever. That meant less money to spend and more for us to eat! Virginia’s parents drove us to several parts of Thailand, so we had a very good introduction. Jennifer was twelve years old and met a nurse in northern Thailand. After hearing her stories, she was so impressed that she decided her goal in life was to be a nurse to the hilltribes in northern Thailand. About fifteen years later she did just that. Back home in Tanzania we now lived in Arusha where the new Union office was to be built. Our house was rented on a Lutheran mission compound. A thick hedge surrounded the house, giving us a little protection from the boys’ school across the street. Darcy had a new bike
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 130 that he rode around and around the house. Jennifer mostly stayed inside and practiced the piano. Without any formal lessons, she became very good at playing. That year a cholera epidemic hit Tanzania. The fresh food market in Arusha was totally shut down. With no fruits and vegetables, we were living on canned food we had shipped from the States. Before long, Virginia got sick. For a few days she lay in bed, hoping to get well. With no improvement, she turned to “The Home Health Medical Counselor,” or some name close to that. It was a thick book we had somehow acquired. Since there was usually little medical care available, Virginia studied that book on many occasions. Usually, the book would guide her to some horrible, albeit unlikely, diagnosis. This time the verdict was pregnancy. Very highly unlikely since she had had surgery in Canada because we were perfectly satisfied with the two children we already had. It turned out that this time the book was right. Then the possibility of a tubal pregnancy hung over us. If that were the case, she could die any time. Because of the lack of good medical care available in Tanzania, it became her aim in life to leave with the children so they could be cared for somewhere if she did indeed die.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 131 The mission was not happy with her solution to our problem. But Virginia was undeterred. She packed and arranged flights. We tried to call my dad to let him know she was coming. It was the only phone call we ever tried to make during 9 ½ years in Tanzania, and it failed to go through. Since her folks were in Thailand, she decided to go and stay with her sister in California. She sent a letter announcing her arrival. The letter got there just in time for JoAnn to meet the three of them at the airport. As soon as Virginia arrived, she called my dad. He said, “You are not supposed to be here! You are supposed to move to Singapore.” That was very interesting news, but not officially sure enough to act on yet. When the organization couldn’t reach us, they called and asked my dad to try to let us know that we should move to Singapore from Tanzania. The mission president was unhappy. It sounded to him like we were making our own plans. He said if we couldn’t be missionaries in Tanzania, we couldn’t be missionaries anywhere. Naturally he was unhappy about losing my service and having to replace me. I appreciated his interest in keeping me. We waited to see what would happen next.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 132 School was just starting in the fall, so Darcy and Jennifer were soon registered and went to school with their cousins. Virginia helped JoAnn any way she could, and JoAnn, who is a medical doctor, assured her she had a normal pregnancy, not a tubal one. That was good news, but now what next? She also found out that California had a law that a pregnant woman who was thirty-five or older had to have amniocentesis or else sign a document that the state would never be asked to support a defective child. Virginia was 35 1/2. The test could not be done until the 5 th month, so she had some time to wait. Meanwhile, back in Tanzania, I was trying to move ahead with my life and work, while I was waiting. Fritz Martinsen and I immediately went on a trip along the edge of Lake Victoria, the western border of the country. We visited churches I had not seen before, and I learned a lot of church history from him. His wife’s family had been in the mission field much longer than we had. It was an interesting trip. One day as we drove along, Fritz was philosophizing on why it was that some people—especially doctors—have so little trouble, and others of us have so much. As he talked the car stopped. Right in the road. A quick survey
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 133 showed that it would not be an easy fix. We set up our little stove in the middle of the road and boiled potatoes to eat while we tried to fix the car. If you can visualize the setting, you will realize how little traffic there was. We were totally alone. Eventually the car ran again, but by then Fritz was hot and sweaty. The lake was right there beside us, but we knew it was dangerous to swim in because of the possibility of contracting bilharzia. I’ll let you look up that disease. Suffice to say it kills people after a long time, and the cure is worse than the kill. With that in mind, I refused to swim, but Fritz jumped in and cooled himself off. Many years later when he was dying of cancer he called and told me that his health problems had started way back then. He affirmed that I had been wise that day to stay out of the lake. Soon after that I was working in Dar es Salaam and visiting in Marilyn Bennett’s house when word came that there was a phone call upstairs in another lady’s apartment. The call was for me, so Marilyn and I went upstairs. The call was from the General Conference office in Washington, D.C. I heard the message: “Calvin Smith is to proceed to Singapore.” I repeated, “Proceed to Singapore?” At that, Marilyn jumped into the air in
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 134 joy. She knew all about our situation and was in full accord that Virginia should no longer be in Tanzania. Since this was now official, I could pack and make plans to move. I’m not quite sure why, but I have memories of building crates on the beach in Dar es Salaam. However that happened, I soon found myself being welcomed in Singapore and discovered how I had gotten there. The Union president had visited Virginia’s parents in Haad Yai and mentioned that he was looking for a personal ministries director. Mother volunteered that she knew a good one. So that was how we ended up in Singapore, within a year after our visit in Thailand. Now I was waiting for Virginia to join me. The time finally came for the amniocentesis. Two days later Virginia and the children began their trip to Singapore. Virginia got quite sick and thought she had malaria. Visiting her younger sister who was a lab tech, she got checked and did not have malaria. Although she felt very weak and unwell, she proceeded to Singapore. Soon she realized that there would not be another baby. We hope to have that baby to raise in heaven.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 135 Eight Years in Singapore In December 1978, we were a family again, all together in Singapore. We loved the wonderful fellowship with other missionaries and intended to never move away. Up to that point in our lives we had moved almost every year, and sometimes more than once a year. It was time to settle down. My job covered several countries. Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Because of political upheavals, I never got to visit Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia. Instead of those countries, I spent time helping in refugee camps. I was also the Voice of Prophecy director for all those countries. I traveled a lot, teaching, preaching, holding training sessions and Voice of Prophecy graduations. I also wrote lessons for various languages and held seminars teaching people to use them. The next eight years were very enjoyable. Virginia, meanwhile, was mostly studying. After so many years of spending 24/7 with her children, she now waved goodbye every morning as they boarded the bus for school on the Far Eastern Division campus. The second day she arrived she heard that Michigan State
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 136 University was offering an MA in Curriculum and Instruction at Singapore American School. She was happy to join the teachers from Far Eastern Academy in attending those classes. After she finished that first degree, we went on furlough to the States, and she went to Loma Linda School of Health for another masters. Once she had that, she was hired to teach in Southeast Asia Union College in Singapore. It was approximately two minutes from our house if you walked slowly. Because we had Virginia’s parents north of us, we hardly felt like missionaries. When there was a school holiday, she and the children rode the bus north to spend time with family. None of us ever wanted to leave Singapore. The day came when Jennifer graduated from Far Eastern Academy. She seemed mature and well prepared for college. It was not hard to see her off to La Sierra, her choice of colleges. Looks were deceiving. Six months later she pulled out her credit card, bought a ticket home and intended to call from Changi Airport. Virginia just happened to call her that morning before she got on the plane, so she knew for a few hours that Jennifer was coming. I was in Sabah when someone told
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 137 me he had seen my daughter in Singapore. I assured him that she was in California. Guess what? I was in for a surprise. She spent the next seven months back in Singapore, working as a nurse aid in the hospital. By then she was ready to try college again. This time she went to Walla Walla College in Washington State. Somehow the thought of sending her second child away from home was much harder for Virginia. She did not look forward to his graduation two years after Jennifer’s. Especially after she returned home in a few months, Virginia began to wonder what might happen to Darcy. He didn’t seem as mature as she had. We began to think about the possibility of moving back to the States. I had the opportunity of attending the General Conference Session in New Orleans. While there I was tentatively looking around for job opportunities, but did not see anything I was interested in. My sister insisted that we should be in the States while our children were in college. She sent me to visit with Don Gray who worked in Idaho where she lived. It was a nice visit, but I didn’t see anything possible coming from it. I went back home and told Virginia we would need to call our
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 138 children very often while they were in college. We belonged in Singapore. As Darcy’s graduation was fast approaching, a teacher from Walla Walla was co-teaching with Virginia in the college. He kept telling her she needed to get a doctorate to be well qualified to teach college. She resisted all his arguments until something very surprising happened and it seemed that God was opening a door for her. That is another story, but as a result, when we unexpectedly received a copy of a message written by Don Gray who had moved to Michigan, we made the hard decision to leave. We hoped it was temporary and we would be able to return to Singapore, but God had other plans for us.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 139 Restaurants and Food Eating out was almost unknown during my childhood. My mother was a wonderful cook with a huge garden to draw from, and we didn’t travel much, so there were almost no opportunities when we needed to eat at a restaurant. When Virginia and I got married, we traveled more and more, so it was often necessary to find meals. Because we were vegetarians, it was not easy to get food that agreed with us. In those days, it was unusual to find vegetarian food. Now it is easy and plentiful. Back in the 60’s in the states, the only places we could depend on for our kind of food were Chinese restaurants. We would each order a dish. They were a dollar a piece. When both dishes were served, we shared them. I don’t remember being hungry for more. Early in 1966 we moved to East Africa. We spent the first couple weeks in Nairobi, Kenya. Through the years we returned there often. A major surprise for us was Indian food. We had never been exposed to it before. There was a lovely restaurant that served 10-Boy Curry. The rice and curry would be beautifully served, then an array of 10 toppings would be graciously presented for us to add on top of the curry. That was delicious. We have been eating it and making it ourselves ever since.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 140 After those first few weeks, we went to live in Tanzania, for almost ten years in total. The first years we didn’t find any memorable restaurants. Later when we moved closer to the capital city, we found an Indian restaurant where it was all you could eat for 7 shillings which totaled $1 at that time. The food was served in small metal bowls on a stainless-steel tray with approximately a 1 1/4” ridge around it. Rice as well as several different curries would be there, along with soup and naan bread, and always some hot spicy toppings, and last of all a dessert. Because the Indian population were mostly Hindus, all the food was strictly vegetarian. One of our favorite family memories is the day we finished eating, and Virginia carried Darcy out who was three at the time. He seriously looked up at her and asked, “Mommy, will there be Hindu food in heaven?” In 1978 we figuratively died and went to heaven. That was when we moved from Africa to Singapore. What a difference! We had lots of favorite restaurants there. The first one was again Indian food. Komala Vilas was its actual name, but we all called it the banana leaf. They put a large banana leaf in front of you, then slapped on servings of several curries and rice and yogurt and
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 141 bread. Then you used your hands to mix up all the food and eat it. We had friends who faithfully went there once a week. Early one morning I picked up a doctor at the airport. He was coming to visit his son who attended Far Eastern Academy with our two children. The first thing he wanted to do was go to the banana leaf for breakfast. That was my introduction to South Indian breakfast food. Yum! We were soon introduced to Malay food as well. Mortabak was sort of a filled bread, except that the bread dough was stretched so thin that you could see through it. Then it was wrapped around something and fried. The filling was either egg or burger with onions and lots of seasonings. We learned to take our own can of vegetarian burger that the restaurant would use to make our mortabak. This was served in a restaurant that could not have passed a sanitation test. Everyone had stories about cockroaches running up their legs. But the food was so good, we continued to go there. Then we made an amazing discovery. On the top of the Hilton Hotel, many floors high, around the swimming pool was a restaurant that served mortabak. Never
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 142 again did we go slumming. Instead, we sat in beautiful surroundings overlooking the main shopping area of Singapore including Lucky Plaza, enjoying delicious— and sanitary—mortabak. Probably our very favorite restaurant there was the 1819, named after the year Singapore was founded by the British Sir Stanford Raffles. Entering there you go down wide steps into a dark wood-lined elegant restaurant. I somehow discovered it and soon took Virginia. The first time we ate there we discovered that only the men’s menus had prices. The menus handed to the ladies didn’t say a word about prices. Whatever was ordered was beautifully served and utterly delicious. We don’t remember any particular food we ate. It was the atmosphere that grabbed us. That was our best-ever get-away from normal life. Two other food memories are special to Singapore. Not restaurants, but great food, nonetheless. Early in the morning we could walk to the nearest market and smell the fresh soy milk. It could be bought either as milk or as very soft tofu. The seller would put it in a plastic bag and add some sweet syrup, then give you either a disposable spoon or a straw, depending on which form you bought. Virginia has always hated soy milk, actually
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 143 milk of any kind. But not that. It was the ultimate comfort food. The other memory is also from the market, fried Singapore noodles and curry puffs on Sunday morning that we would buy and take as food for a picnic. The noodles were put on paper, then wrapped with something else that kept them from leaking. I remember them as the best noodles ever. Moving on. We were privileged to visit Thailand several times. In Chiang Mai we discovered The Whole Earth Restaurant. It was a beautiful wooden Thai building where we sat on pillows around a low table with the only light coming from oil lamps that lightly swayed above us. Again, it was atmosphere that we remember. The food—though not remembered in detail—lingers in our minds as delicious. Further north, in Chiang Rai we became addicted to Khao Soi. The restaurant was a three-sided building, nothing to write home about, but the bowl of noodles in spicy coconut milk, topped with tofu, shallots, crispy noodles, wedges of lime, and cilantro has become our go-to favorite food. We have served it dozens of times
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 144 to visitors and have yet to find anyone who does not enjoy it. For a while, our next-door neighbor in Singapore was a lady who had lived in Indonesia. She introduced us to Gado-Gado. It is one of the national dishes of Indonesia. Apparently, the name means “mixture” and represents the huge assortment of cultures that together form the nation. It is five or six different veggies plus tofu or boiled eggs, all smothered in peanut sauce. We never found a restaurant in which to eat it because Indonesian food is spicy beyond what we are able to endure. But it was served at a Malay wedding we attended, and we cooked it ourselves countless times. Later, when we traveled internationally, we began to find Lebanese food that has many choices for vegetarians. Beirut, Lebanon; Kampala, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Portland, Oregon have all fed us exceptionally well in Lebanese restaurants. Good Harvest Cafe in Crescent City, California became a family favorite for several years. They offered several yummy vegetarian options including Huevos Rancheros made with tofu. We ate there many times, especially
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 145 when family members came to reunions.As the years went by and we moved to Rogue River, Oregon and our children no longer came home for holidays, it seemed smart to eat at Hometown Buffet. We invited our friends to join us and endeavored to get there just as soon as they opened on Thanksgiving and Christmas. It cost less than we would have spent for a holiday meal at home, not to mention the time we saved by not preparing the food. In Grants Pass, Oregon we frequented several Thai restaurants. All of them were good. But Virginia’s favorite place was the Taprock Northwest Grill, right beside the Rogue River. It is a beautiful building with great landscaping and nice ambiance inside. She always felt like a better person for being there. It was a good place for breakfast. Not so great for lunch or dinner when there were few vegetarian options. Occasionally we have found ourselves in Loma Linda, California where my favorite place to eat for years was the Supplantation. Unfortunately, it went out of business during the COVID pandemic. I missed it on our last visit.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 146 During a recent vacation on Catalina Island, we ate in a bunch of different restaurants, but our favorite was a Mexican one named Coyote Joe. Virginia went to college one year in Mexico, so we have always eaten a lot of Mexican food. Now we have retired in Thailand on a beautiful university campus, and we frequently eat in the school cafeteria. The food is good, or sometimes so-so, but the frosting on the cake is the privilege of being surrounded by lots of beautiful young people.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 147 My All-Time Favorite Drink While we lived in Singapore, we were not that far from Indonesia. Frequently we had opportunities to eat Indonesian food, but we generally found it way too spicy. However, we eventually encountered the national dish of Indonesia that was not too spicy, and we discovered a wonderful Indonesian drink. I’ll tell you about both. Gado-Gado means mixture. The way to make a word plural in Malay or Indonesian is to repeat it. So literally it means mix mix, according to the internet. It is one of the national dishes because Indonesia is composed of thousands of islands, each with its own culture and cuisine. So Gado-Gado is a harmonious blending of different vegetables, illustrating the harmonious mixture of the Indonesian people. Our favorite ingredients are potatoes, long beans, bean sprouts, baby carrots and cabbage, with tofu, all topped with peanut sauce dressing. Gado Gado Ingredients: 2 containers firm tofu cut into squares 1” x 1/3” thick
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 148 3 cups green beans or long beans, cut in 1” lengths. 3 cups baby carrots, whole 3 cups green cabbage, diced 1” x 1” 6-8 medium sized potatoes, peeled & diced 1” x 1” very fresh bean sprouts green onions, cilantro, and cucumber slices as garnish Directions: 1. Put the cut tofu single layer on an oiled cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees. Check whether it is browning after each 10 minutes. When it is slightly brown on the underside, turn each piece over and brown on the second side which will happen much faster than the first side. Don’t let them get too dry or it will be almost impossible to chew. If using pressed tofu, simply cut it in pieces and place in a 200-degree oven while you cook the veggies. 2. Cook the vegetables without salt in separate kettles. (The peanut sauce adds the salt.) Stop cooking the cabbage while it is still bright green. Barely steam the bean sprouts. To serve: Place individual vegetables separately around each plate with tofu pieces in the center. Top with peanut sauce
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 149 Garnish by placing sliced cucumbers around the edges of the plate, top with cilantro stems and green onion thinly sliced lengthwise, and serve immediately. Peanut Sauce Ingredients: 1/2 cup lime juice 1/2 cup Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce. (Regular sauce will be too salty) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon Thai chili powder, or to taste. 1 1/2 cups water 1 cup ground roasted peanuts OR 1 cup peanut butter 1 - 13.5 can coconut milk or cream Directions: Mix all ingredients except for the coconut milk in a large fry pan on medium to high heat. Stir constantly till mixture is creamy and begins to thicken. Remove from heat and add coconut milk and incorporate till smooth, but do not bring to a boil or it may separate. Makes about 6 cups.
My Life Stories by Calvin Lloyd Smith 150 Es Teler is a wonderful light dessert drink to serve after Gado-Gado. The name means drunken ice. Ingredients: 2 cans young coconut meat cut into strips, save the juice for the drink. 2 cans jackfruit, cut the fruit in small pieces, and throw out the juice. 1 avocado, cut in quite small pieces 1 can Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk 2 quarts coconut water Ice chips Directions: 1. In a large container, add everything except for the ice chips. This can stand for an hour or more while the meal is eaten. 3. Put pieces of ice in each glass and 3-4 dippers of drink until the glass is full. Serve immediately with iced teaspoons so the pieces of avocado, coconut, and jack fruit can be scooped out. You will be ready to head to Indonesia for more food. Just beware of the amount of chilis that are generally added. Smoke may come wafting from your head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth and anywhere else it can escape.