I Sat Where They Sat

Arn Bowler

Description

There have been few missions books that will touch your heart as will this story of how a young Canadian couple responded to the call of God to go to Africa as missionaries and ended up spending over 50 years ministering to a people with whom they had fallen in love. This book will take you deep into African daily life with all of its hardships but also into the beauty and joy that Africa has. It contains the stories and experiences that Arnold and Elsie lived through, including the hardships from poverty, sickness, witchcraft, wild animal attacks and even from corrupt governments like Idi Amin. This is also an account about people’s lives being changed through Christ and how hundreds of churches were started and nations were changed forever by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church in Africa is alive and strong today because people like Arnold and Elsie Bowler sacrificed and responded to the call of God to give their lives for others. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13 NASB). They gave their lives so they could sit where others sat!.

Informations

• Publié par: Castle Quay Books
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781894860789
• Langue: English

Extrait

I Sat Where They Sat

Copyright ©2011 Arnold Bowler
All rights reserved
Printed in Canada
International Standard Book Number: 978-1-894860-52-9 (print edition)
International Standard Book Number: 978-1-894860-78-9 (electronic edition)

Published by:
Castle Quay Books
1307 Wharf Street, Pickering, Ontario, L1W 1A5
Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
www.castlequaybooks.com

Copy edited by Kathryn Bowler and Marina H. Hofman-Willard
Cover design by Essence Design
Printed at Essence Printing, Belleville, Ontario

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Copyright © 1977, 1984, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers. All rights reserved. • Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982. Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers. • Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of the publishers.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Bowler, Arnold, 1929-
I sat where they sat / Arnold Bowler.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-894860-52-9
1. Bowler, Arnold, 1929-. 2. Bowler, Elsie.
3. Missions--Africa. 4. Missionaries--Africa--Biography.
5. Missionaries--Canada--Biography. I. Title.
BV3503.B69 2011 266.0092'2 C2011-904219-3
Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife, Elsie Marie Bowler. For almost sixty years Elsie has been my companion and good friend. In the problems and dangers that I went through in Africa, Elsie has been my strong supporter and prayer partner.
In times of stress she was there to encourage and cheer me on. Without her steady faith the things that this book talks about would not have happened.
Thank you very much, Elsie. You have truly been the wife talked about in Proverbs 31:10-12, 27-29.
Acknowledgments

This book is based on actual experiences over a fifty year period.
For every book, a lot more goes into it than just what the author writes. I found this to be true when I started to write this. Last Christmas my children gave me a book entitled The Autobiographer’s Handbook , by Jennifer Taig. In the first few pages it said, “Don’t expect this to be a short or easy job, it could take up to six years or more.” I’ve found that to be true: It hasn’t been an easy road.
In the writing of every book, there’s always more than one person involved. I would like to acknowledge a few who have helped me in this task:
Many thanks to Rev. Rick Bombay, who gave me a computer program entitled “Naturally Speaking.” This is a program where I just sit in front of the computer and talk and it records what I say. Without this programme it would have taken me much longer to get everything in print. Thanks, Pastor Rick.
My wife, Elsie, worked many hours typing and retyping as I added and changed things. Many thanks to you, Elsie, for your patience.
My daughter Lynda bought me a portable tape recorder to encourage me to start recording my stories, and Kathryn gave me a format to start with. I did not know how to start, and they helped me.
To Brenda Stone, who tried to help me learn the basics of the computer world and also constantly asked me each time we met, “Have you started your book yet?” Thanks Brenda.
Many thanks to a friend, Brian Clark, who came in and encouraged me and actually got me started on the writing.
Thanks to the many people who constantly pushed me by saying, “You should write about your life and what God has done through your ministry in Africa.”
I’d like to thank Trinity Pentecostal Church in Oshawa, Ontario, who gave me an office to work in. Without this I wouldn’t have had a place where I could sit quietly and concentrate. Thanks to Trinity Church.
When I finally finished writing my thoughts and feelings down, I knew the manuscript needed more work. Much was still to be done. My daughter Kathryn had worked as an editor in a publishing business in British Columbia, so I asked her to go over it and edit it. Kathryn worked on the manuscript for many weeks, getting it ready to take to a publisher. This has been a bigger project than either of us thought! My heartfelt thanks to Kathryn for her many hours of work.
There were also several other people who read parts of the manuscript and encouraged me to persevere.
Endorsement

‘Gideon’ Missionaries
And Gideon was nothing
Was nothing in the fray
But just a suit of working clothes
The Spirit wore that day.
It was 7:00 p.m., and the first day of the Southern Africa leadership ’95 Conference had already begun. Arn and Elsie were waiting at the airport, but they had encouraged me to look after the national pastors first: They’d be happy to wait. I was still running around picking up people but had been unable to find Rev. and Mrs. Chatepa, our general superintendent from Malawi. I explained the situation to Arn and Elsie. They said they would look in another place. As we walked into a small waiting room, Rev. Chatepa jumped up, threw his arms around Arn and said, “I knew you’d find us.”
Those words convey the true missionary spirit of Arn and Elsie Bowler. They speak of “perseverance” and “confidence”: perseverance through 50 years of missionary service, many times in difficult circumstances, and confidence in their Lord, who called them. Because of their missionary spirit, there is also a tremendous sense of confidence the Africans have in Arn and Elsie. Over the years they have been called Brother, Pastor, Teacher, Mother, Father, Agogo (which means grandparents), Great Preacher, Friend. The National Brethren in Malawi have elected them Life Missionaries and say they will build them a retirement house there. Arn says that he will sit under a tree and think, and Elsie will be out “in the garden” in good African tradition.
They began their missionary service in 1955 at Evangel Publishing House on Nyang’ori Mission Station in Kenya. Arnold was the general manager of Evangel Publishing House, and Elsie was the accountant. On weekends they traveled throughout Kenya preaching, teaching, planting new churches and strengthening and encouraging our national pastors. Their children, Lynda, Kathryn, Philip, Stephen and Valerie, were born during this time.
The Bowler home has always been a place where missionaries, Canadian ministry teams and Africans could come and be welcome. Anyone who needed a rest or time away from the cares of life would find comfort there. My husband, Murray, has fond memories of the Bowler home and the many shared holidays on the beaches and golf courses of Kenya.
In 1964, the Bowlers moved to Uganda to work with our churches there. It was a difficult time as Christians struggled under the dictatorships of Milton Obote and Idi Amin. There was desperate need for comfort and encouragement, spiritual maturity and teaching. Arn and Elsie were the perfect couple to meet these needs. They were also instrumental along with other missionaries in beginning the Bible school at Mbale.
When they returned from furlough or home assignment in 1972, missionaries were no longer allowed in Uganda, and so they returned to Kenya. Arn continued in his duties as general manager of the Evangel Publishing House and Elsie as accountant. Their strong desire to encourage and build the national churches continued to lead them out to the rural areas on most weekends. Many pastors throughout Kenya today speak of the Bowlers and can recount each of their visits.
In 1977/78 the doors to Uganda opened again, and the Bowlers made their way back into that war-torn and devastated country. To their amazement and delight, the 313 churches they had left behind had grown to 517, despite the severe persecution and official closure of churches. Some African brothers had lost their lives, houses had been damaged and the Bible school almost totally destroyed. Yet through the sadness and turmoil there was rejoicing at God’s faithfulness to His people.
With the help of a Canadian task force team, they managed to rebuild the Bible school, and it was soon full of students, many coming at extreme personal cost. Those years in Uganda were by no means easy, and yet the Bowlers continued to give of themselves: loving, caring, strengthening, building, teaching and preaching the gospel of Christ.
When their time in Uganda was over, the Bowlers moved to Malindi, a coastal city in Kenya. There they both ministered among the Giriama and other coastal tribes and endeared themselves to the expatriate community. Arn often preached at a small inter-denominational church that met Sunday evenings and was in fact looked upon as their pastor by the British settlers who lived in the area. One of the old colonialists wrote to Bill Cornelius, Executive Director of Overseas Missions for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada at that time, and implored him not to move the Bowlers, since “Who will bury us when our time comes?”
For sixteen years Arn and Elsie ministered in Malawi, one of the poorest African countries, rampant with AIDS. Arn served as field representative in Malawi, and Elsie kept herself busy with the Field and Child Care Plus accounts and with giving women’s seminars thro