FYI: Story of faith, adventure 'On the Back Road to Mandalay'

Posted by: "Chinland Guardian" chinland_guardian@yahoo.co.in
Thu Jun 7, 2007 6:16 am (PST)
Story of faith, adventure 'On the Back Road to Mandalay'BOBBE MONK, For the Daily FactsArticle Launched: 06/06/2007 03:40:33 PM PDTvar requestedWidth = 0; if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElement ById('articleVie werGroup' ).style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElement ById('articleVie werGroup' ).style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } REDLANDS - It takes a deep faith to be a missionary. But it also takes imagination, ingenuity and a lot of hard work. This is illustrated in the newly published book, "On the Back Road to Mandalay," by the Rev. Robert G. Johnson. The faith of Robert, now 91, and his wife, Betty Lue, is unquestioned. Their ability to adapt, raise their family and spend 20 years helping to bring Christianity to the Chin people in a mountainous portion of Burma (now Myanmar) is a story of faith, determination, care, courage and love. And they did it as a team. Bob is a 1941 graduate of Wheaton College and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Betty Lue Milliken Johnson graduatedfrom the University of Illinois in Decatur with the class of 1938. They married in 1941 when Bob graduated from seminary. It was also that year they were appointed as missionaries to Burma by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. But they could not get passports because of impending war. Then, Pearl Harbor happened, and Bob joined the Navy in September of 1942 as a chaplain. He served in the South Pacific with the Marine Corps. Returning in 1944, he was stationed near Chicago. He was slated to go to Japan when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the war ended. Betty had spent the war time teaching. Leaving for Burma, 1946 Bob went to work as an interim pastor in Illinois and finally, in March of 1946, they left for Burma. By that time the family had grown to three. Son Richard had joined them and was then 10 months old. They traveled toward their destination in a troop transport, women and children separated from the men, few places on board to wash people or clothing and the only place to hang clothes to dry was the ship's rigging. It was not first-class accommodations, but it got them to Calcutta, India, from which they traveled to Assam and subsequently, Burma. To get to their new home in the mountains, they had to walk. There were no roads and few vehicles. Because of the difficulty of traveling, and the rainy season, they initially stayed in Tiddim, about 100 miles from Haka where they were to make their home. It was in Tiddim they made friends with another Baptist missionary family, Frank and Phileda Nelson and their two children. Thatfriendship lasted the entire time the two families served in Burma. It also led to some interesting experiments by the two men. That's where imagination and ingenuity were first tested. One experience was building a washing machine from scratch for the Nelson family. The "machine" was made of a 50-gallon gasoline drum, suspended by chains from an overhead beam, and agitation was by means of the motor of a Willys jeep, the back wheels of which were jacked up to keep it from moving away. Spare parts and adventure To find what they needed was also an adventure. After the war, because of the potential effect on the Indian economy, items from America such as clothing, food, vehicles, spare parts, medicine, building supplies and other surplus items used during the war could not be sold or given away. They were supposed to be destroyed. But the items could be scrounged, and scrounged they were. Needed items were somehow located and collected. On theirarrival in their future home city of Haka, they found the house they were to live in being used as a hospital. It, and their temporary home until the hospital could be vacated, were in need of extensive repairs. Imagination and ingenuity prevailed once more and habitable homes were eventually made. The Johnsons had the help of many of the Haka Christian community, but also two particular men, Ram Hlkun and Chia Ling, their cooks, friends and eventually deacons in their church. Think of the pioneers in the Western United States, then think a bit more primitive. For the first five years, the Johnson family's stoves in both houses were two iron bars over an open wood fire. Imaginatively, Robert cut glass for the home's windows with his wife's diamond ring, the only thing sharp enough to do the job. But they persevered. The Johnsons' main job, teaching Christianity to the Chin people, was eased by the two cooks, and an ayah (nurse) for the three children theyeventually had. Not worrying too much about the household chores, they could concentrate on teaching the Bible. Arriving in Haka they had one son, Richard. Subsequently they had their first daughter, Ruth Kristin Johnson, in November of 1947. She was born in Mandalay after the Johnsons trekked literally up and down mountains to get there. There were six travelers, four mule drivers, three mules, three horses and 10 people who carried the palanquin on which Betty rode. And, when she delivered the baby, Betty was attended by a midwife, not the doctor for whom they traveled the distance to see. Another son, Peter, was born prematurely in 1950, but survived only half an hour. Robert was away at a Baptist Association meeting and no one but Phileda Nelson was available to help. Initially, he said, he thought he had lost both the child and his wife. The third child and second girl, Martha Anne, was born in 1952 in Illinois while the Johnsons were on furlough. Theybegan their return to Haka when the child was three months old. Lack of roads made visiting the small communities in the mountains a perilous project. Landslides during rains, treacherous roads, bandits and more made life a challenge. Robert had 750 churches in the hills in some 450 villages. They could only be visited by walking and riding mules. The Johnsons loved their life in the Chin mountains and their work among the Chin people. They studied the language, but it was about six months before they could make themselves understood. The children grew up speaking the Chin language fluently. An addendum in the back of the book includes their children's appreciation of growing up in Burma. The work in Burma Robert's work was to run a Bible school and train ministers. He was continuing a mission which began in 1899. His first class of 26 had to sleep in a stone house with few accommodations. In addition to biblical knowledge, he taught them recordkeeping, how to handle money and other basics. Betty ran their home and home-schooled the children through the seventh grade (after which they studied in India); taught Bible classes; worked with the local women; dispensed medicine and provided music for the church. Looking back, Robert said the accomplishments of their 20 years included translating the Old Testament into the Chin language with the help of a Chin native; starting and running a Bible school to train ministers (which is still operating); completion of a song book in the Chin language (one of Betty's projects); and building a church of stone in the community. In 1962 General Nu Win and a Revolutionary Council seized power in a coup d'etat and began a military dictatorship which has continued for 44 years. Daughter Ruth graduated from high school in India in 1965 and was allowed to come home for a short time before leaving for college in the United States. An early monsoon rain makingtravel to the airport almost impossible came close to making her miss her flight. Betty was very ill in 1964, and in late 1965 was advised to return to the United States for treatment. Daughter Martha was trying to come back to Burma for her vacation from high school, but was denied an entry permit. She was allowed in for only a few hours, but was able to accompany her mother to the United States. Robert stayed on until, with other missionaries and foreigners, he had to leave Burma as well. He left in April of 1966. While he writes a lot about the perils and problems of living and working in the mountains, he also talks about the joy he felt in helping to lead the Chin people to Christ. The Johnsons were the seventh Baptist family to work with the Chin people. When they, the last missionaries in that area, left, the Chin Christians took over the church work "flawlessly, " Robert Johnson writes. In 1999, 75 percent of the Chin people were Christian.In 2005, population in the Chin Hills was 503,055, of which 424,271 were listed as Christians with 1,948 churches and 2,434 ordained pastors. In Haka there are now four Baptist churches with more than 700 attending each of the churches on Sundays. And a Christian college was recently opened there. "It just thrills us," the Johnsons said. "God has given the harvest," Robert Johnson writes. Later years After leaving Burma with only their luggage, Robert went to work in Valley Forge from 1967 to 1980, working with churches in Thailand and Hong Kong. Betty worked as a copy editor for 13 years for Judson Press. She was the copy editor for his book. Robert retired in 1980 and began writing a two-volume history of the American Baptist Chin Mission. The couple moved to Moreno valley to be near their children and then to Plymouth Village retirement community in Redlands in 2000. Richard, their oldest child, became a geologist with the ArmyCorps of Engineers. Ruth is a nurse in the neonatal department of the Children's Hospital of Orange County, and Martha and her husband served with the Wycliffe Bible Translators in Indonesia for 17 years, then moved to the Philippines. They translated the Bible into the Uma language. They now live in Dallas, Texas. The Johnsons have six grandchildren and one step-grandchild. "On the Back Road to Mandalay" may be purchased at Barnes and Noble, or from Amazon.com. The price is $19.95. Bobbe Monk, a former Our Town editor, is a freelance writer who lives in Yucaipa.Story of faith, adventure ROn the Back Road to Mandalay' [source: http://www.redlands dailyfacts. com/news/ ci_6074771]