Mission  1927

There were two of us going to the french mission, Joe White and myself. The rest of the missionaries that came over on the boat left us at either Antwerp or Brussels for their respective destinations. The Sunday night that we arrived in Brussels we got our taste of missionary life. We went to church and then to visit one of the Saints. It all seemed very interesting and agreeable. It was not long, however, before we learned that this was one of the most pleasant sides of missionary life.

Brussels was at that time one of the most modern of the European cities and was the one I liked best of all. The center of the city was built around a big square which was used as a market place. The customs of the people in Europe, especially those in Belgium and France are quite different from those we had been use to. We were soon shocked into this realization when the missionaries took us into a rest room near this big square. The rest room consisted principally of a long hall-like room with a pipe running along one side from which was dripping water.

The place was used principally by men but every one in a while a woman from the market would come over and use it too. The fact that men were in there did not seem to bother the women in the least. On every other street corner in Belgium and French towns were located these so-called "rest rooms". For the most part they were placed against some wall with water dripping from a pipe and a small sheet of tin stretched across the back that reached from about your waist to your knees. These seemed awfully immodest at first but by the time I was ready to come home after my mission they did not bother me in the least.

We stayed in Brussels a day and then left for Geneva, Switzerland which was the headquarters of the French mission. We were met-at Geneva by Frere Moody, a missionary serving as secretary of the mission at that time. We did not know whether a missionary would meet us in Geneva but we had no difficulty in spotting Frere Moody and we knew in a glance that he was an American and a missionary. The mission was presided over at this time (September 1927) by brother Rossiter. He had his wife with him and a daughter named Betty. She was an adopted French or Swiss girl and spoke french as a native and also spoke english well.

I remained in Geneva for about two weeks and got my first taste of missionary work. The first morning I was there Brother Rossiter suggested that I go tracting with Frere Miller who was the presiding missionary at Geneva at that time. I found that missionary work had its disagreeable side. We knocked at doors and Frere Miller tried to talk to the people that came to the door. Sometimes the door would be slammed in our faces and other times we would be asked to leave and not come back. Occasionally he would find someone that was willing to listen. Tracting was one of the hardest things I had to do throughout my mission and yet I believe my tracting record was as high as any missionaries in the mission.

LETTERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(L270926) John Griffin to Grandmother Smith / Geneva, Switzerland

(MISSIONARY JOURNAL OF JOHN GRIFFIN - page 2)

page 19

Previous Page   Next Page   Table of Contents