"Are you willing?"
"My child, I'll willingly let you go. You'll make a fine missionary, and
I'm sure God will be with you."
"Thank you, Mother," said twenty-six-year-old Mary. "I know God will be
with me and will make me strong and brave to serve Him."
Mother Slessor was very happy. There was going to be a missionary in the
family after all. But there were some people who did not agree with Mother
Slessor. They shook their heads in doubt. Others thought Mary was very
foolish to risk her life in that way.
"You're doing real well at the factory," said one of them. "And you're
doing missionary work right down there at the mission. Why rush away to
those people way off in Africa? Seems to me missionary work ought to begin
at home."
"Yes," said Mary, "it should begin there, but not end there. There are some
who cannot go to Africa. They can do the work at home. If God lets me, I
want to take His Word to those people who have never heard of Him or His
love."
The next year, 1875, Mary offered herself to the Foreign Mission Board of
her church. She asked to be sent to Calabar. Then she waited. Waiting is
hard sometimes. Mary had to wait until the Board had a meeting. Then when
the meeting was over, she had to wait for the secretary of the Board of
Foreign Missions to write her a letter. Early in 1876 the letter came. How
excited Mary was! Her hands shook as she tried to open the letter.
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