Mabel Francis, Part 1

[00:00:03] Welcome to Women Worth Knowing, the radio program and podcast hosted by Cheryl Brodersen and Robin Jones Gunn.

[00:00:11] Hello, beautiful listeners. This is Robin and Cheryl and I are going to tell you today about a woman who is worth knowing.

[00:00:18] But then we do believe that every woman is a woman worth knowing.

[00:00:21] But there are some women that just catch our attention as Mabel caught Cheryl's attention in a book years ago.

[00:00:28] I have heard of Mabel, but I can't wait to get all the details.

[00:00:31] I know. So Mabel Francis wrote her own story in When She'll Chase a Thousand.

[00:00:37] And it's excellent. I actually read that book, read another book that I'll talk about a little bit later.

[00:00:43] That's a biography of her. But she's one of my favorites.

[00:00:48] And I think because she grew up as a Christian and she had some of the same struggles that I did as a young Christian.

[00:00:56] And I just related to her like, yes, yes. And yet the Lord used her so incredibly powerful.

[00:01:05] So as I was saying, she grew up in a Christian home and her father was a pastor.

[00:01:09] Not only was her father a pastor, but she had six uncles that were pastors.

[00:01:14] Wow.

[00:01:15] So pressure's on, right?

[00:01:17] Yes.

[00:01:17] And she's also, I mean, I think six is kind of a theme. She's the oldest of six children.

[00:01:22] So she had a younger brother, George, a younger sister, Gertrude, younger brother, Thomas, a younger sister, Suzanne, and Henry.

[00:01:32] So Mabel was seven years old when she gave her life to Jesus.

[00:01:36] She had this conviction that she really needed to give everything to Jesus.

[00:01:42] And Mabel also had a little temper.

[00:01:44] And she thought maybe that would help with her temper.

[00:01:46] And in some ways it did because everybody was saying, oh, Mabel, there must be a change in you.

[00:01:52] But then she kind of had it out with Thomas, her brother.

[00:01:56] He would just exasperate her.

[00:01:59] Now, Mabel's family regularly gathered for family devotions.

[00:02:03] Now, I was raised with family devotions every Saturday.

[00:02:07] My dad would lead us in family devotions.

[00:02:09] So when they talked about her father leading their family in family devotions, I was like, I've been there.

[00:02:15] I've done that.

[00:02:16] I remember that.

[00:02:17] My mom nicknamed them family commotions, especially when my two brothers were there.

[00:02:22] And you can imagine that with six children, there probably were more likely to be family commotions.

[00:02:29] Yes.

[00:02:30] And so at these times, her father would lead the family in a song.

[00:02:34] Then they would read the Bible together and then pray.

[00:02:37] And to end it, the whole family would recite the Lord's Prayer together.

[00:02:42] That's beautiful, really.

[00:02:44] Her mother was this incredibly godly woman.

[00:02:47] But her mother had this burden for Japan that she would pray for Japan all the time.

[00:02:54] Interestingly enough, my mother always had a burden for England.

[00:02:58] And she would pray for England all the time.

[00:03:01] And when Brian and I announced that we were going to England, we told them, my dad was just heartbroken.

[00:03:08] But my mom called me and she said, Cheryl, don't let my tears stop you from doing the will of God.

[00:03:14] I have prayed for years for England.

[00:03:16] I just never knew this was going to be the cost.

[00:03:18] Wow.

[00:03:19] So when I read about Mabel and her mother had this burden for Japan and she wanted to create in her children a desire and a love for other nations and other people.

[00:03:36] And her mother would tell them a story about a young boy named, and I'll probably butcher this, but Nisima Shemete or Joe for short.

[00:03:47] So I'm going to call him Joe because that's so much easier for me.

[00:03:50] But he wanted to learn about God.

[00:03:53] He was living in Japan and he felt like God must be real.

[00:03:56] I need to know God.

[00:03:58] And he was so desperate that he stowed away on a ship, you know, hid on the ship that was going to America just because he wanted to hear about God.

[00:04:08] And when he got to America, somebody told him about God and he went to a Christian college.

[00:04:16] And then he returned to Japan and established the Doshisha University in Kyoto, which was a Christian university.

[00:04:25] And when Mabel's mother would tell this story, she would cry.

[00:04:32] And so you can understand that tenderness that Mabel was developing towards Japan.

[00:04:38] Well, and so time frame, we're in the late 1800s.

[00:04:42] Exactly.

[00:04:42] She was born in 1880.

[00:04:44] Okay.

[00:04:44] So, I mean, just think of how Japan had been closed for a couple centuries.

[00:04:51] That's right.

[00:04:51] So it was such a mysterious, faraway place.

[00:04:55] Since the 1600s, it had been closed.

[00:04:57] Wow.

[00:04:58] And it only opened up in the 1800s.

[00:05:02] And it was because – I'm going to get to that – but it was because a man went over to Japan from the United States and brokered a treaty between Japan and the United States over Wailing.

[00:05:15] And they had a friendly treaty.

[00:05:18] Japan was intimidated and a little bit concerned about England because of their colonization of China.

[00:05:25] And so they had closed their borders and were protecting themselves.

[00:05:29] But they were a little more open to the Americans.

[00:05:32] But when Mabel was young and her mom would tell that story, she would promise her mom, Mom, someday I'm going to go to Japan and I'm going to be that missionary that you're praying for.

[00:05:45] And Mary – and Mabel made it with all her heart.

[00:05:48] But again, she had that problem.

[00:05:50] That temper.

[00:05:51] That temper.

[00:05:52] That was her problem.

[00:05:54] And she decided that if she got baptized and she was full immersion, so in the river – that's where they did in Massachusetts where she was born – that she was hoping that once she was baptized, your temper would go and she'd just get along so well.

[00:06:10] Wouldn't that be great?

[00:06:11] Wouldn't that be great?

[00:06:13] Yeah.

[00:06:13] I was baptized – I was baptized three times and I don't think it ever took in that way.

[00:06:19] So Mabel was baptized and just three days later she got in a fight with – who else?

[00:06:25] Thomas.

[00:06:26] Oh, her brother.

[00:06:26] Yes.

[00:06:27] Her brother Thomas.

[00:06:28] And that's interesting because Thomas will be a constant in her life.

[00:06:32] It just is so sweet.

[00:06:34] It just shows us that she's a fighter.

[00:06:36] She is.

[00:06:37] She's tenacious from the beginning.

[00:06:39] That's right.

[00:06:40] But Mabel was also plain looking.

[00:06:43] And she had stubborn, stick, straight brown hair.

[00:06:46] On the other hand, her younger sister Gertrude was absolutely beautiful with blonde, naturally curly hair and big blue eyes.

[00:06:55] And everywhere they went as a family, everyone would comment on Gertrude's beauty, just how beautiful she was.

[00:07:03] Now Mabel prayed like, Lord, make me beautiful.

[00:07:06] And then she decided, Lord, I'm probably too plain for you to ever use.

[00:07:12] Can you imagine?

[00:07:13] Oh.

[00:07:14] But as a young Christian girl thinking, oh, I guess my looks interfere.

[00:07:18] I'm just so plain looking.

[00:07:20] How could he ever use me?

[00:07:21] Any teenage girl is going to struggle.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:24] Why did you make me this way?

[00:07:26] Right.

[00:07:26] Then at 17, she felt the Lord.

[00:07:29] And I love that she's 17 and she begins to feel the Lord speaking to her and hear his voice.

[00:07:37] And the Lord says to her, Mabel, will you give me absolutely everything?

[00:07:43] Oh.

[00:07:43] Wow.

[00:07:43] And she said, you know, yes, I will.

[00:07:46] But, you know, look at me, Lord.

[00:07:47] How can you ever use me?

[00:07:48] I'm so plain looking.

[00:07:50] And the Lord speaks to her and said, I made you exactly the way you look for my purposes.

[00:07:57] Perfect.

[00:07:58] Yes, yes, yes.

[00:07:59] And from the moment the Lord told her that, she was not jealous of her truth.

[00:08:04] She was just totally all right with who she was.

[00:08:08] It just really changed everything.

[00:08:11] That's so valuable right there because then you could trust God.

[00:08:14] This is, you had a purpose in everything, even the way you made me look.

[00:08:19] And I'm going to trust you for every purpose from here on out.

[00:08:22] I really think that was a true hallmark that happened at that point.

[00:08:27] So Mabel spent the summers at Orchard Camp and she attended studies by A.B. Simpson.

[00:08:35] And maybe you know him from Missionary Alliance Church.

[00:08:37] Yep.

[00:08:38] So she was so impressed by Dr. Simpson.

[00:08:41] She just loved him.

[00:08:43] Dr. Simpson did not care about material things at all.

[00:08:47] In fact, he wore a black suit always, but he had worn it so much that it was green.

[00:08:52] Oh, no.

[00:08:54] Just from all the, you know, washing and all the wearing.

[00:08:57] Oh, dear.

[00:08:58] And he, she said when he spoke, you knew that he had a true relationship with the King of Kings.

[00:09:05] And he was melodious in his speeches.

[00:09:09] And he was so, so joyful that everyone just wanted to sit and listen to him.

[00:09:17] And she said that sometimes when he was talking about the Lord, he would even just chuckle just with delight at everything that God had done and everything that God was doing.

[00:09:29] Okay, that gives me hope because sometimes I've listened back to our podcast and I hear myself in the background just kind of chuckling.

[00:09:37] And I think I don't need to laugh at poor, our poor guests must think I'm laughing.

[00:09:41] But it's just, this is such a joyful thing to be able to bring to light these stories and to see God work in these lives.

[00:09:49] So.

[00:09:49] Exactly.

[00:09:50] If he can chuckle in the Lord, then I'm going to just keep smiling and chuckling too.

[00:09:56] Oh, absolutely.

[00:09:57] And I think joy is so attractive.

[00:09:59] Yeah.

[00:09:59] When people see the joy of the Lord.

[00:10:01] And Jesus said, I have told you these things that your joy may be full.

[00:10:05] And that was such a sign that he was in the presence of the Lord and not worried about life because God was taking care of it so he could just have joy.

[00:10:20] And A.B. Simpson literally set up missionary posts all over the world.

[00:10:26] Yeah.

[00:10:26] And so he was responsible for the safety and the welfare of all these different missionaries.

[00:10:31] And yet he could have such joy.

[00:10:34] Because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

[00:10:37] Absolutely.

[00:10:38] And this is so important for Mabel to see.

[00:10:41] Absolutely.

[00:10:42] It will be so essential as life progresses.

[00:10:48] Now, some of those who attended that camp came from one over 100 miles away.

[00:10:53] Just to hear A.B. Simpson to be part of that fellowship.

[00:10:57] A.B. Simpson's slogan that became Mabel's slogan was this.

[00:11:04] On his heart, in his hands, at his feet, and at his command.

[00:11:11] Oh, that's so good.

[00:11:14] That's so good.

[00:11:15] So when she came home from the camp, she returned to her big house in New Hampton where her parents lived.

[00:11:23] And her parents, in order to make extra money because her father was a pastor, they would take in boarders.

[00:11:29] And one of the boarders that they took in was a young teacher.

[00:11:32] And Mabel and he became really, really close friends.

[00:11:36] And she really loved him.

[00:11:38] He was also her teacher at her schoolhouse that she went to.

[00:11:42] But he became sick with tuberculosis.

[00:11:48] And he ended up dying.

[00:11:49] And he was buried within sight of the school.

[00:11:54] And Mabel could look out the window of her school and see his grave.

[00:11:59] And she would often go there and sit by his grave and just cry because he had been so close to her, someone she could relate to.

[00:12:09] And one day as she was sitting at that grave crying, she felt the Lord speak to her saying, Mabel, why are you crying?

[00:12:15] And she said, because he was so kind and he was such a wonderful man and he had his whole life ahead of him.

[00:12:21] And the Lord spoke to her and said, Mabel, he's right here with me.

[00:12:25] He's very happy.

[00:12:26] He's doing very well.

[00:12:28] But in the meantime, I want you to tell others and your peers especially the good news of the gospel.

[00:12:36] So they can someday be with your teacher.

[00:12:39] And, you know, they can come to heaven.

[00:12:42] So Mabel received this anointing at that time.

[00:12:45] And she went back to her schoolroom.

[00:12:47] And she started sharing Jesus with all of the other students.

[00:12:52] And then she invited them to a meeting where she shared.

[00:12:57] It's so good.

[00:12:58] It's the glimpse of eternity.

[00:12:59] Once you get that.

[00:13:00] Right.

[00:13:00] This isn't it.

[00:13:01] This isn't all there is.

[00:13:03] Once you see beyond, it just motivates you.

[00:13:06] Obviously, it did for Mabel.

[00:13:07] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:08] So she just started teaching.

[00:13:13] And she was asked to speak at these different churches, especially to the youth group, because she was so filled with the gospel and so earnest in her appeal that others come to the gospel.

[00:13:27] And get this, Thomas, her younger brother, you know, the one that she struggled with?

[00:13:32] He would accompany her and he would sing.

[00:13:35] He led the worship before she would preach.

[00:13:39] And she would lead all these young people to Jesus.

[00:13:43] So one day, as Mabel was traveling and doing these evangelistic meetings, she began to feel like God was saying, I want you to do this.

[00:13:53] But in the mission field.

[00:13:56] And she said, all right, Lord, where do you want me to go?

[00:14:00] And at one of the places where she was asked to speak, there was also a Japanese man who was speaking.

[00:14:06] And as he was sharing, Mabel had a vision.

[00:14:10] And she saw herself surrounded by all these Japanese people.

[00:14:15] And Jesus was standing with them.

[00:14:18] And he said to her, I love these people, but they've never heard of me.

[00:14:23] I can't help them because they don't know me.

[00:14:27] Will you go for me and tell them of my love?

[00:14:30] The impression of the great love of Jesus for the Japanese people never left her from that day forward.

[00:14:40] When Mabel went home and told her mother about this vision, her mother began to weep for joy.

[00:14:47] Oh, yeah.

[00:14:48] Now, for the next nine years, nine years, Mabel began to prepare herself to go to Japan.

[00:14:57] Nine?

[00:14:58] Why?

[00:14:58] Why nine?

[00:14:59] I have no idea, but she felt like she needed to finish her education.

[00:15:03] So she went to what is now Gordon-Conwell College.

[00:15:07] But then it was just Gordon Bible School in Boston.

[00:15:11] She really wanted to know the Bible.

[00:15:13] It's interesting because later Elizabeth Elliott would teach there.

[00:15:17] And it was the seminary that both Kathy and Tim Keller attended.

[00:15:22] Oh, that's interesting.

[00:15:24] In Boston.

[00:15:24] But now, okay, so Mabel is about 20 when she starts this education?

[00:15:32] Yes.

[00:15:32] So late teens or 20.

[00:15:34] Okay.

[00:15:34] And nine years.

[00:15:35] Yeah.

[00:15:36] I don't think we've talked about anyone who's had that much dedication to their preparation.

[00:15:41] No.

[00:15:41] Usually it's like, okay, Lord, I'm ready.

[00:15:43] Let's go.

[00:15:44] I think the only other person I know that put that much preparation in was Helen Rosevere.

[00:15:48] But that was because she was going to be a doctor, right?

[00:15:51] Yes.

[00:15:51] She needed a little bit more training.

[00:15:52] Right.

[00:15:52] So she did medical school and then she applied for missionary school.

[00:15:59] And that's another story.

[00:16:01] I encourage you to listen to the podcast on Helen Rosevere because she was probably one

[00:16:06] of my favorite characters I've ever done.

[00:16:08] And I do mean characters.

[00:16:11] So interestingly enough, the college was associated with her uncle, Dr. James Francis, who pastored

[00:16:18] the Clareden Street Church.

[00:16:20] Now remember, take your pick of six uncles that are pastors.

[00:16:23] And he happens to be associated with the Gordon-Conwell.

[00:16:26] While at school, she learned to depend upon the Lord for all her financial needs.

[00:16:31] She didn't have enough money.

[00:16:33] And yet God always supplied in surprising and unexpected but faithful ways all she needed

[00:16:41] to eat, all she needed for her boarding, and all she needed for her tuition.

[00:16:47] And she felt kind of like George Mueller that she was not to ask for money, but just to seek

[00:16:58] the Lord for all the finances that she would need for school and for the ministry.

[00:17:05] After Gordon-Conwell, she went to the Missionary Training Institute in Nyack, New York.

[00:17:10] They had a two-year course that was started 20 years earlier by A.B. Simpson.

[00:17:17] And Mabel didn't know how she would pay for it, but she felt the Lord leading her.

[00:17:21] Then at a meeting, she met this woman that she had never, ever seen before.

[00:17:27] Her name was Mrs. Rose.

[00:17:28] And Mrs. Rose went up to her and said, I've been watching you, and I think you're supposed

[00:17:33] to go to that school in Nyack, New York with A.B. Simpson.

[00:17:37] And she said, oh, really?

[00:17:39] And she said, yes.

[00:17:40] And if you decide to go, the Lord has put on my heart that I will pay your full tuition.

[00:17:45] And so Mabel prayed about it, and that's exactly what the Lord led her to do.

[00:17:51] Now, Mabel loved the Missionary Alliance Church, but she had one Christian Missionary Alliance Church.

[00:17:58] She had one difference with them.

[00:18:01] They believed in what was called the holiness movement, where once you were baptized in the

[00:18:07] spirit, you didn't have to worry about sin anymore.

[00:18:10] Well, Mabel had been baptized in the spirit, but she still had that temper.

[00:18:13] So she felt that the way to eradicate sin was progressively mortifying the deeds of the flesh,

[00:18:23] saying no to self and saying yes to Jesus.

[00:18:27] A little sanctification process.

[00:18:28] Exactly.

[00:18:29] Which I think we would agree with that, that it's a process.

[00:18:33] You know, otherwise, why would Jesus say, you know, die daily to yourself?

[00:18:39] Right.

[00:18:39] It's a daily thing.

[00:18:41] Not a once-off, but a daily thing.

[00:18:44] Which is what she thought when she was baptized.

[00:18:46] That's right.

[00:18:47] Down in the river and come back up, and all the sin will be gone.

[00:18:50] That's right.

[00:18:51] No, it's step by step.

[00:18:53] So after that two-year program in Nyack, she enrolled in Defiance College in Ohio.

[00:18:59] And during that time, she prayed about what missionary organization she should apply for.

[00:19:05] And the Lord led her to Christian Missionary Alliance, A.B. Simpson.

[00:19:10] And she was now 28 years old.

[00:19:13] It was 1908.

[00:19:15] She was accepted.

[00:19:16] But again, she didn't want to try to raise support.

[00:19:20] So she said, Lord, if you want me to go, you've got to supply all the funds.

[00:19:24] Well, it seemed that after that, every letter she opened, and she started getting all these letters

[00:19:29] from places she had spoken at when she was a young girl and even people she had met in college.

[00:19:36] And they were all sending her money.

[00:19:39] And she began to save up the money because she needed train fare to Seattle.

[00:19:43] And she needed the money to take the ship, the steamship, from Seattle all the way to Japan.

[00:19:55] And not only did the Lord supply all the money, He overly supplied.

[00:20:00] She had enough for food and for all her needs.

[00:20:04] So she began to pack her trunk.

[00:20:07] And a woman had come to her and said, I've made you three gingham dresses.

[00:20:11] So Mabel was so excited because not only had the Lord supplied the money and the missionary support

[00:20:19] and the way, the means to get to Japan, but now He also supplied her with clothes to wear.

[00:20:28] That fit just perfectly.

[00:20:30] However, once she reached Japan, she realized that one of the dresses was totally inappropriate

[00:20:37] because it was black and white gingham.

[00:20:39] And only the men were allowed to wear black and white.

[00:20:43] Oh, dear.

[00:20:44] So that was out.

[00:20:46] Down to two dresses.

[00:20:47] Down to two dresses.

[00:20:48] Wow.

[00:20:49] So she had her trunk and she packed it with books, pictures, mementos of her family, a knife, a spoon.

[00:20:55] And I love this, a tin of chocolate.

[00:20:58] Oh, yes.

[00:20:58] Because she wasn't sure if she could get the chocolate when she was in Japan.

[00:21:02] And also those three dresses.

[00:21:05] She left on October 1909 from Westport, Massachusetts to the train station in Seattle.

[00:21:14] Her mother accompanied her to the train station.

[00:21:18] And when Mabel saw her mother, she thought maybe she would never, ever see her again.

[00:21:24] She was willing and ready just to give everything to Jesus.

[00:21:28] And, you know, because travel, again, was by ship in those days.

[00:21:32] This is, you know, again, 1909.

[00:21:35] There was that thought, this is forever.

[00:21:37] I'm not coming back.

[00:21:40] So Japan, as we talked about before, had been shut off since the 1600s.

[00:21:44] However, in the 1800s, because of the gold rush in California and the whaling industry,

[00:21:50] Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. government was able to negotiate with Japan a treaty of friendship and commerce.

[00:22:00] When she landed in Japan, it was a whole different world.

[00:22:07] There was little, if any, Western influence at all.

[00:22:11] And she realized that the women all wore kimonos.

[00:22:15] And her little gingham dresses were not going to work out for her.

[00:22:19] So right away, she went to work with a woman named Christine Penrod.

[00:22:26] And I want to do one of the episodes on Christine Penrod someday.

[00:22:32] And this is how we keep finding women we want to learn about.

[00:22:36] Exactly.

[00:22:37] Exactly.

[00:22:37] So she ran an effective rescue mission for prostitutes in Tokyo.

[00:22:43] And she had visited Mabel's church.

[00:22:46] And Mabel had heard her share about the work in Tokyo.

[00:22:50] And so Mabel knew Miss Penrod already.

[00:22:54] And so she went to work with her.

[00:22:55] But the work was a little bit more than Mabel had counted on.

[00:23:00] And she didn't feel like that was the work that the Lord had for her in Japan, even though she thought it was absolutely amazing.

[00:23:10] And yet she felt that she was supposed to work with women, but maybe women who hadn't quite fallen that much into sin yet.

[00:23:20] Catch them before that.

[00:23:22] Exactly.

[00:23:23] The route they take.

[00:23:25] So in 1909, when she arrived, CMA, Christian Missionary Alliance, had two churches in Japan, one in Nagoya and the other in Hiroshima.

[00:23:34] And Mabel was sent to Hiroshima.

[00:23:37] And there she was to learn the language.

[00:23:39] So Mabel right away took on the Japanese way of living, eating, and dressing.

[00:23:48] She lived with a local family.

[00:23:51] And sometimes she had her own room as she lived with these families with paper walls, which no privacy at all.

[00:23:59] And other times she slept in one room with the whole family on her own futon.

[00:24:05] And while there, she learned to cook and heat a room with a hibachi.

[00:24:11] So all her cooking was done on this hibachi.

[00:24:14] And everyone had their own hibachi.

[00:24:16] And the hibachi would also heat the room because Japan can get pretty cold.

[00:24:20] And so that was both their heater and their stove.

[00:24:23] And that's how she was immersed to learn the language.

[00:24:26] You would think that she'd had some training.

[00:24:28] But then I thought, well, in nine years of training, if there was not someone who could teach her Japanese because it was so remote, then.

[00:24:36] Yeah.

[00:24:37] And it's a very complex language, too.

[00:24:39] And just think about it.

[00:24:40] She has to be there in.

[00:24:42] Right.

[00:24:42] And the symbols are even different.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:45] You know, so you're learning.

[00:24:46] The alphabet.

[00:24:47] Right.

[00:24:47] Different symbols.

[00:24:48] Oh, there's so much more about Mabel.

[00:24:50] I can't wait.

[00:24:51] We've got to come back.

[00:24:52] We will be back.

[00:24:52] So this was just part one.

[00:24:54] But now Mabel's settling into Japan.

[00:24:57] And there's so much more for you to come back for part two and hear about Mabel Francis.

[00:25:10] Thank you for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones-Gunn.

[00:25:15] For more information on Cheryl, visit CherylBroderson.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:21] For more information on Robin, visit RobinGunn.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:26] Join us each week for a lively conversation as we explore the lives of well-known and not-so-well-known historical and contemporary Christian women.

[00:25:35] If you think there is a Women Worth Knowing, we'd love to hear from you.

[00:25:39] Email us at WWK at CCCM.com.

[00:25:44] We hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

[00:25:46] Make sure you rate us on your podcast app, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

[00:25:50] Thank you again for listening to Women Worth Knowing with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones-Gunn.

[00:25:55] Women Worth Knowing is a production of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.