Mabel Francis, Part 2

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

[00:00:12] Hello, we are back with Part 2 on Mabel Francis and this is because we love hearing about women who have trusted God in extraordinary ways

[00:00:23] and how God has done extraordinary things in their life. That's certainly true, Cheryl, of this woman worth knowing that we are going to talk about today.

[00:00:32] That's right, and this is actually part 2. So again, we want to encourage you if you haven't learned or heard about Mabel Francis or listen to the first one.

[00:00:47] Please, yes, go back.

[00:00:49] Back in the library and you can see all the other podcasts as well of women that we've been referring to back and forth.

[00:00:57] But to get part 1, we'll set you up to understand how Mabel was definitely called to go to Japan.

[00:01:05] She did nine years of preparation.

[00:01:08] And now we just left off where she was on her way and she arrived and she has a place to stay and is being immersed in the culture and in the language.

[00:01:19] And this is a very, very different, maybe one of the most difficult languages, absolutely.

[00:01:23] The learned and so Mabel, this woman from New England, it's from a family of pastors.

[00:01:31] And she can't wait to get going and preach the gospel.

[00:01:36] So get this. Her teacher was a young girl who just graduated from grammar school.

[00:01:44] So she's probably 12 or 13 years old her teacher, and this girl was assigned to follow her around.

[00:01:51] And this girl spoke no English.

[00:01:54] And Mabel of course spoke no Japanese.

[00:01:57] So the girl would pick up like the chopsticks and say, you know, a chopsticks and Japanese.

[00:02:04] And that's how she learned to a point to a tree and she would have Mabel repeated.

[00:02:11] And then she began to teach her phrases and phrases.

[00:02:14] Well, Mabel was so excited she couldn't wait to learn this language and she kept working with it, working with it, working with it.

[00:02:23] And as soon as she felt like she had it down, she wanted to preach and share the good news.

[00:02:28] I mean her whole desire for learning it was so she could share about Jesus.

[00:02:33] So as she began to share her very first message, she decided to tell a group of young people the story of John the Baptist and just how he hurled it Jesus.

[00:02:44] But instead of saying that John lived on Locust and Honey, she accidentally said that John lived.

[00:02:52] And she lived on Locust and Secrets.

[00:02:57] Oh, so she made some mistakes in those first first days.

[00:03:02] One of her first sermons was from Matthew 1128.

[00:03:06] And she accidentally told everyone who was listing that Jesus said, come unto me and I will give you no rest.

[00:03:12] Oh, not quite them.

[00:03:15] Not quite what Matthew 1128 says or what Jesus said.

[00:03:20] Although Mabel absolutely loved the Japanese people, they were distrustful of her.

[00:03:28] Because again, they weren't used to Westerners coming into their culture and they suspected that she was a spy.

[00:03:36] So she always lived with this kind of suspicion, just suspicion following her and all her motives were considered suspect.

[00:03:44] As Mabel began to share the Lord, the first person she led to Jesus was a banker named Mr. Nishida.

[00:03:52] And he said this, my soul was so moved when he heard the gospel.

[00:03:57] And immediately after he was saved, he began to help with the ministry.

[00:04:01] When his work transferred him to a new location, he organized a church there and then it moved him again and he organized another church.

[00:04:09] And wherever his business led him, he would organize a church.

[00:04:14] But I surprised this is the first person who comes to know the Lord and it's a man and here she thought I'm here for the way that he was young women.

[00:04:23] But the next person was a young girl from a very wealthy family. Her name was Asako.

[00:04:29] She pulled Mabel that she wanted to know the meaning of life.

[00:04:32] Then after Mabel told her, he shared the gospel with her, Asako received the Lord but became Mabel's constant assistant for the rest of Mabel's ministry.

[00:04:46] And she had to give her a gift.

[00:04:48] So a third early convert was Mr. Ogata.

[00:04:52] He was the youngest postmaster that Japan up to that time had ever had.

[00:04:57] He worked so hard saving people during a flood that is vertebrae in his back actually dissolved and he couldn't walk.

[00:05:06] But two Christian men were determined to get Mr. Ogata to a assembly, to an assembly that Mabel was sharing it.

[00:05:17] They carried him between the two of them.

[00:05:20] At church he noticed a Bible and he picked it up any red first Timothy chapter two.

[00:05:25] For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

[00:05:31] He was taken with this audacious claim and he thought, what?

[00:05:37] No, we have many gods and we worship our relatives who is this Jesus.

[00:05:43] So we asked if he could borrow that Bible and read the whole Bible for himself.

[00:05:48] So then his friends brought him to the next meeting.

[00:05:52] And they are able to tell the story of the protocol son.

[00:05:56] Mr. Ogata was a father and he related to the father and his love for this son.

[00:06:02] He then received Jesus.

[00:06:06] His wife was so upset when he came home and he told her, I received Jesus and she thought, you know, this is what my friends told me.

[00:06:13] They told me he would go crazy some day and she had married him after he was already paralyzed.

[00:06:18] And she wasn't sure if she could stay with him.

[00:06:21] But the next morning when she woke, she noticed that Mr. Ogata was walking for the first time in years all over at the house.

[00:06:32] Even the doctor couldn't believe it.

[00:06:35] The Lord called Mr. Ogata to go to Bible school and become a preacher and he later became a leader and pastor in the missionary science church.

[00:06:45] Christian missionary science church.

[00:06:47] That amazing.

[00:06:48] Yes, the amazing.

[00:06:49] So maybe we lived in evangelized for many, many years.

[00:06:53] And it was just the same. She would go to a place.

[00:06:55] She would share. She was getting to know these people. She was discipling them, evangelizing, discipling helping to build churches wherever she went.

[00:07:06] Then in 1934 the missionary alliance sent out a notice calling all their American missionaries back to the USA.

[00:07:12] They were tensions now between Japan and America.

[00:07:16] Mabel did not feel a peace about returning.

[00:07:20] However, the CMA felt like tensions were at a threat level on the lives of their missionaries.

[00:07:27] Also because of the depression, the majority of support for the missionaries had been depleted.

[00:07:32] By this time her younger sister Anne had come over as a missionary and had lost her husband.

[00:07:39] Sometime after she got married and after she became a widow, she felt like God was calling her to Japan.

[00:07:46] So she left for Japan. Her younger brother Tom remember the one that she had trouble with and then he had to get along.

[00:07:53] Well, he got married and he and his wife also went to Japan.

[00:07:57] Oh, so you think of her mother Mrs. Francis who had prayed over and over for Japan and out of her six children half of them went to Japan.

[00:08:07] As missionaries.

[00:08:10] So she, her brother and her sister Anne, and her sister and law all begin to take this to the Lord in prayer.

[00:08:18] And they knew that if they stayed, that would be the end of their support from the Christian missionary alliance.

[00:08:25] They had no idea how they would re-support or how they would sustain themselves living in Japan.

[00:08:30] But the Lord assured her in prayer that her life was in his hands. He did the same for Tom and for her sister Anne.

[00:08:42] So she, on her siblings, stayed in Japan without connection to a board in the U.S. without that protection, without that support.

[00:08:52] And she realized that everything that she received or whole sustainment in Japan would be by faith.

[00:09:03] And now during this time, you know, talk about faith. You can learn financial faith.

[00:09:07] But here comes another type of faith and I think this is one of the hardest lessons that she went through.

[00:09:13] But it fell a missionary, accused maple of living in sin, maple of all people.

[00:09:21] And you've cut her realize she's in her 50s and it uses her of being immoral.

[00:09:27] The report reached all the way to the United States.

[00:09:31] Maple was absolutely heart-safe.

[00:09:34] There was no truth in this at all. She was absolutely innocent.

[00:09:39] She prayed and the Lord told her not to defend herself to say nothing.

[00:09:47] Then she was called before a board of missionaries and grilled about this and asked if there had been any impropriety at all.

[00:09:56] Maple answered every question truthfully and insisted, no, never.

[00:10:04] But the board decided to put maple on suspension until they could research further.

[00:10:12] She went to the mountains and this is again, this is not the board in the United States at this time.

[00:10:17] This is the Japanese churches in Japan that are have their own board.

[00:10:22] Right, but that it reached the US even.

[00:10:25] It's that who set that long ago I heard the saying that the Christian army is the only army that shoots their wounded.

[00:10:34] Right, friendly fire.

[00:10:37] It's really just how the enemy works.

[00:10:40] You get in there and you can always be a Judas.

[00:10:44] Yep, you know, Judas is the one who got all the disciples talking and gets married when she's noin at Jesus' mean.

[00:10:49] So there's always like a Judas and he's the instigator.

[00:10:53] Yeah.

[00:10:53] He's the one who starts in, I think this woman had some connection to Judas, right?

[00:10:58] Who fought like, used maple Francis?

[00:11:01] So maple felt like she would go to the mountains in Japan just to be alone with Jesus.

[00:11:06] God then in the mountains told her that she had to forgive her accuser.

[00:11:11] And she also had to forgive all who heard and believed the report.

[00:11:15] Oh, that's interesting.

[00:11:19] The blanket has to cover it all so that you're free.

[00:11:22] Right?

[00:11:22] And maple realized that within any of the gals this was a spiritual battle.

[00:11:26] This was not a heretical battle.

[00:11:28] There was no way to defend herself.

[00:11:30] Satan had tried to convince her that she would never survive this time of trial.

[00:11:34] Ever have a trial like that?

[00:11:36] Yes.

[00:11:37] Why do you?

[00:11:38] This is it.

[00:11:38] This one's going to take you down.

[00:11:40] You'll never survive this one.

[00:11:42] Well, she was also sent back to the United States.

[00:11:47] And when she was sent back, can you imagine?

[00:11:49] No.

[00:11:50] They told her, you can't stay.

[00:11:51] This is not from a board in the United States.

[00:11:54] This is coming from that people that she respects and loves.

[00:11:57] Some of them that she'd even led to the Lord.

[00:11:59] Fellow workers in the fields.

[00:12:02] And even though she was trusting God, even though she had heard from the Lord, she was a wreck.

[00:12:07] When she got back, she felt so disqualified.

[00:12:10] And she came close to breaking down.

[00:12:13] But again, when she realized that there was a spiritual element to this and she was fighting against Satan who is a liar.

[00:12:22] And the father of all lies, she began to say,

[00:12:26] Alright, Lord, I will not doubt.

[00:12:28] My God will make himself known to the Japanese people through me.

[00:12:33] You know, I'm coming back.

[00:12:35] God gave her Zef and I a three, 17.

[00:12:37] The Lord that God in the midst of the is mighty.

[00:12:40] He will save, he will rejoice over you, we're singing.

[00:12:45] Yes.

[00:12:45] He will rest in his lap.

[00:12:47] And so at this word, she was filled with the assurance of Jesus' presence.

[00:12:51] And with that, that he was also pleased with her.

[00:12:55] That she was doing a great work.

[00:12:57] You know, it's so good to not only feel the Lord, but to have him say,

[00:13:03] Well done, good, a faithful servant.

[00:13:04] I know it's hard not to defend yourself, but I'm so proud of you.

[00:13:09] You are obedient.

[00:13:11] During this time, a poem that was written by Abysimpsen,

[00:13:15] just minister to her over and over again.

[00:13:20] The crisis has been passed and I have come at last.

[00:13:23] Into the promise land of peace and rest,

[00:13:26] the crisis hours or, and now forever more,

[00:13:30] I am dwelling in God's blessing and God's best.

[00:13:34] It came, I know not how.

[00:13:37] But this I know that now, my life is found in new and nobler place.

[00:13:42] Something had passed away.

[00:13:44] Something has come to stay, and I can never be the same again.

[00:13:49] The change is not in me.

[00:13:51] Rather it seems that he has come himself to live his life in mind.

[00:13:56] And as I stepped aside and took him to abide,

[00:14:00] he came and filled me with his life divine.

[00:14:03] Oh, that's great.

[00:14:06] So Mabel's heart was free, and when she returned to the US back in the US,

[00:14:10] she was one of the featured speakers at the missionary Alliance camp in Kesik, Canada.

[00:14:19] And all her family noticed profound difference in Mabel,

[00:14:23] that she was at peace.

[00:14:26] There it is, that's the victory.

[00:14:27] And during this time, after the peace, she was exonerated and asked to return to Japan.

[00:14:35] Now when she returned to Japan, it was a different Japan.

[00:14:40] The tensions and the rumors of war were right all over.

[00:14:45] May we about a 1940 by now?

[00:14:48] Almost, yeah.

[00:14:49] We're about 1939, 1940.

[00:14:52] So Mabel herself could feel the tension in the atmosphere

[00:14:55] and that the Emperor was being told lies.

[00:14:58] It was called the ABCD in Circle Met,

[00:15:01] and the Emperor was being told that America, Britain, China and the Dutch

[00:15:05] were forming a confederacy that we're going to attack Japan

[00:15:10] and take it over.

[00:15:13] So Japan felt that they had to strike the first blow

[00:15:19] or else they'd be taken over.

[00:15:21] Mabel felt that her presence at this time in public

[00:15:24] only stirred up animosity, and so she began to stay indoors.

[00:15:30] And many of the people who wanted prayer

[00:15:34] or missed her actually came to her to her house to see her.

[00:15:39] And so Oliver Ministry was taking place in our own house.

[00:15:42] At this time, Osaka would go out and get all her groceries

[00:15:46] and make all the connections for her and bring it back to the house.

[00:15:51] So Japan started putting restrictions on the American missionaries.

[00:15:55] Her brother, Tom, and his wife returned to the US at this time.

[00:15:59] But Anne felt like she was meant to stay.

[00:16:02] Now they felt that should war break out.

[00:16:07] They would both be needed in Japan.

[00:16:10] Yet, at this point, there are hundreds of miles away from each other.

[00:16:16] And all of their correspondence with each other, there's no fun at this time.

[00:16:20] It's all by letters and all their letters that they sent are censored

[00:16:26] by the Japanese government.

[00:16:29] And this is because Anne and Mabel have been located

[00:16:33] and established in two different areas of Japan.

[00:16:37] I think it's more because they're Americans.

[00:16:40] And so yeah, the letters definitely because they're in two different places.

[00:16:43] But they were still being accused of being spies,

[00:16:46] or to them.

[00:16:47] Americans were trusted.

[00:16:48] I mean, think about how in California the Japanese were put into internment counts.

[00:16:52] I mean, there was distrust that was such a volatile tongue.

[00:16:55] It was an American woman in Japan.

[00:17:00] And even though she had been serving for 30 years in Japan,

[00:17:05] she just couldn't leave.

[00:17:06] And the American council even came to answer it,

[00:17:09] we can't offer you any protection if you stay.

[00:17:14] So Mabel prayed in a Scott for Direction.

[00:17:17] The answer came in two parts.

[00:17:19] Part one, Isaiah 45 verse 3,

[00:17:23] I will give you the treasures of darkness in the hidden riches of secret places.

[00:17:27] Love that person.

[00:17:29] Part two.

[00:17:30] Due to around me, 32, 30, one shall chase a thousand,

[00:17:34] which is also what she named her book.

[00:17:37] Yes.

[00:17:37] And her book actually details what I'll cover next.

[00:17:42] And two, putting 10,000 to flight with these assurances,

[00:17:46] Mabel chose to stay in Japan and so did her sister Anne.

[00:17:52] It's remarkable.

[00:17:53] By 1940, Japanese was in a full fledged fight with China.

[00:17:57] In August 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt cut off all trade with Japan.

[00:18:03] In October, the Prime Minister of Japan made plans to attack the U.S.

[00:18:10] Now at this point, Japan had a large strong and efficient army dedicated and ready for war.

[00:18:16] Both sisters prepared for their imminent arrest.

[00:18:22] They took their most precious possessions and buried them,

[00:18:26] each of them where they were living in the backyard of their houses.

[00:18:31] And war cannot break out until I, oh, she was praying for one of my sister

[00:18:41] do about this and the lords booked her.

[00:18:44] War cannot break out until I permit it.

[00:18:46] And when I permit it, I will take care of you.

[00:18:48] There is no need to fear.

[00:18:51] God also gave her a vision.

[00:18:52] And I love how lords speak and spoke to Mabel.

[00:18:55] So personal.

[00:18:57] God also gave her a vision of two men holding back angry dogs on the leash.

[00:19:03] These dogs are trying to get at each other.

[00:19:06] And the lords' book turns said, I will hold this situation.

[00:19:09] It won't break out until I get ready for it to break.

[00:19:13] I hold both sides so you don't need to worry.

[00:19:16] When I let it come, I'll have you on my mind.

[00:19:19] I will take care of you.

[00:19:21] Oh, that's just so precise.

[00:19:24] That's how God does it.

[00:19:26] Every individual.

[00:19:27] It really is.

[00:19:29] And I love it.

[00:19:29] Again, beautiful.

[00:19:31] The way that he kept speaking to her.

[00:19:34] So Mabel missed Anne.

[00:19:36] And they both wished that at least if they were going to be prisoners of war, they could

[00:19:42] be together.

[00:19:44] Now on December 7, 1941, a Kiko came running into the house to tell Mabel that the Japanese

[00:19:51] had just initiated war on the US by striking the Navy at Pearl Harbor.

[00:19:57] Yeah.

[00:19:57] The police, they came to Mabel's house just a few hours later.

[00:20:02] Oh, the next day.

[00:20:04] Sorry, the next day.

[00:20:05] And informed her that she was now classified as a national enemy.

[00:20:10] Mabel assured them that she had no intentional causing any harm to Japan.

[00:20:14] She considered herself a guest in their country.

[00:20:17] Mm.

[00:20:17] But Mabel had to sign papers indicating her enemy status.

[00:20:21] Can you imagine?

[00:20:23] After you're giving so many years to help

[00:20:26] and bless the Japanese people with a gospel now, she has to sign papers that identify

[00:20:31] herself as an enemy of Japan.

[00:20:34] She was allowed to stand her house but was required to keep a record in a black book

[00:20:38] of all her visitors and all her activities and turn it in every way to the police.

[00:20:44] And the meantime Anne was arrested just hours after the announcement of Pearl Harbor being

[00:20:52] struck.

[00:20:53] She spent three days at police headquarters before being moved to a prison camp in the

[00:20:59] mountains or nearly a basket was placed over every prisoner's head when they were

[00:21:05] being taken or driven to prison.

[00:21:07] But the officials respected Anne so much that they were unwilling to humiliate her in that way.

[00:21:16] So Anne was able to see those she administered to as she was driven away.

[00:21:20] The believers came out and just stood there.

[00:21:23] They were not allowed to show any acknowledgement, not allowed to change the expression on their face.

[00:21:30] But they just stood there and watched her so she would know that they were praying for her.

[00:21:37] In the prison there was an Englishman to English teachers a drug addict, a priest, and 11 nuns

[00:21:45] and they all became close friends.

[00:21:48] Though they were not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the camp,

[00:21:52] the officers allowed Anne to write and receive maibles letters.

[00:21:58] In the meantime, mable waited and sought su Yamah

[00:22:01] and one of the policemen who were her guards thought he would advance his career again.

[00:22:07] Here comes the slander right?

[00:22:09] By line about mable, he told his superior officers that pastor Ogata was passing on state secrets

[00:22:17] to mable about the Japanese forces.

[00:22:21] Mable went to the senior officer, the police chief and explained this situation.

[00:22:25] The senior officer knew Mable and believed her and he removed the ambitious officer

[00:22:33] who had lied and replaced him with another who was more sympathetic to mable.

[00:22:38] So during this time, Ogata continued to stay with Mable and you know Ogata could lose her whole reputation.

[00:22:45] Oh, she could be arrested.

[00:22:47] But she was so faithful.

[00:22:49] She did all the shopping and she also fell under suspicion because of her service in association to mable.

[00:22:57] After a year, now remember her sister Anne is already in prison.

[00:23:01] After a year, three policemen came to Mable store.

[00:23:04] They told her that they would be coming the next day to escort her to a train to Yokohama.

[00:23:09] Mable's friends provided a farewell meal for her.

[00:23:13] She packed her trunk and was able to take a trunk with her on this journey.

[00:23:19] So the police also told her that her sister would be with her.

[00:23:22] It just shows you how the local police were so favorable toward her because, what was it?

[00:23:28] 30 some years by now she's been with them right?

[00:23:31] They knew her.

[00:23:31] Right.

[00:23:32] And the Lord's favor too.

[00:23:33] The Lord promised her.

[00:23:34] I'm going to give you a favor.

[00:23:36] I'm going to give you a favor.

[00:23:36] Just a very right.

[00:23:37] Joseph went to prison.

[00:23:39] Joseph in the Bible.

[00:23:40] But he had the Lord's favor.

[00:23:42] And he was able to be sustained and then come out to glory.

[00:23:51] The pastor in Matsuyama and some of the congregants were given permission to accompany

[00:23:56] Mable on the train to Yokohama.

[00:23:58] They were not allowed to talk to her or communicate with her.

[00:24:02] Again, like those who had done with Anne, they just let their presence be known.

[00:24:07] That they were praying and they were with her.

[00:24:12] In Yokohama, Mable was grouped with other Americans who Japan hoped to use in exchange

[00:24:17] for some U.S. for some prisoners that the U.S. had, some Japanese prisoners the U.S. had.

[00:24:25] Mable lingered from many days in the prison.

[00:24:28] Outside of Wendos she could see a ship with crosses on it.

[00:24:31] Negotiations with the U.S. broke down when the U.S. government learned that the prisoners

[00:24:37] that were in Japan were there of their own volition.

[00:24:40] They had chosen to stay.

[00:24:41] They weren't asking for rescue.

[00:24:44] So at this point, Mable and the others were heard it into a hotel before being transferred

[00:24:49] to a Catholic orphanage that the Japanese had seized to use for a prison.

[00:24:54] Well, this is going to go into a part three because it's going to get really, really fun, very, very special.

[00:25:01] So please, please, please listen.

[00:25:05] Get ready for part three next week about Mable Francis.

[00:25:09] You're going to love it.

[00:25:10] Absolutely love it.

[00:25:11] Thank you for listening to women worth knowing with Cheryl Broderson and Robin Jones gun.

[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 RobinGun.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.

[00:25:27] Join us each week for a lively conversation as we explore the lives of well-known

[00:25:31] and not so well-known historical and contemporary Christian women.

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