Svea Flood

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

[00:00:10] and Robin Jones Gunn.

[00:00:11] So Robin and I are on the firm conviction that every woman's story is fascinating.

[00:00:20] That all of you have fascinating stories and we love telling your story as well as

[00:00:26] those stories of missionaries and musicians, reformers, authors, wives, mothers, single women

[00:00:34] that did amazing things by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:00:40] And because they did these extraordinary things through the power of faith and their love

[00:00:47] of Jesus, their stories become inspirational to all of us.

[00:00:52] There it is, yep.

[00:00:53] And that's why we do this and we'd love it.

[00:00:55] We do.

[00:00:56] So you've got somebody I've never heard of today.

[00:00:59] I had not heard of her either when I started to research Svea, Svea flood, just like the

[00:01:07] waters of the flood.

[00:01:09] Svea, where'd you hear of her?

[00:01:12] Yes.

[00:01:13] I don't even know but you know this is what you and I do.

[00:01:18] We just like get on the trail and we start looking and we try and find a book and

[00:01:22] there is a book about Svea's life that was way too expensive.

[00:01:27] Right.

[00:01:28] I've had that happen so many times.

[00:01:30] Yes.

[00:01:31] Yes.

[00:01:32] So I just started looking everywhere I could find info and here's the interesting thing.

[00:01:36] It's different than most of the women we do where we have a hard time finding any

[00:01:43] like bits of her story.

[00:01:45] Svea has had her story told many, many times and so I had a different problem.

[00:01:52] That's true.

[00:01:53] What's somebody embellished here?

[00:01:55] Did they make up this?

[00:01:56] So what we're going to hear today is I just, I had to stop.

[00:02:00] I was just discovering too many pieces and so it was like just tell the story and some

[00:02:05] of you may have heard of Svea and when you hear this you may think, oh no, no, I heard

[00:02:10] that blah, blah, blah.

[00:02:11] Well, you might be right but we just have put together today what is this is kind

[00:02:16] of the closest we can get, right?

[00:02:18] Right.

[00:02:19] That's what Cheryl and I always talk about.

[00:02:20] Yes.

[00:02:22] So Svea is born in Sweden.

[00:02:24] Like Svea and Sweden.

[00:02:27] That's right.

[00:02:29] And she was born in 1896 and in 1923 she and her newly, fairly new husband David Flood

[00:02:41] went to what was then the Belgian Congo.

[00:02:44] Okay.

[00:02:45] Okay.

[00:02:46] All right.

[00:02:47] So we have that part of the world where they're going.

[00:02:49] She was 24 years old at the time.

[00:02:51] David was 26.

[00:02:52] They had a son who was also named David.

[00:02:55] You know how they always name their daughters and stuff.

[00:02:58] And he was very young but I was not able to find out anything about him after this

[00:03:04] point.

[00:03:05] But when they went to this mission station in the Belgian Congo, they had another couple

[00:03:14] from Sweden with them that were the Ericsons.

[00:03:18] And so they went out to couples.

[00:03:21] Now I feel like I have to just give a little bit of info on that part of Africa, that deep

[00:03:26] core mysterious part of Africa.

[00:03:29] In the 1400s there were Portuguese that were going in there and obtaining resources from

[00:03:36] the land.

[00:03:37] And then it went on to with 15, 1600s there were slave routes developed and traders,

[00:03:44] slave traders from Arab, from the Arab nations, from Europe, from Great Britain, by the 1700s,

[00:03:52] 1800s, America.

[00:03:55] So the land had been taken.

[00:03:57] Abused.

[00:03:58] Yes.

[00:03:59] Exploited.

[00:04:00] People exactly that's the word.

[00:04:01] And then remember we did an episode on Mary Moffat who married Dr. Livingston and

[00:04:10] after Mary died Dr. Livingston continued to explore he was just determined to find the source

[00:04:17] of the Nile River and he went deep into what we're talking about now the Belgian Congo area

[00:04:23] but it was just different boundaries at that time.

[00:04:28] And when he soon before his death, remember Stanley newspaper reporter came in to that

[00:04:37] remote part of Africa found him to prove that he was still alive and the famous line

[00:04:42] Dr. Livingston I presume.

[00:04:45] So during the let's see we're up to about the 1880s now in the history of that part

[00:04:54] of the world but Dr. Livingston wrote so much about it he didn't realize that he was initiating

[00:04:59] this sort of land grab from Europeans and Brits who were hearing about the resources

[00:05:05] and the beauty of this area and what was available to them there.

[00:05:08] So King Leopold of Belgium in the 1880s hired this explorer Henry Morton Stanley who had

[00:05:17] been there to find Dr. Livingston and said I want you to go in and chart this territory

[00:05:22] and I'm going to claim it not even for Belgium but just for himself for just King Leopold

[00:05:27] this is my land and he was actually recognized by the Otto von Bismarck

[00:05:35] organized this Berlin conference in 1886 and the purpose of the Berlin conference was to

[00:05:40] divide up Africa and declare which European countries had rights to the terrible.

[00:05:45] It's just terrible.

[00:05:46] It's just terrible.

[00:05:47] Yeah.

[00:05:48] But I have to say all that so we understand why there was just this missionary drive

[00:05:51] and call to get in there but what happened during Leopold the Seconds reign was horrific.

[00:05:59] It's estimated that the population decreased by 10 to 15 million.

[00:06:04] In the British Congo I mean in the Belgian Congo.

[00:06:07] Belgian Congo.

[00:06:08] Wow.

[00:06:09] Yeah.

[00:06:10] 10 to 15 million people were died because it was the forced labor of the Congolese.

[00:06:14] The disease such as that we're now newly introduced smallpox hadn't had that before.

[00:06:21] That happened in America too with the Native Americans.

[00:06:23] Right.

[00:06:24] Ongoing murder and then there was this terrible mutilation of the workers who did not produce

[00:06:30] their quotas of rubber and ivory and you know the conflicts in Africa, the diamond rich

[00:06:35] nation just terrible dictators and overthrows.

[00:06:39] So we know that's what the history had built up to when there were more missionaries

[00:06:47] just called by God.

[00:06:48] I want to get into deepest darkest Africa and to be able to bring the gospel in.

[00:06:54] And they love these people and they said these are people who are in the image of God.

[00:06:59] What they cannot do this to.

[00:07:00] Yes.

[00:07:01] Right.

[00:07:02] So I add a little just my thought on that this is out of mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

[00:07:08] and he said that good and evil both increase at compound interest.

[00:07:13] That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance.

[00:07:19] Isn't that good?

[00:07:21] And so I believe that was the premise that these two couples from Sweden went and interestingly

[00:07:28] they had been motivated by this during that time in the early what year did I say it

[00:07:35] was 1923.

[00:07:38] The three was yep when they arrived 1923.

[00:07:41] So we had the Welsh revival in what was that 1909 and then the Azusa Street and then there

[00:07:47] was this pocket in Sweden that had just this revival like let's become evangelists and get

[00:07:54] out.

[00:07:55] So there's missionaries from Sweden going to Africa.

[00:07:57] I love that.

[00:07:58] You know I found that to be kind of a thing it's like when the Holy Spirit begins to

[00:08:04] move you find it happens in these different pockets all over the world for instance

[00:08:10] during the Jesus movement you know everyone says oh that happened in Orange County but

[00:08:14] actually it was San Francisco, it was Kansas, it was Texas, it was Florida all these different

[00:08:19] places.

[00:08:20] It was also Sweden.

[00:08:21] Yep.

[00:08:22] Sweden and Glenn there were the Lord was working in all these places so I love that.

[00:08:27] Yes and that helps us to get that understanding of right the Congo was at that time.

[00:08:32] What's interesting is one more little fun fact is that in 1909 so they went again

[00:08:39] in 1923 but in 1909 Arthur Conan Doyle and had you know that name.

[00:08:44] Oh right Sherlock Holmes.

[00:08:46] Yes and he felt like he had to stop he killed off Sherlock because he was like this is not

[00:08:51] what I want to write I want to write literature and what he wrote was the crime of the Congo

[00:08:56] and so everyone went to get his next book well it was to find out the atrocities that

[00:09:01] had happened in the Congo so this this is how it helped to spread global awareness

[00:09:05] of what was happening in this very remote place.

[00:09:08] I just thought that was fascinating.

[00:09:10] That is, that is I love those little details.

[00:09:12] Yes because now also we have to think 1923 so World War I ended 1919 so there's this

[00:09:24] freedom for more movement to travel around the world and there were 18 established

[00:09:32] missionary societies in the Congo region of Africa by 1920.

[00:09:37] Well I think I've done 18 of them.

[00:09:39] I've done at least three missionaries one being Amanda Berry who went about that time to the

[00:09:44] Congo too she was an American missionary.

[00:09:46] Right.

[00:09:47] Later Dr. Helen Rosevere would go to the Belgium Congo so it really was an outpost you know

[00:09:54] it reminds me of that scripture it says we're sin abounded, graced it all the

[00:09:58] more so you've got this terrible atrocities but you've got these wonderful blessed

[00:10:04] Christians rushing and saying we want to help these people we want to stop this so amazing.

[00:10:10] Keep going sorry.

[00:10:11] No no well so one of those missions was actually a Swedish mission and they worked very closely

[00:10:16] with an American mission group that was there so that takes us to where we have the

[00:10:22] Ericsons and the floods these two couples and the floods have their toddler son.

[00:10:27] Right David.

[00:10:28] Yes and so they arrive at the mission station where there's other missionaries

[00:10:33] where they're getting organized where they're praying daily where they're seeking the Lord

[00:10:38] and these two couples said we believe the Lord wants us to go into a very remote area to

[00:10:43] this particular village on the map.

[00:10:45] We just we just believe he's calling us to that so they were blessed prayed supplied

[00:10:50] and out they went.

[00:10:52] The two couples got there and the chief said no there's no there's such a distrust

[00:10:57] of white people come on.

[00:10:59] Right.

[00:11:00] No you may not be in our village be part of the village will undaunted the two couples

[00:11:05] built mud huts about a half a mile away from the village and decide we're going to live

[00:11:11] here but the chief would not allow them to have any interaction with the people.

[00:11:16] The only thing he would allow was that a boy could come to them and sell eggs and

[00:11:23] sometimes a chicken and so there they are and they're stuck and they're very

[00:11:28] dependent on resources and you know Sveya this determined woman we see that a lot

[00:11:35] in yes we do women.

[00:11:37] Yes I know this is what the Lord called us to do and there was just this sense

[00:11:42] of I have come all this way and I have to proclaim the good news to the people

[00:11:49] of Africa if all the Lord is giving me is one boy I am going to tell him how

[00:11:57] much God loves him and so every time little boy would arrive with the eggs she

[00:12:02] would tell him as best she could about the one true God and about Jesus and over

[00:12:07] and over well Malari hit all of them in a bad way they were none of them doing

[00:12:13] well and the Ericsson said we have to go back to the mission station I think

[00:12:18] this was after about a year and a half they had no inroads they prayed

[00:12:22] they asked for breakthrough nothing happened and the Ericsson says we have

[00:12:27] to go back to the mission station and when they did the floods David and Sveya

[00:12:33] flood decided no we're going to stay here with our son and this is what

[00:12:37] we're called to do and certainly the chief will relent certainly the village

[00:12:41] will open certainly something will happen and you'll get better from Malaria

[00:12:45] come back and we'll get over our Malaria and God's going to redeem

[00:12:49] redeem this whole situation God's going to do something we're obeying him

[00:12:53] it should go right doesn't always happen that way does it so they remain on

[00:13:02] and Sveya finds out that she's pregnant again difficult pregnancy

[00:13:07] not a lot of resources for her health the Malaria when the bouts come

[00:13:15] they're just terrible and so she has continued to tell this boy about Jesus

[00:13:23] and there's no evidence there's no clarity if it's doing any good

[00:13:29] she has this baby girl and 17 days later she dies the baby girl

[00:13:38] no Sveya Sveya now I'm doing an episode on Sveya flood and yet I'm telling you

[00:13:44] there's there seems to be no fruit and she ties and so this is when her husband

[00:13:52] David just cracked we have been here all this time there's no converts and he

[00:13:58] turns his heart against the Lord he digs a very rough grave he buries

[00:14:04] his wife who's 27 years old he has this infant girl no help he takes his son

[00:14:12] his infant girl he gets someone a man from the village creates a little hammock

[00:14:17] sling to be able to carry this newborn baby they go back to the mission

[00:14:21] station and David goes to the Erickson's who had he said abandon them

[00:14:27] and he gives them the baby girl and he says God has abandoned me God has

[00:14:33] abandoned my life and I'm going back to Sweden with my son I can't take care

[00:14:39] of this baby so there are the Erickson's with this baby girl and he leaves

[00:14:45] and they care for her and she does okay and the Erickson's are both so ill

[00:14:52] they both died eight months later within days of each other so an

[00:14:58] missionary family takes on this baby girl they give her a new name from the

[00:15:04] Swedish name her parents had given her in the village and they call her

[00:15:09] Agatha and it's shortened to Aggie so she becomes Aggie and you can find pictures

[00:15:17] of her online she was just the cutest little girl and at three years old

[00:15:21] Aggie and her parents foster I don't know what you'd call them

[00:15:27] go to the US you know it's typical to have these furloughs and go back and be able

[00:15:32] to have this time of you know restoration yeah getting your resources

[00:15:40] getting your funding that's right and so they they go back to the Midwest

[00:15:48] and after they're there a little Aggie is only three years old and they realize

[00:15:53] they cannot go back to Africa because we are not her legal guardians

[00:15:58] we don't have any papers and the way the world is ramping up you know

[00:16:06] no we can't do it so they tried to be in contact with David Flood in Sweden

[00:16:11] and did not get a response to turn her over to let her be adopted

[00:16:17] so after the time that they were in the US and being able to establish ministry there

[00:16:28] Aggie had a really good childhood growing up in the Midwest and then she went to a Bible college

[00:16:33] in Minnesota and as she's there at school she meets her husband

[00:16:38] they get married they have a couple of children and they go into ministry

[00:16:44] so I know the episode said Sveya Flood but what what happened we've gotten down the road pretty far

[00:16:52] what is going on well we just have to fast forward to 1963 and we have Aggie and her husband

[00:17:03] who were soon after that they had been invited he became a president of a Bible college

[00:17:09] in Kirkland Washington but in 1963 Aggie goes to a post-cuff her what do you call it mailbox

[00:17:18] and random this old magazine and have you heard this part of the story?

[00:17:23] I know this story I recognized it as I had read this story and I think it's

[00:17:28] it was in Decision Magazine it was in

[00:17:31] the pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle put that in his book I think it's More Power

[00:17:37] I think so so lots of times the story is so good it's so powerful it's so good

[00:17:43] mm-hmm so and so true I know and only God could do this right so here's this magazine

[00:17:50] and she she's not sure why she got a magazine that's all in Swedish she doesn't speak Swedish

[00:17:57] and she's flipping through and there's a picture and the picture is a white cross

[00:18:02] and a rough grave on the cross it says Svea Flood she knows that was her birth mother

[00:18:09] she takes the magazine gets in the car drives to the Bible college and she finds someone

[00:18:16] that she knows speaks Swedish and she says what does this say what does this say tell me

[00:18:20] what this article is about and the professor reads it and looks at her why do you

[00:18:24] he goes it's just a missionary story it's about this couple and they went from Sweden

[00:18:28] to the Belgian Congo and they two over two years and they had no converts at all

[00:18:33] and then the wife died and that's that's her grave and she died after she had a little

[00:18:39] girl and he's starting to cry and he goes well okay so then but the rest of this

[00:18:46] is that there was a boy who used to take eggs to them and he believed

[00:18:53] after they left he asked the chief if he could start a school and when he started

[00:18:57] a school he started telling the children everything that this Svea had told him

[00:19:03] about Jesus and he believed and the children believe in the children went home

[00:19:08] and they told their parents and their parents believed and then the chief of the village

[00:19:11] believed and there are now over 600 believers in this small village in what was

[00:19:16] the Belgian Congo because of Svea flood and Agie tells him I am her daughter

[00:19:23] she was my mother it's so remarkable that the school years later decides we are

[00:19:29] going to send you to Sweden because you don't know if your father is still alive

[00:19:34] he has to hear this story so she goes to Africa I mean she goes to Sweden

[00:19:40] with her husband because with this gift to go she discovers her father has

[00:19:44] remarried he has four children she meets them sweet reunion and they tell her

[00:19:51] yes he's still alive he recently had a stroke he's in his 70s but we don't know

[00:19:56] if you should go see him he will fly into a rage because if you mention the name

[00:20:00] of Jesus it's terrible and she is like her mother she's come all this way

[00:20:06] there's only one person that she wants to tell about Jesus and she goes to

[00:20:13] a squalid hut where she had a hut but apartment where she finds him and she

[00:20:18] walks in and says to him Papa he turns and looks and he calls her by her name

[00:20:23] that was given to her when she was born and he begins to cry and says I never

[00:20:29] meant to abandon you and she says oh father don't worry God has taken good

[00:20:35] care of me and he says don't mention that name to me turns his face to the

[00:20:40] wall she strokes his cheek and she says daddy God never abandoned you and I

[00:20:47] want to tell you a story remember the little boy that brought eggs to you and

[00:20:52] mom God planted a seed in his heart and that day her father turned his heart

[00:20:57] back to the Lord he also had just this new outlook for his whole family

[00:21:04] and he only lived a few weeks longer when Aggie and her husband returned to the

[00:21:11] US a few years later they were then invited to go to London their denomination

[00:21:17] had a big meeting they were there and at the meeting they're listening to

[00:21:22] reports what's happening around the world a man was on stage saying in Zaire

[00:21:26] formerly Belgian Congo in Zaire our denomination has now baptized over

[00:21:31] 110,000 converts who have come to Jesus so she goes up to him afterwards and has to

[00:21:37] ask him have you ever heard of Svea and David Flood I am their daughter his eyes

[00:21:43] are so wide he says I used to take eggs to them I am the boy that she planted

[00:21:50] the seed in my heart and I believed and they have this sweet time hugging

[00:21:56] each other and he says to her you must come to Zaire your mother is the most

[00:22:00] famous and most loved person in all of our history in our country she so Aggie

[00:22:07] and her husband make this trip to go to her mother's grave there's pictures

[00:22:12] you can see online she's kneeling at her mother's grave and when they are

[00:22:16] there thousands come from the village to welcome her and they have this

[00:22:20] church service and there's an old man who comes up and says I made a

[00:22:25] promise to carry you down the mountain when your father left and this egg boy

[00:22:33] young boy brother eggs he gave the message that morning and what he shared

[00:22:39] was from John 1224 I tell you the truth unless a kernel of wheat falls to

[00:22:45] the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces

[00:22:52] many seeds and then he concluded his message to many that were gathered

[00:22:57] there that day from Psalm 126 5 those who so in tears will reap with songs

[00:23:05] of joy Aggie went to heaven in 1981 and I can only imagine the kind of

[00:23:12] reunion that she had when she got there she's written a book that was

[00:23:18] published after she passed called one witness and then it was retitled a girl

[00:23:23] without a country her story has been told in magazines and many times over

[00:23:28] and I actually read the young boy the egg boys story I can't remember

[00:23:38] testimony but when I was in England I picked up this book and it was

[00:23:42] actually his story and about his conversion and about you know the space

[00:23:52] influence on him and how she loved him and told them the story and then how

[00:23:58] years later this this young woman came up and I was like this is the same as

[00:24:03] what I read yes from the you know I was thinking I think the story oh yes I

[00:24:08] have to do some more digging and find that yes but this is about a woman

[00:24:13] worth knowing yeah so Sfea was not only worth knowing but knowing about an

[00:24:17] Aggie yeah I mean isn't it wonderful how the Lord captured her heart to yes and

[00:24:23] that he allowed her to see the fruit of those labors and to deliver that

[00:24:29] message to her father and let him know it was not in vain because he was

[00:24:34] telling her when she went to visit him everything I did was in vain it didn't

[00:24:38] matter for anything we thought we were going out to serve the Lord and he

[00:24:41] was going to do great things and and look it was all for nothing and she

[00:24:45] could tell her father now that reminds me of Hebrew 6 10 where it says for

[00:24:50] your work at the Lord is not in vain amen you know he he will bring the

[00:24:56] harvest his harvest at his time exactly oh I love Sfea I'm so glad you

[00:25:01] brought her today Robin yes thank you for listening to women worth knowing

[00:25:11] with Cheryl Brodersen and Robin Jones gun for more information on Cheryl visit

[00:25:16] Cheryl Brodersen dot com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook for more

[00:25:20] information on Robin visit Robin gun dot com or follow her on Instagram or

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