Page 227 - LD215 History of the Church in Africa A4 final

The Church Returns to the Upper Room

While attending a Bible school in South Carolina, Lillian Trasher was
baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues as evidence. She also
received directions from the Holy Spirit that she was to follow the Lord
to the mission field.

For a time, she traveled with an evangelist and held gospel services.
During this time, she met a young
man with whom she fell in love and
was engaged to be married. Learning
that he was unwilling to become a
missionary, however, she broke off
the relationship ten days before the
scheduled wedding date.

In 1910 at 23 years of age, Trasher
sailed for Egypt. She had joined a
host of Pentecostal missionaries
being sent to the nations with the
good news. With the exception of her
sister, who went along to help her get
settled, her family was disappointed. Figure 11.2—Lillian Trasher
A few friends, including Robert
and Marie Brown of Glad Tidings Tabernacle in New York City, assisted
her with prayers and finances. McGee records her call to a specific
ministry in Africa:

While having prayer in her cabin before the ship left the harbor,
someone asked Trasher to open her Bible and ask God to give her
a verse. The first verse to catch her attention was Acts 7:34 (KJV),
“a verse that [she] had never noticed before”: “I have seen, I have
seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have
heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And
now come, I will send thee into Egypt.” (2004, 167)

All that we have read so far indicates that Trasher trusted the Lord.
While visiting a dying Egyptian mother in Assiout, Egypt, she was left
with a small, malnourished baby. Feeling deep compassion for the
motherless baby, she took it back to the mission. At first the missionaries
were sympathetic, but after many sleepless nights because of the baby’s

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