Tale of a Girl… and a Boy
(the true story of Mellba and Lee)
There was, growing up in the far-western New York village of
Mayville, a small girl with the big name of Mellba Johanna Christina Erickson.
Her parents were both second-generation Americans, but Swedish, as well as
English, was spoken in the home. Her dad, Anton, was not a learned man, but was
known around the town as “Tony the Tinker”. He could fix pots and other broken
things. He painted the little statue in the village park fountain. He did odd
jobs here and there. Mellba grew up in the Lutheran church in town, but her
family were not believers.
As a teen, Mellba was invited to the Baptist church, where
she heard new and wonderful things about the Lord Jesus. She responded to the
Lord’s call to salvation, and when she graduated from high school, she applied
to Philadelphia School of Bible (PSOB) for further training. She was going to
be a missionary! She was outgoing and loved people and fit in well with her
classmates.
Upon graduation from PSOB, she applied to a Baptist mission
and was accepted. Her support? Her Baptist church in Mayville had said, “We’ll
do what we can.” Her outfit? Her father made her a couple of metal trunks to
hold her earthly belongings including a bicycle donated by the Baptist
church.
Meanwhile… Lee Einfeldt, a farm boy, had grown up just
outside the western NY village of Randolph, NY. Lee was a quiet boy and
remembers when someone kept asking him questions one day, he replied, “I dunno.
Ask Lynnie (his brother). He likes to talk!” Each school day Lee and Lynn would
hitch up a team of horses and ride into school in the village, park the team in
the barn of the Baptist parsonage and walk the extra block from Church Street
to School Street. And each weekend, the family would come into town together to
worship at the First Baptist Church of Randolph, NY. After high school he and
his brother Lynn enrolled in Houghton College and his supportive parents moved
with their sons to a farm outside Rushford, NY, near Houghton. The family
became active members of First Baptist Church of Rushford. Lynn studied
business and didn’t enter the ministry until his retirement from IBM, but Lee
was focused on missions. He was accepted as a missionary candidate… headed for
French Equatorial Africa.
On Mellba's final weekend in Mayville before leaving for
France, her home church in Mayville was holding a Missionary Conference
featuring returning and prospective missionaries. Fully aware that she
was to be a featured speaker that Saturday evening, she could not resist the
"call" of the town fire-whistle. Both of her older brothers were
firemen, and her natural adventurous instincts compelled her to jump on her
bike and pedal across the back streets to share in the town excitement. This
route took her past the First Baptist's parsonage, and a quick glance
afforded her a glimpse of a set of broad shoulders silhouetted in the front
window. "Must be the guy who's wanting to go to Africa that I've heard
about," she thought as she sped on by. They were formally introduced that
evening, and learned that they were headed to the same field…with the same
mission. They met the following morning in her family’s kitchen. (It's not
known which of the ladies from the "Mellba Missionary Society" from
her church made that arrangement, 😉) Years later she told her daughter that as she stood
behind him serving coffee that morning, she thought, "Who would ever
marry a guy with a nose like that?" As for Lee, he was being polite;
he never did develop a taste for coffee! Mellba left for France the
following morning, for language study. The year was 1936. She spent the required year
learning French at the Alliance Française before boarding a ship for Cameroon.
Once there, she was to go inland to French Equatorial Africa. In those days,
one method of transport was by “push-push”, a seat on a frame with one
wheel at the bottom and poles for young African men to push and steer from
either end. She made it inland to the country she had been called to serve and
which became her home for many years. Mellba plunged herself into learning
Sango, the local trade language, and beginning her life work.
Meanwhile, Lee, a man of few words, but with strength
of body and character, finished his last year at Houghton College, then a year
after Mellba had sailed for France, he also boarded a ship for French language
school in Paris. His support? His sending church in Rushford promised to supply
$35 a month!
Lee’s and Mellba’s first meeting was significant enough for
the two to correspond the year she was in France and he was finishing his last
year at Houghton, and they continued their correspondence during her 1st year
learning Sango in French Equatorial Africa, and he learning French in Paris.
In 1938, having completed the French language requirements,
Lee boarded a ship for his place of service – French Equatorial Africa.
All 1st year Sango studies were conducted at Ft. Crampel (now Kaga Bandoro), so
after her own Sango studies, Mellba was transferred to Ft. Archambault (now
Sarh) about the time Lee arrived in Crampel. The letters continued, and it
seems Lee & Mellba weren't the only ones interested in this growing love
story. The older missionaries arranged that he not spend the entire year
at Crampel, but was transferred early to Ft. Archambault for further studies.
Mellba was a great help to Lee as he learned the Sango language. With her
experience of a year’s head-start on the language, she was able to tutor him on
moonlight walks near the mango trees. Soon, he asked Mellba if she would be his
wife. She said YES!
One problem was that, according to the French law that
governed French Equatorial Africa at that time, a woman desiring to wed before
the age of 25 had to have her parents’ written permission! Problem: her parents
were far away in the U.S. and mail across the Atlantic was slow in those days.
Years later, when their daughter Shirley as an adult was looking at the
permission paper that had been submitted, her eyes grew wide and she said, “The
permission – that is MOM’s handwriting!” Her dad, Lee, smiled his wry smile and
gave a slight nod. Mellba had signed in place of her parents and submitted the
paperwork! The authorities granted permission to be married.
June 5, 1939 was their wedding day. They had to first
fulfill the requirement of the government ceremony with the Sous-Préfet (local
official) presiding. After that, Rev. and Mrs. Lee Einfeldt welcomed friends at
a church ceremony and a little reception afterward.
Lee and Mellba embarked on their honeymoon in the African
wild. One of the nights of their honeymoon, there was a lion prowling around
their bungalow. Lee had to protect his bride and shot the lion dead!
Life was not easy in those first years of marriage. Before
they could get back to the States for their first furlough, Mellba received
word via telegram that both her parents had died, so, after she left for
France, she never saw them again. She also developed infection sacs in the gums
under all her teeth. ALL her teeth had to be pulled and she had to wait a full
11 months before her mail-order dentures arrived from France! She lost weight
down to 90 pounds!
In 1943 during World War 2, as they headed back to the
States for their first furlough, Lee and Mellba had to make a stop in Nigeria
at a mission hospital, for Mellba to give birth to their firstborn son, Richard
Lee. Later they boarded a troop ship with a naval escort across the Atlantic
Ocean, hoping not to be bombed by the Axis forces. On the ship, Lee and Mellba
had to be separated, Lee on the “men’s side” of the ship and Mellba and baby Richie
on the “women’s side”. They would meet daily at the staircase where there was
an opening for them to at least see each other and talk.
Once back in Africa, almost 4 years later, Shirley Joan was
added to their family, and 6 years after Shirley’s birth, their “late lamb”,
René Allynn (the middle name a combination of his 2 uncles, Uncle Al and Uncle
Lynn), completed their family, being born just in time for the annual
missionary conference. Lee and Mellba served the Lord in various towns of Chad
and the Central African Republic (after French Equatorial Africa was broken up
into separate countries). Their main responsibilities included teaching in a
Bible school to train national church leaders and encouraging
already-established local churches. Lee also served on the language committee
that helped revise the Bible which had been translated into the Sango language.
Mellba served as a proofreader for the revised translation.
They continued a fulfilling ministry in the Central African
Republic until 1970 when health problems made their move back to the U.S. a
necessity. For several more years they continued translation and proofreading
work in the U.S. for the Sango language committee until they “retired” from
missions and became the pastor and wife back in Lee’s hometown and home church
of Randolph, NY for 10 more years. Lee was heard to remark, “I never changed
jobs at age 63 before!”
After Lee retired from the pastorate, Mellba suffered a
massive stroke. After a month in the hospital, she was moved to a nursing
facility, but it was poorly managed. One day Lee came home quite agitated after
visiting Mellba. He told his youngest son, René (on furlough from Africa in
Randolph, NY at the time) that he had decided he would bring Mellba home to
care for her. This was a massive undertaking and although René and his wife
tried to show him all the reasons that would be a difficult task, he was
determined. When they offered to stay home from Africa to help him, he
vehemently refused… so for the next 6 years, Lee cared for Mellba, bathed her,
fed her, turned her several times a day, so that she never had a bedsore. He
showed the community of Randolph what the godly love of a boy for a girl could
look like, following the example of Christ loving His church and giving Himself
for her.
-- by Sonia Einfeldt,
daughter-in-law of Lee and Mellba
(I truly had the best second set of parents ever!)
Sonia was telling me similarities between Virginia's story and her in-laws story also as missionaries in Africa, so I asked her to write it down for me. She went the second mile and put a picture in too.
Sonia and I met in 2016 at a ladies conference and became friends. We were so surprised when we learned we have the same maiden name! Amazing! But we haven't figured out if we're related. We also both did time at Bob Jones in Greenville, SC, so we have a lot to talk about when we're together. She and her husband Rene are missionaries in Kimberley, South Africa right now, though having visa problems.
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