Truth Really Matters

This week’s blog is written by Bonnie.

Once in a great while you stumble across a story – a true story – that just amazes and encourages and even brings tears to your eyes as you explore that person’s life. Lillian Trasher is such a woman and her story is as incredible as any hero in Scripture. My primary reference for this blog is the book by Janet and Geoff Benge, Lillian Trasher: The Greatest Wonder in Egypt.

As I began to write, I realized that this could not be a short article and do her justice. There were so many amazing provisions in her life from the Lord. Each instance shows a remarkable life of faith in God and a desire to do His work at any cost. Lillian did so many things right in her walk with the Lord. We can all benefit from her example. Read on and be astonished at what God can do with one life totally devoted to Him and His work.

Lillian was born on September 27, 1887 in Jacksonville, Florida and spent much of her childhood in Brunswick, Georgia. Her neighbors awakened in her a desire for the Lord as a 9 year old child. When she knew she needed to repent and put her faith in Christ, she did so at a prayer meeting at the neighbor’s house. One day walking home from school she knelt at a big old log and cried out loud, “I want to be your little girl.” Later, she prayed alone in the woods for some time and said out loud, “Lord, if ever I can do anything for You, just let me know and – and – I’ll do it!”

As she grew, she developed a good bit of artistic talent. On her way to seek a job as a sketch artist for an Atlanta newspaper, she sat on a train by a woman named Mattie Perry. This was a providential meeting designed to change Lillian’s life. Mattie managed a faith orphanage in North Carolina. This concept of trusting the Lord to provide all the resources was a startling idea to Lillian. During the course of the conversation Mattie invited Miss Trasher to come and work with her at the orphanage.

As the Lord would have it, the job didn’t work out at the newspaper (actually she got the job, but management mistakenly gave it to someone else.) Lillian, believing that this was from the Lord, spent the next five years working with Mattie, taking some Bible college classes, and accompanying the Perrys on preaching tours through the South. Lillian found she loved to share the Gospel with people. During this time she also met Tom Goodson who soon asked her to marry him. Lillian said yes, but it was not to be. At a church service with Mattie, Lillian listened to a missionary from India. She realized that she was being called to be a missionary to Africa. Knowing that Tom did not feel called to the mission field, she cancelled the engagement just ten days before the ceremony was to take place.

Getting to the mission field was an adventure in itself. Lillian heard about a missionary conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She prayed and the money came in, but an employee, seeing the money on the desk in the orphanage, thought it was orphanage money. She paid a food bill with it . What was left was not enough for Lillian’s ticket to the conference. We probably would have stopped there, but not Lillian. She bought a train ticket to Washington D.C. which is how far her money would take her. There, Mattie’s friend Miss Olivier had a missionary from Egypt, Robert Brelsford, staying in her home. While staying at the house, Lillian was invited by them to come help in their mission home in Assiout, Egypt if she could find her way there. No salary was included, but Lillian was overjoyed and took them up on their offer.

With reimbursement from Mattie for the food bill money, Lillian went on to the conference in Pittsburgh. A friend paid her fare to New York City. There she spoke at churches about her missionary calling and as money came in she put it toward the ship fare to go to Egypt. Through a number of generous people, the fare was paid and she was on her way accompanied by her sister Jennie. Here is the distinctive characteristic of Lillian Trasher. She was committed to the Lord, didn’t know how she was going to do His work, but trusted in Him to provide. It was a lifelong pattern that always worked, although sometimes in very strange ways.

I spend this time in describing her journey to get to Africa because it is so clear an example of how Lillian would live her entire life trusting the Lord to take care of her. [As near as I can tell, the way to pronounce the city in Egypt (Assiout) is “Ah syoot”.] That winter, about three months after her arrival (1910) at the Brelsford’s mission house, a desperate looking man asked for some missionaries to come to a house where a young mother was dying. Lillian and two others went with him. The dying mother wanted them to take her baby and care for her. The infant was half starved, just a skeleton, stinky, and filthy, but when the young mother died, Lillian just had to take her and see if she could care for the little girl. I ask you, reader, what would you have done? What could anyone with a conscience and a heart tender toward the Lord, do?

At the mission house, the baby cried almost constantly. Lillian fed her with an eye dropper of milk at a time. For the next ten days, Lillian and Jennie’s lives revolved around this little baby. Every mouthful of milk little Fareida could swallow and every minute of sleep she managed to get was a blessing. However, after a week of this, the other missionaries were exhausted and Mr. Brelsford said the baby would have to be returned. “Where?” Lillian asked, “Is there an orphanage that she could go to?” Mr. Brelsford told her there was no such place in Egypt. The short version is that Lillian found a house to rent and with her sister Jennie, they set up housekeeping, having no more than one month’s rent, trusting God to provide the money they needed. Thus the orphanage was begun.

From this humble beginning, the Assiout Orphanage, situated on the east side of the Nile river, eventually grew into a village that had at its peak 1,400 residents as well as its own schools, dormitories, clinic, bakery, dairy, church, and swimming pool. During its first fifty years, roughly 10,000 orphans passed through its doors. It is still in operation today and run by men who were some of Mama Lillian’s children.

But back to my narrative: just a couple of weeks into the rental house, the cupboard was bare. The only thing left on the shelf was a can of milk for the baby. Lillian said to herself, “Now I will see God in action.” Her attitude is the perfect example of the dedicated Christian who when faced with such a dilemma cries, “Abba, Father!” and waits for His answer. A young boy came to the house to ask for aspirin for his aching head. After they chatted and Lillian gave him the aspirin, he gave her two coins. It was enough to buy two days of food. Lillian felt she was holding a miracle in her hands! The word spread around the neighborhood and soon food and bits of money appeared on her porch. Then a baby came that had bubonic plague. Lillian also contracted the disease but weathered the storm and continued on.

Though the local people and authorities were skeptical of her motives at first, they soon learned she was doing much good. Many local people helped her support the endeavor. One wonderful source of food and supplies turned out to be the poor subsistence farmers in the countryside around the city. Lillian would hire a donkey and ride out to their homes receiving whatever they could give. For several years the house served their purposes. A government clerk who was a friend of theirs heard about a half-acre for sale across the Nile. Lillian prayed for the money and was able to purchase the property. I won’t give you the details on how this was arranged, but it is amazing.

By August 1914, World War I had begun. This would eventually have an impact, but for now Lillian and her children needed to put up a dormitory on the new land. She had just enough money to buy six wooden brick forms. Each form made twenty bricks made from dirt on the property and water from the Nile. After drying for a couple of weeks, they were ready to come out of the forms and they could make more. As money came in, more forms were purchased and more and more bricks could be made. A local bricklayer was hired. As each stage required either money or supplies, Lillian was always ready to ask God to provide and He honored every request. The hurdles that came up and how God provided the answers are the most exciting aspects of Lillian’s story. By Christmas of 1916 they moved into their new facility.

During the war, the British controlled the country looking everywhere for recruits and setting quotas for local communities. Many were “forced” to serve in the Army and this left many women and children without caretakers. The numbers of orphans began to climb. Even in dire circumstances, God can work for good. Lillian learned something that would transform her entire operation. She took in a widow who said she would help with the work if only Lillian would take her in, in addition to her two children. As time passed and the work grew, these widows became a very important source of workers. They could still be near their children and could relieve much of the burden of cooking, cleaning, and laundering. They were ministered to, taught the Bible, and most became converts. Many foreign missionaries were required to leave the country during the war, but not Lillian. One of her great strengths was to befriend the local people and the government. When they understood that she was no threat, many were willing to help her.

All of the children helped out with the work around the orphanage. Older girls helped with cooking, dishes, mending, and caring for the babies. The boys worked outside tending the yard, and making wooden chairs and leather goods that were sold in the market to raise money. As more and more children came and time passed, the older girls became adept at helping with the little ones. Each teen girl was in charge of six smaller children — “little mothers” so that each child had someone who knew her likes and dislikes and personality. This was a person to bond with so that the facility felt like a home and not an institution.

Finally the Great War was over, but the British did not wish to relinquish their hold on Egypt because of the Suez Canal. A couple of incidents caused rebellion. Rioting and looting broke out. Lillian and her children were protected by the Lord in two incidents with only minor damage to the building. An English general ordered the evacuation of all foreigners and Lillian was told to leave. Using this opportunity for good, she decided to make a trip to the United States to raise money and prayer support for the work. Seeing “modern” America made her realize that she was not a young person anymore, but a 31 year old missionary with over 100 people in her care!

In the United States, Lillian was able to raise money for the orphanage, receive ministerial credentials, and a missionary appointment with the Assemblies of God, a church which had not existed when she left for Assiout in 1910. To Lillian, the prayer support and little things they could do for her work were very important. This became a lifelong association that is still functioning today, although in modern times 85% of the funding for the orphanage comes from Egypt.

Upon returning to Egypt in 1920, she found the orphanage more crowded than ever with some children sleeping four to a bed! Another dormitory was planned with the help of the older boys making bricks. As soon as it was finished, it was filled and another building was planned. Tourists began to trickle into Egypt again and many were interested to see the orphanage. It continued to grow until in 1924, Lillian had 300 children in residence, and the property was filled up. Lillian’s prayer was answered in an unusual way. A number of wealthy Egyptian families collected twenty-six hundred pounds between them. They bought two and a half acres of land and presented the deed to Lillian. As the orphanage grew, so did the need and Lillian used many techniques to raise revenue.

God kept answering her prayers in unique ways and the work continued. One day she needed seventy five pounds for expenses so she traveled to the home of a wealthy Egyptian. There she waited all day to see the man, but to no avail. Finally, realizing that he did not want to see her, she returned home, crying out to the Lord on the way, having nowhere else to turn. At home, she was handed a note from friends saying their daughter was engaged and they wanted to share some of their good fortune with Lillian. Inside were some crumpled pound notes — not seventy five but two hundred! The need was wonderfully answered. Lillian prayed, “Thank you, Lord. I will not go out on my donkey begging for money again. Indeed, I will spend my time caring for the children and trust You to send the money to feed, clothe, and educate them.”

There were times when Lillian would share a little soap, rice, or money with a needy person and then the Lord would give her 10 times as much of the same items as she went about her business. Sometimes tourists, Egyptian rulers, or foreign royals, would stop by and some of these became very important in the support of the work in later years. They could hardly believe that Lillian could live in what looked to them like poverty. Teens would tell them that Mama never worried about food or supplies and didn’t lose sleep over it. Then Lillian would explain how God had wonderfully supplied every need and never had they missed a meal. An Egyptian Sultan, who later became king, gave her a gift of $1,500 which helped her to enlarge the facility.

In 1926, Lillian went to court and made a wise move to ensure the ongoing status of the orphanage even after her death. Lillian made many savvy decisions that helped her win the support of the local people and this was one. Most mission works and property would be funded and owned by the mission board that the missionary belonged to, but Lillian made a trust for the orphanage such that she could never sell the land as long as she lived. She appointed a committee of Egyptian supporters plus her sister Jennie to administer the trust after her death. Many wealthy or elite Copts that gave to the mission knew that they were giving to an institution that would serve upper Egypt for a long time.

The local wealthy families interested in her work took out subscriptions, started sewing circles, gave gifts of food and supplies, and helped celebrate births, weddings, and major life events with the children. They adopted Lillian as their own, bringing her to their homes for visits, taking her on outings, and giving her dresses.

Not only the wealthy helped the work. This is one of the important successes of the orphanage in that Lillian welcomed all help and especially that of the local shopkeepers and farmers. The community valued her help in caring for so many needy children and were happy to support her endeavor.

A very special time came on April 7, 1927. Lillian had called the widows and children together for the usual devotional time. She would read the Bible and teach them the meaning and they would pray. This particular time as she was teaching, she heard sniffles and sobs around the room. Suddenly children began to get down on their knees and confess their sins aloud to God and ask Him to forgive them and make them new people inside. The sound of prayer and confession drowned out Lillian’s voice. The meeting went long into the night. Groups of children prayed even after they were sent to bed and many prayed alone on their beds. This pattern went on for five days. Many lives were transformed. Wanting to share their joy, the children asked to be allowed to go into Assiout and the surrounding area to share with others what had taken place at their home. Many Egyptians in small villages heard the Gospel message preached by these children. As a result, many other local people became Christians.

In a letter to home, Lillian wrote, “I have wonderful news to tell you. God has given us one of the most wonderful revivals, I have ever seen in my life. The power of God is sweeping the orphanage like a mighty flood, like a terrific fire, or like I imagine it will be at the great Judgment Day. Hundreds of children are on their faces screaming out to God for mercy, some shouting for joy and rejoicing in the marvelous newfound blessing.”

Somehow the things the orphanage needed the most showed up in the nick of time. Reader, we know how this happened because the Lord knows our needs even before we do. Lillian always gave the credit to the Lord. One day the widows came saying many bed mattresses were so worn the children were almost sleeping on the springs. That very day a truck came with huge sacks of cotton as a gift to the orphanage. Some girls came to the woman in charge of the soap asking for their allowance of it, and she told them she had none to give them. That evening a car drove up with all kinds of gifts piled in it. There were six five-gallon tins of butter, six tins of cheese, a large sack of soap, a sack of rice, two and ah half boxes of sugar, and many smaller things worth over $100.00 in all. A woman had died four months ago, and before her death, she had asked her relatives to send the things in her storeroom to the orphanage.

As the world sank into economic depression, supplies from the U.S. dwindled so the support of the local people became even more important. Even Lillian was surprised how the orphanage survived. In 1927, the annual income at the home was nearly $25,000. By 1933, it had plunged to less that $15,000. At this time another incident turned into a difficult situation. A Swedish missionary in the area had spanked a child for disobedience. The eight year old girl ran away and told the police that she had been beaten for not becoming a Christian. The Egyptian people got wind of it and began to ask, “How could Christians be trusted to raise Muslim children? Don’t Muslim children deserve to be in orphanages where they are taught their own faith?”

The Swedish missionary was expelled from the country, but many Muslim Egyptians demanded that all Muslim children be removed from Christian care and put into Muslim orphanages. Some leaders were stirring up feelings against the missionaries who were working among the Egyptians that were from the Coptic Christian tradition as well. They hoped to drive them all out of the country.

Lillian was investigated. She prayed that the Lord would protect the 70 children in her orphanage that would be affected.

During this time, Muslims collected much money to build their own facilities. Some churches were broken into and preachers were beaten. Lillian’s books were inspected and children interviewed. Widows and teaching staff were questioned and they took copies of the booklets Lillian had made for the school.

Finally, on July 5, the governor sent for Lillian. He thanked her for her work, but he had decided that all Muslim children in her orphanage were to be removed in 10 days’ time. Seventy of her children were being taken away at once. It was almost more than she could bear. Her only consolation was that they had been taught well in the home and it would help them.

At the same time, many of the older boys, now young men, were going out into the surrounding countryside to preach. One of the boys wanted her to help him open a school and a mission. Another was doing the same in a small village nearby.

Now came a low point. Lillian was unwell, the support had seriously declined. She needed rest. She told the children they would have to go away until she could gather them again. As the children realized what she said, they burst into tears and then prayer. As all wept and prayed together, a feeling of calm came over Lillian and she said they would do without together if need be and they would live by faith. That night they added more water to the rice and gave each child a fourth of a slice of bread. The babies got milk from the cow. Lillian ate nothing.

The next morning, Lillian awoke with a feeling of dread. All went about their work. By lunchtime no food had arrived, so Lillian sent one of her boys to the post office. All the children gathered at the gate to wait for his return. He handed her the mail. Lillian sifted through it and saw a personal letter from the U.S. She opened it. “Thank God!” she exclaimed, “Children, your prayers have been answered.” It was a check for $1,000! However, the letter had been addressed to Assiout, India. The letter had been sent directly to Egypt, though, so someone in the post office in Kansas where the letter was mailed, knew that Lillian actually lived in Egypt and had rerouted the letter to her! “How astonishing! God is faithful, especially since we needed the check now and not a day later,” she told herself.

Things took a turn for the better. Other donors helped improve the facility. There was some publicity at this time that helped a great deal. Some journalists wrote articles and people Lillian had never heard of started to send money. At the same time, the mood in Egypt began to turn against Christian missionaries. The government imposed high taxes on all churches and charitable work. They wanted the recipient of goods to pay taxes equal to the entire value of a package. She had to tell many to stop sending clothes and supplies.

Next to come was WWII. The Germans were anxious to get their hands on the Suez Canal. In September 1940, the Italians invaded Egypt with 200,000 troops. American and British citizens were ordered to leave, but this time Lillian refused to go. No one forced her, but the road ahead was still difficult.

As a result of the war, many items were three times as expensive as they had been before. The orphanage was now home to 900 children, and there was a constant need for food and clothing. By September 1941, the children’s clothes were in tatters and they had only a half cup of lentils for each dinner. Everyone in the country was suffering.

One evening, Lillian said they would suspend all schoolwork and chores for 24 hours, so that everyone could pray for the situation. The children prayed until 2:30 a.m. and Lillian and the staff continued longer. In the morning a telegram arrived. It read, “Miss Trasher, please visit me tomorrow for lunch. U.S. Ambassador Kirk.”

She took the midnight train to Cairo and arrived just before noon. It turned out that a Red Cross ship carrying relief supplies nearing Greece had been ordered back to Alexandria to await further orders. It was feared the ships in harbor there could be attacked, so the ship was ordered to head out to sea, dump its cargo overboard, and flee the region. A young Scottish sailor begged the captain to unload rather than dump the cargo. He had known about Lillian’s work. Finally, the captain agreed and the cargo was unloaded into a warehouse. “Tell me, Miss Trasher, do you have a need for food and clothing at this time?” Reader, I was ready to get up and shout “Hallelujah” when I read this part!

“What did you say?” asked Lillian. Two hours later, she and the ambassador and a Red Cross representative were looking at crate after crate of supplies. The boxes stretched on as far as Lillian could see. “How much is here?” she asked. The Red Cross representative pulled out a paper and began reading: “Two thousand six hundred dresses. Nineteen hundred handmade sweaters. One thousand nine hundred pairs of boys’ pants. Three thousand eight hundred blankets, Eleven hundred towels. Seven hundred kegs of powdered milk, One thousand two hundred sacks of rice . . .” etc. etc.

Lillian felt grateful, but was already wondering how she would get it home. The ambassador said, “Miss Trasher, it would be my privilege to pay all of the delivery costs. We will send the supplies you need immediately by truck, and the rest can go by train. How would that be?” Are there tears in your eyes, yet? I’m sure Lillian’s eyes were watery.

Of course there was loud cheering when Lillian told the news to the children. And then came the trucks. Everyone was eager to help unpack the supplies. How wonderful the children looked in their new outfits.

This was the high point of the war years, never to be forgotten. In 1945 when the war ended, most of the children were still wearing clothes from the Kassandra Louloudis.

An epidemic of cholera hit and how Lillian weathered this one is amazing, too. A boy was brought in with the disease, but the Lord protected and not one orphan came down with the illness.

The next years brought more expansion and recognition, but Lillian never lost sight of her goal. She wanted to give the poorest children the opportunity to grow and flourish in a Christian family environment. She loved spending time with her grown children. When she would visit, word would get around and the house would fill with young couples and their children, many named Trasher and Lillian in her honor. There were college graduates, preachers, missionaries, teachers, an airplane designer, and many others.

A biography was published, a short movie made, and another trip to the United States. This trip was cut short because of health problems. She had always had trouble with high blood pressure and a weak heart. Finally, she returned home. In early October 1961, she was hospitalized. On December 17, two new babies were taken in at the home just as Lillian, with her sister Jennie at her side, passed on to her heavenly reward. At 74 years of age, her body had just worn out.

A biographer asked her, “Tell me, what is the thing, greater than any other, you are trying to do in Egypt?”

Lillian thought for a moment and said, “For these forty years I have been trying to live in such a way as to pass something tangible to a new generation. I would like to pass on a disposition of Christian character. I live before these orphans every day the way I want them to live in their home in the land of Egypt. I try to show them how to smile, even in the shadows. Every hour of the day and night I do my best to live before them the life I want them to live before their fellow men. I try to transmit to them a life, to know that if they can trust God, everything will be all right. I do my best to teach them to have faith in God so that they will be able to face life with a heart of trust. I try to pass on to them a power, a power of prayer, a power with fellow men that they may teach others how to find the true way.”

Lillian did a lot of things well. She worked at including the local people in her work for the children. She took in disabled and disfigured children that no one wanted. Her constant method of providing for the work was a relentless trust in God to provide and sustain her. She passed that on to the residents. Her desire to see a great spiritual revival was realized. Many of her boys went on to evangelistic and church planting work. Not only were orphans loved and cared for, they were educated, taught skills, and learned how to work and love others.

Lillian related about the revival in 1926, “After crying and praying like the sound of many waters, they began to testify. One little Mohammedan boy got up on top of the bench and testified saying, ‘In my village I was a sinner but now God has saved me and if I was cut in little pieces I would not serve idols’ . . . Souls are being saved.”

By the 1930’s other Protestant groups were retrenching, but Lillian gained even more support from the churches in the states and the locals. She was able to train several generations of locals to lead and minister in the work of the Lord in Egypt. A large part of her success was because she earned the trust and understanding of locals and officials at the highest levels. Her life was a great example of serving the Lord and others and not even concerned about herself.

Her funeral was the largest ever seen in Assiout. Many of her children came home to honor her. The Lillian Trasher Orphanage, run by her former orphans, is still in operation today and recently celebrated its 100th birthday. Egypt has a Lillian Trasher day to honor her. Her legacy is large. She was once asked about the secret of her success. She said, “There isn’t any secret, I just stayed! I did not quit. I stayed with the work God gave me to do.”

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? If Lillian Trasher had only saved one little girl from a painful death and she had become a child of God in every true sense of the word, she would have done enough. But why stop there? Trusting her heavenly Father each step of the way, Lillian Trasher worked to her dying day to love the unloved and introduce their hearts and souls to the Lord. He blessed her in ways that we can only dream of!

– bonnie@truthreallymatters.com

Beckenham
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