Published: January 28, 2006 10:46 pm

SundayPROFILE: Sheila Williams

Missionary recalls life of reward, not sacrifice

By Bev Davis
REGISTER-HERALD SENIOR EDITOR

Fifty years ago Jan. 8, the world was stunned with the news five American missionaries had been killed by the Waodani Indians on a remote beach in Ecuador.

Steve Saint, the son of jungle pilot Nate Saint who was among those killed that fateful day, introduced a new generation to the story through his book, “End of the Spear,” which has now been made into a movie released in U.S. theaters this week.

A Fayette County woman, however, grew up with the story and spent 12 years as a missionary in Quito, Ecuador. Sheila Williams met Barbara Yuderian, the wife of one the slain missionaries, and was also introduced to one of the men who was part of the team that recovered the bodies.

“Many people have heard the story and wonder why God would allow such a tragedy, but those missionaries did not give their lives in vain. There has been so much good that has come from all that happened. It has been amazing to see how God worked in the lives of those very men who killed them and what has happened in two generations since then,” Williams said.

Her call to missions came early and was confirmed through several events in her life, she said.

“I was saved at age 11, and at a summer Methodist youth camp a year later, I actually told the Lord I would be a missionary if He wanted me to be one,” Williams recalled.

After graduating from Pax High School in 1955, she worked for a year in Virginia, then headed to Michigan and found a job with Sears.

“I had family there, and I worked with Sears for 10 years. I was in a Freewill Baptist church where I taught Sunday school and worked with the youth. I had this stirring in my heart that the Lord wanted me to do something else.”

One Sunday, her pastor spoke on dedicating one’s life for the Lord’s work. Williams responded to the altar call with no specific idea where her life might be headed.

Three weeks later, she was invited to visit Freewill Baptist College in Nashville, Tenn., where her pastor’s granddaughter was a student.

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Williams began to sense the Lord wanted her there as well.

“I prayed about it all summer, and I decided I needed to head down there in the fall,” she said. “I had enough money in profit-sharing to pay for my first year. After that I worked.”

She accepted the jobs as they came along — in the cafeteria, the library, ironing shirts for a Church of Christ minister. Because she was in her late 20s, Williams became the assistant dean of women during her last two years of college.

She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible and double minors in missions and Christian education.

A native of Long Branch near Pax, Williams was about to embark on a journey that would take her thousands of

miles from home.

“I had been introduced to several different mission fields, but I was drawn to children’s ministry. I had met two missionary nurses from Ecuador, and I knew there was a real need there,” Williams said.

Freewill Baptists were reluctant to send single women into certain areas of the world.

Williams became more certain of her calling, however, and turned to Child Evangelism Fellowship, an organization that specializes in children’s ministries worldwide.

“They’re a nondenominational group, and I was approved through them and entered language school in Texas in 1969.”

While learning Spanish, Williams visited churches to raise money for her missions support.

“One of my Spanish instructors jokingly told me he didn’t know if someone with a combination of West Virginia and Michigan accents could learn Spanish or not, but we’d give it a try.”

She mastered the language well, and found herself working in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito, in 1971. Williams did teacher training to help the people in the churches develop their abilities in reaching children.

Although headquartered in Quito, Williams traveled throughout the country during her 12 years of service there. Her transportation sometimes involved a taxi or a single-engine airplane piloted by missionary friends, a canoe or on foot.

“I don’t swim, so canoe trips were scary for me.”

Walking could also be treacherous, especially in areas such as Shell Mera, which was founded by the Shell Oil Co., which had tried to drill oil wells nearby.

“There were bridges made of some of the old discarded metal from the oil rigs that had been left behind. There were also cable bridges. Travel was never easy there. I had some really frightening trips.”

Mission aviators flew by tracking the river below them. Radar was not an option.

Tarantulas were daily companions, and some of the missionary dwellings were often visited by rats and other jungle critters.

“The tarantulas would get on the window ledges. One of the first things I would always have to do when I moved into a house was take a broom and sweep down the tarantulas. They didn’t try to bite. They were usually eager to get away from humans,” Williams said.

She and her companions were equally eager to get away from the creepy critters as well.

Meals consisted primarily of fruits, vegetables, yucca — a root vegetable similar to a potato — and five varieties of bananas.

Some banana plants had leaves so big they could be used as parasols on a hot day or an umbrella during one of the frequent rains.

Meat was scarce, but beef, goat and chicken were shipped in from farms.

“The United States shipped in cows and other animals, and there were farms where these animals were bred. The meat from those farms was usually pretty safe to consume, but you had to be careful what kind of meat you ate otherwise,” Williams said.

One day, she received a long white box similar to what a florist would use to send a box of long-stemmed roses.

Inside was a roasted monkey’s arm. Not one to back off from a challenge, Williams took a small bite.

“Did you ever eat burned hair? That’s exactly what it tasted like,” she said.

In 1983, Williams returned home to help care for her parents. The transition was difficult, even though she knew she was once again answering God’s call to be where she was needed.

Williams earned a teaching degree and taught in Fayette County schools until her retirement.

She still does substitute teaching and is actively involved in the Bradley Freewill Baptist Church.

She often speaks to church groups about her missionary experiences. When people commend her for making “such a sacrifice,” Williams is quick to correct them.

“I never think of my missionary life as a sacrifice,” she says passionately. “My life is richer because I went.”

— E-mail: bdavis@register-herald.com