God Is My Strength

From war and revolution in southern China to new beginnings in Singapore, this is a moving story of a Baptist missionary couple from Oklahoma who dedicated their lives to sharing their deep faith with the people of South China. In spite of terrible sacrifice, tragedy, and hardship, they never wavered in their dedication and gained the love of many Chinese people.

Louise Hill begins with her childhood and that of her husband, Eugene, in Oklahoma during the 1920s. They first met as students at Oklahoma Baptist University and quickly became soul mates in their quest for services as missionaries abroad. Married in 1934, their mission began in 1935 aboard the ocean liner "President Cleveland" heading for southern China. In Canton, they joined a well-established Baptist Mission, which included a church, seminary, school, and hospital. After a year of training in a difficult language "the like of which I never saw," they settled in to become teachers and ministers. With the Japanese invasion of 1938, they endured the constant danger of bombing, gunfire, and soldiers posted outside their front door. How they helped feed and care for refugees in dire circumstances is an amazing story of perserverance. The Hills survived and returned to the United States in 1940, only to suffer greater tragedy, the devastating loss of their son, "Little Gene." After World War II, they returned to war-ravaged Canton with their second son, John, and continued their ministry, rebuilt the shattered facilities, and helped restore the lives of their Chinese friends and neighbors. The turmoil of the Communist Revolution soon cast a pall over their efforts, eventually forcing them to leave.

Unable to return to China, but not wanting to give up their work among the Chinese they had come to love and admire, they were next sent to Singapore and surrounding Malaya (now Malaysia) to face new challenges. Unlike China, there was only a very small community of Chinese Christians. In the midst of an ongoing communist insurgency, they established new churches and schools. In 1955, after several bouts of severe illness brought on by the stress of missionary work, Eugene was offered an executive position with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board in Richmond, Virginia. Eugene and Louise worked for many years among the Chinese immigrants in Richmond and other Virginia communities. In 1980 their work helped establish the first Chinese Baptist Church in Richmond. At 91, Louise Hill still attends church today.