Chief Missionary

My father, when I was a boy, was appointed Chief Missionary in the Central Pacific. It was a prestigious though sacrificial position. He told me this story. The London Missionary Society asked him to make application at their headquarters in London, showing him to a desk in their library. He was surrounded by records of the Society -- including the application of the famous David Livingstone. He took Livingstone's application from the shelf, and drew inspiration from it for his own. He himself went on to become the only missionary to be elected head of a mission Church both pre- and post-independence. In the photo, he is overseeing the off-loading of cargo from the John Williams VII.