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Mission Delayed
It's never too late to keep a promise to God
by Gail Wood
 1 of 3
As a 15-year-old girl in 1927, Lois Secrist promised God she'd go overseas as a missionary, perhaps to Africa or India, helping the needy. But Lois never made that trip of mercy.
At 23 she married Galon Prater, a handsome farmhand who became a heavy drinker. Her mission changed from sharing the message of Jesus in a faraway land to sharing it in her own home with her husband.
"I knew I had married out of the will of the Lord," Lois says. "But I had fallen in love. I always thought I could win him for God." Many years later, Galon did become a Christian and testify about the peace of Jesus to his drinking buddies. But by then he was almost 80 and nearing death. When he died January 9, 1988, Lois's childhood desire of becoming a missionary returned.
At first she resisted. At age 76, she felt her opportunity to serve overseas as a missionary had slipped away.
"I said, 'Lord, I'm too old to go now. I can't do this,' " Lois admits.
Her children also discouraged her, saying, "Mom, there are things you can do here." But to the astonishment of her three daughters, this great grandmother was determined to fulfill her unforgotten promise. Lois, pricked by the memory of ignoring God's calling as a teenager, would not refuse a second chance at becoming a missionary.
So at 87, Lois Prater has become the unlikely builder of an orphanage in the Philippines, a lifeline to 35 children whose lives have been rescued from neglect, begging in the streets, and parental abuse.
Called by a TV show
Lois's unlikely journey began just six months after the death of Galon, her husband of 52 years. While watching a Christian TV program from her home in Lake Stevens, a suburb of Seattle, Lois was stirred by an invitation from Nora Lam, a woman who once escaped a firing squad in her native China to become a missionary in that country. Lam asked people to accompany her to the Philippines and Taiwan for a three-week outreach. Lois decided to go.
Along with 230 others, Lois flew with Lam to the Philippines, where she took part in open-tent meetings that drew as many as 3,000 people. Inspired, Lois returned to the Philippines several weeks later with 11 other women and spoke at several churches during a month-long stay.
Lois returned a third time by herself and went from church to church on the Bataan Peninsula. During this time a ragged man, who had seven children under the age of seven, offered to sell his baby to Lois for 1,000 pesos (about $40).
"That impacted my soul so deeply I knew I had to do something," Lois declares.
She pushed 300 pesos into the man's hand and helped him get a job.
When she returned to the United States, she was determined to build an orphanage on the Bataan Peninsula. In 1990 she sold her home, her car, and her furniture and flew back to the Philippines. On her own and in a strange land, Lois began searching for land to buy. After several months, she couldn't find anything affordable. Disheartened, she got down on her knees and prayed, "God, if I'm going to do this, you're going to have to help."
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