When Eleanor and I were married it was customary for the pastor to ask the young couple if there were any special passages or suggestions for the marriage vows. It was a new thought for me and I had to reflect a bit but Eleanor spoke right up. She had it already and if the pastor had not offered she was going to ask that this passage from Ruth be used:
Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people , and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me."
My godly and loving wife has never waivered nor looked back on her vows. She has remained faithful all these years to the Lord, to me her husband and to the vows she so reverently and humbly swore to Him over 37 years ago. How I praise God for such a godly and precious helpmate. At a time when many women are enjoying the fruits of a life of devotion to family and church she is found far from both, in far off lands, many times in difficult circumstances, ministering to me and the Lord.
Eleanor has been a gracious hostess as long as I have known her. One of my earliest memoires of Eleanor is being served coffee and chocolate chip cookies by her after a Navigator ministry gathering at the University of Texas. Along with Andrea Taylor, Eleanor met with a gathering of women for tea and Bible study. We have known Dave and Andrea for years. Dave is the founding director of Untangled Ministries here in Malawi. They have been in our home in Texas and we have been in theirs both in England and Malawi. Andrea is a true Christ centered missionary wife which is why she and Eleanor are such great friends. They both love Jesus with all their hearts, have tender servant hearts, love to serve God’s people, love the Word of God and prayer and they both love their husbands. Dave and I often get in bragging contests over our wives.
As a student at the University of Texas Eleanor led her first women's Bible study in her dorm room in 1971. Since that time there has never been a period in her life when she has not been teaching women the Word of God. Eleanor has not only been faithfully teaching the Word of God to women here in Malawi but also supplying them with quality study Bibles. It is Eleanor’s burden that the wives of pastor’s, ministers, missionaries, student workers and lay ministers be equipped with the Word of God along with their husbands.
Additionally, Eleanor worked with Andrea to sort Bibles and Bible study aids for distribution to pastors, staff, and lay ministers. Eleanor has been working behind the scenes to bless others all of her Christian life. One of my first discussions with her, when we were both students, was her sharing with me her summer ministering behind the scenes at the Glen Erie Conference Center in Colorado Springs. Eleanor had given up the summer of her junior year of college to do this. I was greatly impressed then of her genuine servant heart and have remained so over the years. She is a true servant of the Lord.
On the first day of the conference, Eleanor and Andrea fixed lunch for conference attendees. Eleanor was doing volunteer work in the conference kitchen as a student at the first Navigator student conference I attended. Since then she has served meals, cookies and refreshments to countless students, missionaries, pastors and staff.
In between conferences, Eleanor works to keep the GCI mobile office up and running. I first experienced Eleanor’s administrative skills when, as university students, we lead a Bible study together at the First Evangelical Free Church in Austin, Texas. (The same church where we were married.) Later she edited and typed my senior term paper facilitating my graduation. Since then she has logged countless hours doing administrative duties which free me to spend more time in the Word and the ministry. Eleanor gave up a successful career as the head of the Fine Arts Department of her school to run the GCI office and without her sacrificial heart this ministry would not be possible.
After the Sunday Service, Eleanor spent time talking with and getting to know church members. I was first impressed with Eleanor’s gift of hospitality and gracious heart my junior year of college. My sister Mary was coming to visit and Eleanor invited Mary to stay in her dorm room. I later found out that Eleanor slept on her dorm room floor so my sister could sleep in a bed. Eleanor so blessed my sister that she moved to Austin to be in Eleanor’s Bible study. Wherever we go and whatever God calls us to do, Eleanor can be found expressing Christ’s love in a very personal way to all those with whom she comes in contact.
"Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge” Eleanor has followed me to over 26 countries in a ministry which spans the globe. She has slept on floors, on couches, and on mats. She has traveled in cramped cars, trains and every imaginable other transportation. She has slept in cars, buses, on planes and trains. I have never heard her utter one word of regret and she has never asked to stay behind to enjoy a more stable and comfortable life. Her glory is in the Lord, her heart is in His service. How I praise God for such a godly wife, godly mother to my children and godly grandmother to our grandchildren.
I close this e-mail as always with a deep and abiding thankfulness for your sacrificial and effectual prayers which empower and drive this ministry ever forward in the cause of Christ.
By His mercy, II Corinthians 4:1 Rev. John S. Mahon Grace Community Int. - Malawi
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