He Goes Before: Stories of a Medical Missionary in Africa

On March 21, 1949 at the age of twenty-seven, Olive Rawn boarded a freighter and sailed across the Atlantic to her new life in Africa. As one of the first six AIM missionaries to enter Sudan, she drew on her training as a nurse and established a medical work. Whether sterilizing equipment in a pressure cooker over an open fire, holding her dispensary outdoors under trees, fleeing from rebels, or simply traveling African roads, “Aunt” Olive lived a life far from her upbringing as a Pennsylvania farm girl. For thirty years she dedicated her life and treasure to serving the people of Sudan, Uganda, and Congo. These are her stories—stories of life and death, joys and discouragement. Through each new circumstance, profound or trivial, she knew it was the Lord who went before her. She endeavored to take each step in love and trusting surrender to her precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.