I found studying hard my first semester but I learned and got better grades the rest of my 3 years. Quite a few of the students at BIOLA had part time jobs to help pay the bills. I worked in the cafeteria of a large department store (Robinsons) 3 or 4 hours a day. I got 2 of my meals there besides the 38¢ and hour they were paying. I later got a raise to 45¢ an hour. Remember, that was 1940-1943.

Phylis worked at a restaurant, dime store, and at Robinsons.

BIOLA students were all required to have practical work assignments. Phylis taught Sunday School in 2 or 3 different churches; had an open air class for Hispanics; and did hospital visitation. I was also involved in the same activities as Phylis was. I was asked by an old navy buddy (Harvy Myrick) to help him as Sunday School Superintendent in a new church he was starting. I worked there for over 4 years. Our first Sunday we met in a home with 50 people present. Later it became necessary for us to build a church to accommodate our increasing number. To make a long story short, Phyllis and I were married in that church on June 10, 1943. We served there together for another year before leaving for Nigeria. This church supported us while on the mission field for 24 years. I was also ordained in that church.

Backing up a little, I was introduced to Phylis by Wilma (Lambert) Nash in April 1942. I found her to be a delightful girl. During the summer 0f 1942 Phylis returned to Kansas to be with her folks. Her father was seriously ill. He died that summer. Later I visited her on the farm in Kansas and there became engaged in August 0f 1942. Phylis thought she would have to stay on the farm to help her mother, but she was able to find some one to help, so that [she] could return to BIOLA. Once when Phylis’ mother Daisy Swinney was praying, the Lord indicated to her that Phylis was going to be a missionary in Africa. This came to pass. This may have had something to do with Phylis’ mother being anxious that she return to school.

We left for Muskegon, Oklahoma after we were married. We traveled in a car with three other Biolans who were also going to attend the SIL. The wartime speed limit was 35 mph and it took us two nights and two days to arrive there from Los Angeles. We drove non-stop except for gas and food. The course there was very difficult because we arrived several days late and it took a lot of work to get semi caught up. We did not go to that school because we thought we would be doing Bible translation work, but in order to help us learn a language when we arrived in Nigeria. It was a great help.

After school was over we visited Phylis’ mother on the farm in southeastern Kansas. Shortly afterwards we headed back to Los Angeles so that Phylis could finish her schoolwork at BIOLA. I heard that they needed a dentist in the mission field, so I enrolled in a Jr. College to start getting a foundation in dentistry. It didn’t take long for me to discover that was not my calling, so I dropped out of school. In the meantime I was working as a mechanic’s helper for the Los Angeles Motor Coach Co. When we returned to Los Angeles after our SIL training we got a small apartment in the rear of a university professor. They gave us free room and board in exchange for cooking and housekeeping. This lasted a few months and because it was not allowing Phylis the time she needed for her studies, we moved into an apartment for $38 a month, just a few blocks from BIOLA.

This started out on a sour note when one church in Santa Ana didn’t give us any help when they seemingly were looking for a missionary to help. That was discouraging, but we knew that the LORD was leading and we started to move. We left Los Angeles after Phylis finished at BIOLA and visited my mother and father in Broderick, California (across the river from Sacramento on the west). While there and waiting to hear from the mission about church openings, we had 30-50 kids in a Vacation Bible School in a church just a few blocks from my parents’ house. In the meantime I worked as a clerk in the YMCA.

We had little money for anything. A friend sent us $50 and immediately after that the Mission asked us to come to New York. Well, the $50 got us as far as Kansas on the train. While there we had meetings at some of the Churches Phylis knew about and then had enough money to take us to New York. At that time the Mission had just moved into an old eight-story apartment building and we helped out there getting things cleaned up. We then got a call to go to Michigan for a Mission Conference. To make a long story short, the Bible Church in Three Rivers, Michigan, and the First Baptist Church in Howard City, Michigan, Mr. And Mrs. Jim Hokezma, and our home church in Bassett took on all our support.

There just remained $1,300 for transportation to Nigeria. Phylis stayed in the New York Mission Headquarters while I went to Wisconsin to participate in two missionary conferences. The Lord provided the rest of the money that we needed for us to sail for Nigeria. He was sitting on the platform when the people were asked if they would like to help in the outgoing expenses of the Richins. One widow lady stood up and said, "I need a new chimney for my house and have been saving up money for it, but I feel that the Lord wants me give it for the Richins’ travel to Nigeria." It was a good-sized sum for those days. Someone else stood up and said, "I’ll give $500." Another and another and when I boarded the train for the trip back to New York, the Lord had provided all our transportation money. I had the check in my pocket. Isn’t God faithful?

On January 30, 1945 we boarded the SS Serpa Pinto in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The War was on at that time and the only travel that could be obtained had to be on a neutral ship. All ships traveling during the War were blacked out at night, but our ship had the word "PORTUGAL" painted in letters so large that it took up the whole side of the ship. They were illuminated at night as well as their flag and the rest of the ship. The ship was stopped on its way to America by a Nazi sub and they asked for a certain passenger by name and the ship had to deliver that person to the sub. We had no problem on our crossing. We arrived in Lisbon, Portugal February 11, 1945 and were there a month before we could get another ship out. While there we got to do a lot of touring and visiting old castles, forts, churches, etc. It was nice. We left Lisbon on March 10^th aboard the SS Lourenco Marques (Portuguese ship). Accommodations were hard to get and the men had to all sleep in the same rooms and the ladies also. By doing this they could carry more passengers.

On March 25 we were transferred via launch to a small riverboat and went up the Congo River to Boma. We stayed at a mission station there. We had met the folks there in New York in 1944. It was nice to see them, but I had a throat infection with a temperature of 104° F. I had to get to a Belgian doctor who gave me sulfa tablets. I was allergic to them, but endured until my fever was down. We then proceeded up river to Matadi for the night and boarded a train to Leopoldville where we were hoping to get a plane back to Nigeria. They were booked for weeks; finally we were able to cross the river into French Congo, get an all night train to Point Noire on the coast where we were for a couple of days before we got a plane to Nigeria. While at Point Noire we met some Swedish missionaries who were about to return home, having been away for over eight years because of the war. We were able o give them some of our clothes: suit, dress, etc. They were glad to get them as they didn’t have anything to go home in.

We left there April 7, 1945 and flew to Douala in the Cameroons. I was still sick and spent the day in bed in the hotel while the rest of our party did some sight-seeing. The next day we traveled to Nigeria and few days later we took a train north to Minna where we arrived Friday, April 13^th.

We were met at the train depot by Wilma Nash. She was the girl that introduced us to each other in 1942. She was also the Maid of Honor at our wedding. There were many others from the language school who met us at the depot also.

It didn’t take us too long to get settled [into] our two-room mud block house. There was a veranda on the front. We had running water-you ran after it. The outhouse was nearby. That explains how modern it was. We used kerosene lamps also.

Because of the conditions in the Congo, Phylis arrived with amoebic dysentery and was in bed the first two weeks that we were in Minna. Before we left we both had malaria also. Any way we got busy with our language study and kept at it for seven months. We all had exams at the end of our time there.

May 7^th was VE Day and there was a celebration in town. Then not too long after there was VJ Day and we were all glad that the war was over.

During our time at language school we were involved in various activities. We cycled to a town four miles away to teach the children-we went there many times. The chief had fifteen wives living and four that had died. I worked with the Boys Brigade. Most of these kids knew some English and we were able to help them. One afternoon three boys accepted the LORD. We also visited the villages to try out our new Hausa language. We took a mind up phonograph with Hausa records and played it to the people. We always got a good crowd.

Our language study involved classroom work with a missionary teacher. We would learn grammar, etc. Then in the afternoon we would have a Hausa informant to help us get the correct pronunciation.

Wilma and Joe Nash were married on June 23^rd in the church in Minna. I performed the ceremony; Phylis was the Matron of Honor and Joe Mooney was the Best Man. One African got the couples mixed up and went to Phylis and Joe Mooney, thinking they were the bride and groom and said, "May God give you many children." This is an accepted greeting after a wedding.

At Minna we made friends with many missionaries. Walt and Ruth Erbele were real special among them and still are. They are now retired in Salem, Oregon.

While in Minna a messenger came to say that Al Diamond, a missionary fifteen miles away, was very sick with no one to look after him. The powers that be appointed me to go and look after him. I had to take medications: quanine if he had malaria, and sulfa if he had spinal meningitis. The latter was quite prevalent in the area. He didn’t have a stiff neck that is caused by spinal meningitis, so I treated him for malaria and in four or five days he was better. It was a hard bicycle ride there, as I hadn’t ridden one for a longtime.

We were assigned to Zambuk by the field Council and headed that way in November. We got permission to visit the newlyweds for a few days on our way to our station. We had no transportation, so Dr. Harris drove us to our station, which was a 200-mile trip from headquarters on a dirt road. It was three years later that he delivered our firstborn, Charlotte.