About the Author

Sandy Thomas is an alumnus of Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. She and her husband, Gene, went to the Republic of Congo in 1955 where they served as missionaries until July of 1997. Sandy, a registered Red Cross nurse, worked with the Government in controlling yaws, leprosy and in the immunization programs. They now travel to various churches throughout the U.S. to tell their story of God’s mercies in the Congo.

About the Book
Wandering along paths and thick, overgrown jungle, are Pygmies and forest people whose sharp eyes search for some movement in the underbrush or heavy vines high in the trees above. Trained ears listen for monkey shrieks, various deer snorts or elephants trumpeting. An occasional gorilla pounds his chest and waits for an answer. Bows with poison arrows are raised for the kill. A spear or gun will be lifted in the silence. All are breathless! The kill is at hand, assuring them that meat has been found for another day. The jungle of the Congo gives up its bounty.

Gene and Sandy Thomas are the only white people alive today who have written down the history of this part of Congo Brazzaville. Beyond Jungle Walls will challenge you to the great task of carrying the Gospel to the ends of the earth. You will journey with them through their years under communist rule, being on hit lists to be murdered, and living through conflicts as well as an ethnic war.

This Book includes never before seen pictures of the Congo

1,000 churches across the US have supported Gene and Sandy Thomas over the last 40 years representing over 100,000 potential buyers for this book.

 

Read the introduction

Sandy Thomas was born Madelyn Wacker, in Bloom City, Wisconsin. Her parents were Robert and Ella Wacker, her father being deceased. She graduated from Beloit Memorial High school in Beloit, Wisconsin. She is an alumni of Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. She and her husband, Gene, went to France for language study in 1954 and on to the Republic of Congo in 1955. Mrs. Thomas is a registered Red Cross nurse, having been trained in the Congo to perform many procedures that included diagnosing illnesses, dispensing medication, suturing up all minor and major cuts, helping with surgery at the local hospital, and performing amputations on the lepers and skin grafts on those who had long term ulcerous sores. On long extended river trips, traveling in a dugout canoe, thousands were treated for yaws disease. Mrs. Thomas worked with the Government in controlling yaws, leprosy and in the immunization programs. This program she spearheaded to save thousands of children from certain death. She was named to the General Assembly to be a representative of the International Red Cross. Her ministry and that of her husband were intertwined to use all measures available to them to be ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. She and her husband have been retired since July of 1997. They now travel to various churches throughout the U.S. to tell their story of God’s mercies in the Congo. Mrs. Thomas will continue to write of their life beyond the jungle walls of the Congo, a life filled with excitement, trials, fears, tears and much joy. Rev. and Mrs. Thomas and their three grown children are living proof of God’s power in their lives. It is her hope that these true life stories will challenge young people to go forth to fill the gap of retired missionaries and that others will be challenged to try God and find that He will meet all life’s challenges.

After Bible college studies were terminated in 1954, Gene and Sandy went to Paris, France for advanced French studies beyond that which they had had in college. They arrived in the Republic of Congo, then known as Equatorial Africa, in July of 1955. Forty two years of ministry, that began as a pioneer work, began to come into focus in this rather obscure area of the world about a degree and a half above the equator. Few people were familiar at that time and even today with this small country that was a former French colony.

The mission station was given to United World Mission by the local tribal chiefs. There seemed to be plenty of land wrapped up in a thick jungle setting, but there were no permanent buildings in which to live. Living in mud houses for a term, while building brick homes later was a chapter of great tenacity in enduring the day to day living in a strange and peculiar society. Daily living was a formidable challenge in itself. What lay ahead was even a greater challenge as they made plans to teach thousands of people to read and write. There were no pastors and if the work were to grow, a Bible school was needed to train young men to be the spiritual leaders of their own people. Many rivers crisscrossed the great area of the northern territories and much evangelism was needed to reach the unreached with the Gospel way back in the deepest jungles. At some point, there was an enormous need for good medical care for the area but that would wait years before that dream was realized. Sandwiched in between was the raising of a family of three children that God entrusted to them. Each segment of the work, be it for the ministry or for them personally, would challenge every ounce of their energies and their desires to remain faithful to an unfailing God.

Their forty-two years of ministry tested the validity of God’s Word and the power of God to keep them in the face of extreme dangers, tropical diseases and raising children in this setting. Their faith WAS tested. Would they remain faithful and could they carry out the Great Commission that they had been challenged to carry? This book is a collection of stories with the background being the large area where they served. The northern part of the Republic of Congo has never been fully mapped out due to the region being mostly swamps, jungle trees growing out of the water and small rivers passing through the jungles. Explorers have died there in an effort to track unknown animals. No other American missions resided in northern Congo during their years on the field. The Thomas’ are the only white people alive today who have the history on this part of Congo Brazzaville.

It is their desire that this book will challenge all people, but especially young people, with the task that is yet before them to carry the news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. No matter how difficult the country might be, how strange the languages, God is able to help the worker overcome all problems to establish a national church that will remain long after the missionary has gone.

In their travels across the United States, they have been asked to tell their stories of life as they knew it in the rugged jungles of northern Congo. They are stories that will leave a lasting impression on all those who hear. No one remains the same after listening to how God kept them through long years of Communism, being on hit lists to be murdered, and living through many conflicts as well as an ethnic war during their last term of service in the capital city of Brazzaville. As the shells burst all around them and the tanks lurked like huge beasts in the shadows of deserted streets at night, they were safe in the knowledge that God was right beside them. God has now given them time to tell their story and they trust to be able, in the years ahead of them, to publish more about the exciting and sometimes frightening experiences that God took them through to help build His Church.

The Great World Tragedy
Today, the people of God, are looking at a world torn apart by hate and greed, a world suffering from the most catastrophic disasters known to man. The Thomas’ adopted country, the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, agonized through ethnic and civil wars in the nineties, leaving countless thousands dead, maimed and displaced to other countries as refugees, people without identity and without hope.

As the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville endeavors to repair the small former French colony, their eyes are fixed upon another tragedy. Separated by the great Congo River, the people are hearing and reliving the sounds of guns and death. Relatives and friends have been fleeing the Democratic Republic of the Congo-Kinshasa, formerly Belgian Congo and Zaire.

Hundreds of thousands flee to the forest where they die of starvation, malaria and dysentery. Thousands more cross the Ubangui River to their area, in the north, Impfondo, the region of the Likouala.
Dr. Joseph Harvey, his colleagues and the United Nations help minister to the people's needs the best they can. Without access to large food and medical supplies, the suffering is intolerable.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo-Kinshasa is decimated from the north to the south. Rebels roaming the country steal what they want and kill at random. Children, by the thousands are orphans, starving and ill. Recent United Nation atrocities show people from more educated countries making prostitutes from little girls. They have no voice, no home and no one who cares. A population is weeping, screaming in despair and their feeble cries are silenced by the evils of man and the liberal news media.
In December, 2004, the giant waves of the Tsunami flashed around the world. They even reached the shores of war torn Africa. People responded by sending hundreds of millions of dollars and they gathered thousands of tons of food. Yet, when the ragged, hungry and gaunt faces of little children stood looking at officials on the evening news, their hearts hoped for help—help in the way they needed never really arrived. Yes, the eyes of the Universe looked on and then turned away. Their sad eyes tore at our heartstrings. Sometimes at night, We heard their voices. We saw the tears rolling down dirty little cheeks covered with flies. We visited their sick in our dreams. They are still there today, standing and waiting.

The rich resources of this once beautiful land have been stolen away. The greatest resource, its peoples, have now had their lives shattered and their dignity taken away.

The focus of America must take a second look at another kind of Tsunami, one in which there is a daily wave of the destruction of a nation and a great part of its continent.

The great missionary, Livingston, gazed upon a people steeped in idol worship and fetishes. He looked beyond, also and envisioned a Church made up of the same people. He must have peered down the corridors of time to see the change that the Gospel of Christ would bring someday.

Hidden in the forest, the villages and the once modern cities, is the Church that Christ built. It has been trodden down and wounded, but it is still alive and hopeful that somewhere, somehow, Christian brothers and sisters in America might give a helping hand to this area of Africa, and much more—a cup of cold water in Jesus name.

The Psalmist David sang in Psalm 65:5,6,7,8:
You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.