Message Magazine Online - Vol. 54, No. 03, Fall 2006

In This Issue

• On the Receiving End
  By Angela Shuff
• Canadian Editorial
  By David W. Smith
• Facing The Call
  By Don Trott with Angela Shuff
• CLIPS: Press-time reports of need, opportunity, inspiration and praise.
  
• Help Returning Missionary Kids
  By Russell E. Ebersole, Jr.
• Called But Not Going
  By Dr. Bill Commons
• Focal Point
  By Dr. Michael G. Loftis
• Into Life Eternal
• 2006 Candidate Class
• Candidate Class 2006 (Testimonials)

Into Life Eternal

Frances Schlener

Frances Schlener met her Savior in eternity on Friday, June 2, 2006. She was born to Martin and Mary Read on February 11, 1922, and grew up in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

Fran committed her life to Christ and later married John Schlener in 1942. Because Fran and John desired to serve the Lord as missionaries, they moved to Los Angeles to attend the Bible institute now known as Biola University. In 1951, they left for Brazil with ABWE. 

On the mission field, the Schleners raised four children, planted churches, established and taught in schools, ran clinics, and used speedboats, airboats, houseboats, floatplanes, and canoes to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ along the Upper Amazon.

In 1969, the Schleners returned to the United States and served as West Coast representatives for ABWE until 1974, when they took administrative roles in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1979, they returned to the United States again, and became Northwest representatives for ABWE. They retired in 1982, after thirty years of service, and immediately reassumed the same assignment as volunteers.

Fran was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1996, and her recent years were spent at a nursing facility in Spokane, Washington. Even there, Fran’s faithful character and loving spirit was both “salt and light” to those around her.

God’s work through the Schleners has been recognized in National Geographic magazine and was the subject of three movies. The book Port of Two Brothers is an abiding monument to God’s grace and the lives of John and Frances Schlener.