I am Lodema Kopp Hale, daughter of Arthur and Sylvia Kopp. I was born in Fairview, Kansas, 1923, and had five brothers. The oldest of my brothers, Whitman, drowned at the age 15 and
brother, Johnny, went to be with the Lord last year. One pleasant
memory I have is when we were young we all gathered together each
day for Bible reading and prayer. After my mother’s death
and my graduation from Leavenworth High School, we moved to Kansas
City.
I worked at the Forum Cafeteria in Kansas City. Although I
attended Youth for Christ on Saturday nights, during the week I
was going to worldly amusements. When the news was full of
stories about Russia and the Atom bomb, I was concerned. I
thought, “If I was bombed, I would go to hell.” I had
Godly sorrow!
Youth for Christ had a city-wide revival with Charles Fuller and
Merv Rosell. One night a lady invited me to go forward and I did.
I accepted Christ as my Savior that night. At first, it was hard
for me to understand, but the fact the Jesus was God and that He
died for me was a reality. God did not lie. I could only trust
Him. I wanted everyone to know my desires had changed, and now
His Word and songs were real in my life.
For a vacation, I wrote to several Bible Conferences and decided
to go to Winona Lake Bible Conference because it was the most
reasonably priced. Besides, I could also visit my Uncle Clarence
and Aunt Laverne who lived close to Winona Lake. Uncle Clarence
and his family brought a picnic lunch there. On the last day of
the Conference, while walking by the lake, I saw Frank Hale, a
handsome man, who had a big smile as he walked by. Later, I was
playing the piano in the lobby of the Inn where we were staying
and Frank and his friends were also there. I asked Frank, his
friends and his two daughters, Patti and Frankie Sue, to sing
“Heavenly Sunshine.” We all sang and shook hands and
thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship. It was time for me to go back
to Kansas City the next day, so, I went upstairs to pack my
suitcases. Frank was disappointed but I gave him my address and
then caught the bus home.
After getting back to Kansas City, I received a card from Frank
Hale. I answered the card but did not hear from him again. It was
near Christmas and I began addressing Christmas cards when I came
across Frank’s address and decided to send a card to his
daughters. Frank wrote back and said “how glad he was to
hear from me.” So, we started writing regularly. Some time
later he told me that he had never received my first letter
because his housekeeper had destroyed it, but now she was gone.
Frank Hale was a widower with two young girls and he loved the
Lord. He liked Dr. Walter Wilson as he taught the Word of God and
I had attended Wilson’s school. We had beliefs in common.
Frank worked at Carbide and at noontime taught a Bible class.
February, I invited Frank to visit me in Kansas City. He said he
would be on the next plane out. On our first date, he read the
Word and then asked me to marry him. I said, “Don’t
rush me,” but the next morning, I said, “Yes!” We
decided that I would fly to West Virginia on March 25, 1954.
The Forum girls gave me a quick shower and my brother Johnny, his
wife Mary and my friend Virginia saw me off. I got airsick on the
plane and I was ready for coffee when Frank picked me up. After
we got to Frank’s brother Rex and his wife Jeanette’s
house, my beads broke and Frankie Sue, Frank’s daughter,
scooped them all up for me. Then my piano arrived and Patti
decided to take lessons.
Our wedding took place April 3rd in the Highlawn
Community Chapel where the Hale family attended, which was full
of friends and relatives. Frank’s brother Clint was the best
man and his wife, Alice, was my matron of honor. The reception
was at the home that was to be my new home. It was a home that
was not without problems but I learned to get on my knees for
answers. Besides Patti and Frankie Sue, Frank and I had three
more children—Naomi, Jimmy and Rachel. Over the years I have
learned that, “All things work together for good to them
that love the Lord,” and that He is a very “present
help.”
The Lord took my husband, Frank, to his Heavenly home in 1987.
Although we miss him, the children have all married and God has
blessed us with 20 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren and many
friends. Most of the families are serving the Lord and four have
served on short term mission services overseas. I appreciate your
prayers because there are still problems, but, “nothing can
separate us from the love of God.” Romans 8: 35-39.
The Secret
Place
Summarized from her Video and many writings
Naomi was born to Leroy and Eula Kopp in Auburn, Nebraska on December
21, 1922. Six weeks later Naomi was extremely ill and near death
when her mother put her finger in Naomi’s throat and pulled
out a mucous plug. Naomi’s mother was a prayer warrior and
dedicated Naomi as a foreign missionary in thankfulness to God
for little Naomi’s recovery.
The Kopp Family moved to Kansas shortly after Naomi’s birth
and began their ministry in several country churches. Naomi
remembers many happy times in Kansas, although the large family
of four boys and two girls struggled to survive on a country
pastor’s earnings. When Naomi’s father received an
opportunity to minister in a church in Los Angeles, the family
experienced a change. Coming from the cold climate in Kansas to
warm sunny California, seemed like “Beulah Land” to
them. Here, the children grew up and were educated. Naomi
especially remembers her music lessons on the piano, guitar, and
trumpet that were provided for her free of charge during the
depression. In high school, Naomi became a proficient typist. All
of her experiences in school and in church prepared her for her
life ministry that was about to begin on the mission field.
Naomi was 18, but she had accomplished a year at Bible College
when the school ran out of funds. Naomi wanted to minister to
young people; so, her father, Leroy Kopp, suggested she begin an
interdenominational youth group. Naomi was also secretary for the
church and radio broadcast where her father ministered.
One day, Naomi received a call from Edmund Farrel, who inquired
about a speaking engagement with her youth group. Eddie was
trying to raise funds because he wanted to go to Argentina to do
missionary work among the Toba Indians. After the call, Naomi
says she was flushed and a co-worker asked why she was so red.
Naomi wasn’t sure until, at the morning of the youth
breakfast, she met Eddie for the first time. Although she was
sitting with a young man with whom she was engaged, Naomi knew
that she wanted to marry Eddie.
Eddie had expected Naomi to be an old maid type but when he met
the beautiful young woman who was dedicated to doing the Lord’s
work, he was impressed with her. Besides, she wanted to be a
foreign missionary as well. Soon the romance blossomed into
marriage on July 6, 1941. Naomi had already made her wedding
dress but Eddie owned only one suit.
The first year of Naomi and Eddie’s marriage they traveled
to many states. They did evangelistic work; raising money for
their dream of missionary work in Argentina. Finally, they
decided to go to Bogota, Columbia because Eddie had some contacts there and it would cost less. However, WW II started and they
could not get passage on a ship. They decided to go to Brownsville,
Texas and try to get a plane to Bogota.
After three exciting plane adventures, a Mr. Holden met Eddie and
Naomi at the plane in Bogota. He took them to a disgustingly
dirty hotel that was full of flees to prepare them for their next
stay. The following day they boarded an old rickety bus full of
native people carrying pigs, chickens and whatever else the
indigenous people needed to transport. Eddie and Naomi arrived at
what Eddie describes as the flee-infested mountain village of Garagoa,
a place called the Mission of the Andes. There, Eddie and Naomi
spent five months learning Spanish. They related to the Holdens
they would like to minister to people who have never been
evangelized. The Holdens advised them that they must start a
school in order to begin the work of an evangelist in these
mountains.
In Garagoa, Eddie and Naomi met Don Antonio Morales. Don Antonio
was a wealthy man who had hidden his herd of cattle in a place he
called El Secreto. Because Don Antonio was affiliated with the
liberal political party, his home had been burned during a time
of political unrest. This event caused Don Antonio to hide his
cattle in a mountain pasture that had access only by a difficult
road and a basket that was suspended over a gorge. He took Eddie
and Naomi to his secret place and offered to give them a
beautiful piece of land if they would build a school for the
people who lived in the area.
Although Eddie and Naomi began their dream of ministering to the
people in this remote place, they suffered much distrust and
danger. The Catholic priest convinced the natives that Eddie and
Naomi came from the devil and they had cloven hooves and tails.
The people were forbidden to sell Eddie and Naomi supplies and
several times the natives tried to intimidate them with guns and
knives as they traveled the mountain roads. Naomi says, “We
sang, ‘Power in the Blood,’ every time we traveled.”
Naomi started her school with six children from the neighboring
area of their mission station. Eddie immediately started building
and he also cleared some land for an airstrip. People in the US
sent them barrels of supplies and in one of those barrels were
dental forceps. The natives began to come to Eddie for tooth
extractions which led to a crash course in medical missionary
work.
One day, one of the natives who brought them bananas was bitten
by a snake. When this native arrived at the mission, his arm was
already gangrene. Eddie sent for a doctor in one of the villages
who was blind. This doctor gave Eddie instructions for amputating
the native friend’s arm with the help of dental anesthesia
and a hack saw. From there, Eddie and Naomi had success with many
of the indigenous people who began to trust their school and
their medical care. Naomi had 40-80 students.
Political unrest brought much trouble to the mission in 1949. The
Catholic conservative party took control and began a wave of
terror in the villages. They burned homes and killed many of the
people. A cruel colonel was in charge of the insurgence and he
was determined to get rid of the mission station. The colonel
flew onto the airstrip that Eddie had constructed to receive
supplies. Opposing revolutionaries were in the bushes and fired
on the plane. The colonel was angry and determined that Eddie had
alerted these men. Soon the colonel returned, pointed a machine
gun and demanded that Eddie get into the plane. Naomi refused to
get into the plane without her daughters who were small children.
Somehow, the colonel allowed Naomi to go to the house and get her
daughters. Again, Naomi says, “I was praying for the
covering of the Blood of Jesus.”
Eddie was held in a detention center for five days. Naomi and her
daughters were in a hotel nearby praying fervently. Finally,
Eddie was released and Naomi, Eddie and the girls went back to Bogota.
There, they began teaching school at the Presbyterian mission
school. Suddenly, the police came for Eddie again and he was
taken to a concentration camp near Bogota. The police insisted
Eddie was a revolutionary. Naomi went to the American consulate
but they were not sympathetic to her. While Eddie spent many
weeks in the camp, he ministered to the other men held there.
Naomi found a way to get letters, underwear, copies of the Gospel
of John, and a camera to Eddie in the camp. The American
consulate finally went to the jail on Naomi and Eddie’s
behalf. Eddie was paraded through the street in his dirty clothes
but he held his head high. Eddie noticed that the people would
drop their heads to show they supported him.
Finally, a miracle happened and Eddie was released and the Farrel
family went back to the United States. The mission station at El Secreto was bombed and destroyed.
After a time of rest, Eddie, Naomi and the girls went to Chile with Maranatha Missions. They spent 10 years of peaceful evangelism in that country.
In 1961, Naomi and Eddie decided to return to Los Angeles so their daughters, Shirley and Sharon, could be educated in the US.
About that time the property in Columbia, El Secreto, which lay in ruins was donated to the Church of God Missions. Naomi and
Eddie also began an organization called Transworld Vision to
co-ordinate efforts among many denominations to continue the work
in South America.
Naomi was able to return to El Secreto in 1965 with a group of
young people and they were able to minister to the people in the
area with much success. They were able to build a small building
with wooden benches. Again in 1968, a team was organized to go
back to El Secreto and try to begin rebuilding the mission
station. This time, they had many achievements in building and
restoring the mission; and they had much success doing
evangelistic work everywhere they went in Columbia. They did
evangelistic campaigns in Chile’, Argentina, Peru, Jamaica
and other places in South America as well.
Although Eddie passed away November 6, 2001 after a prolonged
illness, Naomi, Shirley, Sharon and their families continue to serve the Lord in and around Los Angeles, California. Sharon’s husband, Raul Ries, is pastor of the Calvary Chapel Golden Springs in Diamond Bar, California. The family also continues to
reach the people of South America through the many lives they’ve touched in their ministry and those who continue to build on the work of the Farrels. Naomi’s loving spirit blesses everyone
around her. She is a prayer warrior and a testimony to the legacy
passed to her from her godly parents.
At Rome in Paul’s
Footsteps
A summary of Frank Scorza’s Book: At Rome in Paul's Footsteps
Frank Scorza was the ninth child born to Domenico and Giuseppina
Scorza. He became a tireless evangelist in Italy and later in the
United States, ministering to Italian POWs and as many of his countrymen that he could reach for the Gospel.
The year Anton Scorza came home after his conversion to Christ in
the USA, his parents, Domenico and Giuseppina Scorza, had their
ninth baby, a boy named Ferdinand. He was born on Friday the 13th
of March but the family put March 12 on his birth certificate,
because they were superstitious about Friday the 13th.
During this time, Anton brought a suitcase full of Bibles written
in the Italian language, which were provided to him by his Bible
study class in Chicago.
Anton stopped and bought meat for the family and brought it into the house on that Friday. He no longer believed in the rule that the
Catholic Church imposed on its membership of not eating meat on
Friday. He gave the meat to Maria who was making soup. Little
Ernesto, who was three years old, wanted to eat the meat and ran
into the kitchen and burned himself trying to get at the meat in
the soup. Giuseppina attributed the accident of the burns on
Ernesto’s hand to the sacrilege Anton committed by bringing
the meat into the house on Friday.
Soon, Anton and his parents were at odds. Anton began quoting
scriptures that argued against the Catholic traditions that the
family held so dear. Domenico took the Bibles to the priest and
burned them in front of the village church. Nicolas and Giuseppe,
Anton’s brothers, believed in his doctrine and asked Anton
to send for them and bring them to the USA. Nicolas was 17 and Anton could get early immigration for him because of his family
ties in the USA.
Three months later, after Anton had returned to the USA, baby Ferdinand became deathly ill. Giuseppina prayed to the statue of
Saint Francis and credited Ferdinand’s recovery to the
prayers said to the Saint. She then renamed Ferdinand, Francis
Ferdinand and dedicated him to Saint Francis of Assisi.
Anton sent for Nicola and he too became converted to
Protestantism in the USA. Because Nicola was not yet accustomed to the English language, he learned Christian teachings at an Italian
Pentecostal Church on the near north side of Chicago where the
preaching was in the Italian language. Soon, Nicolas was also
burdened to bring the Bible back to his family in Italy as Anton
had. So, Nicola took a suitcase full of Bibles to the family in
San Pietro.
Nicola was ill when he returned home in Italy; he caught a lung disease on the ship. He presented the family with some of his new
ideas but father, Domenico, was angry and hit Nicolas in the
face. Domenico was concerned that the family would be ostracized
if they had Bibles again. One day, while everyone was busy,
Nicolas was reading about how God despised idolatry; so, Nicolas
took the statue of Saint Francis that his parents had prominently
displayed and threw it out the window. When Domenico came home
the younger children told their father about the statue. Domenico
again began to hit Nicolas but Giuseppina intervened. All but
three of the Bibles were again burned; but, Giuseppina hid a copy
and secretly began to read it. Nicolas returned to the USA and
agreed to send for Giuseppe (Joseph) who was now 17. Francis
(Frank) Ferdinand was 3 years old.
Anton and Nicola promptly sent for Giuseppe; and Joseph (his
American name) went to Moody Bible Institute and became a singing
evangelist. After several years, Joseph was also burdened for the
salvation of his family in Italy and decided to return. This
time, however, he did not bring a suitcase full of Bibles.
Instead, Joseph was full of the Gospel music that he had learned
on his evangelistic campaigns and came home with joyful choruses.
The family was intrigued with his music and Joseph led his
mother, Giuseppina to the new Faith. Giuseppina became changed
and began to witness to everyone about her conversion. She prayed
earnestly that her husband and all of her children would accept
Jesus as Savior. Because the Scorza home in Italy drastically changed their religious concepts and practices, the village
people and the priest despised them.
After five years in Italy, Giuseppe (Joseph) returned to the USA
to marry a farm girl from Kansas, who he met on one of his evangelistic campaigns in the USA. They had been corresponding for many years. Then, WW I caused much upheaval and suffering in Italy
and the Scorza family depended on help from the three sons in the
USA to survive. Joseph returned to Italy after the war and
ministered in a Methodist Church in Naples, Italy with his new
bride, Helena. The couple also started a small congregation in
San Pietro which consisted of the Domenico Scorza family and a
few other converts from the village. This time, Giuseppina’s
prayers were answered and even Domenico accepted the Lord Jesus
as Savior. Domenico’s heart had softened greatly since the
war occurred and he no longer feared the retribution of the
village priest. Francis Ferdinand (Frank) was 18 and Giuseppina’s
youngest son when she pleaded with him to accept the Lord. Frank
had a vision of the Savior, who came down from the cross to touch
him. From then on, all things changed in Frank’s life.
Frank went to Rome to enter a military school, because the public schools were controlled by the Catholic Church. The military
schools did not have priests and nuns as teachers. Frank began to
witness to his teachers and fellow students. After one of Frank’s
officer-teacher was converted and secretly baptized, Frank began
his ministry in and around Rome. Frank went to remote places in
the mountains and villages, and even was threatened by men of the
“Black Hand,” the outlaws in the area. Miraculously,
even the leader of the Black Hand and a priest was converted and
many others were won to believe in Faith in Jesus. Many small
evangelical groups were established despite danger and
persecution. Adult baptism was conducted in secret places.
In 1929, Mussolini came to power and joined forces with the
Catholic Church or Popery as Frank describes it; a despotism that
confuses Christianity with religious control. Together, Mussolini
and Popery outlawed all Protestant Churches and evangelical
activity. Giuseppi (Joseph), who had been ministering in Naples,
took his family who had grown by three children back to the USA
because of the new regime. Frank continued his evangelical
efforts but was summoned to the Chief of Police and ordered to
sign a decree that said he was a fascist. Frank refused to sign
the decree and gave his arguments to the police. He said he just
wanted to preach the Gospel.
Frank’s mother, Giuseppina, was living with him in Rome in a
home that the family bought for Frank. His father had died in
1920. When the police came for Frank in 1935, Frank’s mother
began to earnestly pray for his safety. Frank went to a farm near
Naples to conduct evangelistic services and then to a town called
San Martino. The police came into his church service and arrested
him and some of the church members with him. They were brought to
a prison where Frank ministered to the inmates and his
companions. For eight days, Frank preached and prayed with the
men in the prison and even the chief guard was converted through
the prayers and meetings that were held in the prison. Frank
taught the prison guard the story in the Bible about the Apostle
Paul, who was singing and praying in a prison and he led the
jailor to the Lord after an earth quake opened the prison doors.
Then, the man who had taken Frank in a wagon to the meeting in
San Martino brought them food. Everyone was rejoicing after they
were released from the prison. Not only were they happy to be
free but they were happy to have had such sweet communion with
the many who were touched by the Spirit of the Lord through this
imprisonment. They truly felt blessed to have suffered for the
Lord as the Apostle Paul suffered.
Frank went with a man, who was chauffer to a Russian princess, to his home town of Trivento. Although Frank had been ordered by the police not to leave Rome, the chauffer urged Frank to help win
his family and friends for the Lord. After a few weeks of
soul-winning services in Trivento, the police again came to the
home where Frank was staying and took him and his companions to
prison. This time Frank was put in solitary confinement and told
he was not allowed to speak or they would cut out his tongue.
Frank was again presented with a document and ordered to sign it.
When Frank refused, he was sent to solitary confinement for
several more weeks. He and his companions were brought before a
local judge, fined and sentenced. An evangelical lawyer took
their case and appealed to a higher court. This lawyer won their
case by quoting scripture to the judge and they were released.
Next,the police came to Frank one Wednesday and told him the church was not allowed to hold their mid-week services anymore. So, the
elders of the church went to the bus stop to catch the people who
were coming to the church and diverted the meetings to four
different homes. In order to have youth meetings and baptisms,
the groups were meeting in caves to evade the police. At one such
meeting in a cave, where the worshippers were tied together so
they wouldn’t get lost in the dark cave, the police followed
and again arrested Frank and some of his companions. They were
released after three days because the police saw that the
evangelicals were adding more converts to their group by
preaching to the inmates again.
Finally,the court decided to confiscate Frank’s home. He was fined an amount of money that he could not pay and accused of being an
English spy. Frank worked for weeks trying to reverse this
decision by demanding proof for their accusations. When Frank
realized the authorities would not relent, he found he was about
to be sent to a concentration camp. Several of Frank’s
relatives had already been sent to the camps for holding Sunday
services. One by one, people everywhere were being rounded up and
sent to the camps. Frank’s mother, Giuseppina, was again
fervently praying. Frank fell on his knees and prayed to God to
be sent out of Italy. Then he went to the Foreign Minister and gave his testimony and his desire to preach the Gospel. The
Foreign Minister called the American Consulate and Frank obtained
a visa to go to the United States. Frank returned home and gave
the news to his mother and sisters. Everyone pledged to remain
faithful to the Gospel and mother, Giuseppina, gave Frank a final
farewell. Giuseppina died in 1939, just before WW II began.
Frank sailed on a ship called the Rex in 1937. When he reached New York,
he was met by Christian brethren and preached in their churches;
relating the problems that Christians in Italy were facing. Then,on to Chicago for a reunion with Frank’s three American brothers and their families was next. Frank met brothers, Anton
and Nicolas, for the first time; since he was too young to
remember their trips home when he was a baby. However, Joseph had
been in Italy and knew Frank well. Frank was happy to enroll at Moody Bible Institute and after a year he went to St.
Paul/Minneapolis and began a ministry among the Italian people in
that area. Frank went to Northwestern Theological Seminary for
his Bachelor degree and was ordained at the First Baptist Church
in Minneapolis. During the summers while attending seminary,Frank went to Niagara Falls to preach in an Italian Evangelical Church
and met his sweetheart and wife, Rosalie Tedeschi. They were
married in 1943, the end of WW II. Rosalie and Frank had a
ministry to Italian POW’s; who were in the USA and Canada.
Frank went on to get a Master of Theology degree at Pikes Peak
Bible Seminary and a ThD at Burton College and Seminary in Colorado.
Frank and Rosalie went back to Italy after WW II and found that they were received with great joy among many people. Rosalie had several operations that left her childless but the couples focus
was for evangelism. The war left Italy in even poorer conditions
than WW I, but the people were more open to the Gospel. Both
Anton and Frank went back to Italy to help their families and
countrymen. Frank and Rosalie lived and did their evangelism work
from their home base in Niagara Falls. Although they did not have
physical children, they had many spiritual children in the USA, Italy
and all through Europe.
