Back in 1921 a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their 2 year old son to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up with another young Scandinavian couple and set out from the main mission station to take the gospel to a remote area. 

At the village of N’dolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his town for fear of alienating the local gods. The 2 couples opted to go half a mile up the slope and build their own mud huts. They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. The only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood- a tiny woman only four feet, eight inches tall - decided that if this was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead the boy to the Lord. In fact she succeeded. But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike one member of the little band after another. In time the Ericksons decided they had enough suffering and returned to the central mission station. David and Svea Flood remained near N’dolera to go on alone.

Then, of all things, Svea was pregnant and a little girl was born, whom they name Ain. Svea Flood was already weak from bouts of malaria after her delivery she only lasted another 17 days before she died. Inside David Flood, something snapped in the moment. He dug a grave, buried his 27 year old wife, and then took his children back down the mountain to the mission station. 

Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he headed for the port, rejecting not only his calling, but God himself. Within 8 months both the Ericksons were stricken with a mysterious malady and died with days of each other. The baby was then turned over to some American missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to “Aggie” and eventually brought her back to the United States at the age of three. This family loved the little girl and were afraid that if they tried to return to Africa, some legal obstacle might separate her from them. So they decided to stay in their home country and switch from missionary work to pastoral ministry and Aggie grew up in South Dakota. As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met and married a young man named Dewey Hurst. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful ministry. 

One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it and of course she couldn't read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold. There in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross – and on the cross were the words SVEA FLOOD. Aggie jumped in her car and went straight for the college faculty member who, she knew, could translate the article. The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had come to N’dolera long ago … the birth of a white baby…the death of the young mother .. the one little African boy who had been led to Christ…. .The article said that gradually he won all the students to Christ…. even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were 600 Christian believers in that one village…All because of the sacrifice of David and Svea Flood.

Later the Hursts visited Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real father. An old man now, and still bitter, he had one rule in his family: “Never mention the name of God- because God took everything from me.” Aggie was not deterred. She walked into the dirty apartment, with liqueur bottles everywhere, and approached the 77 year old man lying on a rumpled bed. “Papa?” she said tentatively. He turned and began to cry. “Aina”, he said. “I never meant to give you away. “It’s all right, Papa,” she replied, taking him gently in her arms. “God took care of me”. He turned his face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and then continued to tell the story of the little boy who led 600 African people to the Lord. He has never hated you.” The old man turned back to look into his daughter's eyes. By the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades.

A few years later, the Hursts while attending a high-level evangelism conference in London,they met the superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently on the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterwards if he had heard of David and Svea Flood. “Yes madam,” the man replied in French, “It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother’s grace and her memory are honored by all of us.” 

 (An excerpt from Aggie Hurst, Aggie: The Inspiring Story of A Girl Without A Country )