Sierra: This is Sierra Sanders, I’m interviewing Marrita Strong, we’re conducting this interview in her home in Springfield, Missouri. The date is April the third. This interview is for the Religious Lives of Ozarks Women, Intergenerational Storytelling from the Older to the Younger, conducted through Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. How long have you been a member of this church?
Marrita: In Missouri at the Lord’s (?) churchfor approximately 52 years. And I have been a member of the congregation that meets at East Sunshine Street for 43 years. Formerly that church met on South National Avenue, and then in a building south of St. Johns.
S: How long did you get involved here?
M: That’s a good question. I-this particular congregation, I came here in 1967 as a junior in college, andthe church at the time was located very close to Campbell. And I began in October and I have been here ever since
S: And have you been involved with other churches or religious organizations?
M: On a very limited basis, and with the other churches,of course, there was a different congregation although it was the same doctrine where I grew up. And when I was in college in YorkNebraska I assumeyou could call the York Christian college, a religious organization, it was affiliated with the Churches of Christ.
S: What was the role of religion in your home when you were growing up?
M: It was just an accepted part of our lives as you would say, I can, you know, remember from my earliest days my parents. I think I recall them actually being baptized when I was very young, and little church buildings where a door opened up kind of like a cellar door and then went down. And then, my next earliest memory would be at the Curbstreet Church of Christ in Sunday school, I remember one of my teachers, Jenny Cope, and the little cards-Sunday School cards that had memory verses that I was encouraged to learn by memory verse, learn the apostles and the books the Bible and things like that, and had some opportunities for vacation bible school, and the congregation itself was a very big part of my life.
S: What’s your strongest childhood memory related to God or religion?
M: Oh, possibly the strongest would be, perhaps when Iwas baptized, I remember it was during a gospel meeting, it was a very emotional thing that I kept-having grown up and always knowing the teachings it was hard to establish (inaudible) conversion point. And for some time I always felt like I would have to be perfect or good enough before I could make that decision but somehow the emotion of that meeting carried me through, and I guess I remember a thinking in my mind, even though I was very young at the time, I know what I’m doing, you know, I know Jesus died to redeemed me, I don’t need to be baptized ever again, but, that was-that’s probably my strongest childhood memory.
S: And do you recall any times as a child when things were different for you and your religious world because you were a girl and not a boy?
M: Actually, the differences did not have any importance to me, I guess. I feel like because I was chosen of God, and have always known the numerous ways and opportunities I have to serve Him, I never felt stifled in the least. And never felt that I was completing ortaking advantage of all the opportunities that were before me and always need, to step up and do more, in other words there were many good things to be done, and still I’m not doing all of them, of course.
S: What differences have you experienced in your religious life because you’re a woman?
M: Of course, in the Churches of Christ there have been some traditional differences in the public and leadership roles of men and women. And again, those have never been anything that caused me distress in the least. I’m very happy to be where I feel God has placed me.
S: What challenges or struggles have you faced in your religious life?
M: Actually, I think the struggles that we face can’t be exactly compartmentalized within our religious life, and I guess the struggles that are common to everyone would involving family and, of course there’s just so many opportunities in all of our lives for improvement, and probably one of the greater struggles is realizing I need to be more concerned about changing myself rather than people.
S: What person has most influenced your religious life and how?
M: I feel like the question in probably asked in more a person maybe now-now living or living during my life, but actually I would say that Christ has been the most influential person and his teachings, and outside of that: numerous Sunday school teachers, parents of friends, college professors, ministers, sisters, especially older ones in the faith, that have blessed me in many ways.
S: How do you think religious life is different for kids today than it was for you?
M: I don’t know that religious life is so different, I think life in general with all the technology and the busyness, mobility those kind of things are probably greater, I think, you know, God’s Word is living, and I’m very thankful for the children that I’m closest to that they are being raised in Christian homes. I think that it’s more of a difference of time than religion per say.
S: How would you like this church to remember you?
M: Oh, definitely, I’d love for them to think of me as a woman after God’s own heart, but, you know that’s a pretty lofty wish, but, I guess that’s what my wish really is.
S: Ok.