In the early days of modern missions, persistence was an essential quality for missionaries, together with a strong sense of God’s calling. Johannes Van der Kemp was a Dutch doctor whose written application to the London Missionary Society was turned down because he was too old. Rather than being discouraged by this, he travelled to London to present himself and argue his case.
Van der Kemp was accepted for Africa, and he left in 1799. Shortly after arrival in South Africa, he built a mission house and opened a reading and writing school for slaves, in the face of stiff opposition from settlers. In 1801 the settlers burned the mission to the ground and Van der Kemp was pursued by gunmen hired to kill him.
Rather than giving in to the intimidation, Van der Kemp simply moved to a different location and started a new mission for the Khoi (mostly ex-slaves), and he continued to experience persecution from settlers and raids by bandits. By 1804 he had baptised 36 people. The rest of his life was spent in a struggle for the rights of the indigenous people, and he died in Cape Town in 1811.