tion of your work. So take a moment to make a list of things which would interest you if you were on the home end. Then evaluate your own ability to [‘put across” such details effectively in j words. You may decide a course in English composition would help. Or you may be able to find help from library books on the subject of letter-writing. Experiment with a “ prayer letter” about your own activi ties at the present time and submit it to various friends for their frank com ments. And don’t be content with a mere, “ Oh, that’s fine.” Demand a de tailed reaction and make it clear that you want them to be overly critical, if anything. You might also show the let ter to an English teacher and request suggestions for improvement in style. Then when you get to the field per haps prayer letters won’t seem such a nightmare and won’t get postponed so often—and will yield the results you’re hoping for! We’ve already mentioned the impor tance of Bible study, prayer, and wit nessing in your missionary prepara tion. But perhaps it has not occurred to you to begin a definite prayer minis try for your own mission field, and, when possible, to send financial help to missionary projects there. If the Lord has called you to a foreign land, your calling is not entirely a future propo sition. This is beautifully illustrated by a letter recently received by one mission board which may put this idea across most effectively: “ Enclosed you will find two dollars which I would like to make a regular donation to the Mission. “About two years ago, when two of your missionaries were here, the Lord called me 'to be a medical missionary in San Jose. I plan to take my nurse’s training but still have two years of high school left. “ The other night we had the movie picture ‘38th Parallel’ at our church. Bob Pierce, who narrated the picture, said this: that even though the Lord might have called some of us to be missionaries, we might not be old enough
Central Park in Costa Rica with view of Catholic Cathedral
to go on the field. But we could pray and send money to those who were. Well, that really struck home. I realized that if the Lord should come before I was able to go to Costa Rica that their blood would be on my hands, as in my prayer life I seldom remembered them and I had never given any money. “ The Lord just seemed to speak to me, and lead me to give this money. I know it’s not much, but maybe you could use it to buy Spanish tracts or use it in the hospital.” And so these are six possible ways for you to add a few finishing touches to your missionary preparation. Some are more important than others; none but the last might be called absolute necessities, for the missionary can al ways claim those words of the Apostle Paul, “ I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” And
yet as R. Kenneth Strachan, missionary executive, has so aptly put it, “ Keep in mind that if the missionary’s job is the greatest on earth (and it is), it re quires the best preparation on earth. . . . And I don’t think you’ll easily find one outstanding missionary giant of history who was not both a hard-work ing scholar and a hard-working saint.” When you come face to face with the people to whom you have dedicated your life for the gospel, and whom you long to bring to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, how well prepared will you be? *Missionary of Latin America Mission, Inc., Costa Rica, S.A. (For an excellent and fuller discussion of these points in regard to missionary preparation, see “Mature Discipleship,” available at 3 cents a copy from the Latin America Mission, Inc., 161 Park St., Ridgefield Park, N.J.)
MY ADVOCATE I sinned. And straightway, post-haste, Satan flew Before the presence of the Most High God, And made a railing accusation there. He said, “This soul, this thing of clay and sod, Has sinned. ’Tis true that he has named Thy name, But I demand his death, for Thou hast said, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die.’ Shall not Thy sentence be fulfilled? Is justice dead? Send now this wretched sinner to his doom. What other thing can righteous ruler do?” And thus he did accuse me day and night, And everysrword he spoke, O God, was true! Then quickly One rose up from God’s right hand, Before whose glory angels veiled their eyes. He spoke, “ Each jot and tittle of the law Must be fulfilled; the guilty sinner dies! But wait—-suppose his guilt were all transferred To Me and that I paid his penalty! Behold My hands, My side, My feet! One day I was made sin for him, and died that he Might be presented, faultless, at Thy throne!" And Satan flew away. Full well he knew That he could not prevail against such love, For every word my dear Lord spoke was true!
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Colon, Panama
—Martha Snell Nicholson
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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