Missionary Letter of the Month Abaiyat via Melut Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Dear Friends: My co-worker and I drew near to see why the crowd had gathered in the na tive hut in our village. There lay our crippled friend with the witch doctor cutting deep gashes in her leg and foot with a crude instrument. The blood streamed freely from the wounds and then she was raised to her feet and they tried to make her walk. Oh, the pain written on her face! This is Dinka medicine! Surely “ the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty” (Psa. 74:20). This is the peo ple to whom I have come. Abaiyat is . . . a flat, treeless country with only an occasional village to break the horizon. But I love it! There are two houses on the station, trees and small gardens, a little church building and the dispensary. The activities conr sist of dispensary work, daily services for the boys who work for us, and oth ers who come, Sunday services and vil lage visitation. It is hard to describe the people . . . their houses are small round mud huts with thatched roofs with small oval doors just large enough to crawl through. As you enter, you see various articles: skins to sleep and sit on; a stick with three legs for a pillow, pottery cooking- vessels, gourds, baskets for carrying grain, babies, etc. The food consists of millet which they grind on stones, fish and meat (when obtainable), as well as certain green plants. They are a cattle people, and most of their lives center around the cattle. This is their wealth, and they are used as the bridal price. The Dinka worships a creator whom they believe sends the rain, but in addi tion they worship evil spirits. The tribal totem is the deadly cobra, and each fam ily has a totem of some animal, insect, reptile or fish. To appease the evil spirits, they offer cattle or goats as sacrifices. They erect dirt mounds and ornament them with sticks, rope and other trash in their blind worship which they often admit they do only from fear. I trust this will give you a bit of an idea of this people, and that many of you will share the burden for their sal vation. Will you pray for the crippled woman mentioned that her heart may be opened to the gospel? She is suffer ing much from infection. Pray for Lual, the brother of the chief of this village; we believe the Lord is dealing with him these days. Pray also for another man who has professed to know the Lord; he is living in terrible fear because of a curse his brother-in-law has put upon him. This is very real, and he greatly needs our prayers. It is difficult for us to understand the darkness these people face. Sincerely yours in Christ, Phyllis Bapple '47
almost two months in Calcutta. She tells of one church service where the preacher was about to open the meeting when a man in the congregation arose and said: “My sin was truly great. For four years I lived with another man’s wife. One day she decided to leave me . . . and I murdered her. I was in prison waiting to be hanged . . . but I was pardoned. I came home and my brother, Sombaji, an evangelist, told me of One who died in my place that I might be saved. I have placed my faith in this Jesus Christ, and now I am saved and my sins are forgiven.” At the close of the serv ice Sombaji’s elderly mother arose and praised the Lord for the salvation she had received. Ivan Deckert ’38, serving in Nigeria under the SIM, is on furlough at his home in Pawnee Rock, Kan. At a recent open meeting of the Christian Business Men’s Committee in his home town, Ivan ran picture sljdes of some of his activi ties in West Africa. New address for Ruth McCreery ’36, daughter of former Dean E. L. McCreery, is Box 111, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, c/o American Mission. The Arensen family, Edward and Esther ’40, with their three little sons (future missionaries) are in the home land on furlough. Letters addressed to R. 7, Yakima, Wash., will reach them. Joe Cooke ’49 is back in Los Angeles with his bride, the former Laura Hop ping of Santa Cruz. Joe is working for his B.A. in Bible. Edward C. Liebman, B.Th., ’51, was ordained to the ministry in the First Baptist Church, Burbank, Calif., Sunday, October 7. “We are am bassadors for Christ!” Such is the declaration of William Samarin ’48, who with his wife, Ruth ’48, and their daughter, Manya, sail for Paris to take up language study before going to their field of service in Fr. Equatorial Africa. Says Ruth, “ I can remember wanting to be a missionary . . . at the early age of five years. Only as God uses us can we be of service to Him. Won’t you pray for us?” Cedric G. Eddings, son of Van and Mrs. Eddings ’13, was ordained to the gospel ministry at the close of the evening service of the Church of the Open Door, Sunday, September 23. The charge was delivered by Dr. Frank E. Lindgren. Eugene (B.Th.’47) and Mrs. Wellsfry (Earlene Rose Lowell) are in attendance at the Portuguese language school at Campinas before proceeding to their station in Brazil where they will work under the Association of Bap tists for World Evangelism, Inc. Hazel McCabe ’43, Kentucky Mountain Mis sion worker, writes: “ It was a real joy to cook at camp this summer. When one sees the Lord at work in the lives of our young people, it is just an inspira tion to work all the harder.” George and Grace Fox devoted their entire attention to the camp work this summer. George was appointed director and he surely shouldered the work, hard work too, as he handled every detail in a masterly manner. * * * Biola Flashes
FAMILY CIRCLE
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child . . . and they shall call his name Em manuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). >f- "K ~)< Frank E. *28 and Augusta Balzer- Manning, Tanganyika, Ukerewe Island, East Africa, have been serving the Lord some twenty years on this difficult field. Augusta writes: “We look to Jesus to break down the fear among the Indians so that the gospel may go forth to them again. . . . Pour of the older boys out of my class of 60 children have accepted Christ as Saviour.” Some of the leaders have told the Mannings to stop teaching their children as their religion was good enough for them. There are about 200,- 000 Indians in East Africa, and about 200 on Ukerewe Island. The need is urgent. Janice and Jean Altig, daughters of J. Keith ’32 and Vivian Altig ’33, flew from Belem, Brazil, to New York with their uncle, Dr. J. Kenneth Altig ’32, and family, all of whom have been serving the Lord in Brazil. These sisters will attend school, Janice making her tem porary home in Logansport, Ind., while Jean (the younger) will attend high school in Whittier. Keith and Kenneth Altig are twin brothers, who, with two other brothers, Dr. Ward Altig ’27 and Dr. Francis M. Altig ’28 are graduates of the Bible Institute. A family in whom the Lord delighteth in that they have caught the vision of service for Him. Geraldine Hinote ’33, Melut, A. E. Sudan, Africa, and Lois Briggs ’33, R.N., relate a story of a visit to Ugan da, near which there has been a revival. At one meeting a girl arose to confess the Lord, stating she had been a secret believer for some time, but had just been miraculously delivered from Ca tholicism and the life of a nun. The wife of a high official stated publicly there that she had thought the believers were fanatical, but that now she wished to become one of them. Some are suffer ing real persecution for their stand for the Lord. Geraldine and Lois are in a hard field with but one solitary believer, and no organized church. There is a plea for prayer. Alma C. Kludt ’46, Kothara Leprosy Home, Achalpur, Berar, M.P., India, and Tom Major ’41 had to assume the re sponsibility of the medical work on their station while the regular physician spent
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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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