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A Half Century
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of Service Well Done”
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by Elinor Bjornstad
D r. cwm Z M rs. Vcm V. Eddings (Biola graduates), in front of dedicatory plaque on new missionary building.
still in his heart a deep love for these fanatical, proud, poverty-strick en island people. On his next trip he took with him his young wife and baby daughter Martha. Opposition from the Roman Catholic church, frustration from his inability to speak the Spanish language well, physical hardships and privations, and seemingly little fruit from their ardent labors were the factors that went into the formation of the ster ling character of God’s choice ser vants. In 1920, the small family moved to Carupano, a port on the Carribean Sea. This was the birthplace of the Orinoco River Mission. The first mis sionary recruits were Donald and Faith Turner, Miss Roe Williams and Arthur Tuggy. They lived and worked together among the hard, fa natical, rebellious inhabitants who returned ridicule for love. During Easter week, 1921, terrorists pressed into their home where services were held, screaming blasphemies. Bran dishing sticks and stones, they shouted demands for them to leave with “their foreign religion,” threat ening their lives if they failed to comply. After retreating, these hood lums spread rumors that they had stoned the missionaries and left them for dead. The mayor ordered the Ed dings not to conduct any more serv ices, “ because they are going to kill you.” Van and Gara went on their knees before the Lord, claiming these folks for Him. God heard and an swered by giving them many souls that night in the meeting. On the first anniversary of that fateful week, seventeen new Christians were baptized. They were further tested by the
were presented with an exquisite cake in the shape of an open Bible, adorned with yellow roses, forget- me-nots and the Biblical wish “May the Lord watch between me and thee.” The never-to-be-forgotten program of farewell was “ emceed” by veteran missionary Charles Olvey. Colored slides, taken by many old-time mis sionaries, recalled by-gone days when the Orinoco River Mission was founded and the work of the Lord advanced step by step in eastern Venezuela. It was recalled that on March 8, 1914, a slender, young man had sailed to Venezuela to do missionary work . . . without church backing and without a passport. He met a Mr. Finstrom in La Victoria and worked with him. The combination of the elder man’s unsympathetic attitude and the young man’s typical young missionary manner of telling him what to do resulted in young Ed dings’ return to the States after six months. There he married Miss Gara Van Loenen and together they made plans to return to Venezuela. When they arrived in 1915, few people knew of their coming, few prayers backed them up and they came with no outfit. They worked with Mr. Bailey of the American Bible Society in the capital city of Caracas. Pressed by lack of finances and other difficulties, Mr. Eddings willingly accepted the assignment to go to the Island of Margarita, off the shores of eastern Venezuela. There, in the company of Diego Martinez, Mr. Eddings walked the roads and trails, selling Bibles. This was God’s sure, gentle leading to in
e w m i s s io n a r i e s ever fulfill years of service on the foreign mis sion field. When we hear of those who have led this rich, useful life, something compels us to find out what it is that goes into the forming of such character. Very recently the family of the Orinoco River Mission gave their farewell to Dr. and Mrs. Van V. Eddings who have completed fifty years in missionary work in Vene zuela, South America. The day was full of much reminiscing, recalling of joys and sorrows, laughter and sighs as old colleagues met together with younger co-workers. In the afternoon, nearly 50 mis sionary children with their parents gathered in the dormitory of the Orinoco Academy, the school for mis sionary children. The highlight of the program was the dedication of the dormitory and the naming of it in honor of the Mission’s founder, Dr. Eddings. Mr. Walter Lanz, Prin cipal, gave the dedicatory message, followed by the unveiling of the plaque by the housefather, Rev. Wil lard Bjornstad, naming the dormi tory the Van V. Eddings Hcdl. Mr. Eddings, in response, declared that the Orinoco Academy was one more fulfillment of their prayers. Having experienced the heartaches of send ing their children to boarding schools in the States at an early age, he and Mrs. Eddings profoundly desired to establish a school for missionary children where they could be ade quately trained and still remain near their parents- Thus it was indeed fitting that this consummation of their dreams and prayers should be named in Mr. Eddings’ honor. The evening began with an appe tizing buffet dinner. The Eddings
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