February, 1944
,45
church the next morning .when we were surprised to see something flying overhead which was much more for midable than our largest tropical birds and bats. They were bombers, and as I noticed their direction, a strange foreboding filled me.. This faint uneasiness was still in my mind on Monday as we took leave of the group of Christians and set off down the trail-to the river where our small motor boat, the “ Kabar Baik” (Good News) waited to take us the last lap of our journey to our station. It was good to round the bend in the river and see our station home at Balai Sepbeak. If all looked so peace ful and familiar that war Seemed re mote and unreal. There stood the large house,* a former Chinese trading post house,^built up on stilts so that the overflowing river in flood time would not damage it; the garden which the Chinese lady also had ingeniously put on stilts; the dense’ jungle crowding in, with the river lying wide and quiet in front; and my wife and two chil dren waiting to greet me. That evening I stepped on the small 5-8 h. p. Johnson motor which turns over a generatpr to get our radio going. Instantly the room was. filled with the sinister message i the world- was lis tening to. “Chungking calling Manila. Chungking, calling Manila. Stand by Manila,” the pperator called excitedly over and over. Then we learned, for the first time,' that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese, and that America was at war with* Japan. This meant the Dutch •„ doubtless would be at war with Japan, also— and we were in Dutch West Borneo.
Uncertain Days There began for us, now, a period of uncertainty that was to beconfe a pattern for our days; an earnest seek ing to know the Lord’s will for us, and His final deliverance. No word had come through from our .American consul or Mission headquarters, and at first we scarcely thought of the war’s actually coming to us, or that it would be necessary for any to leave. We realized that we might be cut off from communications, of course,' and for this reason, I set off- once more, down the stream, to get provisions that we could store against such a possi bility. While down river, I spoke over the telephone with the leading official in one of the inland towns. “Have you a radio?” he asked. I “ Yes.” ' “Then you know what is going on,” he said quietly. “But perhaps you don’t know that Sarawak and British North Borneo fell to the Japanese this morn ing. I would advise you to get back to your station as soon as possible.” I thanked him’ and Started home ward. Sarawak was gone, and'our in land station was only about sixty miles, air-line, from there! Thus swift ly the war had moved, and i knew there was every likelihood of our dis trict’s knowing invasion. . Still there was no word from those in authority, asking us to leave. Until a clearer indication came, we felt the work of the gospel should go on, for were we not there to buy up Op portunities? Thus it was that when a letter came from one of our Dyak workers, asking me to come to his
district for dedication services for the church building just completed, both my wife and I felt that I must go, though I was reluctant to leave my family alone. Committing each other to the Lord’s care, I -set off on the trail. No one else can realize what a thrill comes to a missionary’s heart as he walks down a jungle trail and comes to a clearing where stands a new church, hewn from the forest by the Dyaks, with only the aid of their na tive tools. The building before me stood as a monument to the power of the gospel—an edifice in which those who had been known, until a short time before, as the "w ild men of Bor neo,” head-hunting Dyaks, were now worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. Soon more than two hundred mem bers were gathered, listening rever ently to the message of dedication "of the house of God they had built. That afternoon, converts who were deemed, ready for baptism went to the water’s edge and there made public confes sion of the Lord Jesus dhrist in bap tism. This addition brought the total of baptized Christians to 3,964. Nine years before, none of the Dyaks Ln that ..great region had even heard the name of Jesus. What a miracle o'f grace God had performed in the heart of that Borneo jungle! War Comes Close That night we held a meeting In a Dyak' longhouse, where a whole v il lage lives in one house. The next day at noon, at the insistence of the be lievers in another Village, we were waiting t o . be swerved a meal of chicken and rice, when disquieting Mr. and Mrs. J. Arthur Mouw are missionaries of the Christian Missionary Alliance, and have served in Borneo for approxi mately nine years. Before go ing to the mission field they at tended the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. They are shown at left with their two children. After Pearl Harbor, they were c o mp e l l e d to return to the United States— in the spring of 1942. Mr. Mouw is now en gaged in deputation work for their mission.
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