King's Business - 1951-08

After seeing Dr. Talbot off, I boarded the plane for Guate­ mala City, via Managua, Nicaragua, and San Salvador, El Salvador. At the airport I was met by Rev. and Mrs. Herbert Cassel, Rev. and Mrs. Gould, and Mr. and Mrs. Frantz Fowler, all Biola graduates working with the Central American Mis­ sion. We spent the afternoon seeing much of interest in Gua­ temala City, as well as the work of the Central American Bible Institute. In the evening all of the workers of the Cen­ tral American Mission in the city met together and we had a happy time of fellowship together, and I had the joy of meet­ ing other Biola graduates, Mr. and Mrs. Bundy, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Simpson, and Mr. Cassel, the father of Herbert Cassel. Thursday, May 2U, 1951: We drove out to the old capital of Guatemala, the city of Antigua, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773, and visited many of the old ruins of government buildings and of churches and other such buildings. The old monastaries were very interesting. We saw the places where early Protestants were burned and killed in various ways. We were amazed at the frankness with which the guide told us of these things. While in Antigua, we photographed the Catholic ceremony of Corpus Christi, in which they honor the body of Christ by carrying a wafer and a small silver goblet of wine through the streets in solemn procession. The streets were all deco­ rated and strewn with pine needles for the occasion, and peo­ ple from surrounding areas marched in this procession, and of course all of the dignitaries of the Catholic Church were there as well. It was very sad to see once again this blind worship of material things in place of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Friday, May 25, 1951: In mid-morning I left for the airport, where I said good-bye to the fine group of missionaries working in Guatemala City, and soon was flying to Mexico City. After a very comfortable trip, I arrived there and was taken to the headquarters of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, where Mr. and Mrs. Edward Pentecost are doing a fine work of reaching Uni­ versity students for Christ. That evening we had a I.C.F. meeting in their home, and I had the privilege of meeting and speaking to a fine group of these consecrated young people. Saturday, May 26, 1951: The morning was spent in sight-seeing in interesting Mex­ ico City. In the afternoon I visited the still more interesting headquarters of the Wycliffe Translators’ work in Mexico, known as the “ Kettle.” Here I met many Biola graduates, and had the joy of sitting down with the leaders of this work and discussing many of the problems that we had seen in relation to the work in other parts of Latin America. We stayed for dinner with the Wycliffe group and had a happy time of fellowship with them in the evening. Sunday, May 27, 1951: The big day! It was just after noon that I boarded the plane at Mexico City airport for Los Angeles and home. It hardly seemed possible that ten weeks had passed since Dr. Talbot and I left Los Angeles, but it was true. We had trav­ eled thousands of miles and seen many things. Now the last day of the trip had come. The one great impression that this trip left with us was of the crying need of the Neglected Continent to the south of us; that we should indeed pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth many more laborers into this harvest field; that we should all support the missionaries in our prayers and giving. We had met many wonderful missionaries, both Biola graduates and others. It is with a deep sense of our responsibility to them, as well as to our Lord, that we return home to seek to represent them in the pictures and the story of what we have seen during these ten weeks of Adventuring for Christ in the Andes and on the Amazon. Thank you, readers of the King’s Business, for the prayers you offered on our behalf. May God bless you all. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S

The farmer in Southern Mexico does it the hard way.

Monday, May 21, 1951: In the morning we visited the school for missionaries’ chil­ dren run by the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Quito, and spoke to the student body of about 60 children. It was a very rainy morning, with the mountains all closed in with clouds. The airport telephoned that our plane would not be going due to the bad weather. A few minutes later, a car called for us and said we must come at once as the plane was waiting at the field! We hurried over and found the plane all ready to go, so were soon on our way again, this time going on to our next stop at Panama. We had a good trip as far as Cali, Colombia, but between there and Panama we were in a bad storm that really tossed our plane around. We were very glad when we finally arrived at Panama City. One of the passengers was very sure that she had brought the plane through the storm for she had carried an image of the Virgin Mary, kissed it, crossed herself with it, and prayed to it all during the storm, until we were sure she had nearly worn it out. Tuesday, May 22, 1951: We enjoyed a day of fine fellowship with Dr. William Beeby of the Balboa Heights Baptist Church, who very kindly took us around to see the sights of Panama City, as well as of the Canal Zone and other parts of the Republic of Pan­ ama. We found this to be one of the most needy places of any we visited, with wide-open doors of opportunity. Amer­ ican influence is such that opposition to the gospel cannot bring active persecution as we saw it many other places. Despite these wide-open doors, we found practically nothing going on in evangelical work in this city of over 150,000 population. The churches in the Canal Zone are very busy, but the vast Negro English-speaking population, as well as those who speak Spanish, are left with very little witness for Christ. In the evening we visited the radio station run by the Baptist Church and made some transcriptions for future broadcasts. Wednesday, May 23, 1951: As Dr. Talbot had meetings scheduled in Chicago and St. Louis, he had to leave this morning by plane via New Orleans, so I came on home through Central America without him. Page Ten

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