has over fifty boys and twenty men en thusiastically working together in the basement of the First Baptist Church of which Ralph Kraft ’38 is pastor; Ralph is also chaplain of the Sky Pilots. Geraldine Hinote ’32, Melut, A. E. Sudan, Africa, says: “ The epidemic of Kalazar rages on in this area. The back yard of Lois Briggs’ house is dotted with little temporary huts which the people have erected to live in while here for medicine.” Lois, ’33, a registered nurse, works very hard among these natives who are fast becoming disillusioned about the power of the evil spirits to heal them and say they want the Lord. Geraldine has been asked to move to Paloich (25 miles distant) to spend a year working with other missionaries. Howard and Elizabeth Collard (44) and their two little sons will be spending their first furlough in Centralia, Wash. (Rt. 1, Box 867) ; Howard will attend the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Oklahoma before journeying to Wash ington. Edward and Betty Case ’43, Child Evangelism Fellowship workers, at Cal- vario, Habana, Cuba, recently attended a convention of West Indies Missionaries, following which a number of children accepted Christ. In one meeting, twelve little ones were saved. During the week Edward and Betty were invited to give two radio broadcasts. They included some gospel choruses in their programs. As a result of this broadcast, calls have come from many parts of Cuba for Ed to visit outlying communities. Pray for them. Expressions of sympathy have come from many quarters over the sudden death of Helen Randall-Widenham ’30, wife of William Widenham, in an auto mobile accident while returning from a hospital visit to her nine-year-old daugh ter, Marlene. Mr. Widenham was seri ously injured, suffering broken ribs, con tusions, etc. Helen possessed exceptional musical talent, all dedicated to the Lord, and used in the Bayshore Baptist Church of South San Francisco, where both were doing a splendid work. Biola Family Circle joins in prayer and sympathy for the bereaved husband and daughters, Marlene and Priscilla. May they realize the comfort of the Lord in these trying hours of loneliness and adjustment to new conditions. Biola Flashes Mary K. McSparran ’49, Box 2221, Juneau, Alaska, writes, “ How I praise God for the privilege that was mine of being a student at Biola. I frequently think of you there, but am happy to be able to witness to the people here in Alaska.” Bill and Marjory Nyman ’35, Xoxocotla, Morelos, Mex., are now living in a storeroom, at least that is the cap tion above their small door back of a schoolroom where 300 noisy children shout out their lessons in chorus; this has been the accompaniment to their first studies in the Aztec language. They are thankful for the friendliness of the peo ple they first met with the village “fathers” to discuss the possibilities of their coming to this village to live. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Letter o f the Month Africa Inland Mission
i $m FAMILY CIRCLE
Rethy, Irumu Congo Beige
Old Jokabedi is sitting on the edge of the bed in the little hut which serves her son’s family as kitchen. With tremulous hands, wrinkled face and yet with a sparkle in her deep-seated old eyes, she is talking of deeds in her girlhood, long before the white man had been seen in her country. There were raids on neigh boring villages with fighting and the capture of women, children, cattle and sheep, followed by a triumphant return and an uneasy peace, at which time women went only in groups to get water and wood. Finally one night in the pour ing rain her own village was raided, the huts surrounded, the fleeing men were speared, the women and children were carried off. Old Jokabedi was seeing her self as a wild, young girl, running be side the warriors, carrying their shields and hurling stones. Eagerly she de scribed the battles in which she had taken part, pointing out the hills where they occurred with a trembling, bony arm. Thus Jokabedi told her tale, and then, subsiding into silence, watched the smoking fire. Her son now took over. He is a mid dle-aged man, a Christian teacher; his mother listened unmoved as he said, “ You see there are not many children in my school. My mother is the cause. The village people say that anyone as old as my mother a witch. She would harm the children. I f any child fell and hurt himself, or got any sickness, they would say my mother caused it by put ting a spell on the child. It used to be that a son like me, would put his mother in a little hut outside the village and then would say to the men, quietly, as though it were no matter, ‘My mother is old. She is causing trouble. She be witched my wife while she was cutting wood, and the axe cut her hand. She has caused my child to get the measles. If anyone kills her, there will be no ques tions asked.” The government is trying to put a stop to such practices, but the current method among the heathen is as cruel as ever but more drawn out. I f a woman outlives her usefulness and cannot longer draw water from the bottom of the hill, or cut and carry wood, make a garden, etc., and if her children do not want to take care of her, she is sent off to her original family, to the village where, as a bride, she was purchased. Here she finds no one that she knows; her old friends are dead. She does what she can for herself, as long as she is able, then slowly dies of starvation. Our minds went bask to about a year ago when old Jokabedi got her new name. She had been helped and dragged over many miles. There had been a bap tismal service. A stream had been dammed to make a pool, and among those waiting to be baptized was the old moth- Page Twenty
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night” (Psa. 92:1,2). er of Zakariah, the teacher. Willing hands lifted the frail body of Jokabedi into the water. It was a happy old wo man who was baptized that day, taking the name of Jokabedi right out of God’s Book. Questioned as to her faith, she knew her sins were washed away; she knew she was God’s child; yes, she knew she was going to God’s village before very long. “ The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty . . . And such were some of you: but ye are washed.” Let us listen to Samuel, the elder, speaking in a packed mud-walled leaf- roofed forest church. “ When I think of these big trees and how we people of Africa were lost in the wilderness, and of how our fathers worshiped under trees, and prayed to stones and rivers, I know that we are the first fruits. Our own fathers did not know these things, but we know the truth and it has changed our lives. Let us be steadfast in our faith. Remember Judas Iscariot who started well, but later in life left every thing he knew. Although he was near to Jesus, he always had a hard, impenitent heart. ‘I have chosen you.’ It is a won derful thing that God has come to us in our life-time; but He chose us long ago. Let us prove worthy of His call, and let us work for Him like Abraham and the prophets who died in their work. We are still in the wilderness; we have not yet arrived; but God is before us with a mopanga in His hand, cutting a path through the tall grass, and the bush. Only let us be faithful, and follow Him.” Mrs. A. G. McIntosh ’24 Elizabeth Shipcott-Schramm ’27, visit ing again in Belfast, writes: “ Greetings in His precious name. I had a lovely crossing. What a wonderful Lord we have who can hold this great sea in the hollow of His hand, and yet He thinks of you and me!” Elmer Sachs ’44, Eddie Motter ‘49, Box 875, Hollister, Calif., and co-labor ers introduced their Sky Pilots of Amer ica to the Watsonville, California, area in February of ’51. To date the group
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