VESSELS OF HONOR / by Ruth Samarin
COMING BOLDENJUBILEE INDEX to The KINO'S BUSINESS Vols. 1-50 (1910-1959) COMPILED BY ARNOLD D. EHLERT AND MARGARET PAGE Authors, subject, and Scripture entries
A Hew E ditor ’ s N o te : We continue in this issue of the King’s Business, with a series of articles on missions for young people. 7 hey are printed by permission of the Brethren Missionary Herald. Ruth Custer Samarin and her husband are graduates of BIOLA. They are laboring in Africa under the Brethren Missionary organization. “ TEpATHER, may I go to conference?” Sara repeated these words to the little yellow dog seated beside her cooking fire. The little yellow dog looked puzzled and scratched a flea. ;‘I will stay with Nambona. She will' take care of me as her own daughter.” This last utterance was too much for the skinny pup. He stalked away to the shade of the granary. “What’s this about Nambona?” her father asked as he rounded the corner of the mudhouse. Sara blushed and busied herself with the smoking fire. She had been trying to find courage to ask her father if she might go with the village Christians to a three-day Bible conference. She had been prac ticing her request when her father overheard her. Sara lifted the lid from the pot and dropped in a small hard lump of salt. Then gathering her courage she made her request. Sara had not dared to hope she might go. Her family, she knew, thought she was just a little bit odd these days. But her father was not an evil man. He had watched her leam to read and had been secretly proud. He had not even been too upset when she refused to marry the boy with the sewing machine. Sara’s uncle had been hurt that his choice had been reiected, but had not the Christian boy sent the most handsome goats in the village? Now the scarred faced, pagan, father watched his Christian daughter work over the cooking fire. He did not understand her, but he realized she was good. Other young people were do:ng new firings, but they were evil. Sara was different from the African g rls of the past but she was good. The krndlv pa^an father thought he nrght have been a little hard on his dau ghter in the past. Sara notxed her father’s sTence and wondered at h :s thoughts. But h :s answer made her clap her hands w :th joy. “You w;ll need a new dress if you go. Take this money to the Arab trader and buy some cloth. Tell h;m you don’t need much, for you are still a skinny thing.” Sam snent a half hour choos-ng wh’ch of the bright p'eces of cloth she would buy. This was only the second
Family dress she had ever owned. Such im portant decision took time. Sara with Nambona, the village pastor’s wife, and 20 other of the vil lage Christians began the long walk to the canton chief’s village early the next Monday morning. Sara, dressed in a new blue dress, carried her bed- mat and a bundle of manioc flour on her head. The little group sang as they walked mile after mile: “ Father, you must believe; Mother, you must be lieve; friend, you must believe, or you will die without Christ.” Christians from other villages waved as they passed and said that they would be coming soon. Sara’s black face glowed. She had not realized that so many Christians lived near her. By nightfall the large village was busting with activity. It was easy for Sara to tell where the Christians lived. In front of each of their houses was a circle of visitors. The houses of the pagans seemed desolate in compar ison. Some of these people even looked sullen as if this invasion of Christians was an inconvenience. Sara watched the Christians walk from fire to fire greeting old friends with cries of joy and much handshaking. Soon all the little groups began to sing. Sara heard old songs and new songs. She joined in whenever she could. Sara clasped Nambona’s hand. She had never been so happy! Nambona understood the young girl’s thoughts. “When I was yet in my father’s house,” she said, “I was taught that the family with all its cousins and aunts and uncles was the most impor tant thing in the world. The rest of the world didn’t matter. When I be came a Christian, I found I was a part of a bigger family. I saw my husband greet a man of another tribe as if he were his brother by the same mother. I asked my husband whv he had greeted this man as a brother. His answer was this: ‘He is my brother; we are one heart in the family of Love.’ Now mv husband has also heard nriss’onaries say that there are many wh'te people in th:s family. It must be true, for they 'brought us the gospel. Tonight von are harmv because you are a part of this family.” That n :ght as Sara lay on her mat w-’th the dark African night as a blanket, she hummed softly, “Merci Nzapa Tit\ Jesus.” (The song you ring as “Thank You, Lord” ) But three important davs lav ahead. WT1 you jo:n us next month to live these days with Sara?
THE KING S BUSINESS makes the Ideal Gift!
r a s « »
l THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Ü t i n t * !* n t o . . . § H 8 M KBBI FM ★ 107.5 me. 19,600 watts ★ 6:30 A.M. to 10:30 P.M.
s$8gss8ss8s^^3a8aaaaeag8ssiss88gg8^sgssag^^ II II1III.K IV S T IT I TK O F i ".OS A.VOKI.KS. I\ ( . is
IÜ OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE
KBBI BRINGS YOU Jock Wyrtzen, Phil Kerr, Wilbur Nel son, Jack MacA'rthur, M. R. DeHaan, Billy Graham, Theodore Epp, T. Myron Webb, Percy Crawford, John R. Rice, Michael Guido, Merv Rosell, and a host of other fme Christ!an programs. Listerr daily to 107.5. At.the top of the FM dial. |
34
THE R ING 'S BUSINESS
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online