wondered if there .was not a way of deliverance. We know they wondered, because some have told us so. In 1955 a Swiss missionary and Vaughn Collins, a Gospel Recordings worker, visited some of the tribes to make recordings in their languages. But they soon left with their tapes, and the remote mountain people never dreamed that they would ever hear again. In the spring of 1958, some tribal folk suddenly dis covered foreigners living in their midst and proclaiming a Saviour who had overcome the power of Satan. True, the missionaries spoke only broken Lao then, and the tribal folk had a limited vocabulary in that language. But the missionaries had brought phonographs and rec ords which explained the Gospel in tribal languages! In three widely-separated areas crowds gathered to listen to the Gospel. They often listened hours at a time leav ing the missionaries little time to eat, study the lan guage or care for necessary household tasks. By now, Laos had achieved full independence, and rébel fighting was temporarily subdued. Recognizing the great opportunity, Swiss missionaries invited the China Inland Mission Overseas Missionary Fellowship to come and evangelize the tribes. Mr. John B. Kuhn, for many years in tribal work in China and North Thailand, came with valuable spiritual leadership and practical advice on indigenous principles. Groups of new workers began to arrive in Laos, among them two graduates of BIOLA SCHOOL OF MISSIONARY MEDICINE! One by one they passed basic language examinations and moved into the interior to open stations. They trekked into different tribal areas and began to learn a tribal language. Nearly every known tribe in southern Laos was contacted. The witness given seemed pitifully meager, though, with language barriers, and return visits were sometimes im possible with gradual resurgence of rebel activity. Yet a handful of scattered individuals — and sometimes whole families — turned to Christ in areas surrounding each tribal station. Distances prohibited fellowship in wor ship, but the missionaries continued to visit each one to establish him in the basic truths of God’s Word. Some could not read at first, and the missionaries strove to learn and to translate and to teach them to read God’s Word in their mother tongue. This required time — and time was running out. Dark clouds gathered on the political horizon. In August of 1960, fighting broke out in the north. Rumors spread wildly and the people trembled with fear. They dug foxholes under their houses and watched their men go off to war. The missionaries’ task was barely begun; how could they leave? Secretly each was prepared to die for the Gospel he loved, and was determined not to leave until ordered out. So many thousands had not yet heard of Christ’s love and power! Young believers had had so little opportunity to study God’s Word, and none of them had it yet in their native language! Evangelization went on through tense months when heavy shelling could sometimes be heard in the distance. The Royal Lao Army restricted the missionaries’ travels to a small area, but promised protection and encouraged them to stay. There was much that could still be done. Their staying was strong testimony to the frightened townspeople of their faith in the power of God and His message. Others might tremble and run, but God’s ser vants should not! Suddenly, the stations of Noummerath and Mahaxay fell to Pathet Lao forces. The missionaries were not there at the time. The next targets might well be Takong and Muong Phine to the south, where lay an air field and a strategic road. In April 1961, missionaries at these sta tions received word from our Mission to leave at once. We complied in spite of personal longings. Twenty-four
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by Rosemary Foote, Graduate, Biola School o f Missionary Medicine T h e y h a d b e e n waiting for centuries. No one had told them of God’s love. But they knew a great deal about the devil — their most real and powerful enemy. They hated their lives of bondage to him, but dared not stop trying to appease him and ward off his attacks upon their crops, their livestock, their children, and themselves. So the ritual sacrifice of the water buffalo continued year after year, with its cruel slow torture and careful offer ing of the shed blood to the demon spirits. Even the proud Lao observed a similar bloody ritual — it seemed there was no other way of protection from demon powers. The devil’s demands were numerous and inescapable. Every drought, sickness, and natural calamity required some animal sacrifice — often. So did the more joyful occasions of life, as marriages, building a new house, or planting the rice fields. Each of the twenty or more tribes of Laos had its own traditional way of appeasing the angry demon powers. The Nge tribesmen placed their sins on the head of the sacrificial beast, then killed it, hoping to have their sins taken away. They knew nothing of the Son of God who had borne their sins on the cross. At the beginning of this century, the need of the neg lected land of Laos touched one heart — a missionary in south China. He appealed for more missionaries. No one in America responded, but Gabriel Contesse, a young Swiss architect of the 'Open Brethren, came. He and his companion, Mr. Willy, settled in southern Laos in 1902 and began to evangelize the Buddhist Laotians. Today, as a result of the work of these pioneers and the missionaries who later joined them, there are 25 small assemblies in southern Laos and about 4,000 pro fessing Christians. Four Swiss graves on the site of the first mission station in Laos bear eloquent testimony of the cost of this pioneering work. Some with burdened hearts made long evangelistic treks to the tribes back in the hills to the East, but none could be spared to settle and learn their languages. Then for fourteen years visits became impossible because of wars and Communist guer rilla activity. Satan guarded his territory well, but some
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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