VISION (continued) cepted Christ as a result of this mani festation of God’s over-ruling power.” Alice Foote relates that in Bolivia: “When it looked as though an anti- foreign group were taking over com pletely, God answered prayer, and few enemies remain. Believers have in creased.” In the Girls’ School of the American Mission in Khartoum, Egypt, Rachel Seiver says: “ Not only once but often during the many anti-Christian and anti-foreign demonstrations has God protected the work and the workers in a marked way. This was true through out the Suez crisis.” Occasionally it appears that the devil has the upper hand; but God over-rules. J. P. Kliever writes from French Equatorial Africa of his work under the Brethren Missionary Society, and the great test it endured: “ A combination of communism and revived heathenism took over, leav ing us few faithful Christians. After counselling with the African leaders, we interviewed family after family, asking them to evaluate the Gospel in contrast with these political and heathen interests. God sent a revival, believers confessed their sins, and came back to the Lord. There were converts and the offerings increased.” Do not these accounts read like a modern Acts of the Apostles? For in stance, there was in Venezuela a re-enactment of Peter’s miraculous release from prison. Mrs. Wilfred Watson tells about it: “My husband and three nationals were imprisoned because they helped a convert destroy his idols. Literally, unceasing prayer was made for them. One night they walked into the church at the very time the Christians were on their knees, interceding for them! Unac countably, the judge had released them.” While the material needs of the work do not occupy the minds of mis
sionaries as much as do the spiritual needs, yet God’s hand is often seen in the miraculous way in which He supplies the means with which to carry on the work. Dr. Leslie M. Chaffee in the Came- roons of West Africa rejoices that “ The government turned over to us our present hospital” and Foster Tresise in Hawaii likewise give thanks to the Lord that “We secured the building for our work free from the Navy,” while Mrs. Charles A. Roberts of Hong Kong mentions as an out standing incident in their ministry: “ I think the rebuilding of the whole compound (in China) after the war was accomplished through hard work on the part of my husband and many leadings of the hand of God. God sent the UNRA there to rebuild several buildings and then left them for us. The Chinese relief committee did the same thing and gradually the whole place was rebuilt. We hear that some of our evangelists are still working quietly and having results.” Since the war, the establishment of this Asian branch of the Bible Insti tute in Hong Kong by Dr. and Mrs. Roberts is still another striking illus tration of what the Lord has done to preserve His testimony in the face of a lm o s t insurmountable difficulties. The Roberts and their co-workers have exhibited tremendous courage in building a third time. Often the Lord turns the wrath of man to His praise: “ In 1942,” writes John M. Dedrick, “ we were ordered to leave Yaqui ter ritory in Mexico, to be out in twenty- four hours. We fled eighty miles south, sending word to our director that we had left. It ‘just happened’ to reach him in Ensenada where he was visiting with tile Mexican general in charge of the entire West Coast. Within two weeks, we were back at our station, and the official who had put us out had been transferred!’ Personal deliverances from perils
of every nature are the ordinary lot of missionaries: Fred Acord of Eritrea can testify to this: “Four of us Christians planned to go to a restaurant for a snack, but ‘for some reason’ we did not go in. The next morning we learned that a bomb had been thrown into the place and four British officers and an Arab were injured seriously.” Don Fairley of the Gabon relates this amazing tale of his very “ close call” : “ I fell eighteen feet away from high tension electric wires which held me in their grip. With two vertebrae and eleven ribs broken, I required artificial respiration for two hours . . . Later on there was an operation
Elsie Jean Utterback '4 7— Missionary un der TEAM— works with children at Gifu- Ken, Japan. (Dodgeball on Christmas morning). for a detached retina of the eye. My life has been miraculously spared.” Elcho Redding of East Khandesh, India gives thanks to God: “He protected us from leopards, cobras, and an evil neighbor who tried to poison us, as well as providing needed medicine in a very remote vil lage during a siege of typhoid fever. There is not a day goes by that we do not see His working in a special way.” The troubles in the Mau-Mau country in Kenya have stirred all Christians to pray. Pearl Heath of Africa Inland Mission says there is “ still much unrest here. But six at tempts to break into the Girls’ Dormi tory have failed.” Eva Lloyd of Venezuela writes: “ In our first teachers’ retreat we had 42 girls. A revoltuion came and stopped everything. W e prayed and soon it was over. We had to begin all over again but the Lord provided water, and a cook, and it was just one mir acle after another.” Little children play their part as a wedge into human hearts: “ Our carpenter and his children were saved but the mother resisted. The little ones pleaded with her, ‘Mamma, we know the Lord now, and you should know Him too.’ Finally she surrendered to God, and this is the first united Christian family we
Family o f Mr. and Mrs. Neil Nellis (Neil '4 1 ; Jane '40 )— Wycliffe Bible Translators. Donny (12); David (4); Dorothy (4); Mary Jane (6).
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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