have seen in this area,” relates J. W. Moore of Peru. Neil Nellis says: “ The headlines in the local press [Mexico] were antagonistic and o u r l i v e s w e r e threatened. Then the grandson of the president of the village fell ill and was brought to our clinic. When he recovered, the grandparents came daily to hear the Gospel portions read. His presence in our house overnight proved to the nationals that the prop aganda against us was all wrong.” Sickness too may be an instrument in the hand of the Lord: “ In answer to prayer,” states Dr. M. P. Welles of Thailand, “ God healed the son of the pastor of the Swatow-speaking Chinese church of acute nephritis when he had but a brief life expectancy. Now he is pre paring to succeed his father in the second largest church in all Thailand. He is a marvelous preacher, wholly dedicated to God.” Timothy Pietsch of Tokyo, Japan relates this story: “ Visiting the National Hospital, I heard a woman say, ‘I have been praying you would come.’ I pointed her to Christ, and she was saved. The next day she was radiant, testifying, ‘What joy and hope I have now! I know God has forgiven me!’ A third day I returned, her bed was empty, and she had gone to be with her newly-found Saviour.” The experiences of the “ sky pilots” of the Missionary Aviation Fellow ship in America and in Britain reveal daily the miracles of this modem mis sionary method:
struction was removed, and her life saved — all within thirty-two hours! ” (Mrs. Stuart King, Sudan). Even death speaks to the heart of the heathen; Mrs. Robert Baker of Cuba tells us how: “ Recently a fifteen-year-old boy died and my husband had the funeral. The father was so overwhelmed with the Gospel message that he arranged a memorial service to which he in vited 100 relatives and friends who heard the Gospel for the first time. The boy’s entire family, including the grandparents, accepted Christ.” The very reading of the Word of God in the language of the people works miracles. Marjorie Peverly of Peru reports: “ Our workers with the Machiguenga Indians spent a few months in a new location. They read the Word to them in their language and 37 Machiguen- gas came to the Lord among them a school teacher who is starting a school to help them spiritually.” It is indeed an outstanding work of God when old people are brought to Christ. Doris Herd of Malaya tells us how such an elderly believer learned the ways of the Lord: “ Old Granny Caw, 70 years old and just recently saved and baptized, dropped in one evening, announcing, ‘I have sold a pig’ and immediately handed us $5.00 of the money she had received. We brought out the church box explain ing about the widow and her mite. You should have seen the joy in her face as she put her money into the work of the Lord!” “An old pagan woman came to the leprosarium to visit her son,” relates Belva Overmiller of Nigeria, “ she heard the Gospel for the first time and believed, saying ‘If it had not been for my son’s sickness I would not have been saved.’ Some weeks later she went to be with the Lord.” Eleanor Kingman of Go Ye Fellow ship in Honolulu writes of Buddhist grandparents who kept a little child from attending their Sunday School. Then the mother had a strange dream about the Lord and they all started coming to church and now all the family is saved except the father. Sometimes God does things on a larger scale: “ Our fellow-missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, received an unusual farewell gift from their beloved African church. It was an all-out ef fort at personal evangelism on the part of the national Christians who sought to win their lost friends and tribespeople to Christ. The results were overwhelming, with 3,500 re ported confessions of faith, and many backsliders reclaimed. All of us — missionaries, pastors, evangelists —
TEAM Missionary E. Ruth Smith doing apartment house evangelism in Tokyo, Japan. have a new vision of what we trust will be revival, continuing on in a deeper life c o n s e c r a t i o n to make Christ known to the world,” is the heart-warming report of Harold and Ella Coen of the Sudan Interior Mis sion in Nigeria. Would not this kind of a gift thrill any pastor in America? Faith is still the missionary’s great est asset: James R. Walters of TEAM de clares: “We asked God for Japan’s unreached mountain villages in the interior. The task was against tre mendous odds, but God’s answer was: A car for the work, funds to carry it on, and 25,000 reached for the Gos pel!” Unusual results are reported in connection with large evangelistic campaigns: “The outstanding incident was our participation in the organization and carrying through of the large annual meeting in Sabon Gari last year . . . with 900 signed decision cards,” re ports J. E. Clay of Kano, Nigeria, while Peter Nicolay of FEBIAS in the Philippines states: “ In one night meeting in Manila with Billy Graham nearly 50,000 packed the Rizai sta dium and 5,000 seekers crowded the platform. We were thrilled to see this evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in a city where 90% are under Roman domination.” Dr. Van V. Eddings, founder and director of Orinoco River Mission, says that “When doors have been closed, by prayer they have been opened and every chinch established is a miracle of God’s love and grace.” Finally, the “ outstanding inci dents” have to do with the working out of the indigenous principles on the mission field, a matter vital to all missionary organizations. Rev. William Samarin of the Breth ren Church in French Equatorial Africa reports: “ In November 1958, 2000 delegates of our Mission will gather at our station for its first mis sion-wide conference. At that time, the African Church will take over completely the administration of its own Brethren Church here in Africa. (Continued on N ext Page)
Mrs. Bill Samarin with a pet. The Sam- arins serve in French Equatorial Africa. “Two-year-old Loraine C o n w e l l was playing on an isolated S.I.M. sta tion in the Nuba Mountains. Sudden ly she began to choke and nothing could be done for her. The hospital was t h r e e h u n d r e d miles away. Quickly the MAF plane picked her up; she was flown to Khartoum, where an operation was performed, the ob
FEBRUARY, 1959
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