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S Pramuan ttd BangkokyThjallasid
August 21, 1955.
Dfear Mac :
Greetings in
His precious
Name I hope and yours are
wel l ,
and
I Imow
you
a re
k eepin g b usy .
I
b e l i e v e Mre
N i c h o l s f o rwa r d ed
an rticle
I h ad
v / r i t t en
some
t ime ago .
I
Xear
she
a l so
copied an
appendage
t h a t was
meant
for
her, just a
b it
of
foo lietoess . l^w^der
what you
thought.
I donot now i f you can us^^hese at all,seems w have so l i t t l e
space fo r miss ion
news
ahymore ,and
th e miss iona r i e s
a re
ge t t i ng
so numerous.
I
somet imes g e t p re t t y di scouraged and Lsgusted
with
our
churches,and wonder
what
it
wi l l
t ake
to
wake
them up
f
you
d on < t
keep your name
before
th e pu blic al l , the t ime your
support
drops, i f
you do Jjou
are
a^heggar . I
head
nothing but
th e h ig he st
p ra i s e
fo r
th e
miss ionary
papean t
s taged by you a t
th e N. A. in C anton, and I was hoping t h a t wou ld mark a change
and
you would r ece ive adequate suppor t fo r th e much
needed
work
you
a re
doing .
But I
see
you
a re
s t rugg l i ng
along
w ith in ad eq ua te
suppor t
l ike
most
o f
the r e s t
o
us . Perhaps th e tro ub le
i s t h a t
we
have n ot le arn ed
hownto pray with no though t o f s e l f ; to
let
t^ e
o the r
fe l low be
i n c reased
whi le we dec rease .
I was
t h ink ing
o f
myself
then. And it looks l ike
o ts
a
decrease
a l l
along th e
l in e , ju s t l e t there be a
mention
o f depression in the papers
and Miss ionary giv ing s t a r t s to drop .
*** At
l e a s t He i s f a i t h f u l
we
a re
no t
su f fe r ing , only
if we
were
ordered home
I
do no t
know
where
we would f indt th e
money fo r sea -pas sage .
We
have
been
v i r t ua l l y re fused
en t rance to
Brunei ,
but
have
asked fo r
recons ide ra t ion . f
you know o f anyone who might
be i n t e r e s t e d
in
Brunei o r N. Borneo,
we could
give them in fo rmat io
t h a t
might be
o f
he lp , but
it
is very
d i f f i c u l t
to ge t in ;
imposs ib le , I th ink unless one has some con tac t res id ing the re .
The American Gonsul i s hopefu l , tha t our boys
wi l l
be a l lowed
to
e n t e r unde r th e
new
Refugee Immigra t ion
l aw.
We
w i l l
probab ly
go
to
Hawaii ,but a re no t
ready
to make publ ic annoxmcement.
May God b less
you
a l l ,
yours in
Him,
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My VISIT TO
ORNEO
It seems t ha t most
o f us,when we
th ink o f Borneo,
the re
comes
to
our
mind th at l in e
from
an o ld
song
The
Wild Man o f Borneo
has
j u s t
come to
town .
I
d id
no t see
any
wi ld men ,
bu t
I did i
see
plen ty
who were wi thou t a
saving
knowledge o f our Lord Jesus Chr i s t . I must
myse lf c on fe ss
to
an ignorance
o f th ings Bomeon,
and
perhaps it
would be wel l to ca tch up ab b i t on th e g eogr aphy and
h i s to ry
o f
t h a t reg ion . A ll
Borneo
is a t p resen t div ide i n to tw o pa r t s
Indo
nesian Borneo,and Bri t i sh
Borneo.
Br i t i sh
BodnSorih
divided in to
th ree s t a t e s
Sarawak
and
North Born eo ,
which are
Crown
Colonies ,
and Brune i which is a na t i ve s t a t e under Br i t i s h p ro t e c t i on . The
l^Moslem Sultan
o f
Brunei i s
the
nominal
ru ler and
has
the
l a s t
word
in
mat te rs re l ig ious .
This makes it d i f f i c u l t
fo r
P ro tes t an t missions
to
en te r . Sarawak
fo l lows
a
pol icy o f enforced comity, and it i s v i r t ua l l y
imposs ib le fo r
new
Missions
to
g e t a
s t a r t . There
a re independent
miss ionar ies working in North Borneo ,and
I am
o f
the
opinion
tha t :
here are
wide
oppor tuni t ies fo r
se rv ice and
the chances
fo r gaining
en t rance a re qu ite good.
Borneo
s i t a
as t raddle th e Equator, and th e c lim a te i s
decidedly
t rop ica l .
However,along the coast where the c i t i e s a re lo ca te d the
h e a t is tempered
by a
co ol b reeze from
th e
sea . The
coa s t a l
p l a in
is
r a the r
narrow
and
c ov ere d w ith
mangrove
swamps o r
othe rwise
heav i
ly
fo re s t ed .
In s ide t h i s b e l t is broken c o un tr y a ls o h e avi ly
fo re s t ed
r i s in . to
a
backbone
o f
mounta ins ,
4000
ft
in
a l t i t u d e . Trave l i s
l a r^ ly
by
water,along
the
coast
and jrp
the
rivers.
The
longest
al l -
weatfer
highway inthe
colonies being
not
more than 50
miles in
length
The
hard
packedsand
o f
th e beach on a
receed ing
t id e i
in
some cases
used
as
a road. Life in . the interior is extremely
primitive.
The
people
of Bl?ittl iBorneo are
the Malaya,
who
are
Moslems
and
l ive
along the coast.Sea Byaks Land E^raks Melanaus
Du^ns
and Muruts.
The Dusuns are a t r ibe of North Borneo which have tf lrtb Chr is t i an i ty
in
l a rge
n umbe rs . Muru ts s imply means
h i l l- dw e l l e r s
and
t h e re a re
many d i f f e r en t t r i b e s o f t h e se . The lamguages o f some
o f
these t r i b e s
have no t
y e t
been reduced to wr i t i n g . The Chinese a re th e
l a r g e s t
non- indigenous group , t h e i r connect ions
with
th e i s l and going back
s ev e ra l c en tu rie s.
They a re th e
th e bus iness men,shop-keepers
and.
white collar wo r k e r s .
Myprinciple
o bje ctiv e in
Borneo
was
Ser ia
th e
o i l
metropo l i s
o f
Brunei . Here and
in
Kuala Bela i t a re housed th e 17,000 employees o f
th e Br i t i sh Malayan
Petroleum
Co. , and the i r fami l i e s . Alarge
proport ion
o f
these
have been imported from
Ceylon,
Ind ia
Singapore
and
Hongkong,
and consequent ly speak
Eng l i sh .
It seemed a good oppor tun i ty
to
do a
work in
Eng l i sh .
The
oppor t un i t y
is t h e re
a l r i g h t .
I
have
no t seen
such
a no th er b ee -h iv e
o f ac t i v i t y and e f f i c i ency on t h i s s i de
th e
Pa c i f i c .
Giant bul ldozers
are
c lear ing the
jung le ;
g ian t s o f th e fo re s t
crash
down and a re
pushed
up i n to hugh
mounds,gas
f l a r e s a re l i gh t ed
beneath
un t i l
they a re
d r i ed
ou t
and wi l l f i n a l l y burn .
Tournapul l s
r oa r in
with loads o f
sand
and g r ave l f i l li ng lov; places and
making
roads . Houses
sprlngpup and can be seen
in
every stage of
C05ii litibQn,as
in a la rge
housing
p ro j e c t
in th e S t s t e s . But still th e re a re n o t houses enough,
fo r t h i s f a s t growing
p ro j ec t .
The t ragedy
i s i t h a t
though t he re a re
houses fo r en ter ta inment and amusement, there i s no house
fo r the
wor
sh ip o f God.
There
i s one
R.
C. Mission and day school and a
sma l l l
Anglican
Church.
I heard t h a t
t he re
was a
smal l
evange l i ca l group
meeting
in one o f th e Homes,but
in
my sho r t s t ay I
fa i l ed to
make
con t a c t
wi th
t hem.
To
s ee c hi ld re n
o f
miny r a c e s and all shades
o f
color ; iajiitiads
o f
chi ldren
well dressed in te l l igent
eager ,
surrounded
by
y.l the comforts
of
modern l iving, but being b rought
up
in a thdSg^ughly materialistic atmosphere a
society
which does
not
deny
God
but lives as i f He were not; that presents a real challenge.
More prayer power needs to
be
brought to focus here t h a t Gods man
may
be pe rmi t t ed
to
en t e r .
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t
i s
always i n t e r e s t i ng to see
what
othe r Miss ions
a re
doing.
V^lhile I
was
on
the i s l and of Labuan, wait ing fo r
the boat
which
would
t ake toe back
to Singapore,
the
mission
plane
from Lawas
arr ived. Perhaps
I
should
explain
t ha t Labuan, in Brune i Bay ,has
th e
l a r ge s t Airpor t
and
i s one
o f
th e
bus i e s t seapor ts
in Borneo.
I met Mr. Bruce
Morton,
the p i l o t
and
he
inv i ted
me
to accompany
him to Lawas fo r a sho r t v i s i t which I was glad
to
do.
Lav/as i s
the
headquarters
of
The
Borneo Evange li ca l Mi ss ion, an Austral ian
Mission organ ized along th e
l i n e s
o f
th e
China
In land
Miss ion
Here they have
t he i r Bible School,where
some 70 students,men and
womOT,were being
prpared fo r the i r
work as evangel i s t s and
Bible
womiSi . The
students
work part time on the
school
farm raising a
part
of
their
food,and
at
the
same time
learning
new methods
of
rice growing.
I t
is the policy of the B E M
to
establish indigen
ous churches and free
them
from any control by the mission. Naturally
the training of a
native
leadership is the keystone of the plan.
The
B E M uses
the modern
toils
of radio
and
the airplane
to great
advantage. Each
station has short
wave
transmitter
and
receiver. Every morning at callup time,the weather health ofMiss-
ionar ies, repor t on
the work,special
developements
or
needs,are
reported by each station.
The
wherabouts
of the
plane and
i ts route
for
the day is announced. I believe that the
plane
and radio.used
together add 50 to the efficiency of the force on the
field;
that
is like adding an extra for every two already engaged in the task.
Besides this
there
i s
their
great
value in
sickmess or other
emergenc i e s
I was told by
missionaries of the B.E.M. tha t
much remains
to be done and m^y tribes are
s t i l l
unreached both in Sarawak and
North Borneo. ThEiCfitare scbtoertribes which are extremely primitive
having no proper dwellings and practicing a shifting cultivation
There
are
others which are l i l terly dying out be cause of their
demoralized condition and
dissolute
customs. They gather in their
long house ,both men and
women for drinking
bouts
which
la s t a l l
night,and
sometimes several n ight s
running.
I t is sort of a
contest
in which in which each inturn drinks rice beer out
of
a hugh
Jar
set in the middle of the room each
drinking
through a
straw
down to
certain
mark. While they
drink,the
others sing, and they seem
to
work themselves
to
a
state
of
self-hypnosis.
Often
the
Jar
is
refilled
with
plain
water,but
they
go on
drinking Just
the same.
One
can imagine what other anti-social acts accompany these bouts,
and what
kind
of
attention
the
babies
and
children get while i t is
going on. These people are open to
the gospel,
but there is no one
at present to take t to them. We
believe that
there
i s
One who
can ssree from the uttermost to the uttermost, but
i f
His messenger
does not reach these people
soon,i t
is going to be
too
la te Shall
we
not
pray
that God s messenger will
come
soon, and that government
r egu la t ions
wi l l prove no bar
(4t.
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.
Junc t ion
City
.August ^7| 1955
Be a r
Sir
We meznbere
o f the
Chr i s t i an Church a t
Junct ion City*
Kentuchyt
r e spec t fu l l y
oa l l your
a t t en t i on to
th e
p l i gh t
o f our miss ionar ies
Mr* and
Mrs* Sdga r
Hicho l s
While
serving
a t
Batangi
Paan)
Sihangf West Chinat and
ra^
hichols adopted
two
motherless Xihetan
boys. When the CofiSBunists /l
assiuaed control of the
goveriiment
of Sikaog Provinosi
Mr hicholsy
wi th h is
wife and
the little boys escaped across the border in to
Tibet*
Months l a t e r they reached hima* on th e
border
o f
Ind i a
where* a f t e r some delay* they were permit ted to
enter
Ind ia as
re fugees
Juno 8* 19 0*
Because
of
t he i r refugee
s t a tus they
were
permi t ted to
rao aiA
in India only
unt i l
April 1 1953.
At
present
the
family
i s
in
the
Mission
ome a t
^o Z Praznuan Road Banghoh
Thailand
on a tesiporary
permit*
They
are
unable
to obtain
a r es iden t i a l
permi t because the
boys are ra ted
as
Chinese Nationals and the
quota
has
been
f i l l ed
They
desire to
cou^e home
en
furlough and
to bring
these
boys
with them to
continue
t he i r educat ion and prepara t ion to re tu rn as
evange l i s t s to
t he i r
own people*
Reuben i s
now f ive* and Andrew*
f i f t e en yea rs o f age*
We reques t
the
weight of
your
inf luence
in behal f
of br inging
thses
des i rab le
young oi t izens in to th i s country in the new
quota
of
r e f ugee s from
Communist domina ted
coun t r i e s
f o u r he lp in t h i s mat t e r wi l l
be
deep ly apprec ia ted
c