Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

Mediterranean was a new experience for most of the
men I interviewed. No help has come from a corpora
tion yet. I should not fail to mention the fine spirit
ual fellowship' it was possible to have the few times
I attended the Friday luncheon of the Christian
Business Men's Association in New York City. Each
luncheon was followed by a period of Bible study.
At a dinner one evening at their headquarters we
had a challenging report from the Billy Graham
Greater London Crusade.
9. Homes of former students. Visits to these
homes gave Mrs. Weir and me immense pleasure, as
any teacher can testify who has given long years
to one school, making a large crop of students a-
vailable for growing friendships as the years pass.
Some of these homes are worldly; ideals taught in
the Academy have been exchanged for others no
apologies offered. In other homes the ideals have
been kept in mind, but practice has fallen far be
low. Apologies were offered, and an effort was made
to conform in our presence. In still other homes
ideals planted in the Academy have borne fruit:
grace at meals, family worship, sound child train
ing. What a pleasure to see it, and what a challenge
to us to carry on. We attended two weddings of
Academy graduates. At one we substituted for the
bride's parents. Her husband has employment which
keeps him quite busy, but he takes time out week
ends to give his testimony and a Gospel message on
the street at Times Square, that bee-hive area of
New York City. At the other wedding the groom
was an Academy graduate. He is a student in Bib
lical Seminary, New York. His bride is a fine Chris
tian nurse, and they look forward to service in the
Near East.
10. Groups responsible for mission policies. It
was our privilege to attend parts of two meetings of
our Foreign Board, two meetings of the Internation
al Missionary Council at 156 Fifth Ave., New York,
and the Chain of Missions meeting at Orlando, Fla.
in February, 1954. Our Board is wrestling with the
problems of finance and of basic policies of mission
work. These other organizations stressed the prac
tical value of missions, the need of and the problems
concerning the social application of the Gospel in
foreign lands; there was little attention given to
the redeeming power of Christ for the individual.
Our Board should have stronger prayer support from
the church as .
they try faithfully to plan for work
which they have never seen, details of which they
have only from the meagre reports which the mis
sionaries reluctantly take time to supply.
11. Congregations and Sabbath Schools of the
R. P. Church. This is a more familiar area, and
would require much space for adequate treatment.
As indicated above, the missionary receives a lift
as he tries to share with the churches some of the
facts concerning the work, and his own enthusiasm
for it. He receives vocal assurance of prayer support
which makes for more faithful work ahead. I shall
claim space to mention only three congregations:
Hot Springs, Phoenix, San Diego. Being more along
mission lines, they attracted my sympathy, admira
tion, and continued interest. Pray for them; go on
vacation and give them a hand; go and live in the
bounds of one of these stations when you want to
make a change. Besides telling of the work in Cyp
rus I assisted at Communion in several places. This
March 2, 1955
is a joy for the missionary licensed to preach, for it
gives more time to get acquainted, and gives an op
portunity to share Scripture truth as well as know
ledge of missions.
12. The home folks. Could one close such a list
without mentioning the dear ones left behind on
going to the field and the first to see and embrace
on returning for furlough Sensing their spiritual
and mental growth which has taken place during
one's absence multiplies the joy of the new fellow
ship. Then there is the old home site ; parents have
passed on; but just to go and look about the place
a bit memories, memories come flooding in. They
start you all over again from childhood, and you
set out with fresh vigor, this time to avoid some
of the mistakes of the past, this time better ac
quainted with the Source of Power.
Dear Friends :
Returning Home To Cyprus
By Elizabeth E. Weir
Brindisi, Italy
January 21, 1955
Each time as we start back again to Cyprus
we think of how dependent we are upon the good
friends God has given us. The Statue of Liberty
quickly fades from view but the glow of warmth in
our hearts stays as we look back on America and
remember the blessings of our furlough. God has
been very good to us. North, south, and west from
New York we have traveled, and wherever we have
gone the Christian fellowship has been a joy and
an inspiration. We want to take this opportunity to
thank the missionary societies for the Christmas
cards they sent, though we usually
letter from the field.
answer with a
The last days before sailing were indeed busy
but filled with expressions of hope and encourage
ment and the help that only dear friends and loved
ones can give. We sailed January 10 on a new Italian
ship, the Christoforo Colombo. Tourist class was
quite good. There we found a group waiting outside
our cabin when we came on board. We all managed
to squeeze into the tiny cabin where the 121st Psalm
was read by Mr. Leo Serian, and prayer by the Rev.
Luther McFarland commended us to the care of
Him who loves and cares for us all. Sweets and
other gifts made our leave-taking jolly. We want
especially to thank all the members of the Wo
men's Synodical for the fine box of fruit that came
with us. We saved some of it until we reached Italy
and used it on the train which had no diner.
Winter seas are in general rougher than summer
seas, so we cannot complain about the "Long At
lantic Swell." We missed two meals, but the little
pills helped to keep one member of our twosome go
ing. On Sabbath we had a very small Protestant
service in the tourist part of the ship. First and
second class passengers were notified but no one
came. Our first speaker was the zealous Italian
preacher, the Rev. Russo from Puteoli, the place in
Italy where Paul stopped after his shipwreck at
Malta (Acts 28:13). Mr. Russo has suffered for
his beliefs, for he was in prison for six years (1936-
1943). His church (Baptist) suffered much as the
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