Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

students are busv preparing for their May Day programwhich is open house with a program afterward ofcalisthenics and folk dances. Usually between 400-500attend the program.One of the innovations here this year has been toinvite the parents of different classes in (one class perafternoon) to meet the teachers of that class. I guess theparents have enjoyed it, for several parents showed up twoor three different Wednesday afternoons, when they hadchildren in more than one class. I think we averaged aboutfifty parents each afternoon and they all seemed gratefulfor the opportunity. Parents are almost always thankful toknow what their daughter or son is doing in school even ifthey find she or he isn't doing so well. The consequencehas been that some who were failing are improving as theparents become more concerned about their grades andconduct. One father, upon being informed by Kenneththat his son was failing plus having a lot of disciplineproblems, sighed and said, "I guessI'll have to stop being afriend to my son and act like his father." Probably it isn'tas drastic as it sounds, but whatever happened the boy hasimproved a* least 75 per cent in conduct and his grades arebetter too.The first Friday in March we observed the World'sDay of Prayer in our Academy at 3:30 p.m. Thirty-twowomen and girls attended including Greeks, English,Armenians, Americans, and one Italian lady (incidentallya Catholic school teacher brought by Mrs. Savva.) Wewere glad the subject this year so aptly fitted the emphasisof our church on Christ as King.Ron Stegall has been having quite a bit of troublewith a sore throat and difficulty in talking, so he decidedto have his tonsils out last Wednesday. He seems to begetting along fine and will go home tomorrow from thehospital. Don and Boni Piper will be among the sponsorsof the junior class from Nicosia when they go to Beirutand Damascus at Easter. Rev. T. M. Hutcheson is one ofthose to accompanv the senior class from here on theirtwo-week trip to Greece. This job is truly no holiday forthe teachers, but quite educational for the students. Theyhelp to finance their travel from the school canteen whichis operated by the class which goes.With some hesitation I decided to try using theflannel-graph in the 8th grade Bible class I teach this year.I have never taught such young students before, in Cyprus,but thought they weren't too sophisticated to enjoy it, andto my surprise it was the first time many of them had everseen one used. They had the usual question: "What makesthem stick?" and one boy wanted to know if he could havethe backgrounds to take home afterward. (He assumedthey were used once only.) I guess it is helping to "getthrough," for Wednesday one of the boys remarked aboutthe story of Gideon, "That's really fantastic!" Yes,Americans have no monopoly on the word fantastic. Thisboy has lived abroad and so has a wider vocabulary thansome others. Today he said, "Didn't the woman ofTimnath blackmail Samson into telling her his secret?"Thanks again to different missionary societies who havesent us flannel-graph stories and backgrounds in the past.The spring Youth Conference will be held in Larnaca,perhaps the second week-end in May. Pleaseremember this in your prayers. Former conferencescontinue to bear fruit in the lives of students. I think mostof those who are planning to join the church in May feelthat conferences have been one of the most influentialthings in their decision to become Covenanters.One more tidbit from a 9th grade test as I close thisletter. Question: Why did Paul say they shouldn't let thesailors escape in the boat?Answer: Because women and children were to be savedfirst.Your sincere friend,Marjorie A. SandersonWhat's Going On In JapanRev. GeneMiss Faris is back on the job in Kasumigaoka,Tarumi. We are thankful for the restoration of health thatthe Lord has given her. She is taking up work a little at atime as she can handle it so that she will not soon getoverloaded again. A little language study to polish off therust, some teaching, calling in homes, and various activitiesfillher days. The church attendance has increasedsince her return as a result of her contacts.Election ResultsAt last the election is over! That is the wayeverybody feels because during the campaign period carswith mounted speakers blaring drive constantly throughthe residential areas from early morning to late at night.Billboards and posters clutter every corner and there are aSpeargreat number of speeches as well as a lot of propagandadumped into the mailboxes. The result was one of thehighest voting turnouts so far.The results of the elections were rather shocking, asyou have probably heard. The communists and socialistscarried on a united campaign, and as a result they madesignificant gains. They use attractive slogans and try tooutdo all other campaigners. As a result Osaka and Tokyoboth elected communist governors. In Japan now thecommunist candidates are calling themselves"progressives," and the newspaper tells us that Tokyo,Osaka, Kyoto, and Yokohama all have "progressive"governors. Some are interpreting this as a "political crisisfor the conservative forces in Japan. Infiltration of6 COVENANTER WITNESS