Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

News from the Cyprus MissionRev. T M. Hutcheson Writes:Mr. and Mrs. T. M. Edgar have been spending severalmonths with their daughter, Mrs. Mary Economou, at PortElizabeth, South Africa. Mary had her baby, born onDecember 19, 1970. This is their third son, whom they havenamed "Thomas." Mr. Edgar will be leaving South Africa,January 15, for England, and will fly to New York, arrivingabout February 6. After attending the Foreign MissionBoard meeting he will be doing deputation work, andvisiting relatives, while on furlough.Twenty-eight persons joined in our communionservice, in Nicosia, on November 29. Two new memberswere received into our church at that time. They areLeonidis Pantelides and Miss Chrystalla Mercouri, both ofNicosia. Harold Hutcheson, who has been working inGreece, was also able to attend the communion services,while spending his Thanksgiving vacation in Cyprus.The three couples of the Christian Corps for Cyprus,Mr. and Mrs. Don Piper, Mr. and Mrs. William Edgar, andMr. and Mrs. Ron Stegall, spent one week of their Christmasvacation in Israel as tourists. They report an interesting trip.The Mission group were entertained on ChristmasDay, in Larnaca, this year. Dinner and a gift exchange washeld at the Hutchesons' home, and tea in the evening washeld at the Sandersons' home. Mrs. Wm. Edgar, Mrs.Sanderson, and Mrs. Hutcheson were in charge of the meals.At Thanksgiving time we had dinner at the Wilsons' home,in Nicosia, and tea at the Stegalls' home. The women ofDear Friends:We have learned a lot since arriving in Cyprus this pastJuly. The Lord is really working here in a mighty way andwe are thankful to be a part of His work on this island.As many of you know we had difficulty getting visaswhen we were leaving for Cyprus. As a result we had tocome as teachers only, rather than half-time teachers andmissionaries. Don teaches full time, science, biology, andBible, while I am only teaching two Bible classes a day.According to the government, we are not permitted to doany other work, since our visas are only for teaching.However Don preaches, I spend many hours in counseling,and we are both helping in instructing for church membership.With our teaching load this has kept us quite busy.In Nicosia, the Academy girls are divided into sixdifferent Bible study groups, all led in Greek by six of themore mature Christian girls. There is also a group at theEnglish school, led by a young man, Leon, who recentlyjoined the Reformed Presbyterian Church here. We meetwith these leaders each week and help in planning theirNicosia all shared in furnishing the food for the day. Wewere glad to have Rev. and Mrs. Gene Ammon, (RuthMitchell), of Alexandria, Egypt, join us in our ChristmasDav fellowship.The Christian Youth Fellowships have been veryactive, this fall and winter. They have their regular meetingson Sabbath morning, in Nicosia, and in the afternoon, inLarnaca. They have had two parties, one in September andone in November, which were well attended. The LarnacaSabbath School have had two social evenings of fellowship.The first was a covered dish supper, in October, which waswell attended and enjoyed by all. The second was an informalsocial time, the first week of January, at which over 60persons attended, including four from Nicosia.Both American Academies have had a goodenrollment, this year, under the Principalship of Miss RuthReade, in Nicosia, and Mr. Kenneth Sanderson, in Larnaca.Neither school has a boarding house this year. Our ChristianFellowship groups are quite active, under the sponsorship ofour missionaries.Mr. and Mrs. Kyriakos Kattou Louca, now students inCharles University, in Prague, write that they are workinghard. They write: "We are quite well and we can't complainfor the Lord is always answering our prayers." Theyreceive the Covenanter Witness and enjoy reading it.Sincerely yours,T . M . HutchesonA Letter from Mrs. Donald Pipermeetings. These young people need our prayers, for theyhave a great responsibility and so far they have been verymature in accepting this responsibility.I have been so impressed with the young Christiansthat we have been working with. Their enthusiasm forChrist is greater than I have ever seen at their age. Theyboldly witness in many difficult situations. They show a reallove for Christ and stand up for Him, even when it meansgetting beaten by parents or persecuted by friends. Theyhave taught me a lot in the few months that we have beenhere.We saw much of Cyprus when we first arrived thissummer. The old villages, winding streets, and ancient ruinshave been fascinating to us. But Nicosia is a fairly moderncity, so we have not had any great cultural shock.It is good to be serving Christ in Cyprus, since we arecertain God wants us here at this time. We appreciate yourprayers and your continued concern for us.In Christ,Boni PiperFEBRUARY 3, 1971 5