Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

REV. J. PAUL WILSON WRITES:Nicosia, CyprusDecember 2, 1970Dear Friends in Christ:Last Thursday our Mission group, plus Mr.Christou and his daughter Niki, gathered in ourhome for Thanksgiving dinner. In addition we hadMr. Harold Hutcheson with us. He is the oldest sonof Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Hutcheson who were formerlymissionaries here and in Syria. It was the Nicosiagroup's turn to serve as hosts and hostesses of thisannual event. In a united service of Thanksgivingled by Don Piper in the Girl's Academy auditoriumin which nationals were invited to share, we rejoicedtogether in prayer and praise of God's goodness to usthrough another year. Only among Christians cantrue thanksgiving be expressed, and it was a joy tothe heart of all of us to recount God's varied blessings.Thanksgiving came in the midst of our Communionseason this fall, and it too proved a blessedevent. We had good reason for thanksgiving in theaddition to our fellowship of two of our young people.One was Leonides Pantelides, whose name hasappeared in our news letters before. The other, Ibelieve, has not broken into our news until now.This is Miss Christalla Mercuri, a senior in the Girls'Academy. This is a real step of faith, calling.forgenuine conviction and courage. It has aire ybrought suffering to one of these two. We commendthem to the prayers of all the church, that they maygo on in the Spirit from strength to strength. Iheprayers and labors of various CCC workers are representedin this step of these two leaders of our Cyprusyouth. Will you also pray that their step may be anencouragement to many others to follow by a faithfulconfession of Christ. Already there are at leastseven fellows and girls who have requested traininglooking forward to church membership. Pray withus that we all may be kept usable in leading theseand others in their early steps of faith.We are all sorry that Gretchen Edgar was preventedfrom being with us in this first communionsince her arrival last July. She had to be in a privateclinic from Friday till Monday to have calcium depositsremoved from the sides of her feet. It waspainful for Gretchen, but she used part of her timeas an opportunity to witness to the doctor and nursesabout the Christian faith.We are now looking forward to the end of theyear activities. This includes much visiting itnhomes of students to meet parents. Then of coursethere is the endless stream of young people whocome for counsel and prayer. How we rejoice in theSee page 9Pacific Coast Presbytery Extension WorkThe Rev. D. Raymond McCracken has respondedto the Call of Pacific Coast Presbytery, and hascome to survey possible locations in the Los Angeles-Orange County area for church extension, and todo preliminary work in opening a new field.He and his family arrived in September, andsince the specific location of a future work has notbeen decided upon, the Ad Interim Commission feltled to seek to rent a house (not an easy thing to findin this area) which would be a temporary home forthe family as well as a base of operations for surveyand prehminary work.We believe that God led us to a house at 20563Barnard, Walnut, CA 91789. The house is both comfortablefor the family, and attractive and spaciousfor informal group meetings. Walnut is a newrapidly-growing community about four miles southof Covina.As the McCrackens have been getting settled,they have been getting acquainted with people inthe community. A number of families have childrenthe ages of their children. A series of Bible studies onTuesday evenings have been initiated in the home.Several couples are attending as well as severalcollege students from nearby Mount San AntonioCollege. Volleyball and other activities are plannedas means of getting acquainted. Mr. McCrackenhas been well received in many homes where hehas called, and there is real interest in a Biblecenteredfellowship.Synod's Board of Home Missions and ChurchExtension is underwriting the salary and housingallowance this first year. The Presbytery is alsocommitting itself to help with housing and promotionalexpense. To this end they have asked eachcongregation in the Presbytery to encourage eachmember to give $5 for Presbytery's Extension workthis year. Contributions are to be sent to the Treasurerof Presbytery, Lewis Keys, 12892 Rosalind, SantaAna, CA 92701.We ask the prayers of the church for this work.0 COVENANTER WITNESS