Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

well""The Service Rendered in This Ministry"By Mrs. Ada M. HutchesonDear Friends:The Witness of July 6 came to us this week andI have enjoyed reading it. I notice that it is the missionary number and yet there are no missionary letters direct from the fields which pushes me to getmy letter written and on its way. However this issueis not lacking in missionary information, much of itquite as important as news from individual workers.The article beginning on the front page about missions in the Holy Land was interesting to me especially, as I had had the privilege of attending aconference in Jerusalem in May. As we were fromArab countries, naturally the conference was heldin the Arab part of Jerusalem. One block from wherewe were staying is the Mandelbaum Gate which iswhere, under strict surveilance, some communicationis allowed. Eight delegates from Israel had plannedto come to the conference but only one was allowedto come. His report was very interesting and quitesimilar to the article in the Witness.At the conference Dr. Park Johnson reported onChristian Work in our area as a whole. He reportedfor the Near East Christian Council. In his talk hementioned the many adversaries in the way of Christian work, among them different phases of nationalism, communism, Zionism and worst of all materialism. However, recalling the story of Ben Hadad andthe Syrians and the four lepers, he said we shouldnot fear to go ahead. Perhaps the adversaries arenot as strong as they seem and anyway we have thegood news and "we do not if we do not tell it.The two pages and more of editorial notes inthe missionary number mentioned above are important reading, each paragraph having informationpertinent to the topic under which it appears. Alsothe article on the EFMA is enlightening. I must goon and say that every issue of the church paper isvery welcome to us who are far from the home basein fact we only realize how much we depend on itwhen a period comes of several weeks with no Witness in the mails. This happened recently. It is goodto get the news of the churches, the progress of theChristian Amendment Movement and all. Many ofyou seem to have enjoyed seeing and hearing MissMcElroy and the Sandersons and now we are beginning to feel they will soon be here in Latakia. Thedeparture of the Hays family left a vacancy but wehope they will have a fine furlough year. This summer is going very quickly and it is surprising howbusy we keep. Miss McClurkin at present is taking alittle vacation in Kessab. We decided to rent ourhouse in Slenfe this summer andstay in Latakiaand so far have not been sorry as the weather hasbeen better than usual.One nice thing about being in Latakia is seeingoccasional travelers. Last Saturday Mr. James Stewart with Mrs. Stewart and Gordon spent the day inLatakia. This is the youngest son of Dr. Jas. S.Stewart who was for years missionary in this fieldso it was a visit to his early home for James. He isemployed by the Arabian-American Oil Co. and theyare on their way to U.S.A. on leave. It was a pleasure to see his pleasure in seeing familiar people and150places and to see how well he speaks Arabic and hissympathy toward the Syrian people. This is the second son of the mission who has visited Latakia thissummer, the first being Mr. C. B. Metheny of Beaver Falls, Pa., whose visit was no doubt mentioned inthe last letter from this station.Political conditions are still unsettled but in factduring the summer it is quieter, I suppose becausethe schools are closed. The strikes and demonstrations usuallyseem to originate among the studentsof the government schools. During this month theParliament is to elect a new president. If they geta good one it will help of course. The wheat and fruitcrops have been a failure in most of Syria this yearand as a consequence times are hard and there ismuch unemployment. In a small country like thissuch failures show up quickly. All the people whowere employed at harvesting, trucking and loadingthe wheat on ships are idle. Besides this the priceof bread goes up.Mr. Hutcheson has kept the school office openat least half a day all summer with parents or students in for conferences continuously. Then he hasbeen supervising workmen doing minor repairs orimprovements about the buildings. The three of us,Miss McClurkin, Mr. Hutcheson and I took three daysfor a trip to Aleppo the main business being conferences at Aleppo College about curriculum, booksand admissions in the high school and college departments of that school. It was interesting to see theirplant. I remembered when Mrs. R. E. Smith and Iwent to Aleppo to see Miss Edgar who was sick in ahospital. Going in we noticed a sign on a barren hilloutside of Aleppo saying it was the site on whichAleppo College was to build. There are now at leasteleven all permanent stone buildings. They have driven wells so that they have water even for a swimming pool and though the climate is very hot anddry, by continual watering, trees and flower gardenshave flourished. This summer two residences forfaculty families are being built and there are severalothers so that most of the faculty will be on the campus. These residences are modern "picture" housesand very comfortable. Pray that this fine physicalplant may be used to further the spiritual work ofthe Kingdom. It was here that the ISCA conferencewas held this spring. (Reported in the July GoalPost)On the second afternoon in Aleppo we visitedthe grave of Miss Elma French and found the slab onwhich the inscription, and also some of the supporting cement work is broken. We determined that itmust be renewed or at least repaired. Coming homethe next day we stopped for an hour at Idlib whereMiss French worked during her last years. We visited the evangelists and he told us he is making everyeffort to reopen the school on a small scale at firstand with an all Syrian staff. So far he has not beenable to get permission but he hopes he mayeventually succeed."Being confident . . . that He which hath beguna good work . . . will perform it"COVENANTER WITNESS