Bemo Alan Janet 1969 Taiwan

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1969 Taiwan

1/20

fiela

A d d r e s s :

A l a n

Janet

Bemo

Lane

157 Number 21

Hsin

Sheng S. Bd., Bee*

1

T a i p e i , Taiwan

January

30

196 :;^

DesLT C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s ,

Rebecca Leigh Bemo was/^rn at 5'20 M

on

the

morning of January 6th. are

goxng

to call her 9 ^ *

Becky. Bhe weighea 9 pounds, 10 ounces, which was < wtri r i ^

almost

exactly

a pound

heavier

than

Beth s

birth

}m

weight. Ahen,

Sandi, our

forwarding

agent,

heard fr

a *

how heavy

Becky

was sne

wondered

if we were

try- ^ 0

i n g

to have

such a b i g baby so she could g e t up

and f i x

h e r

own

b o t t l e .

Not Q u i t e M She , l i k e

Betn,

Qoesn't j.ack for appetite

ana wakes up / **

** i

ft

*

every four hours on the dot to be fed.

Now

I *2. . / ?

have t n r e e

women i n my l i f e - I g u e s s I w i l l

have

'

to t r a i n one to cook ae sw eets and a no ther to bring my s l i p p e r s

-

(the

f i r s t

woman

of my l i f e

teiKes c a r e

o f

the sweet

n o t h i n g s . 6

a r e thsinkful

t h a t

mother and baby

a r e

healthy-and w e l l i n

e v e r y way.

- -- - ~ .

it seems

l i k e

a

long

t ime s i n c e we have w r i t t e n

t o you

- it has been

two

months. I should have

writ ten

t h i s

three

weeks

ago

but

i f

you

saw

my appointment

book you would

understand

why 1

d i d n t .

I am s i t t i n g

here

wondering

where to s t a r t .

I

coula

st^t--jiridm''-;yX-XKri^t^ S~activ-it;e:s

but

I

would l ike

to

Just t e l l about the most important

event of- Ctj istmas lay.

Two

persons

were

baptized-into Christ that day

at

the evening

service.

The Lord il^2T^Ta>--4UL,_s_member of the congregation for some time, and

Mrs.

Dittemore to lead Mr

Wu and t h e i r olB^ st son to Christ . . It was wonderful to see t h i s family united in C hrist .

Since Janet was expecting Becky a t anytime

when

the

new

semester a t language school s t a r t e d

on

January

3ra,

sh e did not enrol l . I got

in

a class

with

two

o th ers fo r

three

hours

a day. I have

taken f ive hours some

days

and

t h a t

i s

rough.

J a n e t i s s t a r t i n g back to school

t h i s

afternoon

anu

w i l l

only

be

taking one or

two

hours

a

day

while I

babysit .

Next week the

Skiles

wil l

s t a r t

to school

and

Janet will babysit for t n e i r children in the mornings. I t i s n t easy to get us a l l

i n

school but

we know

it s

very

important .

.. .

iihile

J a n e t

tae h o s p i t a l

witn

her

luncn after

attending

school

in

the morning.

In

the 9

afternoon 1 worked on painting the baby bed and

try-

ing to get tne house reaay for Becky s homecoming.

Beth and I ate

supper

and

slept a t

mother s

a t night.

lie were a i i glau wiicn

danet

was uoine

again

and

xife

could somewhat r e t u r n to normal .

But

t h e day

J a n e t

was to

come

home tne baby bed wasn't dry so she had t

to stay another day. Then on homecoming day as 1 A ^

was cleaning paint off tne floor Beth drank some ^jT

paint

thinner.

I rusneu Betn to the doctor s office

L-g

and they had to

pump

her poor

l i t t l e

stomach. Tiiis ' '

delayed

me

picxing

up

Janet another four hours

and

^

nad

a l l

of us

on

edge.

I am

happy to

say tha t

there

/

/ / /

Forwarding Agent:

M r s .

S a n d i

G a n t

R. E. 1, Box 237

F o r t Gibson,

O k l a h o m a


2/20

was no serious damage and by everiin 'B 'h was acting as

if

nothing hSi happened at

all

and Becky

was tucked in safe and so^d'^ln her jje*bedi * ^

Then the next

day,

Tueây,^>afiuary l4th, the Skiies family arrived in

Taiwan,

They)were to arrive

at 9-00 in

the

mornin^v.â (ên

got to

the

dock in Keelung to meet

the ship

iê-^^mnd that the

ship had already

docked ^^^^M.UA nnn

hnd

.hsffini.iprirmi tte4- -te- -eogre -tro ^hoFe

though; as they were

having to go

tnrough

immigrat ion on

the

s h i p -

Ahen Ted saw us we shouted nellos and took

pictures of each otner. By 9*00 we were shak- | ' [ | \^ ] I

ing

hands and

by 10:00

the Skiies

had moved

mQltfCT

i h e i r room

baggage th rough cus toms

and

we were

on

our

way

t o T a i p e i

i n

Doug

S m it h s c ar

and

our car, Ted anu I had to go back to Keelung M\ i

t h a t same morning t h e n

t o g e t

some more room

baggage. Then on Wednesday

and

Thursday, Ted

and. I .went

back

againto-get t h e i r hold

bag-

gage through customs. The Church

had

a wel- ^ By^Bl

cominb

p a r t y

f o r

the

S k i i e s

family on

Wed-

nesday

n i g h t .

Then

F r i d a y and S a t u r d a y was

apent helping them

hunt

for a house and by ^B^H -te>^^RRB^B^.^H

Saturday

they had selected one, Ted preached m B L

Sunday morning which was a blessing

to all

f i B

o f

u s . Th e f ol lo w in g w e ek s

f r e e

t ime

was

spent helping the Skiies

move

into their \ ,^^||B|B

house anu

buy

needed household items

uid

gro- '

c e r i e s .

Ih e car

was

indispensable. During

The Welcome Party a t

Shrl ing

Church

of C hris t

t h e s e l st t w o w e e k s

J a n e t

a n d I h a v e h a d o u r

f i r s t

experience

in

t rnasia t ing

for

someone

else ,

I m not

sure

how anich we

got

t ranslated

and

it

was a humbling e x p e r i e n c e .

1 know t h a t many o f you have bee n

praying

with us t h a t t h e young men who a r e

coming

to

our

c l a s s e s

would accept

C n r i s t I v.as h op ing th ey would at-Christmas

time but

they

d i d n t . I t seems

now

t n a t tney snouid

accept

tne Lord

a t

anytime.

Personal ijvangalism here

i s so d i f f e r e n t than i n the

S t a t e s .

Tne

same s t e p s a r e fol lowed but each

s t e p

t a k e s so much more t ime s i n c e Jehovah, S a l v a t i o n

a s a

g i f t

and the need of repentence are such new concepts

to them. Mother

has been working with

a

young

man for ZYz years and he

j u s t

accepted Carist on

Januray 12 .

This l a s t weekend motner went

to

Gaushung, a c i t y i n

the

southern p a r t

of the i s land where

L i l l i a n Martin

i s working

and

three

converts

are

serving

i n

th e mili taryf to

help them i n

s t a r t i n g

a

church service . She repor ts t h a t

12 people attended the service

which

i s a very

t h r i l l i n g

s t a r t .

Starting with

this

year

we are

listed as being under the Formosa

Christian

Mission

instead

of the

KyushuChristian Mission , Now

that

several

missionaries

are coming.to Taiwan we found

i t

neces

sary to s t a r t a new mission in6te.-.d

of

being under th e Kyushu Christian Mission which i s in

Japan, Of

course

the mission i s only

to f u l f i l l

government requirements and has no

legislative

d u t i e s whatsoever, we

are s t i l l under th e E ld ers of the East Point Chris t ian Church

i n

Muskogee

and support i s sent

directly

to us instead

of

through

a mission board. ^ You will

probably

notice

the

change on

our

r e c e i p t s .

We

have enjoyed hearing from so

many of

you

personally

and

we

hope you will continue

to

do so. This

as are

your

prayers, are

a

constant encouragement to us.

Your

c o - w o r k e r s

h e r e

i n

T a i p e i

M r s . S a n d i G a n t

k . f i . 1, Box 2:57

F t .

G i b s o n O k l a .

Return

Requested

sJt

W iDG9 ./

r

us

POSTAGE

6c

^

- FRANKUiTD.ROOSEVeiT


3/20

F i e l d

A d d r e s s :

A l a n

J a n e t B e m o

Lane 157 i Number 21

U s i n Sheng SBd, S e c . 1

T a i p e i ,

Taiwan.

March

18,

Dear

C h r i s t i a n

F r i e n d s ,

C A S T

c K u s A a e r c

Forwa rdi ng

Agent:

Mrs * S a n d i

G a n t

R. R.

1 ,

Bo x 237

F o r t

Gi bson,

Oklahoma

7^43^

After

four

weeks of trying to

help the

Skiles family

get

settled a l i t t l e b it and trying to

get

into

a new schedule s e t upon us by the a r r i v a l of Becky, we ha d a two da y

holiday

from

school.

I t

was

for

the

occasion

of Chinese Lunar New Y ea r, w hi ch, b ec au se the Chinese go by a l un ar c ale n

d a r , happened to

be

on F ebruary the

1 7 t h .

New Y e a r s

Day

an d th e four days which proceed a re very

important t o th e Chinese. This i s a time when shops clo s e down

Uid

people a re o f f work from two

to f i v e d a y s . New Y e a r s eve i s a n i g h t when a l l th e members o f a family a re to be to g eth er an d

e a t t o g e t h e r . Wives a r e

supposed

to

l i v e

i n

t h e i r h u s b a n d s

family home a l l

y e a r bu t a re per

m i t t e d to go t o t h e i r

own family homes

f o r th e s eco nd d ay o f

New Years.

T here fo re d urin g th e

New

y ea r p er io d

a l l

th e s tude nts go home

fo r

a few weeks.

Jonathan

Chen an d Mr.

Wang

(who was a

s tude nt who wa s le d to the

Lord

through u s two

y ea rs a go ),

invite d us to go

to P u l i , t h e i r

home,

a t t h i s t i m e t o h o l d

some

m e e t i n g s . We had n o t s e e n them i n tw o y e a r s s i n c e

t he y

a re s e r v i n g i n

th e

m i l i t a r y

now

i n

th e so u the rn

p a r t

o f

th e

i s l a n d .

So

Te d

an d

1

p lan n ed

on

g o in g

t o

h o l d

an

e v a n g e l i s t i c

s e r v i c e

t h e r e . When o u r

s t u d e n t s

found o u t we were goi ng

t he y

wanted u s t o go t o

t h e i r homes

t o o .

A t

f i r s t

we d i d n t thizik we

had

th e t im e , w i th o n ly tw o

d a y s

o f f , b u t we f i n a l l y

planned to

s t o p by each

house

if

only

f o r

a

fe w minutes. We

t h o u g h t we

would go by t r a i n o r bu s

a t f i r s t s i n c e I d id n t t r u s t t h e o l d R am bl er a nd t h e r e

a r e

no

m echanics

on th e r o a d anyw her e.

A f t e r

we found o u t how

crowded

t h e t r a i n s w e r e ,

t h o u g h ,

we d ecid ed to work on th e

c a r

an d t a k e it

anyway. I n

th e

evenings a f t e r

s c h o o l ,

Te d an d I made

th e

needed r e p a i r s . We were sure g la d to o

when we saw p eo pl e c li mb in g i n

t r a i n s through

windows

an d

saw

t r a i n s so crowded t h a t people were

s tan d in g

on

th e

t r a i n engine

an d

hanging out

o f

windows

an d d o o r s . Three

s tu d en ts decided to r id e

w ith u s i n st e a d

o f

going by p u b lic t r a n s p o r t a t i o n .

On Saturday

Feb.15),

after f in al r ep ai rs had been

made

that morning, we

started off.

The f i r s t

night we

stayed a t

a

st udent s

(Mr.

Jyou)

home.

e ate

there

a t

7sOOFM.

then

we went to Mr.

Jang s

house

f o r a

ten

minute

v i s i t an d

came

back

j u s t i n

time

fo r a

meeting

a t

9jOO

w ith about

eleven

c o ll eg e s tu d en ts

who

were Mr.

Jyou s

home town

friends.

I showed

sl i des

and Ted

taught.

A f t e r

class I had

to

make a

repair

on

th e car

the muffler had

fallen

off) while

a hundred Chinese looked

on . Finally

a t 11:00 i t was time

fo r my

bath which was

Japanese style. You actually bathe

fi rs t

and thin get into a

small

wooden tu b to soak. The only reason I could

find

for

th e

soaking was to

be cooked, since the

water

became h o t t e r the

longer

I stayed in

i t i s heated by a charcoal fire

underneath

while you soak) I t

was

very relaxing though,

and

a f t e r sleeping

on a

hard

tatami

straw ma t a l l

t h a t

n i g h t

X f e l t l i k e I needed to do

it

again

t h e n e x t

m o r n i n g .

The next da y we went to s i x

othe r

homes to v i s i t an d we ate i n

every

one

of

them. e were obligated to a t l e a s t sample what-

ever

refreshment

was

put

before

us.

Since

this

was

the

w

ij

Year

season the

food

was

e:}^ceptionally

del i ci ous as

well

a s

abundant.

There a re always

some new

d i sh e s to o ,

l i k e f r ie d

octopus.

That

evening a t 6:30 we stopped

a t

a

Christian

g i r l s

home in Taichung where we ha d a Bible study

an d

th e Lo r d s

Supper. Since we

h ad d ro pp ed

two

of the

students o ff a t

t hei r

^

homes,

t hat

only l e f t one which meant th at ou r service had

four

people.

As

we

had

ou r communion service

and

prayer, the girl s

Buddhist mother was in the next room chanting a l on g B ud dh is t T*,

prsiyer.

Since

th e

inside

walls

of

their house

ar e

only made

of paper i t made i t difficult t o co nce ntr at e. A fte r

th e

Lord s

Supper we sang a

chorus

and

l e f t .

e ha d one more place to go *

. . , ^ 4 U 4

v + -

.

t o

before we reached P u l i ou r f i n a l d e s t i n a t i o n

t h a t n i g h t .

We

a r r i v e d

at

a b o u t

1 0 :

CX).

f ixing

f l a t

on

t r i p

to

P u l i


4/20

wi

n hrist

M r s S a n d i G a n t

R.R.

1,

Box

237

Ft.

Gibson,

Okla.

7^^3 *

Return

Requested

Eating Japanese style in. one student s home Service at Miss Tsai s house

The next evening, Monday the 17th, we

had

the most successful

meeting

of our trip as far as our

human

judgement

goes)

at Mr Chen s

house.

There

were at least 20 students there. They were very

attentive and afterward they individually asked lots of

questions.

had

to

come

home

Tuesday morning

because

school

started

ag^

on

Wednesday

It

was

sure

good

to be back with Janet and the

girls

and

good

old American cooking-

Right before we made the

trip I had

asked

all of

my

students

if they believed

in

od

One

didn t

answer and

one said

I

don't know, but the

rest

said that they

did.

This

was

wonderful because

when they first

came

none

of

them had

believed

and,

in fact,

were

antagonistic.

They now

said that

their biggest problem to becoming a Christian would be

the opposition

by their parents. Their

parents are

Buddhists

and worship ancestors and idols. I

hope

that

by

this vi sit to their homes

that i t might

make

i t easier for the parents to

accept

their

sons

as Christians

and

see the light

of Christianity

themseives. On

-the

trip I noticed that -ihree of the ten.

houses we

visited.had

i d o l s

i n t h e m

Janet

and I are studying together again and

we

ar e

really

enjoying language study.

We

have

just

learned enough Chinese to be able to teach very simple lessons

and

tell Bible

stories in

very

simple Chinese. I t is a thri l l to come to

this

point.

Beth

is

going to be

two

on April l8th

and

Becky

is

almost eleven

weeks

old. According to

the

Chinese way of counting age Beth is three

and

Becky is already two. They are a year old at birth

and add a year at every

Lunar

New Year after that. Everyone s birthday is at New Year s. Don t

ask

me

to exp lain

that

again bu t

that 's

really

the

way i t is

We have

classes

on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in our home. One class is with new students.

What a long road

we

have to stumble and s tr ug gl e on t og et he r.

We

only pray

that this

road

will

eventually lead to the

straight

and narrow for them. Then

what

a

happy

and glorious road

we

will

have before

us We

are depending upon your prayers. May God

Bless

you.

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U S

POSTAGE

1 P A I D

F t G i b s o n O k l J

P e r m i t

N o 3


5/20

F i e l d A d d r e s s :

A l a n J a n e t Bemo

Lane 157) Number 21

Hsin

Sheng 3 .

Rd., Sec.

1

Taipei , Taiwan

ay 17,

1969

ea r Chris t ian

Friends ,

G r e e t i n g s i n th e name o f

C h r i s t .

Forwarding Agent:

M r s . S a n d i G a n t

R,

R. 1

Box 237

F o r t

Gibson,

Oklahoma 7^^ ^

his

morning

Beth woke us up a t

s i x - t h i r t y

saying

Let s eat

and wanting to

play.

This may

not

eem unusual

except for

the

fact

that Beth

just

came home ifrom

the

hospital yesterday after major

urgery.

J u s t

a week ago we discovered t h a t Beth had a hernia and four days l a t e r sh e was admitted

nto

the

Mackay Memorial Hosp it al here in

Taipei.

The next morning, M^ 15th, sh e was operated on.

hat day she cried

a l o t and

wouldn t eat anything as sh e was

coming out

of the anesthesia. But

esterday

we

were

amazed

a t

how

she . h ad already

recovered

a f t e r 20 hours

and

the doctor discharged

er a t 8:00 A M

and said to

l e t

her

eat

and do

anything

she wanted to. She was

just as

cheerful,

imgry

and

mischievous

as

ever.

Children

are

amazing.

She s

been

running

around

here

l i k e

a

house

-fire. How we thank the Lord for caring for her.

^e have

wanted

to get a j iewslet ter

o f f

to you f o r the p a s t two weeks but t

has

been one th ing

a f t e r

another

which

has delayed my w r i t i n g one. We a r e r e a l l y busy these days and

sometimes

t seems

t h a t

e are

busy

doing nothing. In my

l a s t

l e t t e r

to

Mark Maxey, a missionary

to

Japan, I told him

t

eemed as

we could

spend

every minute of our time j u s t doing

things

t h a t keep

us over here

-

overnment regulations, taxes in

both countries,

newsletters, financial

reports (by-the-way they

are

va ilab le to those who want them , stacks of

personal

let ters and the thing s everyone

has

to do to

i v e

- and not

have

any time l e f t for evangal ism, our

purpose

for being

here .

Of course t i s n t

uite t h a t bad but sometimes t seems t h a t way. He wro te back and pointed

out

to me t h a t even Jesus

pent most of His

time

j u s t

walking

places.

He must

have

had a

t e r r i b l e

time

making himself walk

hen

he could have

made a

jeep or helicopter

and gotten

places

a l o t quicker

to spend

more

time

eaching

i n

h i s

three sh ort y ea rs .

Of

couse

even

in

these

mundane

jobs

we

s t i l l

have

the

opportun

t y to w itn ess to those

we

deal

with of our Lord, by our

very pat ience and

meekness and love

and

oncern for

them. We

d a i l y

pray ot more o f these f r u i t s o f

the

S p i r i t

t o

be manifested i n our

ives .

P l e a s e

pray

with

u s .

ome o f

you

may

remember

t h a t

two y e a r s

ago I h e l d a c l a s s

n a

coffee shop near the Taipei

College of Science

and

^rts .

There three athiests fai thfully

attended

the

class

h r e e days a

week

and a s a

r e s u l t

were

l e d

t o a c c e p t C h r i s t

is t h e i r

Saviour. By chance (?) a young

lady

from th e same

o l l e g e

a t t e n d e d

one o f

th e

weekly c la ss es i n o u r home

r e

e n t l y . I t o l d h e r

o f

those

former

meetings

and she was

n t e r e s t e d i n

h a v i n g something

o f t h e same

s o r t

w i t h some

f

h e r f r i e n d s . We a r r a n g e d

a

c l a s s a t t h e

same

c o f f e e shop

as

before and on a

Wednesday

afternoon. I me t

s i x

g i r l s

h e r e

to give them

an i n t r o d u c t i o n

to

why

I b e l i e v e

the

i b l e . They were

a l l

cour teous

and

i n t e r e s t e d b u t t

was

asy t o i n t e r p r e t t h e s m i l e s and

s m i r k s

on t h e i r f a c e s

a s

t a l k e d a bo ut God s Word. All of them t o l d me they did

o t

b e l i e v e i n any r e l i g i o n o r God. we have s t a r t e d

week

y meetings t h e r e a t th e

same

p l a c e

same

t ime.

However

n the

afternoon

of May

7 th T aip ei

was

under an

a i r - r a i d

d r i l l and

no one was p ermi tt ed out on

the

t r e e t s . T h i s

i n t e r r u p t e d our second meeting b u t

we

resumed l a s t

Wednesds^.

c la s s i n c o f f e e

shop

he weekly c l a s s e s i n our home have died down i n

number

and i n t e r e s t . There s t i l l are

four

medical

tudents

who

are

coming who

have

become

believers

but

have

not

yet

become

obeyers

of

th e

Word. I

ope

to s t a r t

meetings

a t co ll eges ins tead

of

in

our home

in the future. Janet,

however,

i s s t a r t

ng an

a l l women s c l a s s i n

the

home on Thursday nights .

e

f in d o cc as io n

to have s tudents

in


6/20

our home for

games

and

meals

once in a while too.

On April 20th

we

started Sunday

evening

services in our

home,

^his

16 a joint project of the Skiles family and

our-

selves for the

sake

of the students we both

have and

several

Ohristians who live in our part of the city.

Elizabeth had her second birthday

on

April l8th.

We

invited

seven of her best Chinese fr iends and three American friends

ihe three American children (Mark, Greg and Vicki Skiles

came

but only a

few

of the

invited

Chinese

we

able to

come

so we went out on the

street

and invited other

kids

in. We

ended up with

more

guests than we had planned for but there _

was plenty of cake for all. The kids all

played

games and

there were little gifts for everyone. For the closing I Students playing games at our house,

made my

first

attempt

at

teaching

in

Chinese by

teaching a

flannelgraph story

to the children.

reS^iatL^r ^that s

as^^ofkve^s? ^

with

hoId rHe^;^^^^^^^^

coming

to

aiwan

on

dune

th to

Although

we

have

spoken of them before

uid

msiny of

you probably already

know

them personally we want

to introduce

Sam and

Virginia Hazlewood. Sam gra

duated from Ozark Bible College in I968

with

me.

He has been serving as youth minister at Boulevard

Christian Church in

Muskogee,

Oklahoma

and

now they

are preparing to

come

to Taiwan Lord

willing

in

September of this year.

f

you are interes ted in

helping

them

you can

write to them

at 603 N.

Mash-

ington Muskogee,

Qkla. By

the

wa y we

are

waiting

word from

them

now

about the birth of their

f i r s t baby.

Our

financial report for January February

and March

i s

available

i f you would l ike

to

see

i t

fte have

already sent one to all wh o sent support during this

time but will be glad to send i t to anyone else

who

r eq u es t s t .

In

Christian

Love

Mrs.

Sandi

Gant

.H. 1

Box

237

t

Gibson Okla.

eturn

Requested

/

NON PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U S POSTAGB

A I D

Pt.Glbson.Okl

Permit

No .

3


7/20

FIRST

CHR ISTIAN CHURCH

P

BOX

24

ROLLA

MISSOURI 65401

U S

P O S T A G E P AI D

P e r m i t N o

69

Non-Profit

Organization

Rolla Missouri 65401

F O R M O S A

F

e

A

r

i

a

1

N

0

WORK

AMONG

rw e

CHiNese

Missions

Services

Box 368

Jollet IH 6o43A

TAIWAN

FORMOSA

Koahsiung

MISStONARieS

Mrs Isabel M

Dittemore

Mrs Lillian Martin

Mr

and Mrs Alan Bemo ^

rand MrsPfed Sl^ll

INTFRN

Miss

Sue Rhodes

R ecR t f t r s

Mr

and

Mrs Sam Haziewood

Mr and Mrs

Chuck

Johnston

1


8/20

J ^V

From

Left to R ig ht : A la n

Janet Bemo;

Ted, Bev,

Greg, Mark Skiles;

Peter

Suen; Stephen Chen; Su e

Rh^es;

Mrs IsabelDittemore.

Peter Suen tak ing the confession of a Chinese

lady, aided by Mrs. Suen who is standing on

th e l ad y s right.

Peter Suen, an Elder,

preaching at

th e

S hil i n Church of Christ.

T H E

M l S S f O N B R l E S

Mrs.

Martin

wa s

th e

first

to come to

Taiwan in September

of

1963. She has

worked in Puli and Taipei and is now

working in Kaohsiung establishinga con

gregation and working with polio and

spastic children.

Mrs. Dittemore

cam e in

October of

1964. She has

c on ce nt ra te d h er w or k

in

Taipei and Shiling, a suburb of Taipei.

Mrs Dittemore is mainly interested in

radio work, and because of her labors,

there is alsoa congregationin Shiling

Alan Janet

Bemo

first came to

Taiwan on a year's internship from June

of

1966

to

June o f 1967. After Alan

graduated from Ozark

ible College

in

June of 1968, they returned that month

to begin their first term

of

service. They

A

ffvup

of

students

a t

a

Bible

study.

k

b o t h teach

classes

in t h e i r

h om e a nd

Alan

also preaches. Tlieir main goal right now

is to learn the Chinese language, and

to

that end, they have been enrolled in lang

uage school since July of 1968.

T ed a n d B e v S k il es came to

T a iw a n i n

January of this year, 1969. They were

Alan and Janet Bemo's forwarding agents

wliile the Bemo's served their internship

in Taiwan, and in this way became

acquainted with the need in Taiwan.

Upon Ted's graduation from Ozark Bible

College in 1968, they served in BlackweU,

Oklahoma until coming to Taiwan. They

a ls o h av e

B i bl e c l as s es

in

t h e i r h om e a nd

are enrolled in language school.

Miss Sue Rhodes is a 1969 graduate

of

Platte Valley Bible College. She came to

Taiwan on a summer internship from

June to August of

1969.

She has concen

t ra t e d h er

efforts o n vacation

Bible

Schools and camp.

rw e

C O V E R

The building on

th e

cover is called the

East Gate. Taipei, as most old Chinese

cities, was once a walled city. It had four

main gates;

North South

East and

West.

Th e

wall

ha s been

taken

down

no w

bu t

the East Gate of the old city has been left

and preserved.

Sam and Virginia Hazlewood are plan

ning to

come

to Taiwan in

October o f

1969. Virginia graduated from Ozark

Bible College in June of 1966 and Sam in

June of 1968. Since Sam's graduat ion,

they have been serving in Muskogee,

Oklalioma. They too are planning to

teach in the home and to go to language

school .

Chuck and Molly Johnston are plan

ning to arrive in January of 1970. Chuck

will graduate from Ozark BibleCollege in

December of 1969, bu t they will be

coming to Taiwan before the graduation

c e re m o n ie s i n

J u n e of

1 9 7 0 .

As

w i t h th e

other new missionaries, they will teach in

their home and tackle the

Chinese

lang

u a g e .

For the new missionaries, the Chinese

language

must be their main goal. Natur

ally, it would be extremely difficult to be

effective

w i t h o u t it .


9/20

T/^IWAN TALK

It has been just four weeks since I

wrote, telling

you

in word

and

by picture

of the wonderful evangelistic meeting

just completed with Brother Don DeWelt

as evangelist. And during this month

it

is

good to report that three others have

come t o

th e Lord

also.

Our services at

the

Shih Ling Church

of

Christ have been growing in

atten

dance,

and las t

week there were 48 there

(see picture) and Mrs. Ching made the

good confession

of

her faith following a

good sermon by Peter Suenour first

convert here. Her^

wiU

be the

90th

bap

tism in our little Shih Ling church

which began in my home in October,

1 9 64 . O ur m emb er s

are

scat tered

al l

over

the

island, some have fallen by the way

side and nine are now in the U. S., so we

still s tay a relat ively small, local group,

ut a warm-hearted

one

where folks

feel

t home .

My own time, these weeks, has been

doubly taken up with radio work, be

cause we want to follow

our

new plan in

Taipeiof

programs every day but

Sundayin Japan also. And since even 10

minutes per day (which is all the time we

could possibly afford) costs 500.00 per

month

here, we plan to

pu t our

entire

series of programs on in Hiroshima, Japan

during the three fall months, hoping to

interest a new group

of

correspondents

there . The present church of Christ in

Hiroshima, except for Prof, and Lydia

Kishi who carry it

on,

are all originally

our radio correspondents there and a pro

gram over this station has a potential

audience of 16,000,000 people, with only

one other radio station to compete with

it. So we are working all summer at

cu t

ting our programs down from fifteen-

minute to ten-minute lengths while we

have the help of Mrs. Grace Hu, who is a

radio engineer in Taiwan (from Japan),

here for the summer. This is taking about

half of

my

daytime hours each week. But

just yesterday, I finally completed doing

the last of the Chinese series, so the pres

sure will not be as great as it was.

We have had our first r adi o conve r t

in

Taipei,

recently, and others

are

attending

our services

and

classes. Some have asked

if

they

will be able

to

hear

our

programs

in Taichong when

they

go home for

the

summer, and we do have quite a few

members

and

students

who se homes

are

th er e o r

in Puli w hic h is

a tw o

hour

drive

from Taichong. So it seems like a good

time to go on the air there too, for during

these intensely

ho t

months the Chinese

people sit up most of the night because

they cannot sleep. And, as I write this, I

am en

route

to Taichong to talk to a

radio sta t ion in

th e

center o f

th e

Taiwan

island about going on the air there in

August.

From

Taichong I will go up to Pull

and

conduct classes and services this week end

in

th e home

of

one o f our Christian

young men. I will be aided by two med

ical school students who will be working

in a Christian hospital there this summer.

I try to get to Puli once a month, but I

don't always make it. And, unless I have

someone

to

interpret, I feel as if I haven't

done much good.

It is wonderful to have Janet (my

daughter) and Alan Bemo with their

children Beth and Becky here to help in

the work along with Beverly and Ted

Sidles and their children Mark, Greg, and

Vicki. A more consecrated, capable and

lovable team would be hard to find any

where, and we depend upon

them

more

than we probably should while they are

all in language school. This year, I turned

over camp plans and teaching entirely to

them

and

Sue Rhodes, our missionary

intern for the summer, and did nothing

but help with the food situation. How

ever, I did arrange for the hotel rooms,

chapel and mundane details to free the

young folks of

that

part until next year

when the Bemos will finish language

school.

I have charge

of the

Sunday evening

church at Shih Ling and at my home on

Thursday evening, and do enjoy them

very much. Other evenings are busy too,

often with calling in the homes or teach

ing in

them.

I conduct Bible study on

Wednesday evenings at the church now,

since th e Bemos and Skiles have

classes

in

their homes

on

that

evening. On Wednes

day of each week, however, all the

missionaries come here in the early even

ing for Bible study, prayer and supper

together, for we all need a time and place

to talk together of our mutual efforts to

win souls and bring them

in.

My social life is interesting to me, also,

and it helps to keep the church family

unified and happy. We have a church

supper once each month, and we try to

make it

at

a time

that someone

is

coming

Isabel M. Dit temore

through on a visit so that they can

become acquainted with the Christians.

This

month s

activities included a

farewell

supper and party for our young men who

have recently graduated from collegeand

must leave immediately for a year

of

compulsory military service,and a trip to

Koashiong to take Sue down to meet

Lillian Martin

and

Jonathan

Chen, who

is

just completing his year of military ser

vice this month, to make plans for a

DVBS there. They and Esther Suen, Sue's

interpreter this summer, are en route

today to Koashiong to conduct a DVBS

next week.

While

in Koashiong, Sue and I

attended a Chinese feast with the hospital

staff

where Lillian works

an d

ha s

th e use

of a

well equipped

ward for

spastic

and

polio children with whom she is working.

Last week en d we had four members

of the Rees family here, en route home

for furlough, and we all had supper here

Saturday

evening Sunday afternoon

there was a church sing followed by

snacks, not only to greet the Reeses, but

to say good-bye to the Douglas Smith

family who have been here in military

service for two years and are greatly loved

by this congregation. They left last night,

and will be greatly missed. Wewish them

Godspeed and joy in returning home.

My own private happiness is greatly

augumented by being able to baby-sit

with my grandchildren several times a

week, either here at home or over at the

Bemo's. I guess I'm a doting grand

mother, if there ever was

one.

continued on

page

4


10/20

continuedfrom page 3

But, in between all of this I do manage

to write

about

ten letters a week, keep up

my ledgers, and study. In fact, th e time-

consuming job these last two weeks has

been the preparation, typing, and stencil

cutting for two quarterly financial reports

which I must now get into the mail.

Then, I check translations with David,

Luke, Peter and Jonathan each

of

whom is translating a good, but long and

scholarly, doctrinal book in to Chinese.

Weare making preparations for training a

ministry here, and these books are badly

needed toward

that

end.

My own years

of

continued service

here cannot be expected to last indefinit

ely,

and

I feel I must use my time and

experience in ways which will help

es ta bl is h i n

t he f ai th t he

work and

worker s here as long as He gives me the

time and

strength

to do so.

The

work here

is growing,

and

will

continue to do so , but our need fo r a new

meeting place is very urgent. We have

about 1,300.00 in our building fund,

b u t

we will

n ee d mor e

than eleven

t imes

that amount if we buy an apartment, as

we are hoping to do, and convert it

into

a

church. I am

not

a money-raiser,

but

it

seems

a shame that

we

canno t a t le as t

have a 10,000 building

fund

so

that

we

Shih Ling Church

of

Christ, July 13,1969.

will

be

able

to

borrow

the ba lance f r om

th e ba nk. So,

this is

th e

dream which I

hope God will grant me the

joy

of seeing

resized soon before theendof 1969.

The future is as bright as the promises

of

God, and we anticipate the coming

of

my brother Mark Maxey, here in Septem

ber to teach a be^nning Survey of the

Bible course for our potential preachers.

Other professors from the U. S. are al

ready making plans to come spend a

summer here for training these men too.

One

of

them is Professor Don De Welt,

who

saw the

need

o f i t

while

he was here.

These dreams, too, God will bring to frui

tion,

I

know.

However,

if

we do

not

have visions

of

what ca n

be

done

in the near and fa r

future, we will have no goals for which

to

strive. So, pray with us

that

God will not

only give us the faith to dream, bu t the

will to do all we can to bring them to

pass, in order that His kingdom may

come sooner and that we will see many

b ro th er s a nd sisters from Chin a around

the

great white throne.

Your sisterin the Lord s h^py service.

(Mrs.) IsabelM.Dittemore

* ^nk *

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* 22ad NATIONAL *

I

MISSIONARY

i

* i^OrtA^tlOTly *

f p. . . -

* S E P T E M B E R 23 26 1969 *

* CIVIC AUDirORIUM *

KNOXVILLE

**

TENNESSEE

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11/20

ue

Rhodes

Greetings to each and every one of

you in the name of our precious Lord and

Savior, Jesus Clirist, from the island of

Taiwan

I t

has

been said that t h is summer is th e

hottest one in five years on this island.

Since I have only been here one and a

half m on ths , I c ou ld n t say. However, I

do know that it has been terribly

ho t

since I arrived

I am in T aiw an for a

three

month

internship, and probably one

of

the high

lights of my summer will be the week of

July 6-11. This was the week for our

Christian

ervice

Camp which was held

on Grass Mountain, north of Taipei.

During this week we lived at the Inter

national Hotel which is owned an d

operated by Japanese people. As far as

the number

of

campers, the group was

small wi th all the young peopl e in atten

dance already baptized into the Christian

faith. Yet, I think I can speak for the

campers as well as the other missionaries,

in saying that the blessings and the

inspirations that were received were

numberless

I was a little mixed up during that

week trying to keep the different customs

straight within my own mind. Welived at

a Japanese Hotel, sleeping on Tamani

beds straw mats on

the

floor), eating

Chinese food t each in g t li ro ug h an inter

preter, putting my English thoughts into

Chinese, and eating peanut b ut te r and

jelly sandwiches in between everytliing

else t h t was done

One t hi ng that 1 have noticed about

the Chinese p eo pl e, is that regardless of

where you may

be

at Christian Service

Camp or traveling on tlie train, they will

serve you ho t tea even if it is 100 degrees

s u e

RHODes

SeRUeS SUMMER

wreRNSHTP

in the shade. I really e nj oy my iced tea

when I have it

This week, as I write this article to

you, I am in Koahsiung the southern part

of

the island. Esther Show Li Sun) and I

are here for a week

of

Daily Vacation

Bible School. Today was only the second

day, and so far we are averaging about

twenty

cliildren every day. These children

are very eager to learn, so this is a great

opportunity for the Gospelof Christ. But

many times, even after the children learn

of

Christ, their parents w l not let them

continue coming to Sun day Scho ol be

cause

of

their parents) beliefs. Family

worship is in control of the lives of these

people and it is very hard to win them to

Christ. We h ope to be able to make con-

Outdoor Bible

Study

tacts this week through these children we

are t eaching. I am very Umited because I

do no t know the Chinese language. Also

helping us this week is Jonathan Chen, a

young Chinese Christian, who is a cadet at

the military academy just outside of

Kaohsiung.

The rest

of my

summer wi be s pe nt

in directing V.B.S. in Taipei, then I will

be returning to the States the end of

August.

From

this time on I do

not know

where the L ord may lead me. T ruly, there

is a

need her e

Please r emember t ho se on

th e

field

here and those who ar e

to

come in the

coming year.

In

Christian Love

>

Sue Rhode s


12/20

September 3, 1968 I moved from Tai

pei to th e southern port city of Koah

siung seeking a wider and more fruitful

ministry. My first thoughts were

to open

a typing school in this new industrial area

to

help

th e

many young country girls

that

are flocking into this industrial processing

zone seeking employment. With the many

foreign factories and industries opening

export businesses, there is a great demand

for people who are able to

type

speak

English, and have other secretarial skills.

Many of these youthful girls are from the

hamlets and villages, and while some of

them can read a lit tle English, they can t

speak it very well because most

of

them

have had lit tle opportunity to use it. The

young people need instruction in conver

sation, an d there is a great demand for

English speaking teachers. How

to

start? I

rented a down-stair apartment, purchased

chairs

ordered

desks to be

made and

wrote asking for help in securing second

hand standard typewriters. However, the

typewriters didn t materialize,

and th e

school didn t come into being althougli a

church did in its place

As a stranger in Koahsiung, one of the

first things 1 did in order to secure a

following, was to put an advertisement in

the local papers soliciting students who

were interested in improving their English

c o nv e rs a ti o n. W it hi n on e week I ha d

twenty-five prospective students. These

students

being on

different

levels, re

quired that I spht the classes. I had

originally intended to teach English three

nights a week, Monday, Wednesday, and

Friday. Naturally, it ended up that I was

teaching English conversation tw o hours,

six nights a week

God

ha s a marvelous

way of leading us into paths that He

wishes us

to

travel.

T he i de a o f th e school

opened other doors into a richer, larger

field.

Very soon, through Dr. Bjorkaas, word

Lillian

Ma r t i n

working with

youngster in

Koahsiung

Christian

Hospital.

9JC.909XS

O N

W O R K

fN

KOAHStWNO

spread

that

there was a physical therapist

in the area who was unemployed at the

time.

Pastor Savage, th e

administrater o f

the Koahsiung Christian Hospital asked

me to come and serve at his hospital. At

that time there were four spastic children

in the hospital. I accepted the challenge,

an d this has opened many doors for me.

Dr. Shen, an orthopedic surgeon, who is

affiliated with the Christian Hospital and

a professor at the Koahsiung Medical

College, asked me

to

teach Ethics

an d

English conversation at his school. I

jumped at this chance too because 1

could

naturally begin wi th Christian

Ethics which is th e source o f all ethics,

and greatly needed here in Taiwan in all

professions. This new work took up two

afternoons weekly, Tuesday and Thurs

day.

. s i l l

The Baptist Church in my area has a

polio home for eighty crippled children,

and they asked me to help there on

Monday, Wednesday, an d Friday after

noons. I

c oul dn t refuse them

e i th e r. T h is

work load was terriff ic, bu t this is what I

came for. I kept at this schedule until

February, 1969. January

27

1969, we

added to this schedule the Koahsiung

Christian Church. I had never thought of

oing anything like this, but I

w s

prod

ded by my co-worker, Mrs. Isabel

Dittemore. The Church is growing slowly

now, and we have baptized three people

in the two months that have passed since

we opened the church. Mr. Ling is the

principal of a Junior High School, and he

could

be a door that can be used to

ev ngelize the whole school. I can say

that he is a radiant Christian

an d

ha s been

full of the HolySpiritfrom the day of his

Lillian and her staff.


13/20

Mr. Ling, school principal

an d

new convert with KoahsiungChuch o fChrist Sunday School class.

baptism. He came up from the pool

witnessing Miss Lee is a teacher who I

believe was won by

tw o

of

her classmates,

Mr. Chen and Mr. Wang. They are tw o

young men from the Shih Lin Church

of

Christ in Taipei (the Church Mrs. Ditte-

more planted) who are officers teaching

at the military academy here. They have

helped me plant this little church in

Koahsiung. Mr. Chen teaches Sunday

School and acts as my interpreter at the

Sunday morning Services.Mr. Wangplays

the organ and does other officialwork for

th e

Church. I

tr y

to encourage

them

to

preach, bu t I seldom succeed.

Lillian and staffmember work with

a spastic

youngster.

f

% '

We have an average of 18 in our

Sunday School,

bu t

sometimes we have as

many as 25. I usually note this without

counting, because we only have 25 chairs.

Miss Rhodes, who is a recent graduate

of

Plate Bible College, is here interning at

th e invitation o f

M rs . I sa be l

Dittemore.

She was down here last week conducting

o u r V ac at io n Bible

S c h o o l .

Sh e a n d h er

interpreter.

Miss

Seun, an early convert

of

the Shih Lin Christian Church, did a very

capable job in handling the sixty children

with very little assistance. Although the

week s ta rt ed w it h a ro un d

sixty

children,

n ot

all o

them

finished

th e w eek. T ha t

Saturday we took thirty-six children to

White F lo we r L ak e a beautiful scenic

Park. The children enjoyed the lovely

pavihons and temples, and later they ate

lunch and enjoyed sodas and water-

m e l l o n .

It has become increasingly clear that

my new work is going to be the ministry

of the crippled children on Taiwan. Pas

to r Savage, Director

of

the Koahsiung

Christian Hospital, was also interested in

helping spastic children, and with a little

encouragement from Dr. Shen and myself

he agreed to help star t a rehabilitation

center. We decided to use part

of

the

church, and measured

off

a portion about

sixteen by thirty-two feet. Our next pro

ject was to solicit money from the

American community to par ti tion this

area off. Th e American wives o f

th e

Koahsiung area were

of

great help to us.

Th e women baked

cakes

cookies an d

doughnuts.

Somehow they obtained

permission to go on one of our Navy

ships to sell these goodies. Our men res

ponded very generously, and the total

receipts

of

138.00 was given to us. I was

over joyed, because this was enough

money for

th e

wall. The Koahsiung Char

ity League Ladies came through with a

donation o f S90.00 a nd this a mount

wa s

used to lay a concrete floor. Some

of

the

m en from

th e

U.S.S.

H ec to r f or me d

a

working crew, and did a great deal

of

work for us. They laid a concrete ramp

fo r th e children to walk t o a n d from th e

ward, installed plumbing,

and

numerous

other jobs.

On June 1, 1969, we completed the

ward for spastic children and held our

formal opening on June 15. Our efforts

were weU received, wi th the Mayor

of

Koahsiung attending, givinga speech, and

promising support. He stated that we

were the first to present this p rob lem to

the public, and that we were the first

ones to open a center for the rehabilita

tion

of

spastic children on this island.

There are 150,000 crippled children

on Taiwan, a nd t he re is very Uttle being

done to help them. Many people ignore a

crippled member of the family because it

is a

source

o f

embarrassment

t o

t he m a n d

they

don t

really understand that some

thing can be done for many

of

these

children through surgery, physical ther

apy, braces, or all three methods of

t r e a t m e n t

c o m b i n e d .

I've been hard at work for the past

three

months establishing this rehabilita

tion center an d due to th e increasing

demands on my time, I've been forced to

give up most of my teaching activities. I

now have a Tuesday evening Bible class

an d a Friday night English class. I hope to

r es um e s om e

o this

w or k w he n P astor

Savage returns a year from now from his

furlough. I am, at present, the director of

th rehabi l i t at i on c e n t e r .

Pastor Savage, Dr. Shen, and I had a

dream that has become a hope for the

future. We bel i eve t ha t t he f u tu r e h o l ds a

m o de rn reh ab il ita tio n c en te r fo r th e

spastic children on Taiwan. We have a

twelve bed ward with over f if ty children

from all over th e island on th e waiting

list. O ur

facilities ar e

an electric ha nd

massage machine an d a Infra Red

L ltra

Violet Ray heat lamp donated by The

Cookson Hills Boys Home. We have a

portable Whirlpool machine (for use

out

side the

bath

tube) donated by the

Koahsiung International Women's Club.

We have a good start,

bu t

we need

your

prayers. Most

of

all, the children need

your prayers, for they need faith and

patience. Somehow we must awaken their

parents to their desperate need.

Your sister in His service

L illian

M a r t i n


14/20

Torcf)

Mr. g Mrs. Ted Skiles

Missionary)

Box 2:2384

Taipe i, Taiwan

of

Formosa

Chris t ian

Mission

Mr.

g

Mrs.

Dan Schulte

Forwarding Agents)

1 2 4 K rauss Drive

Eldon, Missouri

65 26

Dear Precious Friends in Christ,

The days have been so full and busy,

that

it hardly seems like it should be time

fo r

another le tte r.

We h av e so

much

to

share, we just hope we can get it all in.

We ve had some wonderful experiences

since

our

last letter, and some have come

to strengthen

our faith and love, and

make us more understanding

of

other s

needs.

During the first part of June Bro. Don

DeWelt, Bro. Wilbur Fields,

and

Bro.

Meredith Williams, Professors

at

Ozark

Bible College, came to hold a week s re

vival before going on to Australia for

their summer s work.

e

had a spirit

filled weekwhi h not only provedto be a

spiritual feast for us missionaries, bu t also

saw souls added to the Lord s Kingdom.

Nine persons accepted Clirist as a result

of that meeting and werebaptized during

that time. Brother Meredithstayed in our

home during the week, and he was cer

tainly a joy and a blessingto have around.

On Tuesday evening of the revival,several

of my students sang a special songwhich

they had been practicing for some time.

They did a very fine job, and had the

opportunity

to hear

one

of

Brother De-

Welt s excellent messages.

Sue Rhodes, a 1969graduate of Platte

Valley Bible College, arrived for her

summer s internship the same day that

the men arrived to begin the revivd. She

is a tireless

worker

and ha s

been

a real

blessing to have around. She takes one

day a week for Alan and one day for me

to help uswith our many secretarial jobs.

This has really been helpful, especially

since the Bemo s,Bev,and I are still plug

ging away at language school.

e

all have

grown to love and appreciate Sue very

much and will miss he r when she returns

to America in August.

On June 24, weexperienced our great

est joy since coming to Taiwan. Mr. Chen,

one of our medical

students

for whom we

requested prayer in our last newsletter,

was immersed into

Christ.

On that

Tues

day evening, he came to our home for

supper. e asked him if he had anything

. llfMw

.y to

The five Skiles smile.

h e wou ld like to tell

us .

We

knew

that he

had just returned from down-island and

that

he had gone home for the express

purpose of seekingliis parent s permission

to become a Christian. He said , Yes, I

do. My father said

that

the decision was

up to me, and my mother (a Buddhist)

neither opposed nor consented. Con

sequently, the arrangements were made.

At 9:00 p.m. that evening, Mr.

Suen,our

elder from the church in Shrling, baptized

flT

I

m :

I

1

I

Mr. Chen. Brother Chen is very happy

with his new life, and a lthough he is on a

very strict schedule at the hospital where

he s serving his internship, he is finding

time to read his Bible and pray. Please

continue to pray for this fine young man.

Around the last of June, our family

began getting sick, and something has

been wrong ever since. Vicki, Greg, Bev

and Mark, in that order, took sick with an

unidentified disease which has been going

SingingStudents.

> > 7-.y


15/20

Our

Au n t Sue

around in Taipei. They all four had

the

same symptoms: high fever, vomiting,

diarrhea, loss

of

feeling in their limbs

and

loss

of

appetite. They were sick for about

a week, and I was very thankful that I

was well and able to care fo r them.

The

next week, during camp, I became sick on

Thursday with the same symptoms and

we

had to

return home. My fever was so

high that I was delirious and Bev had to

call our neighbor over

to

help her. My

fever broke that night, and the next day I

was much improved though still very

weak. Wewere just recovering from those

illnesses

when Mark became sick

with

an

infected tooth. He

has been

to

th e

dentist

three

times

and mus t return

again

tomor

row. The dentist is trying to save his

tooth, for

it s

removal would cause crook

ed permanent teeth. Greghas been having

s ome k in d o f s tomach t roubl e

ever

since

he was sick, and

they

are running some

lab tests today to try and find

ou t

what

his problem is. Today we just got back

f rom

t he d oc to r s

office

with

Vicki.

Sh e

will go

in to th e

hospital on Monday for

an operat ion on Tuesday morning. She

has had a cyst on the back

of her head

just below the lef t ear almost since birth.

Several

doc tors

have

checked he r

and said

that there was

nothing

to be

concerned

about

unless the cyst began to grow or

become hard. This past Wednesday it

began to do

both.

It has grown to

quite

a

large

knot

and is very hard. She will have

to stay in the hospital for two days while

they run tes ts on the cystic matter to see

if it is diseased. Wecertainly request your

prayers on her behalf as well as Mark and

Greg.

Now for a note or

two

on the lighter

side. Two weeks ago, Bev and I came

home from school, only to findto our

amazement

that th e

children were

missing a

lo t

of their hair. Mark had taken

the

scissors to Greg s hair, Greg had retur

ned the favor for Mark, and they

both

had

turned

on their

poor

sister and chop

ped

off

all her pretty locks. Bev tried to

trim up Vicki s hair and all I could do was

just shave the boy s heads and let them

start aU over on a fresh head of hair.

The boys are becoming real individuals

and surprise us with what they come up

Please

pray fo r

my recovery.

i K

Mr.

Oien:

A new creature in Chris t.

How

about

coming

to my barber shop some

t ime?

with. One morning we were sitting at

the

breakfast table and Greg said, I m Gold

ilocks. Wesaid, You mean Goldilocks,

don t

you Greg? No, he said,

I m

cold,

and

I mean coldilocks. We

had

to

laugh at his association, especially since

he had no hair, let alone locks. This

morning Mark woke up in one

of

those

unlovely moods and was particularly

grumpy. He told Bev that she was a

grouchhopper. We thought that was a

humorous version

of the

word grass

hopper , and especially funny since Mark

was

th e

grouchy one.

Mark s school begins in about a month

and he is getting anxious. We think it is

continued

on page 10


16/20

I m of f to school next month.

harder on the parents than on the child.

Bev can hardly stand the thoughts of her

little boy going

off

to school already. It is

strange how we want to teach our child

ren to be independent, grow up to be

useful citizens, and yet at the same time

want to keep them dependent. e have

decided

that

the strong

bond

of

love is

our only hope of teaching them to be

independent of us, and at the same time,

respectful

of

their elders.

Last week, Mrs. Dittemore brought a

young man to our house, Mr. Tsai. Mr.

Tsai, who was preparing to go down-

island for a year or more's stay in the

hospital, wanted to become a Christian

b ef or e h e had to leave a t 6:00

tha t even

ing.

Mr.

Tsai has attended

Mrs.

Dittemore s

class an d has

also been

coming to our worship servicesat Shrling

for a few weeks. On the way to the bap

tis try, we tried to pick up Alan and Mr.

Suen, but neither

were

available.

Even

though I would have preferred to have

Mr. Suen do the baptizing, I had the

wonderful privilege of baptizing this

young man into Christ. Mr. Tsaihas gone

to

the hospital now, and we would appre

ciate your prayers on his behalfboth

physically and spiritually.

Lest I run

out of

space, I must fulfill

my promise in the last newsletter, i.e.,

of

telling

you

about the Chinese wedding

and

the

customs surrounding it. Even

though the younger generations are begin

ning to grow away from the age old

custom, it is still common and thought

quite proper for the parents to arrange

the marriage. The young couple usually

has more say in it now

that

they did years

ago, but the parents are still the deciding

factor. About three months ago I had the

privilege of taking pictures for the bride

and groom. Early in the afternoon I was

escorted to

the

photographer's studio

where there

were many brides and

grooms. You see, certain days are con

sidered more auspicious than others, and

therefore, it is

no t uncommon

for many,

many couples to choose the same day.

This way, they believe they will receive a

greater blessing from the gods. After

taking many colored pictures while the

photographer took black and white, I was

escorted home i n

a black limousine which

was rented especially for the occasion.

That evening, Bev and I, along with the

Bemo's, were taken

to

the hall where the

actual wedding and marriage feast were to

be held. Rather

than

the marriage being a

rather solemn affair , as in America, the

ceremony was celebrated with a band,

constant talking among

the

guests, and

many firecrackers. A master of cere

monies even shouted

out,

over a micro

phone, the order of events as they took

place. It almost seemed like an auction

rather than a wedding. The fathers

of

the

bride

and

groom,

and

the man who had

been

the

go-between for the

two

families

involved, seemed to play more important

roles in the wedding ceremony and the

signing of the marriage certificate, than

did the bride and groom. Following the

ceremony, over 200 guests were served a

fourteen

course,

elaborate

Chinese meal,

from soup to sea slugs. During the course

of

the meal,

the

bride and her attendant

changed clothes four different times.

Each time

they

would leave and

then

re-

enter

the

hall,

they

were received with

much applause and shouting. Each outfit

seemed to get more elaborate and beaut

iful as

the

evening went on, and so we are

told, was supposed to be a sign

of

the

bride's wealth and

the

new couple's pros

perity.

When the feast was finally

finished, we were received at

the

door by

the bride and groom and their parents.

Following this, we were again received, in

an informal come-and-go away, at the

newlywed's home. How would you like

that

for a honeymoon? Ha The wedding

was officially over, and so different, that

we hardly felt we had been to one . It was

exciting though, and rich in age-old cus

toms of many preceding generations.

We hope and pray you enjoy this

month's joint newdetter

of

all the mis

sionaries an d n ew recruits

to

Taiwan. We

hope we can make this a yearly project,

and then have ext ra copies printed to

distr ibute at the missionary convention

each year.

We have been amazed at

the

way

several congregations have responded to

our needs which we mentioned in pre

vious

n ew s le tt er s. How thankful we

ar e

for each and every box which we have

received full of those delicious

food

stuffs. If you have sent a box, and have

not yet received a personal letter of

thanks from us, your gift has

not yet

arrived. Wehave written to every

penon,

congregation, or group whose Christmas

in July boxes have arrived. We praise

God for each one of you, and thank you

f rom the bo t tom

o f our

hearts .

Another financial report will be

coming

out

soon. If you do not contri

bute to

this

work,

bu t

would

like to have

a copy of our report, please feel free to

write to us and we

wi

be glad to send

you one.

Anyone who

has contributed,

will automatically receive

our

report.

Please pray for us, as we do for

you.

Language school is coming along very

well. We just this day

took

our final

exams over th e first book . We wil l have to

be

out

o f

school

fo r

a

week

or

more b e

cause of Vicki's operation, but following

that,

will begin t he book of Chinese dia

logues.

How we appreciate your prayers,

let ters , and concern. Keep praying and

writing, and we will do the same, with

God's help. If we can go to the moon, we

can go into all the world to share the

Gospel.

In Hope

of

HisComing,

Ted, Bev,Mark, Greg& Vicki Skiles

^Xould

a mariner

sit idle

if he heard

the drowning cry?

Could

a

doctor

si t

in

comfort

and

just let his patientsdie?

Could a fireman sit idle, let men

burn

and

give no hand?

Can you sitat ease in Zion with

the world around you

MNEOr

-Leonard Ravenhill


17/20

Alan, Janet, Beth

and

Becky Bemo.

Dear

Christian

Friends,

When I came to you, bretheren, I did

not come proclaiming to

you

the test

imony

of

God in lofty words or wisdom.

For I decided to loiow nothing among

you excep t Jesus Christ and Him cruci

fied. (I Cor. 2:1,2) I have thought of

these verses often lately as I have seen

people question the intelligence

of

God's

message and of God's servants. When

people question

the

qualifications of a

person who has gone

to

a Bible College

instead of a liberal Arts College I remem

ber the worlds,

Has not God made

foolish the wisdom of the world (I Cor.

1:20b)? Sometimes I am tempted to

seek the respect of men with wisdom

or a ch ie veme nt a nd th en r em embe r

that the weapons

of

our warfare

are not worldly

but

have divine power to

destroy strongliolds

Cor. 10:4). What

a joy it is to preach to people what

they

th in k t o be

foolishness

and to

se e

what

they think

is wisdom be destroyed. F or

the foolishness of

God

is wiser

than men,

and the weakness of God is stronger than

men (I Cor. 1:25).

I would like to tell you

about

Miss

Jang. Miss Jang was a senior of the Taipei

College of Sciences and Arts. She started

coming to th e Bible classes we were

having in a coffee shop across the street

from the campus. She was invited by a

friend to come, and being interested, she

came regularly. She also came to our

home on Sunday evening for services and

came to the Thursday night classes. At

first she questioned and laughed at the

stories of the Bible. One day in class she

said, If it

weren t

fo r

th e miracles

in

th e

Bible I could accept it. The other stu

dents agreed with her. I asked if it

weren t fo r th e miracles in th e Bible

would they become Christians? They all

nodded yes. Then, I told

them

that if the

Bible didn't have miracles in it they

would accept the Biblejust like any other

rAK f iAST

c t t a sA a e r c

book

in the world. They would become

Christians just like they would become

Buddhists, Confucionists, Democrats, and

so on. They can be any and aU of these at

once in their own mind, by simply

following or believing

some

of^e

princi

ples of each. But, of course, Christianity

is no t like that. It demands all of ou r

at tenti on. It is to have supremacy and

authority in

our

lives. We are

not

to take

what

we

like o f it a nd

leave

th e

rest

while

taking what we like from something else.

I also explained

tha t the

reason

the

Bible

claims miracles along with its teaching

was

to

give its message authority.

If

we

can beheve that

our

God performed the

miracles of th e

Bible,

then

we will believe

his message and we will t rust it . There

fore, it is imperative that we believe that

Jesus was born

of

a virgin

and

that

He

came back to life after being dead for

three days. We have to believe

that

Jesus

fed five thousand people with five loaves

and two

fish if we are going to have faith

in

Him

an d

Hi s words.

We

c a nn o t make

the Bible more acceptable by givingin to

objections that people may have. There

fore, in these college classes we strive to

give

them

a reason for believing in the

miracles o f

the

Bible.

Miss Jang came to

about

eleven hours

of Bible classes at the coffee shop and in

our home. During this time we

talked

about

why we could believe

that

what

the

Bible

said

was re li ab le . Whe n

Professor

Wilbur Fields, whom we had the pleasure

of having in our home, was here with Don

DeWelt

and

Meredith Williams in

June,

he

talked

to

Miss Jang and other students

quite extensively

about

archeology and

its

proof

of tlie Bible. Since he has taught

this subject in Ozark Bible College for

several years

and

has been to Palestine to

do archaeological work, the slides he

showed and what he had to say made

quite an impression on

the

college stu

dents .

During the first week of July, Miss

Jang came as usual to

our

house with

t hr ee o th e r s tu d en ts

fo r

class. We had a

one

hour

class,

and

after its dismissal,

Janet and I went to make a phone call at

the booth

a few blocks away. As we were

coming back about ten minutes later , we

found MissJang and Miss Lee stiU stand

ing outside

the

gate talking. We invited

them back in because we thought they

had some questions about the class that

they might have been embarrassed to ask

whie the other students were there. Janet

fixed some refreshments for all

of

us,

and

almost immediately Miss Jang asked if it

was necessary to be baptized to be a

Christian. After explaining that God's

demands on the lives of believers (what a

thrill to call them that now) are repen

tance and baptism for

the

remi^on of

sins, she said she wanted to be a Clirist ian

as soon as

sh e

could

l ea rn mor e

about

Jesus. Now, the time-consuming ground

work

of

giving

them the

facts for

believing in God and His Miracles and in

the gift of His Son were paying off and

they

BELIEVED Tlie time for telling

the joyful news

of

His Son and His plans

for each person was to begin.

Miss

Lee

also expressed a great interest in be

coming a Christian, but said that her

mother, a staunch Buddhist, had become

very angry with her for even coming to

class that night. I hope that

you

will pray

for these two girlsand us as we witness to

them. Also, Mr. Cheng, one

of

the med

ical

s tu d en ts h as b ec ome a Christian and

we

d o so th an k al l o f th ose w ho h ad b ee n

praying for

him.

Please continue to do so.

The story above is to give

you

an idea

of

how soiUs are added

to

the Kingdom

here in Taiwan.

First, they must

be

taught to believe in God and then to trust

His Word and finally they can understand

and

accept the glorious plan of redemp

tion. Please pray with each one of us

missionaries here that we may be blessed

with th e

w is dom wh ic h

is

from

God so

that we may be able to destroy these

strongholds of worldly wisdom which

the

college students here

and

throughout

the world seem to feel they have.

We

have been in T aiw an f or a l i t t le

over a year now, and it is hard to believe


18/20

rw e

H A 2 e L w o o o 5

In October of 1968, the Lord laid it

upon

the heart of Sam and Virgiiiia

azlewood to help take the gospel of

Jesus Christ to the people of Taiwan. It

was

just a

year previous

that

od

had

used Alan

a nd J an et

Bemo

to

introduce

them to t hi s w or k. M any prayer s w ere

uttered

an d

much soul-searching was

done

before

th e final decision was

made.

The Lord had seemed to open and close

doors up xmtil this time.

Sam was born in RoUa, Missouri, on

March 11, 1940. He is a member

of

the

First Christian Church, which is his spon

soring church in this missionary effort.

Samgraduated from RoUa

igh

Schoolin

1958. After spending three years in the

M I S S I O N A R Y

M r s. I sa b el Di t t emore

B ox 2 2 3 8 4

Taipei Taiwan

A la n B e m o

Lane

157

No .

2 1

Hsin Sheug S. Rd . Sec. 1,

Taipei Taiwan

T ed S k ile s

Hsin 1 Road Section 4,

L a ne 2 0 1 Alley 7

No . 2

Taipei Taiwan

Lillian

Martin

P . O Box 5 6

Koahsiung

Taiwan

S ue

R h o d e s

P. Bo x 2 2 3 8 4

Taipei Taiwan

S a m H a z e l w o o d

524

S o o n e r

D r.

Norman

Oklahoma

73069

B E M O

that

a year can pass so quickly. We have

spent most of ou r time in language study

during this time and plan on one more

year of language study. It is already a joy

to be able to talk with people and to be

able to read a few signs, bu t we need a lot

of study yet, especially in Bible language

and reading.

Beth is over

two

now, and is talking a

lo t more lately. She is forever asking me,

What's

that

Dad? It

won t

be long

until she will be progressing to the Why,

Daddy? s tage. May the Lord give us

The Hazelwood Family

U.S. Army

an d

attending Midwest Chris

tian College and Ozark Bible College, he

graduated with a Bachelor of Sacred

F O R W A R D I N G

A G E N T

Miss Margaret McGinn

B ox 79

Maspeth

L.L, New York 11378

Mrs.

S a n d i

G a n t

R. R. 1 Bo x

23 7

Fort Gibson Oklahoma

74434

D an Schul t e

12 4

K r a us s D r .

Eldon

Missouri

6 5 0 2 6

Mrs.

P at G i l be r t

^l o Kiamuki Christian Church

1 1 7 K o ko H ea d A v en ue

Honolulu

Hawaii

9 6 8 1 6

Mr . Mrs.

Me l Ti t chener

19 1

8 th A venue

Scottsbluff Nebraska

69361

Mrs. Mary Dor ot hy F r ankl in

Route 3

Charleston Illinois 61920

patience and wisdom. She prays every

night by

th e

bedside

an d

before some

meals. She used to just repeat after us bu t

is no w venturing

out

on h er o wn an d he r

simple but profound prayers make us

more aware

of

what we, too, ought to be

t h a n k f u l for.

Becky is crawling now and developing

a very independent personality

of

her

o w n . Sh e

h a s

five teeth

a n d k n o w s

h o w

to use them (especially on her sister). Her

little hands are so quick

that

we really

have

to

watch her. Both Beth and Becky

literature Degree in May of 1968.

Vi^nia

was bom in Bushton, Illinois,

on August 1 1940. She attended Lincoln

Christian College for three years. After a

s u m m e r a t

C o o k s o n

Hills

Christian

School

as a mission intern she transfened

to Ozark Bible College where she grad

uated with a Christian Education Degree.

Before Sam and Virginia were married,

Sam served as youth minister at the

Mim


19/20

F i e l c l A d d r e s s :

A l a a

J a n e t Beino

L a n e

Number 1

Hsln Sheng

S .

Sd*, Sec*

1

T a i p e i Taiwan

i ^ e a r r r e c i o u s r r i e n d s :

f A K CAST

c t t a s A a e i t l

F o r w a r d i n g Agent:

Mrs* S a n d i Gaui t

R. R. 1, Box 257

F o r t Gibson,

O k l a h o m a

October

2b , I969

1B BSS

I t has

been a long

time

since we nave

written to you.

..e have been so anxious

to

write

this

news

letter

to Greet

you

iii tiie

naiae

of oar Ohrist

^nd

to

tell

you

what

we have been doing. These nave

been busy

but

ha^jpy days l o r our j-ord.

Janet and I

often

see people with such a

great

need

of

Ohrist,

i t

is

api-alling.

On August 26th

while

we

were

in

school a nan took

his

l i fe by jumping

off

the seventh

story-of the

building wiiere

we study. I went, l ike tue otners, with curiousity to see the pool of blood wnere he f e l l . iVhat

a

terrible

feeling

o f help le ssness cr ep t

over me. To think that a man could be so

desperate

- so

without hope, to

taxe

h i s own l i f e . I

c a n t

express the feeling I iiad. I f I could have been with

Bemo Alan Janet 1969 Taiwan

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