Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan

8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan

1/20


2/20

Mark,

Paul ine

Hope

a t

Kushlra

n

I... ;

s t r e e t

preaching

i ?

S

r

course ,

preached

in English and Mark translated

into

Japanese. Afte r the sermon and clo

there was a period

of

fel lowship

where everybody

sa t

around

ta lking while munching

on

they had brought. This kind

of

fel lowship i s

something

I think i s missing

in

o

in

Taiwan. Then

in

the

a f te rnoon

we went to give Communion to the Yamashitas . Both

are cr ippled

but was

such

a joy

to

see the l igh t

of

Jesus

in

t h e i r

hear t s .

That

nig

went to the Church of C hris t a t Tarumizu where we met Mr. Oda, professor

a t

Osaka

Bible

He

had

come down to

Kyushu

to

hold

a week s Bible

t ra in ing course in

Kanoya

and

a

e

night t ra in ing course

in

each

of

the s ix area Churches. That Sunday night he did th i s a

he

f i r s t

Church whe re he t aught

fo r

two so l id

hours .

We also had supper t h e r e a t

the

Church

e bigges t

event fo r the chi ldren

I

must

admitt

I l iked

too) was the

snow. I t

snowed f

he f i r s t

t ime th i s

year in Kanoya

while we

were here

and

us kids

had a l o t of fun. We a re

planning

on

leaving

Japan

on

March 2nd

by

steam

ship

back

to

Okinawa.Then

we

wi l l

go

by

ship

to Taiwan

to a r r ive there on

Sunday

morning,

March

5th . We have

had

a very prof i t ab le t im

n Okinawa

and Japan

bu t

we are anxious to get back to our

work in Taiwan,

n January

I moved my s tudy

over

to the back

of

the

Fu

Hsing

Church of Chr i s t .

Mr. Lwo and

av e b een going

over

there mornings, f ive days a week ever s ince . We s t a r t each morning out

devotions

and

then

work

on var ious

pro jec t s .

Sermon prepara t ion

t akes

a

l o t

of

t ime

fo

and

of course I

have

to prepare

fo r

the four

o ther

meet ings

during the week. We

wi l l

be

a new Eng li sh B ib le

c lass

on March 13th to be

held

every Monday night a t

the

Fu Hsi

of Chr i s t and also a new c lass a t

the

Shih- l ing Church on

Wednesday

nights . I alway

a lo t

of

correspondence

to

take

care

of

too .

Then

a t

10:00 every

morning Brother

Lwo

a

go out

fo r

some type of evangel ism. Sometimes we pass

ou t

t r ac t s

in

the market next to th

apartment.

Once when p as sin g o ut t r ac t s a man sp i t a t me. Some p eople lau gh a t

us a

scowl,

bu t

there

are

always

some

who

accept the

t r a c t with

a

gra t e fu l smile . Sometimes

pass

Church inv i ta t ions

out

from

door

to door

and

some

t imes

we go

ca l l i ng .

One day we

in

the

market place. There

were three

of

us: Brother Chu, a Mainlander, Brother L

Taiwanese,

and

myself. Firs t Brother

Chu

preached in Mandarin,

then

Brother Lwo preached in

Las t ly

I

preached

in

English and Mr. Lwo t ra n sl ate d in to Taiwanese.

Each

t ime w

ot small crowds

so we hope to do

th i s more

in the future . This

work

has been

rewarding.

we had only 4 o r 5 a t

Church bu t now

we

are

having

around

tw en ty e ac h Sunday.

year the

Lunar

New Year f e l l on February I5th

wich

marked the

b eg in in g o f

the year

of

t

The

two

weeks previous to New Years were holidays

for

a l l

schools so we

had

a

spec ia l

Bible c lass a t the Chruch during t h i s time

every

morning from

9:00

to 10:30. 1

FIVE CHURCHES

ate ly

two

more

New Testament

Churches

hav e b een

discovered .

Perhaps I should say they

disc

ered us. One o f

them

asked

Ted

Ski l e s to

help them

and

the

o ther asked Chuck

Johns ton

to he l

them. This

means

t ha t we

are

now working with f ive Churches. Now

the

for tn ight ly

Church

pa

e

used

to

put

out

has

grown to a four

page

weekly

which

holds

news

o f

these

f ive

Churches

along

with

an

a r t i c l e

on the New Testament Church.

Subscr ip t ion i s

now

400. Praise

God

Yours In Ch r i s t

Alan,

Janet , Beth, Becky, and

Jonnie

Berao

/ ii Tfur


3/20

6t

Janet

Bemo

21, Lane 157

Sheng

S . R d . S e c . l

106, Taiwan

F A R

f i A S T

c K a s A O e t t

March ,

1972

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

Forwarding Agent

M r s . S a n d i

G a n t

R.R. 1, Box 333

F o r t

Gibson,

Oklahoma 7 7 4 3 4

s t a r t e d

b a c k

f o r

Taiw an on

March

2nd by

s h i p

and

a r r i v e d

i n Okinawa

t h e

n e x t

d a y .

and

S i s t e r

Woodruff

t o o k

u s a ro u n d

t h a t

a ft e rn oo n t o s e e

t h e work

t h e y a r e d o i

Naha and t h e n f e d u s a w o n d e r f u l meal i n t h e i r home. B r o t h e r R o b e r t Schwab p u t u s

r

the n i g h t and whi le we

were t h e r e

we had the o p p o r t u n i t y

t o meet

one o f

R o b e r t s

and a l s o o u r B r o t h e r

i n t h e Lord,

L a r r y .

I

c a n t

remember

h i s l a s t name

b u t

h

a deep and l a s t i n g i m p r e s s i o n on me by h i s w i t n e s s o f how C h ri st d e l iv e re d him fro

l i f e

o f

dope

a d d i c t i o n .

I was

e s p e c i a l l y

g l a d

t o

have t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y because L a r r

a b e a u t i f u l

b l a c k

man.

He

h e l p e d

me a

l o t

a s how t o more e f f e c t i v e l y t o r e a c h t h e

men h e r e i n

t h e

p r i s o n

t h a t I am w o r k i n g

w i t h .

hen we

reached

Taipei

no-one was

there to meet

us

because we decided to

f l y

ins tead

o

by

s h i p .

Although it c o s t

more we

were a n x i o u s

t o g e t

back

b e f o r e

Sunday s e r v i c

t h e 5 t h . It was

a

good t h i n g

we

d i d t h i s t o o

because

w h i l e

we

were

gone f o r t h i s

visit

t o

Okinawa

and

J a p a n some

t r o u b l e had

d e v e l o p e d i n t h e

S h i h l i n g Church o f

Among

o t h e r

t h i n g s t h e

f i n a n c i a l

s i t u a t i o n was

c r i t i c a l

and E l d e r

Suen

had c a

d

an emergency

meet ing o f a l l

Church

members

and

p r e a c h e r s o f t h e

o t h e r

f o u r Churche

i n t h e T a i p e i

a r e a . It seemed

t o us t h a t t h e

Church

was going t o

a c t u a l l y f a l l a

Because o f t h e u r g e n c y

o f t h e

s i t u a t i o n

e a c h

Church member a t t e n d e d

t h e

m e e t i n g

d

had been

p r a y i n g

f o r God

t o

h e l p . The S c r i p t u r e s s a y when we a r e weak , God is

s t r o

d

t h i s was c e r t a i n l y

r e v e a l e d h e r e

t h i s

t i m e .

The

b u s i n e s s

m e e t i n g

which

was condu

d by E l d e r Suen, was an e n c o u r a g i n g

example

o f what can happen

if

p e o p l e w i l l

c a l l

u

God f o r

h e l p and have

f a i t h i n God t o h e l p them.

The S h i h l i n g

Church

is

now s t r o n g

an ever

- - ^

preachers

of

the five area churches have decidad_j;o^rotatg^ preachers one Sunday ea

Before

these

Churches

were

small independent

Churche s

^Tilnioin ^ that

they

were

l y p eo ple r e a l l y t r y i n g

t o

f o l l o w t h e

New

Testament p a t t e r n . They

o f t e n

got

d i s c o u r

and

f e l t d e f e a t e d . We a r e

n o t t r y in g t o

s t a r t a

new

d e n o m i n a t i o n

and p e r h a p s t h i s

d a n g e r

b u t s i m p l y promote f e l l o w s h i p

and

mutual

e n c o u r a g e m e n t .

Although we j u s t st

this

m o n t h

has b e e n received well

Monday,

t h e

2 0 t h as I was a t home

r e l a x i n g and enjoying

ray

day

o f f a Chinese p r e a

who

is

a

b r o t h e r

i n

an

a n t i - i n s t r u m e n t c h u r c h came o v e r t o s e e me. He

t o l d

m

an independent Church

in

Kaoj^i^ung a

city where

we have long

wanted

to

establish

ork, which was without a preacfier Arid needed help . I t j u s t so

happened

t h a t Sara Hazl

od came

o v e r

j u s t a s we

were

t a l k i n g a b o u t t h i s m a t t e r and he

was

v e r y i n t e r e s t e d i n

he h i m s e l f had

been

t o

Kaohs iung p r e v i o u s l y

t o s e e

a b o u t t h e

p o s s i b i l i t y

o f work

We

d e c i d e d

to c o n t a c t t h e

Church

t o f i n d o u t

if

we c o u l d h e l p them. Then

on

S

y

morning,

March

26th ,

j u s t

before I

l e f t

f o r

Church

I

got

a

c a l l from

the

former

pr

of t h a t Church saying t h a t

he

was i n town and would l i k e t o t a l k to us t h a t

evening

and I met w i t h t h i s man, Mr. Lo, t h a t

n i g h t and t a l k e d

t o

some

d e t a i l

a b o u t t h e Ch

He was

still

p r e a c h i n g

t h e r e

b u t was p l a n n i n g

on

g o i n g

o v e r s e a s and

wanted

the

Church

in

good

hands.

p

aa iH

hha fc^tiViA

Chur-chr-wa^-ten_years

old and owned t

b u i l d i n g . He

s a i d

t h a t

they

had asked a denomination to help them bu t

when

t a l k i n

them the f i r s t t h i n g they

h ad wan ted

them t o do

was

t o s i g n over t h e i r b u i l d i n g .

T

t o

do

t h i s

and came

t o

us

f o r h e l p . We

were

very

happy i n d e e d

t o h e a r o f t h e i

and

to have

t h i s

chance

to

work

with

them

so

^/e

s e t up

a meeting

with them i n

Ka

a t

t h e i r Church

b u i l d i n g to

be

h eld A pril l 4 1 5 j and

16. Sam and I

want to

go

d

p r e a c h

f o u r

sermons t o l e t

them know e x a c t l y what

t h e

Church

i n

t h e

B i b l e

i s

l i k e

d what we stand f o r .

I f

th ey agree

with what

we preach they w i l l formally ask Sam to

and

h e l p

them. P l e a s e p r a y

a b o u t t h i s m e e t i n g . I

would

l i k e

t o r e p o r t n e x t mont

we

are

working with

6

CHURCHES


4/20

On March

25 t h

th e

. f i ve Ch-urches

had ou r

f i r s t

combined.-y6'uth

ra l ly . There

were

representatives from four of

the

Churches

and

we

had

a

t o t a l o f

39.

JQUth. This

f i r s t r a l l y

was

he ld a t Sh ih - l ing

and

we

a l l

f e l t

t ha t

th i s

was very

good. The

nex t hos t of

the r a l l y

wi l l be the Chang

Chwun

Church

and we

hope

fo r many

more

in

th e month of

Apr i l .

We

have

s e t

up

to

have

a

combined

youth

r a l l y the

l a s t

Saturday

evening

o f

every

month.

I

was

asked

to

speak

a t th i s

meet ing and s ince

I

already knew

there were going to be

some bapt isms

I

chose the top ic , Born

Again . One of my s tuden t s , Miss Hwang

Mei Hwei

was bapt ised along

with a

new

g i r l by

the name of Jyang Pe i Le i.

She

Women s meet ing a t

the

Fu Hsing Churc

had come over to the Church office at Fu Hsing a week earl ier with her

friend,

Mr. Jy

J r Chyow,

and

I

had an

opportunity to ta lk to her about being baptised. She

had

bee

sprinkled as

a

baby and since she wanted

to

follow

the Bible she readi ly wanted

to b

immersed

wheh~~^e heard

wnat the

Bi~ble s aid ab~out

bapfism.

'

Also

the women of the

five

Churches

have

a j t o ^n s

meeting each,

month.

On

March

28th

was

held

a t

the

Fu

Hsing

Church

of

Chr i s t

where

we

are

working.

There

a re

only

f ive

women in

t he c ongr eg at io n

and

Janet

was

especia l ly

proud o f

them as they

completely

e ve ry th in g ove r.

Of

course I am

proud

of the pa r t .Jan_ei.. took in the

program

as

she

work hard too

and spoke to

them

on the subjec t of

In God s

Hand.

About t h i r ty wom

attejided

thia-meeting.

~ ---

Janet and

I

are

very busy

now

as

we

are

teaching and preaching

od s

or

in

a

combin

tion of el_ey .n_fflgetings a week.

Janet

i s teaching two Engli sh Bib le

classes

a week a

new-Christian's cla^s for those who have recently been baptised. I am preaching ea

unday, teaching five English Bible classes, leading prayer meeting and youth meeting

ach week. I

try to make i t to the prison

each

week

but I

can t

always.

have

had

some

pretty big expenses

la te ly and

the

biggest

of these

was our Taiwan

taxes of

U.S. 300.

Ouch

An

expense which

is

coming up

is

summer

camp. I

am

that some of you will be able

to

help us with these expenses.' 'This' is^a wond

pportunity to reach people for Christ and i t always has to be subsidized.

It

usuall

inds up costing each missionary here

about

75 so i f you would l ike

to donate

toward

xpense of

Camp

I would urge you

to. If

so please designate offerings as such

when

y

them to

our forwarding

agen t .

lease be praying for our work here in the

future

and thank Him for His leading in th

PLEASE

NOTICE

CHANGE

IN

FORWARD

AGENT'S ADDRESS ==

BOX

333

In His Service,

an, Jane .t,

Beth,

Becky, & Jonnie Bemo

;p


5/20

F o rw a rd in g A g en

M r s .

Sandi G a n t

R.

R.

1

Box 3 3 3

J a n e t B e m o

2 1 , Lane 157

Sheng S . R d . S e c . 1

106,

Taiwan

cnusAaetc

F o r t

G i b s o n ,

O k

77^3^

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

A p r i l

1 9 7 2

hen I g o t home

from

t h e o f f i c e on A pr i l t h e 1 1 t h

w as

a l o n g - d i s t a n c e

p h o n e call f r o m

A m e r i c a

f o r

m e . As I

s a t

at t h e p h o n e w a i t i n g

f o r

h e

c o n n e c t i o n

t o b e made all

k i n d s

o f t h i n gs w e n t

my

m i n d .

I

w a s b o t h

r e l i e v e d a n d h a p p y t o

h e a r

my

m o t h e r s c h e e r f u l v o i c e s a y i n g h e l l o .

h e t o l d

me

t h a t

s h e w a s g o i n g

t o a r r i v e a t t h e

I n t e r n a t i o n a l a ir p o r t a t

1 0 : 3 0

o n t h e 1 7 t h

t h e

f o l l o w i n g Monday m o r n i n g . We

w e r e r e a l l y

b e c a u s e

we h a d h a d n o

i d e a

o f t h e

p o s s i

o f h e r

c o m i n g .

We

f o u n d

o u t

later

t h a t it

as a l m o s t a s

much o f

a s u r p r i s e

f o r h e r

a s

it

w a s

o r

u s .

M o t h e r h a d

J u s t d e c i d e d t o

c h a n g e

J o b s

a n d

ince there

w o u l d

b e a t w o

w e e k

intervention b e t w e e n

s h e d e c i d e d t o t r y t o

u s e

t h i s f r e e t i m e t o

u s.

Sh e d i d n t want

to g et

o ur hopes

o r even

e r own up too high

so

she d i d n t

mention

it

to us

u n t i l she was s u r e . Sh e g o t

h e r

p

s h o t r e c o r d s a n d v i s a i n a r e c o r d t i m e o f t e n d a y s a n d c a l l e d u s o n t h e d a y

s h e

e r

p l a n e r e s e r v a t i o n s

made t o let

u s

know

w hen s h e w as

c o m in g . M o th e r w as

o n l y

a b l e

u n t i l

the 28th

bu t

we

t h a n k

God

f o r th e

time we

had

t o g e t h e r . Sh e

gave

a testim o

n

all

my c l a s s e s

s p o k e a t

tw o w o m e n s

m e e t i n g s a n d s a n g

a

t r i o

w i t h J a n e t

an d

I

a t

I f e l t it a g r e a t

p r i v e l e g e

t o t r a n s l a t e

f o r

h e r

i n my c l a s s e s an d I

know

t h

an d

n o n - C h r i s t i a n s

a l i k e were

i n f l u e n c e d

by

h e r t e a c h i n g .

I c o u l d n t

t a k e

while she

w a s

here but w e did

d o

our

best

to

s h o w

her around

M o t h e r a n d

s o m e

students

p r a i s e

a n d

g i v e God

a l l

c r e d i t t h a t t h e r e

w e r e

f o u r b a p t i s m s t h i s

month.

Mr . Wang

was

baptized

on A p r i l 2nd. Miss

Feng and

Mr.

Peng

were

immersed

on

th e

l4th

an

Yang

o n t h e 2 7 t h . Mr. P e n g is i n h i s s i x t i e s

a n d h a s b e e n

c o m i n g t o t h e C h u r c h f

t h r e e m o n t h s . It is seldom t h a t we s e e a n e l d e r l y p e r s o n

a c c e p t

C h r i s t

i n

t h e

O

o

we e s p e c i a l l y

r e j o i c e

f o r h i m . T he

o th e r t h re e

a r e all

p e o p l e we r e a c h e d t h r o u g h t

l i s h B ib le

c l a s s e s .

month I t o l d you

a b o u t

Sam

Hazlewood

an d me

p l a n n i n g

a t r i p t o K ao h s iu n g t o s e e a

an independent Church t h e r e who asked

f o r h e l p .

d id

go on Apr i l

14,15 an d

S e r v i c e s a t T s o Y i n g B e t h s 5 th b ir t h d ay


6/20

planned

and

had

some wonder fu l

meet ings the r e .

Actual ly

the

p l ace

we went

to is

a su

Kaohsiung

cal led Tso

Ying. We l e f t Taipei

on

the l4 th Friday

morning,

and

ar r ived

in Kaohsiung where th e p re ac he r who

had

asked

us to

come and help Mr.

Lo,

was the

meet us .

- We went

by t ax i

to

Tso Ying, checked i n to an inn and

had lunch

toge the r .

t a t ime to meet

them

a t the inn tha t

night

before

the meeting

and

then

went to

Kaoh

make r etu r n- tr ip t ra in r e se rva t ions and

to

go

see Mrs.

Li l l i an Mart in , our co-worker

She

had

recent ly

had

a

t he f t

and

was in

the process of moving and we thought we

by able

to

help

her .

That

n igh t I presented a

s l ide program

a t the church in Tso

desc r i b i ng

the

Church in

the New Testament

through s c r i p tu r e s and

then preached

fo

a few minutes . Mrs. Mart in

a lso a t t ended and a f t e r

I

spoke

th e

preacher asked

Mr

to

g ive

a

t e s t imony .

There were

35

peop le

t he r e

and

t h e i r

r ecep t i on

was

warm

an

I showed s l ides on

Saturday

night also on the top ic of Chruch

History

and the

o f denomina t iona l i sm. The i r Sunday

se rv i ce

is

on

Sunday

af te rnoon

a t

3^00

P.M.

d Sara preached a chal lenging message

to

the

Chris t ians

a t the meeting.

These Chris t i

e a littl

d i f f e r en t from

t hose we

were

used to . For

example they

ll prayed

a t once

during prayer t imes and they par took of

communion

with fermented

wine. However

I

sure by t h e i r f ru i t s tha t they are in Chris t

and

therefore

they are my

bre thren . P

These

people

have paid fo r t h e i r own Church

bui ld ing

with t he i r meager offer ings

d

they cal l

themselves

the

Fu

Hsing (Pestor ation) Church

of

Christ . This i s the

same

on

th e Church bui ld ing

-where I

work. We c a l l our s e l ves

t h i s because

our

mee-t-in-g

i s

on

Fu

Hsing

St ree t . They ca l l

themselves

t h i s because

they are

in

the

Fu

Hsin

of

town. We pra ised

God a l l

the

way

back

to Taipe i

and

joyously

to ld

the bre t

re o f our t r i p . We a re now working with

s ix

Churches.

we are on the subject of Churches I would l ike to mention tha t on the 23th a

prea

a

before,

unknown independent

Church

of

Christ ,

came

over

to the

office

to interview

see what we believed.

e then said tha t

he

too simply wanted

to follow the Bible p

d wonde red if we

could

help t he i r

congregat ion .

I have not inves t iga ted t h i s poss ib

ye t

but

I

would

l i ke

for you

to pray about t h i s too

and

I

hope

we

wil l have some

to report to you next

month. By

th e way,

we

are not helping any

of

these Churches

any f inanc ia l way. Thay

have

asked

us to

come

and

teach or preach and th i s i s a l l w

e doing. We are not

t rying

to get them to join

our group

we

don t

have a group an

as

such.

When we go to help them we make it p la in th at we are

not

giving

any

f i

a id .

Our only hope

for these

congregat ions i s

to

give them the Truth of

Jesus

- - unadul te ra ted

by

man s doctr ine and we have f a i t h

t ha t

it

wi l l make

them f r

r

prayer

i s

t ha t

Churches a l l

over

t h i s i s l and

- -

where

the re

i s

the

grea tes t

concen

o f m i ss io na rie s and

t h e r e f o r e

denomina t iona l i sm from ll over th e

wor ld

w i l l

f r eed

from denominat ional i sm

and have

the uni ty

t h a t Chr i s t

prayed f o r . Up

to

the

those Churches which

have

pul led out of denominationalism

have

been

ost racized

d have

ne i the r

any kind of

uni ty

or fe l lowship .

However

the

Lord

seems

to be seeking

out

now and we pra i se Him for

our

pa r t in

His

plan

here .

became

f ive years old on the l8 th .

I t

was

kind

of spec ia l get t ing to have her Bem

here

with

her . I

look

a t

Beth with

rea l

joy

and pride as I see her

get t ing

I t i s

rea l ly

hard fo r me to comprehend tha t she i s

rea l ly

ge t t ing

more grown up

l th e t ime un t i l

I

see her express some deep sp i r i t u a l t ru th

o r

take on some r e a l r e -

a re

look ing

forward

to wr i t i ng

our

nex t

news le t t e r

so

we

can

t ll

you

how

working

w

o th e r Church t u r n s ou t . P l ea se be p r ay ing

a bou t

it in th e

meant ime.

n

is Service

^OTVrvO

Reques t ed :

S a n d i

Ga n t

1 Box 333

Gibson,

77^3^

7 ^ 2

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S .

POSTAGE

1.7(S PA ID

Ft Gibson Okl

Pe rmi t no . 3


7/20


8/20

, . 7 t ;

\Ss.\

a u a k

m l i prown;

Tme L.EA

\SHV NOT

A T ^ U

EN P

OP

Th

OAMO

v u

fellowship among

ourselves In Chris t. We

prayed with

him

before

leaving

and

Ted

and

I

prayed fervently about

t hi s. Five days la te r

go t

a

phone

call

f rom Brother Chen saying

that he wanted me to come over on

Sunday nights

to

continue

th e English Bible class tha

Ted had previously taught. We praised

God and

I went.

Then

on

Tuesday,

May

16th, Brother Chen

came

to

see me

to

tell me

that

was again receiving opposition from his brethren about us working together and what should he do.

Should

I leave this fellowship

They seem to think that if

you

aren t called Church of God that

you

aren t saved and they are very closed-minded. Now, I hope

can appreciate ou r predicament in a

time

like this. I told him that I

considered

that he and his brethren

were

Christians and

that

if h

left them th_at he would onlv be gaining

our

fellowship a t t he cost of t he ir s. I suggest ed that we again cancel thi s c lass and

that

in th

way his brethren could see ou r

genuine

love for the brethren. We could put this matter before the

Lord

in prayer and He might cau

something

really

beautiful to happen.

I also told him

that

we always

welcomed

any Bible believing

and practicing, undenomination

congregation

i nt o our

fellowship but that we

offered no

financial help and they

could

not be considered as a part of

any

denominat

sinc e we had no earthly headquarters or

head

bu t Christ . He

agreed

with my suggestion and then said that If things didn t

work

out

soon that he was considering leaving this group of five Chruches. I also suggested that if he did so that the congregation continue

to

call i tself

th e Chruch of God

a

very scriptural name.

Mr. Chen has been to

our

house since, giving us

the

names of four congregations which are independent

and

call themselves Church

Chris t. We are at

the

present trying

to

make contact

with these.

Two of

them

are in

th e

Kaohsiung

area

where

Sam Hazlewood

is

working and two of

them

are in

our

a rea. Perhaps I will have more news next month .

Why are we so concerned about fellowship? Why no t just do

our

own thing

and

let everyone else alone? BECAUSE I AM PART OF

CHRIST'S BODY I lovethis body

and

I want it to be one co-ordinated

and

one in its purpose. When my toe hurts my fingers

do all they can to help t he toe because it is of the same body.

Yet

we have the

concept

of the Chruch as a

body

divided one tha

can t possible

help

itself

because

it is d issected . I

also

am convicted that it is of utmost importance

because

Christ prayed that we be

one

so that

th e world could come

to be saved. If

my Lord prayed fo r

it

has servants

ought

to

use

every

last

bi t

of energy to

see this

wish fulfilled, at the same time praying that the Lord himself will give us strength to do His will. Many people's

concept

of the Chr

is something like the pictured cartoon. I

hesitate to

picture the

Church

as a s inking boat

except that

if a

congregation,

an

assembly,

Church, is sinking, just because we are the members of another congregation doesn t mean we aren t sinking too. If

that

congregati

is in Chris t

they

are

part

of

the

same body

we are in

the same boat.

If we

don t

feel

for

them

it

may jus t

prove

that

we are

the

o

not

connected to the head. We are lacking the nerve connection of love which tells us to help a fellow member of the body .

The Fu

Hsing

Chruch of Christ, which we are working with, was host to the monthly youth rally in May. It was held on May 27th.

The apartment was packedwith 96 young people from four congregations. An Attendance bannerwent to the congregationwith th

most youth represented which was Shr Lingwith 41. Wepraise God for this great gathering.

Also, the Fu Hsingyouth are starting

to

meet on Sunday nights where they have no Englishstudy but-sing, study the Bible,and hav

youth activities. On May 28th Janet and I had seven of the youth over

to

our house for a Bar B Q in our yard, with watermelon lat

One thing which has been very successful in youth work here ismusic. Lately wehave been using as many modern Christian songsa

possible such as, Put Your Hand Inthe Handof the Man WhoStilledThe Water. The youth reallygofor this and sodo I (I am s

young too). When I knew Iwasgoing into the hospital Janet encouraged me to buy a guitar which I had been wanting to get. I hav

beenpracticingon it ever since and I can now play a few tunes. I hopethat this can alsobe usedfor the glory of God.

Janet

had her twenty-seventh birthday on May the 24th. Beth and Becky and I spent

about

an hour making a cake for Mommy and

then Bethmade little paper airplanesfor namecards. She gave me the names of several of Janet's friends to cometo a party. She d

this completely on her own, which made Janet very happy. Janet and I celebrated her birthday two days later by getting a baby sit

and spending the afternoon and evening by making last minute preparations for the youth rally. It was very enjoyable for both of u

since

we don t

get to work together

like

this often.

I am writing this May report on June the 2nd and already some new things have happened this month that I want to tell you about.

However

this

will have

to

wait. I am anx ious to wr ite

to

you again.

Your

prayers are being answered. Praise God

Yours

In

Christ,

Re tu rn R equ es te d:

r o

Alan, Janet, Beth, Becky, & Jonnie Bemo

G a n t

Box

333

Fo r t Gibson ,

Oklahoma

77^3^

MiSSfCAJ

0 , / 77

NON-PRO

ORGANIZA

U.S .

POST

1 .7^ P A

Ft .Gibson ,

Pe rm i t

no


9/20

Dear Christian

Friends,

fA K GAZT

cttas oe

June 1972

Forwarding

Agent:

Mrs . S on di G a n t

R.R. 1,

Box

333

Fort

Gibson,

Okla.

7 4 4 4

We have

been

anxious to wri te to you this month but

have

waited

till

the

month s

end in order tell you about th e

whole month.

j

Vatican

City; on June

7th,

released

o

statement

of

the

Pope s

to

a

delegation

^figgl^^SyS

from Thailand

representing the

world's 177 million Buddhists. He said, We

have

a

profound regard

for th e spiritual, moral

and

socio-cultural treasures

that have been

bestowed

on you through your

precious

traditions. We con

see how the Catholic

Church

has made such

vocal

compromises down |

through the

ages

in order

to

gain the

confidence and favor

of the

religious

g * nii

world.

To

those

who

ore

Buddhists

here

in

Taiwan

it

is

another

voice

. 7

I^B

telling them that their religion is

good

and that they need not change. But .-gljgmH;

God's

message

to

the

world is that Christ is the way,

the

truth, and

the

life

and that no

man

comes

to

th e

Father

except through

Christ. Our goa l is

not to try to

graft

man-made rel igions but simply to

seek

fellowship with

those whom

God

has grafted in. One day

we

had a visit by two Mormon

missionaries. I couldn t l e t them into

th e house

11

John

10) bu t I

did go

with o d au m i

X

X-

I j ix X X u- -xu xu xu Elder Jwang

Brother

Lwo

at House-

them to a meeting place and after two teaching sessions with them they God

would not study with me any

more because Our

Church will not let us

study anti-mormon material.

It is impossible to

work

with people like this. On

t he o ther

hand, on June 19th, Mr.

Jong,

(the former

baptist

preacher we baptized

last

year but could not work with because he

was working

in

th e

Presbyterian

Church)

came

over and told

me

that he

was

wanting out of th e Presbyterian Church

because

it

was

a man s Church not

Christ's.

One

problem was

that

some people wanted to

be

baptized but th e Presbytry wouldn t let him immerse

them.

really believe

that

this man is

seeking

to follow

the

New

Testament more

closely but

at

the

same time

I must reolize that

at

least

in

th e

past, he

has been

a

professional preacher preaching

in

different

denominations

wherever

he

con

get

a

job. We genuinely wont to help'him but we

don t

hove money to hire him, and Ibeli eve this is just as well. All we can do

is

to

encourage him

to start

a

New Testament work

of his

own and then help

him in

whatever way

we

can.

On June 1st,

we

were contacted by a Church that

wanted

us to help with a youth evangelism program. I

went

to

investigate and found

these

interesting facts . They have no preacher or pastor (Chinese

word for

preachers), but the

man who preaches and leads

in Bible

studies

is

an

Elder in th e Church. Very scriptural. They

baptize

by immersion

and

they

hove th e Lord's

Supper every

Sunday., This

group

call

themselves Household

of

th e

Eternal God. In th e New Test-

ament the Church is called the household ofGod. Thisgroup ofChristians d

not belong to any denomination so we decided to help with

the

youth. I

teac

an

English Bible

class

on

Tuesday afternoons at

4:30.

After t en weeks

of thi

we will put phase two of

our

youth evangelism program which will consist o

leading

these

young people who remain and ore Interested in a program o

fellowship and Bible instruction all in Chinese....in other words a youth group

which

can

be

led entirely

by

th e

church

leaders.

fm WORfC FA/LS AFTER A YEAR

OF HARD

WORK

w I

have been

working with

the

Chang Chwen Church of Christ youth for

almost

I ^ y

year now and we have neither

had

a

baptism or

a

transfer

of

membership.

I B ^

^0^

Neither have we been

able

to reoch

the

college

age

people wh o hod grown u

H '

?*

' jjw

in that

church. We

are not

however

discouraged but have

tried

to analyz

I 4 work

failed and

are determined to try again. Ithink the main failur

H 1 was

that

we failed to move

them

for a decision for Christ

when interest was a

A

apeak

but

instead

allowed

our weekly

lessons to

drag

on to a montonou

^ 1

ordeal.

This has led

us

to try

this 10

week English Bible course

which will

bring

F 1 in the

youth

and contactsand a few baptisms

with

which the Chinese church

P ' 1 leaders can continue a youth program.

One

tooth missing

and

proud of

grow

ing

up

We are also

encouraged because

of the success of youth work in other places


10/20

V I i ^ have hod a

total

of five responses at the Fu Hsing Church of Christ

f

I^L

i

these have all

been

faithful to

the

Lord and have

attended

Sundoy

a WB

i

night

youth

meetings

which were started

the first week

of June

Besides

fh^se there have been several non-Christians who have been present at

: t /j these meetings where we sing lively Christian songs, discuss their pro-

r ^ hiems

from

a scriptural

point of view,

and have various activities.

I ^ i g y We have had cottage meetings in two of

the

Christian s homes on

Wednesday nights in June. I hope that before long that this will become

|| a

regular part

of

the Christian

fellowship

at the Fu

Hsing

Church

i

1 ^

^ ^ f j k

In

June

I

finished preaching

a

series

of

sermons through

Colossions

and

ii W

mP

a T Started preaching a

new series

through

Phillippians.

A

new

EnoiB responsibility has been

my helping

in the Sunday

School

program for

u children which includes

teaching

once a while.

J arly

in

Junewhen Janet and Igothome from an evening out, we had a

Baptism in

a

cistern

phone call from Ted Skiles, a fellow missionary, who had a

student

that

wanted

to be bapt ized. The baptist ry

wasn t

filled so I

s ug ge st ed t he

possibility of immersing him in the cistern which supplies our house with water. Ted brought Joei over with classmates

and he was baptized that very~hour of

th e

night, while it was raining. His classmates watched through our bedroom win

dow and i photographed the event from on top of a wall which surrounds our house. We were certainly happy for Joel and

Ted.We also praised God for two other baptisms lately ofMr.Hwang

(Yellow)

and Mr.

Lyou.

These two boys were led to

the Lord by Mr. Wang, a convert from our English Bible classes back in April.

We have been blessed

with

a number of visitors

this

month^Tibe

Stevens

were here

from Okinawa where they

ar e

in th e Service. They visited all >

of

th e

mission work

that

we

ar e

all doing in

th e

Taipei area and

were

a

joy to us. We

always like Tourists like

this. They

said,

We find that the V

^ost enjoyable thing

about

every country

Is

the

work

our

missionaries

/ ^

are

doing

- we really get tosee whatthe country islikethisway. LaVerp. V , f

Morse of Cincinnati Bible

Seminary was here

for a

few

days

on business

\

and

it

is always

a

joy

to seehim. While he was here he was able to meet

|^

. w

Corey

Lin,

our prospective stujient to C..B.S. He was able to help Carey a I

lot for enrollment to the Seminary this fall. Also, Christian business man,

^irn Banta.of Minnesota, was through here again with his family and .

t reated us to

a

C h in e se m e a l. Then w e h av e h ad th e c ha nc e t o m e e t

young man, Stanley Stephenson, relative of a friend of in the States.

Stanley is stationed here so we look forward to much more fellowship

with

him

in the remaining months that he will be here Breakat Missionary workshop

reakat Missionary workshop

M I S S I O N A R Y

ACTI VI TY

Through the month ofJune we have held a jointmissionary prayer meeting every Friday ofternoon from 1:30 to 2:30. We

have

seen

a lot of answered prayers come from this already. On June 26th and 27th we hod our first missionary spiritua

workshop. This was two days of discussion sessions on missionary policies, and future plans. We spent much time in

prayer and singing also, and we had such a spiritual feast that I personally hope that we can do something like this each

year. Jonet and Icame back home with a better idea of what we are doing and more determination to serve our

Lord.

Th

Skiles will be leaving on furlough at

the end

of July.

N E X T I SSUE

In

July

we have a lotof

things

planned but these are

all

planned

with

an if the

Lord

will

attached. One of these

things

is summer camp from th e 9th to th e 15th. More about this next month.

Y our s In H is

S er v ice,


11/20

Field

Address:

Alan an d

Jane t

Bemo

Number 21,

Lane

157

Hsin

Sheng

S.

Rd.,

Sec. 1

Taipei

106,

Taiwan

c i t a sA a e t t

Forwarding Age

Mrs. Sandi Gant

R. R. 1, Box

333

Fort Gibson, Ok

7

Dear Christ ian Friends ,

A TRAGEDY

AT

SUMMER CAMP

July, 1972

SEP 1 1 t97E

I have something very sad to report to you this time. A 22 year-old man drowned at our summer camp this year. Wehad gone to a

camp-site south of Taipei in a little mountain village called Gu Gwan. Camp started on July 9th and was to continue till the 15th . On

boy, Jang Tsung Da, was baptised on the second night of camp and the camp spirit had never been better. Then on the third day of

camp I went to the swimming hole, a wide place in a small creek near the camp grounds, at 1:30 P.M. Then at 3:00 five swimmers

came to swimalongwith another missionary. Chuck Johnston. This wasall done according to camp rules asany swimmers had to wa

at

least

an hour after

lunch

and had to beaccompanied bya

life-guard. Chuck

and twere at the sideof the pool

talking when

one of

the swimmers yelled to us that his friend, a boy named Jan Yan Hwei, had just sunk into the water and had failed to surface. Chuck

and

I

immediately

dove

in

to

search

for

him.

Although

the

pool

was

only

forty

feet

across and

eight feet deep

in

the

deepest part,

it

took four dives before I could find him. I pulledhim to shore as qui^Kly as possible and started giving himmouth-to-mouth artificial

respiration immediately Chuck checked for a heart beatandsaidtherewas a pulse. Everyone was praying and after no longer than

five minutes hestarted breathing by

himself.

One boywent aheadto call a doctor to meetusandthe other five of us put himon an

air mattress and started carrying him to the road. Wewere careful to keep his feet higher than his head and we kept him covered wit

all

the

towels

and dry clotheswehad. It took usabout twenty

minutes

to get himto the road,

where

the doctor

was waiting. He

ex

amined the boy, gavehim two shots and said he was in good condition, even though hewas still unconscious* A man volunteered his

station wagon and drove us to the nearest hospital, forty minutes away. We entered the still unconscious boy in the hospital at about

4:10

P.M.

and the doctor

gave

him two

more

shotsand thenat 4:20 put an

oxygen

tube in

his nose.

He took one

breath

of

oxygen

andit

was his last.

Iagain

gave him

artificial

respiration

forabout

five

more

minutes

asthe doctor

gave him

a shot directly into the

heart,

but itwas to no

avail.

It is hard to describe the emotions of the

four

of us who had been his fellow campers and had

brought

him to the hospital to seehim die. My own was oneof emptiness, confusion, and disbelief. From the timethishad started to happen

I had not thoughtabout the

possiblility

of

him

really

dying,

or the

consequences. We all

had

done

whathad to be

done mechanically

without thinking. Now it wasover. Ascomplete consciousness came back to our numbed minds the thing that hurt the most was

that this boy

was

nota Christian.

In

the midst of an effort to

call

him into

Christ

who

wants

to give us victory over

death,

hehad

di

We

were

heartbroken.

Now

there

were

other

things

that

had

to bedone. Notify the parents,

weep,

notifythe fifty other

campers,

weep, dismiss camp, meet the parents, weep, appear at a

legal

hearing, and take care of funeral arrangements.

We

volunteered to, anddid, payfor

all

the

funeral costs. Although

wecannot understand whyGod

allowed

thisto

happen

wesee

His

leading

inmany areas. Thefather sattitude

toward

us was very

understanding.

He said, He

is my

son. Iwantto takecare of

every

thing myself. Atthe legal hearing we were

absolved

of

all

responsibility. Even though camp was dismissed

early

almost

every campe

hasbeencoming to Church

meetings

even non-Christians, and they arethinking much moreseriously about their need for a

Savio

One has

said,

I want to

believe

very

much,

but I

still

doubt a little. Another has

said,

If we have camp next

year,

Iwant to

go

for

sure

Pleasepray for these campers and for everything involvedwith this boy s death.

Taiwan six years ago I have constantly

encountered

an at

prayed for. Most missionaries say, Why try for unity be

States as several groups, each going its separate way? This

now for

two

y tsjio put out am g zine to

try to^eal

. - U

with this problem; Nowwe are finally starting to put our 0 . V;, . .

plans into effect. Starting in August we are laying

out

fourteen issues of a magazine we will call HIM. Wew ill.., .. ..

start

publishing this

magazine In

October

and will putit t T

ou t

for tn ight ly till April of 1973. We plan to send this to

every denominat ional and undenominat ional

c hu rc h o n

th e

island. We hope to send it to as many church leaders as pos- :

sible.

Others

have

had great

plans

for ecumenicity

here a Swimming

site

mong this,

th e

country

of

the

greatest

concentration

of mis-

Swimming site


12/20

^

sionaries

of

almost

all

denominations in

the

world. In

the

come

presenting th e

restoration

plea

bu t

have

I ffa been looked uponasjust a new

foreign

denomination {mo

BB

of

the time we very much deserve

this appearance .

But w

UgHji A M

:Wm

hope that

this magazine will,

bythe

power

of

God, help in

9B^I

W

^1 some

way

to foster amovement here in Taiwan, to compa

There are many problems

concerning

this work. (1) We ha

' p^K O 9 |Bp ^^/ k w


13/20

F i el d A d d re s s:

Alan

an d

Jane t Bemo

Number

21 Lane

15 7

Hsin S he ng S. R d. Sec. 1

Taipei

106

Taiwan

August 17th 8 happy

years

together

Dear Christian Friends / A ft \

Missionary life Is not all excitement and roses and this

/ V I H ft

month

has

definitely not

been.

It has

not

been . H ^ft I ft

discouraging but

it

has been slow in that

it

has been

a J H I m ^ ft |

month

preparation.

However

there quiet V H I H ft J

satisfaction in knowing that we have been faithfully I B I IV

serving our Lord Jesus. n. B B

The main

thing

we

have been

preparing

for

Is

the

new

^ ^VsA

^

magazine we

talked

about last month. We

have

o staff of

two people working onthe magazinenow; Julia Ling and

Angel Yu. Julia has hod a lot of experience in working . .

with

the Church paper and Angel

is

a

graduate

of World School of Journalism. Both of these girls are

very

earnest

Christians. We have decided to call the magazine

HIS KINGDOM. The

word for

HIS

in Chinese is very interesting in

that

this

character In

this

case has a radical

within

it

which signifies

that Itis referring to

Diety. When

people

look

at

the title they

will

know that it

has something

to

do

with God's or

Christ's

kingdom. We

hope

that the

magazine

can

make

it very clear

what

His Kingdom is.

Some

of

the

articles

which we have

already

written

for

the first few

issues

are: What

is

our

problem? An

impossible

prayer? (referring to

Christ's

prayer for

unity) Humility, a necessity for unity , and Unity-a mandate.

We

think we have the problem of addressing solved but there is

still

a problem of

registering

so please continue to

p r a y

We have

also been preparing

for youth

octivities

since school

will

be starting

in

September. I

really don't

knovv

how

it is

in

Americo,

buthere,

even though

young people are

out of school and have

more

time

in the

summer,

it

is

harder to get

them

involved

in

Church

activities. 1suppose theyare

busy

relaxing and

playing. There

has been

quite

a interest

inthe Jesus movement here and we are

trying

to

find

waysto reach more

young

people

with

the gospel. We

iave

come

up with

a

fish symbol

of Christ

which they like

a

lot and we are planning on putting

it

on T-shirts to sell to

Christian

young people. This fish is

actually

the two Chinese words for

Jesus

in the form

of

a fish.

On August 20th the Shih

Ling

Church of Christ youth

group where Sam Hazlewood is working, invited our

8 ft W 8 ^

youth

group to

join them on

a

Bar-B-Q outing.

They asked

^^B f ^ft|B ft 3 k

Bjjjj^

give a

devotional

at the

end

so after

four

hours

of

^^ftt I m ^B games and good eating by a riverside I

spoke

on

I 3 4 ft ^B Bar-B-Q in the Bible. 1talked about

sacrifices of

the Old

I >

f

I V

Testament and the need for us to make a sacrifice of our

Bftft ^ 1 own lives if we are to be saved. When an invitation was

I given a

young

man

stood to confess Jesus

as

Christ

^^3

t

under the

star-lit

sky.

One

of the

other young

people

had

^ j B||V been witnessing to

him

for months

by letter and

he

had

^ taken this

opportunity

to accept

Christ

as he was

in town

^B||^Hk |r ^

| \b^

I > on aweek-end trip. While everyone else

was

finishing up

^^HBR t Iwent ahead and prepared

the

baptistry and Chen Hang

ftftjjjiV? - - ^B

Jen

was

baptised

into the death, burial, and

resurrection

I ft ^ft ^ j. of Christ that

night.

JbI On

August

26th at

7:30

AM

Janet

Jonnie and igot on

a train for Kao-Hsiung. We had left Beth and Becky with

ft^^ft^B- i friends for the week-end and we were going to

A itau- o k Koo-Hsiung to visit two Churches there which ore

August

1

ppy

y 9 without preachers.

Previously Sam Hazlewood

had

been

going down there every week-end but this had become

II

II

Forwarding Agent:

Mrs. Sandi Gan t

R. R. 1 Box

33 3

Fort

Gibson Okla.

7 4 4 4


14/20

9

ST K

UM U P

A KE

A

D IV E

too much of a hordship

and

expense.

We found

out

why when we arrived back in Taipei the next night at

midnight

exhausted

and severa l pounds

lighter

really. While in Kao>Hsiung we led in

three

services

and went

to

visit one

of

th e Elders

of

one

of

th e

congregotions. However t ired we

were it

wa s

a

|oy

to

go

there

and

we plan on going

again

in a couple of

months, as Sam is asking

several

of us to help him by

going for him once in a while.

August

30th

28

years

old and

a

new

gui ta r

bought by friends.

O n th e

train

coming back I

went

to

th e

back of

train

to

watch the tracks and as I was doing so I got some

fine

pieces of steel in myeyes. Ididn t think much of it as it

was

only slightly uncomfortable but on arr iv ing at

home

my eye beganto hurtterribly

Finally

at three inthe

morning

Icouldn t take the

pain

any

more

and called

up

the

doctor. He toldme tocome rightoverand extracted five piecesof steel from the cornea of

my

right eye.

Thank

the Lord

this

was taken c are

of quickly

and

everything is all right now.

Beth and Becky are

both

in

school

now Beth started attending American Kindergarten on August 21st at the Bethany

Christian School She isso happyto be

going

to

school

with other American children. Becky is goingto Chinese nursery

school and very happy tobe following in her big sister s footsteps We are especially

proud

ofher as shewas selected

among one hundred out of four hundred applicants on the basis of a test given in Chinese.

In September

weore starting to

hold Sunday

services in the

home

ofthe

Elder

at the

Hsing

Church

ofChrist This

service is not

taking

the place of the former service but is something extra. Iam anxious to tell

you

more about

this

and

will

in September s report, after we have done it for a month.

Alan

Janet Beth Becky Jonnte Bemo

Return Requested:

Mrs.

Sandi Gant

R. R. 1,

Box 33 3

Fort

Gibson

Oklahoma 77434

3

NON PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S.

POSTAGE

1.7c PAID

Ft. Gibson Okla.

Permi t No.

3

4L-0j/-9


15/20

e ld Add re s s:

a nd J an e t

Bemo

Number 21, Lane 15 7

Sheng S.

Rd.,

Sec. 1

106,

Taiwan

rAK f iAST

e t t a sA u e i t

Forwarding Agent:

Mrs.

Sandi

Gant

R. R. 1, Box

33 3

Fort

Gibson, Okla.

7

September,

1972

No distrust

made

him

(Abraham) waver

concerning th e y

promise ofGod, but he grew strong In his faith as he gove J

glory toGod, full convinced that God was able to do what

We aren't saying that we have the faith of

Abraham

but our

faith

has

been Increasing these months. For some reason ^fSm

our support has dropped off lately as our expenses hove

Increased. We had been cutting corners every way possible

would get there

before

the

checks did. Well,

the

first one,

th e biggest

one . . i i j

the

Lord

honored, but I guess Hethought Hebetter teach usa lesson on the other two and they came right backmarked

INSUFFICIENT

FUNDS.

Becauseof this the bank here wouldn't let uswrite any more personal checks,so now Sandi, our

forwarding agent,

is

starting to

send our money by money

orders.

This

took

eleven days and we had

needed for a long

time money for food, transportation,

co-worker's

salaries

and

other work expenses. Faith Is always Increased with

trials and this was no exception.

We

tried to see

If

we

could

cut some

more

corners and

finally

let

Mrs.

Wu,

our

household

help,

who helped

Janet to be able to teach and work on the

Courier , off.

We

actually

did not

know

where

our next

meal

was coming from and I drove themotorcycle

around

on reserve tank all the time. I ran outofgas three

times and theLord amazingly provided. We were

absolutely helpless

like

the children of

Israel

In the

wilderness,

but

theLord provided

His

mannah. One evening

on American came

over

whom we

hod

met only

once

and

handed us an

envelope

which had been given to him to give tous by someone he didn't know. It had N.T. 1000

(US 25)

in It. One

evening

Janet

told me

that

we

only had

enough

food

in

the

house for

breakfast

and

1

lightly said

that the

Lord

will

provide.

Janet used the lost egg and the lastbitof

flour

for

pancakes

the nextmorning for breakfast.

That

morning in

ourdevotions aswe prayed for God to

once

again

provide

wewondered what was going to happen. It was getting to be

onexciting waiting game. That day when Icame home

from

the office at 12:30 Janet told meto look In the refrigerator.

There must have been 25 worth of food there . She told me that when the delivery boy delivered it to our door, Janet

said, You must have

the

wrong

address , but he

told

her that someone

had bought

the groceries and told him to

deliver them to us. Janet told the kids that God hod sent it, and when Becky saw some Kool-ald in the sacks (which Is

very special

here)

Becky's eyes got big and she said

Oh,

mommy, look,

God

even sent

me

some

Kool-ald .

Isn't

It

like

God to put the special

treats

in, too?

The timewe were mosttouched was when Peter Suencomeover and gave us NT 500 whichwas an offering which his

family

had

taken

up

for

us. This

was

really

a sacrifice for

them since

all

four children hove heavy school

expenses.

Another expeclolly needy time, the Lord raised up a Christian young

man,

McGill Lee,

who

handed us NT 400 one

evening

after youth meeting. He is in the army

and

I

know

he

didn't have

this to spare. Julia Lin

and

Angel

Yu

whom

we

need

to pay

each week,

have

been gracious about

not

receiving

their salaries

and

even

volunteered

to

pay

for

the

church papers themselves. Even so, the Lord has never

allowed

them to hove to

wait

more than three days for

their

pay.

Every specific

prayer of need has been and is

being

answered. Praise

God.

Now

our checks

have

started

coming

but they

have both

been

under what they should

be. And still God

provides Janet

and I wrote some very Important letters last night and I started writing this newsletter this morning, not knowing when

we would have enough money to moil them. Just now

Janet

called me Into

the

bedroom

where she

found an envelope

with NT 400 ( 10) In It. It said The Lord bless you , on it. . . .He has. We will be able to send this to you now,

and

buy

some groceries for today.

We

has

a

visitors

this morning

and we are pretty sure

it

was

him

who th e

Lord

used

to

give

us

this gift.

Although

we have been

low

th e last few months

I

believe

things

are going to level

off

now and we are

still

going

ahead

with plans for the magazine, HIS KINGDOM* to be

put

out In October. Everything is ready for the first issue to go to the

printer. We hove faith

that

God

will provide

fo r this for we or e convinced

that it Is His will.

You

may

r emember tha t we

missionaries had

a

spiritual

work-shop last

June where we talked about

starting churches

in people' s homes instead of

church

buildings . We decided that we

would try

to

establish

church using

both

approaches, rather than becoming anti-church building, and

se e

what happened. In August the Elder at the FuSyIng


16/20

zm %

String Bean Band

church said he couldn't come to Church any more. It j iy N'a|teJ|

went

to

coll on him

and found that

his

business had

9

been

failing

and thathe

had had

to lay off all his

help.

^9

He

explained that

now

he had to work seven days a 9

week to

keep

up

with

production at his small fiber x^


17/20

rAK GAXTCttaSAaCK

Fie ld Address :

Alan and

J a n e t

Bemo

Number 21, Lane 157

Hsin

Sheng

S. Rd.,

Sec.

1

Taipei

106,

Tawlan

'o

o

Forwarding Agent;

M r s Sand G a n t

R.R.I ,

Box333

Fort

Gibson, Okla .

744 4

JAM 5 '.J73

Octobe r

&

November 1972

Dear Ct^ristian Friends,

I

broke

a

perfect record

fo r 1972 last

month

when I didn't ge t

ou r

October

report ou t

to you on

time.

Now I

am

combining October and November

in

one

report.

I

thank

God

foryourcontinued prayers, thoughts and support

in spite of

this.

The first of October th e

Shih

Ling Church of

Christ

decided

they

wanted to

invite a

Chinese

preacher,

Mr.

Jang,

to

start working

there

the first ' '^J^hSeSI

Sunday

in November. You may

remember

that I have spoken of this man

often. He f orma ll y h as preached in th e

Bap ti st a nd

Presbyterian

denominations butwas baptized

at

Shih

Ling in th e Spring of 1970,

an d

ha s

had

close

contact

with us ever since. Because of

th e

Church wanting to

hire

him a Faith-Promise Rally was held on October 27, 28, & 29 in order

to

encourage the

members

to take on this

financial responsibility

by faith.

Previously

th e

Church had given an

average

of about $5.00 a Sunday. One

Sunday there

had

been an offering of

only

50c A goal for three months a < -

giving

wassetfor theraliyofdouble thisprevious giving 307. This was J

a big

step

bu t even with th is

th e

Church would have to depend on $62 of

miss ionary support monthly.

Chuck

Johnston, Sam Hazeiwood, and

myself

preached on faith at the three day

rally. There

was also a I J

businessmen's

luncheon

a

youth

banquet,

and

a

women's

tea

in

r^ J

connection with the rally. All of us were apprehensive

as

to

whether

this ^

impossible goal would be reached and

waited

tensely as the

^

Faith-Promisecardswereaddeduponan abacus.

We

hada thermometer

^8

r ;M

made

for th e

occasion

and we wat ched it go up quick ly to $512 This was

more than

enough for

the Church's expenses

not counting any mission support. At

the

end of November this giving

came

to$145.

This

is a

little

behind schedule but there are

still

nine Sundays in this

period.

Also Church attendance

ha s

picked

up and people

ar e

becoming really joyful in their work.

pother (Mrs. Isabel Dittemore) arrived back in Taiwan on October 19th just in time to take part in the

^Faith-Promise Rally.

After being gone

for almost a year our

children

were really

excited

to see their

grandmother. We had a room of our house all fixed up for

her

and Beth and Becky had

made

a Welcome Home

sign for her. Mother isstaying with us till she can find a suitable apartment. We are trying totalk her into staying

with us all th e t im e.

Earlier this year

we had tried

to help

brothe^^reyJCnrgo-iQ..Gncinnati

Bible

Seminary

graduate school. At the

last moment he wasn't able to go to C.B.S. because of complicattOBS_tr^ so accepted the invitation of a school

which

offered him full

Scholarship,

even

though they had

not

sent

him any-ma.t?rial

indicating

the nature

of

their

institution. Then the first of November we got a letter from Carey which said h ChaLmada-a,4' ''^' T^'stake

because th e school there

wa s

Pentecostal. He is

now making arrangements

to change to C.

B.S.^at mid-term

this

year . P lease

pray for him. The tui tion is difficult for him to manage so if any of you feel moved to

help

him you

could send checks to Mr. Carey Lin, c-o Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45238.

On Sunday morning,

October

29th, I was awakened by a

phone cal l

from Ron Hoffman, missionary from the

Philippines and an o rgan izer of ASIA

FOR CHRIST.

He had-been

in.Guam

working with a newly started Church

there and was asking me if I could go there for three Sunday:' if-they paid for my expenses. I accepted the

invitation and on Octoberllth I got on a TWA 707,

jet

for

Guam.

I regreted not

being

able to take

my

family with me

and

It had

taken some

planning to

ge t

my. Taiwan responsibilifies

taken care

of. I arrived in Guam

at

1:30 AM

where Ed

Tolosa,

whom I stayed with in'TSTJ^m ffrrd'Tsaac Johnston,

met

me at the airport.

The congregation there

had been

started by Ed Tolosa - A Philippine

who had become

an

American citizen

an d is

now

stationed in Guam with th e Air Force . He has been a very

ea rnest member

of th e New Testament movement

in

th e

Philippines fo r many

years an d

t he f ir st t hing he

wanted

to do whe n h e arrived in

Guam

was to start a New

Testament

work there. He gathered together others of like-precious-faith - a congregation of about

thirty

which

consisted

of

five

Caucasians

and t he r es t

Philippines.

Then ASIA FOR CHRIST

was asked

to

come and

help

them

AFC ha s been supplying p reache rs and is now looking fo r a missionary to go there an d work

full-time.


18/20

I

enjoyed

preaching there on Sunday and Wednesday nights

and

doing

a

little

calling. t first

my

only

transportation

was hitch-hiking but this

turned out

to

be

a

blessing. The first

day 1was picked up by an

oriental-looking man and Iasked him ifhewas

Chinese

. I had heard that there were many

Chinese

in Guam and

was

very anxious

to

meet

some/

but

so

far

no one knew of

any. When

this fellow told me

he

was Chinese/

I

asked

him inChinese ifhewasfrom the Republic ofChina. He wasverysurprised to say the

least.

He said that hehad

never picked up a hitch-hiker before and had principles

against

it but that day/ as

he

saw me

standing

beside the

high-way he, for some strange reason, felt

that

he should pick me

up.

Although he

himself

was extrernely

antagonistic towards Christianity he

took

me to his office where he introduced me

to

his

very

receptive

co-worker.

Later

Iwas

able

togoback andtalktothis man. He

told me

that he

felt

a great

spiritual

need

and

that hebelieved

that

perhaps

the

Bible held

the

answer. Although

he

didn t

accept Christ

at

that time he

promised tostart

reading

the Bible and there is an open door

there

for future contacts.

Anew couple

started coming to

Church while

I

was

there

who

had been invited by one

of

t he Chu rch

members .

I

thank God

fo r t he f ai th of

these

people an d

hope

you

will

pray fo r

them with us .

I enjoyed the physi ca l aspects of

being there fo r

seventeen

days In th is i sland

where t he sun

first rises on America. I went shopping in Ben Franklin s

and ate a Big Mac at

McDonalds.

I was able to go SCUBA

B.

diving

while there in

th e most beautiful waters

I ve

ever

been in. While i wa s there I

was ab le

to

ge t

a driver s

license

Ifailed

the

testthe first time

and

borrow one

of the ^

Im

Church member s ca r to go calling. The

last day

I

was there

th e Church had a picnic a t th e beach as a send-off.

r r S r V

Until I

was

in

Guam

I didn t

really

realize

what

a strain I

had been under f rom our work here in Taiwan. I really f el t a

relief while there that I didn t

really understand.

I wished ^ f[B9K

J a n e t

h ad b ee n

there

with

mebut i

t a lk ed t o her about

these

feelings

after

I

go t

back.

I

thank

God

that

this

little

vacation from th e work here

ha s helped

me

to

get an

objective picture

of things. Now that Iam

back

I am

happier

than ever and am more able to cope with the strains . Iguess it will be good for us all to be on furlough next year.

Iarrived backin Taiwan on November

27th

and myfamilywasat the airport tomeetme. After distributing gifts

from new friends inGuam and myself we all went out to eat. It was good to be home. That night

Janet

and Jonnie

came downwith measles Janet and Jonnie are still confinedtothe house. Inthe nineyears I have knownJanet I

have never known her to be so sick but she was really sick this time. Iam very thankful that her mother was here

to help, too. Janet is doing

much

better now and

should

be up and

at

em soon.

Wewant tosend

you

Christmasgreetings andwishyoua happy

New

Year. Thedrawing of the heading was done

by

Beth an d

Becky . Becky

d rew t he angel

and Beth drew

th e

rest.

The

Lord

willing wewill beback intheStates inJune of1973.

We

are alreadystarting to schedule speakingdates

while on

furlough

sowehope

you

will letus know as soon as

possible

when you would likefor ustovisit

you

orspeak

at

your Church. We are anxious to see you personally.

Return Requested:

Alan, Janet, Beth, Becky, Jonnie Bemo

Research

Dept.

W.B..

McGillery

Box

1 7 7

Kempton, Ind.

460A9

U.S. POSTAGE

1 7 c P A I D


19/20

F i el d Add r es s :

Dear

Christian

Friends

FAR CAST

CRjUS-AQSR

Forwarding

Agent:

Mrs. Sandi Gant

R. R. 1, Box

333

Fort Gibson

Okla.

7

December

1972

Aswithmosteveryone else, Iguess, Christmas pretty

much

dominated the monthofDecember. But this Christmas

was without a doubt

the

happiest one of ou r lives.

The weeks prior to Christmas were filledwith preparations for a Christmas program which was held at the Fu

Hsing Church onDecember 23rd.We hadinvited the three other Churches inthe Taipei area to attend and we had

a total of 129 people there. The seating capacity is only 75 so you can know it was crowded. Never-the-less the

service lasted an hour and a half and everyone had a good time.

One of the events that made this Christmas such a blessing is that which took place on the evening of December

14th during

the

time when Iwas thinking about a Christmas sermon. I had gone in to help put

the

children to sleep

and this was a rare opportunity as I'm usually out to some meeting or calling in the evenings. That evening the

girls told me how excited they were about getting their Christmas presents and I told them it was really Jesus '

birthday

and thatwe ought

to

be

giving gifts to Him.When I

asked the

girls how we could do this I was thinking of

us

giving

ourselves to

Him

ButBeth really surprised me when she said, I know We can give presents to Jesus

by giving to

poor

people. Maybe

Janet had talked

to

the

children

about

this recently in

the

nightly devotions

but

thi s rea lly hit me. The next day I prepared a sermon from Matthew 25:31-46 concerning giving to th e hungry,

naked sick, strangers and imprisoned. All of us were moved by this teaching of ou r Lord to help people in a way

we

had

never been moved before. On Christmas afternoon about twenty of

the

young people from

three

Churches

went to a leprosarium to put on a Christmas program. That evening quite a few poor and lonesome from within

and

without the

Church

came t o our hou se

fo r

a

delicious Christmas

dinner

which

Janet

f ixed. Later

that

evening

our family walked over to a slum area not fa r from our house and distributed a large box of cookies,

used

clothing,

and

toys, along

with Christmas

tracts. On

December 28th

I had a

chance

to sing

at

a

Christmas

party for

th e

blind

and on December

30th

we

had another

interesting

experience. As I went to th e Church building at 7:00 P.M. to

open the door for youth meeting 1discovered a large sock in

the

doorway. After I opened

the

door and turned on

the

light Idiscovered

there was

a man in this sack, only discernable by a small patch of hair at

the

top and

the

fact

that

he

was

shivering. I shook him

and

invited him to lie down on a

pew

at

the

back of the room. Bythis time two

young people arrived and we got him some noodles and

water

which he ate. We got him warm clothes and then

he

went

to sleep. We tried to ta lk to him but he just

kept

saying, Okoy, just let me rest a minute. All through the

service

that

night

we

talked

about

helping

strangers and

after

the

meeting everybody got involved in helping this

fellow out. We found out

that

he

was

about fifty years old and had come to Taipei looking for work. He could only

speak

the

Taiwanese dialect so I couldn't communicate with him. We finally took him to a home provided by the

government for such people and offered to pay for any

expenses.

We have been changed this Christmas and we

hope

this is only

th e

beginning.

May

God

make everyday

a Chris tmas.

But

the

greatest

event which

happened during this

season

was

the

reconciliation

of Elder Peter

Suen

to

us and

the

Church. He and I had had a misunderstanding back inOctober. I had apologized but he refused to talk to me, let

alone forgive me, and quit coming toChurch. Finally after

two

months

of

prayer y everyone in theChurch and on

his part

too, I m

sure)

on

Christmas

eve, when

carolers

from

the

Church

went to the Suens s house, Peter broke

down. He called us upthat night and we talkeda long time. Janet and Ihad

just

finished

having

a birthday party

forJesus

with

the

kids

but

this

really

brought

the joy of

Christmas home

to us.

After

talking to the

Suens

there

were tears of joy and gratitude for the restoration of this brother-truly the closest

friend

I have in Taiwan.

We

did

have

onesad

thing

happen in

December.

You

will

remember thatwewere

having

a Sunday

meeting n

the

homeofa

Mr.

Chen ina suburbofTaipei. This manand the rest of his family of seven had not been emmersed but


20/20

hodbeen sprinkled in the PresbyterianChurch Afterwe hod taught about the subjectof baptismfor two weeks,

we received a polite letter fromMr.Chentelling us it wouldn t be necessary to go back again. Janet and 1did go

over with some Christmas cake and had prayer with Mr. Chen. We are still praying

that

everything will work out.

Aswe lookback on 1972we see itas a year of winnowing the chaff, of burning away the dross. It has been a hard

year butwe have learned and grown

much

Wethank God for the victories which have been won The Lord has

increased the attendance at Fu Hsing from five to twenty five. There have been eight baptisms and all of these

have remained faithful thus

far

and

for this we

ore

most thankful. The Shih Ling Church now has Its own Chinese

preacher and Isself-supporting through the victoryof a FaithPromise

Rally

Wehave had opportunity to witness in

Okinawa, Japan, and Guam. We have seen the Lord s leading as He has closed some doors and opened others.

We are looking forward to an even better year in 1973 and especially to the time when we will be seeing you

again. Wealready have some speaking dates lined upfor our furlough and naturally our supporting Churches will

have top priority, so let us know when it would be convlenent for us to be with you.

Return Requested:

Mrs. Sandi

Gant

R. R. 1,

Box 33 3

Fort Gibson

Okl ah om a 7 74 34

FTo

Alan,

Janet.

Beth, Becky,

Jennie

Bemo

NON PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

U.S. P OS TAGE

7c

PAI D

Ft. Gibson Okla.

Permi t No.

3

Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan

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