USO and RAWANG CHURCHES DF CHRIST IN BURMA

NORTH BURMA CHRISTIAN MISSION

"Where China, Tibet, Burma and India Meet" (Formerly Yunnan-Tibetan Christian Mission)

Mulodi folk in front of temporary shelter

at a convention.

''"But DOW abideth laith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." , CQ(^.T,ANS .sns

FIRST

1965

NEWSLETTER

No. 36 News Series Beginning January, 1953

The J. Russell Morse Family

P. O. Putao

Kachin State, Burma

FOREWORD

since I assumed the worlc as forwarding agent in 1953. There were four

As you look at this Newsletter and see that it is the First 1965 issue you may think you have missed one since it has been our custom to send three Newsletters each year, having departed from the pattern only twice
issues in 1956 and only two in 1961. Again in 1964 there were only two issues due to many unusual circumstances.
In the Second 1964 Newsletter we mentioned the fact that the activi ties of the missionaries had been restricted due to the conflict between the

Burmese Army and the Independent Army of the Kachin State. Because of these conditions news suitable for publication has been limited in scope

and irregular in reaching us.

for witnessing through schools for the preachers within one day's journey, going into the nearby villages to teach and preach and in their eve^ day
life before the non-Christians who have been in their midst from time to
time.

Even though there have been limitations they have found opportunities

The response to our many requests for special prayer have been very heartening to us and to those on the field. Each letter is still an appeal

for prayer. We don't know what lies ahead but we do know that prayer is our only means of helping them just now. A recent letter from Helen expressed our sentiments very aptly as we begin this new year. "Now this year is near Iy finished, and we wonder what the new year will hold.
Sometimes I wish I could see ahead, and then other times I'm thankful that
God has not allowed us to know the future. Just think how we would have

been living in dread, anticipating that fighting* that took place here! But because we did not know, we were able to take it a day at a time, and

each day God gave us the strength to meet whatever that day held." May we be faithful in prayer ontheir behalf, each day committing them
into His care.

(^Mimeographed copies of a letter describing some of the events are

available.)

Mrs. Oscar L. Myers, Ed.

THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL

By Robert Morse

Among the many technological wonders andelectronic gadgets available today, the tape recorder is perhaps the most useful to the missionary, es pecially forpurposes of languagestudy and the collection oforal literature for linguistic analysis. Betty and I frequently find ourselves on the oper ating side of one of these machines as we work to supplement our know
ledge of the people with whom we are working. One very interesting tape

was recorded one day recently, when we were paid a visit by a lovable old Rawang couple, Bezi and Kozi. They had but recently arrived down from theirhome at Wuning, 120 miles away up inthe mountains of the Nam
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Tamai valley. I had first met them

19 years ago, shortly after they had become the first Christian coi-ple ainong the Rawang tribe, and Betty and Ihad stayed many a time In their
home as we traveled and studied Ra

wang in the early '50's. Their sec

ond son has since b e co m e Teacher

Tychichus, one of the more promi nent Rawang preachers. So now we

hod the chance to recall those early days, andconsider what a vast change has come to the Rawang peoples.
Tychicus, whose conversion is related

by his parents, Bezi and Kozi, in the

'40's, Chief His familybeingone ofthe main-line

accompanying article by
Robert Morse.

renown m the Nam Tamai valley.

BezI was a well-to-do leader of some

descendants ofthe early Rawang forefathers, he had the right to sponsor an annual festival tosacrifice to God, and the responsibility for handing down

the various traditions and legends of the tribe. His clansmen looked to him to keep intact the long line of tribal customs and tribal low. Travel ers could always be certain of a hearty meal in their home, and clansmen

in need of hogs or cattleto propitiate the demons could usually be sure of

being able to borrow one from Bezi without trouble. He was a man who

took his responsibilities seriously, and since the British had long ago freed

a primer with about 50 hymns. And here are later editions, (all revised

haven't finished yet, have you?" said Bezi. "No," I replied, "we are not yet finished, we have more to do yet. Here is the first book printed,

look at all this pile of Rawang books," I said as Ibrought out a copy of each of the Rawang books printed down through the years. "And you

opposed to it. It was so contrary to all their traditions and legends, to their whole way of life. What a change now, as a Christian leader. "Twelve years have passed since I first started working on Rawang, and

became established among the neighboring Lisu villages, he was very much

prove the lot of his people. Even so, when Christianity first appeared and

his people from slavery, he felt a pride of race that made him want to im

and John, not yet bock from the printers."

and enlarged). The first gospel was this copy of Mark, followed by Acts. Then this book containing many of the espistles. The Rawang first Primer, has been printed twice, and then this year we have the gospel of Luke,
"It will be finished this year?" said Bezi. "That'll be good," said his

wife," Besides the Bible, we're also working on a hymnal, but don't know if it'll be finished this year." "That will be good," said Kozi, mother of Tychichus. "Did you ever think. Elder, that there would be Rawang books

supposed it (would happen)". "And now," I added, most of the Rawangs

have their own books, and even the non-believers are in favor of it, aren't

like this?" 1asked. Laughing, both of them said, "Of course we never

fhey?"

.3_

"Yes," said Bezi, "and it hasbeen a good thing, thoughat first people didn't like for me to ask for our own boob. They didn't want me to turn

back to God and they didn't want Christianity. They hardly considered
us human after we (turned to Christ), calling me a fool, saying, 'That fool

is leading us astray.' "But," and he laughed, "what a difference it has made, for this fool to lead the way. When I started making paddv fields (a radical departure from the old traditional farming), they saia, 'Why make trouble for yourself, and put yourself out so much just because you

ory Bezi continued: "Not only those who have since become Christians,
but even the non-Christians now sheepishly admit, 'Yes, it was a good thing, which not knowing, we ridiculed."
"What about all those tribal chieftains in the other areas," I asked,

believe someone's word?' When I became a Christian they said, 'What a fool, to believeand act on strangers' deceitful tales.'" Laughing in mem

"who used to cause so much trouble?" "Yes, J...., and K...., they're

still in their villages," said Bezi, "and still unbelievers," added his wife. "His children have all become Christian, but not him. In fact nowadays
most of the children are believers. And even after his wife became a be

liever, that man refuses, tch, tch, to repent," she said, clucking in dis
approval .
"He doesn't realize his own loss," said Bezi, "However with more

than half (of the Rawang tribe) becoming Christians, and with believers in

every village, even the non-Christians, I claim, are having a much easier
time of it with the demons." Laughing, he added, "I tell them that they

of us." Kozi lauflhed happily in agreement: "Yes, it is so, nowadays they

continued his wife, "for this reason even the non-Christians actually be

are escaping the troubles caused by the demons through God's protection

don't need topropitiate the evil spirits as much as before." "It is as

though," said Bezi, "thedemons are disappearing from this area." "And,"

lieve (in the power of Christ), but they just can't give up (their former way of life, such as) drinking," "Since there aren't so many evil spirits to afflict them, and they don't have to propitiate so much, they'll admit,
believe."

'Truly it was so; yours is the true God,' But they can't give up their liquor, from this they aon't repent. As far as believing, it could be said they
(Yes, this perhaps is not only the problem in north Burma, but world wide. Here where we experience concrete evidence of the power of the Word, the victory of the cross ofChrist over the forces of evil, in answer
as to the truth of the Gospel, little question as to the verityof Jesus being the Christ, Son of the Living God and Redeemer of mankind. Intellectual assent to such realities comes easy, but such assent does not a Christian make. In the more Intellectuallyexercised societies, where the false gods of humanism and science have spawned atheism and agnosticism, and the

ed prayer for the sick and in driving out the demons, there is little doubt

very realities of thespiritual realm aredoubted and disbelieved even with

in the theological seminaries, it is easy to see why the primary obstacle

seems to bedisbelief. Where the realitiesof thespiritual realm have never
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been personally experienced and are a matterof tneory and belief at best,

certainly the first problem does seem to be intellectual - the effort of try ing to convince others of a truth which possibly even to ourselves is no

shudder." So actually the crucial point is one of acting upon that belief,
being convicted unto repentance. And so it is with those lost souls to whom the elder Bezi was referring. The problem wasn't so much one of their sins. But let us go back to the conversation).

this type of belief, exclaims, "Why even the demons believe, and they

more than a theory intellectually assented to, James, in commenting on

"Well, would you please tell us some things about your former life, be fore you became Christians?" I asked.
"As Animists," began Bezi, "through constant demonappeasement, con

ered for such a big event), and sacrifice those. In former days we truly

tinual drunkenness, living moment by moment, it was a matter of continual getting sick, appeasing (the evil spirits). Or a shaman-priest would ad vise us to hold a devil-dance, else we might die of our sickness. Then if we didn't have cattle we'd have to borrowsome, (as cattle must be slaught

suffered, and at our wit's end, God's Word came to us sudaenly. Our daughter Anin, since deceased, was the first to become a believer, at Tariwanggong, where we had heardof it first. (She, Anin, was extremely sick, and they encouraged her) saying, 'Good; now your family become

Christians. With so much sickness (in your family) this year, as time goes

on all your valuables, your cattle and hogs will oe consumed and you will become poor (appeasing the spirits). You turn to God.' (So she turned to
God, and the Lisu Christians at Tariwanggong prayed for her, and she, who had been sick for several years and was almost dead, got well).
"But then," continued Bezi, "others of us got sick. This woman also (referring to Kozi beside him) worsened unto death. As she neared death,

saying 'Whatever will be will be, 'pa cha go laq cha,' I sent for the sha-

man-priests. But of all things, they woul^'t come, saying they hadn't
"As a matterof fact," said Bezi, "the shaman-priests round about pur

time. And there were no other mediums to be gotten."

"They were just lying when they said they were too busy," added Kozi.

posely ran off elsewhere, saying,." It's useless to appease for that family.'
Well, I thought, 'Let it be, I'll ask God's help, like daughter Anin has done.' So I sent for Anin, with the message that her mother was on her death-bed. And sure enoughshe arrived downfrom Tariwanggong. (When she arrived, she said), 'You don't need to send for any special (Christian) teachers. The (Tariwanggong headman) Hendo's sons, who are up there at
let them pray (for Mother).'

the river junction catching fish, they'll do. Send for them quickly, and

pease the evil spirits), and the villagers were all looking forward to eat

"Now I had sent (people) out to find some cows, to sacrifice ^and ap

we sent for (the fishermen Christians) asking them to come and pray for a sick (woman), and sure enough, Hendo's Secondson and companion arrived
-5-

However, as we were waiting, this woman was almost aead, so we sent also for our first wife's son also to come (for an expected funeral). Still

ing beef when the cow was brought and sacrificed. So they were thinking.

soon, saying, 'We come empty, without our blankets; we'll pray for her

and return.' But they also said, 'It is no use merely praying for only her

advise me), he had gone up to Tariwanggong to call a teacher, and had

turn to God).' Well, with them saying that, (and not going anead pray ing just for thesick and dying woman), I., .askformyson Ado, (who could

(who is practically dead), we will pray for both of you, (for you also to

telling me, 'You might as well become a oeliever yourself; even if (the rest of thefamily don't), we'll pray for just thetwoofyou.' Then I thought, 'These beggars; when I'm asked to go all around (the area) to handle cases and mediate, I'll be really hard put. People will ask me to mediate (and offer the usual liquor), and how will Ispeak (or work) without liquor? I'll be stupid, and quiet and sit there having nothing to say. However, so let
it be, go ahead and pray for us,' and so I answered."

not yet returned. Meanwhile the emergency was now, and (this man) was

too got well; - I also had been sick. They had said, 'If we pray only for
the woman, you also are in trouble...."

"Sure enough, they prayed for us. From then, after they prayed, from that night this woman (customary reference to his wife) got well. And I
"He was off in another comer, lying there sick," said Kozi. "Second

Son had said, 'If Mother gets well, I too will repent and believe, 'so..." "Yes," continued Bezi, "since I too was sick, I let them pray for the both of us. And both of us got well. But then people turned against us. 'Really they are fools,' they said, and visitors or relatives, nobody came
near any more, even our brothers and sisters didn't come around. So it

Then we^ would be happy, as though our own relatives had come, and we would kill (chickens, etc.) fix up a meal, and have a happy time, feed ing them. And they'd say, as they kept coming, 'Be sure you don't back slide, you two (as the only Christians in the Rawang village, their daughter An in being at Tariwanggong). Don't ba cks Iide, it's a good thing you
have believed, for this is the way of life.'"

saying, 'We've come to visit .you, since you have also turned to God.'

was for a whole year. When Lisu who had turned to God came lay, hear ing that our family had become believers, they would stop over with us,

"When Sundays came around, (Christians) from surrounding villages (even though Lisu) got inth'e habit of spending Sunday at our home, saying, 'It will do good for us to be there,' and so they'd come (long distances). At that time no other Metwangs (their particular Rawang tribe) were to be
seen, only Lisu, and they Christians. But after this, when most of our

people became believers, well, then,every night our house would be filled, as was usual in the old days, with Lisu or Metwang guests. But

knew me, and all would come to our house, and all come to see us. Our own villagers wouldn't know them, since theydidn't travel around, but we did, and when we became believers, all these (were cut offfrom us). That is haw it used to be. Then as for sickness, well, except for things like a cold or flu, clear to now we have had hardly any sickness, have lived healthily. But in the old days.... for each one of our children, we've
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any people Ididn't know, really. Itraveled everywhere, and everybody

fore we two became Christians, people I didn't know.. .there lust weren't

before they turned, well, youl ll(wouldn't believe it). In the days be

had to kill at least one cow, (in animlst sacrifice). For each of the fami

ly, (annually) killing cattle, and then for us two too.. .so were my cattle
herds depleted by sickness, and my pastures emptied."
Kozi: "Only Second Son, wasn't too sick..."
"He claimed it was because he'd killeda giant water snake," said Be-

zi; "he had two cows which he wouldn't let be killed. But he wouldn't

become a believer. We told him all he need do is pray to God, but he refused." "Others told him," added Kozi, "'Your parents have come to no good, listening to others' enticements. At least you keep out of it,

and don't become Christian,' they told him." "Yes," said Bezi, laugh ing, "Loko the rich official and others told him, 'Now your parents aren't

human any more. At least you make a great man of yourself.' So they

offered him liquor, help to appease the demons."

Kozi added; "In the other part of the house, the others (non-Christian members of their family), would kill two (hogs), but wouldn't Invite us and we didn't go there. When we went to our fields, it was we two by ourselves, going out by our own side door." (And so did ostracism come toseparate even this one close-knit family, through the sword of theGos pel. Surely the bane of modern sociologists and anthropologists). "Then when they killed a cow toappease the evil spirits," said Bezi, "the neigh bors would criticize, saying, 'Look at those barbarians, eating beef with out their parents.' (Since as Christians, they could not partake of meat
sacrificed to the demons).

"Later Second Son, being the well one, took to traveling, and went to Sumprabum with the official Loko. But there he got sick, and had to be

carried back, until at Jerong he was on point of death, and they (sent a
runner to call) saying, 'Come to see him, ne may even be dead before you
get there.' Now I had gone over the mountains into the Triangle to visit

my old mother, on her death-bed, and tried to get her to become a be

liever, but she resisted, and would not turn (though shegave In just before she passed on). Then right after poor mother died, came the word, 'Your Second Son is dying.' So Third Son and Fourth Son and their mother went on, with Orphan Fifth's second. (I told them), 'If you find he's already dead, just come straight back. If alive, then Third Son (who had since become a Christian also), you pray for him.'" Bezi laughed as he remem
bered; Second Son Ado had been so adamant, he saw no reason to become a Christian. Now perhaps he would allow his mother and brother to pray
for him, in a last attempt to stay alive.

"'Prayfor him in any case,' I said as I sent them on. And sure enough, they got there while he yet lived, while there remained just a spark of
breath. He recovered a bit after thev arrived, but the night before they

planned to start out again to carry him back home, he worsened again,

and was about to die. Mother ana son tried to persuade him (to accept

God's way), and be prayed for, but he refused, saying, 'No, (I'm not ready to give up everything), I must have liquor to give me strength to endure the trip home.' So he wouldn't turn (to Jesus), and so they didn't pray with him. But he continued to worsen, and for a second time, he be-

gan to die. Then Fourth Son prayed for him, and prayed hard. Second Son (recovered |ust enough to know what was happening), and he also (fin ally turned to God) and prayed. He died. 'A, now he's dead,' said the people of the house, and someone pinched his ears tomake sure, and there

mother and sons all were weeping, when suddenly they noticed just a bit
of life..."

was no response. Then the wife of Loko said, 'He really has died,' and

he began to rally, every so little he began to breathe..."

"By then it was cock's crow," said Kozi, the mother; "bit by little bit

"Then the mother recovered hope; 'My son. Second Son, Second Son,' she called to him. As they (continued praying), and this time, with Sec ond Son's assent, he began getting stronger, and. ..(here the tape ends
but the account continued.. .beforelong it became certain hewould live.

covered, but another man. Today he is our preacher son."

Before many days, he could be carried home, and soon he was fully re

Yes, Second Son Ado, later named Tychichus, had to come to the end of his human resources, before he could begin with God. And what a dif man, intelligent, independent, full of energy, he had never felt inaebted to any outside force. His life was his own, and he did what he wanted,
intelligently, purposefully. But now he could see that his life was not his

ference it has made in his life. His life belongs to God. Astrong young

paid for his life, and of the wonderful gift of eternal life as well, the Christian lifemeant so much more to him, than just a code of ethics and a cloak of religion. It became a new way of life, a life of victory, a life of claiming the promises of God and appropriating all the privileges, the possession through Christ Jesus. He encouraged Robert not only to reduce his native tongue of Rawang to writing and produce a primer and hymnal, but also to attempt the monumental task of translating God's Word into the
authority, the opportunities and the blessings which are the believer's

ovm, to do as he wanted. And as he soon learned of the ransom Christ had

of the Rawang church and a leading preacher, while his parents, who ac
ers in inter-racial amity.

and learning the new script. Today he is one of the outstanding leaders
known all over for their hospitality and love of their fellowmen and lead

native language so thatall his peoplemight hear in their mother tongue the Good News of salvation. He spent a whole year without remuneration, working with Robert and Betty towards this end, teaching them Rawang,

cepted the Lord before him, have been one of the finest Christian couples,

CONCERNING FUNDS

cosh, etc. cannot be used by the missionaries in Burma

not send funds directly to Burma. Money-orders, checks,

f""* for the various members of the

Osca?L Christion Mission, c% M I-^yrS/ 14th Street, Terre 47804 Mrs Myers takes care 2)24 of theN. General Fund for theHaute, work ofIndiana the missioa
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LETTER FROM LAVERNE MORSE

Cincinnati 4, Ohio January 23, 1965

Our very dear friends and co-workers in the Lord Jesus Christ:

Lois and I should like so very much to be able to visit with you person ally, for mutual upliftment and Christian fellowship. The opportunity of Christian fellowship is one of the greatest privileges and blessings which we have upon this earth.
With situations as they are in Burma, we do not expect to be able to go back there. Nevertheless, our purpose is certainly to go forward in the cause of worldwide evangelism. At present, we feel we need about a

the spreading of the Gospel. We hope, the Lord willing, especially to work for the training of Christian leaders, for carrying on the work of
worldwide evangelism, the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

year of furlough before going definitely into some other field of work for

In spite of many strains and stresses, we thank God, our Heavenly Father, for the opportunity which He has given us these past years of
working as His servants, as His ambassadors, in the region "where China, Tibet, Burma, and India meet." We thank God for the foy of seeing many people won to Christ, their lives transformed by the Gospel and the in dwelling presence of God's Holy Spirit.

We thank God for the opportunity to work that those native Christians
might be able to "stand on tneir own feet," not having to depend upon the continued presence of American missionaries, and not depending upon continued funds or money from America. For many years, we have seen
the likelihood that American missionaries might have to leave Burma en

tirely. Our prayer and goal has been that the native Christians might not neea further to be missionary-RECEIVING churches, but that they might in turn become missionary-SENDING churches, sending native mission arieswithout the intervention or help of American missionaries. Through God's grace and through His power, we believe that many, many of the
native Christians are thus able to "stand on their own feet" in the Lord

Jesus Christ. We pray, and should like to ask all of you also to pray, that the native Christians might be faithful in all doctrine and in living, that

they may stand true and strong in "the faith whichwas once delivered un
to the saints." Our hearts tremble sometimes at the temptations, wrong doctrines, and trials which the native Christians have been and will con

tinue to be subjected. Yet, we know that God is Supreme, that He is immediate with the native Christians over there just as He is with Christ ians here or in any part of the world. We know that His Word, the Bible, is in their hands, just as it is in ours.

Lois and I were feeling very, very low when we first arrived back in the States. We have needed a time for recuperation and rest. We thank God that He has helped us and that we are feeling much better now.
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LaVerne and Lois Morse with children presently aged, Marcia 9,

Mark 5V2, Cynthia 4, Lois Beth TVs. Picture was taken In Rangoon July, 1964.

COM
."J"

;;:

We hove a new baby girl, Shir ley Jean, 6 lbs, 9 oz., bom at 12; 57 P.M. on December 6th, 1964 in Cincinnati. This is the only one of our children born here in America; all the others (four of them) were
bom in Burma 1 We thank God that

both Lois and the baby are in good

health.

I expect to be accepting some in vitations to speak at churches, ral lies, camps, etc. HOWEVER, tn speaking, I would do so NOT AS A
MEMBER OF THE NORTH BURMA

CHRISTIAN MISSION, AND NOT

TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE MIS

SION. I should like to speak en couraging world wide evangelism,

using illustrations from the lives of
the native Christians In Burmatheir

Shirley Jean

Morse, age

3 days,

turningtoChrlst, thelrtrialsand |oys, and especially their becoming able

now to "stand on their own feet" 10-

daughter of LaVerne and Lois Morse. The baby was born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, December 6, 1964.

Inthe LordJesus Christ, and their continuance in carrying the Gospel to other people. I should like to encourage Christians to pray fervently for
the native Christians in the Burma-India area, AND TO SEND MANY
MORE MISSIONARIES INTO THE COUNTRIES WHICH ARE YET OPEN
TO AMERICAN MISSIONARIES.

Henceforth, our forwarding agent will not be as with the North Burma Christian Mission. Our primary sponsoring churches are as follows: (1) First Christian Church, 16 Union Street, Joliet, Illinois. (2) Maple Lawn Christian Church, Black Road at "arthelme Avenue,
Joliet, Illinois.

(3) Central Church of Christ, North at Tenth Streets, Mt. Vemon,

Illinois.

Also, the Bridgetown Christian Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, and the First Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana, each send $25.00 per month as living-link for two of our children. We appreciate so very much the strength and fellowship In Christ which all these churches mean to us.

We may be contacted directly at our Cincinnati address as follows:

LaVerne and Lois Morse (Telephone 921-5834 2521 Ring Place Cincinnati 4, Ohio

Mrs. Kathryne Elliott (Lois's mother), 2513 Ring Place, Cincinnati 4, Ohio, is also continuing as our personal forwarding agent in regard to funds, with us being responsible to our living link churches.

May God richly bless all of you according to the riches of His grace. We thankyou withall ofour hearts foryour love, prayers, and helpthroughout these past years. We trust that we may continue to serve WITH YOU, through God's mercy and strength, throughout the coming years for the spread In g of the "unsearchable riches of Christ" throughout the world. May God be very close to you at all times. Please pray for us. We very
much need your prayers. Yours together for and because of Christ,
LaVerne and Lois Morse
News from Recent Letters

Sincewe have only one "article" from the field - the one aboutTychicusandhis father which was sent bv Robert some time ago, we will try

to help you visualize conditions ana family life by quoting from letters received by the familvand living link churches within the past few weeks. Since August, when the fighting of the civil war was actually within their village, there has been quiet and comparative peace in the mission area

even though there has been military activity not far away and most surely

uncertainty and unsettled conditions do still prevail. First we quote from a letter written by J. Russell Morse to his living link church, Lockhaven
Christian Church, Inglewood, California: (Dated December 13, 1964)
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Dinnertime! Piles of steaming rice ore the main fare, and for the missionaries too, except on special occasions.

"Dear Christian friends: Firstly, this is to let you know we ore all alive and well, which is a miracle due to many prayers granted by our Living God and Heavenly Father. All are happy, too, because we are privileged to minister daily to large numbers of our Lord's most needy and deserving sheep. As He said, "Upon this Rock 1 will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall i.ot prevail

against it." We continually see fulfillment of that and many other

of His p ro m i s e s also. Aoove all, our petition Is for continuing prayers on our behalf. The greafeFthe battle, the~grea}er the vic-

tory, an^the greater the glory to God. Just to "hold the fort" and "keep the flag flying" can be counted victory... " Due to the Lord's grace end mercy, we have been spared great suffering and death these many years, but we wont to be prepared for a siege of adversity any time now; to experience what Paul call ed "the fellowship of His suffering" with thanksgiving. Our ven ture of faith has surely been fruitful in the past, and we see thous ands of Christ's converts standing fast, hundreds of native leaders zealous for His church and His return as our Blessed Hope. So how
would we but trust Him now and forever."

A letter from Eugene and Helen to their living link churches gives
sort of a resume of events:

"This year of 1964 has been different from any other year we
have ever known out here. We have had trials, hardships, and experiences such as we never imagined could come to us here. But at the same time we have had many, many blessings, and have ex perienced the nearness of the Lord, and realized more than

ever before the greatness of His power to keep, to protect, and to answer prayer. We feel that we hove been in a place of privilege,
being given the opportunity to witness to and counsel with the
people here in these distressing times.
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Because of the unsettled political conditions, it has not been possible to carry on some of our usual activities, or to plan very

During September and October, Eugene was away preaching some where almost every weekend. October, of course, was the time of the Thanksgiving conventions all around this area. Eugene and Robert and Mother al I visited and preached at as many of the gath
erings as possible.

far in advance. However, there have been many opportunities.

During the week of November 9 - 14 we had a "retreat" for the preachers within one day's travel of Muladi. There was a total attendance of about 50, of which 40 were full-time preachers. Mother taught on Signs of the Times, mostly from Daniel and Rev elation; Eugene gave a series of devotional lessons; and Robert taught on the wanderings in the wilderness of the Children of Israel. There were evening prayer meetings also. There were bothLisu and Rawang preachers in attendance, but since all understood Ltsu, it was not necessary to useboth languages this time. All felt that the gathering was very much worth while, and the fellowship was some thing all felt they needed too. The children constantly amaze us with some of the thoughts they

express. One night not long ago we were all out in the yard look

ing at the stars. Gene and the boys were discussing relative dis

tances of stars, planets, etc. and also what theyare made of. Sud denly little 7-yr.-old Margaret spoke up and said, "I know what the stars are. They are holes in thesky so the light canshinethrough
from heaven." "And a little child shall lead them" I

"As we enter a new year, we would ask that you continue to uphold us and all of those here who are God's children, in pray
er. Although things have been quiet here for a time, yet in view

of the way things have happened elsewhere, we cannot help but feel that troublous times are not yet over for us here. So we ask
in all circumstances, knowing that He is able to keep His own.

" For you at home, we pray that in the coming year " He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened

with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in

your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length, and depth, and height; and to know the love ofChrist,

which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the full

ness of God."

Our m<Kt recent letters are dated Dec. 6, 30, 1964 and Janu ary 13, 1965.

The contents would probably be classified more as "human in

terest" than news, but at the suggestion of close friends with whom we have shared the letters, we now share portions with you;
- 13-

December 6th:

In spite of hindrances and difficulties, I have been trying to keep the boys at their school work. Jesse (Drema's husband) and two other boys have been wanting to study English so Mother has been teaching them grammar for an hour each day and David has been studying along with them. Ifthey finish this book, they should
some book - then theycome here for an hour a day for oral reading, giving assignments forcompositions on subjects withwhicn they are
familiar.

be ready for a Master's Degree in English grammar! 11 It is really

nie are all going along with it, Iam using theCalvert Speller and

pronounciation, spelling and composition. David, Tommy and Ron

As one assignment in composition I had each of the boys write a letter to my mother, Mrs. Myers. (Note; The letters arrived and we feel the boys are doing very well, and we were pleased to re
ceive them.)
On December 30, 1964 Helen wrote;

had ourfamily Christmas gathering on the 24th, with everyone com ing to our home for dinner. Gene, the boys and I had worked un

Well, Christmas is past - both family and convention time. We

til midnight the night before, getting the room decorated. The boys and I made a manger scene with a little help from Margaret. Then we made festoons or loops of the silver and gold tinsel and

hung decorations from that. We suspended a silver star over the

manger scene and then suspended otner star decorations around it

at different levels. Thev were all shiny and reflected the light. It looked real pretty ana the children were very much pleased with
it.

The dinner was mainly my responsibility - roast pork, apple sauce (made with dehydrated apple powder), sweet potatoes (local), rice and gravy, cottage cheese (homemade) on lettuce leaves with French dressing made from a mix. Drema fixed green beans and mustard greens (both from the garden). For dessert we had fruit
salad made of papaya, grapefruit, oranges and bananas. As we ate

had our gifts which were meager this year because the boxes from
being together as a family made Christmas a wonderful time.

we played a record of Christmas music. Immediately afterward we

our family and home church were delayed in Rangoon. But |ust

Our last letter was written January 13th and came in very good time. Each time a letter comes we think, "This may be the last for a while" but we continue to pray that letters will come and that those in Burma may be guided each day. Nowlriay we share the
news of this very welcome letter;
14-

"Happy New Year! Church is over, supper finished and the little ones are partly bedded down, so I want to write a few lines. As of this week Margaret andMarilyn arestudying in the Lisu school which the preacher (Titus) is holding for the village children to
teach them to read and write in Lisu. David was just aix>ut the and learned to read and write Lisu. It has been a help to him all

age that Margaret is now when he attended one of these schools

these years. So we feel it will be good for the others to leam too. They have a lotof memory work to do, too, and Marilyn (age 5-1/2)
can do that, even if she isn't able to do the writing very well.

Margaret (age 7) does very well on the writing. Jeanette (just 4 in Jan.) is going too, but just to .listen. She is so quiet that she causes no trouble. She was so disappointed to have to stay behind
when the other two started out that we let her go along. Titus said she ust sits there and takes it all in. We may be surprised at how mucn she will absorb. She's really sharp, and is listening to things sometimes when we haven't any idea she is doing so. "The past week we have had several pleasant surprises, one of which was the arrival of two of the packages from the States which had been delayed in Rangoon. The second surprise was mail from some friends from whom we have not heard for quite a while. The third surprise was that I finally got to see a copy of the Oct. 31st

Christian Standard, in which my story of Shan Paul appeared. Also

in that same issue it was "sorta nice" to see the taces of mother and

father smiling out at me from among the crowd in the picture taken at the Missionary Convention at New York. It didn't take me long
to locate you I
I think I mentioned before that we were expecting to get so me

pork for making ham and bacon. They didn't come the morning of
Dec. 31 so I went on over to Dukdang with the others for Camille's

birthday. That night when we got home, we were greeted by the sight of 2 pigsII They had brought it In baskets - half a pig to a basket. Altogether it was about 190 lbs. How would you like to
have that staring you in the face as a New Year's present??? Af ter supper that evening I managed to get one half - 2 quarters-

skinned and cut up etc. (We take the skins off the hams but leave it on the bacon.) But I still had all the rest of it to worry with the

next day. Drema took pity on me and came over and helped with the cutting up. And that is a real big help. But there was still all the trimming off ot tat, making lard, and salting down all the pieces. There were 42 pieces of bacon, besides hams, pork chops,
and miscellaneous pieces. Also there were all the "scrippy-scrap-

py" pieces, which were for sausage. I saved enough for a meat

loaf and then made the rest into sausage cakes. Tasted real good, too. New Year's Day was Drema's birthday, but because of the meat we weren't able to do anything about it. Also, there is al ways a village celebration that day. So we planned it for the next day. However, Drema was sick that day, so we put it off till Sun

day. I asked her which she'd rather have - meat loaf or chile, and
- 15-

she chose meat loaf. So that night for supper we had her and Jesse and Ahpu, and Daddy - Mother had left onSat. to go teach in 2 - 3
villages. Daddy said It was the best meat loaf he had ever eaten 11

I considered that quite a compliment. Of course I told him he had

never tasted my mama's11 But mine was good. I even manaaed to bake a cake and get it iced afterwe came from church. (Incident

ally, we don't get home from church till 1:30 - 2:00 p.m.)"
We are hoping that before time for the next Newsletter we have

word that conditions are improved andthat they will be able to send
some family pictures. Each year in our first Newsletter we have a

feature "It Happened..." in which a brief review of the year's

happenings is given. We have not received that material as yet so

will have to include It in our next Newsletter.

Mailed by Mrs. OSCAR I. MYERS

2024 N. Hrii St.

Terre Haute, Indiona

For

47BD4

Sec. 34.66 P L & R U. S. POSTAGE

PAID

NORTH BURMA

CHRISTIAN MISSION

Terre Houte, Ind.

PERMIT NO. 321

RETURN

REQUESTED.

IVIXRSICN SERVICES BOX 958

USD and RAWANG CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN BURMA

NORTH BURMA CHRISTIAN MISSION

"Where China, Tibet, Burma artd India Meet"

(Formerly Yunnan-Tibetan Christian Mission)

114 .1' ^

iii-

Ox Cart Transportation in North Burma

''But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the

greatest of these is love."

CORINTHIANS

SECOND 1965 NEWSLETTER

No. 37 News Series Beginning January, 1953

The J. Russell Morse Family

P. O. Putao

Kachin State, Burma

IT HAPPENED IN 1964
JANUARY

Birthdays; 1st, Drema Esther Yangmi; 4th, R. LaVerne Morse; 18th, Jeanette
- age 4.
FEBRUARY

Closing of 3-month Bible School for Assistant preachers and church lead ers, taught by Mrs. Gertrude Morse, Eugene, Robert, and LaVerne Morse. Robert began preparations for Rawang Literacy School.

Three-day visit by Mr. and Mrs. John B. Kuhn, missionaries ofOverseas Missionary Fellowship; formerly worked among Lisu in China. Lucy Ruth, first daughter ofDrema Esther and Jesse Yangmi, bom at home

LaVerne, Peter and Tychicus. 200 students.

Robert began Rawang Literacy School Feb. 3 at Dukdang; assisted by

K. I.A. took over Muladi and also temporarily Dukdang.

Birthdays; 4th, J.Russell Morse; 17th, Lucy Ruth Yangmi - age 1yr.; 23rd,
RoBert (Ahkey) age 12 yrs.
MARCH

in Muladi on Feb. 17th.

CTostng of school year at Putao Christian School (PCS) in Dukdang with LaVerne and school teachers very busy with examinations, sending off

B'rthdays; 19th, David Lowell - age 16; 30th, Lois (Mrs. R. LaVerne Morse.)
APRIL

students to home areas and etc., amidst rebel unrest.

Easter Conventions, very much limited by political unrest, fighting, etc. ^'trthdays: 8th, Robert, Sr.; 14th, Mark Russell - age 5; 18th, Eugene Russell. Experienced first fighting between Burmese Army troops and Kachin In dependence Army (KIA) in both Dukdang and Muladi villages; half-hour battles in each village on the 3rd. Many villagers frightened as a re sult, moved out into their fields, away from the village. Lois and La

MAY

Verne, with native preachers, prepared and mimeographed book of chil dren's choruses in Lisu. About 500 copies. Birthdays; 15th, Dorothy Drema (Dede-age 7).
JUNE

PCS^ re-opened, but now under local school committee; no longer under mission sponsorship, although we still have some missionaries teaching. J.aVerne and Lois and family left on 29th for Rangoon enroute to U.S.A.

JULY^

Mrs. J. Russell Morse, Eugene and Robert preaching 1-3 places on every
week-end.

^ LaVerne and Lois in Rangoon, working on papers for leaving, clearance

y of baggage, etc. Also worked on completion of5,000 copies of revised Lisu Gospel Primer with hymns; shipping remaining Life of Christ
Visualized up-country.

Birthdays; ZZnd, Thomas Eugene - age 13; 28th, Marilyn Louise - age 5; 30th,
Helen (Mrs. Eugene).
-2-

AUGUST

and the three missionary families - Mr. and Mrs. J. Russell Morse, the

Through the Lord's help, no vi Ilagers were hurt, no houses destroyed

Muladi village the scene of a two-week fierce battle, 15th to 30th.

Eugene Morse fami Iy and Jesse and Drema Esther Yangmi and family

oirthdays; 1st, Betty (Mrs. Robert); 7th, Lois Beth- age 1-1/2 yrs.; 30th, MarcTa"Louise - age 9.
SEPTEMBER

were able to stay in their own homes. LaVerne and Lois left Rangoon for U.S.A. on the 23rd.

Un the field; Missionaries unable to travel around, due to local con-

ditions; village people who had fled from fighting began to return, .--^[n the U.S.A.;-LaVerne and Loisarrived in theU.S.A., getting settled
and etc.

Birthdays; 28th, Margaret Elaine - age 7 yrs.

OCTOp

1hanksgiving Conventions. Mother, Eugene and Robert all attended, in different places. Robert had a 3-day class for preachers near Dukdang

Birthdays; 2nd, Cynthia Marie - age 4; 8th, Jonathon Russell - age 15.
NOVEMBER

- 11 in attendance.

Une week "Retreat" for preachers within 1 day's travel of Muladi. At tendance 50. Taught by Mrs. J.Russell Morse, Eugene and Robert. Birthdays: 9th, Ronald Keith - age 12; 19th, Stephen Anthony - age 12; 24th,
Sammy (Ahpu) Yangmi - age 10.
DECEMBER

Christmas Conventions in various places. Gatherings smaller than usual, due to troubled conditions which make people afraid to travel around

very much. Mrs, J.Russell Morse was gone for a week; she held 2-day

Birthdays: 6th, Shirley Jean - age 5 mos.; 19th, Gertrude (Mrs. J.Russell);
olit, Marth Camille - age 1 yr.

schools in each of 3 villages.

Some of the activities that are continuous the year around: Robert and Betty teaching in school (PCS).
Medical workby J.Russell Morse and Drema. Teaching children at home; English Classes with Mrs. J.Russell and
Helen Morse teaching.

Drema and Jesse teaching Sunday School each week.

Translation, printing, etc.

Counselling, conferring with people.

The usual routine has been much upset this year because of unrest. We try to carry on as best we can under the circumstances, in spite of strain and tension. Much cannot be told. Also hindered by lack of supplies; (unavail able are printing supplies-paper, etc.)
- 3-

We have much for which to be thankful. 1. Still able to remain and continue work.

2. Thankful for God's keeping in midst of danger.

3. Work is going ahead in Hongkong on printing of Lisu Old Testa

ments under the supervision of the Overseas Missionary Fellow

ship and Bible Society. Also plan new edition of hymnals.

Request Prayer that:

1. We may still be able to remain and continue work. 2. That books (OldTestaments and Hymnals) may be gotten into the
country.

3. That it will be possible to get needed supplies.

4. That a way will open for medical care for all of us - eyes, teeth,
etc.

5. That God will strengthen us all.

6. That we may be found faithful.

LETTER FROM BETTY MORSE

February II, 1965

Dear Christian Friends:

i hardly have the

/been kil e.d: ^hii -past yed^Anow it is confirmed that our good friend and
take of gi^fisJ3ack-+nt6rebel territory to get his wife and children, and

heart to write any more. Things are so bad now, just heart breaking. In addition to ov^t-^undjed of our friends and fellow-Christians who have

preacher/'l^olam David hJs been killed by the rebels. He made the mis

got caught. The decision to go was just on the spur of the moment, and
to go or not to go. He dian't confide in anyone that he was going, so all

he didn't have time to pray about it as to whether it was the Lord's will

whoheard about it shuddered for him if he got caught. He did get caught. As soon as we heard, Robert wrote a letter on his behalf, and tried to make contact with his captors, but apparently it didn't help. So we are grieved to lose this wonderful young preacher and friend. In a situation like this,

I suppose it is natural for one to feel that he hadn't done enough to help

the loved one who has gone on. We feel so bad because we were with David constantly the days before he left like that, but didn't suspect that he was in the mental state where he would do such a foolhardy

thing. I may have mentioned before that usually the women and children are perfectly safe when they are left behind. It is the custom in all this

/ how vi': ::lly necessary it is to have God's go-ahead in all our plans, and
how fatal it is not to seek God's will for every step of our lives.
- 4-

there is trouble, j re member how shocked I was when I first came out here, and how "chicken" I thought the men were to run off and leave the women, but except for the Chinese Communists, who did molest the women left behind, the women are safe in their homes. David'j wife and children were all right there, but David was in terrible danger of being labeled a spy for the government since he had run away from rlie rtLel v^camp a few months before. This whole sad experience just proves to us

part of Asia where the tribespeople dwell for only the men to flee when

the government soldiers. The government sent a group of about a hundred

kidnapped and arrested late Sunday night here at Dukdang; this'^time by

Our present anxiety stems from another of our preacher^, ElijaK/^eing

out on operations to the place where David was killed, about 20 miles

all up here! Last Monday week, over five hundred people just suddenly descended on our vil lage. When they reported to the Putao officials,
erans, mostly back-slidden Christians, who were drunk at the time they rounded up the peopi e. The wife of one of the preachers down there, (Preacher Pong Shar) died the day they were to start back up, and the soldiers gave them only two hours in which to bury her. Two babies were born on the road, and two people have died since arrival up here. God is with us all in a very real way, else we would lose our reason.
not called them. The soldiers responsible for this fiasco are the local vet

from here. They gathered all the villagers from the area and brought them

they were dumbfounded and refused rice and salt to them, saying they had

burst into Elijah's house. He was lying on the floor by the fireplace, us all sick people do here. The soldiers rushed up and kicked the fire, scat tering coals all over him; burning his arm and igniting his bedding. They yelled, "Now we've caught vou. Now we have the cannibal, the murdererl" One then picked up a big chunk of firewood and beat him on his

and who would go in and report later. The officials told them that they would have to go back down and get their own rice and bring it up. The men have gone now, and we expect to hear that many of them have been taken by the rebels as David was. In the meantime, instead of sending word that Elijah must come in spite of being sick, the Army sent local Rawang soldiers to seize him in the middle of the night. They came by jeep, and we thought they were coming to arrest Robert, but instead, they

people, including preacher Elijah, who was very sick here In the village,

When the men reported in at Putao, they explained about the sick

along. Even the men they have marked for killing, are treated in this

back and shoulders with it. The children woke up screaming, terrified that their Daddy was being killed. This is what hurts us so much, and has everyone worried. The government made a big mistake in doing it this way. Even t^he rebels up here don't tie up a man in front of his family. They surround the house, then a few come in quietly and tell him to come

way, and the wife and children rarely see their loved one beat up. But

walk to the jeep. Our local preacher, Tychicus, a man very high I y
women in the village screaming and the kids awake crying. When we
hewas sick. Asoldier grabbed Tychicus, twisted his arm andthreatened to tie him up and take him along too! Oh it was a wild scene, with half the

Elijah was tied upright there in his house, and dragged, almost too sick to

respected by the government, asked them not tobeso rough with him since

realized that it wasn't a "knock on the door" for Robert, we let Joni go down to check, and then Robert went down to pray with the family. There was a real question in the minds of everyone as to whether Elijah would
do such a thing when the man had been flat on his back for a week, so all
even get to Purao alive. No one would believe that the officials would

wondered if it was just a scheme ofthe soldiers to kidnap and murder him,
-5-

then say he resisted arrest.

Try to imagine our natural reaction. Filled with frustration and seeth ing with outrage, sorrowing and grieving over the whole terrible mess up here, plus the real fear for Elijah's li'"e at that moment. Knowing that
there was not one man on earth to help him, we could only turn to God

and plead for His mercy and ask Him to overcome Satan's plan to destroy another preacher. Having prayed just as fervently for David, I must con fess that my faith wavered, and I wanted to follow right then and get the
doctor to check him, and see for myself if he got there alive. But we
on the mission field, that we were powerless to do anything of ourselves.

could never have gotten through. There iscurfew and guards are all along the way, and so we were shown again, as so many times in the past here

And now this is Friday. We hear that the officials do not believe the
falseaccusers againstGod's servantnorthat he was responsible for the rebels killing a man. We hear that the Major came to know of the beating and has reprimanded the soldiers for taking their own spite and hatred out on Elijah. We hear that the Police have quarreled with the Armv for usurp

ing their job of arresting people. We hear that Elijah is eligible for bail.

We hear that he is still in jail.

* Note written later - All the people got back safely1 Imagine over 80 oxcarts fording rivers; everyone expecting an ambush. The rebels let the
oxcarts leave and then ambushed the guard and it was quite a battle. But

we rejoice that the men (and a few women) got down and back safely.
Do keep praying for the innocent villagers. It is true that God gives us only what He knows we can bear. When

son) almost left us. He was so sick for over three weeks and became too
weak even to lift hishead, with burningfever day and night for two weeks, then it began to break at night for a week. His symptoms were such as we had never seen and puzzled us. Hugely swollen lymph glands and low fe ver at the beginning. Every little scratch seems to bring infection out here, and we've all had blood poisoning several times, with swollen lymph glands, but this was different and besides, Ahkey had no sore or infection
that we could see. When the inguinal glands became too sore for him to

to be lifted and fills our hearts with joy again. Since I last wrote, our youngest son, our dear little Bobby whom all call Ahkey (Lisu for third

life gets so hard and we think it's all just too much, He allows the burden

stand up, we took him over to Putao for the doctor there to look at. The
doctor thought it serious and told Ahkey he would have to have a "poke".

Ahkey didn't understand what that meant, so sat calmly until the doctor

came to him with the needle, and "poked" him! Afterwards he told me, "He tricked me, and I didn't even have a chance to cry before time, and since it didn't hurt a bit, I didn't get to cry afterwards eitherl" We

fined as American made ones, and really hurt for weeks. But the "poke" of Penecillin didn't seem to help, and in a few days his fever was raging.

laughed, because he really does cry (quietly) for hours before he gets an injection. Some of the ones we have to get for coming overseas really do hurt, so I don't blame the kids for dreading them. Also we've had ex perience with Asian made drugs which, though safe, are not so highly re
The doctor had mentioned glandular fever, so I kept up the sulpha drug,

but he got.worse every day. I began to wonder what on earth "glandular fever" could be, so looked it upin a book onAsian medicine. Lo and be- 6-

hold, what Ahkey had was a type of Plague 1 Just the word sent shivers
over mel Then we knew we had to get down to business in our praying,

and we did storm heaven with our prayers. The book was an old one and
didn't mention the new antibiotics, so we didn't know If they would do

any good. We found one small bottle of Acromycin, and started him on

much worse. Daddy had something called Novocin which helped a bitand we were constantly praying for him, and slowly his fever began to go down at night then later went down in the day too. Now he is well again, and the nightmare over, but he Is so skinny. He was able to get up for his birthday - he was eleven on February 23, but we didn't get to have his party then. His glands are still swollen, but he feels all right.
God bless all little boys who look like Puck, With wide eyes, wider mouths and stickout ears. Rash little boys who stay alive by luck
And heaven's favor in this world of tears.

that, and after three pills he seemed to get a bit better then again he got

Arthur Guiterman, Blessing on Little Boys

about by a very sad means however. The second death I mentioned was Elijah's mother (step-mother I guess, since his fatherhad two wives). She seemed to have the same symptoms as Ahkey and was sick about a week. We were giving sulpha and anti-biotics, but her fever got worse and she diedMonday night. She had beensleeping across the fireplace from Elijah
when he was beaten and taken away to prison, and she shook for hours
afterward. There were wild threats that the whole family was going to be arrested as rebels and she was frightened for the men. I suppose when she

Well, one very happy event is that Elijah Is out of prison I It came

got the germ that she had very little strength to resist it - or the will
either. I think I understand more now the Scripture in Revelation, "Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yed, saith the Spirit,

blessed is her state now than the rest of the family left behind, faced with sickness and hunger before next harvest after losing all their food; faced with certain war soon now. She was old - about seventy, I guess, and how would she be able to hide in the jungle like so many had to do this year? She wanted to see Elijah when she was sick, but he wasn't allowed to come home. I hope she knows how much she helped him because when she died, the officials' heartswere touched, and they decided that since none of his accusers could bring proof that he had done anything wrong, he
should be allowed to go free. We have a wonderful Christian civilian official who sees the injustice

that they may rest from their labours...." Rev. 14:13. How much more

of many things which are happening these days. When I wrote him of the sad news for Elijah, he was very touched. Elijah's son, Peter, and our Stephen, took the letter over and gave it to him. Then they went to the jail to tell Elijah. They were not allowed to go inside, so from out in the yard, Peter said, "Grandmotherdied last night." Elijah says that his head almost burned up with a quick flash of anger at the news. Should he beat
at the bars with his head and break them down?
- 7-

If he could only have

at the Army camp, patted him and tried to comfort him. He says that he was reconciled to God's will being done for all the family and that God
weeping silently, so homesick, when a soldier came insiae and told him, "Roll up your bedding and go home." All the prisoners were stunned, be

he says his reason returned and he just cried andcried and prayed for God to have mercy on his family. The other prisoners tried to comfort him, and even the Burmese Buddhist soldier who was in jail for murdering a Rawang

gotten somerocks to throw at the guards I What to do? What to do? Then

must have known what was best for his mother, and was just sitting there

cause there was no one to sign him out, or go bail or anything. The mur derer yelled, "The Bible stories you told us are true! Your God must be alive! No one has evergotten outsuddenly like this! YourGod has help

ed you! But EEE-eee", he cried, "I have no God to help me. When you

are gone, no one will pray for me, for my soul anymore. I could see how

your family and friends stood behind you and loved you. Even the foreign missionaries came and brought you milk and fruit. EEE-eee, you shared it with us, even with me, now what will we do? Who will pray now?"
And he really wept.

As Elijah sat in our home, so thin and tired looking, with long whis kers after his ordeal, he said that he could see why he had had to suffer like that, and that the accounts in the Bible of the apostles' suffering and
in jail seemed so real to him now. He told us how he conducted church

services every Sunday - three Sundays - and served communion to all the

Christians there. The murderer bowed his head and prayed, too, and the guards who were Christian took communion and passed it out to the visitors out in the courtyard who were believers. All this under theastonished eyes of the Burmese Buddhist officials from down country! So praise God! Our God can turn utter defeat into victory. Don't ever let us doubt His greatness and His mercy again! And to top it all off - Oh me of little faith! - the sweetest Christian letter came from the good
officiaTwhom I had begun to doubt. "My dear Betty, We also join you all in happiness as well as in sorrow. I

believe 'sorrow shared is sorrow halved'. Preacher Elijah will be

Don't you worry!...God

at your place within a few minutes.

bless..."

He knew what was going on-the miracle being worked in the jail with the other prisoners and the astonished re

marks of the officials who had never seen Christianity at work before and might never get another chance to again! No wonder he gently re buked me when I stormed against the injusticeof it all, and retorted "Well, if I land in jail, please don't think it will improve my character by keep ing me in this long," in answer to his avowal that "TFis good for Elijah to be in jail." I had missed his point, but he continued on and preached to me to have faith and that he knew God was looking overElijah in a spec
ial way. And so He was! And so He is - looking down at us, half in sorrow and half in amusement, I suspect, as we puny Christians act out our
parts on this great world stage. I can almost hear the words, " I think that
- 8-

little group of believers at Dukdang need a "poke" of faith. Let us do something really great and stir them up." And so He did I
Let us testify to one another of the great things God is doing for us in

these days. Let us pray without ceasing and rejoice evermore that we know, have been shown, that "All things work together for good to those
who love God".

May God bless each one of you there as you serve Him day by day. Please continue to pray for us - 1think you know how desperately we need
your prayers.

study. A lot of our village men got to do raod work and earn some money

Sunday Afternoon Robert and I just came back from a new class we are starting in Bible

We have been very pieased "fhcir many Tna^ Wanted to invest in good Bi

this year. They earned about-SXLcentsla day for about two months or so.

bles. They have the portionstranslatea into Rawang, and most have a Lisu New Testament, but now they are oraering the Old Testament and New, the complete Bible, in Kachin. The leather covered edition with their

ders to the Bible Society in'RSigoon. Robert and I decided to help them mark their new Bibles, as a study help. None are native Kachin speakers, and they have learnedLisu and Kachin in order to study the Bible! Today, with purple crayons, webegan at Gen. 3:15 and went through book by book
marking all Messianic promises. We got into Isaiah, and will continue

name stamped in gold, costs abo_ut-$^jOO, and we have put in several or

next Sunday afternoon. These are all a group of older men, and I really feel proud of them I I feel ashamed when I think of how many helps we have, such as commentaries, concordances, maps, new discoveries in Ar cheology, etc. These Christians have none, except the little bit we mis sionaries have managed to translate for them. I had so hoped that some of our school students who know quite a bit of English now would want to do translating for their own people - but so far they are more interested in working forsalaries - andthere aren't too many job^ available in this area. Prayer could change this situation too, and give the boys a willing heart to use their knowledge for God, On the whole, we are finding the "un educated", those who have studied only in our Bible schools, to be the
most steadfast in the translation work.

I think we've all written at times about our yearlv Bible school which

we feel that the preachers who have studied each vear compare favorably

we hold for the preachers. It is almost time for another one now, begin ning on March if the Lord wills. The courses are very thorough, and
ing a new type of problem these days. We find that the school children

with preachers anywhere in the world. But we ana the preachers are fac

claim to look down on the preachers because they haven't been to what
they call, "Wisdom school," meaning the state school or mission school

which teaches reading, writing, arithmetic, Burmese, English, history, science, etc. The government also sets great store by government workers and teachers having at least seventh grade diploma. This is all very good,
BUT - when we first came into this area, there were no schools at all 1 And
-9-

hope to hove a picture of Robert, Betty and family for the next Newsletter)

>
Eugene and Helen Morse and family left to right, boysRonnie, David, Tommy, girlsMarilyn, Margaret and Jeanette

only in the last few years have we or the government had a middle school
up to the seventh grade. This means that if we had not worked on adult

education and trained the preachers and elders in their own languages,
there wouldn't even be a church here now, let alone these "Wisdom
schools" .

Not only the school kids, but government soldiers and now Kachin Re

preachers. The soldiers and rebels all come from downcountry where schools were started by the British, and anyone can have a chance to study. Also

bels as well are getting in their "two cents" worth of looking down on the

many schools, in addition to the excellent mission schools which they started. The Baptist preachers are allseventh standard graduates nowadays, and so will ours besomeday when schools have been around that long, but

the rebels are mainly Baptist, whose work has been down wherethere were

it is exasperating to have some ragamuffin carrying a flintlock come up to one of our preachers who has studied many years in Bible school, and ask, "How can you be a preacher if you don't have "wisdom"?

So, I thought it might be good to have a crash course in Basic English for the preachers this year, so that they can enlar::e their horizons a bit, yet not have to go to jcinderggrten to do it! Hope it works out - I think
it will.

can start and get through before the monsoon begins. The villagers have gotten us lovely, HUGE hardwood posts and it is really going to be pretty, I think. I'll try to get Robert to write about it and take a picture if we

most, and we raeiUy.nee^^e'nregSoReifw^ to stay on. We have hesita ted to start it since the future looked so black, butthisisthe very latest we
can get some film somewhere. It will have bamboo walls, but o wooden

We have ^tually started on^ujuhoi^. -this one is falling down al

floor, two story, grass roof, and a view of the whole twelve by twenty milePutao plain, with its golden elephant grass, bamboo and thick jungles edging the foothills which are purple and green, and then on up to the
beautiful 20,000 foot snow mountains behind.

Just pray that we can get it finished and that God will give us many
years to stay on and live in it.
Love, Betty
LETTER FROM MRS. GERTRUDE MORSE

(Received by her living link church. West Side Christian, Springfield, III.)
Dear Friends in Christ:

I do hope you received my letter of October 27. Ifso, you know a

little of the wonderful things God has done and is doing in this area. We can never thank Him enough. We continue to hear testimonies of God's

wonderful care and protection, since there are still frequent clashes or
skirmishes between the two forces.
- 12-

Just yesterday I crossed our Muladi river in a small dug-out boat and
walked tne two miles to Old Muladi. This village is the home of the old elder who was shot at, about whom 1told in my October 27th letter. As we walked ulong the road, we passed about 30 government soldiers who

were fixing their breakfast beside the road. They had arrived back the night before from operations down the road. Some of the Christians who

had already gathered in the church forSunday services were called by one
of the soldiers to come and hear a speech. But when my companion and 1 went on to the church, it wasn't long until the Christians followed. As

the pastor was away, I taught at both services. There were about two hun dred or more present, and they listened very attentively. During the sec ond hour, one of the song leaders taught the children in a near-by home. There are four song leaders, or junior preachers, who are holding a chil dren's Bible School. They have about fifty children attending. They have already taught for two weeks and hope to teach two more.

from Rangoon. We had all prayed much that they would get here. Dur

We are so thankful to God that our five thousand Bible primers arrived

ing these times of guerilla fighting, there is no other means of transporta tion for goods, and space on the planes is very scarce. So it was only through God's help that we were able to get these books up here from Ran

goon. Eugene is trying hard to get each preacher to hold a children's

Bible School in his church, using these primers which have been proved so good. May God help in this project.

Usually during these winter months it has been our custom to hold a 3-month long Bible School for either the preachers or song leaders and junior preachers, rotating year by year. But this year, dueto thedisturbed peace, it has been impossible for the preachers .Vom all over the field to gather here. However, we are hoping for peace soon, so that we may yet hold the school before the rainy season. The preachers are begging for ito Please pray that we may be able to hold it.
Although it seems inadvisable for others of our family to travel about

in these times, yet it seems to be all right for me to do so. It is a bit hard sometimes, but by the Lord's precious help I have been able to hold short

usually a number of men attend also. The Christians are very happy to
have me come and teach them. The Lord is mightily blessing these efforts.

Bible Schools in ten churches. It is intended mainly for the women, but

I usuallyteach from ten to twelve hours in each village. I plan to start out again tomorrow, the Lord willing. I have to take along such things as mv

pan, candles and matches, flashlight, a little sugar, salt, lard, and cof fee, books, teaching charts, etc. Also, one of my girl helpers goes with
me to do the cooking. It is a little like camping.

bedroll, changes of clothes, eating and cooking utensils, teakettle, wash

Pleasedo be praying much for us. May God bless you in His service.
Yours in His glad service,
Mrs. Gertrude Morse
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LATE NEWS FROM ROBERT AND BETTY MORSE

Dukdang Village April 16, 1965

Dear Friends and Family in America, Spriiighas sprung gloriously - andforthe last monthall has seemed right
withour little world here in the far north of Burma. The mountains are ma

jestic as they stand guard for the churches here, blocking, with the heav iest snow in years, anyagression from the other side. One wants to rejoice when looking at their beauty, but there is always a feeling of sadness in knowing of the untold suffering just across the passes in Tibet. Now as we turn from the breathtaking view to the north and gaze out over the golden grass plains fading into the purple haze of the foothills encircling us to the south, we feel the same sadness for the unbearable suffering which the people of this idyllic land are undergoing. So much of it could have been prevented, it seems, but it wasn't. Mankind never seems to learn how to solve racial problems peacefully and add to that the political strife that seems to be d i re ct I y from Satan and unsolvable, and the picture of the misery found here now is complete. Death and destruction here isn't dif ferent from that in other parts of the world. It's just that it seems so much more horrible when done in the midst of such beauty, beauty that God surely must have intended man to enjoy. For this past month, undoubtedly in answer to prayer, we have enjoyed peace such as we have not known for over a year. It rr.ay have been a reward for having faith, but I couldn't say for sure about that. But we

know that many Christians over the world have been praying for us, the
prayers. In January, by faith, because things were very bad, the mission

churches and tne preachers here, and we know that God has heard those
aries began talking about having a Bible training school for the Elders of

the churches close around Putao. Then, by faith again, we began to think how wonderful it would be if we could have a real school for the preach ers this year. We knew that all of them couldn't come because of the war, but if only some could come it would still be worthwhile. All of us have felt bad because all we've been able to do for the preachers for the past two years was to have short retreats for them. But this year, when things were at their worst in many areas of the field, we all seemed to get the
idea and the longing to hold a school. Each of us could think of a dozen

reasons why it couldn't be done, but we decided to send out the letters calling all who received them. In addition, since this might be the last chance for many to attend a Bible school, we also invited other conse crated young people, those whom the elders could recommend, to come. Because the roads out of the Putao valley are blocked in so many places, we really didn't think the letters would travel very far. There is no postal service, and when we want to send letters to people, the letters are just passed from hand to hand until they reach the right person1 But somehow, this time, some of the letters went many days journey. We were able to have a very successful Elders school, and then the next week, were stun ned to see 325 students from 85 villages come for the school 1 We missed
- 14-

some of the far away preachers but hadn't expected them anyway, so im agine our delight and surprise the second week to see some of them from

way up on the Tibetan and China borders, come walking in. Their stories are just too wonderful. How we must praise God for His goodness and guidance! Just about the time that some of you all were reading about the death of preacher David and the arrest of Elijah, and began to pray for the poor preachers, God began to act on their behalf. He enabled us

to continue our plans; He opened doors and roads for many to come, clear

ing up personal problems, healing members of the preachers' families so that theycould leave home and come to the school. But the most amazing the Tibetan border, preacher Mark got the idea to come down to Muladi

stories are from those who didn't even get the letters. Way, way up on

and Dukdang to see us again in case we might have to leave soon. Two

others from that area got the same idea. Friends and families exhorted them not to travel with things so dangerous, but they wouldn't listen, and started out. Mark had travelled two days over the mountains when he met upwith the other two, who had met accidently along the roadl They were
amazed to hear each others' stories and continued on together. At the

next village, the letter asking the preachers to come to the school had arrived, so theygot togetherwith others and all rushed down, getting here a week late, but absolutely thrilled beyond expression to have fellowship
and Bible study again.

Another preacher, Joseph, started out on his own, to go to a village

several days away to see if there was any news of us and the churches
down here. He had to sneak on a secret trail to get away from his area,

not daring to use the horse road. Late that day, or the next, he met the serson who had gotten our letter, going up the secret trail to give it to liml His preparations were already made, and with the headstart he had, he raced down and on the way met the others whom I mentioned. Being in such a big group they met no opposition at all, both rebels and govern ment probably being stunned to see the Lord's work continuing on as usual. We were stunned ourselves - not having expected to see God working in
such a mighty way.

In former schools, nursing the sick and giving first aid were almost full time jobs for one or two people. Many preachers come from poorer churches and haven't received much support, eating onlvwhat the church

studying for a time. But this year not one of the preachers missed school
that was all. We all felt that this was a wonderful gift from God, because

vitamins while they were in scnool. Also, some preachers bring their families sometimes and we always have to care for them if they get sick. Some get sick along the road and drag themselves In half dead. Others have picked up a germ along the trail and come down with disease after
from illness. Sopater felt feverish the first night, but was well by morning, and Pilemon, from Myitkyina, was sick one afternoon toward the last, but we had absolutely NO medicines to give out to the preachers. The tiny amount we have left is saved exclusively for babies. We prayed about
this health matter before the school started, but didn't dream that God

es provide in the offerings. In past years we've tried to build them up with

would help in such a way. (It is sad, isn't it, to always be surprised
when God answers prayer for us?) We know that much of the blessings of
- 15-

the school were because many of you at home were praying fervently for
the preachers too.

After all the students left yesterday, Elijah and I were talk ing and I commented on the unusual good health of all the students in
spite of the fact that some of them were from famine areas and some had

learned something from our sufferings ana isolation this past year. In for mer schools, if we began to get a tiny headache, we immediately thought about going to the missionary to ask for medicine. Instead of asking for plain headache pills, we thought it might be malaria or flu, so just in case we asked for all three kinds - and in case we had a relapse ufter going home, we asked for extra, and then more extra in case someone caught it from usl In the past this kind of thinking and worry took our mind away from God, so that we were almost ashamed to ask Him for help. Now this past year all have suffered greatly with nothing for even the worst pains.
Now we know that we must turn to God first, and ask for deliverance if
we are to continue doing the Lord's work. Now we think of God first in

not even tasted salt for over a year. Elijah said, "I think all of us have

stead of medicine." 1would say that Elijah's trials have been worth it if he was able to learn such wisdom! But his trials are not over, and still

but then you remember all the others who have learned how to care for their bodies, and you keep on.

told her that the juice of raw ginger would cure her. She let them put it in her eyes and for days afterward was almost crazy with pain. I just hope that irreparable damage hasn't been done. After you've taught and taught, vear after year, and someone goofs like that, you almost want to give up,
The school was held here at Dukdang in the day school building, and

a few of them very bad. When salt water didn't help his wife, someone

has great need for your prayers. Almost everyone in his house had pink-eye,

would faint. Some of the preachers reported persecution because the Christians refused to takepart in the 'victory' dances of the rebels; others told of girls being taken by the soldiers; almost all told of having goods and food looted by either group thatcame by. All these evil things, along
that the Bible speaks of, I wonder if anyone still believes that the world
is getting better.

too) are perplexed at the things which are happening all over the world. Trulv if we didn't have God's Word to tell us the outcome, our hearts

days, when I could get away. She got through the sixth chapter. It would have been so good if she had had more time, but even that first part has so many lessons for us these days. So many of us (and some of you must be

Mom, Eugene and Robert taught. Mom taught Revelation and I went most

this month, are signs, I believe, that we are entering into the end days

with reports of the natural disasters which we heard about on the radio

Bad as things have been here, this last month of peace and fellowship with the preachers from both tribes has given us a glimpse how things may
work out again. I do believe that Christians can overcome much of this

who is at enmity with God, is our adversary. If we resist him, as the Bi ble says, he will flee, and much evil that we thought came from others
- 16-

evil in the world, and that we shouldn't give up so easily. The thing to remember isthat neithercircumstance nor man is our enemy, but thatSatan,

will just disappear. We have gotten so many letters warning us to leave

in time, and at times during the past years we have felt that we should make preparations for leaving, but all of us who have stayed on this far, feel that the time has not yet come to abandon the work. No one could have known that we would have this time of peace and fellowship with the Eiders and preachers, and in the same way, we cannot know what great blessings God has waiting for the churches here, if we pick up and leave
now. We feel that there is still time to work and that when God wants to

close the door to further work, that He will lead us out. Seeing that He

has not led us out yet, and that apparently we still have work to do, we are doing something that even to us at times seems foolish. We are build ing a new house1 There has been some sort of reaction from all who know about it. From a supposed 'enemy' over at Putao, there was derision. "What, you mean to say that Yobe, who is supposed to be so smart, that college fellow, is stupid enough to build a new house? Doesn't he know that the order came two weeksago expelling himfrom the country?" From one who loves us at home, dismay. "The new house may act as a hold on

them, and they might not get out in time." We ourselves have said, "It seems crazy to be building a new house now, but what are we to do? This present house is almost falling down, all the posts are rotten, and can't be repaired for another year, and if we build, we have to get started before
the rains come." But I like to think of the reaction of the preacher stu dents who helped thatch the roof about the second week of the school.

Some of them said, "We were really startled to see a new house going up
beside the old one when we arrivea. Some of us had heard that you all

had already had to leave the country. Most of us have expected to flee
to the high mountains ourselves any day. But seeing this house going up has helped us to have faith that these terrible days will be over soon. If

you plan to stick it out, we will too." We do plan to stay on as long as

I keep thinking about is, what if we all ran away, then afterwards dis covered that we might have stayed on years, even, with the churches. And since the many thousands ofLisu andRawang have nowhere to run to,
it doesn't seem fair for us to have a sanctuary from trouble.
We out here distinguish between "trouble" and trouble. Right now, we have "trouble", with real danger on every side. But the government has

possible. Where could we go to serve the Lord that isn't almost as badly off as here? Who knows where the next hot spot will be? But the thing

declared that Burma will continue to have freedom of religion no matter

won out up here, they also have a policy of religious freedom. But what
here. We all know that under the Chinese there is no freedom of religion

how far down the roadof socialism they go. If it happened that the rebels

we consider real trouole would be If the Chinese intervened in the war

and so our staying on in that event would be completely useless. But we pray that this will not happen. So, since God has not definitely shown us that we should leave, we are staying. We are looking to Him for guidance for every step we take. The government nationalized the agency which kept our money, and they took everything. We are praying that God will make them give it back to us. This month, many private schools have been taken over by the govern17-

ment but we have not heard that they are taking our school yet. Being in such a poor area, with no good buildings, and in a hard place where out siders aren't willing to come, it may be that we will be spared for several years even. We all have permanent residentpermits for Burma, which very

:iew others have anymore. We have managed to keep these valid by not
remaining out of Burma for more than a year when we went on furlough.

Many, many missionaries forfeited these permanent permits by overstaying

their one year re-entry permit. We have been tempted to do that too, but God each time put the burden of the work here on our hearts and we made every sacrifice to get back in time. That is why our schooling has been in bits through the years, instead of all at once. Now, under the present policy of the Burmese Socialist Program, we are faced with the prospect

'of no more furloughs at all. Apparently, any foreigner with valid papers who wants to stay, can stay, but once he leaves the country, for any reason, he cannot come back. We know of only one missionary who has gotten a re-entry permit this past year. She has a very bad heart con dition which cannot be treated anywhere but in America. The government
let her go homefor treatment provided her husband and children remained

on. This is a verv trying situation, and it may be that we have to give in

under the strain, but with prayers ofthe churches back home on not only our behalf, but for the Burmese government as well, they may come to see
what an un|ust law this is. If religious freedom means the right of the Christian minority to have teachers of their own choosing, such a law res t r i c t i n g the movements of said teachers would be counter to rel igious freedom. Do be praying for God to work in the hearts of the officials.

Can you see how true the Bible is, when it exhorts us to pray for the of ficials so that we can have peace and freedom to worship God? So do,
all of you keep praying.

I know you wonder about Ahkey. We believe that God spared him to us. The medicines didn't seem to help much, though we gave what we had. But seven now have died from our village, three from the samehouse, of this new disease that we never had before up here. The refugees must have brought it. Over 15 of them have died, including their headman.

We are amazed, because aftera bad case of malaria or typhoid, a person

Once Ahkey's fever broke, he was completely well in just a few days.

drags around for weeks. And when Joni had Asian flu, ne wasn't able to

even ride his bike in the yard for three months 1 But Ahkey just snapped back in a few days, so we do really believe that it wasbecause God heal ed him. He is eating so much better than he ever did, and declares that
he "likes milk now". He is the one who had TB, the doctors discovered

when we were home last time, and he has been such a picky eater until now. But he has gained and has real rosy cheeks. Camille is a darling baby. She is learning so many new words, knows
all the dogs' names, and is a scream when she gets excited and tries to

call the dogs to chase a cow out of the yard. Her tongue goes way out when she says, "Bullet, Bullet". But she does real well on "Rickity, Rickity". She says 'bakky' for monkey, exactly like the Lisu do when
they try to say monkey. She climbs everywhere and is the wonder of the
village because she seldom cries no matter how hard she falls. The vil- 18-

an hour over a tiny spill.

lagers oh and ah over a baby when he falls and their babies cry for half
Stevie has become quite an artist, painting very nice scenes of the

snow mountains. If he keeps up, we might even be able to send out a

too. It must be their Samuel Morse blood coming out. Stevie likes to

calendar with Putao scenes on lt Tommy, at MuladI, does very well,

ing to learn about the generator and jeep motor, it would be wonderful
JonI has grown Into a nice young man, bigger than a lot of the vil

work with his hands, and spends a lot of time with David nowadays, try

to have a handy-man like David around here.

offering for Jon I. We were so sad to learn that his friend, Roger Martin Terry from Texarkana was killed in an accident, but so overjoyed to learn
of Roger Martin's continued love for Joni and Interest in the work out

lating jobs. We were ail thrilled when the mission received a memorial

lagers.^ He is a real linguist and will be more and more help in the trans

to send to Joni for the work here. We need,a boek-O.frOld-Testament sto-

here. Instead of flowers at the funeral, his church took a special offering

JIpwery^much, and Joni Is going to translate one. We hope to usVtlils

dren to want to help In the work here. Each child knows why we cannot
want to help. Though things are hard sometimes, we think they are hav
city of cement.

memorial gift to have It printed nicely. We do thank God that He has put it in the hearts of each of our chil

can. Each one sees the need for more workers for the churches here, and ing a wonderful childhood, living In the jungle, with freedom to roam and

go home just yet, but all have expressed a desire to stay on as long as we

with so many playmates who are Christians. They miss America, as we do, but can see the advantages of living close to nature instead of being in a

The cement of any city would, however, look good to us now, es

pecially the block that has a dentists office. None of us have been able
to go to Ra n g oo n for the past two vears, and '"'iit tftath nrrri ottcntJon.

Burma, and give us permission to go out to take care of dental and busi ness matters, and return up here again.

government wilr soon change their policy about foreigners traveling in

Imagine having^^g.o.700-mff"es"to d'd^entlstl But we are hoping that the

It Is past time to get this letter off to the post office at Putao, five miles away. Hope this has been of some interest to you all, and that it gives a background to conditions here now. We know that you are all

praying for us, and behind us, and this is the only thing that gives us the heart to try to stay on. We thank all who have written such good letters

sent. I^el like a Queen, using the woniglerfui,^J.gpperware that the Long
be able to get foods out of the Tupperware, nice and clean and dry. Be fore, I had metal canisters and coffee tins, which were always rusty.
- 19 -

May God bless them for the letters and packages these two groups have

encouraging us, especially the ladies from Long Beach and Skidmore,

Beach ladies sent. You just can't Imagine what a boost"f'n'rtTbrclIe It Is to

Most of you ladles will have seen the nice metal canisters which have a

knob in the top for putting In a drying agent. Well, I had one of those, and ihe whole thing rusted out, here where there is 200 inches of.rain over
six months....

May God bless each one of you as you uphold us in the work here. In Heaven we will know one day, what has been accomplished here. Love, Robert and Betty
HEART CRY

Wisdom to know Thy will, O Lord

Wilt Thou but grant to me.

The way ohead seems cloudy, Lord,

The road I cannot see.

E'en though there be no earthly friend To turn to in despair. What comfort and assurance. Lord,
To know that THOU art there. How wonderful that Thou dost hear

The troubles round about me. Lord Now nearly overwhelm, E'en though I know life's ship can't sink
When Thou art at the helm.

The secret heort-cry of despair. And Thou, Who seest the sparrow's foil
Wilt see me too - and core. Helen M. Morse

And what cm t to do, dear Lord, When those I love betray

My trust? Lord, help me then

To lean on Thee, and pray.

Moiled by Mn. OSCAR L. MYERS

2024 N. !4h SK

Sec. 34.66 P

& R

Terre Haute, Indiana

For NORTH BURMA
CHRISTIAN MISSION

478D4

U. S. POSTAGE
PAID

Terre Houte, Ind.

PERMIT NO, 321

RETURN

REgUESTED.

MISSION SERVICES

BOX 968
.TOLIFIT. ILL,

MORSE-LS
Of NEWS from the MORSES
CHRISTIAN NORTH BURMA MISSION

"Where China, Tibef,

Burma and India Meet"

VOL XI

SUMMER

19^5

No. 5

As I look at the names of those to whom this letter will be going, i see there

are a number who, perhaps do not know of the sudden death of Mr^ Myers^ Therefore

1 wish to copy the Memoriam which has been sent to a number of our Christisn friends#
IN ME/AORIAM

seemed to be in good health, having made a wonderful recovery from his coronary attack which occured in June 1962, We were planning to spend the month of June in
California with loved ones and friends.

My beloved husband, Oscar L. Myers, passed away suddenly May 21, 1965* He had

life of dedication to the Lord's work as an elder and Bible School teacher and as my constant co-worker in the mission work will be an inspiration to me and | wt11 o my best to continue in the work of the mission as he would want me to do.

Just how 1 am to go on, 1 am not sure, but do know that the Lord In whom we have put our trust these many, many years wl11 lead, strengthen and comfort me# Mr# Myers

get the more it means to us." This is one of my precious memories that will help me
to trust in the Lord and to look forward to His return for His Church,

had finished he commented, "lsnt that beautiful and comfortir^? And

The day before he went "Home" he read aloud II Corinthians

and w*ien he

X.
we ask special prayer on her behalf at this time,
4:**
*

This will be a very sad time for our daughter, Helen (Mrs. Eugene Morse) and
**** **

of waiting, she, David and Tommy were finally given permits to go

Helen a letter from Eugene. The sad cablegram, which had been

Many inquiries have come regarding Helen and the others. After about

va!ting at the airfield on the 25th to board the P l P'dav^L

had gone^as far as Myitkyina (about halfway) on the 20th of May and just as the^were

fore, was enclosed. It was a shock and so hard not to have Eugene and the rest of the family with her to share her grief. David and ''""'"'"y recalled the happy times they had shared with the.r grandpa while they were home the
winter of I96O-61.

Tommy's abcessed teeth taken care of. All had med.cal ^^eck-ups We are thankful
matters of of business. business, tord has jusr just oeen been rece.veTThat They of passports f^d^her and other matters Ward has arrived back up-country safely. Fo" this we are very than u .
tlBi they were penaitt&d to go to mngpon for JhejnedjcaJ_caj:^__and for It has been hard for me to decide to make a trip now when ^

While in Rangoon they were able to get David's much-needed Sl^^es and had

have not Len for six years and they are not well, so ,t seems best that
preachers
behalf.

deep and plans for our trip together still fresh In my mind "ut I Jave sisters I
now. I will be away during the last week in June and possibly most of J ly.

try to go

,ers are enduring-#eat persecution. May we be faithful .n our prayer on their

Sincerely In His service,

Conditions are very unsettled in Burma and the Christia^ I.fnraier'on^jLir

Mrs, Oscar L, Myers, forwarding agent

202l|. North li+ Street

Terre Haute, Indiana 478024.

51, 1965
Dear Mr. McGilvrey:

biy daughter wrote that you would like to have a statement re Betty's father.

As soon as I heard
They must

the ne.s I wrote Betty's sister, asking for details and sent her a self-addressed aimail postcard. She wrote me iimuediately and said: "I'm hapiy to write taat my father is very much alive.
have made a mistcike through the report on Mr. Myers' death."

Now we are hoping tixat Betty's folks got a letter in "ttie mail to Betty as soon as some of the

folks who sent a sympatny card as soon as they saw iti

I felt that

My first impulse was to Brite Betty, then

No

I wanted to know a little more about i t before writing.

I had a long letter from Helen this week telling that Robert and Betty's house had burned.
one WQQ injured, f9r -which we do thank the -^ord.

My brother is taking me to Hawthorne today to set. Gladys Schwake so I must hurry as it is

time to go. I wanted to get this in the mail as we go.
Sincerely in His service,

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USU and RAWANG CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN BURMA

NORTH BURMA CHRISTIAN MISSION

"Where China, Tibet, Burma and India Meet"

(Formerly Yunnan-Tibetan Christian Mission)

'I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains."

PSALMS 121:1

THIRD 1965 NEWSLETTER

No. 38 News Series Beginning January, 1953

The J. Russell Morse Family

P. O. Putao

Kachin State, Burma

OSCAR L and JULIA S. MYERS

IN MEMORIAM OSCAR L. MYERS

Dec. 22, 1892- May 21, 1965

Oscar L. Myers, beloved husband of our forwarding agent, Mrs. Julia Myers, and father of Mrs. Eugene (Helen) Morse, passed away suddenly on May 21, 1965. He had seemed to be in good health, having made a won derful recovery from his coronary attack In 1962. He and Mrs. Myers had
been planning to spend the month of June in California with relatives and
friends.

For many years Mr. Myers had been an eider and trustee of Maplewood Christian Church, in Terre Haute, Indiana. He also served many years as a Bible School teacher, and always took an active part in the various programs of the church. Ever since Mrs. Myers took on the work
of forwarding agent for the mission, he has been her constant co-worker, as together they worked on the mission newsletter, attended rallies and conventions, and presented the work of the mission. His was a constant witness and example ofadedicated Christian life. He will be greatly
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missed, not only by his family and many friends in the homeland, but by all the mission staff as well. A truly faithful servant of the Lord has been
called Home.

As Mrs. Myers endeavors to carry on alone in the work of representing the mission as forwarding agent, we are sure that you will join us in ask
service to the Lord.

and grace, as well as the health and strength she needs in continuing this
The Morse Families

ing our loving Heavenly Father to grant her a special measure of comfort

LETTER FROM MRS. GERTRUDE MORSE

July 1, 1965
Dear Christian Friends:

Greetings in the name of our Lord! We do so appreciate your pray

ers and interest in the work out here. We would like to tell you face to
will have to do.

face about the progress of the work, but since we can't do that, writing

At present we are all fairly well, for which we do thank the Lord. Esther's son, Sammy, was sick for about three weeks, with high fever, and then just after he recovered, Esther herself was sick for about a month, but she is better now. There is much sickness all around, but not so very many deaths. Our supply of medicine is very, very low now, and
almost nothing can be bought.

About two months ago, one of our older preachers who is pastoring a

church near us, brought his lO-yr.-old son to us for medicine. He told us only that the boy's chest and throathurt, and that it was hard for him to
swallow. We noticed that the child seemed to be having slight convulsions,

Then we noticed a cut on his foot, and on Inquiring, found it had happen ed exactly one week before, putting all the facts and symptoms together,
we were almost certain it was tetanus. We all felt he should be rushed

to the government hospital in Putao at once, hoping that the doctor there
would have the anti-toxin.

We fixed a Lisu style bamboo bed across the back of the |eep for the child to lie on, and he was taken to Putao, even though it was after dark,

and we don't usually travel then. When the doctor saw the boy, he con firmed our "diagnosis" of tetanus, and said there was almost no hope for him. Even under the best conditions, he said, only about three out of a
thousand get well. The doctor's medicine was out of date, but he said he would do what he could for the child. Helen had gone along to speak to the doctor, and when she returned and told us all, we determined to

ask the nearby churches to pray much for him. We felt that if God re-3-

stored him, it would be a great witness to the many non-Christians in the hospital. Besides, we all loved the child. So the churches and all of us prayed much. Also, we sent a telegram to Rangoon for some more medi cine, which was received on the very next plane, just two days later. The child gradually improved and was able to eat and move about. It was

was able to be out of bed. After just six weeks, he was discharged, and
is now back home. We surely dotnank the Lord for undertaking this case.
Although the amount of mission work we are able to do has been greatly hindered, yet we can still do much to help these people stand In these evil times. God is our constant strength. If we keep our eyes con tinually upon Him, He takes away all fear. Otherwise we certainly would not be able to stand, and to help these needy people. During March and April we held two Bible Schools. One was for the

less than a month from the time he was taken into the hospital until he

elders of the many churches In this Putao plain. It lasted eight days, and
there were around 135 in attendance. The elders were very appreciative of this school, and wished that it could have lasted a month. Then, }ust following this, we held another school for the preachers, assistant preach

ers, and other young people who wanted to attend. This school lasted a month. There were over 300 present, and there were those who wished that it might have lasted longer, even up to three months. But due to the
unsettled conditions, it seemed best to close it. Some of the preachers

did not receive the letter calling them to this school. They just felt as if
they must come to see us. Then, on the road, they received the letters. So they said that God had called them to come. The Lord was so near to us all. He kept everything peaceful so the students could study. Due to

war conditions we did not know where we could get food for students from distant places who were unable to bring their own. But the nearby chur ches supplied it faithfully. Also, they gave" cows several times to kill for meat for all the students. Please pray for these spiritually needy people.

Six of our preachers from the Myitkyina area came by plane in order to
attend the school.

So, even though it has been hard to carry on the work, yet God has mightily helped us to help quite a large number of the Christians. Coun selling preachers and elders, treating the sick, supplying Bibles and other literature, etc., are all phases of our work which can be carried on still,

by His help. But dear friends, as you know, the war clouds are darkening.
Please remember us in prayer day and night.
Yours in His service,
Mrs. Gertrude Morse

WE NEED YOUR ZIP CODE NUMBER, PLEASE!! 1

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Mrs. Robert and Betty Morse and Children Jonathon, Stephen, Robert Jr., Dorothy, and Camllle.
TRIAL BY FIRE

ROBERT MORSE FAMILY

In the last Newsletter, a letter from Betty told of the building of their new house, and how they were looking forward to living in it. Every one was happy for them, that at long last they were getting a new house. You can imagine the shock of the families in Muladi, when early on the

morning of July 5th they were wakened by messengers from DuKdang, bringing word of the burning of Robert and Betty's house. Just as quickly OS possible, they all went to Dukdang to see what could be done to help.

Of their Impressions on arrival, Helen wrote: "When we arrivedat Duk dang wefelt like crying. The place looked so bore 1 Everything was gone old house and new. We found Robert and Betty in the big work shed (which hod formerly been used for storage and a wash house), with the things which had been salvaged piled up In little heaps here and there. When Robert came out to meet us, wearing a pajama shirt and old longyi, barefoot, with gentian violet smeared I Iberal ly on his burned hand and head, with a 2-day beard, and minus his front tooth, he really looked
like his namesake. Job!" She con t i n u ed, "Through it all, Robert and

Betty have shown a wonderful spirit and hove been a marvelous example to everyone. I know that the loss of some things has hurt them a lot. But they have not shown any b i tt e rn e ss of spirit at all. Truly the Lord has
helped them In this difficult time."

In the following pages are the personal accounts of Betty and Robert, taken from letters written to loved ones at home. In letters to her parents,

dated July 10 and 18, Betty wrote:

Dearest Mother ond Daddy, and all.
First I want to tell you all how well we are, how thankful we are for God's continuing love and mercies and His constant watchcare over us.

You would love seeing all of the kids these days and would really be proud of them. They really have good pioneer bloM in them. Now they must have gotten their spunk from somewhere, so I expect you all to be the source. That's why I know you won't get upset by anything you hear
from out here.

We all know that God is taking care of us and will continue. But we all know, too, that Safan is doing his worst to try to make us aban don the churches here. Being the strongest group of Churches of Christ

to harm G^'s work even more than he has. God is directly intervening,

in Asia, right on China's doorstep, the wonder is that Satan hasn't tried

and we can see His Hand, in ways more real and thrilling than we ever thought possible. That's why we want God and His work here to be glori fied by whatever happens to us. We, by the help of the Holy Spirit and His guidance, can come out victorious, no matter what. But how empty the victory for us, if we cause suffering grief to our family, who are so precious to us. So do be pray i ng for God to strengthen each of you so that you can gladly dedicate us and our work here to God, to be used however He leads. I am praying that the Holy Spirit will comfort and en lighten you all to see the real significance of everything, so you can see tlwt this struggi e with evil, with Satan, is the normal thing to expect. But we have the assurance of victory and are experiencing it. Read Philtne modem translations.

ippians again, and see if it doesn't seem more real, especially in one of
O.K. Now. Nobody is to be nervous, or have a heart attack, or

say for us to come home, or anything. As Paul tells the Philippians: "Do

all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God's children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and dis eased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word ot life. Thus can you give me something to be proud of in the day of Christ, for I shall know then that I did not spend my energy in vain." He says a lot more that is so applicableto usall. It is just as important to God's cause for you all to be cheerful and joyous and victorious as it is for us to be. Don't you think so? As we are, you too will be sad and shocked to know that our house burned down. I guess everything together is 99.44% loss. Some cate gories are 100%. We all got out safely, and Robert was able to save some of his most important research for the Rawang Bible. Sometime after midnight, July 4, I couldn't sleep. I sometimes get up and go out on the porch to pray when I wake up like that, but this time I just lay there and prayed. I pray ed for the village, the many
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Christians who have been burned out, and especially for our men in Viet
Nam. Then I turned on the radio and got the Voice of America news broadcast to Africa. The program was called African Panorama, I believe, and I was disgusted at the program, which featured Man's Evolution, won

dering why the American taxpayers should have to pay for such foolish
ness to be broadcast to the world.

Just then, from what seemed to me to be from far off, Joni yelled in a blood-curdling, heart-stopping way, "MommyI Daddy1" Robert woke up and grasped for his flashlight, and I did too, jumping up. I screamed,

"We're coming, darling, we're coming." My heart seemed tohave stopped

beating, and the years of hidden dreod of the Communists' threats against

thechildren seem^to materialize. I felt fear and dread, and helplessness,

and anger that they would harm the children instead of attacking us. Robert ran straight down stairs to the old house, and Stevie and I ran out onto the porch to see what was happening 1 I felt that would surely be the end of our family, because with Joni in their hands, we couldn't pos sibly try to get away. His voice had seemed to come from down at the fence gate. Then, from the upstairs porch we could see that the old house wasonfirel "Oh, God, thank You1 It's only the house on fire. Thank
Youl"

Stevie and I went downstairs to see where the fire came from.

It was

from the cook stove, which had been moved into a different room, in the middle of the house(because the kitchen floor had worn through). I felt kind of sick that the girls could have been so foolish as to leave a fire

burning, but to my dying day, I'll be grateful that I did not feel mad at
them for it.

tried to tear the grass of the old house roof, wnich adjoined the balcony there. The last thing I had asked the workers Saturday afternoon was to take off that part of the roof, and they had said, "First thing Monday" .
It seems an eternity that I was there, and the students and teachers got

panic. Iran to Deedee's new room, where they had been sleeping, and

Stevie and I ran back upstairs and got the two school girls to get Deedee and Camille out immediately. I realize now that Stevie could have stayed a few minutes and gotten his things out, but I ordered him to go straight out and stay with Deedee and Camille, so that tJiey would not

there with buckets of water, but it must have been only a moment or so.
Then I saw the very corner of the new house catch fire. Until that instant

flame crackle from the new roof, and finally realized that all was nopeless.

I had felt we could save the new house some way. But Isaw the very first

Meanwhile, I had been yelling outside to ask if Ahkey and the others
who had been sleeping in the old house had gotten out safelv. I started to grab some of Deedee's things, when I realized that a friena was there teacher Mangutaq De - so I told him to get out what he could, while I went to my new study. The fire must have come terrifically hot and fast,
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for afterward very little was found from there but Deedee's new birthday
dresses, one pair of panties, and her blankets.

I dashed to my new study, grabbed my writing files and typewriter

and threw them out the window. The stairs and den seemed so oright by then, so I went to the bedroom to get what I could, to throw it out, I got Deedee's and my pi ctures off the wall over our bed, plus the Tiliwagu church painting. I grabbed those things and the radio and took them to
the stairs and handed them to someone to take out. I was going back to

get my Bible and Daily Light, when Joni saw the stairs light up and beg ged me to go out. I could hear Stevie screaming to me to get out, and he had a hysterical sound to his voice. Joni, too, was frantic for me to go, so I thought it wasn't worth it to stay and completely break their minds over it - just for the few things I might get. I called again, mentioning each person by name, asking if each was out safely. As I started out, 1 realized I was in my gown, so I grabbed a Lisu skirt out of the closet and put it over my gown, as I went down the stairs. I probably could have stayed another minute and still got down the stairs, but Joni was begging, so I left without the next things I had in mind to get - my red Bible, our Daily Light, and our shoes. Robert dashed up at that time from his study, which was gone com pletely by then. He'd gotten his most important translation files out, but couldn't get his personal typewriter, the Butoba recorder or tapes, and lost all his life-long stamp collection. His head and hand were burned badlyT" because his study was so hot, even when he first got to it, that the plastic cover on the type wri ter was already crisped. He held his breath while getting what he could. All marvelled at his endurance, be cause no one even tried to help him, thinking it was too far gone. The village men had found the bamboo ladders and put them up to the north balcony. Joni and Tychicus and the village men got a lot of stuff out of our bedroom, including our bed 11 Joni wrenched out our china wash basin, and handed it down to one of the teachers who carried it to

safety. I had already thrown my typewriter out, or it could have been taken out safely, but when I threw it out, the villagers hadn't come yet.
It amazed us how quickly the whole thing was over. There was no
time for us to get more than we did, so what the village men got out was

pure bonus. The house was gone in 10-15 minutes. If Robert had not gone straight for the translation material, he wouldn't have saved a thing, be
cause that part of the house went first.

This tragedy has brought us so much closer to the Christians. Hun dreds of Lisu and Rawang Christians have been burned out this year. We have tried to help some, but of course couldn't help all. And now, it is these same poor people who are helping usl Our village people came

fish, bowls, plates, and spoons. They gave baskets, pots and pans, and

in a constant stream all week with gifts of food, money, tins of milk, or
cloth for clothes for the kids. Men from the surrounding villages came in

of pounded white rice. The village had a prayer meeting for us Saturday,
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with all kinds of the above gifts, as well as money, and carrying baskets

and sent invitations all over. Altogether we've received about $700 or

more from these poor peoplel 11 We've given our tithe, and then have

given halfof the balance, roughly, to be shared withothers who have had
the same suffering.

dered what he could do for us "now that you all have become poor like we are". He sent a cotton blanket and a headstrap for carrying a bas ket. The people have been so-o-o good to us, and I am so thankful to get to see their love for us. It may not seem much in our terms, but in terms of their way of life, and what is a vai Iabl e here nowadays, many of them actually sacrificed, to share with us in our loss. So, even though things are hard for us |ust now, we thank God that the Bible translating work can continue, and that at least some of Rob ert's 16 years' research was saved. The translation had been going rather slowly, but now we are "fired" withnew determination towork harder than ever, and complete the NewTestament this year. So some good has come
of it all, at that.

On Monday, Muladi village gave us a shower and a prayer meeting, with more money and many loads of gifts, from ears of dried com and parched com meal to cloth and bowls, pans and eggs. One of the sweet est notes came from a Lisu boy who expressed his sorrow for us and won

Keep praying for us all the time.

Love, Betty

Nearly a month after the fire, on August 1, Robert wrote to his aunt,
Mrs. Louise Whitham, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as follows;
Dear Aunt Louise,

earthly possessions and cherished belongings in an eternity of stress and

We hope you received the account of our latest experiences. We have seen a lot of excitement and activity, but the experience of al most getting burned to death in your own home, and of losing all your

terror compressed into a few short minutes, was a new experience for us.

We hope we don't have to repeat itl But repeated or no, I'm sure the traumatic experi ence will prevent us from ever accumulating so much "treasure, where rust doth corrupt..." etc., and fire can destroy. We have seen plenty of fires, seen plenty of fire pictures, and even been in
brush fires and fires which didn't annihilate. But this fire was such a big,

fast, all-consuming force that it did surprise us. I suppose there's nothing so combustible as bamboo and thatch, well-cured by 10-years of dry rot,

and helped along by arsonists fuel. Anyhow, it went up fast and furious, melting most everything it didn't consume, and gave Betty and me next to no time to try and get out our most precious writings and books, most
of which are nothing but a memory now. Because of the life-long nature of our Bibie translation work, we have never considered our time on the mission field as a mere intemeship to something better, but have chosen this as our life's calling. Thus this had become our home more than any place else, and we had, perhaps, more personal possessions here than mightordinarily be found in a mere mission station - such as Betty's nicest dishes, all the children's hobbies and toys, my irreplaceable stamp col

lection, and our libraryof study and reference books (some 3000 volumes).
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I suppose you know o bit about our new house? Sometime I'd like to
describe the various houses that we've had on the mission field, from the flat-roofed adobe Tibetan house where I was born, through the rough

plank apartments in Chinese courtyards, to the log cabins of Tobalo and

Dratsi, the bamboo and thatch bashas on stilts in Lisuland, the accumu lated months of living in pup-tents and grass lean-tos while travelling and evangel izing; the years of smoky, dork, trampoline-like bamboo matting floors; from a small 20' x 30' 3-room basha with a 6' x 8' dirtfloor shack for kitchen, to our last "mansion" spread out through three houses and giving us 13 rooms with closets and bathroom extra 1 Well, this last house was really on its last legs and about to collapse

through sheer decay, so we had to rebuild, whether we wanted to or not, in spite of the very troubled situation around us. So we finally got up the courage to plan and build a fairly nice two-story house with wooden floors, but still using bamboo walls and thatch roof. This put us about half-way between our former basha-style and the nice house the folks have at Muladi. The upper story wooden floor, beautifully planed and smoothed by Eugene's power planer, had just been finished, and we were half moved in and prepared to tear down the old house when this attempt
was made to drive us out. But the Lord had pre pa red for us a place - a

big, hollow, 40' x 60' shed on the grounds, which we are living in now, dormitory style. We may be a bit old-fashioned, but we're practicing "togetherness" in a big way - 12 persons sleeping in two rooms, with another big area serving as kitchen-dining-living-guest room-den-studysewing room combined. Half this space is taken over bythe clothes-lines,
because it seems - now that we're living right down-to-earth with a damp,

and can't be put togetherin any usable form, we're cooking on the ground over open fire, with utensils given us by the vi 11 agers and other local
Christians.

never gets dry. Since our wood-burning stove literally burned to pieces

earth floor - that everything gets dirty immediately, needs washing, yet

It really has been a marvel, some of the things that did get out "by accident", through somebody having grabbed it and thrown it out. Betty's sewing machine got thrown out from her second-story study window, and didn't break up, so has been put to use sewing for everybody. Betty's

typewriter she threw onto a tree below, being a portable, got knocked

askew. But David took it apart and put it together again, so we have this writer I'm using now (I didn't get two others out of my study). Joni

personally yanked out our yellow porce Iai n washbasin and handed it

down, so we have that (minus a plug), and also a mirror. He took one last look around, grabbed up a crystal-glass teardrop design flower vase,

said, "I'm going to have this for my own keepsake, of what 1rescued
papers, including about $700 in cash funds, in my briefcase, were burned, and yet our passports, newly renewed in Rangoon, got saved 11 Quite a
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and jumped off the 2nd floor balcony with it, then came to Betty and

from the fire." All of our children's birth certificates, and other important

number of timepieces went up in smoke, as you can imagine, from wristwatches to Big Ben clocks, plus all Betty's keepsakes - jewelry, toilet

articles, etc. A slightly ironic feature about It all is that we had been preparing for just such an eventuality for almost two years, and had long
ago sorted out our most Important things and put them aside, right where

they'd be Instantlyavallable. Given ^ minutes, Isuppose we could have

gotten it all.

What makes our situation especially interesting now Is that most of these and other American-type household items are completely unobtain
able In all Burma. We still haven't been able to get an umbrella, even

from the State capital, Myitkyina; nor mosquito nets, nor pencils, nor pens. The only things we can get In the Putao People's Store are rice, salt, sugar, oil, garlic, and condensed milk - all strictly rationed, and providing for approximately one third of our normal use of these items. They did take pity on us being burned out, and let us buy enough blue
Chinese cloth to make each of the girls and Betty a skirt, and enough

poplin to sew aroung mosq uito nets, if we could only get the mosquito

netting which Is being manufactured, and will reacn here eventually. Fortunately, the local people have been extremely generous in giving from their savings and former possessions, so we got things like a pair of shoes for Bobby, several shirts, some bars of soap, etc.
But we know that He who does all things well sees and knows all our

wishes, desires, and needs. Maybe, with the curtains about to fall, there wouldn't have been time anyhow, for some of the things we had planned. So right now we are just saying that the Lord will continue to lead, pro vide, and enable us, for whatever we should be doing. 1am working

with Tychlcus, our local minister, on translating Phillpplans where Paul

said, (acc. to Phillips t rons I a t i on): "Now, concerning myself, Iwont

you to know, my brothers, that what has happened to me has In effect,

sure that your everyday life is worthy of the gospel of Christ.. So thato..

turned out to the advantage of the gospel,.. But whatever happens, make

you are standing fast.. .battling with a single mind for the faith of the

gospel and not caring two straws for your enemies.. .You are given, in

this battle, the privilege not merely of believing In Christ, but also of suffering for his sake. It Is now your turn to take part In that battle..." Thatseems to have an application for us. If it Is truethat for all Christians
there comes a time of testing, a time of battle, then we are experiencing It here in Asia, as are those in Africa. One wonders if that time wil1 come for America and If so, how American Christians will come through It? In the midst of our trials I am reminded of the thoughts of the author of that book "The Marauders" (about the famous Merrill's Marauders of World War II fame). He said his lasting impression, upon surviving his particular Burmese hell, was that he'd never take life for granted again,

and "Isn't it wonderful, |ust to be alive?" Yes, indeed, that is how we all feel, just grateful and happy to be alive, and to find such a wealth of
good-will, love, and concern, from all the thousands of Lisu, Rawong, and Kachin tribespeople throughout the area, and to know that they want us to continue on, and help them. We are confident of great days ahead, but do need the continuing prayers of all our supporters in the homeland.
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We ask that oil join us In preying that this time of physical suffering and
material impoverishment may be the beginning of great spiritual blessings, and a revival among God's children throughout this field. Lovingly, Robert
For more than a year, Eugene and Helen's eldest son, David, has needed to have his eyes checked, and get new glasses, but unsettled conditions

made It inadvisable to make the long trip to Rangoon. At last, in May, Helen took David and Tommy down to Rangoon (700 mi.). They were gone for three weeks. Of the trip Helen wrote, "Aside from David's eyes
needing attention. Tommy developed an abcessed tooth, and also we were needing to get our new passports, which cannot be sent by mail, but must be gotten In person. We left home on May 20, spent five days in Myitkyina, where we had to get our additional travel permits, and arrived in Rangoon on May 25, It was in Myitkylna, while watting for the plane to Rangoon that 1received the word of Daddy's passing. It was such a shock, and so hard to be away from the rest of the family at the time. But maybe the Lord saw It was better that way, for once in Rangoon, I had so much to do that it kept me from thinking, "The Lord really helped us in getting dental and other appointments. Tommy was abl e to see the dentist the very next day after our arrival 1

When we talked with some of the other missionaries in l^angoon about get

ting glasses, they were very pessimistic, and told us it took up to three months, sometimes, to get glasses, even after you had your prescription. So everyone was amazed when we were able to get David's glasses In less than 24hourSo With the Lord's help, we were able to take care of all our business quickly, so got back home on June 10. It was so good to see Gene and the children again, and just to be home," LATE NEWS: A preachers' school is being held in Muladt, They meet four days a week. Teachers are Mrs. J.Russell, Eugene, and Helen, At tendance at time of writing was 68. Prayer for this school is requested.
Mailed by Mn. OSCAR L. MYIRS
2024 N. HHi St.

Sec. 34.66 P

& R

T^re Houte, Indiana

For

47BQ4

U.

S. POSTAGE PAID

NORTH BURMA CHRISTIAN MISSION

Terre Haute, Ind.

PERMIT NO 32!

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BCK 968, JCJLIET, ILL.