Mr. and Mrs.

Archie Fairbrofher
Christian Missionaries associated with David H. and J. Lois Rees

ASSAM INDIA MISSION CHURCHES OF CHRIST

Mawlai, Shillong, Assam, India

MARCH 1965

The Story of
T3)

MIKIR TRIBE CALLING

liiTWEEN the KhasI Hills and the

KHASI KHRISTIAN KAMP

in Pictures

Kaziranga Game Reserve lies a range of low, open hills inhabited by the Mikir

Tribe.

They are

subsistence farmers,

raising just enough rice to live. The men wear breechclouts; the women, the most modern of topless dresses (only they have

been wearing that style for generations!)

and flaming red shawls.

iheir religion is spirit worship; and the village headman has a right to fine
anyone who does not take a full share in

the sacrifices to the spirits. Their lan guage has never been reduced to writing, nor have any missionaries of any church
group or denomination ever worked with them (as far as we have been able to

ascertain). Occassionally, a Mikir who has a speaking acquaintance with the

Khasi language hears, believes and accepts the Gospel. There are a number

of them now, worshiping with the Khasi Christians at Berkurri and Mawlieng.
But that is not enough to satisfy them. They want churches of their own, with the Word of God taught in their own lan
guage.

They keep asking, "Can't you send

us someone who can teach us? Someone

1. Unloading the trailer to set up Khasi Khristian Kamp 1965. Skipsting Shabong, David Rees and Heswan
Nongbah assist Archie Fairbrother,

who will stay with us and help us learn

the Word of God?"

Jesus promised that they who "hunger

and thirst. . .shall be filled," that those

camp dean.

2. Pitching a tent for girl cani[)ers:

David and Warren Rees and Archie Fairbrother.

who seek shall find. Please pray with us that these hungering, seeking Mikirs will
find salvation before it is too late.

Marguerite Fairbrother

3. Is everything on schedule? The dean pauses to checki Note the "men's dorm* in the background, made of woven mats and tarpaulins on a

.
-4 f/-

bamboo frame.

4. Miss Velma Held, sixth grade teacher

from Woodstock School, came all the
across Indiato teach a classin "The

Fruit of the Spirit." Velma is a school

teacher from !owa who has come to
teach in Woodstock in behalf of the
missionaries of the churches of

kr :/A

Christ (Christian churches).

5. Junior campcrs, under the direction of Lois Rees, were kept busy too. 6. Campers seated on bamboo mats on the ground for class.
7. Chow line. What's for dinner?

FORWARDING ADDRESS Mrs. L. Rasmussen

Route 2, Box 44, Gillette, Wisconsin 54124

..M
V

8. Rice and curry, of course. Help yourself to the salt, chili peppers and sliced

9. The "cook shack," starring Ermai

Dkhar (the deaf mule who works for

10. Sun<lny afternoon just after the bap

tismal service. Back row: Comet

Fairbrothers), assistant cook; Mobington Rajee (minister of the church

at Garikhana), camp manager; Rarwell

Warbah, chief cook.

Rajee, Ellen, Charles (who was one of the two baptized) and Kenny Fairbrother, Alpha Kharbudna. Front row: Kong Mel, Nessila Uriah, Kmie U

n. Monday morning, breaking up camp: Skipsting Shabong, Abstar Diengdoh and Dishing Sohklet (three preacher boys) rolling up the walls of the
"Men's dorm."

12. And this is all that remains!

I
A

V.;

13. Sure helped a lot, having electric lights! Now il's time to load up the generator.

14. Goodby! See you next year! (It's a two-and-a-half mile hike to the nearest bus stop).

NEWS BRIEFS
The Christian Day School of the
Assam, India Mission Churches of Christ

year of school. There will not be any

great increase in student body this year,
since the number of new students comes to about the same as those who finished

opened for the new year of school on the

16th of February. At the time of printing,

it Is not known just what the total number of students will be this year. We know that it is larger than before.

the course which is taught. The school is not accepting any new girl students
this year.

Marilois and Jewel Fairbrother left

to return to Woodstock School, Landour, Mussoorie on the 27th of February. Ellen
also started school in Landour on the

4th of March. All of the family, except for Archie, who remained in Shlllong traveled to Mussoorie to spend a few months. Tills gives Marguerite time to be with Ellen while she adjusts to the new

PREACHING RALLIES: January 22-24 Berkhuri held a preaching rally. February 19-21 Puriang held a preaching rally. March 20-21 Mawpynthut held a preaching rally. March 28 Lyngkyrdem will hold a one-day meeting at the time they dedicate the building they have just
built.

life in Mussoorie.lt will also help Jewel

make adjustments to life where she needs guidance. Baptisms reported to us since the first of January 1965 21.

The

Khasi

Bible

Training School

opened on the 2nd of March for its new

One church established in January at Nongkwai.

MISSION SERVICES BOX 968

JOLIET, ILLINOIS 60434

Return Requested

Mr. and Mrs. Archie Fairbrother

Christian Missionaries associated with David H. and J. Lois Rees

ASSAM INDIA MISSION CHURCHES OF CHRIST

Mawlai, Shlilong, Assam, India

JUNE 1965

IN THE PAST you have heard

THE GARIKHANA CHURCH OF CHRIST

much about the Garikhana Church

the payment on the land. The church now owes this lady more than $1,480

of Christ, which has been started for their land. Now, will you help them pay off in the downtown area of Shillong, and the many problems it has faced the debt for the land and also build because of the high cost of land in a place of worship on this land? The that area. This church has been Garikhana church stopped renting trying to get a permanent place of the room they had been using for years worship since it was first started in and will now apply that money to

the month of August 1958. From the payments and the building fund. time of the beginning of this church The members are also going all out to the present, the cost of land per to give sacrificially for this project. square foot has increased more than Since the number of members in this 10 cents. In 1958, the land was about church is very small, this is a great 42 cents a square foot and at present financial burden for them. You can we have to pay 64 cents. These help to lighten this burden by giving years have been filled with prayer to this project. We will then have a for guidance in buying land, as well stronger witness in the downtown as prayer for the funds with which area of Shillong. Please pray with us about this to buy once an opportunity was and act according to your desire to presented to the church. It seemed that many opportunities passed with see a place of worship for these
no funds to make payments at that
time. brethren. _ _ _ .. _ Archie Fairbrother

We are glad to announce that the

Garikhana Church of Christ has, at

last, been able to purchase a piece of ground on which they plan to build a smallplace of worship. This oppor tunity came recently when a sister
in Christ was forced to sell her pro

f^i
'<1

perty to the government. The land

which the government took was on the outskirts of Shillong; and this

lady took the money and immediately purchased land near the center of
town. The land which she purchased

was large enough to be able to divide it into two smaller plots. Thus she
could build a house on one plot and
the church could build on the other

Two new, young, preacher boys.

Bah Dristing is from Tieh Nongbah plot. She even loaned enough money and BahOngus is from ihe new church to the church so that they could make al Jirang.
FORWARDING ADDRESS Mrs. L. Rasmussen

Route 2, Box 44, Gillette, Wisconsin 54124

"MY" FIRST GRADUATE

Emrys and Warren enrolled in the second and first grades, respectively,
in our "Mawlai Calvert School.* The

only other pupils at the time were

Marilois Fairbrother and Marian

Shave, both in kindergarten. Except for furlough interruptions, Emrys continued his school work in Mawlai through the ninth grade and then transferred to Woodstock High School. During school vacations, Emrys takes an active part in the evangelistic work in the Khasi Hills. On June 4,1965, Emrys graduates from Woodstock. It will be a proud

gN OCTOBER 1953, Emrys Rees,

diploma. Emrys will be returning to the accompanied by his mother and a States following his graduation. He

Emrys Rees

moment for me when I see "my* first high school graduate receive his

and Lois Kathleen, arrived in the

younger brother and sister, Warren plans to attend Minnesota Bible College. He may be contacted there Khasi Hills of Assam. Their father for speaking appointments. -- Marguerite Fairbrother had come in July.

AT LANDOUR, MUSSOORIE
rn FTER living a semi-isolated in Woodstock from the beginning of

/\ Assam for the past 13 years,

it is quite an experience to be mingling with other missionaries from all over India. Here, in the "Mission ary's Mecca,* we are meeting the parents of our children's classmates
children who have been in Wood

/A\

Khasi Hills of

their school life?

Other parents say, almost envi ously, "How fortunate you are to have been able to keep your children with you so long J* We agree enthusi
astically;
fortunate.

we

have

indeed been

stock School since the primary grades, or even kindergarten.

Now, as Marilois and Jewel are

finishing their first year at boarding Some of the parents ask us, "How school Marilois in the tenth grade do your children adjust to a school and Jewel in the ninth we can look atmosphere after having studied at back with a sigh of relief. Both girls home so many years?* It is a question have done well and are looking for we have been asking ourselves too. ward to their second year in Wood Should we have started our children stock, which begins in July.

Thanks to Miss Velma Held, the sixth-grade teacher here in Woodstock, who is from the Christian Church at Hampton, Iowa, we were
able to enroll Ellen midterm in the

making satisfactory progress, and will be having her first experience as a boarding school girl when we return to Shillong in August. Marguerite Fairbrother

sixth

grade.

She,

too, has been

The jeep is back at work again! Here it is with ihe trailer purchased by the church at Ml. Pulaski, Illinois for the work in the Khasi Hills.

MISSION SERVICES BOX 968

JOLIET, ILLINOIS 60434

(f
HON* PCOPIT

fOsr

'

Paid

OXCANIZATION

Return Requested

Mr. and Mrs. Archie Fairbrother

Christian Missionaries associated with David H. and J. Lois Rees

ASSAM INDIA MISSION CHURCHES OF CHRIST

Mawlai, Shillong, Assam, India

SEPTEMBER 1965

Znm MnRGRRET FHlRBROtHER

Zana
Landour

Margaret
Community

was

born

at
on

Hospital

June 25, 1965. She was welcomed into the family by four sisters and
two brothers. She is the only one of

Zana Margaret held in the loving arms ol" big brother, seven-year-old
Kenneth.

the India-born Fairbrother children to be born in Mussoorie.

BACK AT MAWLAI
Upon our return to the Khasi
came left without holding her for a
while.

Hills from Mussoorie in western India,

we received a heartening welcome from the local Christians. Day after day, for more than two weeks, friends
came from all around to welcome us

I found that the Sunday afternoon Children's Service has been growing in attendance, and that Iwasexpected

back. They asked with concern about Marilois, Jewel, and Ellen, whom we
had left at Woodstock School, and

to take up right where I left off, in spite of having a young baby. We are encouraged with the way
the work was carried on in the

told us to be sure to send their greet ings when we wrote to them. Zana made a big hit with all of them, and not a woman or girl who

absence of all missionaries; and our

hearts were warmed by the loving

welcome we received at our return.

{Marguerite Fairbrother

JEEP OVERHAUL
Detailed Bill Received

Since many of those who sent

funds for the jeep said that any bal

ance could be used on mission debts,
we have done so. We are thankful to be out of debt for our travel back
here.

In the monthof August we received

a detailed bill for the overhaul work

done on the jeep. We present, here with, a summary of the expenses incurred in the complete overhaul
which was done.

Balance left in Jeep

Overhaul Fund $ 857.67
5.66

Parts and Materials

$ 436.05

Amount applied to
trailer Balance left for

New Battery Labor Charges

Total

42.17 346.31
$ 824.53

mission debt
Amount of Mission

852.01

The total received for the jeep

overhaul $ 1,682.20.
This amount constitutes a cor

Debt (Travel)

933.68
81.67

Amount paid from

General Funds

rection of any former report you might

have received. We now have it all in

Both the jeep and the amount we

detail forthe records. In former reports

I included the $400 which the Mt.

had to borrow for travel were paid in

full and we do thank those who had a

Pulaski Christian Church (111.) gave

for a trailer because I took $5.66

part in this. We pray that God will

from the jeep funds to make up the

full amount which the trailer cost.

bless this effort to His Glory and that His church will be stronger
because of it. Archie Fairbrother

WX^ODSTOCK SCHOOL AFFILIATION RtSPONSIBMItY

Woodstock School is a Christian

getting our children in the school

because of this affiliation.

boarding school built with the main purpose of teaching missionaries'

children, according to the systems in

Britain and the United States, with

There are other responsibilities which we must accept as a group for

the good of the whole school. One of these responsibilities is to furnish a teacher for each eight students we have, as a group, in the school; or else furnish the salary for one if we cannot have a teacher present to represent us. If you know of any

a Christian emphasis, while they are

here in India. It is now in its second

century of existence and has plans for expanding and up-dating all teach ing equipment, including the plant
itself. There are classes from kinder

garten through high school.

All the missionaries of the

teacher who would be willing to

spend at least three years out here,
to represent us at Woodstock School,

Churches of Christ (Christian) who are working in India have banded

together to form an affiliation group

for a closer tie with the Woodstock

please let us know also please do your best to support said teacher for
all the missionaries concerned in

School in Landour, Mussoorie, India. This gives us many advantages as

far as lower fees are concerned. We

affiliation group.
The affiliated groups are also responsible for the growth of the school in physical (the plant itself) as well as other aspects of school life. Woodstock is doing its best to

have our monthly school bills cut to about half through this system. Be
sides this we are more assured of

keep up a standard of teaching and buildings which will compare fav orably with public schools in the
United States. Students from this

GARIKHANA FUND
We are thankful for those who

have responded to the needs of the

Garikhana Church of Christ here in

school have a very good record in the

colleges and universities in the States. At present, Woodstock has entered into a "second century ad vance program." Each affiliated group must help in this advance program of new buildings which will come
to several hundred thousand dollars.

Shillong. The list of donors is as

follows:

Vesta Young, Mo.

Miss Clara M. Bowers,
N.Y.
Leo and Louise Davis

$ 25.00
25.00
10.00

Total Received

$ 60.00

Our affiliated group is assessed $2000 per year for the next three years. If I have figures wrong this time, they will be just a little bit off. There will not be any less to give.
We, the affiliation of our missionaries,

This is a good beginning and we hope that it is also a foretaste of what is to come. We are most happy because this represents the amount and the givers up to the end of July

1965. We pray that there will be

others to add to this for the month

have divided this amount among us. We were fortunate this year because we have had a grant of S200 from a
family foundation. This makes it possible for us to get by with $350 from each family in our group, to be given by December of this year. Your help will go far toward the teaching of our children as well as
the children of others of our mission
aries here in India.

of August and the months following.

The members of the Garikhana

Church of Christ have been busy leveling off the ground in preparation for the building which they hope to start very soon. They are meeting in
the home of one of the members once

again to save the amount of the rent

Archie Fairbrother

which they had to pay. So that our memories might be refreshed, we will tell you that the
amount which the Garikhana church

owes for the land is SI,480. After

this comes the building itself. They

also have an opportunity to buy the land adjoining the property they now have, if they can get the funds in time. It would all make a very good
place to build a center for the church.

How much is the church doing finan

cially? We have not had a recent
report on this, but we know that it

Even during the monsoons village evangelism goes on. Here is the Reescs' jeep slation wagon and part
of the crovvd that attended the ser vice held in the home oi a Christian.

will amount to several hundred dol

lars before they are all through with the project. Please keep this as one of your main items on your prayer
list. Archie FairbTuther

FORWARDING ADDRESS

Mrs. L. Rasmussen, Route 2, Box 44, Gillette, Wisconsin 54124

NEWS OF GROWTH
While we were away with our

We were happy to see that the

students of the Khasi Bible Training

family at Landour, Mussoorie helping them get settled in school, the work among the churches here went on in
the usual manner. There were reports brought to us for the months of May through August and the picture looks
like this:

Baptisms
New churches

41
3

School were doing so well. We found that they were out in the villages preaching and teaching all the time we were gone. They deserve the credit forwork among all the churches outside of Shillong and two or three of the villages in the surrounding
area, Archie Fairbrother

as! Chrislian wedding at ihe village of Smit. Most of the young n the picturc are, or have been, students in the Khasi Bible
School. Archie wroteout the weddine ceremony in Khasi for them.

MISSION SERVICES BOX 968

JOLIET, ILLINOIS 60434

Return Requested

Mr. and Mrs. Archie Fairbrofher

Christian Missionaries associated with David H. and J. Lois Rees

ASSAM INDIA MISSION CHURCHES OF CHRIST AAawlai, Nonglum, Shillong 1, Assam, India
December 1965

e^soris lareeiiri
From the Fairbrothers

Returning
Home
"I'm certainly glad I'm not in your shoes!" the New Zealand voice of the office secretary toned in. A
few minutes before she had been

missionaries live in places fairly near to other missionaries. Every

year one or two parents from each group volunteer to go up and bring
the children of that section home.

telling me that it would take five days for us to get home through the Corridor. The Corridor is the strip of land connecting Assam to the rest of
India, East Pakistan lies between

The rest of the parents pay for the

escorts' ticket and food. This

Assam and the main part of India.

system is also used going up to school. The reason the secretary was so worried was that we changed
to the Corridor party after she had

"You will have about a day on the

train by yourselves as your escort will be getting off before you arrive at Gauhati. We sent a telegram to your parents telling them to send someone to meet you, but be prepared to travel by yourselves."
We walked into the office. There

already put us on the Calcutta party.

Now we had only one more worry,
we didn't have reservations on from Lucknow. We left Mussoorie on the 9th of November and arrived in Luck-

now the next day. The train for Gauhati left that night so we spent

the day in Lucknow. We got safely

on the train that night and went the rest of the way without changing. On the 12th, in the morning, our escort got off. He gave us our travel
money, what was left of it, and said

I asked one of the workers to check

the train schedule for me. To my

relief I found that it would be a

three-day train trip and only about an hour from the place the party escort got off. This year there were two Assam parties; one through the
Corridor and one via Calcutta. Be

good-by. Just after he left Daddy came striding up to our compartment

with Charles and one of the Khasi

cause the parents of most of the

Woodstock students could not afford

boys. Were we glad to see him! He

hurried us off the train and into the

to come up to get their own children every year, the school has set up this system of parties. Most of the

car. We arrived home at four o'clock

that afternoon. Marilois Fairbrother

sssiniiBasHSKiissBaiaxMiwuaaiffinsaniinstiaxBasiisaiaeiiaaiiaaiKBssisil

HOME AGAIN!!

But now, praise God, the open war fare had ceased, and our girls were
actually on the way home for the
winter vacation!
With feverish haste we went over

Although it had been just over

three months since we last saw our

three oldest girls, it seemed much longer. The intervening period of

warfare which reached across India

from near them to near us greatly magnified the months of separation.

the house from top to bottom, dust ing, scrubbing, waxing, polishing. We even managed to paint their rooms as a special surprise. On November

12 Archie, Charles, David Rees, and Binoi Kharbunuid went to Rangia

VISITING ASSAM
Miss Diana Nickols, first grade
teacher at Woodstock School in

to meet the girls and bring them home

to Shillong.
For friends the next week or more, from all around came to

Landour,

Mussoorie,

is spending

tne winter vacation with us. Diana

welcome the girls and see how they

have changed. This time Ellen was
the one who drew the most comment.

is supported by the First Christian Church of Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Her service at Woodstock School is a

"Oh, Ellen, how different you look!

blessing to all the missionaries of

the
stock.

Why do you change so much when

you go away to school?" or, "Look
at Ellen. She's taller than her mother
now!"

Church

of

Christ/Christian

Churches who have children in Wood

Diana arrived here on November

This

vacation will last to the

end of February and we mean to make the most of it, visiting churches out in the villages, attending preaching rallies, and taking part in the an nual winter camp the first week of February. We thank God that our family can serve Him together once
more here in Assam.

18. Her first Sunday here she brought an inspiring message to the Junior
Church here in Mawlai, where 102

children had gathered to welcome her. On her second Sunday, she walked up town with Marilois and Jewel Fairbrother to meet with and speak
to the church at Garikhana. She has

Marguerite Fairbrother
FORWARDING ADDRESS

also visited and taken pictures of the Primary School here in Mawlai. It is a joy to have Diana here with us and taking such an active interest
in the work of the Lord in the Khasi
Hills of Assam.

Mrs. L. Rasmussen

Route 2, Box 44 Gillette, Wisconsin 54124

Marguerite Fairbrother

KJioU Miftk&l&Cfdf.
the Creator and mankind. When God
had created the world he had left a

Khasi as a written language is still, comparatively speaking, young. Tales of the origin of their race, how they
settled in the Khasi Hills, and the ex

planations of their religious beliefs have all come down to the present by word of mouth. Through our years of working among the Khasi people we have collected many of these stories, primarily to help us understand their ways of thinking and expressing them selves; so that we may be better fitted
to reach them. Now we'd like to share

pathway to heaven via a gigantic tree, U Diengiei. Man came to earth

to cultivate it and grow food for him
self, but between the harvest and

the next planting season he enjoyed himself in heaven, coming and going at will. Seven clans prefered to spend
more time on earth while the other

some of these stories with you.

From the beginning of time there was peace and harmony between God

nine prefered heaven. One evening when two brothers had paused to rest beneath the

spreading branches of U Diengiei, U lakjakor came to join them (his name means "dragon"). That was when men and animals still spoke a common language. Indicating the tree under which they were resting, he asked the brothers, "Don't you ever worry about this tree growing so great that it will
blot out the sun?"

his own machete, the next morning to start chopping down the great tree. All day they chopped, and by nightfall they had made a pretty good impression on the huge trunk. In the morning when they gathered around
the tree to resume their work, lo and

"Yes, it does seem to be growing

all the time," one of the brothers agreed. "If it continues like this," said

lakjakor it will soon shut out the sunlight and you will no longer be able to raise your crops." "That's right," the brothers agreed. "You should chop it down while you still can," suggested lakjakor.

behold the trunk had completely healed! Again they chopped all day; and again the next morning they were astounded to see the trunk looking untouched. Thus day by day they hacked in vain, for night by night the trunk was healed again. One day as they paused for their mid-day tea they noticed a small bird twittering nearby. "Foolish men!
foolish men!" it exclaimed.

One of the men asked why and

was told their labor was vain because

a tiger came each night to lick the

wounds of the tree and heal it. That

"We'll bring the matter up before

the elders tonight,'' promised the brothers as they gathered up their hoes and empty fertilizer baskets. That night as the men chewed
betelnut around their fires, the brothers told of their meeting and

night the men left their machetes in

the trunk of the tree with the blades

conversation with lakjakor. After dis cussing the matter for some time,
the elders of the seven clans decided that all the men must assemble at

turned out. When the tiger came that night to heal the tree he cut his tongue and ran away to the jungle. The men successfully felled the great giant the next day. Only then did they realize they were cut off
forever from heaven, from God the
Creator and from the other nine clans.

the foot of U Diengiei, each with

MISSION SERVICES BOX 968

Marguerite Fairbrother

JOLIET, ILLINOIS 60434

Return Requested