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S Pramuan ttd BangkokyThjallasid

August 21, 1955.

Dfear Mac :

Greetings in

His precious

Name I hope and yours are

wel l ,

and

I Imow

you

a re

k eepin g b usy .

I

b e l i e v e Mre

N i c h o l s f o rwa r d ed

an rticle

I h ad

v / r i t t en

some

t ime ago .

I

Xear

she

a l so

copied an

appendage

t h a t was

meant

for

her, just a

b it

of

foo lietoess . l^w^der

what you

thought.

I donot now i f you can us^^hese at all,seems w have so l i t t l e

space fo r miss ion

news

ahymore ,and

th e miss iona r i e s

a re

ge t t i ng

so numerous.

I

somet imes g e t p re t t y di scouraged and Lsgusted

with

our

churches,and wonder

what

it

wi l l

t ake

to

wake

them up

f

you

d on < t

keep your name

before

th e pu blic al l , the t ime your

support

drops, i f

you do Jjou

are

a^heggar . I

head

nothing but

th e h ig he st

p ra i s e

fo r

th e

miss ionary

papean t

s taged by you a t

th e N. A. in C anton, and I was hoping t h a t wou ld mark a change

and

you would r ece ive adequate suppor t fo r th e much

needed

work

you

a re

doing .

But I

see

you

a re

s t rugg l i ng

along

w ith in ad eq ua te

suppor t

l ike

most

o f

the r e s t

o

us . Perhaps th e tro ub le

i s t h a t

we

have n ot le arn ed

hownto pray with no though t o f s e l f ; to

let

t^ e

o the r

fe l low be

i n c reased

whi le we dec rease .

I was

t h ink ing

o f

myself

then. And it looks l ike

o ts

a

decrease

a l l

along th e

l in e , ju s t l e t there be a

mention

o f depression in the papers

and Miss ionary giv ing s t a r t s to drop .

*** At

l e a s t He i s f a i t h f u l

we

a re

no t

su f fe r ing , only

if we

were

ordered home

I

do no t

know

where

we would f indt th e

money fo r sea -pas sage .

We

have

been

v i r t ua l l y re fused

en t rance to

Brunei ,

but

have

asked fo r

recons ide ra t ion . f

you know o f anyone who might

be i n t e r e s t e d

in

Brunei o r N. Borneo,

we could

give them in fo rmat io

t h a t

might be

o f

he lp , but

it

is very

d i f f i c u l t

to ge t in ;

imposs ib le , I th ink unless one has some con tac t res id ing the re .

The American Gonsul i s hopefu l , tha t our boys

wi l l

be a l lowed

to

e n t e r unde r th e

new

Refugee Immigra t ion

l aw.

We

w i l l

probab ly

go

to

Hawaii ,but a re no t

ready

to make publ ic annoxmcement.

May God b less

you

a l l ,

yours in

Him,

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My VISIT TO

ORNEO

It seems t ha t most

o f us,when we

th ink o f Borneo,

the re

comes

to

our

mind th at l in e

from

an o ld

song

The

Wild Man o f Borneo

has

j u s t

come to

town .

I

d id

no t see

any

wi ld men ,

bu t

I did i

see

plen ty

who were wi thou t a

saving

knowledge o f our Lord Jesus Chr i s t . I must

myse lf c on fe ss

to

an ignorance

o f th ings Bomeon,

and

perhaps it

would be wel l to ca tch up ab b i t on th e g eogr aphy and

h i s to ry

o f

t h a t reg ion . A ll

Borneo

is a t p resen t div ide i n to tw o pa r t s

Indo

nesian Borneo,and Bri t i sh

Borneo.

Br i t i sh

BodnSorih

divided in to

th ree s t a t e s

Sarawak

and

North Born eo ,

which are

Crown

Colonies ,

and Brune i which is a na t i ve s t a t e under Br i t i s h p ro t e c t i on . The

l^Moslem Sultan

o f

Brunei i s

the

nominal

ru ler and

has

the

l a s t

word

in

mat te rs re l ig ious .

This makes it d i f f i c u l t

fo r

P ro tes t an t missions

to

en te r . Sarawak

fo l lows

a

pol icy o f enforced comity, and it i s v i r t ua l l y

imposs ib le fo r

new

Missions

to

g e t a

s t a r t . There

a re independent

miss ionar ies working in North Borneo ,and

I am

o f

the

opinion

tha t :

here are

wide

oppor tuni t ies fo r

se rv ice and

the chances

fo r gaining

en t rance a re qu ite good.

Borneo

s i t a

as t raddle th e Equator, and th e c lim a te i s

decidedly

t rop ica l .

However,along the coast where the c i t i e s a re lo ca te d the

h e a t is tempered

by a

co ol b reeze from

th e

sea . The

coa s t a l

p l a in

is

r a the r

narrow

and

c ov ere d w ith

mangrove

swamps o r

othe rwise

heav i

ly

fo re s t ed .

In s ide t h i s b e l t is broken c o un tr y a ls o h e avi ly

fo re s t ed

r i s in . to

a

backbone

o f

mounta ins ,

4000

ft

in

a l t i t u d e . Trave l i s

l a r^ ly

by

water,along

the

coast

and jrp

the

rivers.

The

longest

al l -

weatfer

highway inthe

colonies being

not

more than 50

miles in

length

The

hard

packedsand

o f

th e beach on a

receed ing

t id e i

in

some cases

used

as

a road. Life in . the interior is extremely

primitive.

The

people

of Bl?ittl iBorneo are

the Malaya,

who

are

Moslems

and

l ive

along the coast.Sea Byaks Land E^raks Melanaus

Du^ns

and Muruts.

The Dusuns are a t r ibe of North Borneo which have tf lrtb Chr is t i an i ty

in

l a rge

n umbe rs . Muru ts s imply means

h i l l- dw e l l e r s

and

t h e re a re

many d i f f e r en t t r i b e s o f t h e se . The lamguages o f some

o f

these t r i b e s

have no t

y e t

been reduced to wr i t i n g . The Chinese a re th e

l a r g e s t

non- indigenous group , t h e i r connect ions

with

th e i s l and going back

s ev e ra l c en tu rie s.

They a re th e

th e bus iness men,shop-keepers

and.

white collar wo r k e r s .

Myprinciple

o bje ctiv e in

Borneo

was

Ser ia

th e

o i l

metropo l i s

o f

Brunei . Here and

in

Kuala Bela i t a re housed th e 17,000 employees o f

th e Br i t i sh Malayan

Petroleum

Co. , and the i r fami l i e s . Alarge

proport ion

o f

these

have been imported from

Ceylon,

Ind ia

Singapore

and

Hongkong,

and consequent ly speak

Eng l i sh .

It seemed a good oppor tun i ty

to

do a

work in

Eng l i sh .

The

oppor t un i t y

is t h e re

a l r i g h t .

I

have

no t seen

such

a no th er b ee -h iv e

o f ac t i v i t y and e f f i c i ency on t h i s s i de

th e

Pa c i f i c .

Giant bul ldozers

are

c lear ing the

jung le ;

g ian t s o f th e fo re s t

crash

down and a re

pushed

up i n to hugh

mounds,gas

f l a r e s a re l i gh t ed

beneath

un t i l

they a re

d r i ed

ou t

and wi l l f i n a l l y burn .

Tournapul l s

r oa r in

with loads o f

sand

and g r ave l f i l li ng lov; places and

making

roads . Houses

sprlngpup and can be seen

in

every stage of

C05ii litibQn,as

in a la rge

housing

p ro j e c t

in th e S t s t e s . But still th e re a re n o t houses enough,

fo r t h i s f a s t growing

p ro j ec t .

The t ragedy

i s i t h a t

though t he re a re

houses fo r en ter ta inment and amusement, there i s no house

fo r the

wor

sh ip o f God.

There

i s one

R.

C. Mission and day school and a

sma l l l

Anglican

Church.

I heard t h a t

t he re

was a

smal l

evange l i ca l group

meeting

in one o f th e Homes,but

in

my sho r t s t ay I

fa i l ed to

make

con t a c t

wi th

t hem.

To

s ee c hi ld re n

o f

miny r a c e s and all shades

o f

color ; iajiitiads

o f

chi ldren

well dressed in te l l igent

eager ,

surrounded

by

y.l the comforts

of

modern l iving, but being b rought

up

in a thdSg^ughly materialistic atmosphere a

society

which does

not

deny

God

but lives as i f He were not; that presents a real challenge.

More prayer power needs to

be

brought to focus here t h a t Gods man

may

be pe rmi t t ed

to

en t e r .

8/10/2019 Nichols Edgar Mabel 1953 Thailand&Malaysia

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t

i s

always i n t e r e s t i ng to see

what

othe r Miss ions

a re

doing.

V^lhile I

was

on

the i s l and of Labuan, wait ing fo r

the boat

which

would

t ake toe back

to Singapore,

the

mission

plane

from Lawas

arr ived. Perhaps

I

should

explain

t ha t Labuan, in Brune i Bay ,has

th e

l a r ge s t Airpor t

and

i s one

o f

th e

bus i e s t seapor ts

in Borneo.

I met Mr. Bruce

Morton,

the p i l o t

and

he

inv i ted

me

to accompany

him to Lawas fo r a sho r t v i s i t which I was glad

to

do.

Lav/as i s

the

headquarters

of

The

Borneo Evange li ca l Mi ss ion, an Austral ian

Mission organ ized along th e

l i n e s

o f

th e

China

In land

Miss ion

Here they have

t he i r Bible School,where

some 70 students,men and

womOT,were being

prpared fo r the i r

work as evangel i s t s and

Bible

womiSi . The

students

work part time on the

school

farm raising a

part

of

their

food,and

at

the

same time

learning

new methods

of

rice growing.

I t

is the policy of the B E M

to

establish indigen

ous churches and free

them

from any control by the mission. Naturally

the training of a

native

leadership is the keystone of the plan.

The

B E M uses

the modern

toils

of radio

and

the airplane

to great

advantage. Each

station has short

wave

transmitter

and

receiver. Every morning at callup time,the weather health ofMiss-

ionar ies, repor t on

the work,special

developements

or

needs,are

reported by each station.

The

wherabouts

of the

plane and

i ts route

for

the day is announced. I believe that the

plane

and radio.used

together add 50 to the efficiency of the force on the

field;

that

is like adding an extra for every two already engaged in the task.

Besides this

there

i s

their

great

value in

sickmess or other

emergenc i e s

I was told by

missionaries of the B.E.M. tha t

much remains

to be done and m^y tribes are

s t i l l

unreached both in Sarawak and

North Borneo. ThEiCfitare scbtoertribes which are extremely primitive

having no proper dwellings and practicing a shifting cultivation

There

are

others which are l i l terly dying out be cause of their

demoralized condition and

dissolute

customs. They gather in their

long house ,both men and

women for drinking

bouts

which

la s t a l l

night,and

sometimes several n ight s

running.

I t is sort of a

contest

in which in which each inturn drinks rice beer out

of

a hugh

Jar

set in the middle of the room each

drinking

through a

straw

down to

certain

mark. While they

drink,the

others sing, and they seem

to

work themselves

to

a

state

of

self-hypnosis.

Often

the

Jar

is

refilled

with

plain

water,but

they

go on

drinking Just

the same.

One

can imagine what other anti-social acts accompany these bouts,

and what

kind

of

attention

the

babies

and

children get while i t is

going on. These people are open to

the gospel,

but there is no one

at present to take t to them. We

believe that

there

i s

One who

can ssree from the uttermost to the uttermost, but

i f

His messenger

does not reach these people

soon,i t

is going to be

too

la te Shall

we

not

pray

that God s messenger will

come

soon, and that government

r egu la t ions

wi l l prove no bar

(4t.

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.

Junc t ion

City

.August ^7| 1955

Be a r

Sir

We meznbere

o f the

Chr i s t i an Church a t

Junct ion City*

Kentuchyt

r e spec t fu l l y

oa l l your

a t t en t i on to

th e

p l i gh t

o f our miss ionar ies

Mr* and

Mrs* Sdga r

Hicho l s

While

serving

a t

Batangi

Paan)

Sihangf West Chinat and

ra^

hichols adopted

two

motherless Xihetan

boys. When the CofiSBunists /l

assiuaed control of the

goveriiment

of Sikaog Provinosi

Mr hicholsy

wi th h is

wife and

the little boys escaped across the border in to

Tibet*

Months l a t e r they reached hima* on th e

border

o f

Ind i a

where* a f t e r some delay* they were permit ted to

enter

Ind ia as

re fugees

Juno 8* 19 0*

Because

of

t he i r refugee

s t a tus they

were

permi t ted to

rao aiA

in India only

unt i l

April 1 1953.

At

present

the

family

i s

in

the

Mission

ome a t

^o Z Praznuan Road Banghoh

Thailand

on a tesiporary

permit*

They

are

unable

to obtain

a r es iden t i a l

permi t because the

boys are ra ted

as

Chinese Nationals and the

quota

has

been

f i l l ed

They

desire to

cou^e home

en

furlough and

to bring

these

boys

with them to

continue

t he i r educat ion and prepara t ion to re tu rn as

evange l i s t s to

t he i r

own people*

Reuben i s

now f ive* and Andrew*

f i f t e en yea rs o f age*

We reques t

the

weight of

your

inf luence

in behal f

of br inging

thses

des i rab le

young oi t izens in to th i s country in the new

quota

of

r e f ugee s from

Communist domina ted

coun t r i e s

f o u r he lp in t h i s mat t e r wi l l

be

deep ly apprec ia ted

c