Page 99 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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tainly, John "Van Bss expressed the sentiments of many of the

missionaries when he wrote in 1023, after a quarter century

of missionary service:

"On the 13th. of October, 1902, I stood at the stern
of the Anchor Line Steamship Columbia and watched the
shores of America fade away. It seems only yesterday.
Never once in all that quarter century that has elapsed
have I felt one pang of regret at my decision to go to
Arabia, nor once have I been conscious of a sacrifice
in so doing." 167
*

Many Arabs, from Shaikh Isa bin-Sulman to Mubarak the Great

had written similar testimonials from their side, expressing

their gratitude and respect for the -work of the Arabian Mis­

sion. It had not followed the original strategy drawn up by

the three founders in 1889, nor realised the Mission's original

stated goal. But its work in the field and the changing his­

torical situation in which it had found itself had dictated
a new modus ooer.andi and a new set of goals, which the mis-

sionaries had found great personal satisfaction in implement­

ing and had made a far greater impact on the Islamic society

of the Arabian Gulf. Thus if the Mission has to be viewed in

one sense as a failure, in another sense it represents one of

the brightest examples of a cultural dialogue between the

Bast and the Nest in modern tines.

u.