Page 242 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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us at our annual meeting, 'Their sympathetic interest in our problems,
their keen and discriminating attention as we analv/ed our task, re valued I
our methods, and faced the future id' our work, their lu*arlaiiug assurance ;
that the Hoard ami the Church stand behind us, gave us all new courage
and hope.
"Cod is faithful, through Whom ye were called into the fellowship of
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. For the word of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness, hut unto us who are saved it is the power of Cod.”
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EVANGELISTIC WORK

The Ministry of Preaching i;
"Woe is me if I f>reacJi not the Cos pel.”
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M USCAT,” writes Mr. Van Peursem, “although by no means a *
busy center of trade, is at present not diminishing in importance. 9
The hills, *rock-ribl)ed and ancient as the sun,’ are laid low by the I
instrument of the road-builder, so that motor cars will soon pass 1
over them from Muscat to Mutrah, and farther inland. Well drilling has i
begun. The place is being modernized, and Bahrein is her example. A 1
building has been rented for the Royal Air Force. Their planes expect to jj
visit Muscat more frequently in the future, much as the cruisers have ^
done.” From the mission point of view, this improvement of trausporta- S
lion tacilities, coming at a lime when our medical work has been reopened, |
ami the clergyman has the opportunity of louring with the doctor, seems 1
like a chance to enlarge greatly our scope of contacts in < >man. To I-
quote further from Mr. Van IVurseuTs report: “Most of the near-by*;
villages were visited and lantern-slide pictures shown to the people. Six .«
weeks were given to touring the Batina country in company with Dr. -j
Harrison. Words cannot express the value of the combined tour of the *
padre and the doctor. As in the year before, Sohar was made our first *,
center of work. Every second evening was reserved for lantern slides. £
As this became more widely known, larger crowds came to see them. It f
brought an average group of a hundred men and boys every evening, i ?■
This method, in addition to its effectiveness in presenting simple truth, is 4
excellent in bringing the missionary and the people close together. Three ^
weeks were spent in the towns between Sohar and Muscat. As much time?
was given to each as seemed feasible. In A1 Musana, however, the throng1;
of people coming for medical care was so large that it was decided to *
remain for fifteen days. In every place the pictures were shown. No ^
less than two thousand men and boys during this trip lndield the picture!
of Christ on the cross'and received its message. Men will soon forget j
be obliterated. The future of the Oman field I think lies in the hundreds. i
what was said then, but that picture once painted on men's minds will not
of villages to the northwest and southeast of Muscat. People are poor, £
illiterate, sorely in need of medical attention, but exceedingly friendly. I
The more these villages are visited, the l>etter chance there will be for an I