Page 384 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

NHcuuTiin .ik.iin.i

needing a clean heart, needing forgiveness and a Saviour and Redeemer,l
then we get closer to them.” |
Material advance is a blessing but can also be a snare. Reporting out
the men's work in BAHRAIN Mr. Pennings writes, *‘As far as the upper!
crust of Bahrain is concerned, great improvements have been made the t
last years and in these improvements the missionaries have fully shared. I
We have easier transport, artesian wells, running water in our homes, 1
improved sanitation and now, electric lights and fans. Though in such I
things as the artesian wells the poor have also shared, the most of these* I
improvements are for the upper level of society. We awake to the fact I
that all these things, beneficial though they may be for our comfort and I
health, add not one iota to our spiritual efficiency or effectiveness; nor to I
the spiritual receptivity of those to whom we are sent with a spiritual
message. Though to lie sure he need not give way to them, these very
things can become a real temptation to the missionary in that they remove
him still farther from the common people to whom he was specially sent:
while on the part of those who share in them they may induce a kind of |
sophisticated worldliness.” The bazaars have been visited regularly, the
Sunday forenoon Church attendance has been very good as to numbers,
usually every seat being taken. At the evening meetings there have been
enough present to make the service well worthwhile: the Sunday after­
noon English service continued until April at which time the evangelist
went to Amarah for two months of work: the Bible shop has kept tin-
torch burning even though the sales have not been very encouraging. Of
those who are converts or near to that point the report continues, “The
convert, Yuscf, who originally came from Syria, showed commendable
zeal in testifying and distributing (iospels and C hristian Literature. Ali
Rashid does not seem quite willing to cut olT all connections with us, but
at the same time his pride and lack of enterprise hinder him from mak­
ing any progress spiritually or even towards self-improvement. Moham­
med is another one of those who, once having seen the light and failing
to live up to it, are not quite able to shake off association with us
altogether.”
Mrs. Pennings writes, "Our work has continued during the year with­
out spectacular success but with quiet progress and encouragements.
Among these I will mention the pleasure it was to have a regular pupil
and enquirer in Muharrek and to visit and teach her once a week. Her
heart is very eager but her mind is slow and the teaching has to l>e pre­
sented in a very simple way and with frequent repetition. While we were
in India our pupil was taken by her husband along with his other wife and
children on the Shiah pilgrimage to Iraq, and I wondered whether she
would return in hardened or fanatical state of mind. But on her very
first call she begged me to continue her lessons and showed me that she
had remembered the passages studied together. Another friend studied
the Gospel of Luke with me in the spring, took the New '1 estament tu
read in our absence and read several other Christian books ami. when we
left for Basrah, again took some Nile Mission Press Literature.* Visiting
in the homes, village visitation and giving the message at the hospital kepi
the missionary and Bible woman busy and “as the year closes some of I*
the hospital helpers are asking for more regular instruction this winter |
which I shall be only too glad to give them Sunday mornings.” Of Mrs.
Harrison who spent years in Bahrain it is written, “The whole community

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