Page 432 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

NJsauicriu) araiua
14
The second woman first came into contact with the missionaries iu [\]{.
days just before the war. She was a Persian, married into a wealthy Uap
rain family who were very strong Shiah Moslems. Somehow the (ios,J
message found a response in her heart and she began her search lor tilc
truth. Hut, as is the case with most Moslems, she had been born and bred
in a poisonous atmosphere and she had drunk deeply of immorality and iu.
trigue. She received lessons, seemed eager to learn but all the while
intrigue with former friends went on. Due, apparently, to her interest
in Christianity, she was ousted from her home and comforts, she was hu.
prisoned and cast olT, and for a while she made a brave attempt to sun.
port herself by sewing. Hut the way was a long and weary one, with but
little material compensation, faith in a better and a holier way was still
but a dicker, and a sinful but more lucrative method of securing a living
seemed more attractive and very damning to a Moslem-bred heart and mind
And so it happened that that last picture, the last memory we had of 11___1
in Hahrain was of her in an abyss of iniquity and immorality. And then she
left Hahrain and settled in Kuwait three years, married to or living with a
new "husband.” After she left Kuwait we lost track of her. Imr yi'ur*
___
.
she was still the subject ol the prayers of those who had labored with her
and who were loath to give her up because it seemed to them "there \v;u»
some good found in” her; because the memory of a seemingly earnest search
for truth and a desire to learn had stirred up a hope that lived long, ju
spite of contradictory evidences. Hut as the years rolled on some of u>
became forgetful and neglected to pray faithfully for her. H seemed
to fade out of our memories. The statement, once made of another, ,%l(
living where is he? If dead where is his grave?” fitted her case together.
Hut (iod does not forget. If we are faithless He remains faithful.
Suddenly there is a change in the situation. One Sunday evening, u
few weeks ago, two of the Basrah ladies were asked by telephone to cull
on a Syrian .Christian woman, formerly a helper in the Bahrain hospital, j
there to meet none other than the H------ of our prayers and our tears', !
as one come back from the dead. From this point the account is briefly
as follows:
She and the man she married lived in Kuwait three years. They
attended services regularly, learned much and increased iii desire to accept I
the Christian faith. But in Kuwait and later in Basrah, their experience
was like that of Saul, converted, who “assayed to join himself to the dib.
eiples; but they were all alraicl of him and lielieved not that he was a
disciple.” While still in Kuwait, the wife of the colporteur, herself Catlm.
lie in mind and heart, had urged them to go to the Catholics in Basrah but
on arriving here they tried to locate the missionaries, preferring to join
them because of past association with the Mission in Bahrain. Uniustrucp
od as they were iu many things and in respect to the faith and doctrine, ami
due even more to a series of happenings they did after all land with the
Catholics here and were then sent to Baghdad where they were baptized,
remarried, and placed under the care of responsible persons for further
instruction and now they belong to the Catholic fold.
From various statements in a conversation with her on a later day, it
was made plain that there was a complete break with the past life of sin
and that to speak of it or refer to it was repellent. It was also evident thut
although they had embraced Catholocism, there are questions that still re*
mam unanswered to their satisfaction, such as, “Why must we come to