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8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
1/20
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
2/20
Mark,
Paul ine
Hope
a t
Kushlra
n
I... ;
s t r e e t
preaching
i ?
S
r
course ,
preached
in English and Mark translated
into
Japanese. Afte r the sermon and clo
there was a period
of
fel lowship
where everybody
sa t
around
ta lking while munching
on
they had brought. This kind
of
fel lowship i s
something
I think i s missing
in
o
in
Taiwan. Then
in
the
a f te rnoon
we went to give Communion to the Yamashitas . Both
are cr ippled
but was
such
a joy
to
see the l igh t
of
Jesus
in
t h e i r
hear t s .
That
nig
went to the Church of C hris t a t Tarumizu where we met Mr. Oda, professor
a t
Osaka
Bible
He
had
come down to
Kyushu
to
hold
a week s Bible
t ra in ing course in
Kanoya
and
a
e
night t ra in ing course
in
each
of
the s ix area Churches. That Sunday night he did th i s a
he
f i r s t
Church whe re he t aught
fo r
two so l id
hours .
We also had supper t h e r e a t
the
Church
e bigges t
event fo r the chi ldren
I
must
admitt
I l iked
too) was the
snow. I t
snowed f
he f i r s t
t ime th i s
year in Kanoya
while we
were here
and
us kids
had a l o t of fun. We a re
planning
on
leaving
Japan
on
March 2nd
by
steam
ship
back
to
Okinawa.Then
we
wi l l
go
by
ship
to Taiwan
to a r r ive there on
Sunday
morning,
March
5th . We have
had
a very prof i t ab le t im
n Okinawa
and Japan
bu t
we are anxious to get back to our
work in Taiwan,
n January
I moved my s tudy
over
to the back
of
the
Fu
Hsing
Church of Chr i s t .
Mr. Lwo and
av e b een going
over
there mornings, f ive days a week ever s ince . We s t a r t each morning out
devotions
and
then
work
on var ious
pro jec t s .
Sermon prepara t ion
t akes
a
l o t
of
t ime
fo
and
of course I
have
to prepare
fo r
the four
o ther
meet ings
during the week. We
wi l l
be
a new Eng li sh B ib le
c lass
on March 13th to be
held
every Monday night a t
the
Fu Hsi
of Chr i s t and also a new c lass a t
the
Shih- l ing Church on
Wednesday
nights . I alway
a lo t
of
correspondence
to
take
care
of
too .
Then
a t
10:00 every
morning Brother
Lwo
a
go out
fo r
some type of evangel ism. Sometimes we pass
ou t
t r ac t s
in
the market next to th
apartment.
Once when p as sin g o ut t r ac t s a man sp i t a t me. Some p eople lau gh a t
us a
scowl,
bu t
there
are
always
some
who
accept the
t r a c t with
a
gra t e fu l smile . Sometimes
pass
Church inv i ta t ions
out
from
door
to door
and
some
t imes
we go
ca l l i ng .
One day we
in
the
market place. There
were three
of
us: Brother Chu, a Mainlander, Brother L
Taiwanese,
and
myself. Firs t Brother
Chu
preached in Mandarin,
then
Brother Lwo preached in
Las t ly
I
preached
in
English and Mr. Lwo t ra n sl ate d in to Taiwanese.
Each
t ime w
ot small crowds
so we hope to do
th i s more
in the future . This
work
has been
rewarding.
we had only 4 o r 5 a t
Church bu t now
we
are
having
around
tw en ty e ac h Sunday.
year the
Lunar
New Year f e l l on February I5th
wich
marked the
b eg in in g o f
the year
of
t
The
two
weeks previous to New Years were holidays
for
a l l
schools so we
had
a
spec ia l
Bible c lass a t the Chruch during t h i s time
every
morning from
9:00
to 10:30. 1
FIVE CHURCHES
ate ly
two
more
New Testament
Churches
hav e b een
discovered .
Perhaps I should say they
disc
ered us. One o f
them
asked
Ted
Ski l e s to
help them
and
the
o ther asked Chuck
Johns ton
to he l
them. This
means
t ha t we
are
now working with f ive Churches. Now
the
for tn ight ly
Church
pa
e
used
to
put
out
has
grown to a four
page
weekly
which
holds
news
o f
these
f ive
Churches
along
with
an
a r t i c l e
on the New Testament Church.
Subscr ip t ion i s
now
400. Praise
God
Yours In Ch r i s t
Alan,
Janet , Beth, Becky, and
Jonnie
Berao
/ ii Tfur
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
3/20
6t
Janet
Bemo
21, Lane 157
Sheng
S . R d . S e c . l
106, Taiwan
F A R
f i A S T
c K a s A O e t t
March ,
1972
C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s
Forwarding Agent
M r s . S a n d i
G a n t
R.R. 1, Box 333
F o r t
Gibson,
Oklahoma 7 7 4 3 4
s t a r t e d
b a c k
f o r
Taiw an on
March
2nd by
s h i p
and
a r r i v e d
i n Okinawa
t h e
n e x t
d a y .
and
S i s t e r
Woodruff
t o o k
u s a ro u n d
t h a t
a ft e rn oo n t o s e e
t h e work
t h e y a r e d o i
Naha and t h e n f e d u s a w o n d e r f u l meal i n t h e i r home. B r o t h e r R o b e r t Schwab p u t u s
r
the n i g h t and whi le we
were t h e r e
we had the o p p o r t u n i t y
t o meet
one o f
R o b e r t s
and a l s o o u r B r o t h e r
i n t h e Lord,
L a r r y .
I
c a n t
remember
h i s l a s t name
b u t
h
a deep and l a s t i n g i m p r e s s i o n on me by h i s w i t n e s s o f how C h ri st d e l iv e re d him fro
l i f e
o f
dope
a d d i c t i o n .
I was
e s p e c i a l l y
g l a d
t o
have t h i s o p p o r t u n i t y because L a r r
a b e a u t i f u l
b l a c k
man.
He
h e l p e d
me a
l o t
a s how t o more e f f e c t i v e l y t o r e a c h t h e
men h e r e i n
t h e
p r i s o n
t h a t I am w o r k i n g
w i t h .
hen we
reached
Taipei
no-one was
there to meet
us
because we decided to
f l y
ins tead
o
by
s h i p .
Although it c o s t
more we
were a n x i o u s
t o g e t
back
b e f o r e
Sunday s e r v i c
t h e 5 t h . It was
a
good t h i n g
we
d i d t h i s t o o
because
w h i l e
we
were
gone f o r t h i s
visit
t o
Okinawa
and
J a p a n some
t r o u b l e had
d e v e l o p e d i n t h e
S h i h l i n g Church o f
Among
o t h e r
t h i n g s t h e
f i n a n c i a l
s i t u a t i o n was
c r i t i c a l
and E l d e r
Suen
had c a
d
an emergency
meet ing o f a l l
Church
members
and
p r e a c h e r s o f t h e
o t h e r
f o u r Churche
i n t h e T a i p e i
a r e a . It seemed
t o us t h a t t h e
Church
was going t o
a c t u a l l y f a l l a
Because o f t h e u r g e n c y
o f t h e
s i t u a t i o n
e a c h
Church member a t t e n d e d
t h e
m e e t i n g
d
had been
p r a y i n g
f o r God
t o
h e l p . The S c r i p t u r e s s a y when we a r e weak , God is
s t r o
d
t h i s was c e r t a i n l y
r e v e a l e d h e r e
t h i s
t i m e .
The
b u s i n e s s
m e e t i n g
which
was condu
d by E l d e r Suen, was an e n c o u r a g i n g
example
o f what can happen
if
p e o p l e w i l l
c a l l
u
God f o r
h e l p and have
f a i t h i n God t o h e l p them.
The S h i h l i n g
Church
is
now s t r o n g
an ever
- - ^
preachers
of
the five area churches have decidad_j;o^rotatg^ preachers one Sunday ea
Before
these
Churches
were
small independent
Churche s
^Tilnioin ^ that
they
were
l y p eo ple r e a l l y t r y i n g
t o
f o l l o w t h e
New
Testament p a t t e r n . They
o f t e n
got
d i s c o u r
and
f e l t d e f e a t e d . We a r e
n o t t r y in g t o
s t a r t a
new
d e n o m i n a t i o n
and p e r h a p s t h i s
d a n g e r
b u t s i m p l y promote f e l l o w s h i p
and
mutual
e n c o u r a g e m e n t .
Although we j u s t st
this
m o n t h
has b e e n received well
Monday,
t h e
2 0 t h as I was a t home
r e l a x i n g and enjoying
ray
day
o f f a Chinese p r e a
who
is
a
b r o t h e r
i n
an
a n t i - i n s t r u m e n t c h u r c h came o v e r t o s e e me. He
t o l d
m
an independent Church
in
Kaoj^i^ung a
city where
we have long
wanted
to
establish
ork, which was without a preacfier Arid needed help . I t j u s t so
happened
t h a t Sara Hazl
od came
o v e r
j u s t a s we
were
t a l k i n g a b o u t t h i s m a t t e r and he
was
v e r y i n t e r e s t e d i n
he h i m s e l f had
been
t o
Kaohs iung p r e v i o u s l y
t o s e e
a b o u t t h e
p o s s i b i l i t y
o f work
We
d e c i d e d
to c o n t a c t t h e
Church
t o f i n d o u t
if
we c o u l d h e l p them. Then
on
S
y
morning,
March
26th ,
j u s t
before I
l e f t
f o r
Church
I
got
a
c a l l from
the
former
pr
of t h a t Church saying t h a t
he
was i n town and would l i k e t o t a l k to us t h a t
evening
and I met w i t h t h i s man, Mr. Lo, t h a t
n i g h t and t a l k e d
t o
some
d e t a i l
a b o u t t h e Ch
He was
still
p r e a c h i n g
t h e r e
b u t was p l a n n i n g
on
g o i n g
o v e r s e a s and
wanted
the
Church
in
good
hands.
p
aa iH
hha fc^tiViA
Chur-chr-wa^-ten_years
old and owned t
b u i l d i n g . He
s a i d
t h a t
they
had asked a denomination to help them bu t
when
t a l k i n
them the f i r s t t h i n g they
h ad wan ted
them t o do
was
t o s i g n over t h e i r b u i l d i n g .
T
t o
do
t h i s
and came
t o
us
f o r h e l p . We
were
very
happy i n d e e d
t o h e a r o f t h e i
and
to have
t h i s
chance
to
work
with
them
so
^/e
s e t up
a meeting
with them i n
Ka
a t
t h e i r Church
b u i l d i n g to
be
h eld A pril l 4 1 5 j and
16. Sam and I
want to
go
d
p r e a c h
f o u r
sermons t o l e t
them know e x a c t l y what
t h e
Church
i n
t h e
B i b l e
i s
l i k e
d what we stand f o r .
I f
th ey agree
with what
we preach they w i l l formally ask Sam to
and
h e l p
them. P l e a s e p r a y
a b o u t t h i s m e e t i n g . I
would
l i k e
t o r e p o r t n e x t mont
we
are
working with
6
CHURCHES
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
4/20
On March
25 t h
th e
. f i ve Ch-urches
had ou r
f i r s t
combined.-y6'uth
ra l ly . There
were
representatives from four of
the
Churches
and
we
had
a
t o t a l o f
39.
JQUth. This
f i r s t r a l l y
was
he ld a t Sh ih - l ing
and
we
a l l
f e l t
t ha t
th i s
was very
good. The
nex t hos t of
the r a l l y
wi l l be the Chang
Chwun
Church
and we
hope
fo r many
more
in
th e month of
Apr i l .
We
have
s e t
up
to
have
a
combined
youth
r a l l y the
l a s t
Saturday
evening
o f
every
month.
I
was
asked
to
speak
a t th i s
meet ing and s ince
I
already knew
there were going to be
some bapt isms
I
chose the top ic , Born
Again . One of my s tuden t s , Miss Hwang
Mei Hwei
was bapt ised along
with a
new
g i r l by
the name of Jyang Pe i Le i.
She
Women s meet ing a t
the
Fu Hsing Churc
had come over to the Church office at Fu Hsing a week earl ier with her
friend,
Mr. Jy
J r Chyow,
and
I
had an
opportunity to ta lk to her about being baptised. She
had
bee
sprinkled as
a
baby and since she wanted
to
follow
the Bible she readi ly wanted
to b
immersed
wheh~~^e heard
wnat the
Bi~ble s aid ab~out
bapfism.
'
Also
the women of the
five
Churches
have
a j t o ^n s
meeting each,
month.
On
March
28th
was
held
a t
the
Fu
Hsing
Church
of
Chr i s t
where
we
are
working.
There
a re
only
f ive
women in
t he c ongr eg at io n
and
Janet
was
especia l ly
proud o f
them as they
completely
e ve ry th in g ove r.
Of
course I am
proud
of the pa r t .Jan_ei.. took in the
program
as
she
work hard too
and spoke to
them
on the subjec t of
In God s
Hand.
About t h i r ty wom
attejided
thia-meeting.
~ ---
Janet and
I
are
very busy
now
as
we
are
teaching and preaching
od s
or
in
a
combin
tion of el_ey .n_fflgetings a week.
Janet
i s teaching two Engli sh Bib le
classes
a week a
new-Christian's cla^s for those who have recently been baptised. I am preaching ea
unday, teaching five English Bible classes, leading prayer meeting and youth meeting
ach week. I
try to make i t to the prison
each
week
but I
can t
always.
have
had
some
pretty big expenses
la te ly and
the
biggest
of these
was our Taiwan
taxes of
U.S. 300.
Ouch
An
expense which
is
coming up
is
summer
camp. I
am
that some of you will be able
to
help us with these expenses.' 'This' is^a wond
pportunity to reach people for Christ and i t always has to be subsidized.
It
usuall
inds up costing each missionary here
about
75 so i f you would l ike
to donate
toward
xpense of
Camp
I would urge you
to. If
so please designate offerings as such
when
y
them to
our forwarding
agen t .
lease be praying for our work here in the
future
and thank Him for His leading in th
PLEASE
NOTICE
CHANGE
IN
FORWARD
AGENT'S ADDRESS ==
BOX
333
In His Service,
an, Jane .t,
Beth,
Becky, & Jonnie Bemo
;p
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
5/20
F o rw a rd in g A g en
M r s .
Sandi G a n t
R.
R.
1
Box 3 3 3
J a n e t B e m o
2 1 , Lane 157
Sheng S . R d . S e c . 1
106,
Taiwan
cnusAaetc
F o r t
G i b s o n ,
O k
77^3^
C h r i s t i a n F r i e n d s
A p r i l
1 9 7 2
hen I g o t home
from
t h e o f f i c e on A pr i l t h e 1 1 t h
w as
a l o n g - d i s t a n c e
p h o n e call f r o m
A m e r i c a
f o r
m e . As I
s a t
at t h e p h o n e w a i t i n g
f o r
h e
c o n n e c t i o n
t o b e made all
k i n d s
o f t h i n gs w e n t
my
m i n d .
I
w a s b o t h
r e l i e v e d a n d h a p p y t o
h e a r
my
m o t h e r s c h e e r f u l v o i c e s a y i n g h e l l o .
h e t o l d
me
t h a t
s h e w a s g o i n g
t o a r r i v e a t t h e
I n t e r n a t i o n a l a ir p o r t a t
1 0 : 3 0
o n t h e 1 7 t h
t h e
f o l l o w i n g Monday m o r n i n g . We
w e r e r e a l l y
b e c a u s e
we h a d h a d n o
i d e a
o f t h e
p o s s i
o f h e r
c o m i n g .
We
f o u n d
o u t
later
t h a t it
as a l m o s t a s
much o f
a s u r p r i s e
f o r h e r
a s
it
w a s
o r
u s .
M o t h e r h a d
J u s t d e c i d e d t o
c h a n g e
J o b s
a n d
ince there
w o u l d
b e a t w o
w e e k
intervention b e t w e e n
s h e d e c i d e d t o t r y t o
u s e
t h i s f r e e t i m e t o
u s.
Sh e d i d n t want
to g et
o ur hopes
o r even
e r own up too high
so
she d i d n t
mention
it
to us
u n t i l she was s u r e . Sh e g o t
h e r
p
s h o t r e c o r d s a n d v i s a i n a r e c o r d t i m e o f t e n d a y s a n d c a l l e d u s o n t h e d a y
s h e
e r
p l a n e r e s e r v a t i o n s
made t o let
u s
know
w hen s h e w as
c o m in g . M o th e r w as
o n l y
a b l e
u n t i l
the 28th
bu t
we
t h a n k
God
f o r th e
time we
had
t o g e t h e r . Sh e
gave
a testim o
n
all
my c l a s s e s
s p o k e a t
tw o w o m e n s
m e e t i n g s a n d s a n g
a
t r i o
w i t h J a n e t
an d
I
a t
I f e l t it a g r e a t
p r i v e l e g e
t o t r a n s l a t e
f o r
h e r
i n my c l a s s e s an d I
know
t h
an d
n o n - C h r i s t i a n s
a l i k e were
i n f l u e n c e d
by
h e r t e a c h i n g .
I c o u l d n t
t a k e
while she
w a s
here but w e did
d o
our
best
to
s h o w
her around
M o t h e r a n d
s o m e
students
p r a i s e
a n d
g i v e God
a l l
c r e d i t t h a t t h e r e
w e r e
f o u r b a p t i s m s t h i s
month.
Mr . Wang
was
baptized
on A p r i l 2nd. Miss
Feng and
Mr.
Peng
were
immersed
on
th e
l4th
an
Yang
o n t h e 2 7 t h . Mr. P e n g is i n h i s s i x t i e s
a n d h a s b e e n
c o m i n g t o t h e C h u r c h f
t h r e e m o n t h s . It is seldom t h a t we s e e a n e l d e r l y p e r s o n
a c c e p t
C h r i s t
i n
t h e
O
o
we e s p e c i a l l y
r e j o i c e
f o r h i m . T he
o th e r t h re e
a r e all
p e o p l e we r e a c h e d t h r o u g h t
l i s h B ib le
c l a s s e s .
month I t o l d you
a b o u t
Sam
Hazlewood
an d me
p l a n n i n g
a t r i p t o K ao h s iu n g t o s e e a
an independent Church t h e r e who asked
f o r h e l p .
d id
go on Apr i l
14,15 an d
S e r v i c e s a t T s o Y i n g B e t h s 5 th b ir t h d ay
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
6/20
planned
and
had
some wonder fu l
meet ings the r e .
Actual ly
the
p l ace
we went
to is
a su
Kaohsiung
cal led Tso
Ying. We l e f t Taipei
on
the l4 th Friday
morning,
and
ar r ived
in Kaohsiung where th e p re ac he r who
had
asked
us to
come and help Mr.
Lo,
was the
meet us .
- We went
by t ax i
to
Tso Ying, checked i n to an inn and
had lunch
toge the r .
t a t ime to meet
them
a t the inn tha t
night
before
the meeting
and
then
went to
Kaoh
make r etu r n- tr ip t ra in r e se rva t ions and
to
go
see Mrs.
Li l l i an Mart in , our co-worker
She
had
recent ly
had
a
t he f t
and
was in
the process of moving and we thought we
by able
to
help
her .
That
n igh t I presented a
s l ide program
a t the church in Tso
desc r i b i ng
the
Church in
the New Testament
through s c r i p tu r e s and
then preached
fo
a few minutes . Mrs. Mart in
a lso a t t ended and a f t e r
I
spoke
th e
preacher asked
Mr
to
g ive
a
t e s t imony .
There were
35
peop le
t he r e
and
t h e i r
r ecep t i on
was
warm
an
I showed s l ides on
Saturday
night also on the top ic of Chruch
History
and the
o f denomina t iona l i sm. The i r Sunday
se rv i ce
is
on
Sunday
af te rnoon
a t
3^00
P.M.
d Sara preached a chal lenging message
to
the
Chris t ians
a t the meeting.
These Chris t i
e a littl
d i f f e r en t from
t hose we
were
used to . For
example they
ll prayed
a t once
during prayer t imes and they par took of
communion
with fermented
wine. However
I
sure by t h e i r f ru i t s tha t they are in Chris t
and
therefore
they are my
bre thren . P
These
people
have paid fo r t h e i r own Church
bui ld ing
with t he i r meager offer ings
d
they cal l
themselves
the
Fu
Hsing (Pestor ation) Church
of
Christ . This i s the
same
on
th e Church bui ld ing
-where I
work. We c a l l our s e l ves
t h i s because
our
mee-t-in-g
i s
on
Fu
Hsing
St ree t . They ca l l
themselves
t h i s because
they are
in
the
Fu
Hsin
of
town. We pra ised
God a l l
the
way
back
to Taipe i
and
joyously
to ld
the bre t
re o f our t r i p . We a re now working with
s ix
Churches.
we are on the subject of Churches I would l ike to mention tha t on the 23th a
prea
a
before,
unknown independent
Church
of
Christ ,
came
over
to the
office
to interview
see what we believed.
e then said tha t
he
too simply wanted
to follow the Bible p
d wonde red if we
could
help t he i r
congregat ion .
I have not inves t iga ted t h i s poss ib
ye t
but
I
would
l i ke
for you
to pray about t h i s too
and
I
hope
we
wil l have some
to report to you next
month. By
th e way,
we
are not helping any
of
these Churches
any f inanc ia l way. Thay
have
asked
us to
come
and
teach or preach and th i s i s a l l w
e doing. We are not
t rying
to get them to join
our group
we
don t
have a group an
as
such.
When we go to help them we make it p la in th at we are
not
giving
any
f i
a id .
Our only hope
for these
congregat ions i s
to
give them the Truth of
Jesus
- - unadul te ra ted
by
man s doctr ine and we have f a i t h
t ha t
it
wi l l make
them f r
r
prayer
i s
t ha t
Churches a l l
over
t h i s i s l and
- -
where
the re
i s
the
grea tes t
concen
o f m i ss io na rie s and
t h e r e f o r e
denomina t iona l i sm from ll over th e
wor ld
w i l l
f r eed
from denominat ional i sm
and have
the uni ty
t h a t Chr i s t
prayed f o r . Up
to
the
those Churches which
have
pul led out of denominationalism
have
been
ost racized
d have
ne i the r
any kind of
uni ty
or fe l lowship .
However
the
Lord
seems
to be seeking
out
now and we pra i se Him for
our
pa r t in
His
plan
here .
became
f ive years old on the l8 th .
I t
was
kind
of spec ia l get t ing to have her Bem
here
with
her . I
look
a t
Beth with
rea l
joy
and pride as I see her
get t ing
I t i s
rea l ly
hard fo r me to comprehend tha t she i s
rea l ly
ge t t ing
more grown up
l th e t ime un t i l
I
see her express some deep sp i r i t u a l t ru th
o r
take on some r e a l r e -
a re
look ing
forward
to wr i t i ng
our
nex t
news le t t e r
so
we
can
t ll
you
how
working
w
o th e r Church t u r n s ou t . P l ea se be p r ay ing
a bou t
it in th e
meant ime.
n
is Service
^OTVrvO
Reques t ed :
S a n d i
Ga n t
1 Box 333
Gibson,
77^3^
7 ^ 2
NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S .
POSTAGE
1.7(S PA ID
Ft Gibson Okl
Pe rmi t no . 3
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
7/20
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
8/20
, . 7 t ;
\Ss.\
a u a k
m l i prown;
Tme L.EA
\SHV NOT
A T ^ U
EN P
OP
Th
OAMO
v u
fellowship among
ourselves In Chris t. We
prayed with
him
before
leaving
and
Ted
and
I
prayed fervently about
t hi s. Five days la te r
go t
a
phone
call
f rom Brother Chen saying
that he wanted me to come over on
Sunday nights
to
continue
th e English Bible class tha
Ted had previously taught. We praised
God and
I went.
Then
on
Tuesday,
May
16th, Brother Chen
came
to
see me
to
tell me
that
was again receiving opposition from his brethren about us working together and what should he do.
Should
I leave this fellowship
They seem to think that if
you
aren t called Church of God that
you
aren t saved and they are very closed-minded. Now, I hope
can appreciate ou r predicament in a
time
like this. I told him that I
considered
that he and his brethren
were
Christians and
that
if h
left them th_at he would onlv be gaining
our
fellowship a t t he cost of t he ir s. I suggest ed that we again cancel thi s c lass and
that
in th
way his brethren could see ou r
genuine
love for the brethren. We could put this matter before the
Lord
in prayer and He might cau
something
really
beautiful to happen.
I also told him
that
we always
welcomed
any Bible believing
and practicing, undenomination
congregation
i nt o our
fellowship but that we
offered no
financial help and they
could
not be considered as a part of
any
denominat
sinc e we had no earthly headquarters or
head
bu t Christ . He
agreed
with my suggestion and then said that If things didn t
work
out
soon that he was considering leaving this group of five Chruches. I also suggested that if he did so that the congregation continue
to
call i tself
th e Chruch of God
a
very scriptural name.
Mr. Chen has been to
our
house since, giving us
the
names of four congregations which are independent
and
call themselves Church
Chris t. We are at
the
present trying
to
make contact
with these.
Two of
them
are in
th e
Kaohsiung
area
where
Sam Hazlewood
is
working and two of
them
are in
our
a rea. Perhaps I will have more news next month .
Why are we so concerned about fellowship? Why no t just do
our
own thing
and
let everyone else alone? BECAUSE I AM PART OF
CHRIST'S BODY I lovethis body
and
I want it to be one co-ordinated
and
one in its purpose. When my toe hurts my fingers
do all they can to help t he toe because it is of the same body.
Yet
we have the
concept
of the Chruch as a
body
divided one tha
can t possible
help
itself
because
it is d issected . I
also
am convicted that it is of utmost importance
because
Christ prayed that we be
one
so that
th e world could come
to be saved. If
my Lord prayed fo r
it
has servants
ought
to
use
every
last
bi t
of energy to
see this
wish fulfilled, at the same time praying that the Lord himself will give us strength to do His will. Many people's
concept
of the Chr
is something like the pictured cartoon. I
hesitate to
picture the
Church
as a s inking boat
except that
if a
congregation,
an
assembly,
Church, is sinking, just because we are the members of another congregation doesn t mean we aren t sinking too. If
that
congregati
is in Chris t
they
are
part
of
the
same body
we are in
the same boat.
If we
don t
feel
for
them
it
may jus t
prove
that
we are
the
o
not
connected to the head. We are lacking the nerve connection of love which tells us to help a fellow member of the body .
The Fu
Hsing
Chruch of Christ, which we are working with, was host to the monthly youth rally in May. It was held on May 27th.
The apartment was packedwith 96 young people from four congregations. An Attendance bannerwent to the congregationwith th
most youth represented which was Shr Lingwith 41. Wepraise God for this great gathering.
Also, the Fu Hsingyouth are starting
to
meet on Sunday nights where they have no Englishstudy but-sing, study the Bible,and hav
youth activities. On May 28th Janet and I had seven of the youth over
to
our house for a Bar B Q in our yard, with watermelon lat
One thing which has been very successful in youth work here ismusic. Lately wehave been using as many modern Christian songsa
possible such as, Put Your Hand Inthe Handof the Man WhoStilledThe Water. The youth reallygofor this and sodo I (I am s
young too). When I knew Iwasgoing into the hospital Janet encouraged me to buy a guitar which I had been wanting to get. I hav
beenpracticingon it ever since and I can now play a few tunes. I hopethat this can alsobe usedfor the glory of God.
Janet
had her twenty-seventh birthday on May the 24th. Beth and Becky and I spent
about
an hour making a cake for Mommy and
then Bethmade little paper airplanesfor namecards. She gave me the names of several of Janet's friends to cometo a party. She d
this completely on her own, which made Janet very happy. Janet and I celebrated her birthday two days later by getting a baby sit
and spending the afternoon and evening by making last minute preparations for the youth rally. It was very enjoyable for both of u
since
we don t
get to work together
like
this often.
I am writing this May report on June the 2nd and already some new things have happened this month that I want to tell you about.
However
this
will have
to
wait. I am anx ious to wr ite
to
you again.
Your
prayers are being answered. Praise God
Yours
In
Christ,
Re tu rn R equ es te d:
r o
Alan, Janet, Beth, Becky, & Jonnie Bemo
G a n t
Box
333
Fo r t Gibson ,
Oklahoma
77^3^
MiSSfCAJ
0 , / 77
NON-PRO
ORGANIZA
U.S .
POST
1 .7^ P A
Ft .Gibson ,
Pe rm i t
no
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
9/20
Dear Christian
Friends,
fA K GAZT
cttas oe
June 1972
Forwarding
Agent:
Mrs . S on di G a n t
R.R. 1,
Box
333
Fort
Gibson,
Okla.
7 4 4 4
We have
been
anxious to wri te to you this month but
have
waited
till
the
month s
end in order tell you about th e
whole month.
j
Vatican
City; on June
7th,
released
o
statement
of
the
Pope s
to
a
delegation
^figgl^^SyS
from Thailand
representing the
world's 177 million Buddhists. He said, We
have
a
profound regard
for th e spiritual, moral
and
socio-cultural treasures
that have been
bestowed
on you through your
precious
traditions. We con
see how the Catholic
Church
has made such
vocal
compromises down |
through the
ages
in order
to
gain the
confidence and favor
of the
religious
g * nii
world.
To
those
who
ore
Buddhists
here
in
Taiwan
it
is
another
voice
. 7
I^B
telling them that their religion is
good
and that they need not change. But .-gljgmH;
God's
message
to
the
world is that Christ is the way,
the
truth, and
the
life
and that no
man
comes
to
th e
Father
except through
Christ. Our goa l is
not to try to
graft
man-made rel igions but simply to
seek
fellowship with
those whom
God
has grafted in. One day
we
had a visit by two Mormon
missionaries. I couldn t l e t them into
th e house
11
John
10) bu t I
did go
with o d au m i
X
X-
I j ix X X u- -xu xu xu Elder Jwang
Brother
Lwo
at House-
them to a meeting place and after two teaching sessions with them they God
would not study with me any
more because Our
Church will not let us
study anti-mormon material.
It is impossible to
work
with people like this. On
t he o ther
hand, on June 19th, Mr.
Jong,
(the former
baptist
preacher we baptized
last
year but could not work with because he
was working
in
th e
Presbyterian
Church)
came
over and told
me
that he
was
wanting out of th e Presbyterian Church
because
it
was
a man s Church not
Christ's.
One
problem was
that
some people wanted to
be
baptized but th e Presbytry wouldn t let him immerse
them.
really believe
that
this man is
seeking
to follow
the
New
Testament more
closely but
at
the
same time
I must reolize that
at
least
in
th e
past, he
has been
a
professional preacher preaching
in
different
denominations
wherever
he
con
get
a
job. We genuinely wont to help'him but we
don t
hove money to hire him, and Ibeli eve this is just as well. All we can do
is
to
encourage him
to start
a
New Testament work
of his
own and then help
him in
whatever way
we
can.
On June 1st,
we
were contacted by a Church that
wanted
us to help with a youth evangelism program. I
went
to
investigate and found
these
interesting facts . They have no preacher or pastor (Chinese
word for
preachers), but the
man who preaches and leads
in Bible
studies
is
an
Elder in th e Church. Very scriptural. They
baptize
by immersion
and
they
hove th e Lord's
Supper every
Sunday., This
group
call
themselves Household
of
th e
Eternal God. In th e New Test-
ament the Church is called the household ofGod. Thisgroup ofChristians d
not belong to any denomination so we decided to help with
the
youth. I
teac
an
English Bible
class
on
Tuesday afternoons at
4:30.
After t en weeks
of thi
we will put phase two of
our
youth evangelism program which will consist o
leading
these
young people who remain and ore Interested in a program o
fellowship and Bible instruction all in Chinese....in other words a youth group
which
can
be
led entirely
by
th e
church
leaders.
fm WORfC FA/LS AFTER A YEAR
OF HARD
WORK
w I
have been
working with
the
Chang Chwen Church of Christ youth for
almost
I ^ y
year now and we have neither
had
a
baptism or
a
transfer
of
membership.
I B ^
^0^
Neither have we been
able
to reoch
the
college
age
people wh o hod grown u
H '
?*
' jjw
in that
church. We
are not
however
discouraged but have
tried
to analyz
I 4 work
failed and
are determined to try again. Ithink the main failur
H 1 was
that
we failed to move
them
for a decision for Christ
when interest was a
A
apeak
but
instead
allowed
our weekly
lessons to
drag
on to a montonou
^ 1
ordeal.
This has led
us
to try
this 10
week English Bible course
which will
bring
F 1 in the
youth
and contactsand a few baptisms
with
which the Chinese church
P ' 1 leaders can continue a youth program.
One
tooth missing
and
proud of
grow
ing
up
We are also
encouraged because
of the success of youth work in other places
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
10/20
V I i ^ have hod a
total
of five responses at the Fu Hsing Church of Christ
f
I^L
i
these have all
been
faithful to
the
Lord and have
attended
Sundoy
a WB
i
night
youth
meetings
which were started
the first week
of June
Besides
fh^se there have been several non-Christians who have been present at
: t /j these meetings where we sing lively Christian songs, discuss their pro-
r ^ hiems
from
a scriptural
point of view,
and have various activities.
I ^ i g y We have had cottage meetings in two of
the
Christian s homes on
Wednesday nights in June. I hope that before long that this will become
|| a
regular part
of
the Christian
fellowship
at the Fu
Hsing
Church
i
1 ^
^ ^ f j k
In
June
I
finished preaching
a
series
of
sermons through
Colossions
and
ii W
mP
a T Started preaching a
new series
through
Phillippians.
A
new
EnoiB responsibility has been
my helping
in the Sunday
School
program for
u children which includes
teaching
once a while.
J arly
in
Junewhen Janet and Igothome from an evening out, we had a
Baptism in
a
cistern
phone call from Ted Skiles, a fellow missionary, who had a
student
that
wanted
to be bapt ized. The baptist ry
wasn t
filled so I
s ug ge st ed t he
possibility of immersing him in the cistern which supplies our house with water. Ted brought Joei over with classmates
and he was baptized that very~hour of
th e
night, while it was raining. His classmates watched through our bedroom win
dow and i photographed the event from on top of a wall which surrounds our house. We were certainly happy for Joel and
Ted.We also praised God for two other baptisms lately ofMr.Hwang
(Yellow)
and Mr.
Lyou.
These two boys were led to
the Lord by Mr. Wang, a convert from our English Bible classes back in April.
We have been blessed
with
a number of visitors
this
month^Tibe
Stevens
were here
from Okinawa where they
ar e
in th e Service. They visited all >
of
th e
mission work
that
we
ar e
all doing in
th e
Taipei area and
were
a
joy to us. We
always like Tourists like
this. They
said,
We find that the V
^ost enjoyable thing
about
every country
Is
the
work
our
missionaries
/ ^
are
doing
- we really get tosee whatthe country islikethisway. LaVerp. V , f
Morse of Cincinnati Bible
Seminary was here
for a
few
days
on business
\
and
it
is always
a
joy
to seehim. While he was here he was able to meet
|^
. w
Corey
Lin,
our prospective stujient to C..B.S. He was able to help Carey a I
lot for enrollment to the Seminary this fall. Also, Christian business man,
^irn Banta.of Minnesota, was through here again with his family and .
t reated us to
a
C h in e se m e a l. Then w e h av e h ad th e c ha nc e t o m e e t
young man, Stanley Stephenson, relative of a friend of in the States.
Stanley is stationed here so we look forward to much more fellowship
with
him
in the remaining months that he will be here Breakat Missionary workshop
reakat Missionary workshop
M I S S I O N A R Y
ACTI VI TY
Through the month ofJune we have held a jointmissionary prayer meeting every Friday ofternoon from 1:30 to 2:30. We
have
seen
a lot of answered prayers come from this already. On June 26th and 27th we hod our first missionary spiritua
workshop. This was two days of discussion sessions on missionary policies, and future plans. We spent much time in
prayer and singing also, and we had such a spiritual feast that I personally hope that we can do something like this each
year. Jonet and Icame back home with a better idea of what we are doing and more determination to serve our
Lord.
Th
Skiles will be leaving on furlough at
the end
of July.
N E X T I SSUE
In
July
we have a lotof
things
planned but these are
all
planned
with
an if the
Lord
will
attached. One of these
things
is summer camp from th e 9th to th e 15th. More about this next month.
Y our s In H is
S er v ice,
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
11/20
Field
Address:
Alan an d
Jane t
Bemo
Number 21,
Lane
157
Hsin
Sheng
S.
Rd.,
Sec. 1
Taipei
106,
Taiwan
c i t a sA a e t t
Forwarding Age
Mrs. Sandi Gant
R. R. 1, Box
333
Fort Gibson, Ok
7
Dear Christ ian Friends ,
A TRAGEDY
AT
SUMMER CAMP
July, 1972
SEP 1 1 t97E
I have something very sad to report to you this time. A 22 year-old man drowned at our summer camp this year. Wehad gone to a
camp-site south of Taipei in a little mountain village called Gu Gwan. Camp started on July 9th and was to continue till the 15th . On
boy, Jang Tsung Da, was baptised on the second night of camp and the camp spirit had never been better. Then on the third day of
camp I went to the swimming hole, a wide place in a small creek near the camp grounds, at 1:30 P.M. Then at 3:00 five swimmers
came to swimalongwith another missionary. Chuck Johnston. This wasall done according to camp rules asany swimmers had to wa
at
least
an hour after
lunch
and had to beaccompanied bya
life-guard. Chuck
and twere at the sideof the pool
talking when
one of
the swimmers yelled to us that his friend, a boy named Jan Yan Hwei, had just sunk into the water and had failed to surface. Chuck
and
I
immediately
dove
in
to
search
for
him.
Although
the
pool
was
only
forty
feet
across and
eight feet deep
in
the
deepest part,
it
took four dives before I could find him. I pulledhim to shore as qui^Kly as possible and started giving himmouth-to-mouth artificial
respiration immediately Chuck checked for a heart beatandsaidtherewas a pulse. Everyone was praying and after no longer than
five minutes hestarted breathing by
himself.
One boywent aheadto call a doctor to meetusandthe other five of us put himon an
air mattress and started carrying him to the road. Wewere careful to keep his feet higher than his head and we kept him covered wit
all
the
towels
and dry clotheswehad. It took usabout twenty
minutes
to get himto the road,
where
the doctor
was waiting. He
ex
amined the boy, gavehim two shots and said he was in good condition, even though hewas still unconscious* A man volunteered his
station wagon and drove us to the nearest hospital, forty minutes away. We entered the still unconscious boy in the hospital at about
4:10
P.M.
and the doctor
gave
him two
more
shotsand thenat 4:20 put an
oxygen
tube in
his nose.
He took one
breath
of
oxygen
andit
was his last.
Iagain
gave him
artificial
respiration
forabout
five
more
minutes
asthe doctor
gave him
a shot directly into the
heart,
but itwas to no
avail.
It is hard to describe the emotions of the
four
of us who had been his fellow campers and had
brought
him to the hospital to seehim die. My own was oneof emptiness, confusion, and disbelief. From the timethishad started to happen
I had not thoughtabout the
possiblility
of
him
really
dying,
or the
consequences. We all
had
done
whathad to be
done mechanically
without thinking. Now it wasover. Ascomplete consciousness came back to our numbed minds the thing that hurt the most was
that this boy
was
nota Christian.
In
the midst of an effort to
call
him into
Christ
who
wants
to give us victory over
death,
hehad
di
We
were
heartbroken.
Now
there
were
other
things
that
had
to bedone. Notify the parents,
weep,
notifythe fifty other
campers,
weep, dismiss camp, meet the parents, weep, appear at a
legal
hearing, and take care of funeral arrangements.
We
volunteered to, anddid, payfor
all
the
funeral costs. Although
wecannot understand whyGod
allowed
thisto
happen
wesee
His
leading
inmany areas. Thefather sattitude
toward
us was very
understanding.
He said, He
is my
son. Iwantto takecare of
every
thing myself. Atthe legal hearing we were
absolved
of
all
responsibility. Even though camp was dismissed
early
almost
every campe
hasbeencoming to Church
meetings
even non-Christians, and they arethinking much moreseriously about their need for a
Savio
One has
said,
I want to
believe
very
much,
but I
still
doubt a little. Another has
said,
If we have camp next
year,
Iwant to
go
for
sure
Pleasepray for these campers and for everything involvedwith this boy s death.
Taiwan six years ago I have constantly
encountered
an at
prayed for. Most missionaries say, Why try for unity be
States as several groups, each going its separate way? This
now for
two
y tsjio put out am g zine to
try to^eal
. - U
with this problem; Nowwe are finally starting to put our 0 . V;, . .
plans into effect. Starting in August we are laying
out
fourteen issues of a magazine we will call HIM. Wew ill.., .. ..
start
publishing this
magazine In
October
and will putit t T
ou t
for tn ight ly till April of 1973. We plan to send this to
every denominat ional and undenominat ional
c hu rc h o n
th e
island. We hope to send it to as many church leaders as pos- :
sible.
Others
have
had great
plans
for ecumenicity
here a Swimming
site
mong this,
th e
country
of
the
greatest
concentration
of mis-
Swimming site
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
12/20
^
sionaries
of
almost
all
denominations in
the
world. In
the
come
presenting th e
restoration
plea
bu t
have
I ffa been looked uponasjust a new
foreign
denomination {mo
BB
of
the time we very much deserve
this appearance .
But w
UgHji A M
:Wm
hope that
this magazine will,
bythe
power
of
God, help in
9B^I
W
^1 some
way
to foster amovement here in Taiwan, to compa
There are many problems
concerning
this work. (1) We ha
' p^K O 9 |Bp ^^/ k w
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
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F i el d A d d re s s:
Alan
an d
Jane t Bemo
Number
21 Lane
15 7
Hsin S he ng S. R d. Sec. 1
Taipei
106
Taiwan
August 17th 8 happy
years
together
Dear Christian Friends / A ft \
Missionary life Is not all excitement and roses and this
/ V I H ft
month
has
definitely not
been.
It has
not
been . H ^ft I ft
discouraging but
it
has been slow in that
it
has been
a J H I m ^ ft |
month
preparation.
However
there quiet V H I H ft J
satisfaction in knowing that we have been faithfully I B I IV
serving our Lord Jesus. n. B B
The main
thing
we
have been
preparing
for
Is
the
new
^ ^VsA
^
magazine we
talked
about last month. We
have
o staff of
two people working onthe magazinenow; Julia Ling and
Angel Yu. Julia has hod a lot of experience in working . .
with
the Church paper and Angel
is
a
graduate
of World School of Journalism. Both of these girls are
very
earnest
Christians. We have decided to call the magazine
HIS KINGDOM. The
word for
HIS
in Chinese is very interesting in
that
this
character In
this
case has a radical
within
it
which signifies
that Itis referring to
Diety. When
people
look
at
the title they
will
know that it
has something
to
do
with God's or
Christ's
kingdom. We
hope
that the
magazine
can
make
it very clear
what
His Kingdom is.
Some
of
the
articles
which we have
already
written
for
the first few
issues
are: What
is
our
problem? An
impossible
prayer? (referring to
Christ's
prayer for
unity) Humility, a necessity for unity , and Unity-a mandate.
We
think we have the problem of addressing solved but there is
still
a problem of
registering
so please continue to
p r a y
We have
also been preparing
for youth
octivities
since school
will
be starting
in
September. I
really don't
knovv
how
it is
in
Americo,
buthere,
even though
young people are
out of school and have
more
time
in the
summer,
it
is
harder to get
them
involved
in
Church
activities. 1suppose theyare
busy
relaxing and
playing. There
has been
quite
a interest
inthe Jesus movement here and we are
trying
to
find
waysto reach more
young
people
with
the gospel. We
iave
come
up with
a
fish symbol
of Christ
which they like
a
lot and we are planning on putting
it
on T-shirts to sell to
Christian
young people. This fish is
actually
the two Chinese words for
Jesus
in the form
of
a fish.
On August 20th the Shih
Ling
Church of Christ youth
group where Sam Hazlewood is working, invited our
8 ft W 8 ^
youth
group to
join them on
a
Bar-B-Q outing.
They asked
^^B f ^ft|B ft 3 k
Bjjjj^
give a
devotional
at the
end
so after
four
hours
of
^^ftt I m ^B games and good eating by a riverside I
spoke
on
I 3 4 ft ^B Bar-B-Q in the Bible. 1talked about
sacrifices of
the Old
I >
f
I V
Testament and the need for us to make a sacrifice of our
Bftft ^ 1 own lives if we are to be saved. When an invitation was
I given a
young
man
stood to confess Jesus
as
Christ
^^3
t
under the
star-lit
sky.
One
of the
other young
people
had
^ j B||V been witnessing to
him
for months
by letter and
he
had
^ taken this
opportunity
to accept
Christ
as he was
in town
^B||^Hk |r ^
| \b^
I > on aweek-end trip. While everyone else
was
finishing up
^^HBR t Iwent ahead and prepared
the
baptistry and Chen Hang
ftftjjjiV? - - ^B
Jen
was
baptised
into the death, burial, and
resurrection
I ft ^ft ^ j. of Christ that
night.
JbI On
August
26th at
7:30
AM
Janet
Jonnie and igot on
a train for Kao-Hsiung. We had left Beth and Becky with
ft^^ft^B- i friends for the week-end and we were going to
A itau- o k Koo-Hsiung to visit two Churches there which ore
August
1
ppy
y 9 without preachers.
Previously Sam Hazlewood
had
been
going down there every week-end but this had become
II
II
Forwarding Agent:
Mrs. Sandi Gan t
R. R. 1 Box
33 3
Fort
Gibson Okla.
7 4 4 4
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
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9
ST K
UM U P
A KE
A
D IV E
too much of a hordship
and
expense.
We found
out
why when we arrived back in Taipei the next night at
midnight
exhausted
and severa l pounds
lighter
really. While in Kao>Hsiung we led in
three
services
and went
to
visit one
of
th e Elders
of
one
of
th e
congregotions. However t ired we
were it
wa s
a
|oy
to
go
there
and
we plan on going
again
in a couple of
months, as Sam is asking
several
of us to help him by
going for him once in a while.
August
30th
28
years
old and
a
new
gui ta r
bought by friends.
O n th e
train
coming back I
went
to
th e
back of
train
to
watch the tracks and as I was doing so I got some
fine
pieces of steel in myeyes. Ididn t think much of it as it
was
only slightly uncomfortable but on arr iv ing at
home
my eye beganto hurtterribly
Finally
at three inthe
morning
Icouldn t take the
pain
any
more
and called
up
the
doctor. He toldme tocome rightoverand extracted five piecesof steel from the cornea of
my
right eye.
Thank
the Lord
this
was taken c are
of quickly
and
everything is all right now.
Beth and Becky are
both
in
school
now Beth started attending American Kindergarten on August 21st at the Bethany
Christian School She isso happyto be
going
to
school
with other American children. Becky is goingto Chinese nursery
school and very happy tobe following in her big sister s footsteps We are especially
proud
ofher as shewas selected
among one hundred out of four hundred applicants on the basis of a test given in Chinese.
In September
weore starting to
hold Sunday
services in the
home
ofthe
Elder
at the
Hsing
Church
ofChrist This
service is not
taking
the place of the former service but is something extra. Iam anxious to tell
you
more about
this
and
will
in September s report, after we have done it for a month.
Alan
Janet Beth Becky Jonnte Bemo
Return Requested:
Mrs.
Sandi Gant
R. R. 1,
Box 33 3
Fort
Gibson
Oklahoma 77434
3
NON PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S.
POSTAGE
1.7c PAID
Ft. Gibson Okla.
Permi t No.
3
4L-0j/-9
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
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e ld Add re s s:
a nd J an e t
Bemo
Number 21, Lane 15 7
Sheng S.
Rd.,
Sec. 1
106,
Taiwan
rAK f iAST
e t t a sA u e i t
Forwarding Agent:
Mrs.
Sandi
Gant
R. R. 1, Box
33 3
Fort
Gibson, Okla.
7
September,
1972
No distrust
made
him
(Abraham) waver
concerning th e y
promise ofGod, but he grew strong In his faith as he gove J
glory toGod, full convinced that God was able to do what
We aren't saying that we have the faith of
Abraham
but our
faith
has
been Increasing these months. For some reason ^fSm
our support has dropped off lately as our expenses hove
Increased. We had been cutting corners every way possible
would get there
before
the
checks did. Well,
the
first one,
th e biggest
one . . i i j
the
Lord
honored, but I guess Hethought Hebetter teach usa lesson on the other two and they came right backmarked
INSUFFICIENT
FUNDS.
Becauseof this the bank here wouldn't let uswrite any more personal checks,so now Sandi, our
forwarding agent,
is
starting to
send our money by money
orders.
This
took
eleven days and we had
needed for a long
time money for food, transportation,
co-worker's
salaries
and
other work expenses. Faith Is always Increased with
trials and this was no exception.
We
tried to see
If
we
could
cut some
more
corners and
finally
let
Mrs.
Wu,
our
household
help,
who helped
Janet to be able to teach and work on the
Courier , off.
We
actually
did not
know
where
our next
meal
was coming from and I drove themotorcycle
around
on reserve tank all the time. I ran outofgas three
times and theLord amazingly provided. We were
absolutely helpless
like
the children of
Israel
In the
wilderness,
but
theLord provided
His
mannah. One evening
on American came
over
whom we
hod
met only
once
and
handed us an
envelope
which had been given to him to give tous by someone he didn't know. It had N.T. 1000
(US 25)
in It. One
evening
Janet
told me
that
we
only had
enough
food
in
the
house for
breakfast
and
1
lightly said
that the
Lord
will
provide.
Janet used the lost egg and the lastbitof
flour
for
pancakes
the nextmorning for breakfast.
That
morning in
ourdevotions aswe prayed for God to
once
again
provide
wewondered what was going to happen. It was getting to be
onexciting waiting game. That day when Icame home
from
the office at 12:30 Janet told meto look In the refrigerator.
There must have been 25 worth of food there . She told me that when the delivery boy delivered it to our door, Janet
said, You must have
the
wrong
address , but he
told
her that someone
had bought
the groceries and told him to
deliver them to us. Janet told the kids that God hod sent it, and when Becky saw some Kool-ald in the sacks (which Is
very special
here)
Becky's eyes got big and she said
Oh,
mommy, look,
God
even sent
me
some
Kool-ald .
Isn't
It
like
God to put the special
treats
in, too?
The timewe were mosttouched was when Peter Suencomeover and gave us NT 500 whichwas an offering which his
family
had
taken
up
for
us. This
was
really
a sacrifice for
them since
all
four children hove heavy school
expenses.
Another expeclolly needy time, the Lord raised up a Christian young
man,
McGill Lee,
who
handed us NT 400 one
evening
after youth meeting. He is in the army
and
I
know
he
didn't have
this to spare. Julia Lin
and
Angel
Yu
whom
we
need
to pay
each week,
have
been gracious about
not
receiving
their salaries
and
even
volunteered
to
pay
for
the
church papers themselves. Even so, the Lord has never
allowed
them to hove to
wait
more than three days for
their
pay.
Every specific
prayer of need has been and is
being
answered. Praise
God.
Now
our checks
have
started
coming
but they
have both
been
under what they should
be. And still God
provides Janet
and I wrote some very Important letters last night and I started writing this newsletter this morning, not knowing when
we would have enough money to moil them. Just now
Janet
called me Into
the
bedroom
where she
found an envelope
with NT 400 ( 10) In It. It said The Lord bless you , on it. . . .He has. We will be able to send this to you now,
and
buy
some groceries for today.
We
has
a
visitors
this morning
and we are pretty sure
it
was
him
who th e
Lord
used
to
give
us
this gift.
Although
we have been
low
th e last few months
I
believe
things
are going to level
off
now and we are
still
going
ahead
with plans for the magazine, HIS KINGDOM* to be
put
out In October. Everything is ready for the first issue to go to the
printer. We hove faith
that
God
will provide
fo r this for we or e convinced
that it Is His will.
You
may
r emember tha t we
missionaries had
a
spiritual
work-shop last
June where we talked about
starting churches
in people' s homes instead of
church
buildings . We decided that we
would try
to
establish
church using
both
approaches, rather than becoming anti-church building, and
se e
what happened. In August the Elder at the FuSyIng
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zm %
String Bean Band
church said he couldn't come to Church any more. It j iy N'a|teJ|
went
to
coll on him
and found that
his
business had
9
been
failing
and thathe
had had
to lay off all his
help.
^9
He
explained that
now
he had to work seven days a 9
week to
keep
up
with
production at his small fiber x^
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
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rAK GAXTCttaSAaCK
Fie ld Address :
Alan and
J a n e t
Bemo
Number 21, Lane 157
Hsin
Sheng
S. Rd.,
Sec.
1
Taipei
106,
Tawlan
'o
o
Forwarding Agent;
M r s Sand G a n t
R.R.I ,
Box333
Fort
Gibson, Okla .
744 4
JAM 5 '.J73
Octobe r
&
November 1972
Dear Ct^ristian Friends,
I
broke
a
perfect record
fo r 1972 last
month
when I didn't ge t
ou r
October
report ou t
to you on
time.
Now I
am
combining October and November
in
one
report.
I
thank
God
foryourcontinued prayers, thoughts and support
in spite of
this.
The first of October th e
Shih
Ling Church of
Christ
decided
they
wanted to
invite a
Chinese
preacher,
Mr.
Jang,
to
start working
there
the first ' '^J^hSeSI
Sunday
in November. You may
remember
that I have spoken of this man
often. He f orma ll y h as preached in th e
Bap ti st a nd
Presbyterian
denominations butwas baptized
at
Shih
Ling in th e Spring of 1970,
an d
ha s
had
close
contact
with us ever since. Because of
th e
Church wanting to
hire
him a Faith-Promise Rally was held on October 27, 28, & 29 in order
to
encourage the
members
to take on this
financial responsibility
by faith.
Previously
th e
Church had given an
average
of about $5.00 a Sunday. One
Sunday there
had
been an offering of
only
50c A goal for three months a < -
giving
wassetfor theraliyofdouble thisprevious giving 307. This was J
a big
step
bu t even with th is
th e
Church would have to depend on $62 of
miss ionary support monthly.
Chuck
Johnston, Sam Hazeiwood, and
myself
preached on faith at the three day
rally. There
was also a I J
businessmen's
luncheon
a
youth
banquet,
and
a
women's
tea
in
r^ J
connection with the rally. All of us were apprehensive
as
to
whether
this ^
impossible goal would be reached and
waited
tensely as the
^
Faith-Promisecardswereaddeduponan abacus.
We
hada thermometer
^8
r ;M
made
for th e
occasion
and we wat ched it go up quick ly to $512 This was
more than
enough for
the Church's expenses
not counting any mission support. At
the
end of November this giving
came
to$145.
This
is a
little
behind schedule but there are
still
nine Sundays in this
period.
Also Church attendance
ha s
picked
up and people
ar e
becoming really joyful in their work.
pother (Mrs. Isabel Dittemore) arrived back in Taiwan on October 19th just in time to take part in the
^Faith-Promise Rally.
After being gone
for almost a year our
children
were really
excited
to see their
grandmother. We had a room of our house all fixed up for
her
and Beth and Becky had
made
a Welcome Home
sign for her. Mother isstaying with us till she can find a suitable apartment. We are trying totalk her into staying
with us all th e t im e.
Earlier this year
we had tried
to help
brothe^^reyJCnrgo-iQ..Gncinnati
Bible
Seminary
graduate school. At the
last moment he wasn't able to go to C.B.S. because of complicattOBS_tr^ so accepted the invitation of a school
which
offered him full
Scholarship,
even
though they had
not
sent
him any-ma.t?rial
indicating
the nature
of
their
institution. Then the first of November we got a letter from Carey which said h ChaLmada-a,4' ''^' T^'stake
because th e school there
wa s
Pentecostal. He is
now making arrangements
to change to C.
B.S.^at mid-term
this
year . P lease
pray for him. The tui tion is difficult for him to manage so if any of you feel moved to
help
him you
could send checks to Mr. Carey Lin, c-o Cincinnati Bible Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45238.
On Sunday morning,
October
29th, I was awakened by a
phone cal l
from Ron Hoffman, missionary from the
Philippines and an o rgan izer of ASIA
FOR CHRIST.
He had-been
in.Guam
working with a newly started Church
there and was asking me if I could go there for three Sunday:' if-they paid for my expenses. I accepted the
invitation and on Octoberllth I got on a TWA 707,
jet
for
Guam.
I regreted not
being
able to take
my
family with me
and
It had
taken some
planning to
ge t
my. Taiwan responsibilifies
taken care
of. I arrived in Guam
at
1:30 AM
where Ed
Tolosa,
whom I stayed with in'TSTJ^m ffrrd'Tsaac Johnston,
met
me at the airport.
The congregation there
had been
started by Ed Tolosa - A Philippine
who had become
an
American citizen
an d is
now
stationed in Guam with th e Air Force . He has been a very
ea rnest member
of th e New Testament movement
in
th e
Philippines fo r many
years an d
t he f ir st t hing he
wanted
to do whe n h e arrived in
Guam
was to start a New
Testament
work there. He gathered together others of like-precious-faith - a congregation of about
thirty
which
consisted
of
five
Caucasians
and t he r es t
Philippines.
Then ASIA FOR CHRIST
was asked
to
come and
help
them
AFC ha s been supplying p reache rs and is now looking fo r a missionary to go there an d work
full-time.
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
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I
enjoyed
preaching there on Sunday and Wednesday nights
and
doing
a
little
calling. t first
my
only
transportation
was hitch-hiking but this
turned out
to
be
a
blessing. The first
day 1was picked up by an
oriental-looking man and Iasked him ifhewas
Chinese
. I had heard that there were many
Chinese
in Guam and
was
very anxious
to
meet
some/
but
so
far
no one knew of
any. When
this fellow told me
he
was Chinese/
I
asked
him inChinese ifhewasfrom the Republic ofChina. He wasverysurprised to say the
least.
He said that hehad
never picked up a hitch-hiker before and had principles
against
it but that day/ as
he
saw me
standing
beside the
high-way he, for some strange reason, felt
that
he should pick me
up.
Although he
himself
was extrernely
antagonistic towards Christianity he
took
me to his office where he introduced me
to
his
very
receptive
co-worker.
Later
Iwas
able
togoback andtalktothis man. He
told me
that he
felt
a great
spiritual
need
and
that hebelieved
that
perhaps
the
Bible held
the
answer. Although
he
didn t
accept Christ
at
that time he
promised tostart
reading
the Bible and there is an open door
there
for future contacts.
Anew couple
started coming to
Church while
I
was
there
who
had been invited by one
of
t he Chu rch
members .
I
thank God
fo r t he f ai th of
these
people an d
hope
you
will
pray fo r
them with us .
I enjoyed the physi ca l aspects of
being there fo r
seventeen
days In th is i sland
where t he sun
first rises on America. I went shopping in Ben Franklin s
and ate a Big Mac at
McDonalds.
I was able to go SCUBA
B.
diving
while there in
th e most beautiful waters
I ve
ever
been in. While i wa s there I
was ab le
to
ge t
a driver s
license
Ifailed
the
testthe first time
and
borrow one
of the ^
Im
Church member s ca r to go calling. The
last day
I
was there
th e Church had a picnic a t th e beach as a send-off.
r r S r V
Until I
was
in
Guam
I didn t
really
realize
what
a strain I
had been under f rom our work here in Taiwan. I really f el t a
relief while there that I didn t
really understand.
I wished ^ f[B9K
J a n e t
h ad b ee n
there
with
mebut i
t a lk ed t o her about
these
feelings
after
I
go t
back.
I
thank
God
that
this
little
vacation from th e work here
ha s helped
me
to
get an
objective picture
of things. Now that Iam
back
I am
happier
than ever and am more able to cope with the strains . Iguess it will be good for us all to be on furlough next year.
Iarrived backin Taiwan on November
27th
and myfamilywasat the airport tomeetme. After distributing gifts
from new friends inGuam and myself we all went out to eat. It was good to be home. That night
Janet
and Jonnie
came downwith measles Janet and Jonnie are still confinedtothe house. Inthe nineyears I have knownJanet I
have never known her to be so sick but she was really sick this time. Iam very thankful that her mother was here
to help, too. Janet is doing
much
better now and
should
be up and
at
em soon.
Wewant tosend
you
Christmasgreetings andwishyoua happy
New
Year. Thedrawing of the heading was done
by
Beth an d
Becky . Becky
d rew t he angel
and Beth drew
th e
rest.
The
Lord
willing wewill beback intheStates inJune of1973.
We
are alreadystarting to schedule speakingdates
while on
furlough
sowehope
you
will letus know as soon as
possible
when you would likefor ustovisit
you
orspeak
at
your Church. We are anxious to see you personally.
Return Requested:
Alan, Janet, Beth, Becky, Jonnie Bemo
Research
Dept.
W.B..
McGillery
Box
1 7 7
Kempton, Ind.
460A9
U.S. POSTAGE
1 7 c P A I D
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
19/20
F i el d Add r es s :
Dear
Christian
Friends
FAR CAST
CRjUS-AQSR
Forwarding
Agent:
Mrs. Sandi Gant
R. R. 1, Box
333
Fort Gibson
Okla.
7
December
1972
Aswithmosteveryone else, Iguess, Christmas pretty
much
dominated the monthofDecember. But this Christmas
was without a doubt
the
happiest one of ou r lives.
The weeks prior to Christmas were filledwith preparations for a Christmas program which was held at the Fu
Hsing Church onDecember 23rd.We hadinvited the three other Churches inthe Taipei area to attend and we had
a total of 129 people there. The seating capacity is only 75 so you can know it was crowded. Never-the-less the
service lasted an hour and a half and everyone had a good time.
One of the events that made this Christmas such a blessing is that which took place on the evening of December
14th during
the
time when Iwas thinking about a Christmas sermon. I had gone in to help put
the
children to sleep
and this was a rare opportunity as I'm usually out to some meeting or calling in the evenings. That evening the
girls told me how excited they were about getting their Christmas presents and I told them it was really Jesus '
birthday
and thatwe ought
to
be
giving gifts to Him.When I
asked the
girls how we could do this I was thinking of
us
giving
ourselves to
Him
ButBeth really surprised me when she said, I know We can give presents to Jesus
by giving to
poor
people. Maybe
Janet had talked
to
the
children
about
this recently in
the
nightly devotions
but
thi s rea lly hit me. The next day I prepared a sermon from Matthew 25:31-46 concerning giving to th e hungry,
naked sick, strangers and imprisoned. All of us were moved by this teaching of ou r Lord to help people in a way
we
had
never been moved before. On Christmas afternoon about twenty of
the
young people from
three
Churches
went to a leprosarium to put on a Christmas program. That evening quite a few poor and lonesome from within
and
without the
Church
came t o our hou se
fo r
a
delicious Christmas
dinner
which
Janet
f ixed. Later
that
evening
our family walked over to a slum area not fa r from our house and distributed a large box of cookies,
used
clothing,
and
toys, along
with Christmas
tracts. On
December 28th
I had a
chance
to sing
at
a
Christmas
party for
th e
blind
and on December
30th
we
had another
interesting
experience. As I went to th e Church building at 7:00 P.M. to
open the door for youth meeting 1discovered a large sock in
the
doorway. After I opened
the
door and turned on
the
light Idiscovered
there was
a man in this sack, only discernable by a small patch of hair at
the
top and
the
fact
that
he
was
shivering. I shook him
and
invited him to lie down on a
pew
at
the
back of the room. Bythis time two
young people arrived and we got him some noodles and
water
which he ate. We got him warm clothes and then
he
went
to sleep. We tried to ta lk to him but he just
kept
saying, Okoy, just let me rest a minute. All through the
service
that
night
we
talked
about
helping
strangers and
after
the
meeting everybody got involved in helping this
fellow out. We found out
that
he
was
about fifty years old and had come to Taipei looking for work. He could only
speak
the
Taiwanese dialect so I couldn't communicate with him. We finally took him to a home provided by the
government for such people and offered to pay for any
expenses.
We have been changed this Christmas and we
hope
this is only
th e
beginning.
May
God
make everyday
a Chris tmas.
But
the
greatest
event which
happened during this
season
was
the
reconciliation
of Elder Peter
Suen
to
us and
the
Church. He and I had had a misunderstanding back inOctober. I had apologized but he refused to talk to me, let
alone forgive me, and quit coming toChurch. Finally after
two
months
of
prayer y everyone in theChurch and on
his part
too, I m
sure)
on
Christmas
eve, when
carolers
from
the
Church
went to the Suens s house, Peter broke
down. He called us upthat night and we talkeda long time. Janet and Ihad
just
finished
having
a birthday party
forJesus
with
the
kids
but
this
really
brought
the joy of
Christmas home
to us.
After
talking to the
Suens
there
were tears of joy and gratitude for the restoration of this brother-truly the closest
friend
I have in Taiwan.
We
did
have
onesad
thing
happen in
December.
You
will
remember thatwewere
having
a Sunday
meeting n
the
homeofa
Mr.
Chen ina suburbofTaipei. This manand the rest of his family of seven had not been emmersed but
8/9/2019 Bemo Alan Janet 1972 Taiwan
20/20
hodbeen sprinkled in the PresbyterianChurch Afterwe hod taught about the subjectof baptismfor two weeks,
we received a polite letter fromMr.Chentelling us it wouldn t be necessary to go back again. Janet and 1did go
over with some Christmas cake and had prayer with Mr. Chen. We are still praying
that
everything will work out.
Aswe lookback on 1972we see itas a year of winnowing the chaff, of burning away the dross. It has been a hard
year butwe have learned and grown
much
Wethank God for the victories which have been won The Lord has
increased the attendance at Fu Hsing from five to twenty five. There have been eight baptisms and all of these
have remained faithful thus
far
and
for this we
ore
most thankful. The Shih Ling Church now has Its own Chinese
preacher and Isself-supporting through the victoryof a FaithPromise
Rally
Wehave had opportunity to witness in
Okinawa, Japan, and Guam. We have seen the Lord s leading as He has closed some doors and opened others.
We are looking forward to an even better year in 1973 and especially to the time when we will be seeing you
again. Wealready have some speaking dates lined upfor our furlough and naturally our supporting Churches will
have top priority, so let us know when it would be convlenent for us to be with you.
Return Requested:
Mrs. Sandi
Gant
R. R. 1,
Box 33 3
Fort Gibson
Okl ah om a 7 74 34
FTo
Alan,
Janet.
Beth, Becky,
Jennie
Bemo
NON PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. P OS TAGE
7c
PAI D
Ft. Gibson Okla.
Permi t No.
3