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PHILIPPINE MISSION CHuRCnES OF CHRIST

DAVAO CITY, MINDANAO ISLAND

^ '9S!September 6, 1961

Dea r Chr is t i an Fr iends ,

You've been wondering why I haven't written you in detail long ago, I know,

so maybe a little description of what I 've been doing v/ould help you to

understand. I did write to some that I was spend ing the weeks of our

"summer" vacat ion in Marc h, April, and June, in visit ing churches across

Mindanao Island, tr ying to spend three or four days or a week in each one

when possible. I visited nine churches and returned to Davao with just

barely time to recuperate from the trip and from the first and only cold I've

had since my arrival here, and then it was time for the new school year toopen.

We had not even sett led in to th e weekly schoo l rout ine when sudden word

came that Mr. & Mrs , J. Russell Morse were in Manila, and that they were

planning to drop down to Davao for a hurried visit . This was thril ling, for

we are so far from Manila we get very few visitors. Also we had been corres

ponding with las and LaVerne Morse about the ir s ituat ion in Burma, so

naturally we were very interested in the coming of their mother and father

who were even then on their way back to Burma o They were with us only

24 hours, but they were activity-packed hours, I assure you. We did enough

talking and listening and sight-seeing to fill one of our weeks, normally.It was good to have them, and comforting a lso to hear from them after they

reached Rangoo that Lois and LaVerne had received another extension of their

Burma permits , They need our prayers .

After the Morse vis i t we set t led down in earnes t to school work« This is

rather strenuous for me th is yea r as I am teaching 15 hours, including a two-

hour class in Logic, which is fully as difficult for me as for my students.

Outside the class room, our time is ra ther ful ly occupied with overseeing

student scholarship work (I have the library and a small part of the campus),class preparat ion, and letter writing — though I know I have been very remiss

on the latter. My typewriter and books, etc, , were put on a ship in Los AngelesHarbor on June 19, but what with strikes here and there, they have not arrived

a s ye to

On August 6, we were very happy to attend the dedication services for the

new church building at Olas, a suburb of Davao City. This congregation has

been meeting in the Seminary chapel and has now moved into what is the very

nicest building we have among our brethren in Mindanao Island, Ray Carlson

came down from Cebu to preach the dedicatory sermon, and it was a very fineday, made complete by a baptism in the afternoon. It was very convenient

for us before, when we could just step across the caJnpus to go to church, andve>ry that two and a half kilometers when

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public transportation is so unreliable „ But the church is now more easily-accessible to others and we believe it will grow rapidly in its new location,

so we c an f ace the inconvenience until such a time as we can a rr ange to

have our own transportation here»

Now as I close this letter, i t makes me very happy to b e able to tell you

that ou r two new students, Heather Holley and Leonard Thompson, who

have been sent to us by Art and Ruth Morris from Madras, South India,

have arrived, and are even now completing their first full week of study

with us. These two young people have come with some difficulty and

hardship to prepare themselves for Christian work in Ind ia , Judging by our

first impress ions of them, i t would seem safe to s ay th at the future of the

work ther e wil l be in good hands» We have a truly international flavor in

Davao Bible Seminary now, and are enjoying i t .

All of us covet your praye rs and your thoughs fo r us in our work here in

Davao0 There is so much to do, and we have,the feeling here that manyof our miss iona ri es have, that there is l i t t le time left in whic h to do i t .

Your gifts of money, the packages o f Bible school l i terature (we could use

a great dea l more children's literature) the food packages, are all greatly

appreciated, and used right down to the last scrap of string that ties up your

package. Thank you all fo r your interest and your thoughtfulness.

Please pray fo r us as we prepare for our first graduation exercises next

Marcho There will be five graduates, and we feel this will be a big step

ahead for our school here. Will wri te more about i t later. May God bless

you a l l .

Sincere ly ,

Ber t ha D . F i l e r