The Ohio Independent Baptist, November 1969

Polly Strong Writes To Young People Early Ia t month I vi ited the little town of Damara. I wa glad for thi privilege becau e Damara i one of m)' favorite vi llage . I t j ituated at the cro,:, ing where two mai n roads join the one tretch of pavement th at lead into the Republic of Central Africa. D amara' main indu try i a gas tation. Gra roofed hou e tretcb out for h alf a mile in each direction. Like mo t village in thi country. D amara has a market place three or four little hop . a po t of– fice. a dispen ary and a chool. Ju t below the cro ing i a large Bap ti t Church, eating 600-800 and made of blocks with an aluminu m roof. al– mo t completed. When I arrived at Damara it wa near noon. I went d irectly to the chool. The di rector, t hough not a Chri tian wa most cord ial and in– vited me to come have cla e at the · chool while I wa there . He even turned over h i cla righ rt: then and for the next hour I h ad the wonder– ful time telling a room fu ll of young teenagers about the love of God . This was mv th ird vi it to D amara this year and I fou nd the same eager kid"' : Etienne amuel, F rancois, Moi e. Emmanuel and others . They came in the mornings as soon as the sun was up ( anytime after 5 : 30 a .m.) and stayed unti l the hot noon hour when I tried to tell t hem to return to their homes to fi nd food to eat or to go to the water to wa h . . . but they lingered on to play baIJ · recite verses, fill in questions o n correspond– ence courses or ju t watch ev.eryth in,g I did. I finally h ad to literally send them on their way o I could h ave a few 1ninutes to eat some lunch and relax a bit without an audience! By 2:00 or 2:30 when I poked n1y head out of the hou e again there were a few boy loafing around in the hade at the edge of the clearing ju t waiting to beat the drum telling the kid•"' that they could come back. All afternoon we learned ver e had Bible torie and quizze , played game and ang. When darkne be– gan to fa l I about 6: 00 I tried to -- hoo them off again but everal in- i ted that there wa,., no one at home and there wa no food to eat anyway . . . o I let them tay. They wanted me to l i ten to them recite their ver e , he lp them with their ewi ng , cor rect the que tio n they had filled in on their cot1r e ... and jur::- t talk with them. A we at u oder the tar and watted mo qu ito Beatrice (who i crippled and can only crawl on her hand and k nee ) howed me h ow "' he i lear ning to read and Emmanuel poured out hi heart about h.ow he wants to go to Ni le chool but h as been told th at only married men ar e admitted . He wi ll orobably be put out of pub li c chool th is next year. hut it wi ll be a long ti me before he is old enough and h a money enough to buy a wife. What can he do in the meantime. . . We talked u nti] the re t of thie kid came back and then we at and talked about the Word of God u nt il it was ti me to rett1rn aoain to the vi ll age. All of what I have wr itte n con– cern ing my vi it to Damara h appened la t June. l t i·· now July and mo t of the young people have cattered hack to their v ill age . A few of them I wi ll ee a T travel around from place to p]ace . ome wi ll be back next October when ch ool pens agai n. Other I will never ee again. I wonder where they wi ll be and what they will be doing! ESTABLISHING BAPTIST CHURCHES WHERE THERE WERE NONE IN NORTHERN UNITED STATES AND IN CANADA HIAWATHA BAPTIST MISSIONS 2601 Li ncoln Road , South Esca na ba, Mich igan 49829 THE OHIO INDEPEND NT BAPTIST Dr. Penberthy Appointed to L.A.B.C. Lo ngele'.) Bapti t College an- nounce the appointn1ent of Dr. Irv– ing E. Penberthy a Director of De– velopment. Mr . Penberthy' re pon- ibilitie will include the directing of the realization of a campus master plan income procurement, con ult– ing with individual on e tate plan– nin·g, and working with the executive taff in the e calation of the accredi– tation program. Mr. Penberthy has pent 25 year in the mini try havi n1g erved for 22 year a pa tor of the Cedar Avenue Bapti t Church in Pre no , California. He ha been a faithfu l upporter of Ch ri tian Higher Education, and for many year erved on the Board of Tru tee at Los Angele Bapti t Col– lege and Theological eminary. A Good Summer At Scioto Hills Looking back on th i pa t ummer at cioto H ill , we can ~ay great th ing He hath done." The peaker were great! T he dean were excellent! l1he cook and the worker were wonderful! Everyone working to– geth@r made the week at camp thi year a great ucce ! P a tors who have received the evaluation report of each camper . urely can rejoice with all of u for the way in which our wonderful Lord worked in the heart and live of our young people. The n1any im– proven1ent. at cioto helped each week to be the be t yet. The dean . pent much tin1e in prayer ver the . peakers a n d cot1n elor which brought about a n1ight n1 ing of the pirit f the ord. t the nd of the \\'eek arot1nd the cantpfire, u nt1 t1al te. ti n1onie were gi en of which n1any la ted on tlp until mid– night. The parting tear. f g db e~ reveal tl n t nl 'leaving their friend ' bt1 t n,i~. in g ca n1p and de- ire to ta\' nn thcr \\ k. ., We, a trt1 tee\, v. ilih t th41nl each an l e er~/one for their ntintted • • pravcr"), a, \\,ell c1 c opcr,1t1ng 1n 111ak1ng 1969 an t1nt1~t1c1l car11p ~t1n1- 111cr. f n\ \\C a k. \ u to ntint1e 10 pra) r f r nct=ut,; 1 ir11provc111ent, and ,11l)ttltl the I <.)rd lead, \t1ttr c )nt1ntteti .111(1 nt1tieti f1nanci,1l ,upp rr i11 th1, • g,eat n,1111,tr)' · Sub.cri be to: $2.00 per y r The Ohio Independent Baptist FOR A FRIEND Box 160 Xenia, Ohio 45385 NOVEMBER 1969 13 I