Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 18, Number 8, DeMotte, Jasper County, 16 January 1948 — THE J. R. SWARTS WRITES FROM NEW YORK [ARTICLE]

THE J. R. SWARTS WRITES FROM NEW YORK

Dear Friends,, One of our remaining tasks before leaving this Friday, January 9, is to say thank you and goodbye to you all. We shall be sailing from New York on the Italian liner, Saturnia, which will take us as far as Alexandria, Egypt. From there we will go by train to Cairo, then up through the Nile River country to Khartoum. We hope to be there by February when the South Sudan Mission holds its annual meeting. Also, if all works well, our household goods which leaves by a freighter tomorrow will reach Khartoum at about the same time, so we’ll be able to arrive on the field fully equipped rather than having to live out of our suitcases. We are looking forward to the journey with a great deal of anticipation and will try to remember all the interesting things to tell you in our next letter. o This time we want to say thank you to all of you for the many expressions of your love and interest. Your gifts have equipped us in a wonderful way physically. Your prayers have strengthened us spiritually and

we go with a firm assurance of your continued interest and prayers. Surely when our Lord Jesus promised, “Lo, I am with you always’’ He must have meant that promise to be fulfilled in part by the actions and deeds of His own children and such have been yours. And now as we leave for the first term, we say goodbye with a very deep feeling of unworthiness and humility. The privilege and responsibility is so great—yet we know we go not in our own strength, but in His and in answer to His call. So as you continue to pray, pray that we may be able and willing to do and accomplish whatever the Master places before us. And as the blessings of Life Eternal come to these who are now without it, together we will give Him the honor and the glory. May this benediction rest upon you all: “The Lord bless thee and keep thee;, The Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thtje, The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee and give thee peace, The grace of our Lord Jesus

Christ be with you all.” Your friends and servants in Christ, The J. R. Swarts. P.S. We understand that there are mail deliveries at Akobo about every two weeks when the boats are running. Did you know that there are airmail letter forms that you can send anywhere in the World for only 10c? Our address will be! American Mission, Akobo Post, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Your letters will be welcome blessings.

Mr. Harry Haynes was taken in* the Todd ambulance to Rensselaer hospital last Saturday. Mrs. Theodore Punter is visiting Mr. and Mrs. Orvine Spriggs in Houston, Texas. Mrs. Spriggs and Mrs. Punter are sisters. Miss Alice Rowen and the Curtin Twins were home from Purdue over the week-end to attend the Kankakee Valley tournament.