Page:Kvartalshilsen (Kvinnelige misjonsarbeidere). 1913 Vol. 6 nr. 4.pdf/2

  Excerpt of letter from S. Bodil Biørn.

Surp garabed, July 16, 1913. Armenian monastery, 8-hour ride from Musch.

It hurts me that I rarely have time to write home, but up here in the mountains, away from turmoil and hustle and bustle, I have the time and quiet to answer dear letters. - As you may know, in early June I rode over to Mia-Farkin to meet Mr. Pastor Lohmann and be with Sister Thora. I brought as little as possible, since it is only three days ride from Musch to Farkin, had neither bed nor bedding, only little food and clothes. Rupen and a Sabtie were with us, the Sabtie to show our way and to protect us, because it was said that there was turmoil among the Kurds, and a Turkish officer the day before had been murdered on the same road we were supposed to take. We had our own horses with us, so it went off quickly in the plain, but up in the mountains they were not so good. The first day was not the worst, we reached at evening time to the Kurdish village of Schen, which is up high and beautiful. A friendly Kurdish chief welcomed us into his open, pretty tent, where we soon felt well. The chieftain and his brother ate dinner with us, which was pillaw and ripe herbs and a heavy, black bread that tasted great after the long ride. Afterwards, I made them some tea, and Rupen came out with lemonade. They liked it so much, and said, "To think the Germans are serving us, usually they won't give us anything." I said to Rupen, “We have to find an opportunity to talk to them about spiritual things and if possible, tell them about Jesus” and soon an opportunity was presented. One of them said to another: "You can see that the Germans are not happy in their country either, since they come here to travel around." Then I told them the real reason why we had come here, and soon we were in a long conversation about the eternal things. I spoke in Armenian, and Rupen translated as best he could in Kurdish, if it did not work in Kurdish, then he spoke in Turkish, and the Sabtie translated it in Kurdish. The chief brother and the Sabtie listened especially attentively and asked so much, and I thanked God in my heart for giving us the opportunity to talk about the salvation in Jesus for these wild Kurds. At first, they all wanted to stay in the tent at night, but at my request they let us keep it alone and slept outside themselves. It was cold up there in the open tent, but they lay wood on the fire the middle of the room and gave us warm bedding. Both the Sabtie and Rupen lay with loaded rifles; but I felt so safe with them as if I laid in my bed in Musch. Early in the morning, I wake up when one of the Kurds shouts: "Rupen, Rupen hurry off, one of the horses has worn off and is far away in the mountains," and Rupen ran off as fast as he could. Our two horses we had to tie out far from the tent, as there was no good pasture nearby. Unfortunately, it was the horse of the Sabtie and one of ours that ran far, far away on the other side of the river after some loose horses. I had no great hope that we would be on our way that day; but put the matter before God, and my joy was great, when I ½ — 1 hour after hears that our horse was captured, and later they cunningly and kindly also captured the horse of the Sabtie. Later we had lunch and also took a picture which I will send later, if it is any good. Finally came an eerie dervish with black, long hair and black, evil eyes and wanted to show us his snakes and do all kinds of arts. In that man's presence I did not feel well, it was like an evil spirit sitting next to me watching me and I was happy when we were on the road to Farkin again. It was a tiring day, up and down 