Page:Kvartalshilsen (Kvinnelige misjonsarbeidere). 1920 Vol. 13 nr. 3.pdf/2

 

Kristiania 27—5—20.

Odinsgt. 16/2.

My dear sisters in the Lord!

The Lord has done great things for us; we were joyful! Ps. 126, 3.

The Lord has indeed done far, far more than what we asked of him. In many cities he has aroused a vivid interest in Armenia and all the little orphans there and made many willing to support children in Armenia. In total, about 30 new children can be taken up in addition to the 11 who are already at the Danish orphanage in Mezreh, and we hope that we can have our own small Norwegian orphanage in one of the towns down there, if it is the Lord's will, and I think so, judging by the results. The distress among the widows and all the surviving children, who have lost their homes and all their loved ones, is indescribable. In Grimstad there was a gentleman who, after hearing about the need at the meeting in the chapel, decided to support four children down there for as long as he could. In Horten, in the evening after the meeting, contributions were made for the supporting of 5 children, and several other places foster parents have signed up. In Trondhjem there have been foster parents for 25 children, and a separate Armenia committee has been formed, which works with great zeal and love for this cause.

How wonderful it is to see how the Lord has moved the hearts, and that it is not only with emotion and with compassion, but that it manifests in action.

What sacrifice and love for this persecuted and hunted people have I not seen in my travels around the different cities. I believe that God has a meaning with this, and that the work for Armenia should grow and become great at home, so that we not only support the children, but also to lead many of these little ones into the good shepherds embrace, and who knows if not many of them can later become living witnesses of the Lord both for their own people and for the many Muhammadans. Even up in the high north, love is aroused. Sister Olivia wrote down here and asked to send collection buckets to them so that they too could gather their part to this troubled people, and it touched me deeply, they themselves need help and have little up there, but the Lord has expanded their hearts so that they not only think of themselves, but of their sisters and brothers far south, who have it much worse than they do.

Dear join as many of you as you can also from other cities, in prayer and in work.

And then a heartfelt thank you to you dear friends all around who so lovingly welcomed me. It was a great, great joy for me to come to you and feel the warm love and interest both for Armenia and the work out there. I met such a willingness to sacrifice, soon one and soon the other came and thrust great and small gifts into my hand to my dear, dear people, and work was done with great zeal both before and after the meetings. Oh, how the Armenian people need you right now!! And I think you understand that.

Then I would also like to tell you a little from the travels, if it may interest you. Both journeys and meetings were prepared and carried out with prayer, which is why the Lord blessed so abundantly and gave me great boldness to speak. Praise be to him!

I was allowed to visit 13 cities and many other K. M. A. districts, and it was very lovely to get to know the sisters and feel that we were one with the Lord.

The first city was Drammen. The district there is not big, but it was just as nice to get to know the friends there. The distance is great there, but yet the hall of the youth club was completely full. Mr. Folkestad opened with a church prayer: Be their strength, who suffers from hardship for 