Stories from Syria

I’ve just recently read A Syrian Mosaic by Marjorie Sanderson. She and her husband were the last Reformed Presbyterians to leave the Syrian mission field in 1958. A Syrian Mosaic is a brief history of the mission which began in 1856 by Pastor Robert J. Dodds. It is a good little book that you should read. Missionaries always have the best stories, and so I thought I’d just share a couple of them that capture life in the early days of the Syrian mission. I used several sections from the book in my sermon last week, an overview of Philippians, which you can find at www.rpcast.org if interested.

Pastor Dodds wrote this while they were trying to determine where the Lord would have them settle in Syria:

“I brought along salt and tea from Beirut and bought 12 cents worth of bread and a pound of sugar and then we set out for Aleppo. When we arrived at a village I set Naameh [a local man who had been hired with his mule for transportation and because of his knowledge of the area] to procuring chickens, and instructed him as well as my limited culinary knowledge would allow, in the art of preparing them for the table. As we approached the village of Heffeh, by an unfortunate accident Naameh got sight of my artificial teeth. Of course, he could not keep a secret so wonderful. The consequence was that from that time forward, wherever we went I was obliged to show them to everybody. Truly, if I had raised the dead it would hardly excited more wonder or elicited more or louder ascriptions of praise to God. Perhaps they have never thought of praising him for their own teeth, which were far better and certainly not less his workmanship.”

Dr. Methany, another early missionary, who was also an M.D. wrote this regarding one of several mission trips he took into the mountains of Syria. On this occasion he was with another missionary, Pastor Easson. Dr. Methany described Mr. Easson as “a short fleshy man, full of wit and humor. He works well and sleeps soundly.” On this particular trip, a host gave them a bed consisting of boards stretched between poles. Dr. Methany writes:

“Brother Easson is a fortunate man for he carries his cushions with him. Consequently he sits or lies down with great comfort and composure. As you are aware, I am not very rotund, my bones having little adipose tissue between them and the cutaneous covering. Brother Easson, therefore, had a decided advantage and was soon sailing away over the depths of unconsciousness, quite oblivious to the barking of dogs and stinging bite of sandflies.”