Carlson Ray Imogene 1958 Philippines

8/9/2019 Carlson Ray Imogene 1958 Philippines

1/16

De a r Brethren :

n

1 '. ' 3

RAY

CARLSON

CEBU

CHRISTIAN MISSION

P.O. BOX 41

CERU city

PHILIPPINES

March

25

1958

We a r r i v e d in

th e

P h i l i p p i n e s on th e te n th o f March

an d s pe nt

t h r e e days

in Manila with th e Hales

th e

McElroys and Mrs. Wolfe. They

showed

us

th e

s i te of

the i r

new Seminary near Quezon City.

This plade

shows much promise

an d should

be

adeqiiate

for

t h e i r needs

fo r

a long time to come. They

expect to begin building

this summer but are

s t i l l

far short of

th e ir

f i n a n c i a l needs f o r con s t r u c t i o n

Th e bret hren in Cebu welcomed us w ith g ar la nd s and

open

arms when we

ar r ived a t

the

airport on March

13th.

There ha s been so

l i t t l e

change

in

the c ity that almost seemed as though we had been away

fo r

a short

time. I t was somewhat o f a sur pr i se to f i nd how l i t t l e of

th e

d i a l e c t we

had forgotten.

I t

seemed to back with a rush

to a ll

of us

except

Ted.

He wa s seven when we l e f t bet te r t han t h r e e years

ag o

and

has

f o r g o t t e n

e v e r y

word he

e v e r

knew.

Our house in

Talisay

was in good shape except f o r a few boards t h a t th e

termites require th a t we replace. The Seminary

property

looks

f ine and

our trees have made amazing growth. Betty Yarbrough and

Guen

Griffith

have

done

very well

in

caring

fo r

things and have a fund of

1500

which

h a s

been c olle cte d fo r th e needed

d o r m i t o r i e s . They have ag r eed

t ha t we

w i l l go ahead

to er ect

the frames of two 20 X

40 two story

structures


2/16

AUE

2 9

we

S PO TL IG H T in

C E B U

Cebu Christian Mission. FQ ox41. Cebu City. P.I ?hbhhh ?^ July . i95

CRUGHT

in

THE ERITiS

Our

spotlight

has been fo

cused on events i n seve ra l d i f

ferent

places

during

the past

fe w mo nth s

The Ray Carlson

family

ar

rived in Cebu in March, and the

summer

months

gave

them time

to

ge t s e t t le d in to

th e work once

mor

Bro Carlson used h i s week

ends to good advantage in v i s i t

ing the churches

in

th i s area .

He made t r ips to Balamban and

Santander

on

the island

of Cebu;

The rays of the spotlight

followed Guen and Betty as they

traveled

rcm Cebu

to

Manila

and then on to Hongkong, After

two days

Guen

continued

on

her

journey to Hawaii

vdiere

she i s

now worldng.

The problem

of

Betty s

visa

was

solved

and

she

was

given

permission t o

remain in th e

Philippines unt i l May of

I960.

Her month in Hongkong proved to

be a

real vacation

and gave her

a much-needed

renewal O f

vim and

vigor. She. was

able

to

purchase


3/16

A NEW

YEAR

After a yearns interrupt ion,

during v^ich t ime

only

a

few

spec ia l c la s se s were offered,

th e Seminary

i s

once more

on

a

regula r fu l l schedule. Classes

began on June

l o th ,

with

an

en

r o l lmen t o f

20 . Th i s

i n c l ude s

two seniors , two juniors, s ix

sophcmores, and one specia l s tu

den t .

All

of

these young people are

working students . The women do

the work in the dining ha l l ,

and

th e

men

do

yard

jobs ,

carpent ry ,

pimbing, or

whatever else, needs

to b e d o n e . Each

s t u d e n t

h a s

h is

own garden plo t ,

and

welook

fo rward

to

th e

day when

th e

pro

du c e

f rom

t h e s e efforts will

b e

s e rv ed a t mea l t ime .

more t h an :t^l20 a month. An ex

cel lent project

fo r

any

group or

i nd iv idua l would

be

to send ^10

a month to provide food fo r one

o f these worthy s tudents .

Some have writ ten asking what

they could

send

which ^^ould be

of

help to us. anything for the

kitchen

especially l ight

weight

food

stuffs would

be

much appreciated. To

help

us in

customs clearance, send

no

more

than

>^10 worth,

including the

postage.

Marx

GIFT.

MU HG GRACIAS/

A spec ia l word of thanks

i s

due B ro . benver Sizemore and

ou r

many o t h e r

f r i e nds

a t

At l an t a


4/16

NEW BU

A DILEMMA

Funds

enough

on

hand to erec t

one

building,

but which

one wil l

it be? Boys*

dorm, girls* dorm,

dining

hal l ,

l ibrary,

or class

room?

This

was

the

problem

we

f a c ed a s

we

lo ok ed fo rw a rd t o

the opening

of

a new

school

year,

A

plan

was

worked

out

which

would

p rovide space for a l l

the

need s .

I n s t ead

o f th e conc r e t e

struct iore

which

th e

Seminary

plans original ly called fo r , a

two- story bu ilding

was designed

with cement f l oo r and wal l s

downstairs , a wooden super- ,

structure,

and a roof of palm

leaves, The upstairs could be

LD

/

NGS

INTHE mOF

T M f

Construction

began on

Apri l

8th ,

and the

carpenters

worked

fur iously to get

the

buildings

ready by

June 14th, when the

s t ud en t s

were

due

t o

a r r i v e .

They

were

ready r ight on time I

True, there were

as

yet no win^-

dcw

shut ters ,

no

par t i t ions ,

no

walls downstairs, no plumbing,

and no pain t .

However, th e

s tu

dents

are happy

to have

a place

to

s tay ,

so they

don t

complain

o f

th e i n conven iences . As

f unds

come

in , the other

things can

be

completed.

The two new .

buildings

were

formal ly

dedicated on June 22nd.


5/16

MEET THE TEACHERS

The

s choo l

f a

cul ty

. th i s year

incliides

Ray

and

Iro. jgene

Carlson,

who

f o und ed th

Cebu

Seminary

in

1947. Bro.

Car lson

is Pres iden t

of

the

school,

and

also

teaches

cou r s e s in New

Tes t amen t and

hom i l e t i c s , iyirs* Car l son

han

dles a fu l l load of classes,

plus private piano lessons for

th

s t u d e n t s .

Betty Yarbrou^ gives

accor-

dian lessons, in addit ion to her

r eg ula r c la ss es . She also ac t s

as school

nurse,

and supervises

th e

gir l s*

dorm

and

th e cen t ra l

dining

ha l l .

of the

2nd

year s tudents,

and

his two children are l ively per

sonali t ies on the

campus,

Bro.

Cas te ll ano handl es the Old Tes

tament

classes,

as well as Reve

lation,

Christian Evidences, and

siglit-singing,

CAMPUS

CAPERS

One o f the

freshmen

students

i s a

lad

from the mountains of

the

island of

Negros,

and has

had only an elementary

educa

t ion ,

Since he

i s from one of

th e

nev;

churches

i n need o f l e a

ders, he

iiias

accepted in the

school

as

an exception to the

ru l e

t h a t s tuden t s must have had

some

high school work.

He some


6/16

Cebu Chr i s t i a n

h i s s i on

? 0

Box

41

Cebu City Phi l ippines

October 1958

In response

to

many

requests

for

information concerning the

Cebu

Chris t ian Mission we

are happy t o convey

th i s

suudy.

The

Mssion

was

begun in 1941 in Cebu City w ith

the arr iva l

of the

families of

Vex non

Newland

and

Ray

Carlson

The locat ion was

selected

because of

the

grea t

southern

pa r t

of

th e

archipelago

t ha t

had

been

unreached

by

the

gospel .

The success

of th e ila nila idss ion

under the

direct ion of the

la te Leslie vfolfe encouraged the Newlands and

the

Carlsons to come to

the

Phil ippines

The

war in

China

made

it

impossibl e f cr them to pro

ceed

to

Tibet as original ly

planned.

This

decision

has

proven to have

b een w ise.

The Philippines

have

shown

themselves to

be f ru i t fu l ly

re

cept ive to New

Testament Chr is t ian i ty

and hundreds

have

been

bapt ized

and

many

churches

established

borne

of these

brethren

in

turn

have

moved to new areas

seeking

land and employment and have

carr ied

the

gospe l w ith them. They are

spreading the t ru th

to many new cc mmuni

ti s

There a re severa l advantages which

iimericans

enjoy in

working

in

the Philippines

They

are granted privileges denied

other

foreigners.


7/16

Manila

area

and

the

^sayan

i n

the

south

of

these

t h r e e t h e

Visayan

i s the

l a r g e r

group

of

which Cebuano i s

the

major p a r t .

All

these

languages a r e

Malay-derivatives

and have roots i n Borneo Indonesia

Indo-China and India

Most

Qirist ian work

i n the Is lands

must be

done

i n the

nat ive

tongue which

i s

not d i f f i c u l t

t o

learn. The many un

educated or poorly educated make t h i s necessary. The economic pros

t r a t i o n

which

st maintains makes t commonly impossible f o r t h e

average person

to

proceed

beyond Grade IV

Those who

f inish

high

school a r e th e

except ion r a t h e r than

th e

r u l e .

The

people

of the

Phil ippines

are a happy easy-going folk who

have

long ago learned t o

make

t h e most o f t h e d i f f i c u l t l i f e t h a t i s

t h e i r s

and l i v e

very s imp ly w ith not much hope f o r improvement i n

t h e i r l iv ing s it ua ti on . For t h i s reason

religious

faith plays an

important

par t

i n t h e i r

l i v e s

and

they

a re s er io us ly

concerned

with

ts exercise. I n

many

remote sect ions

of the Is lands which

a r e

scarcely

explored

and seldan

v i s i t e d

l i v e a number of non-Christian

t r i b e s .

In U iindanao and the Sulu

group

thousands of Mohaminedans

s t i l l hold on to t h e i r t radi t ions and send hundreds o f pilgrims to

Mecca

each year. I n the c i t i e s modern l i f e of a

sort

prevai ls ; but

i n

t h e

country

a r e a s housing

consis ts mostly of bamboo and l e a f -


8/16

los t

a t l eas t one of t he i r children, look

upon

American

mothers

with

awe

who

have

a l l

of

t he i r

chi ldren

l i v ing

mlnu t r i t i on

i s the

preva

lent

si tuation. This,

coupled with

the

inevi table i nt ern al p a ra si ti ca l

infes ta t ion i s the reason

fo r

much of

the

sloth

tha t

characterizes

many. Fresh milk i s unavai lable in most places. Fish i s wholesome,

but

never a t

hand

i n

quant i t i es

needed, an amazing Tact i s t h a t t h i s

multitude

of 7^000 islands aboiinds

in

fish

in

the surrounding seas but

primi t ive f ishing methods necessi ta te

the

impo rt at io n o f thousands of

tons

of

canned

f ish

every

year

from

the

United

States,

Again

we

have

a case of the anomaly

vdiereby Fil ip inos

pay

American wages

they can

a f f o r d

The

chief

exports

of the

islands

are

sugar. emp

and copra coco

nut

meat .

Since dollar

control, a number

of industr ies have

come

into

being

which

f ree the

country

from

slavish

dependence on impo rts but

which

st a re dependen t on th e same fo r mach inery and

raw

mater ia l s

Poli t ics has

fal len

irito sadly wasteful extravagance, off ic ia ls

a re often

more

in te res ted in gaining qui ck wealth ra ther t han enfo rc ing

principles

of law,

Most

of the Philippine

consti tution

and

legisla t ion

has been patterned

a f t e r

American

examples,

but the tanptat ion to per

sonal gain

in

public off ice has

brought

the

country

to the brink of


9/16

4

able to

refer

in qu ir er s to

ew Testament

Christianity using scriptural

names and

language

for

matters

pertaining

to

salvation.

In addit ion

to

th e more common sec ts

there a re

severa l

pecul i a r

to th e Phi l ipp ines

Here i s a people who ca l l themselves the

Phil ippine Independent

Catho

l i c Church. They broke off

from

the Roman heresy

about the

turn of the

century when Filipino pries ts fe l t they were being discriminated

against

by

the foreign

orders. They were

led

by Bishop

Aglipay

and

might

be

cal led the f i r s t

Filipino

religious ant isegregat ionis ts .

They are quite

strong

and presently are al l ied with the

Episcopalians.

wother group i s

led

by Fel ix wanalo, viio came under the

inf lu

ence of the l a te b ro ther Le sli e

Wolfe, i ianalQ

was

discharged

by our

people in

1914

for immorality. e

made a

t r ip

to the

States, fe l l in

with some l i be ra l s

and

came back to

lyianila

with the old heresy t ha t

Christ i s only a man.

His

work has been very successful from a human

poin t of

view

in

spi te

o f

h is holding

t i t l e personally to a l l chur:^

lands,

receiving

a l l

church

monies, and paying

a l l preachers

himself.

He h as en rich ed himself by the reputed sale

of

the votes

of h is mem

bers and bui l t

a

great

palace complete

wj.th

armed guards,

ne

has

designated

himself angel of the east

Rev,

7^2 ,

Some confusion

ar i ses because his churches use the s ame name

as

ours: Iglesia

ni

Cristo Church

of Christ ,

but

the worldliness of

his leaders and

his


10/16

ta t ion

o f things tiiss

Betty

Yarbrough

joined

the

Mission

in

November

o f

1952 and

i s

s t i l l on the f i e l d .

Elston

an d Mary Knight arrived

in

t he is la nd s

in August

of

1953 and

stayed

unt i l April

of

1956

Guen

Griffith accompanied

Betty

Yarbrough from furlough in

November

of 1956

and stayed u n t i l March 1958 John and Jacquelyn Hasty came to Cebu

in January 1957 Mrs Hasty passed away in June 1957 necessitating

th e return of

Mr Hasty

and his

two

small

daughters

in July 1957. Hie

Carlso n s were in the Sta tes from 1954 to i la rc h 1 95 8. ^N eg otia tio ns

a r e

presently being

made

wherein

a new American couple may come

to

supplement e f f o r t s .

Your

prayers

a r e

s o l i c i t e d .

The Cebu Bible

S em in ar y b eg an

in

1947

in

rented

quar t er s. Since

then

a

reinforced concrete

classroom

building

and two frame dormito^

r ies

have been erected on

th e

campus

a t

San I s i d r o Talisay.

sozens

of

young men and women have been trained here. Two

of

the

graduates

a re

on

th e fac ulty:

Mrs

Cresencia

Bantiles

and

i^^r.

J^eo

Casteliano.

The witness

of the

gospel

has

been made

u t i l i z i n g sever al methods.

Person~to-person and

house-to-house

teaching

has

accompanied

customary

preaching

in chapel

and out-of-door meeting. Correspondence

courses

make Bible study

a va ila ble to

many who

l ive

fa r from th e

Seminary.


11/16

in f i r s t a id

and

i l lness found fa r away from profess ional help Sim

p le la ye tte s are always welcome

and represent sjmipathetic help

to new

mothers vdth

primitive resources, Vitamins a re o ften in dica te d in the

t rea tment

of the s ick . Any

having drug house connections

please

re

member

Cebu,

Cebu province has f if ty- tv/o incorporated munic ipa l i t ies and

we

have

se t our goal of f i f ty churches in

th is

area .

Dozens of other

provinces in the

southern

Philippines

are unreached. The

churches

t h a t

have

di rec t

fellowship with

the

Cebu

Christ ian

i-iission

are:

CriUxiCH LoCaTIlW

MiHSTikl

1 Mart i res - Cebu

City

Leo

Caste l lano

2, Carreta

Cebu

City

Juan i laramara

3

San i s idro

Talisay,

Cebu

~ Pedro Panoy

4

Balamban

Cebu

iMarcisso

Curacha

5 Santander

*Cebu

Pas to r Burreros

6, Sangat

San Fernando, Cebu iiugenio xientura

7 Tuyan ; Naga, Cebu Tomas

Labrado

8 , (auiljungan

Cauayan,

x^iegros occ.

t ioll ie

Lusoc

San Isidro Numancia, ourigao w ouan Consigns


12/16

. . . . . .

J E C 2 2 i 8

SPOlLiGHT

on

CtB

Ccbu Ch r i s t i a n

M is s ion,

PO

Box-41,

Cebu C i t y , P . I O cto b er,

1958

Typhoon Season Coming

The r a i n s

have star ted and th e winds

may

be coming any

day,

so

we

must

v/crk

fast to

gat

the

school

dormitories

in

b e t t e r condition

fo r

possible stormy- weather, ./e have ordered windows for the-two new

buildings,

and

are

now waiting for

t he c arp en te rs

to ccme and

i n s t a l l

them. They are

the jalousie

type, a l l

wood

and cost about

derful to have running water for the icitchen and the showers

The

l o w e r ha lf o f the d ow ns ta ir s w al ls , o f th e boys dorm

are partly finished, and at- soon as we ca n

get

some ^

more cement these can be conpleted. j fjw


13/16

PLAY BALlf

Basketball i s a favori te

sport

in the

Phil ip

pines,

and we

have

found

that the bal l court

can

be u sefu l fo r more than b l l

games.

From

August

15 to

September

15 we held a se r ie s o f evange

l i s t i c meetings t the

basketball

court t Tabu-

noc, >ach ounday af ternoon since the meeting we

have been conducting a children's Bible class

under

the same basketbal l r ing. On

September

30,

Bro,

i^eo

Castellano

had

a

debate

there with

represen tativ es o f a religious group

called

i^ianalistas,

who

teach that Christ

was a mere man

and not divine,

j e are glad

to have

access

to such

a place

vhore

we

can openly wit

ness for the i-ord i n v r ious ways.

AN ODD PARTY

i

The

church

members and Seminary students didn't know exactly what

to

expect when they

were invited to

a Sandpaper party, 'A, But they

were j us t curious enough to

f ind out

th t


14/16

Curing

the f i r s t

two

weeks

of beptoni^

ber> Brother r iol l ie Lusoc minis te r

o f

the Guiljungan Church on the i s lan d o f

hegros

vis i ted

the

Semirury

to

help

in

the Tabunoc

evangel is t ic

meeting and to

give a

series

o f

lec tures

in

the school

chapel hour

we

hope to

have

othe r such

vis i tors ccme and bring us

similar

in

sp i ra t ion

during the

re s t

of the

year .

The

student

garden plots are now bringing

forth

vegetables and

i t^s

a

joy to

have home-grovm food

on

the tab le at

meal time.

The crops include egg

plant

tcmatoes radishes str ing beans squash

and a

number of leafy greens t ha t are peculiar

to the Phi l ippines

Bro . Car l son

and some o f

t h e s t ud en t s

v i s i t e d th e

b r e t h r en

n San t a nde r

on

September

21

and Bro. Solidum

went to

Balamban on

October Another t r i p

being planned

fo r

the

month

of

October


15/16

flUGHI

lyiTH

T OOO S

One quiet

afternoon

we

were

s ta r t l ed

to

seo

f ive

very tough-looking characters

coming across

the

Semi

nary campus. They asked

for

Miss Yarbrough,

so

Betty hesi tantly

went

toward them, wondering who

they

might be, .^hen she

greeted them, they

infomed her

tha t

they

wore Secre t oeryice

men

Thinking quickly,

she could not remember having broken any

laws

or

having

failed to

report

to

the

al ien

registrat ion

author i t ies

.However>

she soon,

found out the why

of

the visi t . The men

reported th.at

the robber who

had

broken in to

the

house

of

Guen

and

Betty l a s t

Feb

ruary had

been

caught, and tha t we could go

to

th e

Police

Sta t ion

to

claim Guen's typewri ter , rte

were

a l l amazed, but

needless

to say,

thril loa

and thankful 'fhe thief

was

an

escaped

convict,

and a t

the

t r i a l

was

sentenced

to

another

22

years

behind

bars

PRROon ua

pmiLY


16/16

^ 7 ?

Documents

Carlson Ray Imogene 1958 Philippines