Field Address:

Alan S Janet Bemo

Box

223S4

Taipei. Taiwan

CTP 13
June 28,

1968

Dear Ch rlstIans:

Even though It has only been two months since our last newsletter and a little over
a month since we were in America, a lot has taken place since
The first major thing that happened was my graduation.

Mm sure

my professors will agree that my graduation was a remarkab le event.

I graduated with a B.S.L. {Bachelor of Sacred Literature) degree

and Janet graduated with a P.H.T. (Putting Hubby Through) degree.

She wasn' t given public recogn Itlon forthls, butlcertalnly rec-

--

ognize it. I am thankful for such a helpful wife as Janet.

The week after g raduat i on was f I II ed with last minute packing and
a thousand mi Ies of t rave ling. On our I ast trip home In ou r

little

Opel, which had 24,000 miles put on it in a year, it finally gave

out. We crippled along at 25 mph. a! I night long with what we thought
was amal funct ion ing fuel pump all the way from Stronghurst,
no i s to Jop I I n, Missouri. It turned out on Iy to be a stopped-up fuel

line but when we finally got to J op I i n, I took 11 to a re pal r shop

and said goodbye

j,
^
to it, leaving
. . . j ,it
. . .in
, . the capable
,
careofmy

"v father.

Alan & Janet a t

Graduation
ur aau a iion from
jrom

He is selling It for us and we are very grateful to him for that. Qzark Bible College
On Friday before that fateful

trip,

June 7,

I had the honor of performing the wed

ding ceremony f9r my brother, Gary Bemo, and his fiance, Carolyn Donaldson.

I wish I

had a picture of that event to show you.

Then on Tuesday morning, June II, we started our trip from Joplin, Missouri to Los
Angeles, California. We drove a sixteen-foot van U-Haul truck with all of our things
to be shipped overseas in it. We drove through Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Neva
da and California, stopping to visit friends along the way. Even though we saw some
beautiful scenery and saved about $300, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone else.

We spoke at three churches during

our week-long stay in Los Angeles.
We put our belongings on afreighter
bound for Taiwan and on June 24, we
boarded ajet bound forTokyo. If you
can't tell it from th i spicture, Beth
is laughing and she had apretty good
time In spite of the crowded condi
tions.

It took

us

fifteen

hours of

flying time with athirty-minute stop

in Hono I u I u and an ei ghteen-hou r stop
in Tokyo before we finally arrived in
Taiwcin.
We arrived at 7:30 p.m., on

June 26,

and had a i arge group

of

Americans

and Ch i nese to we I come

us.

On Plane to Tokyo

The second Sunday we were here,

Hawaii

had

there was a baptism. M-rs. Martin, a missionary from

led her maid to the Lord.

To be quite truthfuI we were pretty

discouraged the first week we were
here.
It Is always a shock to come
from a country where you can get so
so much

done to one where it takes

so Ion 9 to do so I i tt I e, I att ri bute

this to the weather, t ransportat Ion
and Iack of knowledge of the Chinese
language. However, with camp start
ing the second week after we got here,
we were too busy to even think about
it. My language school started the

same week of camp. This meant that 1

had to get up at camp every morning
at 5:00 so that I could get back to

Taipei fo r my language classes which

began at 7:30 a.m. Then after three
hours of ci asses, I had to hurry back

k
Class during Camp

by two busses so I could teach two classes at camp in the afternoon. We didn't have

any responses at camp, but we had several of the thirty-eight campers at church ser-

vices this morning and we know that we have planted the seed. We are sure that If we
water, God will give the Increase.
We are working with two congregations now one at ShulIn and the other In the
suburb of Shingwang. At Shingwang we only have a few people meeting In their homes,
but we hope this will be the starting of a great work.
Yesterday, through the Lord''s ieadl"ng~, we"'rriade~the final deal on"a house^. It Ts a
nice home big enough for a student center, which we hope to start soon and It Is lo
cated right in the middle of the college area. We are really excited; however our
things won't be arriving here by ship till August 13 so we can't move in yet.
Janet, too, is studying Chinese with a private tutor two hours every afternoon. It
is hard work, but we are enjoying It. The most difficult part about It Is the tones.
For example, if you say 'wo yau mai bi' which means "I want to buy a pen," you'd bet

ter be careful because If you say 'wo yaumai bl,' you will be selI Ing you r pen.
We are really glad to be here. But Just because we're happy here doesn't mean we
don't need your prayers and letters. Please do both.

In Christ,

Co
rn

D
W

s?
oc

ORIENT BROADCASTER
FORhSDSA CHRISTIAN MISSION

Associated with the Kyushu Christian >Lssion

A Diary of the Activities of I^bel M, Dittemore

HOME ADDRESS;

F0KV.7\RDING AGENT:

406 N. Pearl St.,

Margai'Ct McGinn

Joplin, Missouri 64801 ^

Box 79, Maspeth, N.

Y. 11378

June 29th, 1968

Five weeks have gone by since I wrote the last newsletter and now
J anet and Alan and B eth (Bemo) are in Taiv.n and I in Eastern
Ohio, just back from a wonderful week in Virginia wiiere, as guest
of Dr. Clarabellc Hopldns, I not only spoke at Bumpass, Waynes,
boro and Charlottesville, but also had a week of daily chiroprac
tic treatments which put ray head and back into shape again. Goodl
But let's get back to May's last \/eek \^ch began with a visit in
Janet, Alan and Beth Bemo - now

the Kaindchi mountains.

I had always wanted to see them and visit

in Taiwan, after graduating here_

t^d*^me they were going do^m, I asked to go along, We spent Friday evening at A lan's home, visiting Iiis parents, Doris and Douglas B emo, and ;J.an and his father crated up their gifts to the
cliildrcn of a heater, a cook stove, a washer and dryer - all to go to Taiwan. Then we made the
beautiful journey south on S at. aft and has a busy week-end, with even me drafted to speak.
We

the churches and missionaries of that area and when Janet and Alan

stayed

^:a^k Layman and his wife Janet (Davis) who had grown up in Japan at the same time as

had my Janet.

The children on the horse below are their son and our B eth.

Monday we went to visit Christ's Forty Acres before returning to Joplin, in time to collect the
cake and ice cream I had ordered for the bridal shower for Carolyn Donaldson whose marriage to Gary

Bemo, ^Vlan's brother, was an event of June 7th, with Alan officiating), Wednesday, X drove to
Claremore and got Mother so that she could hear the concert by the two Ozark Bible College choirs,
that night. It was "a high mark of the year, believe me. Such musici Won't heaven resound when
all the Christian singers and musicians join forces up there?

That night, the Ted S kiles family (formerly the Demo's fon^arding agents, but now preparing to be
missionary interns to Taiv/an, themselves) arrived and next day the Douglas Bemos and Dean Wolfals
(in whose home at Treaty, Ind. A Ian and Janet had lived, last'summer). Baccalaureate services
were held Thursday afternoon, folloi^ed by a faculty reception, and'in the evening. Commencement,

Alan was one of 54 graduates and earned the 5-year degree of B.S.L. I have laiown Man for 4^ years
and have rejoiced at his gro^rth of mind and spirit as he studied under the godly professors of O.B.

C. Jariet'Has gro\-ai in the same way and I am so proud to be her mother. She has the Christian
traits of sho\d.ng hospitality and patience and gentleness and is a fine Bible teacher. They are
both very much needed and wanted 'in Taiwan, where they intend to begin a Student Center, and ^vill

start at once to learn the Taiwanese language (wiiich I do not speak, incidentally).
The morning after graduation, Janet gave her last Tuppen^are party and that night I gave a cook-out

(eat-in) partj^ for the whole crowd of Formosa recruits (see picture belcn/) - namely, Ted and Bever
ly Sidles, now beginning to raise support for going to Formosa (address them % Ozark Bible College
1111 N. Main St., Joplin, Mo. 64801); Ted was valedictorian of the 1967 class at O.B.S. and has been
preaching for 3 years for the ne^/ congregation in B laclo^ell, Okla.

They have 3 children. Then,

Chuck' and Molly Johnston and their 2 children who hope to come next summer after his graduation
from O.D.C. He also has been preaching for several years, in addition to worldng as a motel audi
tor to support his family, but hopes to raise his support this school year. Address the same. And

then, Sam and Virginia Hazelwood, now youth ministers at the Blvd. Church in Muskogee, plan to come
after several years of ministering and majoring in linguistics. Virginia was the 1966 valedictorian
at OBG and Sam has had a tour of duty in the armed forces, so has a vision, from his oversees duty,
of what needs to be done. And indeed, all of these young folks have stars in their eyes and I pray
much for them as thej'" go thru the rugged months of work and worry and much prayer and preaching in

preparation for going.

This month, Ted Sidles begins booking dates and since they plan to come

the soonest, may I ask you to invite them to your church?

With the coming of June, we all began to go in different directions. Florence Douglas drove Mother
and me to Claremore, Sat. Aft and we spent a quiet week-end there with Mother and step-father,
Frank Elrod, The childi^cn and I all returned to Joplin on Monday night, however, and they began to
In the Kaimichis

Alr^ns folks and me

Johnstons and Skiles at party

pack in earnest.. It had to be done by Sat,, with a wedding in be tween. So they were busy.
I va-s busy too, preparing for a 5 week spealdng trip but we enjoyed having the Woodrow Phillips
over on Tues. p.m. and welcoming Mother ^^o came by bus from Claremore on Wed, aft.

She and I

left by car on Thursday a.m. June 6th, and we both said good-bye to our three precious Bemos Mother promising to meet them on a cloud when they arrived in heaven.

Our first stop was in S t. Louis where we picked up my sister, Mary Ellen Giese, at the airport
and then drove on east to Flora, 111. where I spoke that night. I stayed that night at the

Ralph >fyer home but Mother and Mary stayed v/ith /am Trotter and Mother m3lS already under the dry
er vdien I got to her beauty shop, nesct a.m. to be fixed up. Then we headed south for the wedding
of V/alter Maxey and Mary Stanes, that night, in Murphysboro, 111. It was a lovely wedding and
the Stanes were so gracious to share their fine home and warm hospitality with the avalanche of
>iaxeys who arrived. After the reception and the "rice" we took a family picture of all our im

mediate family still on earth - Mother, me, Tibbs, Mark, toy, Victor and Bryan - all together foi
possibly the last time, and then everyone but us 3 women and Pauline and Mark left for motels.
B rian Giese, Mary*s son, had been best man and he and >Iary left in the wee hours for their home

in Storm Lake, la. where he had one last week-ead before leaving Omaha, Monday, for a missionary
interneship in H awaii (from C.B.S.) Later that a.m.. Mother and I said a tearful fare^rell to

Mark and Pauline \/ho had left their home in Louisville for a last lap of speaking dates before
sailing back to Japan. Then, after a brunch at the motel with the others, we left for Spring

field, 111. ^diere I spoke, next day, at Sweetwater church in the a.m. and West Side that night.
Early Men. a.m. I drove Mother to the St, Louis airport and put her on a plane for Tulsa and then

called my children at noon to say good-bye as they were to leave for the V/est Coast, that day.
But then, the loneliness of the lone traveller hit me and it was all I could do to get in the car

and (id-thout Mother's cheerful presence) start the long journey east. So I headed for the home ol
a dear friend, across the Indiana line in Sullivan, Mrs. Jessie Engle, and spent a busy but very
restful 24 hrs. washing, writing and having a permanent, before going on to Bedford to speak on
Tues. p.m. After a good eyeningand morning there, I drove over to N. Vernon and had lunch with

the newl3Cweds, Walter and *Mary Maxey, who are Asst. ministers there now (beginning t heir n^rried

life with the same church where his parents, Mark and Pauline, began theirs).

Then I drove down

to spend 2 good days in Louisville with Vic and Lois and their 3 boys - on vacation, that week.

Friday evening I drove up to Indpls. for supper with H elen Swengel and Uriah Bna of Assam, at the
home of Vera Mushrush, and all day Saturday dictated letters and other material to Vera who typed
them while I wrote longhand notes. Then Vera drove me, on Sunday, to Lucerne in the a.m. and to
Portland in the p.m. to speak. I \^s so grateful for her help, ^fon. a.m. saw me heading east
again, stopping for awhile in Circleville to visit and on to New Lexington, 0. to spend the nite
with a former fellow-office worker I had-not, seen for 3Q_yr.s. Then, Tues. I went Qn-ta-B-rilli-anl
Ohio to speak that night - the 18th. Wed. p.m. I spoke at Steubenville ^nd Thurs. the V/m. Mills

family (ministers at B rilliant) drove me to Pittsburg where I took a plane for Virginia, leav
ing my car in Brilliant where I picked it up a gain, last night.
And meantime, in Taiwan, at the end of May, the Training for Service class took the final exam

and made above 90 grades.

What is better, they arranged for and conducted, last week, a youth

camp for Christian graduating students and their friends (28 campers in all) with lessons from
the Training for Service course as study material. 7 of the campers confessed their faith at

camp and we pray will complete their obedience soon. Please pray for them. On June 27th, Alan
and Janet arrived on the 7:30 p.m. plane and lam sure prayer-meeting, that night, was one of
thanksgiving at the airport, for the return of their American brother and sister.

Lydia KLshi has written from Japan that when she put a sign in front of their new home announcing
two services there each week, the mayer of the suburb village (of Hirosliima), asked if they would
like to have the services announc^ over the radio and preceded to copy the hours and did announce
them.
V/ e take heart, as I know they do too, over every such gesture of friendsliip and over
every opportunity to preach and teach that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
PLEASE NOTE; If you do not want to have the Disciples force you into a merger such as the recent
Methodist-UB one, you had better get your church's name taken out of the year book before SEPT.

Just a warning from your missionary otK<^mosa,

Isabel M. Dittemore
Ci\}0)EN AVENUE CHRISTI.^^ CHURCH
1334 Camden Avenue

Non Profit Off.

Louisville, Kentucky 40215

U. S. POSTAGE
A1D
IfiEANir NO. GOt\

FAR FAST CRUSADER

Missiomry:
Alan & Janet Bemo

Forwarding Agent:
r\

l-irs. Sandi Oant

Lane 157, / 21

R. R. 1, Box 237
Fort Oibson, Oklahoma 7UU3U

Hsin Sheng S. Rd., Section 1

Taipei, Taiwan

Dear Christian Friends,

A lot of important thii^gs happened

in the month of August, One was

our fourth wedding anniversaiy
which we celebrated by getting
our things through customs,

flT
S

-"'fl
S

Going through customs was an experienee I would like to have

r-,

skipped if there had been aiy

hi3~ ''

other way of getting our belong-

ipgs. The ship. President Van

V^

Buren, was to arrive on August 16,

but because of a typhoon it was

HI^SBHR

delayed till the 17th (our anniver-L

sary).

I went to Keelung, the

port city, to get them, but there

were so mapy ships still in har-

bor that ours hadn't even gotten

to the dock. That was on Saturday

so

went back

kv

HB^B^^9|BB^HIv /

Chinese man to help me get through

, .,

...

I 9S>

following

custcE and we spent all of Mon-

: I

jt

r iB

anniversary - femily picture

day morning going from desk to desk to official tiying to get our papers in order. At 11:00,
after miles of walkir^ and even a boat ride or two, I finally got to see our things. Almost
immediately I noticed that a lock was off one of our barrelB and that one crate was badly
damaged, I feared that some of our things had been stolen or danaged, but I soon saw that
everything was alright. A customs irapector told rae I had to open every crate and two of
our barrels. After about an hour of such work we were finished and I thou^t we were ready
to take the thirgs home. Then the Chinese man I had hired as my customs broker told me we
were only half through. The docks closed down at 1:00 P.M. so I had to go home and come back

the next morning at 7:00.

At 1:00 P.M. on T^esda^r, August 20th, we had our things at our new

house and $500 less in the bank as a resiilt. ]2ven at this, people said we got off easy. Vow*
Ve are thankful, though, to teve our things nw and we hope that our experiences can help the
other recruits v^o are coming to Taiwan.

A week before we got our things through customs we signed a one year lease on a house.

In

China you have to pay at least six months rent in advance which took another big hunk out
of our bank account. This is alright though, since this is why the Lord gave it to us. He
has supplied our eveiT."- need.

Our house is located close to several colleges mst as we had hoped and it has a nice big
room in frort which we want to use for oiu* student, meetings. It has an outside door to that

roan so it is veiy convienent.

Right now we are still living at l-fother's house while she is

that spoken Chinese is easier to learn

jB^3B||

than English, but the written is quite

to us at first because we were planning ftHfiiJi' nii

on going right to work full-time.

Here

are some examples of its importance, though.

Our new home.

There were two Sundays on which Mr. Suen, my

translator, couldn't be there, so I had to speak in English without a translator. Of course

most of the people couldn't understand me and the sub.iect was so inportant that I almost cried,
Just this week I spoke to four college students that were meeting here at the house. After

speaking for about forty minutes on vhy I believed the Bible, one of them said, "I wish you
could speak to us in Chinese."
Since we wrote last there have been tv/o more additions to the Lord's Body of which we are very

thankful to the Lord.

These were brought to Christ by Mrs, Lillian Martin, a co-worker here.

She has now moved to Kaohsiung to begin her orphanage.

-ji

We are really happy that Ted Skiles and his family, our
former forwarding* agents, are coming to Taiwan, the Lord

willing, this coming December. It will truly have to be

A0^' 1 '

through the Lord's power for them to be able to raise

their support by then. We are sure that it is His V/ill

because of the way He has led in their lives already,

/-

-%|Wk

i"?

The Skiles sent us a taped letter recently, telling of

their experiences so far in preparing to come and it is

BM

y ^

amazing how the Lord has worked. The work here needs
them very much arsi if you, too, would be interested in
hearing them speak and helpipg them please write them

in care of their forwarding agent: Ted Skiles

Dan Schulte

1204 Krauss Dr.

Eldon, Ko,

Ct .

7^

St-iles family

We look forward very much to their arrival and their help

in the work here. Please pray for them. They are dedicated servants of Ocd \dio are anxious
to get on the field and only have three months to raise their support.

Please continue to pray for us too, as we labor on in His vineyard here in Taipei, Taiwan.

In Christ,

iS'5 ^ H

Field Address:
Alan & Janet Bemo

Lane 157 Number 21

Hsin Sheng S. Rd*, Sec* 1
Taipei, Taiwan

ffi. K SAST
cnasmeit

Forwarding Agent:
Mrs* Sandi Gant

R. R. 1, Box 237
Fort Gibson,
Oklahoma

WBHAVE^A^ We'r ^so^ ^ that^^

November 26, 1968

Dear Christian Friends:

We are so thankful to be here in Taiwan serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
share with you a few things which have happened since we wrote last.

We want to

appreciate it so much more tn^ any otner we have

Shinjwang,

suburb where we have Simday night

tary housing district and as we were about to

depart, one night, an army jeep also started to

leave the compound.

Our New Cair

One of the Christians flagged the Jeep down and asked the driver to give us

a lift to Taipei since that was where he was going anyway. He seemed glad to give us the ride and
we were amazed to find that tne trip, which usually takes over an hour by taxi, bus, and walking,

only took fifteen minutes and a lot less energy.

I don't exaggerate a bit wnen I say that in the

^irst three hours we had the car we got two days work done. The car is truly a blessing. It was
not earned or deserved it was truly a gift of the Lord.

We had thought about

but because they are so. expensive here we didn't give it much serious thought.
used car we had found was one that cost 1^4200 U.S., which was an Opel.

buying a car

The only other

There aren't many cars on

the market here. By a chance meeting Mother (Isabel Dittemore) happened to find out that an
Assembly of God missionary was trying to sell his car, not to make a profit but to help out some
other missionaries. They could have sold it for a lot more. We had been graying about this car
and now we are still thanking Him even at table grace.

We were very sad to receive the news that Janet's Grandmother

Mrs. Maxey Elrod passed away on November 15th. We remember

<j||k

^1^

the wonderful times we have had with her and look forward to

the time when we will be together again.

The work here is progressing even though it seems as though

we have little to do with" i t . Of course i t is the Lord wno

does things but we don't seem to be very usable.

Both of us

still attend language school three hours, five days a week

and are having quite a struggle with it. Our classrooms are
very small, as you can tell, and there is only one other
student in our class, which is good. We are starting to

replace as many English words with Chinese words as we can

as we~ teach and talk.

We provide

good entertainment for

our Chinese friends as we attempt to commimicate.

At language school

^flHI

We have stairted having th^Ldrd's supper at

Shinjwang and usually^Ji^e eight people
there, not counting^ourselves. The leader
there, Mr, Liu,/is going to be translating
some greatly needed books for the Church here
and he has been wondering what else he can do
to serve God more. He has preached several

times at the Church in Taipei and we hope

someday that he will be preaching regularly
at this Church in his own community.

The classes we are having in our home are

still going well but we pray that some of
these students will accept Christ soon.
Please be praying with us.

Some of our students at the Taipei Medical College

I went out to the Taipei Medical College a couple of weeks ago to take
some pictures of some of our students who attend there. While there I
met a few students who are coming to our classes now because of that
visit. We want to make visits to more college campuses but with so
much language study we just don't have the time. I know that if we nad

time- we could have fifty students a night at our house and have meetingson college campuses.

Beth is one year and seven months old now.

If X were a Chinese father

I would have to say she is not too pretty or bright. But since I am an
American I will tell you the truth she is getting cuter, like her
mother, and smarter, like her father. That last part isn't too truth
ful, I guess. People still ask us if she is a boy or a girl even when
we have pretty little dresses on her, and I admit I am trying to make
a "torn-boy" out of her.

The doctor told us that Janet and the baby-to-come are doing fine. The
new baby is due at the end of December. The other day JaneVsaid she
thought we were going to have twins and I told her

if she did I was

going on furlough. We think we would rather have a boy next but we

know that what God gives us is best. We only pray that he or she will
be healthy. Our next newsletter will surely bare the announcement.
lours in Christ,

t 6jdL
Mrs.

Sandi Gant

R.S. 1, Box 237

Fort Gibson, Okla.

Return Requested

0 ROOSEVTLT

C CJ