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Ruth Frith Working in The Mission to Seamen in Marseilles (October 1989 edition of magazine) Ruth is doing a year's Christian service before going to University. She is working with the Missions to Seamen, near Marseilles, in the South of France. Her work is mostly in a Seafarers' Centre and she seems to be enjoying it. She describes her role as '"barmaid, bank cashier, post office worker, shop assis¬tant, recipient of amorous advances from 'Wayward Seamen'!..." Figures don't say it all, but they say quite a lot, about The Missions to Seamen. In 1988 they made more than 57,000 ship visits...welcomed nearly 900,000 seafarers to its centres such as the famous Flying Angel clubs....held special services for 6,500 seafarers responded to 389 requests for help in justice cases....visited over 1,000 seafarers in hospital and opened four new centres. The Princess Royal, the society's president, writes in their annual report: 'It never fails to impress me how well used and valued the centres are...how barriers of language and culture don't matter and seafarers from all races and backgrounds relax together in a spirit of friendship.' The Missions to Seamen -Serving the Lord....by serving beer? (June 1990 edition of magazine) "I work in a Seamen's Club near Marseilles?" This statement always requires further explanation. It's not the sort of thing you hear everyday, especially from a "vicar's daughter". But it s true. For the past eight months I have been living in Port de Bouc near Marseilles, working for the Missions to Seamen as a Chaplain's Assistant at the Seafarer's Centre here. May be you knew that already, but no doubt the question comes to mind "But what exactly can a young girl be doing in a place like that?" and moreover "WHY?". I get asked this a lot by the hundreds of seamen of many nationalities who visit the Club. Well, I decided to take a 'year out' before starting University, and came across the Missions to Seamen, who take on about twenty students each year to help out in their Seamen's Club around the world. So, in September 1989 I found myself arriving in a strange country surrounded by strangers, with no idea about what I'd let myself in for, only to find to cap it all my luggage had been lost in transit (it was to reappear three months later but that's another story). Another shock was the realisation that I was going to be expected to cater for myself. Not being the most experienced of cooks, I found this prospect rather daunting and spent the first couple of days bursting into tears over negligible things like jam pot lids refusing to open. That first week was a very testing time, and a time when I was particularly aware of having to depend entirely on God to get me through each day. I clung dearly to Psalm 139 v 9 10 "….if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast" and survived to testify that its true. The Seamen's Club is open every evening between 6.00 and 11.00 p.m. We have a mini bus that goes out to ports (up 50km away) to collect seamen who want to spend an evening away from their ship. It's rare that the ship stays more than 48 hours in port, and most of them are berthed in the middle of an industrial desert miles from anywhere remotely interesting. At the Club we have a bar, small shop, telephones, money changing facilities, stamps, TV, snooker and most importantly –a friendly atmosphere. It's somewhere they can come to relax, have fun and talk to somebody other than their fellow crew members. Increasingly, the seamen are coming from third world countries. A third of all who visited the Club last year were from the Philippines. There are also many Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Turks, Yugoslavs, Greeks, 8,880 seamen from 80 different countries in 1989. It's not an easy life. Many ships now have 'flags of convenience' which basically results in the seafarers having very few rights and ambiguous contracts. Only yesterday we had some Filipinos seeking help against the way they are being exploited by their Greek employers: unpaid overtime, long hours, discriminating treatment, unfixed holidays...it’s always the same story. We try to get them in contact with the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) but today it's difficult as it's a Bank Holiday and the ship is leaving this afternoon. We hope the ITF will meet them at their next port of call. Even so, the seaman knows that there are many risks involved in complaining. It's likely he'll be put on a black list and have great difficulty when seeking employment in future. And meanwhile the 3 families he tries to support back home go hungry. Despite all this, an evening at the Seamen's Club is not a miserable occasion. It often ends up with a cheerful singalong with guitars. Whatever the colour, nationality or religion, there's no discrimination here. A man is a man is a man.... "But why are you helping us?" asks Mustafa, a Turk, when he learns that I am largely unpaid for the work I do. "Most people hate seamen". It's not easy to explain, but hopefully by practically showing we care and realise he's a human being like any other, he will get the message that it's God's unconditional love for all men which motivates us. Thank you all for your prayer support it's much appreciated. I'll be here for another 4 months and I've a feeling they're going to be the hardest, what with the scorching sun, cloudless sky and Mediterranean beaches just down the road….working evenings does have its advantages. Ruth Frith Mission to Oxford University, January 27-February 3 1991 (April 1991 edition of magazine) THE UNIVERSITY Oxford University is famous throughout the world as a place of learning. However, many students search for meaning and purpose in life, and time and again are left dissatisfied with the answers that philosophy, science, politics, drink and social life all attempt to give. THE MISSION Once every three years the OICCU has a major mission to the university. The aim is to give as many as possible of the 15,000 students the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. This year the mission was led by J. John, an experienced evangelist who has led over 100 university missions. He was backed by a team of "Assistant Missionaries", usually a man and a woman in each of the 30 colleges. THE PROGRAM The pattern of each day was fairly consistent. The Christians in Brasenose, my old college, met to pray each morning, and to check the day's events. After breakfast all the assistant Missionaries", met with J. John for a time of news, worship, teaching and prayer. Then it was back to the college for a series of small meetings: most of the Christians invited friends to a lunch or tea at which I would say something provocative to stimulate discussion about Jesus. Particularly good were the physicists' lunch, the tea for mathematicians (my old subject!) and the football team's beer evening. In the evening there was a central meeting in the university at which J. John explained the gospel clearly and powerfully. There were between 700 and 850 people at these main meetings, the most people coming on the evening when the theme was "Suffering and a God of Love?" NEW CHRISTIANS Inevitably there was a mixed response, as Jesus told us would happen in the parable of the sower. It was sad to see people rejecting God after weighing up the cost of commitment. However, across the university some 120 people confessed faith in Christ for the first time, as well as 30 who re committed their lives to Christ. In Brasenose about 8 people became Christians. Please pray for them as they learn about their faith and join churches. Pray also for the hundreds (literally) of people in enquirers groups in the different colleges. The important thing is for all these people to keep going in the face of the inevitable opposition. PERSONALLY It was good to be back in Oxford for a while and see old friends. It was even better to have the privilege of helping people to faith in Jesus, and discovering in Him that fulness of life he promised. It was invariably the case that those people who became Christians had been prayed for by friends and had been talking with those friends about Christianity for some time. That is the same way as our friends here in Chesterfield will discover Christ: prayer, discussion and invitation. Jonathan Jee July, Doing Something Useful in the Sun (August 1991 edition of magazine) Ruth Frith has been in France with the Wycliffe Bible Translators Summer Training Scheme The sun is on its way down, relieving the heat of the day. The Tampulma tribe have gathered together to eat after a hard days labour, their brightly coloured clothes contrast with the dry dusty ground they are sitting on. The men sit separate from the women and are served first. The Chiefs three wives are serving the groundnut stew. But hang on, these African people don't seem to have very dark skins; in fact they look distinctly European. And if you look closely you'll notice they're wearing watches, and there are several cameras around the place. Why? Well, this scene isn't actually taking place in Northern Ghana at all, but on a campsite in the South of France. The 'Tampulma Tribe' is in fact a group of about twenty students from the U.K. and Northern Europe. And I am one of the chiefs three wives! But I didn't come here just to dress up and eat with my fingers. This is the Wycliffe Bible Translators Summer Training in Europe Programme (STEP) and I am here for four weeks. The leaders, Ian and Claire Gray spent fifteen years amongst the Tampulma people, learning the language, producing an alphabet, teaching the people to read and write, and translating the New Testament. Now a Tampulma Pastor is working on the Old Testament and the Grays spend their time initiating young people into the joys and the difficulties of missionary work and particularly that of bible translation. Here we have a varied programme. Our main task is to simplify a bible commentary down to a reading age of twelve so that an African pastor will be able to understand it, each person working on a different book of the Bible. It involves chopping out an awful lot of waffle! The artistically inclined are doing illustrations to go with the Tampulma Old Testament when it is complete. Others are making flashcards to help literacy classes, and the French speakers like myself can opt for making up questions for Sunday School classes in French-speaking Africa. We have daily fellowship groups which are a good opportunity for discussion, sharing and learning together. There is also a literacy lesson taken by a different member of the group each day, the aim being for us to experience teaching people something that is completely new to them. So far we have had a bit of Greek, Hebrew and Swahili. Someone else prepares a prayer topic on a different country each day. It's not all work though. We have a couple of free hours a day to spend relaxing by the composite pool or river beach. Weekends are also reasonably free, although we started this Saturday at 6.30am. with a walk up a mountain before breakfast to avoid the heat of the day! Some people have come because they have received a definite call to serve the Lord overseas. Others, like myself are just naturally interested in what God's up to internationally and wanted to do something useful in the long summer hols we students are blessed with. Obviously the location added to the appeal as well. I've learnt an awful lot already and made some good friends. We look forward to what God's got in store for us in the remaining few weeks. And by the way, we don't spend all our time dressing up as Africans - that was a one-off Ghanaian evening to help us understand cultural differences. And rather glad it's not permanent because being a chief's wife is not much fun! Ruth Frith |