January 14 Today in OPC History

On January 14, 1952, the Committee on Foreign Missions appointed Herbert and Mary Bird, of Faith OPC, Lincoln, Nebraska, to labor in Eritrea. The Committee also determined to authorize the purchase of a home for the Uomoto family on the outskirts of Tokyo. At the same time, the Committee declared as a general policy in uncertain world conditions that it will not own property in foreign countries unless such a course is deemed essential to the carrying on of the work.

The Committee also joined with the Home Missions Committee in asking the Rev. Robert S. Marsden to serve as acting General Secretary while the Rev. John P. Galbraith was absent on his trip to the Orient.

Mr. Galbraith's trip included a visit to Japan, then to Korea, and to Formosa on the return route. In Japan, he visited the Rev. and Mrs. R. Heber McIlwaine, the Rev. and Mrs. George Y. Uomoto and the Rev. and Mrs. Bruce Hunt. In Korea, he spent several weeks at Korea Theological Seminary in Pusan. On the way back he visited the Rev. Richard B. Gaffin and the Rev. Egbert W. Andrews in Formosa.

Picture: The OPC mission in Eritrea in the 1960s with Mary Nilson and Birds on the far left, the Duffs in the middle and the Taws in the front right. The Mahaffy family was on furlough at the time.