Darmstadt, July 2022

Dear friends,

As a sisterhood we have just passed our 75-year mark. During the second weekend in June we came together with friends for a jubilee celebration, though on a smaller scale than usual due to Covid-19 restrictions and the difficulties of overseas travel. How we wished you had all been here. But in spirit you were with us as we remembered you in much gratitude.

1947-2022! What a lot of history is packed into those years – for us as a sisterhood, for each one of us personally, as well as for the wider world. Yet some things always stay the same: God and His Word.

Take the story of David and Goliath. Quite a number of us first came to Canaan in our teens and twenties as helpers before joining. We could identify with young David, the shepherd boy, as we faced up to our private giants – personality problems, adapting to life in a community, to a new culture and language, many of us being foreigners.

In a talk about young David Mother Basilea was sharing how he overcame. David declared that the Lord who delivered him from the bear and the lion would deliver him from Goliath the Philistine.

“Is there a lion and bear in your life God has delivered you from?” asked Mother Basilea. “Write it down and give thanks for past victories. Has God given you specific Bible verses as promises? Write these down too. Daily remind God of His Word. Leave a space beside each entry so that later you can affirm how and when your prayers were answered.”

Some of us recall trying it out and found it worked! One sister shared, “Back then, walking daily across Canaan as a young girl, I was suddenly challenged by God. ‘Every square foot of this land has been acquired by faith, plus everything on it – water from a well, fruit-growing trees, whatever. You can touch, see and taste the fulfilment of My promises for Canaan. Are you trying to tell Me I can’t hear prayers for your personal life?’ After daily praying the scriptures He gave me personally, I saw God move in what seemed like hopeless situations. One of the words I held on to was: ‘Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed’ (Romans 4:18 NIV).”

What about today? Together we have grown older and face a whole new slew of challenges. Again, God is challenging us. “Am I a God just of yesterday? Am I not a God of today too? And of tomorrow?” We were reminded of what David wrote in his old age. “Even when I am old and grey, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” (Psalm 71:18 NIV)

In much gratitude we remember those who went before us and the continuing legacy of our founding mothers and sisters. At the same time we look ahead with a sense of excitement. Amid the uncertainties of the pandemic and Ukraine war, Jesus is preparing His bride. From the ends of the world, including gospel-restricted countries, people are responding to the call: Get ready for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

We praise God for every day He enables us to serve Him, for providing funds and means, for raising up friends with skills and expertise to reach a technically-geared society. A big thank-you to all who have so selflessly and sacrificially filled our hands and supported us in the task with your faithful prayer.

Every blessing,

The Sisters of Mary, Germany and Phoenix, Arizona

Titles by M. Basilea Schlink for further reading:

More Precious than Gold

Sown in Weakness, Raised in Glory