FEBRUARY, 1975 ̂5fr'

GREETINGS -

Greetings again from Koreal As I write this it is a cold, cold day withthe wind blowing in from the ocean to bring the chill factor even further down. Ourcold weather started earlier than usual here this year but has not been so severeas it has been some, winters. We did have about 3 inches of snow the other day, asight not seen before in our 16 years here in Pusan. As we have mentioned before,we heat with little Individual unvented gas heaters in each of the rooms we use themost, and turn them on only when we are in the rooms. The most recent price hikewas 507» for gas so for January it cost us a bit over $100 to heat our house, eventhe little that we do heat. We are in the midst of school vacation, mid-Decemberto March 1, long because most of the schools have no heati Before we finished ourclasses in mid-December it was mighty cold in the classroom I

GRADUATION -

Graduation for our graduate students was on January 28. We had 6 men toreceive Master's degrees this time. This is a small group but it has been a goodone. There are 2 men from the Church of Christ in this group and there are severalmore who will graduate next year. This is a tremendous help to our church here forpractically none of odr ministers before this have had the privilege of graduatestudy; in fact, most of our ministers have had pretty low level undergr.-iduate study,if any. We will have a much larger class next year with possibly 30-40 graduatesiWe are trying to get our annual enrollment evened up so that we will have about 30degree candidates each year.

ENROLLMENT -

The applications for the year beginning in March are just coming in. Wehave about 40 students, 20 in each center at Seoul and Pusan, who successfully completed their first year's work, so we will be able to enroll 10-15 new students ateach center. Our self-imposed limit is 30 at each center. Our experience thus farhas shown us we may expect about 5 drop-outs during the year so this would leave uswith 25 at each center at the end of the year, enough to take care of tlie financialside of the program. From the inquiries we have had thus far we anticipate we willhave all the students we can handle.

GOOD NEWS FINANCIALLY -

We are working on our annual financial report and It will bein the next newsletter. From the news we have from Loraine we are somewhat relieved. Enough money has come In to pay all of our debts for the year, including ourfull year's salary and several months on our back salary which has been running twoyears behindl This is certainly a blessing what with the way expenses .ire here.The government here announced that the wholesale price index rose 43% tliis pastyearl If the government admits that figure we can be sure it was higher.

A number of you gave special gifts at the end of the year for which we do especially thank you all! The outstanding gift was from the New Manchester, West Virginia church. The young people led a church-wide campaign to "Sock_lt To bert," inwhich they distributed small socks, asked the people to fill them with money andbring them in to fill a big sock at the church. They collected more th.m $1,200 ̂which is the largest single contribution we have ever received I They topped it offby sending us a cable on Christmas Day which really made our Christmas! God blessthem all and all of you, particularly those who remember us each month faithfully,some for as long as 18 years I

Please continue your regular giving as we cannot continue without your help IWith the tremendous increases in wages and goods here we have been swamped and atthis time there appears to be no end to the raisesi

Continue sending all contributions to: Miss Loraine Lindsay, Cabool. State Bank,Drawer M, Cabool, Missouri, 65689. Loraine has been ill but is now rec overed,for which we thank the Lord! She is a tremendous help to our work!

BERT ELLIS NEWSLETTER - February, 1975 - Page 2

WE ARE ENCOURAGED -

Just before Christmas the Church of Christ preachers of our area,11 of them in about a 75 mile radius, took upon themselves a project- They choseone of the small, struggling churches and worked together there in an evangelisticand teaching campaign. They had services for a week, morning, afternoon and evening, with 7 preachers taking part in the preaching and teaching. (The day beginswith the prayer meeting at 4:00 A. M. 11) There were 10 persons who confessed theirfaith in Christ and were baptized and the membership was greatly strengthened. Thechurch is rural and is served by a minister who was formerly a deacon in a nearbysmall town. It seems utterly impossible to get trained ministers to go out to therural churches. Once they get to the seminary in the city they just do not returnto the country. This is one of the greatest problems of undergraduate work here.We are encouraged by the fact that the ministers took care of this campaign themselves. They did all the planning, financed it themselves and carried it out without either the missionary's advice or financial help. This is the kind of thing wehave been trying to encourage for years. Let us pray that they will continue. OurMr. Won, the young minister we have often mentioned, was one of the prime movers.

The second encouragement, comes from two of our graduate students. Both of themare emigrating separately to the U. S. during this vacation period. One goes tojoin her husband in Chicago, the other to pastor a Korean church in Los Angeles.They have each finished one year's work in our program and have another to go beforereceiving their degrees. We were anxious to help them complete their work and wesuggested we could make arrangements with a school in the U. S. What was our surprise but to hear that they are both returning to finish the next 2 semesters herein Koreal They said that the classes were so helpful they wanted to finish herelThey must go through with their emigration procedures now as their documents are allready and permission to emigrate is difficult to receive. This makes us feel thatwe are providing something worthwhile in this graduate programl

POSTAGE COSTS -

We send out approximately 300 of these newsletters. It costs us nowapproximately 25^ per letter plus the time that the preparation takes and this isconsiderable. Our stencils and ink come from the U. S. and it is expensive and astruggle to remember to keep supplies ordered ahead. Paper is a terrific problemlThere is no steady supply and we just have to go to the shops and try to find something that can be mimeographed and then have it cut to size. We don't really mindthe trouble but we do ask you to share the letter with others in your church. Inmany cases only one letter goes to a church so PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH THE OTHERS 1If you want us to add other names in your church please send them to us.

MOVE TO SEOUL STILL INDEFINITE ^ ^ , ..-.n •Plane for a possible move.to Seoul are still up in

the air. We appreciate those who have helped with prayers concerning this problem.

FURLOUGH PLANS -

There are still no definite plans for furlough, but just now it appears we may be able to come for '6'"inon3i9 at ab^^ this time next year.

1Bert 6t Marge Ellis - P. 0. Box 141 - Pusan, KOREA 600.

Copy Sheet For;

0^onzoNSIssue No.

□ OTHER

^55-

TITLE:KOREA —

Datei

RECEIVE M.A, DEGREE

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Bert Ellis, who teaches in %radus^eL I

seminary classes in Seoul and Hisan,on T A

Korea reports that January six

men received Master's degrees. i Two oare i

these ^Sf^^^Chxirch of Christ men." Sev-I

eral more will graduate next year, fDr. u I

Ellis is encoi^aged by thisI

because it is a tremedous help to theI

churches in that area of Korea sinceI

none of the ministers before this hav\

bad the privilege of graduate study.j

Se reports that most of the ministersI

have had pretty#low level undergraduajbeI

study, if any. iI

The school, beginning its new yeap?I

In March, will have 40 students)—20I

Ln each center at Seaul and Pusan—I

^ho have successfully completed" theirI

rirst year's work. Brother Ellis re-I

;)orts that they would like to have1

^en to fiftenn more students in» eachI

center. Inquires indicate they willI

lave all the students they can handlej

Continue sending much needed giftt

for Bert and Marge Ellis to: MissI

iioraine Lindsey, Cabool State Bank,

nPI0A

Drawer M, Cabool, MO 656B5T>e within the lines. If short,lengthen the next line that numberof characters. If long, shorten thenext line that number of characters.

. JULY,

1975.

GREETINGS I -

Greetings from Korea In the name of our blessed Lord whom we serve! We are presently in the midst of our annual rainy season, and there has been rain, high humidity and high temperatures, in the 90*8 now for several days and down to about 77 atnight. Again we are thankful for the little air conditioner that was given to usby the Fleming Garden, Indianapolis church. What a blessing to be.able to sleep!

GRADUATE SCHOOL -

We have just completed the best semester we have had thus far with the graduateschool. : Semester exams were held the first week in July with 35 students out of 35enrolled taking the exams in Pusan and 32 out of 33 in Seoul, (the 33rd was unavoidably prevented And has asked^to take late exams). This is better than we had expected as there have always been a few drop-outs. The caliber of the students is up alsothis year as it has been each year^ As we progress we attract better students andwe alao learn to screen out the less capable as bur enrollment is necessarily limited. One of the big problems is to choose the best from those who apply but we arelearning. The level of our teachers is also better this year. We are justly proudof our students and faculty. • Lord willing, we will have about 30 to receive Master'sdegrees at the end of this year.

One of the events of the spring semester was the annual picnic. Koreans are greatfor going on picnics and we enjoy them too. We were unable to go with the Seoulgroup but did go vrith the Pusan group to the ancient capitol of Kyongju. We enjoyedseeing those ancient buildings, some of which are a thousand years old! We did nothave the usual picnic dinner but instead went to a local restaurant for a dinner consisting of barbecued beef and mushrooms and side dishes to go with it. Delicious!Bert says it was the best part of the picnic! He suggested to the students that wedo it more often, especially as they footed the bill for the whole trip!

VISITORS -

We had the pleasure of having as a guest for a couple of Sundays, Mr. Ed Choby,of one of our churches in the Pittsburgh area. Ed is an engineer for the nucleardivision of Westinghouse and was here to supervise a phase of the installation of anuclear reactor of our new power plant at Pusan. Due to the difficulties of traveland communication we had some difficulty getting together so our visit was curtailedbut we were glad to have him for the two Sundays. He brought along with him a fellow engineer, Dan Kent, from Florida, and we enjoyed them both. We seldom see another American so it is pleasant to have a visitor, especially from our om church. Edis a brother-in-law of Tom Gemeinhart at Kentucky Christian College, whom we havecome to appreciate and respect very much. Come again, Ed!

SUNDAY VISITS -

Recently we visited and preached for a Church of Christ here in Pusan. They areof the non-instrument persuasion and over the years we have not been too welcomewith them. Their present preacher, however, is one of our graduate students and heinvited us. This congregation is so typical of many of our congregations in Korea.The building has stood in the heart of this huge city for more than 20 years, in anarea where there are literally thousands upon thousands of people within a stone'sthrow, and there were about 50 adults present! There has been no growth in the yearswe have been acquainted with them. The sad part is that neither the preacher or thepeople are concerned but are quite content with what they have. Meanwhile the Baptists and Assemblies of God, for example, who began work after our missionaries came,are growing. There are many factors involved but the main problem, as we have suggested before, is that of national leadership. We are hoping bur graduate programwill help.

AU6, ^

.ELLIS NEWSLETTER - KOREA - July, 1975 - Page 2

SUNDAY VISITS (Con»t.) - ^ ^ ^^4 r,-Last Sunday we visited old preacher Kwon and his church on tfee-mouttt-ain^ Ihey are

making progress. For many years the church was isolated far up^on the mountain ̂ dreached only by a footpath. Now a modem road passes within ICQ feet and there isbus service every 4-5 minutes. A modem apartment building is being completed justnext to the church property and there will be many more. There were about 50 adultspresent, best attendance we have ever seen. Bert preached ,en4 the service was follow-ed by a chicken dinner! We expect to see further growth hete. Preacher Kwon is oneof our oldest and dearest friends.

SUMMARY FINANCIAL REPORT FOR 1974 FOR THE BERT ELLIS FAMILY -Balance on December 31, 1973 ^ 39.15

Receipts

January 1,055.35 July 1,020.70February 749.57 August 1,360.93March 1,325.13 September 1»249.77April 1,652.84 October 796.50May 831.35 November 1,845.02June 1,194.12 December 1,817.91

Total Receipts fu-S.) $ 14,899.19Supplemental Receipts in Korea from School 1,695.29

$ 16,594.48 16,r>94.48TOTAL 16,633.63

Disbursements

^Salary (Ellis) $ 8,000.00Korean Salaries 3,655.00Maintenance 6e Repairs 325.00Transportation 940.65Supplies & Equipment 1,070.00Pension Fund 900.00Taxes (Korean) 620.00Rent (Office) 360.00Utilities (Office & Part Home) 357.70

#John Ellis (Expenses) 400.00$ 16,628.35 $ 16,628.35

Balance on December 31, 1974 $ 5.28

* Our salary is actually $500 monthly which has been running behind for y<;ars.This year we received our entire salary plus four month's back salary, leaving us at the present time twenty months behind.

# This amount designated by givers.

By carefully watching expenses and with extra help were were able to survive inthe skyrocketing economy in which we live here. Thanks to all of you for youi continued faithful help. Note our balance of $5.28 at the beginning of the year!

MOVE TO SEOUL -

Our contemplated move to Seoul seems definitely to be off, at least for theforeseeable future. It appears best for the work not to move at present.

Bert Ellis Miss Loraine LinclseyP- 0- Bo* 141 Cabool State Bankp;3°;, KORiA 600 Drawer M

Please send all funds to LoraineI Cabool, Missouri 65689