ABWE - Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Pauline, Beulah, and Beulah’s daughter Susie visited Mary's grave for the first time in 2007, fifty years after she died.

by Pauline Stevens, with her sisters Dr. Beulah Hall and Mrs. Laura Anne Cebulak

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” —1 Corinthians 15:55

Our dear parents, Victor and Winnifred Barnard, were Australian missionaries to India.  In 1955, they responded to a call to join ABWE to initiate pioneer work in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. With their four girls, they disbursed all their goods in Australia and arrived in the United States to prepare to leave for the mission field. Their calling was such that it required complete sacrifice of heart, soul, and family, for the furtherance of the gospel.

With the unsettled and primitive nature of this new venture, they decided to leave two of their daughters, Beulah and Pauline, in the United States while settling their other daughters, Mary and Laura Anne, at Hebron Boarding School in the Nilgiri Hills of South India, many days’ journey from their new home and ministry in the city of Chittagong, Bangladesh. But the ultimate and wrenching demand upon our family fifty years ago was the call to absolute and unquestioning obedience to the Lord, in the death of our sister Mary.

In 1957, Mary suffered from continuing complications of an appendectomy performed in Mysore, India. Mary and Laura Anne came home from India, November 23, 1957, to Chittagong, but the pain recurred and intensified some weeks later. Then, as she returned from playing the organ for the first service at the tabernacle, her agony increased. At that time no medical help could be found in that country of 43 million people, except at Holy Family Hospital in Dacca, to which she was flown. Immediately upon being placed on the x-ray table, she exclaimed, “Oh, Mummy,” and she went home to be with the Lord.

At this time my sister Beulah and I were in the United States and separated from our hurting family. Our father, mother, and Laura Anne, numb with disbelief, stood by the young grave in the old European cemetery in Chittagong, along with a small number of new believers. Though his voice was breaking, Daddy, with strength and conviction, read John 12:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

Following the brief service, they reluctantly left in their old truck, just released from its silent load, not waiting for the howl of the wild jackals who would soon appear to disturb the forlorn mound. No one will know the tears and the sleepless nights, but this anguish of soul was expressed, not in anger nor in resignation, but in surrender to the will of God, who heard the sobs echoing through the blackness of the heathen night.

Our father wrote about the unpopular decision to break up our family and “come out here to this poor and wretched land.” He said, “We will not turn back or even look back but push forward harder than ever into Satan’s territory and snatch captives free and preach harder than ever the message of grace through Christ. Christ will never take a second place and so we gave Him the first place and have reaped joy in so doing. We have no complaint to make, for “He doeth all things well” (Mark 7:37).

Fifty years have passed, and just as Scripture promised, the seed buried alone in darkness and ignominy has burst forth in glory in Bangladesh, as evidenced by the ongoing presence of missionaries there today and the establishment and growth of a Christian hospital there—a medical ministry that reaches thousands of suffering people who need the love and hope of Christ.

In January 2007, Beulah, her daughter Susie, and I were pleased to attend the Commemoration of ABWE’s fifty years in Bangladesh, joining missionaries and visitors in joyful celebrations at Chittagong, the Memorial Hospital, and the Hill Tracts. As we walked where our parents had trod: the paths of the cities, the byways of the villages, and the mountain tracts up the ranges of the Himalayas, we felt we were walking on holy ground—this ground which accepted their teardrops. But this ground also promised,  “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping,  bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5–6). This is our comfort and confidence.

The following are excerpts from thirteen-year-old Mary’s letters to her parents in East Pakistan. Though alone, and in great pain, her testimony to the faithfulness of a loving God stands sure.

The Lord was twice as near to me then, at the operation. It seemed like when they lifted me onto the operating table they were lifting me into His precious arms, and He did the operation. It was such a wonderful experience to have, and it has brought me closer to Himself. What a wonderful Lord He is!

Love, Mary

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