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"As I go around town, I am stopped and asked if I am an American," wrote
PC(USA) mission worker Michal Dobson, who teaches in a church-related school
in Thailand. "Always, the response that I am brings support and sympathy. I
am grateful that there are so many loving, caring people in this world."

Dobson's report, part of her regular mission newsletter, is one of scores of
such accounts received from PC(USA) missionaries overseas, who described
being stunned by the tragic news, expressed condolences to the families and
loved ones of those who died, and called for prayers of hope and
forgiveness.

"I don't know what the 'war of good against evil' means in my country, when
I am in another country trying to think about it," wrote the Rev. Arch
Woodruff, a PC(USA) mission worker who is a professor of the New Testament
at the Methodist University of Sco Paulo in Brazil. "We're learning a lot
from these terrorists  and we're angry about what they did to us. Of course
we're going after them, with no plans to be gentle. And now I wonder what is
happening to our spirit in the process. Are we going to have our jihad,
too"?

The missionaries described emotional memorial services, displays of candles
and flowers at American embassies, and makeshift shrines created wherever
people gather. In the Czech Republic, according to one mission worker,
stores closed for a day of mourning on Sept. 14. At noon, a siren wailed for
three minutes, as many stopped and stood in silence.

Missionaries wrote of special church offerings from people who can hardly
afford to feed themselves; in Zambia, participants in one religious service
contributed several bills, a few coins and an egg.

"Wow, an offering taken for the victims in America, given by victims of the
violence of poverty here in Africa," wrote the Rev. Robert Snyder and his
wife, Barbara, who work in southern Africa. "It was powerful. We wept
again."

Word of the attacks on America hit like a "painful case of dij` vu" in Peru,
where acts of terror are common, as they have been for years in so many
countries, said the Rev. Hunter Farrell, a missionary in Peru.

"Most folks here know what they're talking about, when it comes to
terrorism," Farrell wrote in his report, which also was signed by his wife,
Ruth, and other family members. "During the years of civil war  acts of
terrorism became a daily occurrence in most parts of the country - car
bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, bomb scares, and the gnawing fear
that it could happen today to someone you love."
  
Some mission workers said that, if the torn and famine-plagued regions in
which they work can survive the horrors of terrorism, so can the United
States.

"If Kenyans can persevere in spite of the bombing, societal insecurity and
economic uncertainty, on top of tribal conflicts, foreign domination (and)
drought  Americans will survive this tragedy," wrote the Rev. Sylvia
Wilson, who serves in Kenya. "If people the world over learn to cope with
wars, genocide and embargos lasting decades, we will learn to contend with
the horrendous events that took place that Tuesday in September."

More than 400 long-term mission workers are serving in 65 countries through
the Worldwide Ministries Division of the PC(USA); their specialties include
evangelism, education, community development, public health, interfaith
dialogue, and advocacy of peace and justice.

In Sudan, the Rev. Elizabeth McCormick and Barry Almy said they were
overwhelmed by the outpouring of grief and sorrow from people there.

"Neighbors continue to come to our house or meet us on the street and
express their sadness and horror," they wrote in their mission report. "Most
of them are Arab Muslims truly saddened by the events. Their support and
concern has shown us again that we are all God's children, and we need more
than ever to express that oneness in love."

To read the missionaries' full reports, go to
www.pcusa.org/crisis/educational.htm
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