| On August 7,1999 a large group of friends and family gathered at the Heritage Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan, to participate in a memorial to the late Dr. Harvey Staal. Three of his four sons, Tim, Steve and David, and his two daughters, Eileen and Judith, and their families were able to join their mother Hilda and be present. Tom Staal, working in the Middle East, was ably represented by his wife Ann. Memories were shared from a wide variety of times and places in the Staal's busy life of service. Harvey and Hilda spent seven years each in Basra, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, and 6 years in Beirut, Lebanon, as well as one year in Cyprus. A classmate from college days shared, as well as someone who had made Dr. Staal's acquaintance during the Beirut period. Gaylen Byker, now president of Calvin College, recalled the great hospitality they enjoyed in the home of the Staals and the courage which Dr. Staal displayed when they were being evacuated by helicopter during a particularly stressful time in that civil war. He came down to the beach to see them off! Another friend and missionary from early days, Bob Block, recalled Dr. Staal's sense of humor. Looking at their two names, Dr. Staal had remarked that probably they wouldn't get much done because it would either be "blocked or stalled"! That was in Basra. Rev. Block remembered trying to load two boys' bikes onto a car and feeling the extreme heat. Dr. Staal exclaimed: "Heat! You haven't lived in Bahrain!" Over and over the comment was made that this dear saint of the Lord had some outstanding characteristics. He was a faithful Christian ambassador, an intense scholar, and a great family man. Tim Staal presided over the Remembrance part of the memorial service. His brother Steve recalled a lasting impression of his father's physical strength. At Kodai School in India, a group of students planned a strenuous hike, which involved a descent of 5000 feet to the bottom of a nearby valley. To their amazement Steve's father joined the group and even decided to walk back with the smaller group who planned to do the arduous climb up the mountain. Similar but different was their memory of their father's mental prowess when he actually won a TV Quiz show in Kuwait, competing in Arabic as the only foreigner among Arabs, on wide-ranging knowledge of the Arab world. As the program was widely shown and often repeated, it gave Dr. Staal a certain claim to fame. Rev. Bassam Madany, retired radio missionary, was asked to speak about the lasting value of Harvey Staal's literary work. He likened Dr. Staal to Samuel Zwemer and Cornelius Van Dyke; calling them three great missionary scholars. A brief stay in Cyprus for the Madanys had coincided with the Staal's one year in that country. Dr. Staal's books in English and Arabic, on Mt. Sinai Codex 151, had been published by the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium of Louvain, Belgium. Codex 151 consisted of all the New Testament Epistles plus the Book of Acts. What a thrill it was to receive the English and Arabic copies from him as a gift! It was not until May of 1998 that Rev. Madany was able to introduce this valuable work to his students at the Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary. As he had expected, they were overjoyed to discover the existence of this portion of Scripture, one thousand years older than the treasured Smith/Van Dyke version of 1860! At that time the branch office of the United Bible Society in Amman had sufficient copies for all 35 of the students to purchase. Not only was this an early translation from Syriac into Arabic, but it contained notes and comments written by the original Christian translator. Here was evidence of evangelical roots! Back in America, and through our E-mail contacts and web page, we began to sense that there was renewed interest in Mt. Sinai Codex 151. We were disappointed then, to discover that the central office of the Bible Society in Beirut, Lebanon, had exhausted their supply. An Arabic language web page was eager to advertise the book. But reprinting was going to cost $32,000. Before the service was over there was tangible interest in pursuing this reprinting as a memorial project for Dr. Staal. Contact us by E-mail at or at Missionary Monthly , or telephone 616.698.8393, to obtain the latest information on how you can contribute. For more information please read "The Treasures of St. Catharine's Monastery," reprinted below from the August/September 1986 Missionary Monthly.
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