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In 1897 the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. sent its first mission workers, Theodore and Julia Pond, to Venezuela. The couple was well-accomplished at the time of their appointment; they had spent over 20 years serving in Syria and had been working in Colombia since 1890. In Venezuela the Ponds encountered resistance from a largely Catholic population, but by 1900 were able to establish The Church of the Redeemer (Iglesia Evangélica Presbiteriana El Redentor) in the capital, Caracas...

Mission workers often serve as cultural conduits, bringing together differing customs in unexpected ways. Take the case of the Sidebothams—mission workers who introduced the piano to the Korean Peninsula.        

A 1908 article from the Michigan Presbyterian reveals that Richard Henry Sidebotham was born in England and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1883. His father William,...