The Annual Examination was held in the latter part of June, in the Mission Chapel, and continued three days, thronged by a multitude of interested spectators.  The Turkish official Arabic Journal of Beirut, the “Hadikat el Akhbar,” published a lengthy report of the Examination, pronouncing it the most satisfactory examination of girls that ever took place in Syria.  An English clergyman who was present refused to believe that they were Syrian girls, insisting that they must be English.  The girls recited in Bible History, giving all the important dates from Adam to Christ, with an account of the rites, sacrifices and prophecies which refer to Christ, giving also the names of all the patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets in their order.  Twenty-two different classes were examined, and many of the girls read original compositions.

On the Sabbath, July 1st, two of the assistant teachers, Asin Haddad and Sara Sarkis were received to the communion of the Beirut Church.  They traced their religious awakening to the dying testimony of Sara Bistany, which is described in a subsequent chapter.  Several of the younger pupils were much interested in the subject of religion at the time, and one little girl about seven years old said to her teacher, “I gave the Lord my heart, and He took it.”  Asin died in Latakiah in 1869, triumphing in Christ.  The women of the neighborhood came to the house of her brother to hear her joyous expressions of trust in Jesus, and her assurance that she should soon be with Him in glory.  She was the second daughter of that young bride of fifteen years of age, who learned to read in 1825, in the school taught by her own husband, Tannus el Haddad.

In 1867, the health of Rufka having become seriously impaired, she removed to Egypt, where after a period of rest, she opened on her own account a school for girls in Cairo, which she maintained with her wonted energy, until her marriage with the Rev. Mr. Muir, a Scotch clergyman, whom she accompanied to Melbourne, Australia, in 1869.  Since the death of her husband she has returned to her favorite employment of teaching, with marked success, among the British population of Melbourne.

While in Cairo, she passed through a deep and agonizing religious experience, which she described in the following letter to Mrs. Whiting, and the result of which was a new life in Christ.

     Cairo, Egypt, July 9, 1868.

“I think I shall always remember my stay in Cairo with much pleasure, but the greatest advantage of this year is the opportunity I had of stopping to think of the interests of a never dying soul, of a neglected Saviour, an offended God.  Yes, I have reflected, struggled, oh, how hard, and thanks to an ever merciful God, I trust I have been led by the Holy Spirit to see and feel my great sin, and casting myself at the feet of Jesus, stayed there with my sinful heart till a loving Saviour just came and took it up.