Miss Cassandra Stockburger who had dedicated her life for service was commissioned to missionary service in the South American field. Rev. O. T. Arnett gave the charge and the commission. Rev. Wayne Wiman led the prayer of consecration.
[Source: Minutes of the Sixth-sixth Missionary Convention of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, June 11-16, 1947 in The Missionary Messenger, August 1947, page 21]

The Board of Foreign Missions is happy to announce that Miss Cassandra Stockburger of Cleveland, Tennessee, has gone to Colombia, South America, as a missionary. For at least six months Miss Stockburger will be in the language school at Medellin, Colombia, after which time she will teach in the school at Cali. While she is thus engaged in the work of educational missions, Miss Stockburger will also be taking her place in the general evangelical program of the mission.

Four years ago in a meeting of Chattanooga Presbytery Miss Stockburger stated to friends that she was sure of her missionary call to South America and wanted to begin at once her preparation for service in that field. She entered Bethel College and in the spring of 1947 received her A.B. degree from the same school. She has taken advantage of every opportunity to prepare herself for efficient and loyal service. During the four years of her college work, Miss Stockburger has kept in close and constant communication with The Board of Foreign Missions. She has counseled often with members of the board.

At the Knoxville Missionary Convention in June, 1947, Miss Stockburger was given her charge and commissioned for service in Cauca Valley Presbytery, Colombia. Since her commissioning she has been busy completing her preparation for leaving, obtaining her passport and finally her visa and making those last visits to doctors, dentists, and others who have a part in obtaining the final papers which make possible her passage and entry to Colombia. On September 28, 1947, Miss Stockburger boarded the plane in Miami, Florida, for Medellin.

Never for one time since her dedication of her life for missionary service, has Cassandra doubted her call to work for God. She has done her college work well, having graduated Cum Laude; she has made many friends and has contributed unselfishly to the happy and wholesome life among the students of Bethel College. To the student body and to the faculty of the college and to the entire Board of Foreign Missions she has endeared herself in a wonderful way.

Cassandra has studied carefully the Manual which contains the policies, rules, and regulations that determine the relations which should exist between the board and the missionary and between missionaries on the field. She has accepted in faith and confidence the policies of the board as those by which she should be directed; she understands the terms according to which a missionary may be recalled and is thoroughly familiar with the serious problems which other young people have encountered on the field.

In commissioning Cassandra Stockburger to service in Colombia, the board has the confidence that she, who has felt the redemptive touch of the Savior and responded to His call to service, will prove true and faithful even when the most severe tests come to her--and they will come. Cassandra has living and moved in a prevailing spiritual atmosphere. She has vital spiritual reserves upon which she will depend when it will become necessary for her to surmount homesickness, loneliness, discouragement and disappointments. She will keep in close and constant touch with that Source of all power, which the board sincerely believes will enable her to be strong in the face of temptation, happy when friends seem few and far away, and optimistic when the tasks seem too hard and overpowering.

The board believes Cassandra will have the happy faculty of working cheerfully and pleasantly with the other missionaries. She will have to do jobs that neither she nor the board has anticipated; she will have to do the "one-hundred-and-one" tasks that seem to be other people's responsibilities, but she will be cheerfully adaptable and that happy disposition and reassuring smile will win for Cassandra; she will WIN FOR GOD because she is trusted to His care and is trusting in His leadership and keeping power.

MAY THE GOD OF ALL GRACE BLESS YOU FOREVER, CASSANDRA!

The fifth of six children, I was born on June 28, 1925, on my grandfather's farm in Catoosa County, Georgia, near the Georgia-Tennessee state line. At the age of four my family and I moved to our present home in Bradley County, Tennessee, near Cleveland. It was through this move that our family again became connected with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

I received my education in the community grade school and the consolidated city and county high school in Cleveland. While in grade school I became a member of the 4-H Club which in the ten years of my membership helped me greatly in the development of personality and the use of my hands. There were material benefits also. In 1942 I was awarded a trip to the 4-H Club Congress in Chicago. In 1943 I received a college scholarship as state award for participation in fire prevention.

My religious background has been wholly Cumberland Presbyterian even though my mother was a Baptist until some time after we moved to Tennessee. My father is a Cumberland Presbyterian and a member of a family who refused to go with their church in the union of 1906. After the union there was no Cumberland Presbyterian Church near, but they kept up with the work of the denomination through the Church paper. Soon after our move to Tennessee and the older members of the family had placed their membership in the local church my father was ordained an elder and my oldest brother a deacon. One by one our family made their decisions for Christ and became members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

It was at about the age of nine that I first realized my deed of Christ and would easily have accepted Him with a little encouragement. I feel that I knew God was calling me for service as a missionary even before I had made a definite decision for Christ. It was at about the age of eleven that I first remember being definitely impressed that the mission field was my field of service. As I have grown older I have never wanted to do anything else. It was when I was almost fourteen that I could no longer refuse the Spirit which was striving with me for a definite decision. It was alone one night at home that I made the decision. But since religion was not often discussed in our home I told no one of my decision until some months later when I made a public confession in a revival service. My desire to serve God as a missionary on the foreign field had only been intensified by this experience.

Throughout high school I worked and selected courses that would best prepare me for a college course which at that time seemed impossible to everyone but me. I knew that if it was God's will that I be a missionary that He would provide the means. When I finished high school and made known my intention of entering Bethel College to prepare for missionary work the family was very sympathetic and have sacrificed to make my education possible. When I went to Bethel in the fall of 1943 I had enough to provide for the first quarter but little beyond that. But that was the least of my concerns. I had a faith in a God who never fails His own. Throughout the four years I was never in want for anything I needed.

Upon entering college I had not decided upon the type of work I should do nor the field to which I should go. I soon realized that Colombia was the place in which I could best serve.

It has been with great pleasure and deepest appreciation that I have received the constant council, encouragement, and support of The Board of Foreign Missions during this time.

Being convinced that there is "none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved," I go to Colombia to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to teach His way of life to those who have been denied knowledge of Him.

After completing a study of the language I shall teach in the Cali school where, I believe, is one of the greatest opportunities and responsibilities of the missionary. To awaken in the students undreamed of capacities, to cause them to think and to train Christian young people to witness to their own people is to me a priceless opportunity for advancing the Kingdom of God on any mission field.

For the interest they have shown in the missionary task of the Church by so generously providing my outfit allowance, I should like to thank the Presbyterial Missionary Society of Chattanooga Presbytery, the Cleveland Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Flint Spring Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and the Bethel College Young People's Society.

As I assume the responsibilities which shall be my part of the work, in Colombia, I know that alone I can accomplish little. But with your prayers and my faith in a God who never fails I shall have an unending source of strength. So do not forget to pray that my faith may increase and that the work in Colombia shall continue to be the Church Advancing. I have heard Him say, "Go ye, and teach all nations," and as I go, I remember that He also said, "And lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world."
[Source: The Missionary Messenger, October 1947, page 3-4, 28]

Miss Cassandra Stockburger who went to Colombia three years ago has returned to the States in order that she may recover from an illness which began soon after her arrival in Colombia. Evidently Miss Stockburger became infected with amoeba during the first year of her service in Colombia. She has tried every known remedy in order that she might get well on the field. The condition has become chronic and other complications have developed. Only after the doctors of Colombia said she must return to the States to recover did she agree to come. She plans to return to Colombia when she is well.
[Source: The Missionary Messenger, September 1950, page 1]