Camp Meetings in the British Columbia Conference
By O. A. Olsen
ON account of the large territory and the consequent difficulties of assembling at one place, the conference held two camp meetings this season, thus affording a larger number the privilege of attending. The first of these meetings was held on the west coast, at Coquitlam, some sixteen miles from Vancouver. The location was favorable. The camp was composed of forty tents, including the book tent and two meeting tents. The weather was cool, and there fell some rain. The attendance on the Sabbath was about two hundred. While the meeting was not a large one, it was good and profitable, and all in attendance returned home much encouraged in the Lord. The Bible studies and preaching were of a very practical nature, and met a hearty response from all present. There was no conference business connected with the meeting, as this was attended to during the winter; still the different lines of work, such as the Sabbath school, the home missionary work, and the circulation of literature, were discussed, and it was pleasing to see those present take such a hearty interest in the various branches of church and conference work. A special feature of the meeting was a temperance rally, the evening after the Sabbath. This was well attended by the people of the village, and it seemed to make a favorable impression. The second meeting was held at Vernon, in the beautiful Okanogan Valley, three hundred and seventy-five miles by rail from the former meeting. The camp was located in the edge of the city, on the grounds of the Jubilee Park Hotel. The hotel, which was vacant at the time, together with the grounds, was tendered the conference for the occasion free of cost, by the Hon. Price Allison, M. P. This was much appreciated, and the hotel furnished rooms for many who could not be accommodated in the thirty-six tents that composed the camp. At Vernon fully half the attendance of our people were Germans. The meetings were conducted regularly in both German and English. The weather was all that could be asked for, and the meeting was graced with much of the Holy Spirit, and all our people in attendance were greatly blessed and encouraged. Here also the different lines of work were taken up, and our brethren responded heartily. The attendance at this meeting was about the same as at Coquitlam, two hundred being present in the Sabbath school. Also at this place a temperance rally had been announced, which called out a full attendance at the tent, and made a very favorable impression on the citizens of Vernon. The workers at the Coquitlam meeting, besides the local conference workers, were Elder H. S. Shaw, president of the union conference, and the writer; and at Vernon the same workers attended, with the addition of Elder Humann, a German laborer from the Alberta Conference. Elder John G. Walker, president of the British Columbia Conference, bore the burden of the arrangements for these meetings, and he felt much encouraged with the results at both places. On Sabbath afternoon, June 13, after a discourse on the subject of baptism and its significance, by Elder Shaw, sixteen persons were baptized by Elder J. Rottacker in a beautiful lake near the camp.14This conference, as well as others, feels the effect of the financial depression, but notwithstanding this the members have been very faithful in keeping up their part of the mission funds, feeling this a sacred obligation. Just now they are a little behind on the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund, but this time of year is the most difficult financially. It was very pleasing to note the conscientious earnestness they felt for the upkeep of their portions of the mission funds. This is right, and the Lord will bless them in this effort. I was very glad to meet again so many that I had met in past years in other parts of the Lord’s vineyard. Monday morning our Vernon meeting closed with a very interesting praise service. Thus ended our good meetings in the British Columbia Conference. We all look forward with blessed expectation to the time of the glorious gathering of all the faithful at the coming of our Lord and Saviour. May we be numbered among the faithful!