Alberta Camp-Meeting by K. C. RUSSELL

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 8, 1910

Alberta Camp-Meeting

By K. C. RUSSELL

WEDNESDAY, July 13, we left Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan, for Lacombe, Alberta, for our next camp-meeting appointment, a distance of over six hundred miles. We stopped during the night of the thirteenth in the beautiful city of Regina, Saskatchewan, at the pleasant and hospitable home of Elder H. S. Shaw, and, after a good night’s rest, resumed our journey. We were pleased to meet Elder H. F. Haffner on the train out from Regina, on his way to Lacombe to labor for the German people at the camp-meeting.

It was a most pleasant and interesting trip, although we found quite a drought prevailing in southern Alberta,—so severe, indeed, that a large number of families were obliged to leave the country in order to keep their stock from starving. This will have its effect upon our people who reside in that section of that province, and will also lessen the sale of our literature in that part of the Alberta field.

We reached Lacombe, Friday, July 15, and found the camp nicely located near the center of the town, and of easy access to the citizens.

From the very first the attendance of our people was excellent, and it continued to increase until nearly the close of the meeting. The services were both educational and spiritual in character. Special periods were set apart to consider the work of the different departments of the conference. Excellent papers were read treating the various lines of work; and following the reading of the papers there were lively and interesting discussions of the various topics considered.

I had the pleasure of visiting the school farm, which is about two miles from Lacombe on a beautiful hill. It is one of the most conspicuous sites about Lacombe; for the place can be seen from the railroad trains as they pass miles away. The difficulties which students and faculty have surmounted in carrying on their school work without even the facility of desirable buildings, demonstrate the value they place upon education. Last year the school was conducted in an unfinished building. It seems almost incredible how a school could be successfully carried on under such circumstances; nevertheless, it was done, under the supervision of Professor Beardsley, aided by the self-sacrificing spirit of the noble students, who possessed a real desire for a Christian education. The ladies’ dormitory—a very substantial and commodious building—is now finished; and the foundation is being laid for a boys’ dormitory, a portion of which will be used for the chapel and class-rooms until such time as they are able to erect a third building for that purpose. There can, certainly, be no wiser investment made by the people of any conference than that made for the education of the young people for effective service in the cause of present truth.

Besides the regular conference workers, Elders H. S. Shaw, L. H. Christian, G. F. Haffner, R. S. Owen, F. L. Perry, and the writer were present. On account of sickness in his family, Elder Owen was called away before the close of the meeting, and owing to a previous appointment, I also left before the meeting was over. I am informed that the Lord greatly blessed during the closing days of the meeting, especially on the last Sabbath.

My visit to this field has given me a clearer view of its needs and possibilities than I previously possessed.

K. C. RUSSELL.