Your ShelfYour Projects

Peru

9%

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 20, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 42.

Read the full edition

Peru

By O. H. MAXSON

O. H. MAXSON
The eight months we have been in Peru have passed very quickly. We often think of the pleasant evening at the Washington (D. C.) Sanitarium before our departure, and of the friendship and good will expressed to us. I wish all who are called to leave their native land might carry away with them as pleasant memories to cheer them in their distant fields.
When we arrived, we found Brother A. N. Allen in poor health; and I was glad to be able to relieve him by beginning to take over the office work. This I could not have done if I had not taken Spanish in the Foreign Mission Seminary. Letter-writing was at first very slow, but it was good practise, and our native workers corrected all the letters before they were sent out. Now I can write an ordinary letter almost as quickly in Spanish as in English.
As our families are so far from Lima, we have organized a small Sabbath-school in Bella Vista. We gather in the neighbor children, usually from six to ten,and hold the school in the afternoon, as Brother Allen and myself attend the Sabbath-school at Lima in the morning. Here I have been teaching the senior class since April, and when Brother Allen is away, I have charge of the prayer-meeting and the Sabbath services. In these meetings we have a Bible study, different ones reading the texts.
On account of the necessary office work, I have not tried to build up the treatment work, though some treatments have been given. I believe that if one were to devote his time to it, plenty of this work could be found.
July 1, in company with Elder Allen, I made my first trip to the mountains. We left Callao at daylight, and in three quarters of an hour we were in the foothills of the great Andes. From this point there is a continuous steep up-hill grade. A little before ten o'clock we reached San Bartolome, forty-eight miles from Callao, and nearly five thousand feet higher. Here we found Brother Flores, who was waiting for us with horses to cross the sierra into the valley where he lives. As it was my first experience on a mountain trail, there were times when I was glad my little animal knew more about mountain climbing than I did. After an hour's climb, we reached the top of the ridge. Here I saw a pile of stones, but no cross. Asking the reason, I learned that this brother had broken it off, and cast it down the mountain.
About a year ago Brother Flores received some copies of the Señales. He at once began to study the truth, and wrote to the office that many were interested in it also. After a three days' meeting with these people, six were baptized; several others acknowledged the truth, but would go no further. We pray that these new believers may remain firm under the persecution which surrounds them, and we hope to see others follow their Lord.
In this valley, as in hundreds of others, is still to be seen the work of the Incas. Some of the mountains are terraced to their tops, and water is carried to them by canals built centuries ago. Though only a part of the mountainsides is now tilled, the terraces remain, showing that there was a time when every foot of ground that would produce anything was under cultivation.
For nearly a year Brother Flores has used his spare time in selling Bibles and our literature, so all in his valley have had an opportunity to hear the message. But this is only one of hundreds of similar valleys. Who will carry the message to them? Our hope lies in the young men who accept the truth. They will take a bundle of books; and if they sell only a few cents' worth a day, it will be enough to keep them, as their wants are few. This brother has just ordered more books and some Bibles, and is starting out on a tour. Our seven canvassers are also working away, although in some parts the people are prejudiced, and they sell little.
Lima.