The Upper Parana Annual Meeting by Arturo Fulton

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 18, 1909

The Upper Parana Annual Meeting

By Arturo Fulton

THIS meeting was held in Posadas, November 20-28. We left Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the steamer “Corumba,” and arrived in Posadas after a voyage of six days. For the first few days the scenery may be called quite monotonous, but as we near the tropics, it becomes very interesting. After passing the city of Corrientes, where we change to a smaller boat, the “Dorado,” we enter the Upper Parana River. Sometimes we are steaming along through a narrow channel, on either side of which there is a luxuriant tropical vegetation of bamboo, palm, and other trees, and again we are steaming out into what seems like a large inland sea. The passengers relieve the monotony by shooting at the large alligators which have crawled out on the bank to sun themselves, or now and again at a group of monkeys which go springing off through the thick branches of the trees. Something of the great size of this stream may be learned when we state that at Posadas, fifteen hundred miles from Buenos Aires, the river is nearly two miles in width. At Corrientes the Parana receives the waters of the Paraguay River, which is navigable for hundreds of miles farther north.

The meeting had been appointed for Villa Encarnacion, Paraguay. The tent ordered for this field was still in the custom-house, and it was impossible to get it out in time for the meeting. As there was no hall to be rented in Villa Encarnacion, it was decided to hold the meeting in Posadas, Argentina, just across the river. Here we have a church of about sixty members. This was quite providential, as during the meeting Paraguay was in a state of siege, and there was no communication between the two ports. This would greatly have hindered the meeting, as most of the brethren live on the Argentina side of the river. The workers present were Elders J. W. Westphal (president of the South American Union Conference), Luis Ernst (superintendent of the mission), Victor E. Thomann, and Ignacio Kalbermatten, the writer, and Mrs. Fulton. The brethren showed great interest in

the meetings, donating liberally to the different funds, and in every way making the visiting brethren as comfortable as possible. The last Sabbath seven persons were baptized in the clear waters of the river. The brethren here are poor in this world's goods. They have had many things to learn, and many to unlearn. When we consider that only five years ago the truth was yet unknown here, and that now we have a congregation of sixty members, many of whom are bright, intelligent people, it is a cause of great rejoicing. During the last year they have bought a nice organ for their meeting-room, and have donated liberally toward the new tent, and the sanitarium in Entre Rios. Several hundred dollars is still due on the tent. The work is onward in the Upper Paraná field. ARTURO FULTON.