p. 16 | Ecuador | AdventAI

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 10, 1913

Ecuador

A RECENT mail brought letters from Brother and Sister John Osborne, of Quito, Ecuador, where they are engaged in nursing and evangelistic work. Brother Osborne writes:—

“It is about three years since we came to Ecuador, and not once have we had a desire to leave our work. The people tell Mrs. Osborne that she speaks the Spanish well; but the language is an up-hill task for me. While I cannot preach in Spanish, I have been able to sell about as much literature as those who speak good Spanish, and as for nursing, I seem able to get along all right. My nursing work last year brought to the mission an income of about $450, and we were able to dispose of about five hundred copies each of the monthly religious and health journals published in Buenos Aires, besides other literature.

“There are many here whom it seems impossible to reach either with the literature or by preaching, because they are so bound by Catholicism. And another class is the business men who are unbelievers altogether, having become disgusted with what has been represented to them as the true religion. But we are coming in contact with this latter class through the treatment work, and we hope to sow the seeds of truth. In 1911 Elder W. W. Wheeler baptized two believers in Ecuador, and last year Elder S. Mangold, our superintendent, baptized four.”

Mrs. Osborne writes: “The other day I went to see one of our neighbors whose child had recently died. The mother told me that the last two nights before he died, she placed the image of St. Vincent before his bed, with a lighted candle, but in her absence the child would throw it on the floor. So she removed it, and put the image of the Saviour there, which seemed to please the child. She thought it strange for the child to make this choice between the two images. I improved the opportunity to tell her that these saints and images could be no help to us, but that God in his love for us had given his only begotten Son, and only through the merits of his blood we may find salvation.

“How we long to tell the people of a Saviour’s love for them! The condition of the poorer class has greatly appealed to me. They receive scarcely any medical help, and many die because of ignorance and superstition. I believe that if we had a dispensary here with a good doctor in charge, we could reach many hearts, and prejudice would be broken down and confidence won. The doctors and the better class hold our work in great respect. We ask the brethren to pray for us in this needy field. It seems the Lord is holding back the power of Satan,—how long we do not know,—and now is our time to work.”