A Visit to Mexico by A. G. DANIELLS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 26, 1908

A Visit to Mexico

By A. G. DANIELLS

At the close of our meetings in Guadalajara we went to Mexico City to attend the general council meeting for the republic. Here we had the pleasure of meeting Prof. G. W. and Sister Caviness, and a number of others whom we had met in that city five years ago. We were glad to find these dear friends enjoying good health, and of good courage in the cause.

Elder G. M. Brown, Dr. W. S. Swayze, and Dr. J. W. Erkenbeck came from Guadalajara, and Dr. U. C. Fattebert from San Luis Potosi, to attend this council; while together, we spent the days in hearing reports from different parts of the republic, studying the needs of the field, and planning for the advancement of the different interests of the work. The evenings were devoted to public meetings in the city.

We were much encouraged by the change that had taken place in our work in Mexico City. When we were there five years ago, there was not one Mexican in that city keeping the Sabbath. We had no place for public meetings, all the services being held in private houses. Now, our brethren have a neat hall for public meetings in the center of the city. They have the exclusive use of this place. They have a congregation of twenty-five or thirty, and the majority, I think, are Mexicans who have accepted the truths we hold, and have been baptized. It was a pleasure to meet these dear friends, and speak to them of our message and its progress. Here, as at Guadalajara, all the services were held in Spanish. Only those who know how great are the difficulties attending Protestant missionary efforts in Mexico can fully appreciate the meaning of what appears to be small and slow progress. From what we have already accomplished in that field we can see clear indications that the Lord will gather from among those people many sheaves for his garner.

Another advance step that has been taken in Mexico City in the last five years has been the establishment of a printing-office. The ground, the building, and the equipment are valued at two thousand dollars, and are mostly the gifts of our brethren in Mexico. This plant is located in Tacubaya, the suburb in which Professor Caviness, Elder Brown, and other American brethren have settled. The city is rapidly extending its best improvements toward Tacubaya. The lot on which the printing house stands is large enough to permit adding to the building as the work grows. This plant is small, but it is a beginning, and as such, it is equal to the beginning of a number of our printing plants that have grown large, and are now doing a great work. From the resolutions adopted at this council it will be seen that immediate steps are to be taken for the development and enlargement of our printing and publishing work in Mexico. After giving the various interests of the work careful study, we adopted the following resolutions and recommendations:—

“1. Resolved, That we hereby express to our Father in heaven our deep gratitude for the blessings he has bestowed upon us during the past year, and for the encouraging outlook before us in this field of many difficulties.

“2. Resolved, That we hereby express to the Drs. Swayze our sincere appreciation of their generous gift of the Medical Mission property on Tequizquite St., Guadalajara; and that we also express our gratitude to the church in Guadalajara for their earnest efforts to prepare and equip the chapel connected with the medical mission.

“3. Resolved, That we accept the institution which these dear friends have provided, without any debt, and well arranged for efficient service, and recommend that a suitable corporation be formed for holding the title of this and other properties that may come to us.

“4. Resolved, That Geo. M. Brown, Dr. W. S. Swayze, and Prof. G. W. Caviness be elected a committee with power to act to form a corporation for holding various properties that may be secured for our work in Mexico.

“5. Resolved, That we renew our request to the Mission Board to send us a good general canvassing agent, and that we urge that he be sent at the earliest date possible.”

It was also recommended,—

“1. That the General Conference be asked to send to Mexico a printer who has had experience in binding, and who can oversee the binding of board books that may be produced in the field.

“2. That the Pacific Press Publishing Association be asked to hasten forward the cylinder press that they donated to this field.

“3. That the Mexican Mission Committee be authorized to spend one thousand dollars in the purchase of type, a standing press, and other equipment necessary to do board binding, and if the cylinder press from the Pacific Press Publishing Association is not available, that one be secured if possible.

“4. That the General Conference be asked to arrange with the Pacific Press to furnish the Mexican Mission with signatures of such books as can be used to the best advantage in this field.

“5. That the General Conference be asked to send Professor Caviness to California to spend from six to nine months, as may seem best, in working with Brother Forga in the preparation of evangelical and health and temperance literature in Spanish.

“6. That the General Conference be asked to place two evangelical workers of experience and five colporteurs in this mission field as soon as possible.

“7. That the republic be divided into five districts, as follows: Southern, composed of the States of Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Yucatan, and the southern part of Vera Cruz; Central, embracing the Federal District, States of Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, Querétaro, Guerrero, and northern Vera Cruz; Western, made up of the States of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacan, Guanajuato, and the Territory of Tepic; Eastern, including the States of San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas, Aguascalientes, and Zacatecas; Northern, composed of the States of Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Durango, and Chihuahua; Northwestern, made up of the States of Sonora and Sinaloa and the Territory of Lower California.

“8. That Geo. M. Brown, G. W. Caviness, W. S. Swayze, U. C. Fattebert, and A. Cooper be a committee on plans for a training-school for workers, and that they make thorough investigation as to what can be done toward securing a farm in the vicinity of Mexico City, and also develop plans and estimates as to what can be done to establish a school in Tacubaya.

“9. That the General Conference be requested to solicit such books and periodicals from other publishing houses as may be useful in building up an editorial library at the Mexican Publishing House.”

At the close of this council we went to San Luis Potosi, to spend Sabbath and Sunday. Brother Julius Paulson and wife have been living in this city seven or eight years. When I visited them five years ago, they were the only Sabbath-keepers there. Now there are twenty or thirty Mexicans in the city and surrounding country keeping the Sabbath. Brother Godinez, a native laborer, has been working here for a year or so.

Dr. Fattebert has opened an office for medical practise in this city. He and Sister Fattebert take a deep interest in missionary affairs in Mexico. Although the doctor is engaged in self-supporting work, he takes an active part in evangelistic missionary work, doing all he can to advance the general interest of the cause. The same is true of other brethren and sisters who have gone from the States to Mexico. Many of our brethren could do splendid work for the Master and for the people in these mission fields by settling among them and working for them while engaged in their regular vocations.

We were very sorry to find Brother and Sister Brown in poor health. We left him confined to his bed in San Luis Potosi, and we regret to report that he has not recovered as he should. Owing to their worn and feeble condition, the General Conference Committee has advised them to leave the field for a time. They will go to North Carolina, with the hope of making a full recovery.

I most sincerely hope the advance steps recommended in the foregoing resolutions can be taken at once, and thus hasten the work in that needy field. To this end, and for the prosperity of the cause in Mexico, let all earnestly pray.

A. G. DANIELLS.