Grenada, West Indies by MRS. W. A. SWEANY

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 21, 1908

Grenada, West Indies

By MRS. W. A. SWEANY

MRS. W. A. SWEANY

DAILY we thank God for the blessing of health and strength, and trust we shall be able to keep right on in this work, either here or in some more needy field, till it is finished, and Jesus comes. It is our very life, and we can not bear the thought of anything but earnest activity in it.

In spite of difficulties, the message is making progress. We have worked long and hard, sowing seed, and now it looks as if the Lord is going to give us a bountiful harvest. Mr. Sweany baptized four persons last Thursday, and there are about twenty who contemplate taking this step soon. Still there is no excitement. Our meetings are not largely attended, but the interest is widening and deepening day after day. Many others are interested, and are regular attendants at our services, but have not yet expressed a desire to identify themselves with us. We feel anxious to keep out of the way, and let the Lord work.

We hardly knew what we were going to do about baptism this time, as the pool where we have gone hitherto was nearly dry. In fact, all the streams are very low, as we have been having an unusually dry season. It is so far to go to the sea, and the waves are so high, that it is not a very suitable place. Our nearest neighbor is one of the wealthiest men on the island. He is more or less opposed to all religious bodies, and to Adventists in particular. However, we knew of a nice pool on his estate, which would just suit our need. He has always been very kind to us, so we decided to ask for the privilege of using it. After earnestly seeking the Lord about it, Mr. Sweany went to this man with his request, and he very kindly granted it. It was an ideal place—a waterfall of about twenty feet, and a nice basin below, right in the cocoa. There was a large attendance, and all seemed to realize that God and holy angels were present. Tears were shed as one candidate after another was buried beneath the water.

One who has asked for baptism next time is our old landlord, an East Indian. The Lord has been speaking to him, and he is yielding. He has given up drink and tobacco, and seems really converted. One of his sons-in-law reads the Hindi, and comes over and talks and reads with him. This is a great help to him, as he knows but little English. A son-in-law, who has long known the truth, but has been resisting, has expressed his determination to walk in it.

Another family in whom we feel the deepest interest is that of a certain school-master. This man has taught the same school here for twenty-one years,—a school of nearly three hundred children. There are father, mother, and seven children. Three of the sons are teachers, and the wife taught nine years prior to her marriage. Two of the sons were among the number baptized last Thursday, and the oldest one now has charge of our little school. He is such an earnest Christian that we feel to thank the Lord for giving him to us for our school work. The parents attend all our services, and seem to drink in the truth. They attended our meetings in the town of Sauteurs, living about a mile from there. They now come to our meetings at Mt. Rose, a distance of three miles. One young man comes six or seven miles to our Sabbath services. We feel sure he will influence others in his neighborhood, if he is faithful.

And so I might keep on, telling of interests springing up here and there all around us. For a long time the school work took so much of my time and energy that it kept us from visiting as much as we wanted to. Now we shall have more time. Yesterday I was mentioning that it is just about a year since we tried to find a teacher. The Lord says: “Workers in new territory should not feel free to leave their field of labor till the needed facilities have been provided for the churches under their care. Not only should a humble house of worship be erected, but all necessary arrangements should be made for the permanent establishment of a church-school.” “This work is to be done in America, in Australia, . . . and wherever companies are brought into the truth. The companies that are raised up need a place of worship. . . . The schoolroom is needed just as much as the church building.” We followed this instruction, and then claimed this promise: “The Lord has persons to engage in the work of establishing church-schools as soon as something is done to prepare the way for them.” At the time of the Minnesota camp-meeting, I wrote over to see if they could not send us some one, and assist in supporting that one until we could get a start. But they said they had no one who would just fit the place.

Then I wrote to various individuals. They expressed an interest in the needy fields, and a willingness to come, if the Lord wanted them. I thought it was the matter of support that was keeping them back. Then that notice appeared in the REVIEW, saying a brother had pledged the support of a teacher in Grenada for one year, money to be forthcoming when the teacher was found. Next correspondence was taken up with this brother. But when the money did not materialize, that had to be abandoned. We tried to get a sister from Tobago, then one from Demerara, then a brother from Trinidad, but did not succeed. We knew that the Lord had some one to engage in this work, for he says so; but it seemed to us we were a long time in finding one. On January 6 I opened the school, to get it going nicely by the time the new teacher should come.

For years prior to my marriage, and before I knew this truth, I was a teacher in the public schools. I always had to be careful not to be up too late at night, as I could not stand my work if I did so. But the Lord has promised, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be;” and, although carrying on a series of meetings in Sauteurs, in addition to our local work, the Lord gave me strength day after day to teach our school, and not give way under the added strain. We are four miles from Sauteurs; so by the time we reached home and got to rest, it would be near midnight. We had meetings there three times a week. Each month we closed school two days, to take a trip down the coast, to visit, study with the people, and do them what good we could. Day after day we would cry to the Lord for strength for one more day, and plead for a teacher. And he did not forsake us, but in his own good time and way supplied our need. We can see the hand of God in it all, and feel like giving our lives more fully to him than ever before, for all his goodness and mercy to us.

Our new teacher has been working with me now for the past two weeks. Our little schoolroom is nicely filled. We have about fifty. We could have many more, outsiders, but have not room for them.

There is a deep interest in St. George among my readers of the Caribbean Watchman and Good Health (English), also along the coast where my husband visits. We wish we could get around among them oftener. We were planning to move to St. George next month, as soon as we can get the new teacher thoroughly acquainted with his work, but it seems hard to go away and leave such an interest. We shall have to divide our time among all the places on the island, as much as possible.

The Indian woman whom I taught to read has moved about nine miles from us. She and her daughter (now a member of the church) walk to meeting every Sabbath. She is getting up quite an interest among the people in her neighborhood. Last Sabbath she brought one woman to church. She said four others intended to come, but were detained. We want to drive out there and visit her interested ones, and help her all we can. She visits them, reads and prays with them, and does all she can to help them to live pure, upright lives.

In February we held a harvest-in-gathering service, the first ever held here, in a large cocoa house. All seemed to enjoy it greatly. We decorated it as prettily as we could with evergreens, plants, and flowers. The program consisted of songs, recitations, and Scripture exercises, on the subject of seed-sowing and harvest. We had quite a nice display of fancy work and needle-work of various kinds, including a patch-work quilt made by the schoolchildren. Then there was the fruit of the ground which our people had raised. The sale of these articles, together with a collection taken, amounted to about thirty dollars.

This month the schoolchildren are making some little girls' dresses. These will be sold, and the profits put into the school fund. I have had the older children stay two or three times a week, and spend an hour or two sewing. The parents feel very grateful for this, as there is great need for instruction in sewing.

A GROUP OF BELIEVERS AT THE FIRST CAMP-MEETING IN THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CONFERENCE, HELD AT COXEN HOLE, RUATAN, BAY ISLANDS

The Lord gives us fresh cause to praise him each day. He has moved upon the heart of a noted American dentist to come here from Trinidad, and operate on, and treat without charge, an ulcer of long standing. There being no one in Grenada with whom we could trust the case, we wrote to this man, who had, on our coming to the West Indies, rendered us the treatment needed at that time. On receiving this letter, he came immediately to the hotel here, and wrote for us to call at once. He bought a nurse, and engaged a surgeon to assist him. But the case proved not so serious as he had feared. We stayed a week, and he treated the ulcer every day. He said it ought to be watched daily for a month, before he could assure us it was entirely well. However, he thinks it is all right now. We know the Lord helped. This man claims to be an infidel, but he is very kind-hearted. His parents were Adventists. The wonderful part of it all to us is, he would take no pay for his services, although he was at large expense in coming to us. The Lord knew that our means had all been put into his cause; so when we needed help, he moved upon the heart of this man to deal thus with us.

We read with deepest interest of the progress of the work in other parts of the field, and we pray for the work and its workers. And we mean, by the help of the Lord, to have the work finished here by the time it is completed elsewhere.