South Africa by J. V. WILLSON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 16, 1908

South Africa

By J. V. WILLSON

THE party of six missionaries who sailed from New York, April 16, arrived in Cape Town on May 25. The party consisted of Brother S. M. Konigmacher and wife, Brother J. R. Campbell and wife, and Brother H. C. Olmstead and wife, all young people assigned to labor in South Africa. They all arrived in good health after a favorable voyage.

We welcome this addition to our forces in this needy field. Brother and Sister Konigmacher go to labor in Nyassaland, at the Malamulo mission, in connection with Brother Joel Rogers and wife; Brother and Sister Campbell go to the Solusi mission, in Matabeleland, to assist Brother and Sister Sturdevant; and Brother and Sister Olmstead go to Barotseland, where Brother W. H. Anderson so sorely needs assistance.

This party are stopping a few days in the suburbs of Cape Town to recuperate after their long voyage, and will then proceed to their respective fields. There was a reception given them last evening at the chapel of the Claremont Union College to welcome them to South Africa. All were full of hope, courage, and love for the work to which they have given their lives.

The reports from the various missions in this field show a forward move all along the line. A recent letter from Elder J. C. Rogers, Nyassaland, reports seventeen converts baptized at the Malamulo mission, and twenty more are awaiting baptism there, at their central school. Their outstations are also making good progress. Brother Rogers has passed through the fever season without coming down with it, but Sister Rogers has had frequent attacks of the fever. We hope, now that the cooler weather has come, that they will not suffer any more from this terrible African scourge. They will have about fifteen hundred baskets of corn (mealies) this year.

At the Solusi mission the work is onward. Brother Victor Wilson is getting a good experience in teaching the mission school there. Their crops were cut short by the drouth this year. Brother and

Sister Sturdevant will soon take a much-needed rest of two months.

At the Somabula mission Brother A. Butterfield and his wife and little girl have all been sick with the fever. Brother and Sister Butterfield are recovering, but their daughter, their only child, has been taken from them and laid away to rest. Brother W. C. Walston had to nurse the sick night and day, teach the mission school, and attend to all the outside work; but the Lord gave his servant strength to bear up under all this heavy strain. Elder W. S. Hyatt is now there assisting him.

Brother W. H. Anderson is all alone at the Barotseland mission. He has been to visit his two outstations, and found them getting on well. On the way, as he was following on foot some distance behind the wagon, he heard a growl, and when he looked around, there was a great lion only ten feet from him, just in the act of springing upon him. He set the greyhound on the lion, fired his gun, and ran for the wagon. He reached the wagon first, the dog following, and the lion coming up last. The lion immediately sprang upon the oxen, got one separated from the team, and killed it. That night they set a trap gun, and shot the lion. The Lord mercifully saved his servant from the power of the lion as he did Daniel of old.

At Somabula mission Brother Armitage is just finishing their new building designed for a church and schoolhouse. It is built of stone, which they quarried out on the mission farm. The drouth has cut off all their crops this year; this makes it hard to carry their large mission family.

The company of new workers just arrived will relieve our missions, and we trust give a new impetus to the work.

J. V. WILLSON.