Solusi Mission, Rhodesia, South Africa
By W. C. Walston
WE are all well here on our station. The school at the home station is full, and our outschools are also well attended. Each week new students are asking for admittance, and we are very much perplexed to know whether we ought to take more at present. We are having a very severe drought all through Southern Rhodesia. Crops are cut short, and grazing for stock is very scarce. The farmers are much discouraged, and in many sections the natives fear starvation. Just what will have to be done I cannot tell, but I am sure the government will be obliged in some way to give assistance to the natives. We have been more fortunate than many. Our crops have not felt the drought so very much, and all the white and native people are wondering at what seems to them to be a special providence from God. Until two days ago it looked as if a large portion of our crops would be a failure, but after a month's dry weather heavy showers came, and our farm has received “showers of blessings,” while all about us very little rain has fallen. We have been earnestly praying that the Lord would send the showers, although it is late in the season. It means a good many pounds to our mission. We are now praising him for his goodness to us. Some of our neighbors, I hear, say they are glad they live near the mission, for when we pray for rain and God answers our prayers, they receive some benefit also. We are sorry for the people, as the most of them have already lost their crops; the hot sun and the wind have burned them up. We had good crops last season, storing away about four thousand bushels of corn, while the crops all about us were not very good on account of a very wet season. The recent rains will help our present crops very much, and I believe we shall have a good harvest. I am sure we have reason to praise God for so many special blessings. Our week of prayer was excellent. At the close, I called for those who would like to make a start to serve the Lord. Twenty-five of our students arose. Nearly all were young men who had come in during the year. I now have a baptismal class of about thirty who will soon be ready for baptism. Our church is full of interested listeners every Sabbath. A good interest exists in our school, and more students are coming than we can well care for. For several years I have tried to secure a special permit for our teachers to sell Bibles and religious literature in the native tongue, and not be obliged to pay a fifty-dollar license for each district. The superintendent of native affairs in this part of Rhodesia, who has control of our five districts, is a man whom I have known for several years here in Bulawayo, and also knew at Gwelo, while I was on the Somabula Mission. He has always been much interested in our work, and has often rendered me assistance. I went to him about a year ago, and told him how much I should like our native teachers to sell the native literature. He at once became interested in the matter, and asked me to write out what I desired and send it to him. He promised to forward the letter to the Administrator at Salisbury, and also himself to write him a letter, asking for a special permit. I did as he requested. As a result, in a few weeks I received the permit, and we sent out our old head teacher loaded with literature. Since he began to canvass, he has sold nearly a thousand Bibles, books, and pamphlets, bringing in the sum of $325. Through the native commissioner already mentioned, I also secured a special permit for our Somabula Mission to sell the literature in the Gwelo district. We feel sure God has helped us in this also. Jim, our old teacher, is delighted with this line of work, and wishes to remain in it for some time. While out on his trips, on Sabbath and Sunday evenings and at all times when possible, he preaches the truth, hanging up his chart and explaining the prophecies. He has stirred up the native Christians in Bulawayo quite a little, and some of them wish to keep the Sabbath. We feel sure Jim will be able to do a good work, and that we shall soon see many natives interested in the truth.