p. 17 | Panama by U. BENDER.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 22, 1912

Panama

By U. BENDER.

JANUARY 12 I left Kingston, Jamaica, for Colon, where the sixth session of the West Caribbean Conference was to be held January 12-20.

As the ship passed out of Kingston Bay past Port Royal, I remembered that just five years before, Jan. 12, 1907, Mrs. Bender and I had our first glimpse of the tropics as we passed this historic place on entering the bay.

How quickly the time has passed, yet the days have been full of work. The mercies of God have been over us. We have not been free from human imperfections, neither have we escaped the physical ailments of the flesh. Together we passed through the earthquake; and in my travels, fever of divers sorts, as well as unforgettable seasickness, sometimes have been my companions. During these five years, not less than fifty thousand miles of land and water have been traversed. It is not much, but it takes time.

January 14 I arrived in Colon. Elder H. C. Goodrich met me, and we had only sufficient time to reach Mount Hope, where the conference was held, before the night preaching services began.

The delegation from the churches was larger this year than last. Two churches were admitted to the conference. The reports of the laborers were listened to with interest. A great deal of literature has been handled by the workers, especially those laboring for the Spanish people. The regular canvassers have done good work during the year, and many are going out into the field again.

Brother Timothy Brown has made a beginning in the work among the Indians in the western part of Panama. He reports six Sabbath-keepers, and forty pupils in school. He could not get out to attend the conference, as he is several days' journey inland from Bocas del Toro.

The West Caribbean Conference comprises the republics of Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, with a combined

population of one million. Elder Goodrich was again elected president of the conference. Brother J. A. Ried was ordained to the gospel ministry the last Sabbath morning of the meeting.

The fire, last March, was a hard blow to the work in this field. It burned out the building where the Cristobal chapel and the Watchman Press, as well as four suites of living-rooms for workers, were located. The printing plant was removed to Jamaica, but it was necessary to erect a building for the church here, as well as to provide a place for conference office, and for living-rooms for the workers. This building, containing a neat chapel and office on the ground floor, with three suites of living-rooms above, will be ready for occupancy before this article appears in print.

May the Lord be with the laborers and people of this conference as they begin another year's work.

U. BENDER.