Missionary Volunteer Work in Foreign Fields
By C. L. B.
We are confident the readers of this department of the Review will be glad to learn what is being accomplished in the Missionary Volunteer work in the regions beyond. We shall give opportunity to a few of the secretaries to relate their experiences. Sister Mabel McKeague, of Honolulu, writes: “We are receiving the Gazette regularly now, and I find it an invaluable aid in preparing programs, etc. I shall ask our tract society secretary to place a standing order for the Reading Course books with the Review and Herald, so we may not be delayed in getting them. It seemed impossible for me to finish the Reading Course books until lately it occurred to me to read them on the street car. In this way I have finished two, and shall have finished the third by the time this reaches you.” They plan to start the Junior Missionary Volunteer work in Honolulu just as soon as the church-school teacher arrives in October. Sister Louise Wurts, of Brazil, writes of a twenty-year-old Negro girl, the daughter of a slave, who recently heard and accepted the truth. She was severely persecuted; but she persevered, and has now won her mother and her mother’s two employers and their wives to the truth. Elder D. Isaak reports from Russia: “We receive great help from our young people, even those who have not had school privileges. They hold general meetings for the public. Among the Esthonians, even young sisters hold meetings in rented halls, with large attendance. We are thankful for their zeal in circulating our literature, and for their faithfulness in paying tithe and offerings.” Sister Margaret Prieger, of Haiti, has started a French Missionary Volunteer Reading Course, and is having the Morning Watch Calendar translated into the French. Recently when she was prevented from visiting the churches in the interior, and postal communications were cut off, a little fourteen-year-old colored girl walked one hundred and fifty miles and brought the Missionary Volunteer report for her society, in order that Sister Prieger might not be disappointed. Sister Ina Fischer, of Cuba, says: “Our mission society numbers over ten members, Brother Allen thought it wise to admit some of the older folks as members, as they are taking the Reading Course. The local society of Las Minas has a membership of twenty. The majority of these are young people, including a few children. Some of our members are holding Bible studies in a village here where the sugar mill is located. They report a good attendance at the meeting.” Brother A. H. Ferris sends a very interesting report from Norfolk Island: “We have a good church of about fifty members, including a live young people’s society. After Sabbath school and church service, we withdraw from the church to the mission home, and hold our young people’s meeting Sabbath afternoon. The interest taken in the doctrinal study, and the reports of missionary work done are very encouraging. Last week, on the subject of ‘Righteousness by Faith,’ twenty-two passed the examination, receiving one hundred per cent each. “Old and young take doctrinal studies together. It is quite interesting on the examination day. We have a long veranda at the mission home, and we place tables at intervals where all can receive paper, and write the examination under the strict supervision of the deacon, Brother Sidney Nobb, a grandson of the old Pastor Nobb, of Pitcairn. The children and those who cannot write pass into a schoolroom where I examine them. One little girl who was regarded as mentally unable to acquire knowledge has passed five doctrinal examinations without one mistake. Each month she takes twelve papers to her part of the island and distributes them among people who were very prejudiced a short time ago. Each time she reports twelve papers given away, and twelve visits.” Elder Melvin Sturdevant writes from Tsungwesi Mission, Rusape, Rhodesia, South Africa: “Since our arrival twenty-six have been baptized, and many are turning to the Lord. Our school has done excellently. About eighty-five are enrolled now. Our Sabbath meetings are attended, and a good interest is manifested. The natives are now turning toward us. We have found that some have been working very hard to keep the natives from us. One chief said to me not long ago, ‘We heard strange things about you and your work,’ and asked if they were so. I answered, ‘Come and see.’ I stayed at his kraal three days and nights, and before I left he and his ‘second man’ asked me to give them a teacher, showing me a place where we could build a school, and where my teacher could have a garden. I have promised them a teacher soon. They also promised to help my teacher build.” Brother Maximo Trummer writes from Lima, Peru: “Our union meeting granted me permission to print some tracts on the Missionary Volunteer work. We sent out one hundred and fifty review papers on the Reading Course in English, and one hundred in German, dividing them among the different fields. I believe that the Morning Watch and Reading Course have saved one young woman from leaving the truth, and she is now taking the nurses’ course. The donations of the past year have been applied on the Indian school fund especially; but this year the Argentine young people have planned to pay the fares of some students coming here from Peru.18 “There are one hundred and seventy-five members in the Lake Titicaca Mission, and many of them are young people, so I have asked Brother Stahl to kindly organize a Missionary Volunteer Society there, and carry it on as well as he can, considering the simple methods which he must follow.” Elder F. A. Allum, in Chung-king, Szechuan, China, reports: “Heretofore the Morning Watch Calendar has never been translated into Chinese. However, I have looked the calendar over, and have suggested some changes that would be necessary for its use in China. I have sent this calendar to Shanghai with instructions to have it looked over by the brethren there before it is printed in the Chinese language. I am also writing at this time to all the superintendents in China, asking them to have a secretary appointed in each field to represent and organize this important branch of the Lord’s work. You will be glad to know that a society has been started in Shanghai at the China Missions Training School; this is, I believe, the first society in China. Its officers are all Chinese, and they give very acceptable programs.”