The Work in Menominee, Michigan
By M. W. LEWIS
In submitting a report of the work in Menominee, Mich., I do not wish to weary you with a long, tedious report, but will mention a few facts which may be of interest. In the first place, I wish to say that after the camp-meeting closed which was held at Gladstone, Mich., where it was strongly emphasized that we ought to be more aggressive in our work in this field, and to lay broader plans in our policy to carry forward the work of the Lord, we returned home with a full determination to carry into effect the instructions received, as far as possible. Now one of the branches of the work neglected was that of the church-school work. We did not have any of those schools started, although we had been planning to begin organizing such schools; for we believed that the Lord had spoken very plainly through the Testimonies concerning that work. We called a meeting of the church to consider the advisability of starting such a school, and it was not long until the church-school was organized, with eleven students enrolled. And I am glad to report that the Lord has blessed the school ever since it started, and to-day we have twenty-one students enrolled. It is evident that when we fall in line with the Lord's plans, success is sure to come. May the Lord continue to bless the educational work; for this cause will have to depend largely on this branch of the work for recruits for the army. Shall we not look after the supplies? We have been laboring under embarrassment for some time, not having any church building of our own. I called on the pastor of the Presbyterian church, and laid the matter before him, as we had been studying the Bible together. He granted us the privilege of holding our meetings in a little mission chapel until we could do better; and we used it, free of charge, for one year. But his church sharply criticized him for granting us such courtesies, and that made it embarrassing for him, and also for us. We were not able to build, and did not know what to do. Time passed on, and they tried to get us out; but I went to the man who owned the building, and he told me to use the building until we could do better, and we followed his advise for over a year. In the meantime we concluded to see what could be done toward building a church. We laid the matter first before the Lord, asking him to guide us, and to influence our friends in the city to help us if it was in harmony with his mind. Then we went to the lumbermen to see what they would donate for the church, and also to the wealthy men; and to make a long story short, they have donated about twelve hundred dollars, and our people have given about three hundred dollars, making, in all, fifteen hundred dollars. Most of that amount has been paid, and we expect to have the church ready for dedication on the fifth of February. Elder Allen Moon will be present upon that occasion to deliver the dedicatory address. We are in debt some on our new church building, and are not able to meet our obligations so far as we can see; but we believe that the Lord is with us in this matter, and that he will work it out in his own good time. We are putting up a good, respectable building, which we think will assist us very much in carrying out the purpose of the Lord in sending us here. If any one feels disposed to help in clearing this building of debt, and thus make our burden lighter, it certainly would be appreciated. But we will leave that matter, believing that the Lord will work it all out after the counsel of his own will. We wish to extend an invitation to all our brethren and sisters living in close proximity, to attend this important meeting. We will hold a series of meetings in connection with the dedicatory services.