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Porto Rico

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Mar 24, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 12.

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Porto Rico

By B. E. Connerly

I HAVE just returned from another long trip through the island, and am glad to report some of the experiences that I had this time. In Guanica and Aguirre, where are located two large sugar-mills, I made the initial steps toward introducing our literature among their thousands of employees. I spent five days in Ponce, the largest and busiest city of the island. Here I made the acquaintance of many of the business men, and visited all the factories and founderies, the large commission houses, and the docks, and formed plans for future work and the distribution of our literature there.
In Salinas I had an appointment with a young man who had become much interested in the subject of the coming of the Lord and the Sabbath question, through reading El Centinela de la Verdad. I found him to be a young minister who seemed to be really hungering after the truth. He had studied these subjects quite thoroughly from the paper, and was ready for the truth. We had Bible study and prayer, and he said that he could not sleep at night until he decided to keep the Sabbath of the Lord.
On Sunday night I heard him preach; he asked his congregation what day Jesus kept for the Sabbath, and they answered, “Saturday.” He said, “That is right, and Saturday is still the Sabbath;” and then one of the men in the congregation said, “Why, then, does it say on the wall in that motto yonder, ‘Remember to keep holy Sunday’?” The minister replied, “My friends, I have just learned that that is not Bible, and it shall come down.” When this young man first found our articles on the Sabbath in the paper, he took the paper to one of the American ministers in Ponce, and asked him if he knew who we were. The minister answered that he did, and that it would be best for him to let us and our papers alone; for in a little time we would tell him not to eat meat or eggs or to use tobacco, and the young man said, innocently, “Will they give me Bible for it, as they have here for the Sabbath?” We think very probable that he will soon join us in the work.
In Cayey there are two hundred and fifty soldiers to whom I have promised to send literature. In many places I found want and poverty. People are really suffering for food. They are eager to read our papers, but are too poor to buy them. I traveled more than three hundred miles, and worked in more than twenty cities and villages, taking about two hundred subscriptions for our paper. I am glad to be here. The work looks encouraging.
B. E. CONNERLY.