p. 11 | Two Years in Peru by E. L. Maxwell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 9, 1916

Two Years in Peru

By E. L. Maxwell

E. L. MAXWELL

IT is now two years since we came to Peru, and looking back over the manifestations of the blessings of the Lord, it seems almost unreal that such advancement should have been made as we have seen here.

The work began here about fourteen years ago, in the midst of what then seemed insurmountable difficulties. For seven years it was a fearful battle against indifference and fanaticism. At the end of that period there were to be found in Peru twenty-six Sabbath keepers. With a better organization, under the leadership of Brother A. N. Allen, the work went forward more rapidly, so that at the time of our arrival at the conclusion of his five years of earnest labor, there were one hundred and eighty-seven baptized believers, according to the best statistics we have.

The organization of the work has been further strengthened, and we have made an especially strong effort to get all the local members at work, believing that in this way we could accomplish much more than by a few scattered efforts on the part of the foreign workers. The results have been more than we anticipated. During 1914 the time was nearly all occupied with preparations for gathering the harvest. The past year, 1915, has been the harvest ingathering time for us, though only a beginning has been made.

In September, 1915, I started up the north coast, and before returning had baptized sixty persons,—carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, and others, nearly all of the artisan class. In the mountains at an elevation of 13,000 feet, in sight of the eternal snows, I baptized three Quechua Indians, our first fruits among them, on my thirty-seventh birthday. I could not have received a more gratifying birthday present than this privilege.

In Arequipa, the most fanatical city of the country, Brother I. Kalbermatten has been at work with the message, making steady progress. He now has a nice little church there. At Puno the work is advancing, so that we cannot begin to fill the calls, even with the two families added to the workers there.

On the plains of Junin, three miles above the sea, I celebrated the first Protestant baptism, in sight of the famous battle field where Bolivar and Sucre wrested the southern continent from the dominion of Spain one hundred years ago. In Contumaza I was stoned three times by the infuriated and fanatical populace. I baptized seven there. In Supe I baptized four brethren in the famous Acequia, or irrigating ditch, which is really a river, about twenty-five miles long, that was cut six hundred years ago by a general of the great Chimu, who ruled the coast for centuries before the imperial armies of the Inca Manco were able to extend the sway of their sovereign in those parts. This was two centuries before the conquest by the Spaniards. This artificial river passes over great sandy plains and under a considerable chain of hills in order to reach the fertile valleys of Supe and Barranca.

At the end of our first two years in this field we have seen added to our membership in Peru, 303 persons, so that we now have 490, with more than 75 to be baptized in the next three weeks.

We are reaping the harvest of the sowing of other years, but the harvest has only just begun. The brethren have wept tears of joy as we have outlined our plans for the coming two years. These plans aim at the doubling of our membership, and an effort to place our mission on a self-supporting basis.

We need more men, good men, like the last sent us, and we feel assured, with the blessing of God attending our labors, that it will not be long till Peru will send word that the ancient Empire of the Sun is enjoying the full light of the Sun of Righteousness.