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Northwestern Rhodesia

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 28, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 48.

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Northwestern Rhodesia

By S. M. KONIGMACHER

S. M. KONIGMACHER
As I write, it is high noon, and the sun is hot, cruelly so. The corn is drying up, and unless we get some rain soon there will be no crop of corn, and this means a great deal of suffering to the natives. There are a number of boys in school. Most of them are working in the cornfield. They work very fast in the morning, so they can have the rest of the time for themselves.
There has been a great deal of sickness. One of our boys who went out as an evangelist has returned, and has been sick most of the time since. On learning his symptoms, the doctor thought his illness was caused by the bite of a bug, and that his fever would simply have to run its course.
Last night while I was teaching the advanced boys their Bible lesson, I explained to them that it was just as hard for the Jews to receive the truth for their time in regard to the resurrection as it is for the people of our time to receive the truth of Christ’s second coming; that some teach that all will be good just before he comes, but that we read in Matthew that as it was in the days of Noah so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.
Our descriptions of things in America puzzle the boys. When we tell them that some of our cities are so large that they would get tired walking from one side to the other, and that the houses are closer together than the compounds, there is great wonder in their eyes. The white man is looked up to. The native cannot think of a white man as being poor. Even the poor missionary is counted a prince of fortune by him.
It is wonderful to see the blessings that have attended the teaching of the Bible, and the great pall of darkness that has overtaken those nations and people who have not allowed it a place among them. These boys are different when under the influence of the Bible, and one can easily see the change that comes over them when they go away from it. The boys see a difference in the teaching at this mission and that at other missions. The Sabbath truth will be the great test here as well as elsewhere.
It is so hot and sultry that I can scarcely finish this. These houses are not so cool as the houses with grass roofs, but they are far more safe from fire. I have had to go out in the hot sun too much in the middle of the day, and it has made me sick. I was taken ill in the cornfield, and did not know whether I could get to the house or not; am some better now, but still have fever. [Brother Konigmacher has since gone to the Cape for rest.]
Oh, it will be a happy day when the work is finished! For a long time we thought that the home mail had gone to the bottom of the sea, but we received some letters today. We hope our papers will come soon.
God is with us and provides for us, and we are truly thankful to him. Remember us in your prayers.