Home Missionary Work in the Regions Beyond
By Edith M. Graham
“An invalid woman accepted the truth in Calcutta, India, and her husband acknowledged it, but for a time did not accept it because he did not know what he would do if he were forced to give up his government position. His wife was19a zealous missionary. Later they had to go to a city up in the mountains, where she stirred up such an interest by the distribution of literature and other work, that it was thought best to hold a series of meetings, with the result that a church was organized there.” “One Chinese young man told us he sat up one night to read through a little tract on the second coming of Christ, as it was so interesting that he could not put it away. This tract was sold to him by one of our members, and later the young man bought fifteen of the tracts to send to his friends in Penang.” “An evangelist of another denomination wrote us that he had received our tracts, and now had fifteen persons keeping the Sabbath, and begged us to come and instruct them further. Two other evangelists also wrote us, one stating that he had forty waiting for us to come and teach them; the other said that his heart had been stirred by reading the tracts, and he wanted to come to our school to study the Bible.” “Three young Welshmen staying near us in a tent, were asked if they would come to study the Bible with us. The result is that they are now attending all our meetings and are keeping the Sabbath. These young men say how strange it is that they should come all the way from Wales to hear the truth. They never heard of Seventh-day Adventists in Wales. One of them is anxious to return to warn his people that the end is near. There is also a Swede who is interested. He walked seven miles yesterday to attend our little Sabbath school.” “Six months ago I canvassed a man for De Wachter who did not care to subscribe for a paper of a religious character. After some persuasion he said he would subscribe for six months. This man stopped me on the street the other day, and reminded me that his subscription expires this month, and said that if I would call at his house some evening, he would renew it for the coming year. He is much interested in the paper, and after reading it himself has passed it on to a friend. This friend has now subscribed for it.” “I cannot begin to meet the calls to study the truth with the people. Already six of my readers have taken their stand with us, and have been baptized. This paper and book work which is being done by the church members is finding out the people. It is opening up more homes for study than I can attend to. And some who had known the truth in the past but had become discouraged, have been persuaded to attend Sabbath school and prayer meeting. Truly a revival is coming in among us. To the Lord be all the glory.” “Our society has been doing a little work with the papers entitled the World-War and Our Enemy. Our company decided to order six hundred papers, thinking this would be plenty, owing to the thinly populated condition of the territory. We divided the ground, making each member responsible for a certain district. On the first Sunday after the papers arrived, I started out on my mission at 10:30 A. M. It was wet, and I considered a little whether I should go or not, but I ventured. I returned home at 2:30 P. M., thankful for one of the richest experiences of my life. There was hardly a house in that district whose occupants did not buy a paper, and many took two papers. In four hours I sold seventy-six papers.” “On the following day our missionary secretary went out with another sister into the district allotted to her. They had not been out before, and this particular place had been repeatedly worked with tracts and papers. In four hours they sold one hundred and sixteen papers, and came home rejoicing. The same week another brother and I went into a part of the district allotted to him, and we sold ninety-eight in two and a half hours, after doing our regular day’s work. Still another brother with his wife, went out on the next Sunday and sold one hundred and seven; one of the younger members went out with the secretary and sold one hundred and six; and the following Sunday my wife and I sold one hundred and forty, and another member sold one hundred and thirteen by himself. In all, we have distributed almost one thousand papers, and each member has had a good experience.” “It is certainly gratifying to know that some phase of truth has entered every home in the district; for we are very particular to give tracts where we do not sell a paper, and also to many places where we do.” “In one society was a sister who always thought she could not do missionary work. But upon being urged to take a few tracts to lend or give away, she was persuaded to do so. On visiting a family, her fears were increased, as she was not given a welcome reception. Nevertheless she gave them a tract, which was taken and thrown aside, where it remained for some weeks. On a rainy day, not being able to go out, the wife took the tract and read it. After reading it through, she said to her husband, ‘I will have to go over to the Adventists.’ He replied, ‘That is, if you can keep to it.’ She said, ‘We will have to,’ and referred him to the tract she had read. He requested her to read it to him, which she did. He also became convinced, and they both knelt down and asked the Lord’s forgiveness for all the Sabbaths they had broken. Later their names were handed us for baptism.” “The work that was suggested and adopted for the Maranatha Mission was the fourth Sabbath home missionary service,—the use of tracts as extensively as means will allow, especially tracts in the Kafir language; and the holding of meetings by the native brethren and sisters among the native people surrounding the mission. Two bands of about five in each band were organized for special missionary work, under experienced leaders. A piece of land will be worked by the members of the young people’s society of the church, to raise money for missionary purposes.” “Two bands of workers were organized under the direction of the church, and they have been visiting the native kraals and holding evangelistic meetings whenever opportunities have appeared, with the result that some have given themselves to the Lord, and are keeping his holy Sabbath. One of these is our kitchen girl, for whom we have been laboring for some time. Oh, what a joy to see souls saved!” “Not long ago, while I was making a pastoral call on one of our church members, he told me that it was not our preaching that caused him to be a Seventh-day Adventist, but the reading of our pioneer missionary paper, the Oriental Watchman. He said, ‘I have been a regular reader of that paper for more than five years. I compared what I read in it with my Bible, and by and by decided that the people who printed it had the truth.’ Some day in the not-far-distant future we shall find many souls in India that will come out into the light just as this brother did. He had been a missionary in India for nearly seven years, and speaks the Gujarati language.” These reports come from many lands, widely separated, but they all show how the Spirit of the Lord is leading men and women to make earnest efforts to save their friends and neighbors. No matter what the color or the race, they are seeking for honest souls for God’s kingdom. How many more will enlist in this great home missionary campaign?