Java, East Indies by P. Tunheim

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 4, 1912

Java, East Indies

By P. Tunheim

P. TUNHEIM

Recently I had a reading with a Mrs. Courant. Her husband died from heart failure just before I returned to Java. He was a well-educated man, an editor of the Malay paper. Brother Teasdale had given him Bible studies, and he knew the truth well, and several times was on the point of yielding obedience to it, but waited for a more convenient time. What a warning this should be to others! His wife often seems deeply impressed, and to-day I told her the danger of delaying as her husband did.

Not long ago the other churches had a missionary feast outside of Surabaya, on a small hill, a very pretty place. We all attended the services, to show the people that we were interested in them and in their work. I know most of the missionaries and also the church-members, and they are very friendly toward us. A number spoke in Dutch, Malay, and Javanese, telling some interesting experiences they had had in their work.

A week or two was taken up with Bible readings, visiting, lending and selling tracts. Each Monday morning I go out with Dutch tracts to lend among the people. I usually visit about forty homes. Through this work quite an interest has been aroused, and several are now having Bible readings in their homes, and some come to our home. I am to begin readings in a new home next Sunday, where the husband is a Freemason, and his wife a Spiritualist medium. They seem like nice people, and I believe the Lord is working with them. Most of the

people here are more or less mixed up with Spiritualism. Surely the evil one is busy, and the end is near, so we need to work as never before.

Each Sabbath we have a Sabbath-school in the morning for the Dutch people, and in the afternoon we have a Malay and Javanese Sabbath-school for Chinese, Javanese, and Eurasians who can not speak Dutch. The latter mixed school is usually quite interesting. A young Chinaman, who has not attended regularly for some time, told me last Friday night that he had asked his manager to let him have the Sabbath free. This has been granted. On Sunday, when he came to a Bible reading, he said, “Yesterday was our first Sabbath in our home,—mother, my sister, and myself.” They are indeed a nice family. The young man seems very earnest, more so than any other Chinaman I have seen. He is well educated in Dutch, Malay, and Javanese. I believe he will become a faithful worker. His mother also seems very earnest. She has often told me that her only desire is to hear the gospel and follow the Lord.

Another regular attendant of our Sabbath-school in the afternoon is a Javanese tailor, also an educated man. I feel sure he, too, will decide to obey. This man always makes me think of the Ethiopian who went from Gaza to Jerusalem, to whom Philip was sent to preach. The other night I let him read the account of Philip and the eunuch, and he said: “I am just like that man; I have often read and not understood, but now the Lord has sent you here to teach me, and I am glad for the light.”

I have also started readings with a Dutch widow and her daughter, and with one or two others. This widow is a Christian, and she told me that she had been wishing for a long time that some one would tell her more about the gospel. She is so interested that she writes down the texts as we read them. Surely the Lord is visiting those who are sighing and crying for light.