Fukien Province, China by W. C. Hankins

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 17, 1911

Fukien Province, China

By W. C. Hankins

W. C. HANKINS

BEGINNING May 1 we held our regular annual meeting for the believers in Fukien province. This meeting was the largest we have ever held, and it taxed the seating capacity of our little chapel at Kulangsu to the utmost. It never could have accommodated all who came if the partition at the back had not been removed, the front end taken out, and an addition made by stretching a tent-fly over the court in front of the chapel. By doing this, we had a room over fifty feet long and about half as wide, which comfortably seated our own people and others who came. We had a regular attendance of from eighty to one hundred.

A good interest was shown throughout the meeting, and ten persons were baptized a few days before its close. These annual meetings are to our people in China much the same as our camp-meetings are to our people at home.

During the meeting the advisability of opening a chapel in the city of Haiteng was discussed, and it was decided to do so as soon as possible. There are already three families of Sabbath-keepers in that vicinity, and quite a number who are interested.

After returning home from a visit to the Sabbath-keeping companies inland from Swatow, the writer went to visit Tokang, in company with Brother and Sister B. L. Anderson and Mrs. Hankins. While there, we celebrated the ordinances of the Lord’s house with the brethren in that region.

This Tokang station is the oldest one in the Southeast China Mission, as it was opened by Brother Nga Pit Keh before we came to China. The openings for work in that district are very good. There are no other missions carrying on work within some miles, and there are a large number of boys and girls whom we could gather into our schools if we could open them; but our present quarters are such as to forbid the carrying on of any extensive work. The house itself is poorly lighted, more poorly ventilated, and almost ready to fall down. Then, too, its situation is indescribably bad. The pigs wallowing in the slimy mud in front of the house could not but give one the impression that it was built in the midst of a pigsty; and surely no pig-pen that we ever saw was more utterly filthy than is the street in front of that Tokang chapel. Not only is this an eyesore, but it is a menace to the health of our workers. Already two of our people have died of the plague in that house,—the chapel boy and the mother of one of our workers,—and we feel that we should lose no time in securing better quarters. We have done our best to find a suitable house that we could rent, but there is nothing to be had.

We have, however, been able to get a good piece of land for a moderate price, which has an almost ideal location. It is near the river, but is at the top of a small hill, where we can get pure air and not be surrounded by the filth of a Chinese village. We have the title to our land, but we need about one thousand dollars with which to put up a house that will serve the combined purposes of chapel, school, and living quarters for our workers.

Then there is the work at Tsoanchiu. We have carried on work there now for about five years. During that time it has been gradually growing, until we now have an organized church; and it has about outgrown the small house that has served as chapel and schoolroom combined. We have a boys’ school there, with an enrolment of between sixty and seventy. The main object of the school is to teach the gospel to its students. Most of the boys come from heathen homes, and already a number of them have declared their determination not to worship idols any more. We are also beginning to see some interest among the parents of the children. We expect a large harvest from the combined educational and evangelical work that is being carried on there.

Our location is a good one, but it is too small. We have been looking for more commodious quarters, but everything to be found calls for a large outlay in repairs, and then, when all is said and done, it is only a rented building. In this same compound that we are renting is a large building with only the walls standing. This place could be bought for a small sum, and one thousand dollars would convert it into a good-sized chapel and schoolroom, and build a second story for the workers to live in, besides serving as a place for the foreign workers to live when working there. We already have a goodly number of Sabbath-keepers, and the workers say that we could have one hundred fifty children in our school next year if we only had the room. Can we afford to let such a work come to a standstill for the lack of one thousand dollars?

This is God’s work, so we are going to ask him daily to send us two thousand dollars. He has many children who could easily spare this amount to help such an important work. If you are one of them, and the Holy Spirit tells you to send us this amount, or a part of it, please do not delay, but send it at once to the treasurer of the General Conference, telling him what it is for. We think that we need the money right away, but we know that God will send it in his own good time.

We are of good courage. We have never yet been sorry that we accepted the call to come to China. The work is onward, and the angels of God are going before us to open the doors of men’s hearts to accept this last great message of mercy. But we feel our own weakness and unworthiness, and we hope that our brethren everywhere will pray for us that we may faithfully do the work that God has given us to do, and follow where he leads the way.

Kulangsu, Amoy.