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Greeted by Fireworks

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 4, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 44.

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Greeted by Fireworks

By J. P. Anderson

I was asked to visit a place called Moi Lung, about half-way between Hongkong and Swatow. We had a call from there, to the effect that some hundreds of people wanted us to preach the gospel to them.
IN SHANGHAI: NEW METHODS IN THE ANCIENT EAST
IN SHANGHAI: NEW METHODS IN THE ANCIENT EAST
When we landed, we were met by a score of the professed Christians. Some had never seen the face of a foreigner before. They knew not how to express their intense joy that I had come to them; they did not know how to show forth their happiness in any other way than by firing off fire-crackers. The distance from the seashore to Moi Lung is about four miles and a half. They would not allow me to walk. I must ride on horseback, and the other two workers must have chairs. Ahead of us ran several men, crying out in loud voices, “The Muh su [foreign preacher] has come!” As we journeyed, our crowd swelled, and with it the volley of the fire-crackers. When we reached Moi Lung, there were about two hundred following me. I did not like this kind of procedure; but “what can not be cured must be endured.”
They have a house which they bought and fitted up for a chapel. When I alighted from the horse and entered the chapel, all firing ceased for a moment. But I had no sooner disappeared than it began again, with more earnestness than before. This was kept up for about fifteen minutes, when it stopped altogether. Then they marched in and looked me over. This was their way of expressing their gratitude to me for coming to teach them “about Jesus,” as they said. I stayed about ten days. We held evening meetings, which often lasted until nearly three o’clock in the morning. Some days we had Bible study, and other days preaching.

Later

The interest at Moi Lung gives promise of bringing forth much fruit. We have rented their chapel for a year. They are heathen yet, but there are good reasons to believe that some of them will accept the gospel.
It cheers our hearts to find such openings. I wish our people could look over a gathering of these people, and hear them sing, “Down at the Cross,” or some other hymn. They do not always sing the tune; but the spirit is there.
J. P. Anderson.
Moi Lung, Kwang-tung.