The knowledge that a new field has been entered should be a source of encouragement to all who are looking for the soon coming of our Lord, reminding us, as it does, that his coming draws near.
Korea, the “Land of Morning Calm,” has until recently been without a single representative of the truth we hold dear, and had she awaited the coming of a messenger from abroad, this would even yet be true. A large number of Koreans have emigrated to the Hawaiian Islands during the last few months, and many of them have stopped in Kobe for several days, awaiting the coming of the large ocean liners which would take them the remainder of their journey.
KOREAN BRETHREN
About the first of May, one of these emigrants, dressed in the quaint garments peculiar to his country, was strolling along the street on which our rented church building is located. His attention was arrested by the sign at the gate, which is written partly in Chinese and partly in Japanese characters, and, translated into English, reads, “Meeting hall of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”
He appeared to be so much interested in this sign that one of our brethren signaled to him to enter. He did not understand a word of Japanese, and Brother Kuniya did not understand Korean, so they were quite at a loss to know how to communicate with each other. At last the happy thought suggested itself of using the Chinese characters. The Korean, being a well-educated man, understood these readily, and thus they carried on a silent, yet animated conversation.
It was found that he had been a member of the Episcopal Church for several years, but he said he had never heard such wonderful things in all those years15as he heard in the conversation that day. Again and again he returned for Bible study, accompanied by another of his countrymen, who was also a Christian. Both seemed to be hungering for the truth, and step by step as the various points of our faith were presented, and were found to be in harmony with the Bible, they readily accepted them.
On the evening before the day on which the ship was to sail for Honolulu, a Bible reading was held on the subject of baptism, which lasted until nearly midnight. The younger of the two men could not read Chinese, hence any remark which Brother Kuniya or I made for his benefit had to be translated orally into the Korean language, by the older man. With tears in their eyes, they expressed their gratitude to God for showing them such light, and they desired baptism before they should leave Kobe. As the boat was expected to leave early on the morrow, a small company carrying paper lanterns, assembled shortly after midnight at a pool below the Nunobski Falls, and these brethren were buried in baptism.
The older man, Ryn Un Hyun, went on to Hawaii, but hopes to return ere long to Korea. The younger, Son Fun Cho, has gone back to his home, and purposes to devote his time to spreading the truth which he learned here. On his journey home he became acquainted with a Korean missionary who was returning from Honolulu, and succeeded in interesting him in the closing message. This native missionary wrote us that he longed for an opportunity to study these things more fully, and he hoped the time would soon come when Seventh-day Adventist missionaries would enter Korea.
Do not these things show that the time has fully come for our messengers to enter this field with its ten million people? Who will answer their cry, “Come over and help us”?
