p. 20 | Week of Prayer Notes by W. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 9, 1902

Week of Prayer Notes

By W. A. S.

The Cry of the Fields

If the readers of the REVIEW could go through the letters that come to the Mission Board, and see how, intermingled with business and details not intended for publication, the cries for more help come pressing in from the hearts of our workers, all would realize how anxiously the fields await the news of re-enforcements on the way.

India's Cry

Here is a paragraph from Brother J. L. Shaw’s letter, just received from Calcutta, India:—

“The work in this field is growing, and we as workers are being severely taxed to meet the demands made upon us. We have reached the point where we shall have either to narrow down our work or have more help. As workers, I believe our hearts are being drawn more and more toward the work in this field. Between three and four thousand rupees [$1,000 or $1,300] have been pledged by the workers toward a school for natives, and without pressure some have pledged all they have. For my own part, my heart is wrapped up in this field, and I feel to offer my salary for the coming year to the Mission Board, providing they will send us help to circulate our literature through this country among the English-speaking people. How I shall get on need not concern the Board. The Lord always has provided, and will continue still. We have begun a good work in the circulation of the Oriental Watchman, and I cannot bear to see this work cut down.”

Surely the help must go; and without insisting on any such sacrifice as the great need prompts our brother to suggest. Over half the world is in Asia, unwarned. Personal contact with the needy East must forever bind hearts to the work there.

Another Call From Africa

Brother Anderson, of the Matebeleland Mission, repeats his plea for Barotseland, the country beyond the Zambezi, saying in a recent letter:—

“We feel very anxious about Barotseland. The king is just back from the coronation in England, and is asking for missionaries. I longed to go to him, when I saw him in Buluwayo, and tell him that we were ready to enter his country. He wants industrial missions established. We ought to be ready to enter that field next April.”

“The Lord wants us to be the head and not the tail. We can see how matters have been held so that we might enter the field. If we enter now, we shall be the first to occupy the land. The French have been there for years, and are now in disfavor. Shall we enter now? If we are there first, we shall not have so much to meet from those who are against the truth. I was informed a few weeks ago that a prominent missionary had petitioned the government to have us banished from this country because we teach the Sabbath and other heretical doctrines that unsettle the native mind. I am glad that our work is attracting attention. We want rightly to represent the Master when the world inspects our work.”

Who can fail to see that the time to favor Zion, has come? W. A. S.