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BRAZIL

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1901

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 14.

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BRAZIL

By W. H. Thurston

With the increase of responsibilities and the enlargement of the work, the blessing of the Lord has been present, and our efforts have not been in vain. During the year there were 188 persons baptized, 232 members added to the churches, and three new churches organized. This brings our church-membership up to about 700.
In some cases the preaching has been done in the face of mob threats. At one place a man, with a revolver in his pocket, took the front seat, saying that he came for the purpose of shooting the speaker; but he could not get the revolver out of his pocket.
The interest in the truth is increasing in every place where we have begun work, and the calls for help are more than we are able to respond to; but the people are reading.
The Methodists do not seem to enjoy the progress of our work in Brazil, and have taken steps to retard it; but the promise is, “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” The pronoun “we” in this text applies to Methodists as well as to every one, anywhere, who tries to do anything against the truth; and if the advocates of truth go straight forward in the spirit and power of the Author of truth, there will be victory all the way.
The tithe reported for the year was $1,773.56. The new churches were organized near the close of the year, and no tithe was received from them. The offerings amounted to $123.24. This includes Sabbath-school offerings given to missions. The total amount of offerings from the Sabbath-schools was $137.40. The total membership of the Sabbath-schools reported is 604, while the church-membership is 697. This is not as it should be, but is due in part to the fact that the churches do not all understand the method of reporting the Sabbath-school membership, and to a failure on the part of some to report. Most of the churches have reported the church-membership, and have not counted the children as members of the Sabbath-school. Line upon line, precept upon precept, will finally adjust all these matters, and a proper showing will appear in each department.
The canvassing work has been between ebb and flow during the year, but it is coming up now, and the outlook is encouraging.
The Lord has opened the way for us to start a mission school, and we now have fifteen students, and others are expected soon. Two have already been sent out from this school as teachers, as they had a good education when they entered, and were in the mission class before the school proper was started. We expect this school to provide teachers as fast as they are needed for our schools, as well as to prepare suitable persons for other lines of work.
We have four church schools and one secular school doing good work, and expect soon to start two more church schools.
The outlook for the advancement of the message was never better, and is indeed encouraging. We thank the Lord for what has been done in this great field; and taking courage from the past, we press forward, knowing that the time is short in which we have to labor.
From a secular standpoint, the outlook is dark. Banks are failing, business houses are being closed, capital and labor are clashing, and commerce seems almost at a standstill. Wickedness is increasing on every hand, and the end is not yet; but we are in the time of the end, and the Lord is soon coming to reward every one according as his work shall be; and then shall we go to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
W. H. Thurston.