p. 15 | Hearts are Being Prepared by J. W. Westphal

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 28, 1907

Hearts are Being Prepared

By J. W. Westphal

J. W. WESTPHAL

EVIDENCES frequently come to light showing that the Lord by his providence is preparing souls to receive the last message of mercy. Recently one of our laborers was working in a large city of Paraguay. One afternoon as he was going from house to house with tracts, Bibles, and papers, he felt discouraged about the results of his labors. A little later he reached a neat little cottage, where he was gladly received by its only occupant, a Paraguayan bachelor, to whom he sold a Bible and some tracts. He received an invitation to call again. At another visit he learned from him the following story:—

He was brought up a Roman Catholic, but for some years he had had no confidence in that church. He had once purchased a Bible, but a friend borrowed it, and never returned it. A New Testament came into his hands, and this partially made up the loss. He believed that some day brethren would come to him to help him, and with this in view he prepared a place for them, which was later destroyed by a flood. Nothing daunted, however, he still waited and hoped. He now found in the repeated visits of our brother the fulfilment of his hopes. Without waiting to be taught, he asked about the various points of our faith, to which the Spirit of the Lord seemed to have been leading his mind.

In his simple faith he had put up in his garden the first letters of the Spanish words, Garden of the Father; God. He considered that all had come from the Lord,—land, trees, rain, and sunshine, and the health and strength with which to do the work, and hence all was the Lord’s. Such a man would, naturally, gladly receive the tithing system. He had read in the Bible about it, and inquired whether it was not obligatory. He said he would not only pay tithe in the future, but would pay some for what he had. He is now rejoicing in the truth, and is earnestly teaching it to others. The laborer’s efforts were not in vain in the Lord. The promise is, “We shall reap, if we faint not.”

I will mention another instance, which came to my notice while in Paraguay: Brethren Ernst and Kolbermatten had been working with the tracts and papers in the capital, the city of Asuncion. They desired to hold a series of meetings, but looked in vain for a vacant room. Later, one of them found three rooms, while canvassing in a very undesirable part of the city, and immediately went to inform the other. On going to secure them, they found that a gentleman and his wife from Montevideo, Uruguay, had come to spend the winter here, and had already secured possession. They were disappointed; but the gentleman offered to rent the largest room, which was at once taken.

For weeks they continued the meetings, with small interest. The gentleman of whom they rented the room was a French infidel. He had no interest in religious things, and was always ready to argue against Christianity, and never appeared in the meetings. As a result, there sprang up only a passing acquaintance. Near the close of the series of meetings, he was asked why he did not attend. He replied that he did not need to. Every night, while lying in bed, he and his wife listened attentively to all the sermons, and after the meetings had talked a long time about what they had heard. They were convinced that this was the truth, and they determined to obey it. Before returning to their home, they were baptized, and are now the only representatives of this message in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Others also accepted the truth in Asuncion.

The interest in missionary work is also increasing among our people of South America. In the Argentine Conference, for instance, where the weekly offerings go to open up the work in new provinces, they were about as much for the first nine months of this year as for the whole of last year in the entire River Plate field, which then included Uruguay, Paraguay, and the Upper Parana. Through the better facilities of the union organization, we hope to do more in the future than has been possible in the past.