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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 19, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 29.

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Burma

By H. H. VOTAW.

INSEIN.—Last Sunday, May 13, we held another baptismal service. We were permitted to use the beautiful Royal Lakes for the service. I have never seen a prettier spot for such a service. It being just at the end of the dry season, the places we had used upon former occasions were too nearly dry to use now. Bathing is strictly forbidden in these lakes. But God must have touched the heart of the one in charge, for he gave us permission to use the lake without any hesitancy.
Our candidates were two young Burmese women. They are nieces of our Brother Maung Maung. Their grandmother is one of the four surviving persons who were baptized by Dr. Judson. She was for years a Bible woman, laboring most earnestly to spread the gospel tidings. We have strong hopes that these young women will be of service in carrying this last message to their countrywomen. They have had a good education in English. Both are in school still, and in recent examinations passed with good grades. They seemed to fully sense the solemnity of the ordinance in which they were to participate. We had carefully questioned them upon all points of faith, and found they agreed with us, and that they were intelligent upon all these points. Their father, who has believed our teachings for a long time, was much touched, and we hope he will obey soon.
A relative of these girls, who is a Buddhist, was present, and in endeavoring to express the feelings of her heart, she used expressions similar to these: “That was so solemn. It was like death. I felt like crying all the time.” Some friends told us that she talked during all the day and evening about it, at frequent intervals. We wish indeed that it might lead to her conversion.
Two ladies, members of the English church, who had never seen an immersion, also told us how impressed they were. One told her pastor she had seen a baptism like Jesus’, and he said, “Why, sister, Jesus stepped into the water, but John poured water from a shell upon his head.”
There are a number of interested persons, whom we entertain strong hopes of baptizing erelong. God's hand has been manifested for us in a marked degree in the last year. H. H. VOTAW.