Missionary Work in Worldly Colleges
By A. J. Harris
THE brightest and most promising young people of our land are filling the colleges and schools, and should not these have the message for the last days? Our college experience for the past two years has brought this forcibly to our attention. Mrs. Harris and myself entered the medical college in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1904. There we found a brother who had entered with the same spirit and determination to disseminate the truth while he studied. We combined forces, and soon questions came to us; we invited inquirers to our rooms, and held readings on Friday evenings. We attended the meetings of the Young Women’s and the Young Men’s Christian Association, and gave in our testimonies as opportunity was granted. Soon we were called upon to take an active part, even to conduct the weekly chapel devotional service, and to speak to these different organizations, which we did with pleasure. And to the praise of the Lord we saw the fruit of our work before the end of the year; and within the last few weeks I have received letters from two who accepted present truth, one a practising physician in Nebraska, the other a lady, sister of another practising physician, who is also interested. And the judgment will reveal others, I know. At the beginning of the present year’s school we transferred our work to Kirksville, Mo., a large school of about seven hundred students. Soon after our arrival here, we were asked by the officers of the Young Men’s and the Young Women’s Christian Association to take an active part in their services, which we did, and were given charge of the Bible study. I explained to the committee that I was a Seventh-day Adventist. The reply was that they knew it, and had made their choice, knowing that that people know the Bible. I asked them to furnish me an outline of the study, which they did, knowing that as long as it kept to the Bible, it would be truth, and we studied it accordingly. We opened our doors every Friday evening for study with the leaders and as many others as wished to come. The attendance increased, and is still increasing; the rooms are filled every Friday night. Among those who attend are from four to six of the leaders at the medical school, from four to six of the State normal students, besides some of our neighbors. We take part in the Sunday services at the college, esteeming it a privilege and duty, knowing that we can not reach these people in any better way than to go where they are. These openings, if not already made, can be solicited by a kindly Christian spirit in taking advantage of the many providences of God, even outside of college life, in the villages and neighborhoods about us. I believe that we shall advance faster by meeting the people when, where, and at the time they meet. We have refrained from presenting anything of a doctrinal nature until it was called for, but for the past four weeks we have spent the time in answering questions on present truth, and we have had some very interesting experiences. At one meeting there were three subjects asked for by three different individuals,—the immortality question, the second coming of Christ, and the new earth state. And nearly every day some interested person comes to ask some question about the truth. Four young ladies from the normal school are preparing themselves for teachers, and are inquiring about our schools; two sisters, one of whom has already acknowledged the truth, will go to Memphis, Tenn., in June, and desires to know concerning our people there. There are two other brethren here in school, and we have a Sabbath-school of about fifteen members. We expect several to accept the truth before we leave this place.