OUR WORK AND WORKERS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 4, 1897

OUR WORK AND WORKERS.

Elder G. T. Wilson and wife have gone from Australia to Tasmania to labor.

Elder N. C. McClure reports the addition of six persons to the church at Eureka, Cal.

Elder W. C. Grainger and Brother T. H. Okohira, our missionaries to Japan, have located in Tokio, the capital.

Following on the labors of Elders A. J. Howard and F. Stebbeds at Nebraska City, Neb., a Sabbath school has been organized with thirty-one members.

The camp-meeting held at Adelaide, South Australia, in the autumn, has been followed by a continuous interest, and some forty baptisms are reported.

A church of thirteen members was organized at Alliance, Ohio, January 3, by Elders S. S. Shrock and A. M. Mitchell. A tract society was also organized.

A Sabbath school with twenty-seven members has been established at Central City, Neb., as a result of labor by Elder C. N. Hart and Brother E. L. Stewart.

The work at Hanley, Iowa, by Brethren H. M. J. Richards and C. A. Hansen, is fruitful of interest and some accessions to the faith. An organization is expected in the near future.

Elder R. D. Hottel, who has for some time been a laborer in the Atlantic Conference, has been transferred to the southern field, and located at Birmingham, Ala. His address is 1008 North Twenty-first Street.

An encouraging series of meetings at Exira, Iowa, is reported by Elder E. G. Olsen, who is laboring in the interest of the Scandinavian people. There was a refreshing revival in the church, and about a score began the service of the Lord for the first time.

A church of nineteen members was organized at Lodi, Cal., January 9, by Elder M. C. Israel. The greater part of this number had been connected with the church at Stockton. This organization is not only a great convenience to the brethren at Lodi, but it gives a new impetus to the work there.

We are often reminded of the fact that opposition to the truth works to its advantage, and that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” It has frequently occurred that our brethren have been stimulated to build church edifices of their own because they were denied the use of places that were accessible to people of other denominations. This is aptly illustrated by the experience of some brethren in Cass County, Texas. An unorganized company constructed an arbor in which Brother J. N. Sommerville held a series of meetings, after which a church was organized, numbering twenty-three members, and took the name New Hope Church. Brother Sommerville says: “We were not allowed to use any of the church buildings or schoolhouses, so the brethren decided to build. . . . There has been much opposition, but God has wonderfully blessed the work.” That the Lord will manifest his power in times of apparent disaster, was demonstrated at the Red Sea. That vicissitudes which appear to seriously cripple the work may be made the direct means of furthering it all the more, was illustrated at Jerusalem: “And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. . . . Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word.” Acts 8:1-4.

Union College, at College View, Neb., has now an attendance of 236. Elder W. B. White says the school “is getting a reputation among the other churches, and also in the world, as an excellent school, and now in the ladies’ dormitory more than half the students are from the world or other churches.”

A good work is reported at Vance Creek, Wis., under the labors of Brother D. C. Burch, who began work there in the fall by holding meetings in a union church. The result is a company of about forty who have covenanted to “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” The attendance at Sabbath school is about sixty.

An encouraging report of mission work in Wyoming, under the labors of Elder O. S. Ferren, appears in the Review. In the past year he has held meetings in eight different places, and organized two churches, four Sabbath schools, and two tract societies. At the date of his report, Elder Ferren was holding meetings at a mining camp, with a good attendance.

Sometimes the cry of “hard times” becomes more of a bugbear than a real hindrance to canvassers. Other people do not, as a rule, throw up their business because of hard times. They are obliged to continue their work on the farm or in the workshop or store in spite of hard times. They continue even if there is little or no profit. In Elder D. C. Babcock’s report to the Review there is a word of encouragement that will bear repeating. He speaks of West Virginia, and says: “We can see a general revival in the work, and our workers are meeting with better success than they have had for some time. One of our old canvassers, who has been out of the work for some time, decided to begin work again. She commenced with her nearest neighbor, and sold six books at the first six houses.” He further states that she sold nine books the next day, six of them to Catholics, and this work was done in territory that had been canvassed several times. “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.” Times always will be hard, but the Gospel of the kingdom must be proclaimed unto the ends of the earth, and all power in heaven and in earth is behind it. “Go ye therefore.”