BARBADOS, WEST INDIES by W. A. Sweany

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 4, 1902

BARBADOS, WEST INDIES.

By W. A. Sweany

From Mission Board Correspondence.

It will soon be seven months since we arrived here. We enjoy the best of health, and have increased in strength and weight since coming. From the very first we saw opportunities for work, and so have been, and are still, very busy. Pastoral work here is an absolute necessity, very different from what it is in the States. Caring for the sick and poor might very easily occupy all our time. The sickness, suffering, poverty, want, and woe that prevail here are dreadful, and cannot be described. We are doing all we can to relieve the situation, but this is only as a drop in the bucket, when compared with the needs. The conditions here are well calculated to open hearts and pocketbooks. Could our dear people everywhere know the needs of these people, they would freely pour out their plenty; and what they could share even in their penury would relieve many in need.

There are three companies out in the country that hold regular Sabbath and midweek services, and they all need help. Some of these people are interested and are accepting the truth. I am trying to visit these companies regularly, spending one Sabbath in the month with each. Mrs. Sweany and Sister Honeywell have charge of the meetings in Bridgetown during my absence. I baptized six at the last quarterly meeting, and eight or ten more have asked for this rite. There are many interested ones, and some are under conviction, and almost persuaded to yield to the Lord.

Mrs. Sweany has been conducting a school, with excellent results. We are greatly handicapped for books and other facilities, but are doing the best we can. The tuition is only five cents a week, and many are unable to pay it. We expect that this, and a great deal more, will be needed for the necessary expenses. Everything here is different from what we have been accustomed to; only God and His righteousness, and human nature and sin,—these we find to be the same, though manifested under different conditions.

We have learned to like most of the native fruits, vegetables, etc. We are living on a purely vegetarian diet of two meals a day. The people are astonished at the way we have stood the change of climate. We have never worked harder than since we came here, and we actually stand the heat better than many of the natives do.

We are teaching scrubbing, sweeping, cooking, and sewing in the school; for we have found many mothers and sisters who cannot sweep or scrub their own floors, or make a child’s garment. But now a keen interest is being shown in these things, and great advancement is being made.

We are glad we are here, because we are needed, and because we can do good. We know no such thing as homesickness or fear, although we realize our danger as our fellow workers fall about us. We feel sure the Lord has brought us to this place, so we hope to live and labor until the work closes in triumph; but if we fall, we want to be at the front with the armor on. W. A. SWEANY.