On the Caspian by F. F. Oster

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 31, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, Nos. 43, 44.

On the Caspian

By F. F. Oster

BAKU, or Bad-kuba, as the Persian calls it, meaning "weather-beaten," is a cosmopolitan city on the west coast of the Caspian Sea. A strange contrast between Oriental and Occidental life greets the eye. One needs but to compare "New Town," with its fine shops, paved streets, fashionable folk, and large steamer-filled harbor, with "Old Town" and its quaint bazaars, little workshops, and Persian life, and one sees the wonderful progress made under Russian rule.

A short time ago a little company of us gathered on the sandy beach, and there in the blue waters of the Caspian a number of souls were buried with their Lord in baptism. Our Seventh-day Adventist people are scattered all through this region, from Mt. Ararat on the northwestern, to Askabad on the northeastern border of Persia. Brethren dressed in strange costume, but with faces beaming with the joy of the Lord, have visited us from both of these remote places.

The calls for help can not be filled. At one place our Russian worker preached hour after hour, without an intermission, to over a hundred attentive listeners, who wished to hear more and more. The believers are just as earnest and truth-loving as they are in any land. Thus out over the border-land of the Caucasus and of Persia, we hear the warning message sounding.

Baku. F. F. OSTER.