A Chapel in the Philippine Swamp
By Christian Work
In April, 1902, a Methodist minister went from Manila to Baliuag, Philippine Islands. He soon began to receive requests to come out into a swamp, five miles away, and hold services. He was unable to go for some weeks, and in the meantime, one Sunday morning, twenty people from the swamp walked into the little chapel at Baliuag and joined on probation. Two missionaries went out and had a service beneath two large mango trees, with two hundred people present. Soon after this the rainy season set in and the missionary was unable to visit them for six months, but every few weeks a crowd of the people would wade through the mud and water and attend the services at Baliuag, and nearly all who came would join on probation. Now, in that swamp, at a little village called Manena, there is a chapel erected by the people, with a membership of sixty-six full members and over one hundred probationers.—Christian Work.