*"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform."*
HOW often we see this verified in mission work! But the only path of peace, the only way of blessing and success lies along the way of His leading, however mysterious it may appear to us. If we could only learn this lesson once for all, it would save us the many fruitless efforts, discouragements, and difficulties we get into by expecting the Lord to co-operate with us in our leading.
When the three young men from Pennsylvania who were the first missionaries sent here in the interests of the everlasting Gospel, landed on these shores in 1891, they had knowledge of only three persons in this country who were conversant with the message for this time. These were three French Swiss families who had been in correspondence with Bale, Switzerland.
Not knowing the language of the country, these young men started out in search of English and Germans with whom they could converse, and labored among them while acquiring the Spanish language.
In the province of Entre Ríos they found two or three families of German Russians who had received the truth in Kansas, and had come out here to communicate the good news to relatives and friends. This province has many colonies of their nationality who are attracted by a soil and climate favorable for their home industry, which is wheat-growing.
General View of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When Brother F. H. Westphal came out from home three years later to work among them, he found a soil receptive of the good seed of the Word, and raised up several churches near each other which still form the backbone, so to speak, of the believers here.
Their first appearance to a stranger is unique indeed,—rustics with unkempt hair and beard, brightly-dressed women with head enveloped in the never-failing kerchief, and barefooted children dressed like diminutive men and women. But in their meetings one discerns the unmistakable Spirit which binds us all together, whether we be Barbarian or Scythian, bond or free. And their singing is something soul-inspiring, or was before they became timid about it through imbibing some idea that singing should go by note. Every one sang with all his might; and each different part sliding up and down (each voice seems to carry a distinct part) and breaking time with the rest, but all bringing up suddenly at the last in perfect unison, rhyme and rhythm, and with an emphasis peculiar to themselves,—really it must be heard to be appreciated.
Our industrial school is located near these colonies, some fifteen miles away. When the ground was first broken on an eminence of the rolling prairie exposed to the glaring rays of the sun and the incessant winds; when the ants repeatedly destroyed every green thing planted, even peeling the bark from the young trees and leaving them bleached and bare; when the long, rainy winters prevented us from receiving the mails for weeks together, and boyish feet kept all bedaubed with adhesive mud, we were tempted to wish that our school were otherwise located.
But time, hard work, and God's blessing have done wonders. If there were a photograph doing justice to the school as it is now, I should be glad.
A long drive lined with rows of paradise trees leads up to the house through a beautiful vegetable garden on one side, and a flourishing young fruit orchard on the other. In front of the house are nicely laid-out flower-beds and a row of pine trees. The galpones are filled with grains, vegetables, and peanuts from the farm, and one by one the necessary horses, cows, and farming implements are being brought together.
The school is an object lesson in order, neatness, industry, and hygienic living, not only to the families represented in it, but to the Russian brethren round about who visit it from time to time, as needy as it still is of class-room facilities. Students are drawn from the other provinces and from Uruguay; Spanish, English, and German are taught; the Lord's blessing seals the institution as His own; and souls are being converted through it. About fifty students were enrolled last year.
The neighboring province of Santa Fe is that which follows Entre Ríos in the number of Sabbath-keeping representatives. In its southern part are several French and German Swiss companies, and farther north in the same province there are Spanish-speaking churches.
Uruguay, too, which is included with Argentina and Paraguay in the River Plate district, has two or three strong companies. There is one North American family where the mother and two daughters are in the truth. One of the daughters is a music teacher, is well educated, and is a help in the many translations of which we have need from English into Spanish.
Ever since the work began here, the practise has been followed of celebrating a general tent-meeting once a year. At first these were always near the companies in Entre Ríos. One was in Diamante, where passengers from Buenos Aires disembark on their way to the school four leagues inland. And, by the way, viewed from the side one nears in coming from the school, Diamante looks a second Nazareth with its flat roofs and eminent position.
But to return to the subject, a general interest was manifested among all classes while the meeting was going on, but the company who finally stepped out was composed almost entirely of very poor and humble people, as is many times the case. Among these was an Italian who afterward came to the province of Buenos Aires to seek work. He finally brought his family down, and settled. About a year ago my husband began to receive letters from him to the effect that there were people there who were deeply interested in the truth. After a considerable, but unavoidable delay, those interested ones were visited; and their experience in accepting the truth is such a typical one as showing how one finds the people, that I give it.
The family consisted of an Italian farmer, his wife and two unmarried sons who had grown up in the country. The father had been a successful contractor and builder until intemperance caused his undoing. They had been thoroughly instructed concerning the "beast" and the "mark of the beast," theoretically, but understood little of what constitutes a true Christian life. They had not the slightest knowledge either of the contents of the Holy Book, or the practise of direct prayer to the Father, and had to be taught just like little children.
Suffice it to say that they willed to do His will, and realized the promise that such "shall know of the doctrine." They took up each duty as it was presented to them. The woman renounced her Virgin, took off her jewelry, and gave up mate. The men had a real struggle when it came to tobacco and wine. However, they were also victorious through the Lord's help and the use of the temperance pledge, altho the father assured us that he loved the Lord a great deal, or he should never have given up wine. But such a happy family as they were when they had decided to leave all for Jesus, especially so for the marvelous change in the father whose intemperance had led them all an intolerable life, until the older son had refused longer to call him "father." Now all is changed, and love and harmony prevail. The mother says she wants to look at her husband all the time, his face looks so like the face of an angel. And he has altered very much, gaining rapidly in appetite and flesh.
As there was no water near the premises, a sepulcher of convenient size was dug beside the well, lined with canvass and filled with water. Then seven souls (three beside this family) were buried with their Lord in baptism, while we sang in Spanish,—
"O happy day that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my God."
Before the mother went down into the water she went to a neighbor who was present, kissed her good-by, and asked her pardon for anything she might have done to grieve her. This touched her friend's heart very much. From that time on this neighbor began to study the Bible she had bought, and has since been baptized with her husband and uncle.
When we came away they sent a case of wine unopened, ten pounds of tobacco, a jar of cherries preserved in spirits, a mate cup and bombilla which they had used nineteen years, two images of the Virgin of Lujan, two of the Sacred Heart, and some jewelry. They have been very generous in their money donations from time to time. They say that the truth saves them so much expense that they have considerable to give. The new members generally are very free to support the work with their means.
At the general meeting recently held, the first resolution presented was that we give expression as a conference to our gratitude to God for the blessings of the past year. A young man who had been converted in the school last year, arose, and, with some touching and appreciative words for what God had done for him, put a bill of ten pesos on the pulpit. One by one others followed his example, until nearly every one in the congregation had taken part in this voluntary contribution.
In Misiones and Paraguay where there were but three or four scattered believers, seven companies have been gathered out during the last year. From Entre Ríos and Santa Fe there is also good news of additions to the faith; and a call has come from Santiago del Estero, a province never visited by our workers, asking for baptism. These families had learned of the truth through our little Spanish monthly paper El Faro (The Lighthouse). They were so interested in seeing and hearing the missionary that no one retired the night of his arrival, not even the children. Four were baptized there, and left as witnesses.
The enemy of all righteousness is not asleep at this time either, as he shows in various ways. One of these is the Sunday-closing movement set on foot by the Catholic Church and the labor organizations, and heartily entered into by the Protestants as well. The boycott is already advocated against those business houses who refuse to close.
These, however, are only incidents to be expected on the way, and in no way affect the final outcome of the conflict in which we are engaged.
"We wait Thy triumph, Saviour King;
Long ages have prepared Thy way;
Now all abroad Thy banner fling,
Set time's great battle in array.
"On mountain-tops the watchfires glow,
Where scattered wide the watchmen stand;
Voice echoes voice, and onward flow
The joyous shouts from land to land.
"O, fill the church with faith and power,
Bid her long night of weeping cease:
To groaning nations haste the hour
Of life and freedom, light and peace."
