p. 12 | Untitled article by J. L. Shaw

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 47.

From a Letter from India

By J. L. Shaw

Dear Brother Wilcox:

Again I want to express my appreciation of the interest which the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has taken in the Mountain Mission, and on the part of myself and other workers I want to say that we are extremely grateful to God and to the brethren of the Pacific Press for their willing and continued efforts in raising funds for the Mountain Mission, and for the success which has attended the efforts put forth. We are planning to have the dedication this month, and from reports in, it is evident that sufficient money has been raised to entirely liquidate the indebtedness, so that our first property in India owned by our people may be dedicated free of debt. Thank God for this and all our brethren who have so cheerfully and willingly given of their means.

The last report in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES places the amount received by them at seven hundred and twenty dollars. We have received about a hundred dollars and more at our office in India, and besides this Brother Enoch raised quite a sum, amounting to about two or three hundred dollars. We therefore feel justified in saying that the funds have been raised, and there seems to be a fair prospect of a little surplus which will be very acceptable in making some repairs and alterations. We shall, therefore, sing the jubilee song at our dedication.

We feel very certain that the Lord led us to the Annfield Estate, and the raising of this money and the way we were led in finding a location, together with the present developments of the work, have been to me a clear evidence that God hears and answers prayer; and as the work goes forward by God's help, I am sure it will be demonstrated that the efforts put forth by the SIGNS OF THE TIMES in raising funds for the Mountain Mission were by no means a mistake.

During the past hot season, twenty-six workers, aside from children, have been able to avail themselves of a rest and change at the Mountain Mission Home. Some came for a month and some for a longer length of time. Miss King came up after a hard season of labor in Burma, stricken down with malaria fever. By the help of the Lord and the blessing of the Home, she is now entirely over it and is rapidly growing stronger. Miss Whaley had a serious case of sickness and came up to the Mountain Home and was healed. Brother Hansen came to Mussoorie very badly broken down in health and had been able to do little or no work for several months. He is now getting really strong and finds himself able to do a day's work. At the present time he is making alterations upon the house and adding another room. He finds himself able to work all day and rests well at night. We have also been able to give the benefit of the house to a few who are not of our faith. One man stricken with senile gangrene stopped with us for several months. While here he went over different lines of truth with us and accepted it. Regular services have been carried on three times a week during the whole season, and not without fruits. Tho there is much opposition in Mussoorie, yet two sisters have accepted the message recently, and one desires baptism. Next year we hope to make a more decided effort in this place if we can get help to do so.

You remember, Brother Wilcox, that a part of the plan of the Mountain Mission was to start a school for native people. We have been giving this matter much consideration, and hope to open an industrial Bible school at the beginning of next season and are making plans that way at the present time. We find some of the soil on Annfield Estate very fertile, and Elder Owen, with a number of native men, is preparing the soil, putting in plants and fruit trees. When finished he will probably have a couple of thousand of strawberry vines, half as many raspberries, besides pear, cherry, and apricot trees. This gives work to quite a number of native men, for in the hills everything has to be done by hand labor. The ground can not be plowed except by the coolie in his native style by a hoelike instrument called the kodali. We expect to run a school and teach the boys who work upon the place the word of God and the truth for this time.

We are splendidly situated for an industrial school. There is abundance of lime-stone upon the ground and lime-kilns, and a profitable industry has been carried on in the past in making lime. This will also give employment to a number of native men. It is almost impossible to run a school for the poor people without having an industry connected with it for those who attend to earn their living. The ordinary laboring man in India gets only a few cents a day and with that it is not possible for him to lay aside anything for going to school. The great question is to get food enough to live upon, and the outlook at the present time is that in many places in northern India there will be a famine. In some places during the rainy season there has been little or no rain, and the result is that there will be a famine, for the people have nothing upon which to fall back when the rain fails and the soil refuses to produce.

A week ago last Sabbath I was down to Dehra Dun where the Burgess's are. It is fourteen miles from here. We had a good time together and had some good meetings. The Lord came near and blessed us. One native brother was baptized and another was seriously considering the same step. A Eurasian family have also taken their stand on the message. The Lord is blessing Brother and Sister Burgess in their work, and it is being demonstrated that our literature can be sold among the native people of India. One native brother who was baptized at Annfield about three months ago has since that sold 2,500 copies of a little booklet on lines of present truth. By getting people to buy our literature the work of advancing the truth in India can be greatly hastened and the message can be quickly borne among those who are able to read.

I will not write more at this time. I have added these few items thinking that you might be interested in what is being done in the mountains. If any of our people in America think that the Mountain Mission is to be only a place for rest, we hope that it will be demonstrated that such is not the entire purpose. Our effort is to make it a place of physical and spiritual help to our workers and a means of scattering light and truth among the many, many heathen people in this part of India. We do not know how the work may develop nor do we need to know. God is leading and we are content to follow on, trusting in Him, and believing that if we rightly relate ourselves to Him, He will lead and guide us. I have never been sorry for one minute that I returned to India, tho many thought that I was presumptuous. I am sure the Lord directed; and to have some part in the closing work of the great Threefold Message wherever the Lord may lead, is to my wife and me a great privilege. We, with other workers in the field, are fighting against a stubborn wall of caste and superstition filled with error and doubt, yet in God we trust. 'If God be for us, who can be against us?'

Truly your brother in Christ,

J. L. SHAW.

NOTE.—The SIGNS has forwarded since Professor Shaw wrote the above $1,233.74; it has on hand $114.96, which will be sent forward soon. India needs it all. May God bless donors and laborers abundantly. W.