The Blessing of Personal Missionary Work
The following incident is gleaned from a letter written by Miss Frances Brockman, one of our missionary nurses in Uruguay, South America:— "Not long ago I was called to take a case at the — hospital. The matron was particularly prejudiced against Seventh-day Adventists, and had forbidden us to mention religion to the patients or give them literature, so it was quite a struggle for me to decide to go. The call came at nine o'clock at night. A Franco-German man was to be operated on for appendicitis. The first incision showed that he was suffering from peritonitis, and past all earthly help, so it was immediately closed. By twelve o'clock he was weak and grew very restless and nervous. I never had had such a face-to-face battle with Satan as I had that night. The still, small voice said to me, 'Speak to him of his salvation,' but Satan said, 'This is no time to trouble him with such matters.' I walked the floor in agony; for I felt that my own salvation depended upon my talking with him, yet medical ethics forbade it. Finally, with a prayer for help, I asked if he was a Christian. "He said his mother had been a Christian woman, and that she had taught him to pray, but he had wandered far from the right path, and God would never forgive one so wicked. I told him of the prodigal son, of the widow who lost the coin, and of the Good Shepherd. Each time I stopped he would say, 'Tell me more of your God.' At last he grew quiet and thoughtful, and I told him he must rest. As morning dawned and death drew near, his distress was pitiful. We talked more concerning the Father's love, and I told him of the joy in heaven over 'one sinner that repenteth.' Then I knelt by his bedside to pray, and asked him to join me. Though too weak to speak, the folded hands, upturned eyes, and moving lips told that he was communing with his Creator, into whose hands he had committed his spirit. Ten minutes later he passed away without a struggle. "O, the condemnation had I refused to go to the hospital or delayed to obey the guiding of the Spirit! O the joy that God was willing to use even me in so sacred a work! Before I left, I had a long talk with the matron, and we parted friends."