Week of Prayer Greetings

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 5, 1912

Week of Prayer Greetings

Greece

R. S. GREAVES: "The command of the Lord is, 'Go ye, . . . and teach all nations;' the promise is, 'Lo, I am with you alway.' Whenever another land is entered, it seems to us the church's response, 'Here am I,' to the command, 'Go ye.' We are glad that Greece can answer the roll-call and say 'Present;' and as workers, we can testify that we have indeed found the promise true, 'Lo, I am with you alway.'"

Mantandane Station, Nyasaland

S. M. AND MRS. KONIGMACHER: "Just in, from five days among our four farthest outlying schools, and found them doing very well. The students in one school that I had trouble in starting now agree to rebuild their schoolhouse without pay. Two other schools have done the same. It would have made your hearts rejoice to hear these naked children of the jungle repeat forty-six verses found in the first twenty-two chapters of Matthew, and to hear them sing the songs of praise. Brethren, we shall reap in due season if we faint not. Hold up our hands a little longer. The work is going. We thank God for a part in it."

Basutoland

E. C. SILSBEE: "To-day I gave a Bible reading to a native minister who was hungering for the truth. Our study covered many points of the message, and it would have done you good to see his dark face light up as he grasped the Bible answers to the many questions that he said had long been in his mind. 'We are looking for the true church,' he said, 'that lives according to the Bible.' I send a few words from two of our native teachers."

PETER MAILANE (interpreter): "We have three stations in Basutoland; but what are they among so many villages dotting the country? Last Sabbath our leader pointed to the map, and said, 'Look, what a work we have before us!' Last week we visited the paramount chief, twenty-five miles from our mission. I gave his people tracts, and they asked many questions, for none had heard anything about present truth. We ask our brethren to have compassion on these poor souls, even as their Master had compassion on the lost world. Send us some young men of intellect, willing to devote their lives to help the natives in this Dark Continent. May the Lord inspire many such to say, 'We will go.'"

L. L. MOLOKOMME (teacher): "Basutoland is a vast country to us who are working in it. It needs more workers. Though the Basutos are contrary to the truth, still we have good and great hope to win more souls to the Lord when he comes to receive his children to the celestial city. Pray for the work here, and the workers."

Egypt

GEORGE KEOUGH: "I am glad to report that our work in Egypt is more prosperous than ever before. The Lord is certainly going before us, opening doors for us to reach those who will receive the truth. What we need is more consecrated workers to fill the openings, and more consecration on our own part, that we may be enabled to pluck the ripened fruit. We make an earnest appeal for prayer on behalf of Egypt and Egypt's workers, that the Lord may continue to open the way before us, and that he may enable us to seize the opportunities presented, and so hasten the coming of our Saviour."

Hongkong, China

S. A. NAGEL: "Our work is but a few months old. Our Sabbath-school began the first of last quarter, and numbered twenty-eight at the close. Sunday, six believers followed their Lord in baptism. Others will soon take the same step. We have just lost a valuable worker, Sister Gertrude Thompson. She, with her sister Ida, had taken, in the previous six months, seven hundred yearly subscriptions for our Chinese Signs of the Times in Hongkong. The most widely read daily paper in the East, the China Mail, has consented to publish two articles a week on the truth."

Main Station, Nyasaland

C. ROBINSON: "The church in Nyasaland sends greetings to the brethren across the seas. Although we have met so few of you, yet we have this in common, that our hearts, like yours, are filled with the desire to finish the work in this generation. The message is spreading in this land. Our boys are out in the villages, preaching the soon coming of Jesus; and at the present time nearly two hundred boys and girls are in the classes preparing for baptism. The heathen in the Portuguese territory are calling for the light, and the way seems to be opening for our entry there, as we have already received permission to 'traverse that district in our work of spiritual, mental, and moral propaganda.' God is opening the way; who will help us to step in? To the east of us also there is a vast Portuguese possession that has not yet been touched by our workers. To the north is a large stretch of country

around the lakes, which is very thickly populated. Here also our banner should be unfurled and the truth preached. We should go right on until we meet with our European brethren on their way south, and with our workers in Rhodesia to the west of us. Truly the work is great. But as we think of how the Lord has opened the way so marvelously in every country, just as soon as we were ready to enter, we know that he is only waiting for us to do our part. Our Lord is waiting. Brethren, who will help?"

China Publishing House

W. E. GILLIS: "'The message to China in this generation,' is our only aim. It greatly buoys our hope to see our new headquarters and press buildings nearing completion. They are a credit to the message. Yet now we feel the lack of a general canvassing agent. We are prepared to produce the very choicest of ammunition, but where are the gunners? God is working miracles with the raw heathen converts. Why do the strong young men linger? The man with the writer's inkhorn is at work; but God help us to remember that the accounting begins with those who have known the message longest and best. Our courage is in the Lord of hosts."

Emmanuel Mission, Basutoland

MURRAY D. KALAKA (Mosuto teacher): "We see souls coming into the truth even amid bitter persecution. Our courage is great in the Lord. We believe Satan's fortifications will be pulled down by the mighty hand of our Redeemer. When your prayers ascend to his throne, please remember us, the weak Basuto people. I know you will pray for us because you love us; that love is shown to us by your sending missionaries to our country to tell us of the soon coming of Christ, and how to get ready to meet him when he comes."

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

H. MEYER: "Have just returned from Espirito Santo, where I held meetings almost every night for ten weeks. Eighteen persons were baptized, and several others reunited with the church. At Menteiga a church of thirty-two was organized. They are building a meeting-house. Here in the great city of Rio we are also resolved to raise money to procure a place of worship as soon as possible. It is a great undertaking, but we trust that the Lord will help us, and that our brethren will remember us at the throne of grace."

Portugal

C. E. RENTFRO: "This morning our Portuguese worker returned to Oporto from Lisbon, reporting nine persons baptized last Sabbath at that place by Brother Paul Meyer. God has greatly blessed the efforts of Brother Meyer in Lisbon, and he writes that the Lord is calling honest souls into the light in that city where we began our labor in Portugal."

Nyasaland

L. ENDARNDA (native teacher): "I am glad in my heart to-day to send you these few words about the great work of the Lord. Our teacher is telling us always about the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. We thank God for his goodness, and for sending us the good teachers to make us know about the coming of the Lord."

REDUCTION OF CARD ADVERTISING MEETINGS, DISPLAYED IN SHANGHAI STREET-CARS (SENT BY F. E. STAFFORD)

Nazareth, South India

EDWARD D. THOMAS: "Nearly four years have passed since Elder J. S. James came here with the third angel's message. We are trying to give this message to the millions of Tamils. At first we opened a small dispensary to help the sick and suffering. Now we have also a school, where one hundred students are instructed by teachers who love the truths of this message. We shall soon have some young men and women from our school who will be able to bear responsibilities in giving the message throughout the whole of south India. Our aim is to work while the day lasts. It is the goal of our ambition to stand by the cause until the work is done."

Porto Rico

WM. STEELE: "From the little island of Porto Rico we send a word of greeting and good cheer. Recently a Porto Rican accepted the truth from reading our missionary paper. This encourages us to continue scattering the printed page. Our needs: Santo Domingo, with 600,000 souls, is still without a worker. The island is in continual revolution, showing that the people are in need of the gospel of peace. Who will say, 'Here am I, Lord, send me'? The victory is ours, for Christ our Captain is leading. To him be all glory and honor, for he is worthy."

Spain

WALTER G. BOND: "We here in priest-ridden Spain are thankful that the time for the annual prayer-meeting is at hand, for our needs are so great and our resources so few. We especially request an interest in the prayers of all God's people at this time. There are only two ordained ministers, four Bible workers, and half a dozen canvassers among the twenty million inhabitants of this field. How small our corps of workers compared with the vastness of the population! Our courage is good, and we are determined to seek God as never before. He has blessed us with more than thirty new believers this year, most of whom came directly from Rome. But we are able to reach so few! We need more evangelical workers, besides a number of good canvassers; and most of all, we need God's special blessing. Pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up Spirit-filled workers to help in this stronghold of the Papacy."

Trinidad, West Indies

J. B. BECKNER: "I am glad to testify to the mercy and goodness of the Lord in preserving our lives the past year. Although hundreds have been laid in the grave by the scourge of disease in our conference, and though a number of our workers and brethren have been stricken, yet no lives have been lost among us. We have been able to plant the standard of light in several new districts, and a goodly number have walked in the light. We ask to be remembered at the throne of grace."

ANOTHER TESTIMONY: "Sister N. H. Pool, bears testimony for Elder Pool, who was down with the fever. She says: 'We are not discouraged, but believe our God is able to raise us above all these things. Twenty-one have been added to the Port of Spain church in the eight months that we have been here, and the work is still onward. Pray for us, that we may be kept humble and in health.'"

Syria

W. C. ISING: "I am just starting for a trip to Lebanon, to visit six places stretching from east to west, where an interest has been created, and some who have begun to keep the commandments of God need to be strengthened. The work is onward, notwithstanding troublous times."

Canary Islands

BERT B. AND MRS. ALDRICH: "This field is small compared with the great mission fields, but the half million people scattered over seven large islands need the light of the message. The power of Roman superstition over the masses is great. Christ's sacrifice has opened the way for these souls, and we owe them the gospel message because of the light God has caused to shine upon our path. The time seems ripe for the introduction of our truth-filled literature. Our courage and faith in the success of the message were never greater. Pray that God will help us find the honest in heart and lead them to the Master."

Tokyo, Japan

H. KUNIYA: "Three years ago I called on an army officer who lived near the place where I was holding a tent-meeting. He was very angry. Shown a Bible, he said: 'I hate that book, don't open such a book before me.' I visited him often, but without the book in my hand, carrying the Word in my mind. He could not resist the power of God's Word. Before I left the place, he bought a Bible and began to study. Last July, while on my way to camp-meeting, I called on him, and I thanked God when I found that he was ready to follow the Lord. He joined with others in burying the old life in the deep waters, and now he is a pillar of the church in that city. This is a great encouragement, as it shows what the incorruptible seed of the Word can do in such stony ground as Japan. The promise of Isa. 55: 10-13 will be fulfilled in our country some day. Please pray for Japan."

Solusi Mission, South Africa

From our first South African station, W. C. Walston speaks: "The workers at Solusi send greetings. We testify to the goodness and the mercy of God. While there is plague, drought, and sickness all about us, we have been spared and have seen evidences of special blessings. We have only courage and prosperity to mention. We trust we are remembered in your prayers, and that your interest in the good work for 'the brother in black' is in no wise diminishing. Our greatest difficulty is to answer the questions that are asked us: 'How are we to fulfil the great commission to give the message to the millions in Africa? Where are the workers and the means to finish the work?' You in the home lands must help answer these questions. May God move upon hearts to 'come over and help us.'"

Wai Chow, Hakka Land, South China

J. P. ANDERSON: "Last week I heard two heathen pray their first prayer. After the prayer-meeting was over, I could but thank the Lord that in the days of my youth I have been permitted to work for him. I am glad I am in China; glad I am in Wai Chow, and I mean by his help to stay here until he calls me elsewhere or calls me home. I thank God for all of his blessings, and want to do my part in the closing work."

Korea

DR. RILEY RUSSELL: "It has been a good year, and I have had the privilege of baptizing eighty-one persons so far this summer, and others are waiting for baptism. This is in the three north-western provinces alone, which represent a population of about three millions. Elder Butterfield came here in the spring, and we organized two churches. Two or three more companies are ready for organization. It does us good to see these old companies getting strong enough to be organized and to help carry the message and begin to shoulder burdens. Only last week a company with whom I had just spent two days pressed me to the limit to either stay with them for a month or send them some one; but we had no one to send. So all we could say was, The work is great, and all the country must be warned. One of the first believers in Korea, a man seventy-two years of age, has just died, happy and contented in the blessed hope. We believe he will share in the overcomer's reward—because our brethren in the home land furnished the means and men to bring to him the message of life. Our dispensary work at Soonan is running as usual. A Korean, C. S. Kim, who has been in a medical school two years and with us two years, and whose heart is in the message, is doing valiant service, and is making it possible for me to be out in the field so much."

Samoan Islands

H. T. HOWSE: "We are grateful for a part in bringing this message to the people of the isles who wait for God's law. Our hope and courage is strong in the triumph of the message. The spirit of inquiry for the truth is abroad in these islands. One man told me we had come too late. Have we? One young man who has just accepted the message is willing to give up all to give the truth to his people. Pray and give, and God will give to you."