The Malaysian Mission Field
By I. H. Evans
At Soerabaya we met Brother and Sister Wood and Brother Brouwer and his wife. We had corresponded for some time with these workers, and it was a real privilege to meet them and talk with them face to face. The location where the meetings were being held and where Brother and Sister Wood were living seemed unfavorable to health, and it was advised that they move as soon as a suitable place could be found. The next day we went to Soember Wekas, where we met Brother and Sister Judge from Sumatra, in addition to the workers we had seen en route. Our meetings began on Sabbath morning, and continued over the one following. We had Bible studies morning and evening, the remainder of each day being spent in considering plans for pushing the work. The workers welcomed Brother Detamore to the mission as superintendent, and sent a vote of thanks to the Mission Board for sending him to their needy field. Brother Detamore took a deep interest in the field, and his enthusiasm was a real inspiration to the workers. During the meeting the entire work of the mission was considered, and a union mission field was organized. Java was divided into three divisions, only two of which we are now occupying. Brother Wood was appointed head of the Soerabaya district, and Miss Tunheim of the Batavia district. Brother Judge was appointed director of the work in Sumatra, and Elder Montgomery of the work in Borneo, while Elder Detamore was asked to take charge, for the present, of the work in the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States, in addition to his duties as superintendent of the entire field. The Malaysian field has over fifty million people, speaking a diversity of dialects, and requiring much sea travel to reach, as most of the territory is islands. In some places there are calls for workers where important interests are at stake. This is especially true in Borneo, where, before a foreign worker had ever entered the field, some thirty had begun to keep the Sabbath, and earnest calls for help are coming to those in charge of the field. Although I spent five weeks in the East Indies, one can get but a limited idea of the field and its work in so short a time. The very same spirit that possesses the hearts of God's chosen people in other lands possesses the hearts of the workers and believers in these great, needy fields. In Java we have but three families of workers for thirty-two million souls. In Sumatra, Brother and Sister Judge are now alone. In the peninsula Elder Detamore and Brother Sharp's family will be the only workers for the whole district. In fact, there will be but seven families, or parts of families, for the fifty million souls in that island mission field, whose length and breadth cover more area of land and sea than the United States, and whose population is more than all that of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Norway, and Sweden. Nor is the field an isolated one. Singapore is like New York, Liverpool, and London in its shipping interests. Her people are more cosmopolitan than those of any city of my knowledge in either Europe or America. Here are gathered the nations of earth in miniature. Singapore is the world in a nutshell. Side by side may be seen the black man from Africa, members of nearly every tribe from India and Burma, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Korean, the Filipino, the Malaysian in his varied dialects and costumes, and representatives from most of the European countries and both the Americas. It is well that the truth has obtained a foothold in this representative city. Its light should shine far, and from it should go forth a stream of literature and an army of trained workers to the great island field of which it is the commercial center. We are pledged to the endeavor, in both labor and prayer, to win many souls to the kingdom of God the coming year.