p. 11 | Swatow, China by W. F. Hills

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 23, 1913

Swatow, China

By W. F. Hills

ACCOMPANYING this article are shown two pictures. One is a picture of our new mission home, an outgrowth of the $300,000 Fund, the other, of our new "Gospel Boat." It is useless for me to attempt to express our gratitude to the brethren at home for their generosity, which made these gifts possible. Every day we thank God for them, and we try as best we can to do better service because of them. The trying hot season is here again, but we are planning on staying by our work. We believe it is a good investment to furnish a home for the missionaries in this trying climate, where they can stay by the work through the summer instead of leaving for about three months, which has been necessary. Then we expect to be able to keep our health, and work until the work is finished, instead of wearing out under the very trying conditions of living in a native house.

We feel that the Lord blessed us wonderfully in buying the land and building the home. Four months from the day we closed the deal and paid down the bargain money for the land, we had the deeds and were living in the house. They say we have broken all records.

We had our general meeting one week after we moved, and in many ways this was the best meeting I ever attended. Perhaps it was because we could better understand the language, for at the last meeting, a year ago, we could not understand, to say nothing of speaking, the language. There were over one hundred who attended every meeting, besides the ones who came in from the city. Many more wished to come, but we had no room to seat them. In fact, we had to turn people away, and the worst of it was that many of them were very anxious to attend. We trust that we shall soon have a larger chapel. We are unable to rent a better place, so the only way is to build. We earnestly pray that the way may be opened and the means provided to build this year.

We have an excellent interest here; many have united with us, and many more are soon to do so. Seventeen were baptized at the meeting, and a large number have united on their former baptism. Our membership has multiplied itself by perhaps six during the last year, and many students, business men, and some ministers are on the point of stepping out. During the year our two schools, one for boys and one for girls, have had very good success. There were twenty boys in the Swatow school, and we had to send ten others to Amoy, as we were unable to care for them here. The girls' school enrolled over sixty.

I am happy to report that next year the girls' school promises to be self-supporting. We hesitated to open this school, with our limited knowledge of the language, and in rented quarters, but we are thankful that we did so. The two assistant teachers are very capable, and truly the Lord went before us and prepared the way. Mrs. Hills and her Bible women have found many open doors, and hearts, too, through the good work done in the school. We had to crowd three into a seat none too large for two, and the seats are so close to together that it is impossible to kneel for prayer, and one teacher has students in two rooms. We believe that the Lord who knows the needs here will bless his people in giving, and stir them on to continue to give until hundreds of these bright boys and girls may enter school, and an army be trained to help us prepare the way of the Lord.

We earnestly solicit the prayers of God's people that Heaven's choicest blessing may rest upon our efforts to use the boat to the best advantage. We plan to make good use of it as a training-school for workers. I have six young men out now preparing for the work. We eat, sleep, and live on this boat, and when we come to a city where the plague is so destructive, we are thankful to have a good, clean place to sleep, out in the river where the deadly flies cannot so easily reach us. Our working force has increased very materially the past year, and we are planning great things for the year to come.

Kialat, Swatow, China.