Mexico by G. W. Caviness

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

Mexico

By G. W. Caviness

PERHAPS it will be of interest to hear a little of what is going on in this revolutionary part of the world. We are glad to say that our work is onward in spite of difficulties. Since our return from Washington, we have had baptism twice here in Mexico City, six being baptized on the first occasion, and two on the last. Others will doubtless be baptized a little later.

Our meeting-room is more than full on the Sabbath, every seat being taken, and it becomes necessary at times to borrow chairs and put them in the aisles and about the doors. We very much need a church building in this place. We could gather in a much larger audience I am sure, and it would have a good influence in many ways. The people are so accustomed to churches that a denomination that has no building does not appear to them of much consequence. Now would be a good time to purchase property, while things are so uncertain and business is at a standstill.

Our Sabbath-school has been trying to make some improvement, and we have made an effort to bring up the offerings, and are glad to say that last quarter the regular donations were fifty-four pesos. The thirteenth Sabbath offering will amount to over fifty pesos. One hundred pesos for our little company here in Mexico City is quite a good deal, considering the circumstances.

We had a little shake-up the nineteenth of August, about 7:20 A. M. We were just finishing breakfast when a terrible explosion occurred. It seemed to us as if a bomb had fallen in the yard. Doors were blown open and windows broken, and the noise was terrific. On going out of the house to see what was the matter, off to the southwest we saw a great column of smoke that had already risen quite high, and was still ascending and spreading. It was in the direction of a small village, five or six miles from Tacubaya, where the Mexican government has a powder factory. We naturally thought that the rebels had succeeded in blowing it up. It turned out that a car of powder had broken loose because of a defective brake, and had come down the hill, gaining velocity until it reached the edge of Tacubaya, where it was derailed on a curve and exploded. Four blocks of the rather small and inferior houses in that part of the city were almost entirely destroyed, about one hundred persons killed, and one hundred and fifty wounded. The shock was so terrific that there were but few houses in all Tacubaya that did not have some windows broken. We are about a mile from the scene of the explosion, and we had to buy some thirty pesos' worth of glass to replace that shattered. From this can be judged something of the force of the shock. It also gives some idea of what would happen in case of a bombardment with modern guns such as the great nations of the earth are now using.

There were some rumors that difficulties would arise at the time of the celebration of independence, the fifteenth and sixteenth of September; but all passed off quietly, no antiforeign spirit being displayed; and so far as we can see, we are just as safe here as in any other part of the world. Sometimes there are strikes and dynamiting of buildings in the United States, according to the papers, but the people do not leave the cities where such things occur because of these events.

According to prophecy, we may expect perilous times in the last days, and the all-powerful Creator, who made the heavens and the earth in six days, is able to care for his children, no matter where they are. The probabilities are that the message will have to be given under dangerous conditions that will try the faith of the workers. But God's work must be done, and will be done, and the promise is, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," and with him one is always safe.

G. W. CAVINESS.