W. B. WHITE by W. B. White

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 23, 1914

W. B. WHITE

By W. B. White

From the Dark Continent

W. B. WHITE

It is now four months since our party landed in South Africa. A large number of brethren and sisters met us at the pier in Cape Town and extended to us a very hearty welcome. They have done all that was possible to make us feel at home among them. Elder W. S. Hyatt, the acting union conference president, had called the union committee together, and it was in session on our arrival. We were glad to meet all these brethren and sisters, who for years have been holding up the standard of truth in this field, and were pleased to enter into their counsels.

Many years ago, when the writer was president of the Nebraska Conference, Elder W. S. Hyatt was president of the Kansas Conference. As our fields joined, we used frequently to attend each other's general meetings. I was glad to meet Brother Hyatt again after so many years, and to find him full of courage and faith in the message. I was also glad to meet Elder H. J. Edmed, president of the Cape Conference, whom I had previously met in America. Brethren W. H. Anderson and W. C. Walston, from the Barotseland and Solusi Missions, were also present, and we were glad to meet these earnest, tried missionaries. A very pleasant and profitable week was spent in committee work, and many plans were laid, which we trust may be for the furtherance of the work in this field. A very tender spirit prevailed in all our councils, and unity and love seemed to pervade every heart. How earnestly this spirit should be cultivated among us as a people, for the Holy Spirit cannot work where there is strife and contention.

Shortly after these meetings were over, the writer, in company with Elder Hyatt, started on a three-thousand-mile trip through South Africa, spending over a month visiting conferences and mission stations. Here I got my first glimpse of native life. We visited the Natal-Transvaal Conference, the Orange Free State Conference, and our mission stations at Maranatha, Spion Kop, Kolo, and Emmanuel, the last two being in Basutoland.

At all these stations we found a most earnest spirit prevailing, and our missionaries hard at work in their labor of love for the natives.

Among this class the need is great, and it is very difficult for one to appreciate the situation without seeing it. Here are millions of people sitting in the darkness of ignorance and superstition. They are kind-hearted, willing to be taught, and ready to hear, but are without education and the opportunity of acquiring it. A large proportion of the natives cannot even read their own language, and no matter how old they are they must be taught like children. In our schools are many who are well along in life, but who are earnestly studying, that some day they may be able to read the Bible. Women with babies bound on their backs, and possibly one or two more at their sides, will come to our schools and study diligently, that perchance they may acquire a knowledge of the simplest primers.

This great need on the part of the natives of Africa appeals to our missionaries, and they feel that they are debtors to these people to give them the light of God's truth that he has given us. This great need binds them to their work with bands of steel. In the past I have often wondered why our missionaries on furlough to the homeland should desire to hurry back to Africa, many times before taking a needed rest. I can see the situation clearer now. It is not because Africa is a more desirable place than the States in which to live, but the great need appeals to their hearts, and they simply cannot remain with those who have had so much light.

And God is blessing the work of our missionaries in bringing the light of truth to these natives. From the Maranatha Mission, on the borders of Kafirland, comes the news that eight have recently been baptized and united with us. At the Tsungwesi Mission, in southeastern Rhodesia, a class of twenty-six have recently given their hearts to God, and have been baptized. At Cape Town eight colored persons have given themselves to the Lord and followed him in baptism.

At all our stations there are many encouraging omens, and many are coming toward the light. These things encourage us to press forward with the message in the Dark Continent.

In Africa we have as yet a very meager native literature, which should be largely increased. We are now laying plans to issue "Steps to Christ" in the Sechuana, the language of Bechuanaland. Sister Eva Hankins is now engaged in writing a book on the "Coming of the Lord," and the events that will take place at that time. This will be printed in the Kafir, Zulu, and Sesuto. Other literature will be issued as we have means to go forward.

At this writing (February 20) we are in the midst of our summer. The days are quite warm, but the nights are cool and very agreeable. During the present summer all of South Africa has been in the grip of a terrible drought. The Orange Free State has felt it the worst, and it is not yet broken. A letter recently received from one of our faithful Dutch brethren, who is an extensive stock raiser, states that unless rain falls within the next month, he will be ruined, for all his cattle and other stock must die. He earnestly desires that we unite with him in prayer that the Lord may send rain to the thirsty earth. With plenty of rain, Africa would be a wonderfully productive country, one of the finest in the world; but droughts are one of its greatest drawbacks.

We have felt that while our brethren in America were so earnestly engaging in the Harvest Ingathering campaign, we here in this field must do what we could. This country had never taken part in this kind of work, but we ordered one thousand copies of the Ingathering REVIEW and thought we should make a beginning. The first paper given out in Africa brought to the mission treasury £1, or about five dollars. This we feel is a good start, and we trust a nice little sum may be brought in from these thousand papers. Next year we hope to do much more, and shall have our orders in early.

While we are doing a good deal in this country for the native, we must not forget our work for the Europeans. There is many a town and city in South Africa that has never yet heard the sound of the message. We greatly feel the need of strengthening our evangelical force of workers in this field, men who can go out into the cities and towns and bring to the English-speaking people, and the Dutch people as well, the knowledge of the present truth. Our constituency in this union should be largely increased. This would enable us to do much more for the cause of foreign missions.

We can truly say that all the workers in Africa are of good courage, and while the work is difficult here, we are not looking back with any special longing to the homeland. We feel that God is with us in our work, and our greatest ambition is so to labor that the work may be speedily finished in Africa. We earnestly desire the prayers of our brethren and sisters in the home field.

We appreciate greatly all that you are doing for us in sending men and means to us, and we trust God will bless you as you try to assist us in the great work of carrying the message to the many tribes and tongues of this continent.