During the month of October we held two general meetings in Korea. The first was at Seoul. We began work in the city of Seoul four years ago and at that time we had no believers in central Korea, where Seoul is located. Outside of the city we have done, even to the present time, almost no work at all, yet at this meeting there were one hundred present. Nearly one third of those in attendance had first heard of the truth through the printed page that had been scattered by the canvassers.
It was a four-day meeting, and the various subjects showed the time in which we are living and the great work before us of quickly giving the message to our neighbors and friends. To assist in this work, bundles of tracts on present truth had been prepared at reduced prices, and sixty-five yens' worth was purchased by those present, to use in missionary work during the winter months. In this way we believe that many others will be brought into the truth.
Forty-nine believers were baptized at the meeting, and a church of fifty members was organized here at our headquarters, known as the Dok Jong Kore church, which is the name of the district where we are located, just outside of the east gate of the city. Including the members of the church in the city, we now have a little over one hundred members in central Korea, and we hope that this number will be greatly increased in the near future.
Photo by C. L. Butterfield NEW DISPENSARY AT SOONAN
The second meeting was held at Soonan, in northern Korea. It was not far from Soonan that the work first started in Korea, about nine years ago. Among the two hundred attending that meeting it seemed good to meet some of those who were among the first here to accept the truth, and to hear their testimonies of courage and of joy as they saw how the message is going. At that meeting one hundred yens' worth of tracts was sold to those attending, which will be distributed during the winter months. Six were baptized and united with God's remnant people.
All hearts were made especially glad at this meeting in Soonan, as it was the occasion of the dedication of the new chapel that had been built this past summer. The chapel is in the school building between the recitation rooms for the boys and the rooms for the girls. It is the largest assembly room that we have in Korea, having seating capacity for about three hundred. This building, and the ladies' dormitory, with rooms for Miss May Scott, who is in charge of the girls' school, and the new dispensary, greatly improve the appearance of Soonan hill. But that is not all. These buildings stand as memorials to the truth in this great heathen field, and for the finishing of this rapidly closing work. They were built from the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering of the first quarter of 1913; and I am sure that if all those who had a part in that offering could see and realize the great help that it has brought to the work here, they would praise God for the opportunity that had been theirs.
At the Soonan meeting God came near to his people. Many confessions were made, and wrongs were made right. There was a seeking after God that we have not seen before. We believe that the message is going in this field from this on with greater speed than ever before.
Tomorrow, in company with Brother H. M. Lee, of Soonan, I shall start for Wonsan, on the east coast, to assist in a general meeting for that part of the field. We are all well and enjoying our work.
Photo by C. L. Butterfield
GENERAL VIEW OF BUILDINGS AT SOONAN, KOREA
Photo by C. L. Butterfield SOONAN (KOREA) SCHOOL BUILDING AND CHAPEL
