For nearly three months we could only buy the most indispensable things, cut down to the utmost limit. But, oh, in such pressure how sweet the varied and daily interventions of the Lord. One afternoon as we had nothing for dinner, I went to the near woods, put myself into a large sack on account of the mosquitoes, and pleaded our condition before the Lord, laying great stress on His word in Heb. 13:5, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Half an hour after I had returned home, a lad knocked at the door and brought two young turkeys-the first occurrence of the kind in the six years we have lived here.
We were guided and cheered in a remarkable way, by scriptures on the calendar. Since these leaves tell a tale, I have kept them, and here are the texts with dates:- Nov. 21st, Ps. 5:8; 22nd, Matt. 6:34; 23rd, Ps. 34:9,10; 24th, Ecclesiastes 11:6; 25th, Heb. 13:5 and Ps. 37:7- on this day the Lord sent the first pledge; we received $20.00 from an assembly in –; on the 29th we received $50.00 from a brother in C–,and the text was 1st Kings 17:16 with Ps. 86:10. Read these scriptures in your Bible and see the marvel of the Lord's care and faithfulness.
Thus we were enabled to pay out some deferred duties connected with the school-house at Cabory Lake, and the rentage of the house we live in here, and I used about $20.00 for buying clothes for my children and wife. For the present we had to stop the work on the house at Cabory Lake. We are assured that "our times are in His hands," and to Him only we look and plead-with the only exception of yourself, whom we let into these things, that you may help us in prayer before the throne of our God and Father.
The other day I went on a short visit to our sister Baptista, on the Aicurapa river, where she has a small day-school. What she is doing there for the Lord is very precious to Him. She has only ten pupils, nearly all girls from 10 to 13, She also teaches them a few hymns which they heartily sing and the parents are hearing the gospel. The people of the house where she lives are getting ready for baptism. I was impressed with the gladness, beaming on the faces of them all as we sang, and preached and prayed together. Surely the Lord does use women in His work.
The hope of the coming of the Lord to take us out of this world has been foremost before us these days, and with this hope in view we get more than encouraged. Of this world we have nothing, so that if the Lord were coming to-day we are ready to say farewell to this old world without the least lingering look behind.
The writer of this letter wishes to have his name withheld should we use any part of his letter for encouragement to others.-[Ed.