"For them and for us"

The following is an extract from a letter written by a brother now with the Lord, in connection with the going forth of Dr. Woodhams and party in May, 1925:

"We believe this marks a fresh step in the path of faith for them and for us-this means a special responsibility on the saints at home to see that the work is sustained, not only by our prayers, but in the ministry of means for the temporal support of such work."

We are thus reminded that we are linked up in a very definite way as co-workers with those who actually go forth in His Name to the regions beyond. If we consider our fellowship in this work in the light of Revelation 5:9 and in view of this day we will feel well repaid for any interest shown or any effort made.

"And they sing a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open its seals; because Thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God, by Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, -and people, and nation, and made them to our God, kings and priests; and they shall reign over the earth" (Rev. 5:9, 10, J.N.D.).

The following are extracts from letters received during the past month:

CHINA

Peiping, North China, Nov. 1st, 1930. Beloved Brother:-

You may be surprised to hear from us from Peiping, but it is now nearly a month ago since brother Foggin wanted to come here to the language school, and he was so anxious that Mrs. Kautto should come over also, as he thought they had so much better a way of teaching the language here than at Taitowying. He also found a reasonable place for us to stay, and as the bandits were increasing around Taitowying and we needed the study in language, I myself taking an advanced course, we arrived here last Tuesday, and are expecting to stay until Christmas, for that will be the end of this term's tuition.

The conditions in China are now much better than they were a couple of months ago, for the war is about over, but the bandits are still increasing in many places. They are about the same as they have been out north of the wall; that is, when Mr. Kao wrote to us from Shuang-Shan-tze a day or two before we left Taitowying, he said there were some 700 to 800 bandits in the immediate vicinity and that the native Christians could not come out to meetings there. He had many things to tell us but was waiting until he would come down. About the middle of October a raid was made by a couple of hundred bandits down into our part of the country, and they were prepared to take several bound victims from a village a few miles on the road to Peitaiho, but were surprised by double their number of soldiers who happened (?) to be passing not far from the scene and were informed of the trouble. The soldiers released all the bound persons and succeeded in taking two of the bandits, whom they brought with them to Taitowying.
With the retirement of bandits the refugees in Taitowying returned to their homes and villages and are busy from early morning till night harvesting their crops of sweet potatoes, peanuts, small grain and late vegetables; gathering fuel from the hill sides and preparing for the winter. The regiment of cavalry also left, as perhaps we have already written, so that altogether it looked as if there would have to be a recess in the regular preaching with nobody to attend the meetings, and no prospect of getting a hearing, either at the out-stations or in the near-by villages. So when the opportunity offered itself it seemed the logical thing to do to improve our time in study of the language.

Charles O. Kautto.

AFRICA

I am sorry to say that Bill is not making much progress. We are longing for the dry season (for his benefit) to show up, although it brings a drought with it which makes all garden stuff burn up.

As you can readily understand, with the Doctor gone and the new station opened there is much to be done here, and how blessed it is to know that heavy burdens are made light through Him who hears and answers prayers. Oh, what a blessed place that is, "The Mercy Seat," alone with God. One can in Hezekiah-fashion spread the whole matter before Him and praise His dear name. He loves to be trusted and tested.

Dear Brother:-

Nov. 7,1930.

Thank you ever so much for your kind letter Sept. 5,

We have acknowledged to all, the indebtedness we owe for their thoughtfulness, and oh, how much we rejoice that those in the homeland should hold the ropes while others descend to the depths of heathenism to tell the story of God's wondrous grace to man.

You mention in your letter about the Elizabeth Missionary Meeting, and that it was just a year ago since we were there. Believe me, dear brother, that meeting is one of the red letter days in our calendar, for to see so many happy saints was a tonic for the spiritual life. What must it be when we are all together with Himself when the meeting together of a few saints here (1:e., in Elizabeth) should cause such joy.

We had rather an exciting time the last time we went into Nyangkundi (Oct. 27). I was taking Mrs. Deans there to look after Bill. We also had three natives with us. When about one-third of the way in we saw a village ahead of us (there are quite a few between here and Nyangkundi) where over 100 drunken demonized natives were holding their usual evil orgy. On hearing the machine coming they ran to the side of the road, but just as the machine was passing a little girl about four or five years of age sprang out and struck the machine on the rear fender. We felt the knock, and stopped the machine, but consider us in the midst of 100 drunken natives who were crying out, "Kill them!" and some were fumbling with their spears to thrust them through us. However that blessed unseen Hand made their hands impotent, ana the same One who sent His angel to shut the lions' mouths in Daniel's day is the same One who kept back that awful, angry and threatening crowd so that they did us "no harm."

We were absolutely guiltless in this accident, and the few who were not drunk, I am glad to say, readily testified to that fact. Did our Lord wish us to give a word here? After I bathed the child's head, pouring in "oil and wine," in this case Mercu. and Mecca, which Mrs. Deans wisely carried in her make-shift first-aid kit, and when things were a little quieted down, we sang, "I shall know Him by the print of the nails in His hands," telling them of the great love of God in sending our adorable Lord Jesus to die for us. We were detained for over an hour and on reaching Nyangkundi found Bill had not arrived. Two doctors, by the names of Becker and Harris, hailing from Philadelphia and connected with the Unevangelized Mission of Africa, took Bill to their Station to see if they could help him. We expected him to be back in two weeks.

However on reaching Nyangkundi brother Searle said he thought Bill would be staying a month.

Mrs. Deans thought it would be better to return with me so next morning we started back. Brother Searle came with us, however, as we did not know how the child would fare, and if I were detained brother Searle could take the machine back here. What did you think happened? When we reached the village at 4:30 p.m., the machine went completely dead (the timer was broken), and it took us three hours to fix it.

The crowd had by this time sobered up, and all without exception said it was no fault of ours. Surely the Lord wanted us to speak again, so we sang two hymns, and the gospel was faithfully preached by one of the natives. The child is getting along fine and is walking around.

Have special prayers for this place, dear brethren, surely our Lord has a stone or stones for that mystical building which is almost completed.

I remain, your brother in eternal bonds,

Robert Deans.

INDIAN MISSIONS

Shiprock, New Mexico.

Dear brother:- We are fairly well, and, I hope, thankful this beautiful Thanksgiving morning. We had a snow a week or so ago and it turned very cold, about zero weather. It is very uncommon to have such weather this time of the year, and we were not prepared for it. Had not gathered all our garden stuff in and had little wood and no coal. Had ordered coal, but as it comes sixty miles, and the roads were bad, it had not arrived. We had not had mail for about two weeks, and the change from the summer weather that we were having to the winter that has now come has brought a number of wants. Some government men were at work on the sheep-dip, half a mile beyond us. They went into the Agency, and as the storm came on did not return for some days. One night we saw the light of their car in the distance and were on tip-toes of expectation as to our mail, but they went past our gate down to the dip. We had laid our needs before the Lord and fully expected He would supply them, but we did not see how, with the roads as they were and fifty miles between us and the Post Office. The next morning one of the men came up with our mail-sack, and we had sufficient for the day. Then the coal came, and "we have all and abound." Beautiful days again, but it freezes hard each night.

H. A. Holcomb.

HARBOR WORK

Referring to the work in the harbor of Montreal during 1930, our brother Holwill writes:

Through God's mercy we were able to reach a larger number of ships and men than in previous years, actually visiting 200 ships. What is still more encouraging is the fact that the efforts of previous years have been plainly visible, and we can rejoice over this. We have heard men confess the Lord with their lips, and have seen in them plain evidence of a changed life.

Brother Holwill expresses his thankfulness to those who have helped in various ways.

SOUTH AMERICA

Buenos Aires, Argentine. Dear brother in Christ:- Dec. 5th, 1930.

During the past month we have been quite busy with meetings in this section and in Pompeyo, Villa Porvenir Villa Argerich, Villa Libertad, Villa Cortina, Villa Obrera and Buenos Aires. This coming Monday, being a holiday, we are invited to hold meetings in Valentin Alsina. We were also able to scatter the printed message in new sections, beside the above places. We were glad for this opportunity, after so many stormy days, more so as the weather is again unsettled.

The revolution did not hinder our work, although it caused some harm individually to a few in our fellowship, employed by the government. The present conditions do not tend to produce a peaceful situation, as the number of unemployed is increasing, especially of those in government positions.

We thank you for your remembrance of us in prayer, and we wish you, dear ones, and all saints with you, the Lord's blessing and joy while we wait for Him, and if we are allowed to enter another year.

Sincerely yours in our blessed Lord, B. Montllau.