ARGENTINE REPUBLIC-SOUTH AMERICA

We are glad to have the following encouraging news from our brother Montllau, and would commend our brother and his work to the prayers of the saints:

April 4, 1933.

We have been cheered during the last month by the well-attended united prayer-meetings in different localities. We held one in Banfield for the first time, and although the hall is quite large they had to put extra seats to accommodate the people, and some remained standing during the two-hour meetings. We expect to hold another in Remedies de Escalada, also for the first time, during this month in a large hall. Last Saturday night, from eight to ten, we enjoyed a fine open-air conference in a central plaza of Avellaneda. There was a good crowd and interest while three brethren proclaimed the gospel. We were grateful to the authorities for allowing us to hold that conference, as no open air meetings are allowed now on account of martial law, applied by the Government some time ago when a nation-wide plot was discovered. We expect (D.V.) to hold special meetings on the 12th, 13th and 14th inst. in our hall, and for the last named day, Holy Friday(so-called), we are invited for a special meeting at the Islands of El Tigre, about five hours' journey from here, partly by bus and partly by motor boat.

Our brother Dr. Woodhams writes as follows:

AFRICA

IRUMU, Mar. 3, 1933.

We appreciate your fellowship with us in our feeble effort here to make Christ known among these people who had not heard that gospel which has been common knowledge to us all our lives. We are here as "those who trouble Mohammedanism" in this place! The old chief who died a few months ago was the real leader among his people, and held them together as Mohammedans, but his son and successor has not nearly the power over them, consequently we get a much better hearing than formerly. I have spoken in their villages when there were not more than six or eight people in sight, though I knew that many more were hearing whilst out of sight in their huts. Now when we park our organ and start a meeting in a village the people seem to spring up from all sides until we wonder where so many have come from They have listened very quietly and attentively, and some intelligent questions have been asked. We are still as it were marching around Jericho daily; the walls have not fallen as yet, but we have confidence that they will fall at the Lord's moment for it. We need grace from the Lord to understand the people and their darkness. The longer we stay among them the more we realize how far we have been from understanding them. The deception of Mohammedanism is a much stronger force to keep souls from repenting and believing the gospel than original forms of unbelief found among the Africans. This makes its boast to have come from God, and thus God is introduced as authorizing the sin which the natural man loves. So it seems like a long step for such an one to beat his breast and exclaim, "God be merciful to me a sinner." I am glad to say that the doors are still open to announce Christ among them.
A good interest continues too at Lolwa, and brother Deans continues happily with the work the Lord has committed to him there. They have considerable more R. C. opposition lately. This doubtless is bound to increase. This may be explained by the fact that we are in a Catholic country with a strong Catholic Government, but the true explanation lies deeper than this in that we are in a world which is against God. We are very thankful just now to have a Christian man as the chief official over the district. He was converted under the ministry of one of the A. I. M. missionaries, and now lets it be known that he is a Christian.

Our brother William Deans writes:

March 1, 1933.

By the grace of God I have been exceptionally well the last five months. Back at Nyangkundi, I am taking every care physically, and trying not to overdo. My brother Bob is here with me now and is proving to be quite a help. We are trying to spend alternate weeks in the bush. The condition of the work is most gratifying. God has been working. Out in the bush two new schools have been opened up at important strategic points in the Walendu tribe. These are manned by two pairs of believers who went by the Spirit's call, and the schools are standing. Better, people are coming. One school has an enrollment of 153, rather encouraging. They do attend, too.

We took a safari in that district, spending the best part of a week around the villages. It is a beautiful country. The population is dense, and there is a willingness for the gospel, like that which we found at Lolwa two years ago. One old chief was so afraid that the R. C.'s would manage to have our men removed that he had all his people and the teachers appear before the Government official to get a letter authorizing their residence and working in the village. This has appeared to be such a good plan that we are securing similar letters for all the evangelists.

Six have trusted the Lord in one of the bush schools. Of these, four came in to Nyangkundi to enjoy the fellowship of other Christians. They have since returned to their villages. May they testify for Him there.

At another place we had trouble with the chief. Christian men and schoolboys desiring instruction in the Word had banded together around our little meeting-hall on a hill outside of the village. There they made their homes, planning a straight street with their homes lining it on either side. At the head of this street they built a new building, large and commodious, in which to meet to worship and learn of the Lord. A Government man passing through slept in our chapel, and commended the boys and men on the neat appearance of the "mission village," as he called it.

Then the kind official made the mistake of chiding the chief, and ridiculing the chief's village, comparing it unfavorably with the mission village. The upshot of it all was that the chief ordered all the men to leave their homes and come to live in his village. At first he was very unfavorable to the work and wanted none of it. He was even desirous of sending away the faithful teacher. The people prevailed, however, so the chief agreed, when we went out and had prayer with the Christians, to have the chapel rebuilt in his village. This is indeed a concession and we thank God for it. Since then the chief has been in to the station for injections several times himself. He is very friendly, and the new house is being built. In the meantime the Christian teacher continues in an itinerant way with the gospel. He has seen fruit in the years. It is wonderful how God melts strong hearts. May He cause this idol-worshiping chief to seek salvation!

"God is faithful who has called us to the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord." We would not imitate Peter, but, instead of looking about at the boisterous waves, would look unto Him the Author and Finisher of faith. He designed the way; He made the way; He is the Author and Finisher. Isn't it wonderful! I have been much blessed by Jeremiah 17:7,8, fitting verses for these times. For times of persecution, times of trial by sword, times of adversity, economically or otherwise, we know that we, the branches, derive our strength from the Vine, and the more we abide in Him the more fruitful we are.

Please thank the dear saints for the way they have unfailingly sought God's help for us here. It is wonderful to know of you praying saints in the homeland. You know we have a Christian administration here now. That is direct answer to prayer as others have been so unfavorable. We look forward to times of fellowship over the Word.

"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is:for he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:7,8).

In a more recent letter, our brother William Deans reports his approaching marriage to Miss Dora Winsor of Wheaton, Ill., who has served the Lord in Africa for a number of years. He says,

"God who called us separately to this sphere of service has now put in our hearts the desire to serve Him together. Miss Winsor has been working at Aba and her going to join us here at Nyangkundi will be keenly felt. She has been engaged primarily in seeking to reach women with the Gospel, and God has blessed her ministry. We are expecting to be married in early May."

CHINA

As mentioned in our last issue, Taitowying, the station of our brother Kautto, was bombed by Japanese airplanes on March 24th. Our brother, writing of his experiences during the bombardment and of the turmoil caused by the movement of soldiers, concludes by saying, "We do not know how to express our gratitude to the saints for their prayers on our behalf, for we know we have been sustained by the prayers of the saints in more ways than one."

In another place he says, "So we can thank our gracious God. He is not only able but willing to keep and protect, and the prayers of the saints have been a great cause for it." We are thankful for this testimony to answered prayer.

Brother Foggin tells of an interesting visit paid to Kanchow, between 250 and 300 miles west from his present location at Pingfan. He preached the gospel, distributed tracts, and put up posters in many small towns and villages, some of the more important being Kulan, Liangchow, and Itaoshan.

The following are extracts taken from an account of his journey:
A VISIT TO KANCHOW

Kanchow is between two hundred and fifty and three hundred miles west of Pingfan, about ten days' ordinary traveling by mule cart. Packing mule with Gospels, tracts, etc., I left Pingfan January 2nd. Though it was the coldest season of the year, after prayer I decided to make the trip. With the aid of my cornet I found it very easy to get a crowd. This is not a thickly populated section, Liangchow and Kanchow, the two largest cities west of here, have a population of about 30,000 each, and three other small cities on the main road between here and Kanchow do not average more than 5,000 each. The villages are very small indeed, and a great many are in ruins.

The first night I arrived at a small village. The manager of the inn where I put up was an opium smoker, as are the vast majority of all non-Moslems. There are two classes of people here, "Han Ren," all who are not Moslems, and "Hui Hui," the Moslems. The manager was anxious that I play the cornet, so I promised that after I had my supper I would come into the big room and play. A large crowd gathered, and I seized the opportunity to preach. Some listened right through, and some left. The manager retired to his opium den. I thought he did not want to hear the gospel as I had reproved him for smoking opium, but when I called for my bill he wanted much less than the nominal rate. This is very unusual in China; they usually want more. At Liangchow I was told that this road is dangerous and people did not usually travel single-handed. However, I was living in blissful ignorance and nothing harmed me, though I got a scare at one place.

The sun was setting, and I had about seven more miles to go. The road left the telegraph line and thinking I had taken the wrong road I turned back to a village to enquire. I ran into three or four men on horseback, so asked my way of them. They did not answer, but simply pointed to the road. I knew they were going to the same place to which I was going, and tried to get behind them, but they insisted that I go in front. I became suspicious and nervous, knowing that it would soon be dark. I prayed the Lord to speed on my animal, and he ran fast all the way. After a little while I looked behind, and saw one man in front, and the others lagging a good way behind, and soon they were out of sight altogether, for which I was thankful. The next morning whilst buying bread at an inn before leaving I saw one of these men sitting on the kang, and he said, "Your mule is a good one!"

At Tumentze we held a meeting on the street before dark and again the next morning. We then separated, Elder Wei to Liangchow, and I going on to Taching, over thirty miles of barren land and not a village on the road. I got lost, and found myself on a pathless snowy mountain. I knew the main road was towards the north, so taking bearings from the sun I struck northward, along the tops of the mountains, until I saw a cave in the valley. Descending, I found two men living there. Being somewhat exhausted I got them to boil me some water, and preached the gospel to them which they evidently had never heard. I had a double purpose in mind, to bring them to Christ, and to allay them from doing me any harm. They directed me to a main road which led to Taching. Crossing two mountains I came to this road, arriving at Taching at 8 p.m. The following morning I had two meetings on the street and then left for Itaoshan. I was disappointed here as there were hardly any people. There were more soldiers than residents. Three days after I arrived back in Pingfan to find mail awaiting me. I must confess it felt good to be home.

Owing to the absence of railways and good roads in large portions of China, making travel both dangerous and difficult, missionaries frequently travel by boat. The following experience of two lady missionaries on a journey inland gives a good idea 01 such a mode of travel:

We left the river steamer at Wuhu, and found we must continue our journey by native boat, as recent rains had made overland travel out of the question. We left Wuhu early in the morning with four Chinese schoolgirls in our charge. An agreement had been written up with the boatmen, so that there would be no trouble over prices, etc. The weather was beautiful and a good stiff wind was in our favor. Not far from our port of embarking we discovered that one of the boatmen had disappeared leaving only one man to manage the boat with the help of a woman who had bound feet. This was against the agreement, but there was nothing for us to do but go on. The man towed us from the bank and the little woman worked at the tiller or scrambled over the matting of our cabin to pole the prow in the right direction. Towards evening another boat cut in between us and the bank, severing the two topes near the mast. That took considerable cursing and time to mend. We went along in the dark for a while, and finally moored about three miles from Si Whei. The interior allotted to us was about 13 ft. long, 6 ft. wide, and 5 l/2 ft. high, divided in half by a board about 2 ft. high, so the girls had one section, and my sister, the baggage and I, the other. The floor was undependable, to say the least-just loose boards which had a habit of flying up unexpectedly if not treated exactly in the proper manner.

The boat walls came up half-way, and arched matting covered the irregular poles which made the roof. The openings at the two ends were made light-proof, but not wind-proof, by loosely fitted boards.

We had been warned not to show ourselves or let it be known who was traveling, because of river-thieves, so spread out our bedding and prepared to stay quiet for two days. Next morning we awoke to the sound of wind and rain. The boatman refused to budge. We had enough clothes to make a bale of hay feel thin, but our food-supply was not so abundant. After talking the matter over with the four girls we had prayer together and waited. Finally at 3:30 the boatman decided to make an attempt, and found it hard work to get started. We arrived at a small place at dusk, and were informed that we would have to change to the night-boat, as they had the monopoly of trade from there to our station. Also, the price was announced to be double that of the agreement. Talking price is the very breath of most of the Chinese, and they certainly can stage a scene for a few cents which they know is not their due. The schoolgirls with us were very loyal, especially Wen Yin, who could meet the boatman on his own ground. After an hour-and-a-half we had subdued the one boatman to nearly the original price agreed upon, and in another hour had procured a night-boat and had the baggage transferred. We were glad of the dark because, if the people had seen foreigners, the crowd would have gathered, prices would have soared, and it would have been twice as difficult to make the change. The night-boat was longer, much narrower, and very low. We sat on the bottom on some straw, with a blanket each. Our ears came about to the water line, and if sleep had come, the snores, lapping of the waves and the boatman's rhythmic song could have been our lullaby. But there was not much sleep for anyone but the guards who were accompanying us over the worst part of the district.

HARBOR WORK-Port of New York

Preaching the Gospel has two sides, "bringing men to Christ'" and "bringing Christ to men." In Mark 7:32-37 a man is brought to Christ, whereas in Mark 8:1-9 we have the other side, Christ brought to men. Our work among the seamen sees much of the latter, but very little of the former. Here we find it hard to observe present results because of the nature of our service, but we can rest assured that He who has sent us, and is with us, will in that day show how much the faithful sowing of the seed was blessed of Himself.

The early months of the year are always good for distribution of calendars. A goodly quantity has been provided, in English, French, Dutch and Spanish, and we have given out nearly all of them.

So few men on the ships belong to the Lord that it seems like a field hitherto untouched, so great is the ignorance of seafaring men of the way of salvation. Yet many have had some kind of a Christian up-bringing. The greatest difficulty here, as well as in all other such work, is to get men to see that they are lost. The blinding power of the adversary keeps this from them. Unbelief is truly the child of the human heart, and while so many admit their moral laxity, their awful condition as being lost never dawns on them until God's Spirit begins to work.

Will the Lord's people pray that we may so walk and witness that our words will have power with these men, and that they may be brought into the light to see their own condition and, better than that, into the light of His love and grace which alone can meet their case?

– R. A. WEST.