" Irumu, Congo Beige.

Dear brother:- April 4, 1928.

It is now the change of seasons, which means a great increase in sickness both among the natives and the white population. And this has kept me on the hop day and night. I have had a great many more calls than usual the last month, and beside these we have had visitors on several occasions who stayed over several days with consequent interruption of routine. One visitor we were very glad to have, Mr. Roome of the British and Foreign Bible Society. I suppose that no man in our generation has traveled as many miles or knows as much of this land of Africa as he. However he spent three of his few days here in bed with a heavy cold, and then went on while scarcely able.

We have been much rejoiced to have five natives ask for baptism. We are planning, D.V., to have a baptismal service the end of this week. The truth of this was taught to them in the classes for Christians the past few months and we believe that these have asked to be baptized as a result of exercise. We trust that this is but the earnest of what the Lord may yet do among these people.

Last week I went with one of the Christian boys, Sedi, to some villages in an unreached part and we found good interest in the little crowd we gathered in some four different villages. In this section the Roman Catholics have done a good deal and so many can read and write. It is here that the Gospels of John are of great advantage, for I always ask if any can read, and then after they have shown that they can, give them John. Naturally, the few who can read are very proud of the fact, and being a people without a literature they have nothing to read and are very anxious for the copy offered them. I have found a good many about the Government posts too and at the Mines who have been for a short time to school, and if they are able to read even a very little I have given them a copy of John. We are hindered here from accomplishing anything with tracts and Gospels as you can in civilized lands by the fact that practically all are illiterate. Hence I am anxious to get Gospels into the hands of the few who can use them.

We nearly lost our dear little boy John last week. He had a extremely hard convulsion from the high temperature of malaria and for about ten minutes hung between life and death. But the Lord in His mercy, and to spare us sorrow upon sorrow, spared him to us, for which we have not ceased to give thanks. He is a dear little fellow and loved by us all.

With Christian greetings, yours in our Lord's Name,

R. C. Woodhams, M. D.

Congo Beige, April 11, 1928. Dear Brethren in our Lord Jesus Christ:-

Last Saturday afternoon we had our first baptismal service, when five boys publicly owned in this way the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Three of these had believed on Him before we came here, but the last two are recent converts, and are both 'from the Babira tribe. The first three are from a neighboring tribe. We pray that these young Christians may be kept by the power of God amid the temptation and evil about them, for where there is a real work of the Spirit of God the enemy manifests his presence in a real way, trying to hinder the work in whatever way he can.

One of the two Babira boys is my house-boy, and he has shown a real change in his life of late. He is about thirteen years of age and has gotten along real well at school. He reads his copies of John's Gospel and the Epistles translated into Kingwana at every spare opportunity, as he sits in the cook-house with some of the other boys. Pray that he may be a true witness for the Lord Jesus among his own people.

Thanking you for your co-operation and prayers in the work here, I am,

Your sister in our soon coming Lord Jesus,

Cornelia De Jonge.

Taitowying, North China. Dear brother:April 8th, 1928.

I have been at our new out-station (Mutouteng) nearly a month. The Lord enabled us to purchase a little place here, so I have tried to put it in working order before my departure on furlough.

Farmers are very busy at present in their fields, for it is seed-sowing time. Of course there is much spiritual seed to be sown also, for the field is great, but the sowers are too few. May it please the Lord to send more workers for His field.

I do not know yet the exact time of my departure, but it will be some time in June, D.V. Shall let you know later on. With my best Christian regards to all,

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Chas. O. Kautto.

San Jose, Costa Rica. Dear brethren:- May 11, 1928.

Many thanks for your letter. On the 26th, (D.V.), I expect to sail from Limon to France and arrive home about June 19th.

' Before leaving we expect to baptize fourteen more at ' the opening of the view hall. The news from home is very encouraging as to work in Lerida.

With Christian love I am, sincerely yours in Him,

B. Montllau.

Shiprock, New Mexico. Dear brother:- May 1, 1928.

Your good letter and fellowship came on our last mail. Thank you!
My hand is so unsteady it is a little hard for me to write of late.

This is "wool season" with our Navajos. Twice a year they have income from their flocks. They shear in the spring and sell off surplus increase in fall. At those times money is somewhat plentiful with them.

Many come past here and call as they go to and from the market with their wool. This gives us an opportunity and we attempt to use it.

Some of our young men are taking quite an interest in learning to read the Navaho Scriptures. Please pray with us that God will use His Word to their salvation.

We are expecting a Navaho girl now in Sherman Indian School, Riverside, Calif., to spend the summer with us. She professes to be saved. Please pray for her too that she be a real blessing to her people while here. Sad to say, many of our young Indian people profess to be saved when they come home, but fall back into heathenism very soon. We white people know little of the effort which is brought to bear upon these young people. Probably most of these are not saved at all.

Our daughter Clara we hope will get away soon now for a rest and change. She has been on the field here for many years with little rest. I don't know whether or not she will get as far as New York. . Our daughter Marie and family, Mr. and Mrs. Girdner and two children, are back with us on this field. They were away for some months. Affectionately,

H. A. Holcomb.

From Jose I. Freire of Lisbon:

March 29,1928.

"The work among the convicts in the Coimbra and Lisbon Penitentiaries is going on with much blessing from the Lord. During 1927 we received 627 letters from these poor men. Some of them confessed the Lord openly and tell us with great joy of the great change which has taken place in their lives.

I have done a little open-air preaching lately in connection with the selling of the Scriptures. A colporteur got permission from the authorities to sell the Scriptures in the public squares, using colored Bible pictures, and I have taken the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the crowds in connection with this work. Sometimes in two or three hours thirty New Testaments are sold in this way. It is not allowed to preach in the open air in this country, but the authorities look at this work as if it was 'mere business.' For us it is 'the King's business' and we thank the Lord for these precious opportunities to serve Him."

SUNDAR SINGH

On one of his long journeys in the mountains the footpath divided at a certain point, and he was in doubt as to which to take. He chose the wrong one, and upon arrival at a village he found he had gone eleven miles out of his Way. Turning back Sundar met a man with whom he entered into conversation, and began to speak to him of Christ. Then the man produced from the folds of his clothes a copy of the New Testament, which he confessed to having hidden when he saw the Sadhu coming, in the belief that he was a Hindu sanyasi. The man had doubts to which he could find no solution, and Sundar dealt with them so that the man found Christ, and in speaking of this to the writer he remarked:"Then I knew why I had gone astray, for Christ had sent me to help this anxious soul."

(From Sadhu Sundar Singh, by Mrs. Arthur Parker.)

THE WORD

Man is sometimes bound, "But the Word of God is not bound." This Missionary (the Bible) is never weak or weary, needs no rest, and is unaffected by climate, diet, or local surroundings. Ever the same in the fulness of its vitality and efficiency, it accommodates itself to every' new environment, equally adapted to all varieties of human temperament. This Messenger of God never halts in obedience, hesitates in aim, or stumbles in action. It is not intimidated by threats, dismayed by persecution, or destroyed by violence. It is alike unmoved by the skeptic's scoffs, the worldling's indifference, and the bigot's intolerance. It claims to have in it, as HIS LIVING BOOK, God's vital power, and- to be life-imparting, so that men are born again through it as God's "seed." Arthur T. Pierson (from The Modern Mission Century).