# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S94
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

94 Proceedings of the 25th General, or

had to be abandoned. The mission hall was moved out of this whirlwind
of trouble to a quieter neighborhood, to Grand Street. These events had
the further consequence that a society formed among the Jews, the
'Thomche Hajudoth' ['Supporters of the Jews'], 'Pillars of Israel,' which
set itself the task of keeping Jews and Jewish children away from the
mission hall. Soon enough the Jewish watchers had discovered our new
station, whereupon the Thomche Hajudoth also posted watchmen on
Saturdays and Sundays near it, to intercept all visitors, young and old,
and turn them back. They had also set up a Sabbath school of their own,
and as an inducement the children were promised gifts of clothing, shoes,
and the like. But thank God, it is his goodness that we did not perish
under such circumstances. Some Jews and Jewish children who had
formerly attended the mission were frightened off, others lured away; but
the missionary labored on undeterred and with courage in the strength of
the LORD. New hearers and new Sunday-school pupils came, though not
in as great a number as on Pitt Street; they came and heard and learned
the words of life. Precisely in this difficult time, which threatened to
become so disastrous for our mission, the faithful God gave us the
finest fruit of our mission — a soul from Israel who has become dear and
precious to us all. This is Miss Emma Falk, a Jewish lady employed as a
governess in a distinguished household in Hoboken, N.J. Although she had
to fear the wrath of her father, who is a fanatical Jew, she nevertheless
entered Christian instruction, and with all earnestness and zeal, and
with a devoted heart eager for salvation, learned the truth of the
Gospel unto her salvation. Instruction for baptism was given to her by
the missionary himself, and after this had taken place she was presented
to the commission for examination, which had to acknowledge with great
joy that she was well prepared for baptism. Concerning her baptism,
which took place on June 17, 1900, at half past seven in the evening, in
Brooklyn, a detailed account by the missionary may be found in the
'Lutheraner' of January 8, 1901. After the mission on Grand Street had
been carried on for a year and three months, it was found that this
location was, after all, somewhat too far from the actual Jewish
quarter, and the commission moved it to Henry Street. Scarcely had we
settled in there when the building was condemned as unsafe by the
building authorities, and we were forced to move the location once
again. We found a cheap location on Monroe Street and settled our
mission there; but alas, the same fate overtook us there: the building
was likewise condemned, after we had spent barely six months there. The
only consolation in this was that we lived for two months without rent,
because there was no one to whom we could pay it. From Monroe Street our
mission then moved to