# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1905_S76
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

76 Proceedings of the 26th General or

...distributed. Thousands of letters and inquiries were received and
answered.

"The Pilgrim House has again in these years proven a great blessing
for the effective conduct of this mission. In the period named, no fewer
than 12,646 guests stayed there, of whom 5,802 were Germans and
6,844 Scandinavians. The total number of guests the Pilgrim House has
lodged, from its opening on December 8, 1885, to December 31, 1904,
amounts to 84,828. In the past three years, too, charity has been
extended to many in need. The poor received 3,682 free meals, 1,359
free nights' lodging, provisions for onward travel worth $1,134.87, and
cash in the amount of $55.59. Many advances were also made to help
people along. The fund's turnover amounted to $385,567.00. Many of
our fellow believers from our congregations, making a visiting trip
through New York to the old homeland, stopped in here and found a
welcome Christian lodging. Such fellow believers will find the house
even more comfortable in the future. Major repairs recently had to be
made. The house was thoroughly renovated and in part newly furnished.
Steam heating has also been installed. Any profit realized serves the
good cause, as does the income from selling steamship tickets and
handling money transfers. All such business is conducted honestly,
promptly, and reliably. Besides the bookkeeper, a man has been
engaged especially for this work, with an assistant. The Norwegian
missionary, Pastor P. Petersen, whose wife runs the household, lives in
the house and looks after the Scandinavians in particular, but helps
elsewhere too wherever he can.

"Your committee meets in regular monthly sessions and, when
necessary, at extraordinary times as well. All its members seek
faithfully to serve the work with counsel and action. In Mr. Chas. E.
Hauselt the committee has gained a man especially well suited for the
office of treasurer. By virtue of his business training he was able to
introduce valuable improvements in the bookkeeping and generally to
render valuable service in business matters.

"As regards the forward stations at Hamburg and Bremen taken over
by the last Synod, it may be reported that the work there, too, is being
carried on in the accustomed way. In Hamburg, Missionary W. Vopel has
attended to his office with complete faithfulness. His activity is,
admittedly, quite limited, partly as a result of German imperial law and
partly as a result of new measures by