# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1882_S87
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 87 —

Orleans, who was trained for school service and had kept school for several years in a free school. The Commission took every pains to carry out the resolution of the Hon. Synodical Conference to station a missionary in New Orleans again, but all its efforts to that end were for a long time in vain. It therefore saw itself compelled to entrust the supervision of the mission and the necessary administration of the sacraments within it to the now blessed Pastor Friedrich and, after his death soon following, to Pastor Döscher. When then in the spring of 1880 the colored teacher Polk also resigned, because he believed himself slighted by Pastor Döscher and the Commission, Miss Watson was quite alone at the weekday school in Sailors' Home; the Sunday school was kept by members of the local committee. In the chapel on Claiborn Street Teacher Sauer, of Pastor Mödinger's congregation, kept the Sunday school.

The mission work could be maintained only meagerly, and already everyone was ready to lose courage, since we could not obtain a missionary. At last Candidate J. N. Bakke from the seminary at St. Louis was called and accepted the call in God's name. Yet it would not have been advisable to let him go down before autumn. So he traveled only in November to New Orleans. He himself, as well as the local committee standing at his side, recognized that Sailors' Home was a very unsuitable building for our mission; for it is a filthy, dilapidated ruin. We were therefore offered the purchase of a building lot and the building of a small church, which, however, would not have been possible for less than 3000 dollars. The Commission, however, was of the opinion that the success of our mission in New Orleans was still far too doubtful for us now to have the confidence to make such considerable expenditures; we preferred to try to repair the part of Sailors' Home used by us a little, or to rent another place. The proposal, too, to sell the chapel on Claiborn Street, where the Sunday school showed little success, seemed to us premature; rather the Commission was of the opinion that a serious attempt at mission work must first be made here. Since the necessary forces were lacking in New Orleans, Teacher C. Berg, who was almost superfluous in Little Rock, was called to New Orleans. In January 1881 he began the weekday school in the little chapel on Claiborn Street, and so blessed was his work that after a few weeks he had over 50 children in the school. Attendance at school and church also improved at Sailors' Home. 2 classes were set up there; Miss Watson taught in the upper class and Missionary Bakke in the lower class. The latter gave the religious instruction in both classes.

Things went quite excellently in New Orleans; only a place was lacking for the mission in Sailors' Home; for it was impossible to repair this.