# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1886_S74
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

74 Proceedings of the eleventh convention

not two years of faithful labor, called by a blessed death into the heavenly
harvest, whereupon a further vacancy of 6 months
followed. In November 1884 Candidate G. Allenbach from the
seminary at Springfield entered this mission, and under his faithful labor
it now seems to be recovering. According to his latest reports
the state of his mission station is now as follows: The weekday school numbers
60, the Sunday school 38 children. It is to be noted, however, that in the
spring most of the larger pupils always leave school in order to earn something,
and then as a rule no longer attend Sunday school either.
Many of them, however, return in late autumn.
The number of souls is 35, church attendance on average 35, the number
of communicants 15, of baptized 5, of confirmed 4, of newly
received 4. These are almost the same figures as those contained in the report
of the Commission of 1884. So for the time being no progress
is to be recorded, but Missionary Allenbach works with great joyfulness
and hope for the future. Director A. Burgdorf visited
this station at the Commission's behest last summer and made a
quite encouraging report. If God this time lets us keep our missionary
for a number of years, and ever richer experience and competence join his faithfulness, he will certainly
found and build here a fine Lutheran Negro congregation. For there is no lack of
material. The number of Negroes in Little Rock is given as 6000
souls. The mission owns there a pretty little frame church, free of debt,
which serves at the same time as a school. In collections and contributions this
little congregation has raised in the last two years $64.95.

III. New Orleans, La.

This is without doubt our most hopeful mission field. It
lies not only in the heart of the Negro population, but has also enjoyed from
the beginning a special, visible blessing of God. From
the moment when Missionary Bakke began his work here at the end of the year 1880,
there has been no interruption of the blessed work,
but rather only new forces have joined for coping with the ever-growing
work. We have here, under two missionaries
and three teachers, three stations. The first was Mount Zion Church, at
first opened in a building, Sailors' Home, but in the year 1882,
because of the dilapidation of the house, moved into a church acquired for $3500.00.
Here Teacher Vix conducts the school. The second station
was founded in the year 1881 on Claiborne Street by the opening of a school,
to which Teacher Berg was called from the mission school at Little
Rock, under whose direction the school still stands today.
He opened this school in January 1881 with only 5 children, but already