# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1931_S159 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 158 THE LUTHERAN PIONEER Parish School Achievements. — Among the 161 eighth-grade graduates of Iowa County the second and fourth places were won by pupils from the Lu- theran parish schools. The averages were 96.8 and 94.6 per cent. In the Iowa County spelling contest for national-championship honors a pupil from -the Lutheran School captured fifth place from about 50 of the county’s best spellers. Towa District Messenger. 18,000 Deaf Children. — There are at least 18,000 deaf children in our-country. Of these about 17,000 are of school age. It is supposed that there are about 250 deaf children in our Synodical Con- ference. Our Lutheran Institute for the Deaf at Detroit is the only Protestant school for deaf chil- dren in the United States. It is open to all; in fact, it is the Synodical Conference’s Christian school for its Children of Silence. The faculty of this school is wholly Lutheran. Two new members have recently been added to the faculty. May God bless the teachers and pupils of this school! A Helpful Mission. — Last year the Lutheran Immigrant Mission of the Missouri Synod in New York helped 6,238 immigrants and aliens in some way or other. Its representatives met 152 ships during that time, greeted 3,164 immigrants upon their arrival, and helped them by word and deed upon their way to their final destination, conducting them to railroad-stations, ships, hotels, and lodging- places. ‘The missionary made 1,198 pastoral and bedside visits on Ellis Island, and 475 immigrants (special cases) were discharged to the care of our missionary by the immigration inspectors, who held our workers responsible for their welfare. The office of this helpful mission received and sent 7,629 let- ters, cards, and telegrams and handled $100,261.59 in the interest of these immigrants during 1930. Our Missions in China.— The Chinese angry dragon, the Yangtze, for weeks has been raging up and down its valley for hundreds of miles, destroy- ing lives by hundreds of thousands and property by millions. Our mission-stations are in the heart of the devastated region, and it is probable that our missionaries and native Christians have lost all their earthly possessions. But we thank God that our missionaries and their families are unharmed; for just at the time the flood began to rage our workers were attending a conference on the mountains at Kuling, where through the kindness of our Walther Leaguers we have a number of summer houses. But, alas! we have no right to hope that our native Christians in Hankow, Ichang, and Shasi, nor that our chapels, schools, and residences of missionaries have fared similarly well. Three thousand dollars already have been put at the disposal of our mis- sionaries for relief work, and plans are in the making to send further relief. Other relief agencies are functioning with great efficiency, among them particularly the American Red Cross and our American Government.—It is probable that the flood will not cause any change in the time of depar- ture of our new workers going to China, though it is likely that they will stay in Shanghai or Kuling for some time after their arrival, where they can devote themselves to language-study till the time arrives for them to proceed to their several stations. Vigorous in Missions. — The Church of the Lutheran Brethren is a small body of twenty-nine congregations with 2,000 communicant members. It was founded thirty-one years ago as a protest against the alleged worldliness of the other Nor- wegian Lutheran bodies. It has always been noted for its missionary zeal and high giving per capita. It has a mission in China with eight mission-workers and one in the Sudan with about the same number of missionaries. This body is also very active in the Home Missions field. Besides, it supports a Bible- school with over a hundred students and an old people’s home. A Ringing Appeal. — President Janssen of the Oregon and Washington District recently sent the following appeal to all the pastors and teachers of his District: “Dear Brother: — Ten years ago we prayed: ‘O God, give us more boys for our colleges.’ And God gave us boys — hundreds of them, till our colleges bulged out. Again we cried: ‘Give us money to enlarge our colleges.’ And He gave us money — millions of dollars. This year we prayed: ‘Lord, give us fields for the many candidates.’ And He opened a door for every one; not one stands idle. And now — what? Send less students? Close some of our colleges? God forbid. As in other years, so in the coming weeks we want to scan the list of our boys to see who is fit to enter our colleges, and then do our best to get them there. ‘Lord, I will not draw: back from Thy work. ” Protestant Churches and Missions in Brazil. — “The Protestants in Brazil number about 300,000: according to a German missionary magazine, of whom about 250,000 are credited to the Germans. Regular mission work has been carried on for more: than a quarter of a century by the Southern Method- ists, Southern Baptists, Presbyterians, English Con- gregationalists, Swedish Baptists, and the Missouri