# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1933_S28 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THE LUTHERAN PIONEER 28 his wife’s health. A number of confirmation classes have been formed on the field. Pastor Mueller has a class of thirty catechumens; Pastor Werling is also instructing a class. A women’s class has been begun at one of the Hankow chapels. At Wanhsien there is a class of fifteen, of whom seven are being prepared for confirmation. In Hankow another catechumen class is being instructed be- sides those mentioned above. Rey. Klein has a regular attendance of fifty-seven in his catechumen class. Rev. Mueller is conducting services regularly an @ prison every Saturday. The seminary students are given much regular opportunity to preach to large audiences at the San Hsin Kai Chapel. Several exploration trips were recently made by missionary workers into country districts with promising results. At the dedication of the new seminary in Hankow the students sang “Lord Jesus Christ, with Us Abide.” The congregation sang “Now Thank We All Our God” and “Christ, Thou the Champion of the Band who Own.” The ded- icatory services were attended by a large and at- tentive audience. — The missionaries are in good health, and the military conditions at all our sta- tions are peaceful. An “Expensive” Mission.— Messiah Mission was founded at Inwood-on-Hudson, New York City, in 1916 and was subsidized by the Atlantic District, Missouri Synod, till October, 1932. In the first year the mission was housed in a vacant store under the elevated railroad, the next two years in another store under the elevated railroad; the following two years it had its home in a kosher meat market; the next three or four years it was located in a vacant store nine feet and eight inches wide, from which it moved to make room for a coal dealer; the next three years it was housed in another store, now turned into a confectionery. In 1927 a “church house” was completed. Since the mission moved into its real home, it has enjoyed a fine growth and has now become a self-sustaining congregation. Its pastor during the past ten years has been the indefatigable Rev. F. P. Wilhelm. Humanly speak- ing, Messiah would have become a self-sustaining congregation years ago if it had had its own home. Moral: Let us remember our Church Extension Fund with our contributions. Buffalo Institutional Missions. — Our institu- tional mission-workers in Buffalo regularly visit twenty-two institutions. Last year they visited these institutions 808 times and ministered to 7,468 patients and inmates. They aided fifty-two pris- oners, made twenty-two calls at their homes, and held 209 interviews with officials and others in their behalf. They looked up 117 missionary prospects in their homes, received seventy-one at their office, and referred five families and eight’ individuals to local churches. They conducted 259 services in in- stitutions and gave 114 periods of instruction. They communed 332 persons and baptized forty-two; they conducted sixteen funerals and solemnized two marriages. They distributed 16,004 copies of Chris- tian literature, including 808 copies of the Bible or its parts. No fewer than 542 persons were provided with clothing, 111 with lodging and meals, and fifteen families were aided for longer periods. Twelve jobs were secured for men and women, 2,642 Christmas presents were distributed, mostly in institutions, thirty-nine families were provided with Christmas dinners, eleven Thanksgiving baskets were carried out, and 746 people were remembered with gifts at Eastertide.— Much was also done along child-welfare lines. Eighty-five children were aided during the year, homes were found for ten, 127 visits were made at homes of needy children, 206 interviews were held, and sixty contacts were made with child-welfare agencies. — Three persons were received in the old people’s home. The chaplain made seventy sick-calls in the home and conducted services there every Sunday and holiday. In the hospice twenty transients were accommodated with rooms, thirty-two were given night lodging, and thirty-three meals were served. — Our readers can see from these statistics that the days of an institu- tional missionary are busy days, and they can also sense that countless stories of misery and destitu- tion, of spiritual and physical need, are behind these figures. Thank God that we are privileged to help relieve much of this want! May the simple, but touching story told in the above lines awaken many among us to give a helping hand to those in need! Our Omaha Colored Mission. — Pastor Weber writes us that an increased interest in the colored mission is being shown by our white Lutherans. Our colored people were invited to attend the New Year’s Eve services at the First Lutheran Church. A general meeting in the interest of our mission is planned by the Lutheran Welfare Society of Omaha, and the intention is to have a member of the Colored Mission Board present as speaker. The various aid societies are helping the colored mission in a financial way. Pastor Weber reports that the services of the colored people are being held at the home of Mrs. McIntosh. The average attendance is about twenty, and strangers are present in every service.