Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1954, Page 117

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Ev. Luth. Synodical Conference of North America, 1954 117

it that those for whom He shed His holy, precious blood and for
whom He had died on Calvary’s cross might have “life more
abundantly.”

Upon his return from Nigeria, the Executive Secretary pre~
pared a detailed report on the various phases of his visitation and
submitted a mimeographed copy of his findings and recommenda-
tions to the Missionary Board, the President and Vice-Presidents
of the Synodical Conference, and the President of each of the four
constituent Synods. This report embraced the following:

Official documents, covering particularly the normal and sec-
ondary schools and the preliminary teacher-training center;

Letters written by Africans on the occasion of the Executive
Secretary’s visit to congregations and otherwise;

A condensation of the Executive Secretary’s diary, which
covered the official visitation from day to day and listed the various
activities, meetings of Boards, pastoral conferences, and sessions
with individual workers and groups;

A tabulation of the Nigerian financial setup with all its ramifi-
cations, ‘

In his preface to the report, the Executive Secretary embodied
the following:

The visitation was fraught with many difficulties. For one thing,
Mrs. Kurth and I had to carry on for a long period in the tropics with-
out suitable clothes and important documents and addresses, which had
been prepared far in advance for presentation to the workers and con-
gregations, due to the fact that our trunk never reached us. However,
in spite of all inconveniences encountered, God was most gracious to
both of us. He permitted us to continue our labors of love unabated
during our entire stay in Nigeria, and gave us a special measure of
grace and strength to work under a great handicap. God did not fail
us at a time when we so sorely needed our prepared sermons and
addresses. He gave us courage to speak those things which in essence
were intended for the enhancement of our mission. He was with us in
moments of discouragements and weaknesses and gave us renewed
energy to perform our tasks, even though we were troubled with human
frailty and disconsolations. We experienced, as never before in our lives,
the real meaning and significance of the Lord’s assurance given unto the
Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made
perfect in weakness,” 2 Cor. 12:9.

Our mission field in West Africa has been bountifully blessed by
God. He has given success to the preaching and teaching of His Word,

where the Lutheran Church has unselfishly labored for the winning of
souls that were steeped in sin, degradation, and hopelessness, While the
number of souls gained for the Kingdom in less than two decades may
be considered as a miraculous accomplishment, nevertheless it was God
alone who brought about the conversion of the heathen and the accession
of souls to the number of believers whose names are written in “the
Book of Life.” We laud and magnify His glorious name and praise Him
for His bountiful goodness bestowed upon the Lutheran Church in
Nigeria, which, under the leadershi of consecrated men and ‘women,
has become a well-indoctrinated Church. We feel confident, if there
should be any political changes due to the ambitions of men who are
striving with might and main to attain self-government by 1956, that
our Lutheran Church in Nigeria will, by the grace of God, be able to
carry on as now constituted and that it will be in a position to function
as a Church which will pursue one objective — the gathering of immortal