The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1907, Page 63

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

63

NOTES.

Cotorep Luruerans In Porro Rico.—In a
recent letter, describing his first Sunday’s labors in
Porto Rico, a Lutheran missionary says that after
mission services among Porto Ricans his last serv-
ice in the evening was in the “English congregation
composed of colored people, the majority of whom
are from St. Thomas and adjacent islands. A great
number of them have been brought up as Lutherans
and are very much devoted to their Church. The
sincerity and piety of these people is noticed as soon
as one meets them. They are a good class of people
with a fair education, some holding good positions.
This service was also well attended.”

Biste Worx. — The ninety-first annual Report
of the American Bible Society has recently been
made public. From it we learn that the total issues
of the Society during the year amount to 1,910,583.
The grand total of issues for the ninety-one years
is eighty million, four hundred and twenty thou-
sand, three hundred and eighty-two. The work of
the Society is very widespread, and every effort is
made for the thorough circulation of the Bible, par-
ticularly in broad but sparsely settled regions.
Among the colored people 26,365 volumes of the
Scriptures were distributed, nearly half of this num-
ber being the complete Bible. In the Philippine
Islands the circulation has been 156,886 volumes
for the year, Porto Rico has had 5460 volumes, and
17,936 have been distributed in Cuba.

A LirrLe Missionary. — “Dr. Luther’s Small
Catéchism,” says an exchange, “may well be called
a little missionary. It is already translated into
sixty ‘foreign mission tongues’—25 Asiatic, 24
African, 3 American, and 8 Australian. Let us
never forget or overlook the fact that the first trans-
lation ever made into an American Indian language
was that of Luther’s Small Catechism into the
tongue of the Virginia Indians in 1648 by John
Campanius, the second pastor of the Swedish Lu-
theran settlement on the Delaware. He ‘stands
foremost among the pioneer missionaries to the
American Indians,’ although some writers on mis-
sions seem not to know of him. It is on record that
he was ‘engaged in teaching the neighboring Dela-
ware Indians in the truth of the Christian religion.’
Luther’s Small Catechism has been translated into
many languages, and has been of valuable help in
the mission field.”

HEATHEN CruEtty.— A young Hindoo, writes
a missionary in India, who had become a Christian
went home and told his mother. She was a widow,
and he could not bear to think of leaving her. He
begged to stay where she was, but though his mother
wept when she thought of the separation, she said,
“No, you cannot eat with me nor stay with me.”
The son replied, “But, mother, your dog is not of
your caste, and you give him food; let me eat with
him!” But his mother was firm, and kept to her
first decision. The dog could be tolerated, but a
Christian son, never! This shows what it costs in
India for a Hindoo to become a Christian.

An Arrican’s Prayer. — An African’s prayer
for home-returning missionaries was: “May they
be preserved from storms at sea; be kept in health;
have moonlight on their journey; meet their friends
in peace; and may their friends be willing to let
them return.”

A Loyrty Mission Sration.— One of the
loneliest mission stations is to be found on Herschel
Tsland, in the far-off Northwestern Territory of
Canada. The nearest postoffice is 2000 miles dis-
tant, so that the station receives letters and -other
mail matter only twice a year. The island is very
rugged and hardly inhabitable. In winter the sun
does not rise there for four months, and there is
hardly any vegetation. The Eskimos, however,
among whom mission work is carried on, are said
to take kindly to the missionaries.

Lurueran Crry Missions In MILWAUKEE. —
The report of our city missions in Milwaukee for
the past year must fill every Christian heart with
joy and gratitude. The labors of our missionary,
the Rev. E. Duemling, have been abundantly
blessed. The Gospel has been preached regularly in
the various public institutions, and the way of sal-
vation has been made known to the destitute, the
sick, and the dying. Most of the fruit of this work
will be seen on the great’ harvest day, but already
here the missionary has again and again seen the
blessed fruit of his patient labors. The work has
grown so that it is purposed to call another laborer
for this important field.

ooo _—_——_
Gop always answers our needs, but not always

our requests. We may sometimes ask amiss, but
God never gives amiss.