The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1919, Page 84

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84

The Lutheran Pisnsen

Letter from Meherrin, Va.

St. Matthew’s Ev. Luth. Church,
Meherrin, Va. October 13, 1919.

To THE READERS OF THE PIONEER.
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus, —

Some time ago we made an appeal to the mem-
bers of our congregation and its friends for small

donations for the purpose of helping Immanuel

Lutheran Conference raise a building fund of one
thousand dollars. In this appeal the Lord was good
and gracious unto us. Of the one thousand that
was raised, we received credit for one hundred and
thirty-two dollars. On the day that the money was
to be raised, our members exceeded all expectations.
The divine services being concluded, without a word
having been said about money, the members handed
the pastor the neat little sum of seventy dollars.
Donations from friends and our different Church
Societies brought the amount to the sum mentioned
above.

While the good and gracious Lord is blessing
our mission-work with the truth and purity of the
Word; may He continue to bless us with a spirit
of giving, so that the blessed work of the Master
may continue to grow, and a people that has long
been in spiritual darkness be led into the Lord’s
kingdom of marvelous light.

The 13th Sunday after Trinity was also a great
day with the people of St. Matthew. On that day
we celebrated our Harvest Home Festival.
Lord blessed us with an ideal day, and people came
out to church from both far and near. The Rev. E.
H. Polzin, of Philadelphia, who formerly was pastor
here, preached the harvest-sermon. He is a most
excellent speaker, and on this occasion he seemed.
to be at his best. At the conclusion of this service
we were compelled to exclaim with the disciples of
Emmaus: “Did not our heart burn within us while
he talked with us?”

In the afternoon the Rey. W. E. Schuldt, of
Farmville, Va., preached the mission-sermon. In
this service the Lord seemed to pour out upon us
a double blessing. So powerfully was the Word pro-
claimed by the brother that every one was enthu-
siastic over the sermon.

At night the Rev. W. G. Schwehn, our beloved
Visitor, preached a very fine Gospel-sermon. In
his sermon the efficacy of God’s Word still demon-
strated itself, and the 250 souls that had been so
abundantly fed with the bread of life rejoiced and

The ©

praised God for having sent to us on this occasion
His three chosen servants.

While the Lord, through our visiting pastors,
gave us a great spiritual feast, we might also say
that He, at the same time, through our dear ladies,
gave us a great bodily feast. When it comes to pre-
paring sumptuous repasts for the body, our ladies
cannot be beaten, for they are the best cooks in
the South.

We also, on the abovementioned day, had a great”

financial blessing. The people, aiter listening to
the richness of God’s Word reached. deep into their
pockets, let their hands pass by the pennies, the
nickels, and the dimes, and gave their quarters,
half-dollars, and dollars. In all, the Lord blessed
us with a collection of fifty dollars. May the good
and gracious Lord continue the blessed work which
He has begun here at Meherrin!

In conelusion we wish to say that if any of our
missionaries have members in Philadelphia, they
will please send their name and address to the Rev.
B. H. Polzin, 3303 County St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Rey. Polzin is not actively engaged in Colored Mis-
sion work, but being interested in the cause, and
filled with the spirit of Christ Jesus who said:
“Go and teach all nations,” he takes enough of his
time to preach the Word occasionally and to ad-
minister the Sacraments to the colored Lutherans
of Philadelphia, May God bless him in his work!

Items of Interest from thie Colored
Mission Field.

Missionary Socrmrrms. — Nothing will help
more to increase interest in the work of missions
than information given to the people on the various
missionary enterprises of our Church. We can ex-
pect no interest where there is no knowledge, and
there can be no knowledge if there be no informa-
tion given. For this reason pastors in some of our
congregations give mission-talks to their people at
regular intervals. Some pastors find it still better
to have missionary societies besides these mission-
talks. In these societies some text-book on missions
is used, or else the Pronrer and the Missionstaube
are used as the sources of information. It is to
be deplored that we haven’t more missionary soci-
eties and mission-talks in our circles. In this re-
spect we could learn a great deal from other de-
nominations.