The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Sheet 40

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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-Items of Missionary Interest.

BETHLEHEM, NEw ORLEANS.—Missionary Kra-
mer informs us that Confirmation services were
held at this station an Palm Sunday. The class
consisted of four adults and eight children, and was
the largest in the history of Bethlehem Station.
Three of the children.and two of the adults had not
yet been baptized, and so received this washing of
regeneration before the class was confirmed. Among
the adults were several who had formerly attended
the Bethlehem Mission School, but for some reason
or other had not been confirmed when attending
that school. Nevertheless, the thorough religious
instruction there received had not been forgotten,
and it was this same instruction that later brought
them to the altar to be confirmed.

Crartorre, N.C.— Pastor P. D. Lehman is
the proud father of a little girl. On the very day
of the daughter’s arrival he felt compelled to share
his joy with the editor of the Prionrrr. May God
hold His protecting hand over mother and child!
— Later. ~The joy of Rey. and Mrs. Lehman was
soon turned into sorrow. On March 28 the Lord
took their child from this vale of tears to Himself
in heaven.

Sourm America. — For years our American
Lutheran Church has been carrying on a very suc-
cessful mission among the German-speaking people
of Brazil and Argentine. In recent years this work
has also been extended to include work among the-
Lusitano-Brazilians of Rio Grande de Sul, the
southernmost state of Brazil. Through the provi-
- dential meeting of one of our laborers with the in-
tendant of one of the small towns, a mission was
opened at Lagoa Vermelha two years ago. Con-
nected with the mission is a very flourishing Chris-
tian day-school. Calls are coming to our laborers
from every direction for pastors and teachers. It

is earnestly hoped that our Lutheran seminary at_

Porto Alegre may be able to graduate a number of
* men this summer who will be able to take up this
important work among the Lusitano-Americans of
Brazil, for the field seems to be ripe for the harvest.
What a pity if the promising harvest should be lost
to Christ because of the lack of men and means of
bringing it in! We understand that a number of’
our men in Brazil are busy in getting out the neces-
_ sary Christian literature to carry on the work in the
_ Portuguese language in an efficient manner.

ig The Lutheran Pioneer.

Kanyr1i.— On the top of the Atlas Mountains,
in French Algiers, lies Kabylia, populated by the
original white people of Northern Africa. Their
forbears were Christians, but the conquering Mo-
hammedans drove them up into the mountains and
forced them to accept the faith of Islam. However,
in late years French roads and French schools have
brought these Kabyles back into touch with the rest
of the world, and American missionaries are work-
ing to bring them back into the Christian fold.

Inpo-Cnina.— In Indo-China, in the south-
eastern part of Asia, a land with an area of 256,000
square miles and a population of no less than
18,000,000, only one Protestant mission is working.

S1am.—The King of Siam has abolished polyg-
amy by proclamation, has regulated the sale of
liquor and opium, and has declared Sunday to be
the “Holy Day” of his country.

A Voricr rrom JAPAN. — Viscount Ishii, the
Japanese ambassador to Washington, recently said,
“Tf you do not save Japan, you cannot guarantee
China.” :

Tue Czrcus.— When the Czechs, or Bohemi-
ans, revolted from Austria, they also, to a very great:
extent, revolted from the Roman Catholic Church,
which refused to grant them privileges they had de-
manded. Bohemia is the land of Hus and was once
largely Protestant. Everything possible should be
done to cause the return of the Czechs to their old
Protestant allegiance, lest they fall a prey to open
unbelief.

Arnica. — From Kairwan, a city of North
Africa, called the “city of thirty mosques,” you
could travel no less than 2200 miles to the south
before reaching a single Christian mission-station.
—In the Sudan there are 40,000,000 who have
scarcely been reached by missionary effort. — The
people of Northern Nigeria have developed the only
literature in all Negro Africa, and yet no Christian
church has thought it worth while to send mission-
aries to this race. — The population of Central
Africa is rapidly decreasing, because the diseases
of civilization are rapidly spreading among the
natives, while the medical knowledge and sanita-

tion of civilization have failed to come.— About >

7,000,000 people in German Last Africa, who were
ministered to by German missionaries before the
war, are-now spiritually orphaned. So far no ar-
rangement has been completed for the continuance
of the work.— Though Christian in name, Abys-
sinia is rapidly being penetrated by Mohammedan

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