The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1921, Page 38

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

* 38

The eer ienenr Pioneer.

ES

members. The exact communicant membership
now is 53. The number of souls is 81. God alone
be praised !

Dear reader, God has undoubtedly tested you
many times. It may be that He is doing so right
now, if not in the way described above, then in some
other manner. “Perhaps He has blessed you with
this world’s goods. Are you fulfilling your obliga-
tions to Him? However, you can do this in the
right way only if your heart is filled with love and
gratefulness to Him. “Lovest thou Me?” asks
Christ. If you do, you will bend every effort to
bring the saving Gospel to the perishing thousands
both at home and abroad. Hersertr C. Craus.

Churchgoing Zeal.

Of the many mission-stations the Lord has
opened -in this Black Belt of Alabama during the
past five years, Nyland is one. That’s so, you will
say; seems as though we remember the name; it
has a familiar sound. But what has happened to
Nyland? We have not heard anything of it for so
long; we are getting to be anxious as to whether or
not it is still alive.

No fears need be entertained with regard to that,
kind reader. Nyland is still very much alive. ‘True,
Bethany Congregation is rathei far removed from
its sister churches. Nestling among the pines up
in the hills, with numerous creeks and long stretches
of marshy bottom-lands surrounding it, Nyland is
hard to be reached. It is an outpost, “’way off by
itself.””
“yp-and-doing” class. Even though they are only
a small band, and very much scattered at that, they

-are helping to hold aloft the banner of God’s Word
and Luther’s doctrine pure in a community filled
with ignorance and sin. ‘They are Lutherans, and
that means they are active, zealous Christians.

Now, a good Lutheran shows his faith in many
ways, does he not? One of these ways is in his
zeal for the place where the Lord’s honor dwelleth.
But, sad to say, many people fall victims to the
devil’s favorite arrow: Stay-away-from-church. Not

so with a certain Nylander I want, to tell you of. °

_ Fannie Steele, one of our members, is an old auntie
living many miles away from the chapel. ‘To be
, exact, the distance is over nine miles. Does this
keep her from attending services regularly? By no
means! Aunt Fannie does not intend to let a
matter of nine miles stand between her and the

~~”

Nevertheless, its memibers belong to the —

chapel. So, despite the fact that she has some
seventy odd years behind her, she trudges to Nyland
on foot. On foot? Certainly, for Aunt Fannie can
afford to take the train but seldom. - Work is not
plentiful for an old auntie, and railroad fares are
high. So there is no other way left but to walk.
This, however, is easier said than done. Walking is
no enjoyment in these parts, especially during the
rainy season. Mud is everywhere, 1 mud all of its
own kind. Yet it is not too much for Aunt Fannie
to wade through this mud when our Sundays for
regular services are at hand. Often she starts on
Saturday and does not arrive home again until
Monday. Zeal for the Lord’s house? Yes, a laud-
able portion of it!

On the particular day I am thinking of we had
special services. Aunt I’annie had made up her
mind: I’m going to be there. This time she was
to ride a part of the way. So she went to bed early
Saturday night. Suddenly she awoke. It was dark,
pitch dark. Having no clock, she did not know
what time it was. Should she go back to sleep?
No, for she might oversleep. Poking up her fire,
she sat down to keep warm, meanwhile waiting for
dawn. "I'o her surprise dawn, was a long time com-
ing, for she sat up nearly all night, at least from
midnight on. At seven she took the train for the
station that is iearest to her church. Arrived there,
Aunt Fannie had to walk another three miles over
rough country roads, up and down steep hills, before
she could say she was at her destination. And then
she had a wait of three to four hours before services
would begin.

So now you have heard a bit about Nyland
again. Yes, it’s still on the map. And when you
pray for our Black Belt Missions, don’t forget to
include Nyland. Remember Aunt Fannie also. Her
zeal for her Master’s house is a fine example for
us all. i. A. WEstcorr.

“‘He’s Only a Teacher!’’

“He's only a teacher!” — this expression is so
often heard in our Lutheran circles. A teacher does
not seem to count for much. His salary is small.
He must be content with a modest home. Circum-
stances often make it necessary for him to wear
worn and shabby clothes. He seldom gets credit
for his nerve-racking efforts. Yes, he is often
looked down upon by those who owe. him more than
gold or silver. He is made the culprit when he has

tee