The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Sheet 43

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

and men treated Him cruelly and put Him to death.
But He suffered it for their sins. And now, if we
believe in Him, only believe in Him, we will be
saved.” :

With a parting word to cling to Jesus as his
only Hope of salvation, we take leave of “Uncle”
Jimmie and his daughter, Mrs. Miller, with whom
he made his home and who is one of our faithful
members in Concord. —

A little over a week ago “Uncle” Jimmie took
sick. At the time when his pastor had his last talk
with him, his mind was particularly bright. Once
more the pastor listened to his confession of faith,
and a glorious confession it was. His memory
always had been really remarkable. Once more he
spoke of the Bible stories and recited a hymn. And
then, with labored breath, he concluded: “I am
afraid I have forgotten all I once knew. But
I know that Jesus is my Savior, and if I believe
in Him, I am saved.”

His end came early Monday morning, Febru-
ary 9. As he peacefully fell asleep, there came to
our mind the words of aged Simeon: “Lord, now
lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according
to Thy word; for mine eyes have seen Thy salva-
tion, which Thou hast prepared before the face of
all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles.”

“Uncle? Jimmie Spencer is dead. When he
was young, our country had only 15,000,000 in-
habitants, of whom one million were slaves. He
witnessed the emancipation of his race and its ad-
vancement, but the greatest event in his long life
was the coming of the Lutheran Church to his
own people.

Will you, dear reader, not do your share and
help bring the blessed Gospel of salvation by faith
in the Redeemer to the many millions of freedmen
here in the South? MeEtvin HoLsten.

Concord, N. C., February 11, 1925.

Items of Missionary Interest.

INTERESTING AND UNIQUE MIssIonaARY EENTER-
PRISE. — St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of St. Louis,
whose pastor is Rev. E. Duever, has recently opened
a Sunday-school for a number of Assyrian children
living within the bounds of its territory. Though
the parents of these children are nominally mem-
bers of the Greek Catholic Church, they have left
their children grow up without any religious train-
ing. However, when our people offered to open a
Sunday-school for their children, these parents were

43

delighted and readily consented to send them. It
is the intention at a later time to take up religious
work also among the young people of this Assyrian
colony.

Tue LutHeran Cuurcnw THE TrvuE PENTE-
costaL CHurcu.— Some time ago the Lutheran
Witness called attention to the fact that the Lu-
theran Church is preaching the Gospel in not less
than twenty-eight different languages in America,
and that the Synodical Conference is working in
twenty-three of these tongues. The languages
coming into consideration are English, German,
Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, Bohemian, Slovak, Polish,
Lithuanian, Wendic, Lettish, Esthonian, Finnic,
Magyar, Yiddish, Persian, seven Indian tongues,
and the sign-language of the deaf.

San Franotsco, Cau. — The churches of the
Synodical Conference in the San Francisco Bay
District are carrying on very extensive city and in-
stitutional mission-work. The work is in direct
charge of Rev. Frederick H. Menzel, who is assisted
by two deaconesses, Miss Louise Hartman and Mrs.
M. Schroeder. From the last annual report of the
missionary we learn that he made regular visits at
twelve private and public institutions during the
year and, besides, visited sixteen other institutions
as the occasion required. The activity of the mis-
sionary may be judged from the following data:
During the year he made 482 institutional and 175
private home calls. These calls gave him oppor-
tunity to have 2,150 personal interviews. Rev.
Menzel, during the year, held 269 ward and chapel
services, which were attended by 7,778 persons. At
Agnews State Hospital, where he found fifty Lu-
theran inmates, the services were attended by 300
to 400 persons. The missionary speaks very highly
of the efficient work done by his two deaconesses,
one of whom devotes her whole time to the work.
The tact, diligence, courage, and good judgment
displayed by these deaconesses plainly indicate what
a valuable asset such helpers would be for every
city mission enterprise. We do not doubt that situ-
ations arise again and again where a deaconess with
tact and sympathy can do far more than can a male
worker, and for this reason we earnestly urge the
employment of such deaconesses wherever possible.

Foreign Missions CoNvENTION. —In the last
week in January a very large interdenominational
missionary gathering was held at Washington.
Many of the foreign mission boards and societies
of the United States and Canada were represented