The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 137

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

137

mission enterprise. Other churches have a large
number of trained woman workers in the field.
The United Lutheran Church has twenty parish
deaconesses in the city of Philadelphia. We have
but one parish deaconess in New York City. The
annual membership fee in the Lutheran Deaconess
Association is -but.one dollar’a year. ‘Those who
desire further information regarding the training-
schools will please apply to Rev. B. Poch, Lutheran
Deaconess Home, 2916 Fairfield Ave., Fort Wayne,
Ind.” F.J.L.

What Can I Do to’Aid in Rescuing
Perishing Souls?

A young man of my parish lay stricken in one
of our hospitals. His life seemed to be ebbing
away. Day by day he grew weaker and weaker,
until finally he could not speak above a whisper.
His pastor came quite frequently. In the same
room with this young man was another patient,
a Bulgarian, who had acquired the language of our
country to such an extent that he could carry on
a conversation.

One day this Bulgarian said to our patient,
“Friend, who is that man that comes in to see you,
and what does he do?” Our patient responded
with feeble voice, “That is my minister. He prays
with me, and that is what you need too.” The other
patient then said, “I can no pray. And prayer can
no help me.” Then our patient, with quivering
voice, pausing again and again while speaking to
gain new strength, told him why he needed prayer.
He spoke to him briefly of Adam and his fall into
sin and impressed upon him the sad truth that
since then all men (he included) are sinners, that
none can stand before the righteous God, and that
because of this sinful condition of all mankind every
one would be lost if God had not sent Jesus to save
sinners. “Yes, Jesus wants to save all, and He
wants to save you. It is of this that my minister

speaks to me. He prays with me. Now I am not |

afraid to die.” With deep interest the Bulgarian
had listened to the Lutheran patient. “I can,no

Pray,” said he. “I sin too; I know I die, but
I can no pray.” Our patient volunteered to ask

his minister to pray with him when he would come
again; “and he will tell you more about it.”

_ Thus the way was opened to the heart of the
slowly dying Bulgarian. When the pastor came the
next day, our patient told him what had transpired

_the previous day. It was but natural that the pastor
grasped the opportunity to speak to the Bulgarian.

The Word of God which he had heard from his
fellow-patient, that word of sin and grace, had
moved the heart of this patient. He was eager to
hear and learn more about it; he wished to learn
to pray. The pastor first procured a copy of the
New Testament in the Bulgarian language and pre-
sented to him the whole plan of salvation, and with
the help of the Bulgarian edition of the New Testa-
ment he, by the grace of God, grew day by day in
the knowledge of the saving truths. From that
time on the two patients often discussed matters
touched upon by the pastor.

Our patient gradually recovered, but not so the
Bulgarian. When finally the day came that the
former could leave the hospital, it was a sad parting
for the two, who now were one in Christ. “I now
alone,” said the Bulgarian; “I must pray alone!
Oh, do ask the minister to come and see me!” This
he did. Nor could it be otherwise. Finally the
Bulgarian’s means for defraying the expenses at the
hospital were exhausted. And no friend far and
near, a stranger in a strange country, his eyes rested
upon the pastor. “I do not know what to do.”
“My friend,” said the pastor, “cast all your care
upon Him who careth for you. Look to Jesus.”
The same day he was removed to the Cook County
Hospital; the pastor had made the necessary ar-
tangements to that effect. Resigned to his fate,
trusting in his Savior as his best Friend in heaven
and earth, he suffered patiently, with not a murmur
upon his lips.

Death, however, was fast approaching. The hos-
pital authorities one day sent a messenger to ask
the pastor to come immediately. When the pastor
reached his bedsidé, the patient looked up at him.
A smile came over his pallid face as he said,
“Pastor, I die —I no afraid.” ‘And when the
pastor said, “Peter, why are you not afraid?”
“Pastor, God loved, —loved the—loved me,” he
said and grasping beneath his pillow tried to find
the New Testament and the passage to which he
referred, John 3,16. And when the pastor opened
it and said: “God so loved the world that He
gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever be-
lieveth in Him should not perish, but have ever-
lasting life,” he said, “Yes, I believe in Jesus, my
Savior. Pastor, pray!” He folded his hands, and

~ we commended his soul into the hands of Him who

came to save that which was lost.

The pastor departed. About three o’clock in the
afternoon he returned. Yes, the patient was dying;
however, he was fully conscious. He recognized the
pastor and, stretching forth his hand, said, “Pastor,