The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 69

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 69

in coming among those people was to bring the
Gospel, and he did all this other work to gain this
end. He took advantage of every opportunity to
lead these poor savages to the Savior. He gathered
as many of their children as he could into his school
and instructed the adults for baptism. Every Sun-
day he held divine services, and as time went on,
the attendance at these services grew quite large.
He also made preaching trips into the country sur-
rounding Otjosazu. Yes, the preaching of Christ
was always regarded by this young missionary as
the chief and main work for which he had come
among the Hereros.

But I set out to tell you also of the great social
and civilizing influence of this young missionary
and his wife, and so I shall proceed.

Their house was open all day for their black
visitors, who made full use of the privilege. This,
of course, was not very pleasant for the missionary’s
family, but it was of very great importance for the
natives, since thus an opportunity was afforded
them to become acquainted with Christian family
life, Christian conversation, and Christian customs.
And these Hereros were close observers. Their
frequent visits to the missionary’s house also gave
them an idea of orderliness, cleanliness, and punc-
tuality, all of them things unknown to them before.
Above all, they learned to see that among Christians
the wife is the helpmate of the husband and not his
slave, as is the case among the heathen. Again and
again the missionary and his wife were brought face
to face with the fact that their example spoke
louder to those people than their words, and this
again admonished them carefully to watch their
every action, lest they give offense to these poor,
ignorant people. Oh, indeed, this work required
great faithfulness and not a little self-denial ! —

And now let us visit Otjosazu twenty years later.
What a change has taken place! You would not
recognize the place again. A very pretty church
stands in the center of the village, its tall spire
beckoning and bidding you welcome from afar. It
is flanked on one side by a neat schoolhouse and
on the other by the missionary’s dwelling, now much
larger than twenty years ago. In every direction
you can see the neat limestone houses of the natives.
And these dwellings are furnished with chairs,
tables, beds, and commodes.

In some of the houses you will find the housewife -

sitting at the sewing-machine sewing clothing for
her family, and the sewing is carefully and neatly
done, too. The well-kept gardens on both sides
of the river and the broad, green wheat-field in the

dry river bed prove that the Hereros have learned
to work.

But the most wonderful change has taken place
in the Hereros themselves. Men, women, and
children are decently and neatly dressed. The
stupid facial expression has vanished, and from the
bright eyes a soul now looks out at you. The ring-
ing of the church-bells calls hundreds to God’s
house every Sunday. Every churchgoer has his
hymn-book, for you seldom find a Christian Herero
who cannot read. The singing of our good old
Lutheran chorals would delight your ear if you
could be there to hear it. In school the children
gather on week-days and gladly learn “the white
man’s wisdom.” The Christian families of the
village have regular daily devotional exercises in
their homes, consisting of Scripture-reading, sing-
ing, and prayer. The whole village is an example
of quietness and order; the disorderliness and noise
of twenty years ago is indeed a thing of the past.
Even the heathen —for there are still some who
have not embraced Christianity — have outwardly
changed greatly for the better. The blessed influ-
ence of Christianity is everywhere noticeable, even
far beyond the confines of the village. It is apparent
that every Christian is an evangelist for his sur-
roundings. Several outstations belong to Otjosazu,
which are served by native workers under the super-
vision of the missionary. Everywhere it is plain
that Christianity is working as an active leayen.
F.J.L.

Dedication at Atlanta.

On Palm Sunday, April 1, the new church in
Atlanta, Ga., was dedicated. The congregation
assembled at the door of the church at eleven
o’clock, and after a short prayer by the undersigned
the keys were turned over to the pastor, the Rev. I.
J. Alston, who unlocked the door. The congrega-

tion marched in while the dedicatory service was -

read. The Bible, the Book of Concord, the Cate-
chism, and the church vessels were placed on the
altar while the congregation joined heartily in
a song of praise. The writer preached the sermon,
using the text found Is. 25,6.7. Mr. R. C. Lieb, a
member of the white congregation of Atlanta, who
had been of great service to the board and the pastor
in the erection of the building, made a very appro-
priate talk at the close of:the service. 2
Services were held in the afternoon at two o’clock.
‘At this service the pastor of the congregation

preached on 1 Cor. 3,16. At this service as well as

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