The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 11

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 11

kingdom of God — and in view of that teaching of
Jesus Christ in which He told His disciples one
day that every soul is worth more than all the
silver and all the gold and all the riches of all this
earth, we are quite ready to say: Yes, it pays.
With the help of our Lord and Master it pays.”

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

A Zealous Worker.— Prof. H. Naether, formerly
of Immanuel College, but now a teacher at Atlanta
University, writes: “Am on the search for mission-
work. Have found something near Atlanta, but
shall investigate other sections before I decide where
to center my activities.”

Safe Arrivals. — Missionary Jank and family,
who had spent a year’s furlough here, arrived safe
in Trivandrum early in October last: — On Novem-
ber 5 a group of sixteen missionaries destined for
India arrived at Colombo, Ceylon, in safety. —
A group of five missionary workers who sailed for
China early in October arrived at Shanghai on
October 29. They. have since then gone on to
Hankow. ~

Extracts from a Letter.— The following ex-
tracts from a letter written by a young worker in
India will show our readers how the spiritual need
of the people impresses those who come in-personal
contact with it: “I have been here only a few
weeks now, and oh, how many applications have
come from people who want the Gospel preached to
them! And then we must always tell them that
we haven’t the men. What a pity! If the people
in the United States only knew what a marvelous
opportunity there is here for Christ’s kingdom!
There are thousands and thousands anxiously wait-
ing for us.... Rev. has eighteen congrega-
tions, teaches several classes in the catechist school,

‘preaches -two or three times on Sunday, and ‘has
charge of a publication called The Christian, which
has 2,000 or more readers, etc., ete. The others
also have too much to do and simply cannot take
care of the applications continually coming in from
people of every caste.... Do all you can to stir
up interest in our India Missions. It is the Lord
who is opening the doors so widely to us, and hence

" @ great responsibility is placed upon our shoulders
and on the entire Church. Woe to us if we let this

opportunity pass by! ... ‘The missionaries are
losing heart. Help must come soon, or they feel
that they must give up.”

Our Mexican Mission in San Antonio, Tex. —
Rev. S. Cobian, our missionary among the Mexicans
of San Antonio, writes: “The work of our Church
is progressing; church attendance and collections
are increasing. The Sunday-school has at times
seventy persons in attendance. We have a choir,
which sings on Sundays under the direction of our
teacher, Mr. Meissner. Our Walther League, en-
thusiastic and active in church-work, numbers
twenty young people. Our day-school has an en-
rolment of fifty.” Missionary Cobian adds that
a number of children attending the school are in
great need of clothing; he also asks for donations
for Christmas to help make the poor children happy.
Of course, these lines will be read too late to help
bring Christmas-presents to the poor Mexican chil-
dren in time for Christmas, but not too late to
send clothing for the needy little ones. Send your
donations to Rev. S. Cobian, 2104 W. Houston St.,
San Antonio, Tex. —In this connection we would
also call attention to our other missionary among
the Mexicans of Texas, Rev. D. Texidor, Box 112,
Vanderbilt, Tex. His people, too, are very poor
and in need of assistance at this time. Missionary

Texidor’s wife and seven children just arrived in °

Texas from Porto Rico, having been spared in the
disastrous storm that swept that island recently.

Much Still to -be Done. — There are more than
seven hundred languages and dialects spoken in
Africa. Parts of the Scripture are available in only
two hundred and fifty-four of these tongues. The
entire Bible can be obtained in only twenty-eight
African languages and the entire New Testament
in no more than fifty-nine. Much is still to be done.

Is Your Car a Mission-Helper? — Every auto-
mobile belonging to a Christian family should go
to church every Sunday. Every seat in these cars
should be filled. You have neighbors who will at-
tend church with you if invited. We have a number
of aged people in our congregation for whom it is
exceedingly difficult to walk the distance to church.
Let-them occupy that vacant seat in your car. —
A large number of automobiles stationed on our
parking place during services preach a sermon to
all who pass by. While you are inside worshiping,
your car is reminding the community that a large
number of people appreciate the church and its
ministry.

About Rural Churches. — Only one-fifth of the
rural population goes to church. Two-fifths of the
rural churches of the country are standing still or
losing ground. A quarter of all rural churches have
no Sunday-school.

One-fifth of all rural churches