The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 172

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172

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Missionary Baierlein Arrives.

But the work at the rapidly growing Franken-
muth congregation, the far and arduous journeys
to the distant Indian villages, the instruction at the
mission-school, proved to be far too much for the
strength and endurance of one man. This was
especially noticeable in 1846, when Craemer himself
was sick for quite a while, and there was much
sickness among the members of the congregation.
Assistance was absolutely necessary if the work was

_ not to suffer. And God, in His grace and mercy,
had provided a suitable man for the position. In the
mission-home at Dresden was Missionary Baierlein.
He, together with four other candidates, had ac-
cepted a call to India, but a severe illness detained
him from going with his companions to that distant

Bethany Mission Chapel.

country. By the time Craemer’s appeal came into the

hands of the Dresden mission board, Baierlein had
again recovered. The mission board as well as the
missionary himself saw in Craemer’s call a proof
that the Lord wanted him to go to Michigan. With
the “Frankentrosters” Baierlein came to Franken-
muth in June, 1847. He moved into the mission-
house, a log hut, in which he diligently studied and
taught school.

The New Missionary Headquarters.

But as the country became more densely popu-
lated, the Indians moved farther back into the forest.
It soon became evident that, if the mission-work was
to continue to be successful, the missionary must
follow his charges. Chief Pemassikeh of Gratiot
County declared himself willing to receive the mis-
_ sionary into his village and to assist him in every

"manner possible. So congregation and missionary
‘decided to accept this offer, and Baierlein trans-
ferred his headquarters to Pemassikeh’s settlement.

This village lay in the heart of the wilderness,
forty miles from the nearest house of a white man,
about where St. Louis, Mich., is now located. Fol-
lowing a straight line, the distance is forty-two miles
from Saginaw, but following the trail along the
Tittabawasee until it joins the Pine, and then
following this stream, the distance was seventy miles.
The name of the village was Shinwakonsking.
“Shinwak” equals Pine, “ons” is the diminutive,
and “king” designates the place where the object is
to be found; hence, Shinwak-ons-king means “The
home of the little pine.’ The missionary renamed
the place Bethany, that is, house of poverty, wretch-
edness, misery, because of the bodily and spiritual
wretchedness of its inhabitants. But in this wretched
and miserable village, Jesus was to come through the
preaching of the Gospel, and there many
a heathen was to be converted into a Mary
who sat at Jesus’ feet and received from His
hands the one thing needful. Thus this
Bethany (place of wretchedness) would be
transformed into a real Bethany (the home
of a pious Mary and Martha and Lazarus).

(To be continued.)

Items of Missionary Interest.
(By the Eprror.)

First Home Missionaries. — John G.
Paton, the apostle of the New Hebrides, was
first the apostle of the slums of Glasgow;
Mary Slessor, the helper of the savages
of Calabar, began her saving work among the
toughs of Dundee; John Hunt, who did such
wonderful work among the Fijians, was first
an enthusiastic soul-winner in Lincolnshire; Keith
Falconer was a zealous worker in East London be-
fore he went to Asia; before he carried the Gospel
to the people of Japan, Charles A. Logan preached
Christ to the American Highlanders.

The Message of Love. — Cried a heathen woman
in Africa on hearing for the first time of the good-
ness of God and his love of sinful mankind,
“OQ Mr. Lapsley, if we had known that God loved us,
we would have been singing to Him.”

Christ the Only Door. — “What are you looking
for?” was asked a heathen devotee on one of the
sacred mountains of China who had climbed the
thousand stone steps upon his knees. “Oh,” he said,
“I am looking for heaven.” “Haye you found it?”
“No, I feel and I feel, but I cannot find the
door.” :