The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 39

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

39

permit me to wish you and your work the continued
success which its thorough character so richly
merits.... I cannot end this letter, however, with-
out telling you how much I enjoyed a visit to the
Zion School (I believe) over which Professor Rivers
presides. Both the religious and the class recita-
tion exercises were characterized by an aptness,
celerity, and intelligence I have seldom seen equaled
in a schoolroom. The proficiency of the chart class
in the Catechism was a religious experience worth
going far to enjoy.”

A Blessed Storm.

One of our colored mission-workers tells the
following story: —

One day, while I was out visiting, a rain-storm
came up. I thought I might reach home before
the rain should begin to fall, but was compelled to
run into a house for shelter. My request to stay
until the rain was over was kindly granted, and
so I took a seat that was offered me and opened
a conversation with the family. It was the home
of Mr. T., whom I had met several times, but the
acquaintance of whose wife and sister I had never
made. The family was Baptist in name, but cared
little for any church or religion. An elderly lady
by the name of Mrs. M. happened to be visiting the
family just at that hour.

Our conversation naturally was of a religious
nature, and very soon we got to the doctrine of
justification. I showed how sinful man is by
nature, corrupt and dead in trespasses and sins,
and quoted many Bible-passages to prove this. Of
course, I also pointed out what man deserved because
of his sins. And then I cited John 3,16: “For
God so loved the world,” etc., and laid great stress
on the most wonderful fact that the holy and
righteous God should so much love us unworthy
and ungrateful creatures. Then I pointed out that
the only way of salvation is by faith in Christ, the
Savior of sinners. “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “By grace are
ye saved, through faith; ‘and that not of your-
selves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest
any man should boast.” These were some of the
passages that I quoted. In fact, I preached a little
sermon with many Bible-verses; for the rain kept
on falling for nearly an hour, and I kept on
preaching. But it seemed to me at the time that
my words were wasted, for only the visiting lady
seemed to listen, while the family appeared to be

not in the least interested in what I was saying.
When the rain finally stopped and I could leave,
my throat was actually sore from talking so much.

As I stated before, at the time I thought that
all my talking had been in vain; but I was mis-
taken. Before I left, the visiting lady asked me
to call on her and her husband sometime. This
I did not long after. I found her husband to be
a man of about seventy years of age, but still very
active and able to work every day. He and his
wife were both no longer members of a church.
They had been connected with a “Hard-shell” or
Old-school Baptist Church, but their minister had
been caught in an immoral act, and this had so
shocked the aged couple that they had lost faith in
all ministers.

After making a number of visits, I was success-
ful in gaining the confidence of the good old people.
Soon I began to give them regular instruction in
Christian doctrine, and as the teaching progressed,
they became more and more certain that they had
found the truth. Their happiness and gratitude
was great. They have now been confirmed for about
a year and are the most zealous members of my
church. Through their influence and testimony the
family where I first met Mrs. M. has been induced
to take instruction preparatory to confirmation.
Just at present they are out of the city, but we
expect them to return in the near future and then
hope to confirm them, too.

Mr. and Mrs. M. have brought more visitors to
our church than any of our other members, and
I feel certain that they will continue to work and
enable me to tell still more in future years of the
blessed influence they have exerted.

Strange that a thunder-storm should have led
me to that house! ;

Our Finnish Field.

“What is Synod doing among the Finns? What
prospects have we in this field?” These and sim-
ilar questions probably occupy the mind of the
reader, who possibly knows that most Finns are
children of the state church of Finland and are
reputed as being A-1 material for the forces of
Socialism and Communism.

Past.

‘In the past some pastors of our Synod have in-
vaded “Finntown” regions of the unchurched all
the way from California, through Oregon and