The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 169

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 169

vices at one place, thus giving opportunity for more
services and opening the door to other advantages?
The unnecessary existence of such small, weak
churches among us sets up an almost prohibitive
financial barrier to proper operation, leads to a lack
of resident pastors, and often burdens the itinerants
serving such split-up parishes with tasks which all
but defeat their usefulness in many instances, un-
less the Home Mission Board comes to the rescue
with a disproportionate subsidy, which should really
be used for some more legitimate missionary purpose.
These remarks, of course, do not apply to areas
with a sparse population nor to sections where
a broken topography breaks up the population into
many small, detached, and isolated settlements. It
is self-evident that such communities must not be
neglected just because they are small and possibly
poor; the Church can never afford to neglect such
communities, but should strive to serve them to the
best of her ability. F.J.L.

Our Bible Women in India.

A review of the results of the work done during
the past year by our Bible women would be both
brief and misleading and not at all indicative of the
important part which our Indian woman workers
play in the work of our Mission. It is hoped, how-
ever, that a closer examination of the activities of
the year may focus our attention on, stimulate our
prayers for, and heighten our interest.in, this impor-
tant phase of missionary endeavor, viz., the evangeli-
zation of non-Christian Indian women and the further
instructing and training of our Indian sisters in
Christ in the great fundamentals of our faith.
A brief report of the activities of the past year is
herewith submitted.

Our Bible Women in the Hospital.

During the past year, as in previous years, our
Bible women, Rettnamal, Pitchamal, and Esther-
amal, augmented by Arputhamal, who was trans-
ferred from Tanjore to Ambur last year, under the
guidance and leadership of Miss Louise Rathke, R.N.,
have faithfully and regularly carried on their Gospel-
work at the customary morning clinic in our Be-
thesda Hospital. Beginning, often before the hos-
pital was formally opened, with morning devotion,
they have interviewed all women who have visited
the hospital. Wherever an audience was granted,
they have quietly and unobtrusively spoken to the
women of the Great Physician of souls. The number

of individuals who have thus come under the in-
fluence of the Word is quite indefinite and is not
indicated in the hospital reports, since these latter
do not include the numerous female attendants and
relatives who invariably accompany the sick to the
hospital. As opportunity presented itself, the workers
have approached the visitors singly, or they have
gathered them in groups and spoken to them of sin
and grace, suiting their approach and the form of
their message to the intelligence, the interest, and
the physical condition of the visitor. At times all
four workers are engaged with one large group, and
at other times they work independently, each worker
attaching herself to an individual or a group. And
it is not uncommon to see one or the other worker
leaving the hospital and approaching a group of shy
and diffident women who are waiting under the trees
some distance from the hospital. The very nature
of the work is such that woman Bible-workers are
indispensable. -Each visitor generally stays at the
hospital for a relatively short time, a half-hour at
most, and during this time the worker must endeavor
to win the confidence and the ear, if not the heart,
of the sick and their retinue. With varying grades
of intelligence, superstition, and prejudice to con-
tend with, the discerning worker has by no means
an easy task. But one rejoices to state that the
women have discharged their task with efficiency and
a right good will. And the missionary who pauses
to listen is often rewarded with excellent hints on
how to approach the backward non-Christians of
both sexes.
Healing for Body and Soul.

Further, “in-patients” are ministered to with the
Word as faithfully as with medicine and medical
care. Daily devotion in the wards, and Bible-talks
to the patients, with prayer and words of cheer, con-
stitute a regular phase of our Bible women’s activity.
This, we trust, will increase in scope after Dr. Bohn-
sack begins surgical work at the hospital and as
soon as the wards are better attended.

Eternity alone will reveal how much fruit the
“good seed” sown at our hospital has produced.
Statistics fail us here, but the work of witnessing for
the Savior continues in faith and in the confidence
that it is to the glory of Him who has said, “My
Word shall not return unto Me void.”

The Bible Women in the Villages.
Work at the hospital quite fully occupies the
time of our Bible women in the morning, and the
afternoons haye been devoted to evangelistic work in

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