The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1930, Page 170

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170

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

those villages mainly which have been assigned to
them by the conference. These five villages are
Ambur Cheri, Perivaraikam, Balur, Sanankuppam,
and Kilmuringi. Each of these villages was visited
at least one afternoon in the week during the past
year. Because of its size and opportunities, Ambur
Cheri was visited twice in the week: <A brief survey
of the work done in these villages will at once reveal
the difficulties which confront the Bible women. For
various reasons it is expedient, if not almost ab-
solutely necessary, that the work done by the women
be performed during the day. And so from mid-
afternoon until sundown our Bible women have
visited the villages, where they instructed our back-
ward Christian wives and mothers and grandmothers
and have endeavored to reach the ears also of the
unchurched. With many of the women engaged in
part-time coolie work in the fields, it was found

Hospital at Ambur, India.

rather difficult to organize classes which would con-
vene at regular intervals and which would insure
the presence of the members. Granted that evening
or night classes were formed, the difficulties are even
greater, for after her day’s work the poor wife or
mother has still the evening meal to cook and house-
hold duties to attend to. However, despite irregular
attendance the women succeeded in raising the spiri-
tual level of not a few of our village women. Another
difficulty which has confronted them is the relative
mental density of the adults, particularly of the old
women. One is thankful that their hearts are
generally better than their heads. Failure, then, of
the women to attend regularly and to learn, coupled
with the distractions of work, in the field as well as
in the home, has made this task difficult, and yet
just this service has helped the missionary in charge
of the respective villages as well as the teacher
‘catechist. However difficult it may have been in the
ast and still is, evangelistic work in the villages

aim of trying to win whole families for Christ... .
However, the village has its brighter side. Where it
is impossible to meet selected groups according to
prearranged schedule, the women, operating in pairs,
have gone from house to house and, wherever
a hearing was granted, left the message of the
Savior. Added to this, some quiet and efficient
medical work has been done by the woman mis-
sionary in charge to relieve the common distresses
of the villagers, itch and ecye-sore. THere-in the
villages some very definite results are directly trace-
able to the work of the Bible women. In Ambur
Cheri, for instance, a number of women were pre-
pared for Baptism, and they were subsequently
admitted into the church. The same holds true of
Balur. And it may be added that, while the women
have confined their endeavors strictly to women and
children, it was not uncommon to see men join an

outdoor circle of listeners and give respectful

attention to the words of the woman teacher. In

a number of villages the women have helped to

create a better spirit of good will for the mission.

Preparation of the Bible Women.

During the past year the Bible women were
regularly instructed, at first one hour a week in
the early morning and later twice a week. The
subject-matter was New Testament Bible History,
with explanatory notes. Informal discussions,
too, were held. To judge from the interest dis-
played and the faithfulness with which notes were
kept, the course was both helpful and stimulating.
During the coming year an endeavor will be made to
link up this course directly with the work in the vil-
lages, and in order to do this, the Catechism will be
reviewed, and the subject-matter will be presented
in simple lesson form, which can be immediately
adapted to village work. The Bible women, relatively
well equipped for their task as far as knowledge is
concerned, nevertheless often. labor under the same
difficulty which confronts the missionary himself,
that is, the difficulty of offering instruction in utmost
simplicity and yet not failing in comprehensiveness.
If a word about the future be permitted, one
might say that the future looks good. With the
prospect of Dr. Bohnsack’s entering upon her work
soon, greater opportunities in the wards may reason-
ably be expected, and more women will come to the
clinic. And if plans at present under way for doing
more so-called follow-up work should meet with suc-
cess, the work, of the Bible women will certainly

develop in scope and become more effective.
As we are writing these lines, it is with the