The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Page 23

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

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Church, and these hundreds of fellow-Christians
thus retained in, and won for, the Church are now
_ themselves diligently helping to extend the work
and to establish and nurse new missions at other
places.”
Other Home Mission Fields.

“Now, when we consider that this obtains not
only at the present time, but will continue for a
long time to come, probably unto the end of time,
and that therefore finally incalculable blessings will
be the result of our work in establishing that mis-
sion in Flint; and when we consider furthermore
that this obtains not only in Flint, but wherever
through our mission endeavors the Gospel is being
proclaimed; and when we consider that our entire
Synod, yea, the entire Church on earth, and we our-
selves as disciples of Jesus, together with all the
spiritual blessings which we enjoy, are the result of
the mission endeavors of others before us, then,
surely, we shall find no reason to become weary in
this work, but rather much encouragement to con-
tinue with ever greater zeal, mindful of the fact
that the preaching of the Gospel is our chief busi-
ness in this world. May the good Lord continue to
bless and to prosper all mission endeavors in order
that the world may be filled with His glory and
many immortal souls be saved !”

A Pioneer Pastor’s Christmas.

The secretary of a Home Mission board tells the
following story : —

“Wor the past several years an unknown friend
of our Home Missions has sent me a sum of money
just before Christmas, with the request that I spend
it in amounts of five dollars each among the most
needy of our missionaries. I have faithfully tried
to discharge my trust, and letters that I have re-

ceived from those whose heart I was able to gladden

have led me to believe that in most cases at least
I used good’ judgment in the bestowal of the trust
funds. Among all the letters I received, the one
that follows most deeply touched my heart and led.
me to call God’s choicest blessings down upon the
unknown donor: —

“<T served a number of pastorates in an Eastern
State, but was compelled to come West because of
the ill health of my dear wife. A tubercular affec-
tion demanded her removal to a higher altitude and
a drier climate. The long illness of my wife and
the size of my family had greatly depleted my

finances, and when we arrived here, I had but very
little money left. Through the kindness of the
Home Mission Board having the supervision of this
territory, I was called to two small churches, which
were subsidized in part by the board. The salary was
quite small since the funds of the board were low,
and we were compelled to do without things we had
been accustomed to in the East. The winter came,
and our lot became quite hard because of the in-
creased cost of living. As Christmas drew near, my
heart grew sad, for I knew of no way to make
Christmas different from other days. A few days
before Christmas I went to town and to the post-
office, where I was given your letter, which told me
why you were sending me a part of the money that
a kind mission-friend sent you for distribution every
year, and in.which you added that owing to my
particular need you were sending me ten dollars,
instead of five. I cannot tell you how happy the
receipt of your letter and gift made me. I sent up
a prayer of sincere thanks to the kind heavenly
Father, who had so wonderfully put my fears to
shame. I hurried to the bank to cash your draft,
and the cashier handed me fifteen dollars. When
I looked in surprise at him and then again at the
money, he said that he had been thinking of making
a Christmas present to somebody and had come to
the conclusion that I had more use for the money
than any one else, as far as his knowledge went.

“Well, it may seem strange to you, but since
that Christmas a change for the better set in. My
wife began to improve and is now well, my children
are doing well, and my churches are growing. Iam
no longer suffering want. My churches have be-
come self-supporting. But I am sure that never
will we spend a happier Christmas than we did in
that first year we were here. Never have we felt
our God so near us; never was His care for us so
apparent to us.’”

And yet, dear reader, the Savior has said — and
what He says must be true—that “it is more
blessed to give than to receive.” Would that our
prosperous Christians might learn of this road to
blessedness and, having once learned it, so enjoy
traveling upon it that they may experience much
of its blessedness! ‘There are many homes of our
home missionaries that would be brighter and hap-
pier if the funds of the Home Mission boards were
not so often so very low. F. J. L.

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TyE United States has an excess of everything
to-day — except religion. =i cate