The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 53

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

De

In the mean time, word had come from the Mis-
sion Board that we were to select a number of lots
which might be a suitable location for a chapel and
a parsonage. I spent hours looking for lots and
at the same time “argued myself blue” concerning
the prices of some of them. On May 21 Rev. W. H.
Bewie and the committee of the local mission desig-
nated lots at two places from which, they believed,
the final choice should be made. On the 27th the
committee bought two lots of the second choice,
which gives us a frontage of 110 feet and a depth
of 140 feet.

Now, since we had the lots, we wanted our
chapel. And we were waiting for it with a “high
fever” since it had been promised to us. But be-
cause of the approaching District convention, plans
did not get under way so quickly. When I returned
from the convention at Houston, I spent days get-
ting things lined up, so that we might submit our
building plan. In the mean time a girl baby was
born to us. But four days later the all-wise God
found it best to take Dolores Irene to her eternal
home. In our great sorrow the Lord graciously
comforted us. However, since my wife was dan-
gerously sick, I had to give her my attention, and
again the building program in Plainview received
another setback. It was not until the latter part
of September that any material move was made in
the direction of erecting a chapel. We worked on
the plan, but no headway was made; and even
after active work had been begun, it did not move
as fast as it might have done. It seemed that
various difficulties had to be overcome before we
could get under way with our building program.
It was not until the 18th of November that we got
under way with our chapel. The weather smiled
on us, and we made good progress right along. Due
to the untiring efforts of the building committee
and the contractor our building was soon completed.
Our first service in the new church-building was to
be conducted on the 21st of December, 1930. But
that service had to be dropped because of a heavy
snowfall. It was on the 25th of December that we
had our first service in the new chapel. The new
building however, was not dedicated in due form at
that time. We felt that some of the neighboring
congregations would like to celebrate with us, and
for that reason the dedication proper of the chapel
was postponed to May 3, 1931.

Just as soon as we began services in our new
chapel, our attendance greatly increased. Hereto-
fore our attendance had very seldom hit the thirty-
five mark. Now, since we have our chapel, I do not

think that a service has been conducted with less
than forty-two in attendance.

Plainview began with a baptized membership
of approximately twenty-five; now it stands at
fifty-two. We began with a voting membership of
seven, now we stand at twelve. We have seventeen
children in our Sunday-school, and we have a Bible
class in which every member of the congregation
except the pupils of the Sunday-school takes part.

W.H. Remaerr, in Jeras Lutheran Messenger.

———__— —__—

A Mission Sunday in Africa.

The Presbyterian Church, North, has a very
promising mission-field in what was formerly the
German Kamerun, but now is designated as Cam-
eroons and belongs to French Equatorial Africa.
There are but very few fields where the Gospel has
found such a ready welcome as here. The results
of mission-work done here have been simply mar-
yelous. To give our readers an idea of how eager
these Cameroons people are to hear the Gospel and
how readily they respond to its influence, we shall
quote from a report made to his Church by one of
the secretaries of the Foreign Mission Board of the
Presbyterian Church, North, after he had made a
visit there.

In this extract from his report he tells of his
experiences on Mission Sunday at Elat: —

“Tt was my privilege to be at Elat on Foreign
Mission Sunday, a day long to be remembered. At
six o’clock in the morning of the Sunday we were
privileged to spend at Elat the great drum sounded
out the ‘first call for church. The African drum
is a unique feature of African life. The Elat drum
is placed on a platform some twenty feet from the
ground. When properly beaten, it can be heard for
twenty miles. The drum is the wireless telegraph
of Africa. By means of it the African communi-
cates all kinds of intelligence to distant places and
keeps in touch with events far removed from his
own town.... The drum on this Sunday morning
simply said, ‘All people come to worship at Elat.’
The sound was repeated at seven, at eight, and at
nine o’clock. Every native for miles around who
heard the drum knew the sound as accurately as if
a trusty messenger had brought the word. By nine
o’clock every seat in the Elat schoolhouse (the
church had been blown down a few months before)
was taken, and willing hands brought planks to
place outside where the worshipers could sit and
hear the preacher. At nine-thirty fifteen hundred