The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1932, Page 175

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

175

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‘It is very little I want now, and these poor people
get it for me; but I should like something softer
to lie on, for my bones are very sore.’ I then asked
him concerning the state of his mind, when he
replied that he was very happy, that Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, had died to save him, and that
he had the most perfect confidence in Him. Ob-
serving a small Bible under the corner of his
blanket, I said, ‘Jack, you have a friend there.
I am glad to see that; I hope you find something
good there? Weak as he was, he raised himself on
his elbow, held it in his thin hand, while a smile
played on his countenance, and slowly spoke in pre-
cisely the following words: “This, sir, is my dear
friend. You gave it to me. For a long time I read
it much, often thought of what it told. Last year
I went to see my sister at Lake Winnipeg (about
two hundred miles off), where I remained about
two months. When I was half-way back through
the lake, I remembered that I had left my Bible
behind me. I directly turned around and was nine
days by myself, tossing to and fro, before I could
reach the house; but I found my friend and deter-
mined I would not part with it again, and ever
since it has been near my breast, and I thought
I should have it buried with me; but I have
thought since that I had better give it to you when
I am gone; it may do some one else good.’”

Would You Be Willing to Make This
Sacrifice?

We often laugh at Arkansas and the people of
that State, but at times we can all learn from them,
at times they certainly put us to shame. You will
agree with me that we can all learn something worth
while from the following story which came to our
attention just a few days ago.

Down at Blytheville, Arkansas, we have a little
mission of the Western District. At this little mis-
sion a summer-vacation Bible-school was conducted
for three weeks during June and more than a hun-
dred children were enrolled in this school. One of
the teachers was a woman, the wife of an Arkansas
farmer, who gladly made the sacrifice of a daily trip
of thirty-seven miles from her farm to Blytheville
in order to serve the: little children of the Bible-
school. She did this during the entire three-week
period of the school. This same woman is a teacher
in the little Lutheran Sunday-school at Blytheville,
and although she lives such a great distance from

Blytheville, she is always there on Sunday morning
to teach her Sunday-school class and then to attend
the services. Surely this woman shows a large .
amount of really Christian consecration.

Must we not feel rather small if we are not even
willing to get up an hour earlier on Sunday morn-
ing in order to serve as a teacher in Hope Lutheran
Sunday-school, seeing that this Arkansas Christian
is willing to leave her farmhouse and her farm-work
early each Sunday morning in order to make such
a long trip to be on the job?

Hope Lutheran, St. Louis.

What Joni Did.

Joni Uluibau was a native of one of the Fiji
Islands. After his training at a mission-school, at
the age of twenty-one, he went with a pioneer mis-
sion party to Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
After six years’ successful work he recently returned
home on his first furlough. He hopes to take back
with him a wife to teach the girls to sew, cook, and
clean. Whatever progress has been made in that
part of the Solomon Islands is largely due to his
efforts. He has translated a number of hymns and
also parts of the Bible, and these are soon to be
published as the first book in the Teop tongue.

On his way home Joni stopped at Sidney, Aus-
tralia, and there told his story to a reporter of the
Daily Telegraph. This is what the reporter has
to say about Joni and his work: —

“Smiling and fuzzy-headed, with dark-brown
eyes, and over six feet high, Joni Uluibau is a living
example of the work that Christian missions have
accomplished in the South Seas.

“The simple pride of Joni in his life-work, his
calm native dignity, his friendliness, his patience
as he wrestles with the intricacies of English, make
a picture that impresses itself forcibly upon the
mind.

“J go there first when quite young,’ said Joni,
‘and they are dirty. They do not know. Oh, how
dirty! ‘The pigs are everywhere, the houses fall
down. I say, in Fiji we keep the pigs in a fence.
It is cleaner. Get rid of the pigs. At first they
laugh at me, but I talk and talk. The chiefs listen;
they say, “Perhaps Joni’s way is right.” ’

“Joni alone tamed those savages, rebuilt their
houses, built pig-sties, and to-day two sons of Teop
head-hunters are learning to be teachers.”

; B.J.L.