The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 75

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

In 1905 a regular mission-station was opened
at Chai Ryung, and Song Ssi was reenforced by the
coming of missionaries. They naturally stimulated
the zeal of the faithful few and encouraged many
others to come. Song Ssi had the joy of seeing the
little company of thirty believers grow in a few
months to 250 and then to 600 before she passed
to her reward. She saw the building that she had
bought and held for a church and where one little
room used to be too large for the small congregation
crowded with women, while the men stood outside
in freezing winter weather. She helped to build
the new church, which was the largest building in
the province and which, when dedicated, was free
of debt.

As long as the Gospel is preached in Chai Ryung,
she will be remembered as the woman who saved the
church.

Layman Quon, Who Converted a Village.

In the winter of 1909 and 1910, the Christians
of Eul Yul took an offering for the purpose of
sending out a man to convert unbelievers. They
decided to try a novel plan, namely, instead of send-
ing a man to preach in some village for a few
months, to send a man to live in a heathen village.

They chose the layman Quon. He was old and
settled in his home; but he gladly packed up his
worldly possessions and with his wife moved to
a large heathen village seven miles out. This dis-
tance is nothing in a land of automobiles and rail-
roads, but it is more than two hours’ journey in
Korea, where every one walks. It was a genuine
exile for the two old people.

When they reached the village, a few had begun
to ask about the Gospel, and at the end of the first
year there was a congregation of twenty or more.
At the end of the second year a few were ready to
be taken in as catechumens, and a man and his wife
came to Hul Yul to be baptized and received into
the church. In the spring of 1912, when the mis-
sionary in charge came to visit, he found forty
people ready to be examined, and he baptized thirty
of them. The congregation now averages nearly 100,
and during the past summer they had a Bible
Chautauqua of over 150 students.

The man who has brought this about is an old
ignorant peasant. He is poor, personally unpre-
possessing, and not a “good mixer.” He has done
this simply and solely by living Jesus Christ before
the people. And there are scores, perhaps hundreds,
of other Christians in Korea like him.

Old Man O, the Pioneer.

Ten miles off the Korean coast is the island of
Cho Do. Cross-currents and strong tides make the
trip out a matter of hours, and the return may be
one of days. Of the thousand people on the island
many have never visited the mainland. But the
Gospel found a way. Before the missionary had
reached the island, an old man, named O, had
heard the message of salvation and had become a
believer. He urged all whom he met to become

Christians and in time gathered a small congrega-
tion, which met every Sunday to hear him explain

the Bible. It was not long before he came to the
end of his little store of knowledge; for he had
only the simplest education and had never studied
the Bible regularly.

When winter closed the bays and put an end to
navigation, he took his place in a church primary
school on the mainland. It was the only place where
the old man could get a chance to study the Bible
all winter, and he was glad to do anything to help
his people. The whole winter this old man sat on