LEAVING NICARAGUA FOR PANAMA

Where the entire family was brought to Jesus, and the mother’s hand was healed of blood poisoning. Note the hand wrapped in a large piece of cloth.

How we did praise God for His wonderful deliverance! It was a mighty miracle, which convinced the Indians that God had delivered, for they saw the waters rolled up in a heap. It made them believe. The news of the wonderful miracle God had performed for the missionaries soon spread about the city. It was published in the papers, and many who had not come before, came to see us and were convinced of the Gospel. Many people came from all parts of the Republic to hear the Gospel, and to ask for Bibles.

The dear saints in the homeland sent us Bibles, Testaments and tracts, and the Word of God went forth. We cannot tell how many precious souls were reached by the bread cast on the waters, but we shall know when we reach the beautiful land beyond, and see their dear faces shining with heavenly glory. We are told to sow beside all waters, and are promised that “he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Psalm 126:6.

Many were the nights and times we went forth weeping over the sheep that were out of the fold, lost among the idols, vice and sin of every kind. It was almost more than we could bear when so many of the people came to us, and we were unable to take them all in and help them. We could only weep and cry to the Lord to help us to reach them, and to stir up the saints at home to give all they possibly could to aid inhelping them. For this purpose we are sending forth this book, that funds may be raised to send Bibles and tracts to these people.

It was at this time, when many were pressing upon us for help and our means were so limited that God told us to return to the homeland and tell the church of the great need of sending more Bibles, tracts and missionaries to these destitute fields. As we looked to the Lord and told Him we did not have the money to get back home, He spoke and told us we were to pack up and go to the port, and He would send the money for us there for our fare. So we began making ready.

Another missionary and his wife came by, going home on furlough. They were going via Guatemala, believing they could save quite a sum of money by going that way. But the Lord had told us to go via Panama. We packed our trunks and made ready. But oh, how we did hate to tell our dear people we were leaving them, for we loved them so, and they loved and clung to us. We knew they would feel so badly to have us leave them.

Where Carl attended native school to study Spanish. Neither the teacher or any of the pupils could speak a word of English, so he very soon acquired the Spanish.

When we went to the meeting that night we told them the Lord had led us to return to our homeland, to put the great needs of their country before the people. They cried, both men and women, and pressed upon us until we thought we could never get ready to start. I had to put our suit-cases in a room and lock the doors so I could finish packing, for the house wasfull of precious souls begging to hear more of the Gospel, and telling us how much they loved us, and what a great blessing we had been to them. Our hearts were breaking over the people, for they were as sheep without a shepherd. May God bless and keep them true to Him.

We were packed and ready to go to the train when there came a big procession of people marching into the house. Some of them we had not met before, and some we had seen on the streets and in the markets, when we were preaching and giving out tracts. Many of them had come to our meetings, had heard and accepted the Gospel, and had been filled with the blessed Holy Spirit. They brought many presents, among them a nice leather bill-book for my husband, a manicuring set for Alma, pretty fans for me, and boxes of candy for Carl. Many useful presents they brought, some of which had cost much money, for everything is much more expensive there than in our country. Even rich people had come and brought presents to show their appreciation of our missionary work among them.

When the train pulled in, and we were about to go on board, several doctors and lawyers and the judge of the city came, saying they were going to the port with us to stay until our ship sailed, and there was the crowd standing outside waving their hands and saying, “Good-bye, don’t forget to pray for us, and send us Bibles.” Ohthat scene! We shall never forget it. As the train started the people hung on to the side, waving their hands, and calling “Good-bye, our good missionaries; we love you so much.”

We had many opportunities to witness for Jesus and to give out literature on the way to the port. The people were so hungry they would run and beg for more tracts.

When we arrived at the port station we were taken to a hotel by one of the men who had gone with us, and there a fine dinner was given us in a special dining room, and we had a nice time.

We found we must appear before the American consul twice a day for several days before sailing, as we had come from a yellow fever infected region. We began to go that morning, for the ship bound for Panama would come in seven days.

We made ready to leave on that boat, but there was no money for the fare. As I prayed in my room one morning the Lord said, “Go and ask for your mail.” I thought, “I don’t believe the mail is opened here, but on arriving in the port is immediately sent to the different parts of the country.” But as I prayed again the Lord spoke once more, “Go and ask for your mail.” I knew it was the voice of the Lord, for He had wonderfully spoken to us and led us all the way, so I went. On asking for the mail I was told that no mail was coming for two weeks, and when it did come it would not be opened there but would be sent out to the different parts of the republic.

Women coming from the market place

I returned to my room, wondering. I believed the Lord had sent me for our mail, but why had the postal officials said it could not be obtained there? Besides, there was no mail boat coming until after the other boat had sailed. But as I prayed I heard the voice of the Lord telling me to go again and ask for my mail. I waited until the next morning, then went again. Once more the postmaster told me the same thing, that it would be impossible for me to get my mail there when it did come. I must admit that I felt at a loss to know what to do, or what it all meant. But I couldn’t doubt the voice of the Lord. I waited another day, and prayed until I was sure the Lord was speaking to me. Though I couldn’t see how it all could work out, yet I knew that He knew, and had spoken.

I went again to the postmaster and explained to him that we were sailing on the ship which was then in the harbor, and which was to leave in three days, but again he told me the same thing; there would be no mail boat in for two weeks, and it would be impossible to receive my mail before that time. I returned to my room and, falling upon my face, I cried to the Lord for help, for this seemed more than I could bear, for the enemy was taunting me, saying that the Lord was not speaking to me, that we had been deceived, that the Lord had not even told us to come to the port, and that our fare would certainly not be provided. Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord came again to me, saying, “Ask for your mail tomorrow morning.”

When we arose the next morning we saw another ship at anchor in the port. It had come in during the night. My husband strolled down to the dock, and was informed that this was the mail boat from Panama, also that our ship was not to sail until the following day, because the cargo was not yet unloaded. When he returned with the welcome news I began to pray again about the mail, feeling certain there was something for us on that ship. Then I went again to see the postmaster, this time taking a Testament to give him. This seemed the wrong thing to do, for he was a fanatical church man, and the Gospel was not allowed to be preached in that port. But we had gone unmolested all over the place, distributing tracts, and preaching to the people, and the dear natives had begged for Bibles and the little papers (tracts).

Alma with her music class in Leon

Walking up to the office window, I told the man the Lord had spoken to me, telling me there was mail there for me, which had come in on that ship. He came to the window, began talking about the Lord, and asked me how I knew the Lord had said there was mail there for us. I answered that we had come to port in order to sail on the ship then in harbor, that we did not have our fare, but the Lord had told us the fare would be provided after we reached the port. I was sure there was mail for us there, and would he please give it to me? Handing him the Testament, I told him to read it, and learn about the wonderful Savior who could come into our hearts and talk to us, and lead us in such straightpaths. He began to weep, and told me he had never before seen a Bible, had hated and persecuted the missionaries, had hated me when I came inquiring for mail, and had not even believed in God before; but my coming so many times, saying the Lord had told me there was mail coming for me, in spite of my knowing that the mail ship was not due for two weeks, then the arrival of the mail ship before time, and the postponed sailing of the other vessel upon which I said we were to sail, had convinced him that God was actually speaking to me, and he promised to try to get our mail. However, there were thousands of letters, and he was rather doubtful if he could find our mail in the midst of so much other, but promised that if I would return in the afternoon he would do his best for me. In the afternoon, I returned for the mail, which I was sure would be there. The man came hurrying to me, and handed me two registered letters, saying they were on the top of the pile of mail in the first bag he opened. Surely God had spoken to me, he said, and he knew now there was a God, and he was going to serve Him, so as to have Him speak to him, too. And very earnestly he promised to read the Testament, also he asked for a Bible for his wife, and tracts for his friends.

When I opened the two letters there, lacking twenty-five dollars, was the amount for our fare. We sailed the following morning. Later I went into my stateroom to find out the exact amount of money we had, to make sure how much waslacking for the entire trip to the homeland. Sure enough, there was exactly twenty-five dollars lacking. Again I looked to the dear Lord for help to believe for the needed amount, and again He spoke, telling me to open my Bible. I did so, and my eyes fell upon this scripture:

“And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee; He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.”—Deut. 31:8

Looking at the little scripture calendar hanging on the wall I saw in the space for the day on which we would land in Panama the identical verse I had just read. Strengthened and encouraged by this, I felt that Jesus would make it all right, and that we were simply to trust and obey.

Upon arriving in Panama we were taken to the American Bible House, where we were treated with the greatest kindness. Dear Mr. Duffey and his wife gave us much valuable information about the whole of Central America, as they were in touch with every mission station, and had themselves been missionaries there for many years.

We had to wait three days for the ship to New Orleans, and we sweetly rested in the Lord and trusted Him to supply that twenty-five dollars.

One day we met a young Mexican on the street, whom we had known in Nicaragua. Hewas a traveling salesman from St. Louis, Mo. We had given him a Bible and talked to him about giving his heart to the Lord, and he had been very much interested in our work in Nicaragua. We invited him to visit us at the Bible House, and in the evening he came. We read the Word of God and had prayer, and he told us of his having persecuted the missionaries in Mexico. He had never seen a Bible before he met us, but in the United States he had learned that missionaries did a good work among the people, so he no longer hated them. He said he was glad to have met us and heard us preach the Gospel. “In return for this Bible which you have given me,” he said, “and the way in which you have talked to me, I feel I should do something for you, and the Lord,” and he passed twenty-five dollars across the table to me. Praise the Lord! there was the rest of our fare home. Surely God does temper the wind to the shorn lamb, and take care of His little ones, leading them in and out where they can find pasture.

We sailed the next day. Many were the precious souls reached by us with the Gospel while we were in Panama; also on land and on sea after we left there. Shall we not praise God forever for all His goodness to us, and for the privilege of being called to preach to the nations of the earth?

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest truly is ripe;Put ye in the sickle, and reap with all your might;Put ye in the sickle, for the Lord calleth thee;Put ye in the sickle, and to Him, ever faithful be;Put ye in the sickle, ye worker of the living God;Put ye in the sickle, in every land ye tread;Put ye in the sickle, for the day is surely nigh;Put ye in the sickle, for Jesus cometh from on high.—Given in tongues, with interpretation.

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest truly is ripe;

Put ye in the sickle, and reap with all your might;

Put ye in the sickle, for the Lord calleth thee;

Put ye in the sickle, and to Him, ever faithful be;

Put ye in the sickle, ye worker of the living God;Put ye in the sickle, in every land ye tread;Put ye in the sickle, for the day is surely nigh;Put ye in the sickle, for Jesus cometh from on high.

Put ye in the sickle, ye worker of the living God;

Put ye in the sickle, in every land ye tread;

Put ye in the sickle, for the day is surely nigh;

Put ye in the sickle, for Jesus cometh from on high.

—Given in tongues, with interpretation.

Alma with her English class of native girls

We sailed on the Steamship San Juan. After placing our things in the stateroom we went on deck and sat down. A little South American woman came over to me and asked, “Are you a missionary?” I told her I was. “Well,” she said, “I thought you must be a missionary, for no one else would be away down here so far away from their homeland.”

She had been in the States studying to be a nurse, and had been saved through a Salvation Army meeting on the street. She took my arm and said, “Come right over here. There is a poor blind man from Salvador, and he badly needs help.”

We thanked God, for here was another chance to cast our bread upon the waters, another hungry soul reaching out for the truth.

We took some tracts and Testaments and went over to the man. He said he had heard a traveling missionary preach the Gospel several years ago in his own country, and had longed to know more about it; now here we were to tell him. So he praised the Lord, and we wept and told him Jesus loves us so much that He never fails to answer the prayer of an honest soul.

We gave him a Testament and some tracts on Salvation and Divine Healing and the dear little woman read them to him. Day after day he asked for more to be read to him. The womanasked if we could not give her some to take home to Ecuador to her people.

There was only one man on the ship who did not take tracts and read them and ask for more. This man said he had not read the Bible since he was a child. Now he was too old. As we looked at him and saw the hardness in his face, a great pity came into our hearts, and we asked the Lord to have mercy on him and save him.

We arrived in one port in Costa Rica on September 15th, Spain’s Independence Day. The whole country was celebrating. Our ship would have to wait here several days, perhaps a week, the captain said, because all the people got drunk on that day, and it would take several days for them to sober up. We arrived at six in the morning. The noise from the cannon and other things was terrible. We knew about how much time we had to make connections in Panama, and that we could not stay in this port over one day without missing connections. So we prayed that God would make these people unload the ship that day so that we might go on.

At twelve, when we were having lunch, our ship was moving out to sea. The men had come with their lighters and unloaded several tons of the cargo, and we were on our way. The dear old man who would not read the tract, ate at our table. He said he had lived there and in Panama for fifty years, and that was the first time he ever knew them to do such a thing. He knew it was because we prayed. So God was good not to leave him without a witness.

A man and his wife were going to South America. They took tracts and Testaments along which we gave them, and said they were glad to have the light on the Second Coming of the Lord, and on Divine Healing.

There were people on board who were going to Japan, China, India, England and the United States. All took with them the Word of God which we had cast upon the waters. Two young men on their way to school in New York, took along Testaments to read. They said they no longer believed in the Church of Rome, and wanted to read the Bible.

Another boy on his way to South America came to talk with us about the Bible. He said he wanted to read the Bible but had never had the opportunity. So he sat on deck and read it. How he did rejoice to know the truth! He told us how he had gone to the different temples of the idols and saints seeking peace, but had come away from them all without receiving any help. But now he knew the truth, and wanted to carry the good news to his people who were still in the darkness. He said, “Why don’t more missionaries come and tell us the truth? Won’t you go back to your homeland and tell them of our needs and the darkness we are in?”

Stewardesses, waitresses, captains and officers all heard the story of the Gospel, through the bread we cast upon the waters. One officer said he was glad that someone thought of the men at sea. They were always going and had no time to attend church and hear the Gospel. He hadhad Christian parents, but they were dead. His heart was touched and with tears running down his cheeks he said, “May God bless you for giving me this Testament. I shall read it, and pray every day, as I want to meet my dear mother in Heaven.” He had been at sea twelve years, and that was the first time anyone had said a word to him about salvation.

The doctor on the ship was so interested he would leave his office for hours and come and talk with us. He had been on that line many years and he had been shocked to see the condition in the Latin-American countries, and the church at home seemed to be doing nothing. He took tracts and papers and talked with us about prophecy. He said he knew the Lord was coming soon. We invited him to meetings with us at Colon. He came to the Bible House and to the meetings and said he was going to a Pentecostal meeting when he returned to the States.

While in Panama we visited the Sea Wall M. E. Church, where there is a work among the natives. But all who come to the school have to pay. That leaves the poor population wholly untouched by the Gospel. We looked over the field and found it a great white harvest field, where laborers are badly needed. In all these parts the people are hungry for the Gospel.

Alma reading a Bible story to her girls

There is a little union church in Colon in which a few people are praying for a revival. It is a wonderful opportunity for a band of workers to go and hold evangelistic meetings.There are many English-speaking people in these parts, but Pentecost has not been preached. We believe God will raise up workers and send them to this place. Besides the people who live here, there are hundreds of ships coming and going to all parts of the world. Many souls could be reached.

As I stood on the beach one day,And saw the breakers roll in from the way,The great waters piled up high—I cried, “O, God! open the flood gates of mercySend rivers of Thy Spirit, don’t pass this people by.”

As I stood on the beach one day,

And saw the breakers roll in from the way,

The great waters piled up high—

I cried, “O, God! open the flood gates of mercy

Send rivers of Thy Spirit, don’t pass this people by.”

Finding a ship that was to sail for New Orleans we went aboard and set forth, carrying with us many more tracts and Testaments so that we might cast bread upon the waters among other people.

Soon after leaving the port I noticed a man on board whom we had met in another place. He was a gambler, who traveled and gambled on ships all the time. We had spoken to him of the Bible and about the Lord, but he had said he did not think anyone ought to talk about the Bible and religion, as such talk would make people lose their minds. We were only getting people stirred up, and that wasn’t good. I heard him tell the captain we were missionaries, and that wherever we went we talked about God and the Bible, but he hoped we would not be allowed to do so on this trip.

An Indian woman who came to the meeting and was saved.

Some of the people looked so very aristocratic that the enemy said to me, “You had better not give out tracts and Testaments on this boat, as the people will not listen, for they will think you are a fanatic.” But I felt I must let my light shine here as well as in other places. So I went to my stateroom to pray. I opened my Bible to read and saw in it a little tract, containing these words:

“Have you overcome the worldly opinions of the sect which is everywhere spoken against by taking your stand with it? What would Jesus have you do? Have you done that? If the world has nothing to say against you, Jesus will have nothing to say for you. His grace is sufficient. Ask Him.”

That was a message to my heart. I said, “Lord, I will go through this ship and give out tracts to everyone. Now, Lord, you bless every dear heart, and open to them the Gospel.”

As I passed around the deck giving out tracts, a man and his wife asked what church I belonged to. I told them I belonged to

“The Church of the First Born.”

Then I told them about the Pentecostal people, and how we had received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, as the people did on the day of Pentecost, and told them that God was pouring out His Spirit on the earth, and that Jesus was coming again soon. They were Seventh-Day Adventist missionaries from Colombia, South America, coming home on furlough. They had been on the field four years, but had only been selling their literature. Nobody had been saved, but they thought that when, they went back again they would be able to do something, as the people would have an understanding of their religion and the keeping of the Sabbath Day. We could see their lives were empty, and that they knew nothing about worshiping God in Spirit and in truth.

We had many talks together about the law of Moses and the ten commandments. We showed them we are dead to the law through the body of Christ, and that we should serve in newness of Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Oh, how these dear hearts did respond to the Word of God! They had been reading the many different books of their denomination, but did not have a Bible. We asked them to read the Word of God that would bring Spirit and Life into their lives and we gave them a nice Bible. As we separated in New Orleans, they took my hand and said, “Thank God for sending you on this ship. We felt empty and dry, and now we know what is the trouble. We shall read and pray until we are filled with the blessed Holy Spirit, and when we return to our mission-field we can preach the Gospel to the people.”

A family coming from South America took tracts and Testaments and called for more. They said they were Lutherans, had been raised in that church, felt a lack in their lives, and wanted to have the power and glory of God in their souls. They believed that Jesus was coming soon.

Every time we went into the parlor and sat down we had a congregation, for the poor people were so hungry they would come and ask us to tell them more about this wonderful way.

A great hurricane was sweeping the Gulf. A wireless message had been received that the storm was terrible, and warning us to preparefor it before leaving the port. The blackness was awful on the waters as we went out. As we moved slowly out of the inner harbor, some battleships were having target practice at sea. Two submarines partly submerged, were slowly moving along to keep ships from coming too close to where the sailors were shooting.

The Lord said to me, “Just as those submarines are placed here to protect the ships from the shooting, so I will place My angels around this ship and the storm shall not molest you.”

“Only believe and rest in Me.”

The passengers were frightened, and the captain gave orders to have the storm doors and windows put in, and the ship made ready to meet the terrible hurricane. But on we sailed, and the storm moved on in front of us, all the way to New Orleans. Only once did we get into it a little for a few minutes. The rain came down in floods, the wind blew with great force, thick darkness settled down over the ship, and we were tossed by the great waves that arose. Many became sea-sick and ran to their staterooms for life-preservers. The captain gave orders to have the life boats in readiness.

As we passed into our staterooms, not to get the little cork-and-canvas life preservers that were lying there, but to get in touch with the One Great Life-Preserver, who said He would give His angels charge over us, there came into ourhearts a sweet rest and peace. After prayer we arose and went on deck. As I passed through the door I met the captain, who said, “I have been looking for you and your husband, that you might pray for our ship to be saved, as there is no other hope.” He himself lifted up his hand and asked God to drive back the storm. Just then the blackness swept off the decks, the ship straightened up, and the sun smiled down upon us. Surely God giveth His angels charge over us, that we should not dash our feet against a stone.

“Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,Thou blest Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in Thee.”

“Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,

Thou blest Rock of Ages, I’m hiding in Thee.”

From that time on we were sailing just behind the big black hurricane. A ship that had been following us was caught in the storm, and for three days and nights they were lost and had no hope of being saved. A young man from this ship rode on the train with us from New Orleans to St. Louis. He told us of the terrible things they suffered. How they all had life-preservers on many times, and were ready to get into the life-boats, as they thought the ship would go down.

On our ship every passenger, officer and member of the crew took tracts and Testaments and read them. The captain told us he was glad to have someone on the ship who knew how to pray. On the previous trip he brought some women from Colon who were dope fiends. The whole boat was in a terrible uproar all theway, and he feared God would let them all go down for such wickedness. He himself knew something of the power of God. He took a Bible and tracts and asked for some of our books for the ship’s library. Shall we not give these men some good books to read at sea?

The gambler, whom I heard say we were always talking about the Lord, came to me and said, “I want to get some papers and a Bible. I have always been a wicked man, but since I have been on this boat I have made up my mind to give my heart to God and live different.” He said he had a Christian mother who taught him to kneel at her knee and say his evening prayer, and he wanted to meet her in Heaven, for he knew she was there.

One of the professors from the Northwestern University was on board. He had been traveling through all the Latin-American countries, gathering information for the new history he was writing. He came to talk with us, saying he was interested in mission work. We gave him all the information we could about the different parts of the country we had visited. He said, “I know you people have something I haven’t. What is it?” He was a member of the Presbyterian church, and had been since he was a very young child. His father was a minister, so he had always been brought up in the church.

As we read the Bible to him and prayed with him, telling him of the great outpouring of the Spirit of God in these last days, and the sooncoming of Jesus, he wept like a child, and said he was ready for all God had for him. When he returned to Chicago he would go to a Pentecostal mission, as he knew this was the truth of God. He was a very sweet spirited man, open to the Spirit of the Lord. He took with him many tracts on the Baptism of the Spirit and the Second Coming of Jesus.

A young man, on his way to school in the States, asked for a Bible, saying he had never seen one, but had a great desire to read one. Since hearing us talk so much about it, he thought it must be a wonderful Book. He took a Bible to school with him, also tracts and papers. He was a native of Costa Rica.

As we were leaving the ship at New Orleans people came for more Testaments and tracts to carry away with them. One brother and sister, very wealthy people, traveling for pleasure, took many of the little messengers, the sister saying that when she reached her home in Oklahoma she was going to prepare herself for missionary work. She was tired of the life she had been living, and having seen the awful need of the Central American people, she could never be happy again until she went to help them.

In New Orleans we gave out hundreds of tracts and found many hungry souls. I visited some of the missions there, in search of Pentecostal people, but they told us there were none there. Such a needy city! May the God of Heaven stir our hearts until we areawakened and go forth into every city of the Union with this message of the hour, and the people are reached and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the earth.

On board the train for St. Louis, we found many hungry hearts ready for the truth, having never heard it before. In the Union Station, St. Louis, we found others who were hungry. They took the tracts and went away pleased to have them. Even in our own city we found people who were eager to hear the Word of God. Many were the precious souls reached by the Bread upon the waters, which we freely cast forth.

We traveled from Granite City, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California, giving out tracts and Testaments. From Los Angeles we sailed to Central America and gave out the Word in every port we came to in Mexico, Central America and Panama. From Panama to New Orleans and Granite City we distributed the Word to thousands. We look back over our journey and see a long white line of Bread that was cast upon the waters, reaching our home in Granite City, where also God is working.

“On the resurrection morning, when we rise to meet our Lord,When His glory and His victory we shall share,With un-numbered blood-washed millions we’ll go shouting through the skies,And His bride ascends to meet Him in the air.“When the roll is called up yonder,We’ll be filled with joy and wonder,When we see the blood-washed number;Some from every tribe and nation will be there.”

“On the resurrection morning, when we rise to meet our Lord,

When His glory and His victory we shall share,

With un-numbered blood-washed millions we’ll go shouting through the skies,

And His bride ascends to meet Him in the air.

“When the roll is called up yonder,We’ll be filled with joy and wonder,When we see the blood-washed number;Some from every tribe and nation will be there.”

“When the roll is called up yonder,

We’ll be filled with joy and wonder,

When we see the blood-washed number;

Some from every tribe and nation will be there.”

There is a land not far away. It lies on our own continent. It is a land of tropical beauty, where cocoanut palms wave their tall green branches in the breeze, and where flowers bloom the year around. The banana, pineapple, orange, and many other tropical trees and plants yield their fruit in rich abundance. The chatter of innumerable parrots and the sweet songs of many birds are heard from the great tall trees of the forests. Scantily-clad brown-faced boys and girls run about. Seeing it, one is made to say, “What a beautiful country!”

But, ah! As one advances inland, leaving the pretty harbor of Corinto, on the Pacific coast, the signs of the enemy’s work are on man and beast.

There is desolation everywhere. The poor people are too weak to withstand the strong rival with whom they have had to battle so long. Homes are broken up. Mothers with their little children are crying for help. Their cries are heard on every side. Powers of darkness sweep over the whole country.

The poor are driven like animals to the plantations to work for a few cents a day, not enough to sustain life. They are paid in advance for the season’s work. The wage is so small the family soon spend it all. Then they are arrested and made to work for what they have alreadyreceived. Even mothers are put into the coffee and banana fields to work in the hot sun. On the poor tired women go with their babies strapped to their backs all day long, with nothing to eat but a tortilla (a corn cake baked without seasoning of any kind).

In the evening the poor tired people make their way to their little huts, which are made of a few sticks driven into the ground and covered with straw or palm leaves. There they grind corn for tortillas, the children carrying water in little buckets made of gourds that grow on trees, or in a jar made of clay. Their homes are as dirty as pig-pens, for the animals live in the house with the family.

As you travel through the country you find the very poor, who live in the mountains, far away from the cities, often whole families, without clothes. If they wear anything at all, it will be a piece of cloth woven from grass pinned around their bodies with a thorn, for they never saw a pin or button. Many boys and girls fourteen or fifteen years old have never worn clothes.

Both in the cities and in the country women are beasts of burden, for the women or the donkeys furnish the transportation, the men do not work much. The women work in the markets and little stores, and carry great loads of sugar, fruit, water, etc., on their heads in the hot sun. The streets are full of children that never were in school. They grow up to be lazy, fight with each other, and steal. Whenyou have one around who is not saved you have to keep everything under lock and key.

More than two-thirds of the population are of illegitimate birth. Men and women live together and raise families, yet are never married. One of the difficult things the missionary has to do is see that they marry and live clean lives.

The priests charge so much money to perform the ceremony that the poor cannot pay it, so they live on year after year in this way; but they have to pay so much to the priests every year to get them to forgive their sin of adultery, in that way the Church of Rome gets more from them than they would to marry them. The priests prey upon the superstitions of the people to extract money from them at all points. The natives’ religion is a mere form of outward exercises.

For over 400 years the whole of Mexico, Central and South America, as well as the West Indies, have been under the heavy yoke of Romanism. The Spaniards came into the country and, driving the natives at the point of the sword, baptized them into the Roman Church, and took away their language and liberty. They compelled them to carry timber and stone from inland and build temples for the Roman Church.

I am just a brown-faced Indian girl, but I want to learn to read God’s Word. Will you send missionaries to teach us? There are thousands just as I am.

In Leon, which is the largest city of the Republic of Nicaragua, and where we have our work, there are between seventy and eighty thousand people and forty-two temples. And when one sees those old temples almost ready to tumble down, and covered with moss andgrass centuries old, one feels that Rome is certainly coming to the end of herself in these countries. The people are rising up now and calling for schools, and for freedom of the press, and are crying, “Away with the Church! It has never done anything for us.” Many thousands are becoming free-thinkers.

Nicaragua is the only Republic of Central America that has Church and State united. A great fight is now on for their separation. There are over one million people in this Republic alone without the Gospel. Let us pray God to speed the day when these reforms shall be wrought and the Gospel be given the people.

Nicaragua saw her first missionary sixteen years ago. It has been the last of the Republics to receive the Gospel. The persecutions were so severe that the missionaries had to leave in a few weeks. But, thank God! some of the people accepted the glad news and have stood true through flood and flame. But there are very few missionaries there as yet, and thousands are without the knowledge of a Savior who died for them.

All these countries are being flooded with New Thought, Russellism, Christian Science, Theosophy, and Spiritualism. Many are coming into these things now, for the people are fast turning from Romanism. They are like little hungry birds with wide-open mouths ready to accept any poisonous thing presented. Are we, the true followers of Jesus Christ, going to sleep on and fail to wake up to this greatopportunity? Let us go forth with the old-time Gospel of Pentecostal power, that will drive the enemy from the land, and give these dear people the truth.

At one place where we were having meetings the people asked us why missionaries had not come to them before. They said, “We saw the first one sixteen years ago, but he was so persecuted he had to leave us in a few weeks, and only a few heard the Gospel, and we have been in darkness for so long. Oh, if some one had only told us before the way of life!”

Many children were brought to us to be placed in school, so that they might learn to read and write, and study the Bible. But as yet we have been unable to open a school. My heart has been torn as I have seen the little children growing up in such ignorance, and especially the young girls. This country, like all other countries without the Gospel, regards the women and girls as no more than animals, and they are the prey to every horrible crime that anyone wishes to inflict upon them. The little girls are often sold into lives of shame by their parents for a few dollars. We knew one mother who sold her four young daughters. One of them found that she was to be sold so she ran away and hid in the mountains, but they hunted until they found her, then they bound her and carried her away, dripping with blood where she had been beaten with clubs and stoned with stones. The man that took her was, I am sorry to say, an American. “It is only the preciousBlood of Jesus that can change the human heart, that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Jer. 17:9.

Many foreigners have come here for money, and do not care much how they get it. Some have gold mines, others have plantations, many of them are Americans. They are making every sacrifice for the gold that perisheth. Shall not we, then, who have the treasure of Heaven, break the Bread of Life to these dear hungry souls ere they perish?

There came to us early one morning a bright-faced Indian girl about thirteen years old. Her parents were dead, her sisters were living lives of shame and they had driven the poor little one out from them. She had been sleeping in the markets and parks and was crying in the street. Some one told her to come to us for we were missionaries and we would help her. She said she would be our servant and do anything, that she might have a place where she could be sheltered from the wicked men. She is only one of the many thousands that are here in this dark land crying for some one to help them. Unless we take them in they will be destroyed by sin. Many are found dead, having been killed to hide the crime of some wicked person. It is in behalf of these suffering ones that this little message is sent on its way in the Name of Jesus.

We are having blessed meetings. Many are coming out to hear the good news. Some have already received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. A native brother that has been saved has goneout to another place to preach, and the power of God is falling. Several have received the Holy Spirit, and others have been blessed in soul and healed in body.

Soon after coming into the country God gave me a vision of the blessed Latter Rain falling all over Central America. So I ask you, dear child of the Lord, to pray that the people in the homeland will be stirred up to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Many missionaries have gone to China, India, Africa, and the Islands of the Sea, but few have come to this country. Let us awake and pray that the Lord will send forth laborers, and that the means will be provided for their support, and that this very needy land shall hear the blessed Gospel story. There are a few faithful soldiers of the cross laboring here, but the battle is hard and long.

Some have fallen, and their comrades have laid them away on the green hillside to await their reward at the coming of the One who said: “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathered fruit unto life eternal.”—John 4:36.

But there is a great door open, and the enemy is flooding in with all sorts of implements of war. There is urgent need of more soldiers and supplies. Just as Uncle Sam was able to send men and means for the great conflict in Europe, and so defeat the enemy, so our Captain, who never lost a battle, is able to send His soldiers, to defeat the enemy and drive him from the ranks and to send great showers of blessing upon the dry and thirsty land.

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