the · the coming of bbothep* oswald j. smith .. just a few more days and reverend oswald j. smith,...

2 T H E P I O N E E R

Here is the Pion'eer again! Perhaps in your younger days,, , ,

the first thing you noticed about a book 'or. a magazine was, its pictures and illustrations. -The next thing might have been the story or .chapter that looked the most interesting. The last thing, and quite often never; :you read the preface or foreword!. But that method of procedure ~ k a s surely 'due to inexperience,; the petter plan is to start at the be'ginning and go..right down the list - as brother George Fisk ,,used to do ,at. meal time .on board the Pacific liner! . ' , ,

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We have, waited as long as we could forla most important' , ,

contribution to this number of the Pioneer, but it has not come. ,Qwing no doubt to almost endle&' duties, Brother' Jaffray bas not been able t o get his report to us. We.are regretfully'putting out this issue,without the stirring missionary article wbicb we ,know will ultimateiy come, i r o h him. is report will .be a

' ' +sum& of his reconnoitering visits to Sumatra a i d WestBoinee. True; we have one of his general letters a t hand, and tould cull out an interesting article' from, that, but, .,.... we feel that this great unreached field presents a challenge that ought to come first hand and "red hot'' from Mr. Jaffray himself. .So we will ,

wait. However we cannot resist the temptation to quote a few lines from his letters : ''Surely a great door of opportunity to ,preach the Lord Jesus is opened t o us in the.West Coast of Borneo (,See map of Bornea in this issue. Mr. Jaffray visited

today deep in my soul that God is going to enable us t o enter.

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. j , ' ' '> Singkawang on West Coast.) Th.e door is wide open and I , h w :-?j ,,S

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T H E P I O N E E R ' 3 . And not only here, but also I feel Sure tha t 'He is going to open t h e way a t once for the occupation of the vast field of Southern Sumatra and islands near by." (See map-of Sumatra on the back page of this issue. Mr. Jaffray ysited Palembang.) . ,

We have also waited in vain for Mr. Fisk to send in his latest news. From ,a letter received from him early in May we read: "We are praying and working hard to get.students for. the Ma- kassar Bible School .'. . . . . Almost the ehtire village of Gong Poe- djoengdn turned to Jesus. On this last trip I baptized 305 in , Long Poedjoengan, 72 in Long Ketaman, and 3 in the village of Long Pesehan. The Holy Spirit is ,working .mightily. Halle- lujsh ! 'I , .

The ofiher members of our missionary force have written the f:ooll,owing articles. We hope that as you read this little "news, letter" once more, you will find.yourself feeling as if you w e p zight over here, and were one of us, as if our joys were your joys, and our ,burdens your burdens, and our hope your hope too.

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Missionary Staff :

' Rev. R. A. and Mrs. Jaffrny. Makaaaar. Cclcbca. D. E. 1. C:'RCY. %. D. Clcnch. Makaaaar. Celebcs. D., E. 1.

>, ' Rev. J.' W. .'and Mra: BriU. ,Ampenan. Lombok. D. E., 1.

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A T H E P I O N E E R

A Last Minute Summary of Con- ditions a i d -Events' in Our Field

I/ THE GOSPEL TABERNACLE

Have you taken a ,good loot at i t? I f not, turn to the front page again. , The doors of this building were opened for services Sunday evening May 15th and have been opened every evening thereafter. ~ Upon the conclusion of our first evangelistic cam- paign which lasted until the end of June, we immediately opened night school, teaching the Gospel according to St. Luke to all who have cared to attend. In our night school we meet four evenings a week, the remaining evenings are given over to evangelistic services. To try and adequately express to you, all that this wonderful building means to the Lord's wonk here in Makassar, would require,a special'edition of the Pioneer! 'It is Gospel Tabernacle, Bible School, Sunday School, Prayer Room, Book Room, Office and living quarters all in one.

FIRST FRUITS FROM AMONG THE MAKASSABESE

Twice or thrice , a week a small group of Makassar people, walk from their kampoeng en masse to the tabernacle. They listen t o the Word with simple, faith and delight, and as the Spirit leads them and they realize a definite need they kneel. with us for prayer in the 'after services. When our Makassar interpreter comes, ,we preach to these people in their own tongue. Besides helping the little group in the inside to understand better it also helps to,draw a larger group of other Makas- sar people who ,stand without gathered round ?he doors and windows listening to the gospel. Sometimes. there is violent fighting and opposition from those who are zealous for the Islamic faith, but even as of old, the Lord is able to bring His

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people out "with a strong arm". Thanks be unto God for th in little flock of Makassar men and women who have turned to the Savior.

STUDENT PREACHEBS

Wednesday evenings our Bible School, students do the ~

preaahing. Those of them who have been studying .the,great themes in the Epistle to the Romans, are now beginning to give^ forth to the people the "good news" of the gospel as it was' revealed to Paul. We also have them lead the singing from time to time, and we rejoice to see that some from among them are being led of the Spirit into the victorious truth of sanctification.

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,, ,. A G o u $ of rtudrntr of the Bib% School

THE BIBLE SCHOOL We are now entered into the second half of our school year.

This term our faculty is strengthened by the presence of Miss

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Griebenow and Mrl Mouw on the staff. Miss Griebenow has launched out on her own Malay wings, which i s a n evident token that during the few months sin& coming to the field, there has been some diligent studying of that language! Our day students number about twenty five. 'But this number varies a little according as new students come in, and as others (who are quite often looking for "loaves and fishes") drop out. Oiir night students number from forty to fifty, ,and there are usually more or less visitors besides.

pressing need for 'a dormitory to house the students who come to us from afar. At this present writing, our "student aid fund" is very, very low. We are .praying the Lord to help us provide for these whom He has,called. And praying also that provision

feel definitely cal1ed;but the way tocome is, for them, blocked by a wall of difficulty: "By my God have I leaped over a wall" --.It would be wonderful if we could pack a few of these penniless gtudenta into our pockets when we leap!

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In a separate article in this issue we have mentioned the

may be supplied for'the others who have written. telling us they ...

L " GETTING OUT OUR GOSPEL LITERATURE

Mr. Mouw has written an interesting article describing some

>$ the Pioneer Brother Jaffray mentioned our effor tgto get out tracts in the Bcegis and Makassar languages a s well BS Jn ' * I

Malay. We have been pushing this matter lately and hope to get in hand ,a good assortment of material. It is difficult to secure a reliable Makassar scholar. The Government has ., discouraged the use of anything but Malay, and'so the younger genepation is not being taught to write the Makassar script. Many, in fact nearly -all, the order Makassar scholars utterly refuse, t o have anything t o do with propagating Chrfstianity. They are staunch Mohammedans. The Lord has enabled us to . ,

geba limited supply of Makassar tracts translated thus. far, .aid we believe there will always be a way t o go forward with this

phases of the work of distribution. In the previous nuFbber of .j " , ,,

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blessed work. Our book and tract department has been moved out of *he ,old place a t Daeng Tompo street into the tabernacle. In ' place of 'the Daeng Tampd 'house we have had a small buildiDg added to the rear of the tabernacle. It is wonderful how the Lord has been providing for $his important work. It takes much money t o print and to distribute the Good News, but there are few uses to which money may better be put. "There is a river (of tracts) the streams ,whereof shall 'mdke ,

, , , ' glad the city'of God".

TESTLNGS FOR THE SAINTS IN BALI , '

Much.opposition from the devil and from powen and in- fluences under him bas been let loose against the Bali believers. Some of them have turned away from the living God to' onw sgain'worship their idols. The entire family of, one o f t he Bali boys, who is attending the Bible School, has backslidden com- pletely. In many cases the native Christians are deprived'of their rice fields, and as Mr. Brill relates in his report, are auffeting other persecutions. Although this is a very grave situation and it seemingly appears as if 'the work in Bali were hanging by a hair, we d a not for 'a moment feel dismayed. For every soul that draws back, we look to God to add to the faithful remnant a hundredfold; in grzce, in strength, in numbers and in

God who "hangeth ?he earth upon nothing" can easily take care ': of something that appears to hang on a hair! Do you believe , , ,,

i ha t ? You have entered into rest when yon do!

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perseverance. "Faithful is He who calleth, who aldo will do, it": ,.,

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. . THE COMING OF BBOTHEP* OSWALD J. SMITH

Just a few more days and Reverend Oswald J. Smith, :of the World. Wide Ohristian Couriers in Canada, will arrive in Singa- pore. ',Mi-. Smith, who is first of all a man of vision, wd then n man of dynamic energy will come to u8 as "a man sent from 'God". "God", he writes, "has laid Sumatra upon my heart". ~ .,,,:

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And as for Borneo, well, if you-could have heard Brother Smith travail in prayer for Borneo, as we have heard him you would understand his intense desire t o visit that island, and see for

unto the harvest", and through him it well may be, the Lord will "thrust fotth laborers".

Owing to Mi-. Jaffray's absence it has not been possible for , any'of us to arrange to meet Mr. Smith in Singapore or to assist

-him in seeing Sumatra and Java. However Mr. Brill will be on hand for Bali and Lombok, and when Mr. Smith comes up here to Makassar. we will make up for not meeting him in Singapore by giving him a real welcome here. It, will b e possible for him t o $sit Borneo via Samarinda, where Mr. Deibler has the

In our next issue of the Pioneer we expect to carry a "good report" of Mr. Smit'h's spying out the land. "Let us go up and 'take it". Amen! There is nothing much better to shout for a warcry than good old Caleb's slogan. There may be more or there may be less than twelve tribes concerned in this forward movement, but when it comes t o taking the land in the name of the Lord, the people of Christ ought to move as a ..whde.. Therefore, "let us go up and possess it".! BoTneo, Celebes, Bali, Sumatra - for verily the giants of these places shall be but bread. for us. And now, "let all the people say, Amen"!

':*> 'Later news informs u s that Brother Brill was able t o proceed.to Sumatra ana meet Mr. Smith at Palembang.

himself how desperate is the need. To him the~field is "ripe !

' , I Y j . I B $ r' .'3 Courier launch and can take him into the interior. *)


To the natural man the island of B a i appears t o be one of the beauty spots of earth, but to the spiritual man it presents a dark, sad picture of sin - sin unrestrained. To try and describe

I' its sinfulness would be to bring heartache to every true child of cbd. But, thank God, we have a different story to tell; "Tidings of great joy", for Christ the Savior is being ,born in the hearts of the Balinese! The Gospel light has shone into the hearts of some of these also, and the darkness is being dispelled. Thank God this Gospel light will shine more and more unto that perfect day!

SEVENTY-FIVE MORE BALINESE BAPTIZED

I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr. Jaffray from Lombok to Bali on his way home for furlough. It was a joy to witness the baptism of seventy-five additional converts from among the Balinese by Mr. Jaffray and Mr. Tsang: - Buried with Christ in baptism and risen in Christ Jesus unto'newness of life, Halle- lujah! There are now one hundred and five baptized Balinese Christians, and about two hundred more who believe on Jesus, but not yet baptized. Take these Christians upon your hearts and' daily lift them to the throne of God in prayer that they may grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.

"AND THESE SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW THEM THAT BELIEV,E"

God has been attesting this work with miracles and signs following. A man crippled and bed-fast for five years, due to rheumatism or neuritis, is to-day working in his, rice field, rejoicing in the Lord as his Savior and Healer. Mr. Tsang ',

simply told the old story of the Gospel and the Lord's power'to


heal, which was as simply believed by this man and his son! As he showed me the new strength in his hands and body his face beamed with the joy of the Lord.

PERSECUTION

A very healthful sign among these Christians is that they are undergoing persecution. In an attempt to draw them away from the truth their countrymen have cut down many of their'fruit trees and uprooted other plants,, and have even stolen some of their personal property. However they are enduring these 'trials patiently, and I think joyfully (at least this is what we exhorted them to do), andndbecause of this ver,y thing the Gospel is spreading in Bali. What a wonderful Gospel it is!

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GlVLNG FORTH THE WITNESS

Another commendable fact is ,that these Christians are faithfully witnessing to their friends and relatives. From the very start they have been taught that to be a Christian is to be, a witness for Christ. The work began with'one man, a Chino- Balinese(his father being Chinese), who became a Christian and from him the work has grown until there,are Christians in ten villages in Bali. They have carried the Gpspel as far as the mou?tains in the far interior where there are now three believers. Also on the opposite side of the mountains there are tyo who believe. Thus is the,Gospel spreading in Bali, "Not of man the power", but of God!

CHURCHES

Churches! Yes friends, there are two native-built churches; and the Christians are not yet six months old! These churches are no more than a thatched roof over a raised mud floor, nevertheless they are set aside for the worship of the true God and Jesus Christ, and, thank God, they are hallowed by His


glorious Presence. Upon breaking down their idols and places of worship the stones and bricks have been saved by these Christians with the intention to, use them in building ,a permanent church.

"AND THEY SUNG A ,NEW SONG"

Four songs have been translated into Balinese. You should have heard them sing, "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, -it thrills my soul with joy to think of it! Yes, the Balineee now sing the,song of the redeemed, and of the Lamb!

, ' GOD'S M A N ,

The human instrument under God responsible for this work is Mr. Tsang Kam Fuk a missionary of The Chinese Foreign Missionary Union. Brother Tsang needs special wisdom and guidance from the Lord, as he is the only one granted government permission to work in Bali among the Chinese. The work among the Balinese has been carried on by Brother Tsang acting not as a missionary or preacher to them, but as a friend coming to their homes when invited and at unappointed times. H e and the other missionaries of The Chinese Foreign Missionary Union need your praye? suppdrt and your gifts, for they are doing "a, great work" among the Chinese and natives of the Dutch East Indies.

A CLOSING REQUEST

Let me ask you to pray that the government restrictions against mission work among the Balinese may soon be lifted, and that the Word of God may fully run and be glorified.

J O H N WESLEY BRILL

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1Y Ask and It ShaJJ Be Given 9.

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' ' / / In the April number of The Pioneer mention was made of The

Gospel Tabernacle at Makassar; with the printing of this number of our paper, The Gospel Tabernacle has becowe a"wonderfu1 reality. ,Mr. Mouw has given interesting information concerning the structure and material of the building': hdiss Kemp has written concerning God's marvelous ways in supplying every need; Miss Griebenow has let us have an echo of the tabernacle's music; and Mr. Wang a glimpse of the evangelistic activity. [n

order to properly introduce the above mentioned testimonials. let us first of all look back a bit.

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With the growth of interest in our mid-week services for the natives, and the definite launching forth of our Bible School, there came the persisteut conviction that we were not located in the best place to reach the people most in need. Our first in- tentions were somewhat hazy: we felt we needed a dormitory of some kind to house o w students. We tried to find such a building, but without success. We then hunted high and low for a suitable building to use for a chapel anh class room combihed. We canvassed the entire native section of the town, trying to find a place for rent, but again we met with no success. Finally we resolved to build for ourselves!

The next, problem was to find a place to build and the where- withal. We found the place in the form of a vacant lot situ- 'ated in the center of the native quarters'called, Kampoeng Pisang. The land was not for sale, but could be rented. The land owner agreed to finance the building if we would buy it back in monthly installments. A plan of the building was sub- mitted to the chosen contractor: the terms were agreed upon; and the corner stone,of our new tabernacle was laid:


Much prayer was offered to God whilst the above was taking place. For quite a while it seemed that our praying for a Bible- ' 1 , school building and a chapel was not getting us anywhere. Bu t , . '; to-day, as we stand before this splendid building - f a r better , '

were disappointed a while back in not securing one of several, little tumble down shacks to serve in its place, we recognize the presence of God and joyfully acknowledge H's power and good-

Word, how abundantly He has glorified Himself in,bringing to pass His own good purpose. Truly may this manifestation of ' ',

God's working among us be the s tar t of a greater and more blessed work - beyond even to-day's fairest and boldest vision, ' . "Thou art the God that doeth wonders!"

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than our first plans dared to. call for - and think of how we , .

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, , ,., . ,, T A e Silver and tke Gold i s Mine"

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Recently in reading a brief comment on Phil. 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus", three thoughts came to me in connection with the building of the Makassar Gospel Tabernacle.

only inadequate, but also too far removed from any native .section of the city to ever hope to get the Makassar people to come to us. Besides this there was no suitable building available in a native, section. But this need as well as many others is included in the promise above and so the arrangements were made and work was begun.

when the comer-stone was laid on March 19, there were no "

funds in view yet our God was working and preparing.His " stewards to meet this need. Only a few days later a friend of

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thc Alliance work made u s a brief visit and .left a substantial offering designated for the Tabernacle. Several smaller gifts were received, from people of the D. E: I. who were interested in seeing a building of this kind in Makassar. Then when the building was nearing completion, ,a large gift was made as a

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memorial to, one who throughout his life had preached the Gos- pel faithfully. Thus the entire need for the building, was fully

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present and future, are met and the resources of, God are plved at our disposal "By Christ Jesus". , Through faith in Him: we may tap the resources of God. . By His Spinit,. He preparei the hearts of His servants to release some ,of the>Wealth of God.

0,that our faith would rise, to really trust Our God for all of our ' need. Even in times of depression, our God still hzis unlimited resources. and they' are a t bur disposal "Through

3. There was only one channel. All of our needs, past, 6

Christ Jesus". MARGARET E . KEMP

A building^ f o r the Lord / /

Some of you, unless mechanically inclined, may not be interested' in the details concerning the construction of our new tabernacle, nevertheless I am sure that all of you will rejoice with us because of the erection of this building in Makassar. It has a ~ ~ ~ ~ o c ~ f o ~ ~ ~ d ~ ~ " - ~ , e ~ ~ ~ e , and we praise God for such a building. At the time of- writing this article meetings have already been held nightly for over a month. "We are glad that the 5 ~ ~ e . o ~ k ~ v ~ ~ t h e - o ~ . ~ r ~ - , , tunity to hear the P o s e ~ . a c h . ~ . l , n " , ~ i a - ~ ~ a c e ~ v e r y night of

The picture in' this number of the Pioneer will give you a sood idea, of the appearance of the tabernacle, or as it is

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:called in the Malay tongue, ''-1nWl. ' The dimensions are 52 by 59 feet. The outside walls are of brick topped w-fl-- -m%mbuo: The roof is covered (native style) with palm leaves woven and thatched together. These palm leaf sections, or shingles as they might be termed, have first been submerged in the salt water of the ocean for three days in order to protect them in the future from being eaten by bugs and worms. The framework of the building is of hardwood, with rafters of bamboo.

Our Chinese contractor, a likeable chap, but very slow, said he would have the tabernacle completed by May 1st. The cor- nerstone had been laid March 19th, but the building was not completed until June 20th - taking just twice.as long as had been promised! Every day I would say to the contractor, "Le- kas. lekas!" which means, "A little speed, please!': He wo& always answer; "Yes, yes", but as taking one's time is an eastern custom, he lived up to it.

But now that the building is completed we are all well pleased with it, even although erecting a building here is somewhp2 different than in the U.S.A. ! We cannot refrain from rejoicing in God and praising Him for this gift to our Mission. The tabernacle today stands as a 'monument to the' truthfulness of Phil. 4:19. and as a lighthouse in a dark land sending forth the light that:

"There is ,a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Zmmanuel's veins, And sinners plunged bqeath that'flood, Lose all their g d t y stains".

As yet we have only 250 of the needed 400 chairs; will you please pray that this lack may be met, and more especially that the chairs may always be filled, with those who are'inquiring for the Way of Salvation, and that the many Mohammedans who linger,on the outside afraid to venture in will cast their feara aside, and enter, and hear and believe.

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.J. ARTHUR MOUW


,,Praise Him W i t h Stringed

"Mari musoek! mari masoek!

Masoek hatikoe, ' Ja Jesoes." I

On our way to th,e service a t the Gospel Tabernacle oqe evening, we overheard some young^ boys on the street singing this chorus, which is a translation of our English song, "fnto My Heart". Our hearts bounded with joy, and we sent up a prayer to our Father that soon many boys and girls, and men and women from all parts of Makassar and this peninsula might sing this song from their hearts 'as a result of the Gospel meetings held a t the Tabernacle!

The natives of Makassar and vicinity certainly know how to sing - and sing well. Our meetings might be prolonged f a r into the night, if we let them continue with their selection of songs. The difficulty seems to lie not in what we can obtain in the line of "special music" for the evening, but 'what songs' we shall eliminate. Solos, duets, quartets, quhtettes, and choruses are sung with fine harmony. The stud,ents of the Bible School have also formed a "bamboo flute" orchestra, and usually a t 7:30 when you arrive a t the service. you are greeted with a medley of hymns played an those instruments by the young'men. I

$, When the Gospel Tabernacle was opened and we began services, we hardly dared hope.that bhe Lord would send in enough money for us to buy a piano to assist in the music. How-. ever, He often gives us "above all that we ask or think", and a few weeks after the meetings began, a Christiah worker and his wife, friends of the Mission, who were expecting soon to move away from Makassar, presented us with the gift of their piano.

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’, We praise God from the depths of our hearts for.this! We trust that in the coming days, the Lord will toucl-many hearts in this place through the ministry of music, and that many who have no song of joy and praise because they know not the Lord Jesus, may from their hearts be able to join us in these Gospel songs! May there be many from among those who now praise

expressions of praise and worship t o ~ o u r Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior of the world !

the name of Mohammed, who will change and give genui,ne’ . ,

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VIOLA. M. GRIEBENOW ...................... A W o r d From Our First Evangelist

, , // When Paul, the Apostle, came to Ephesus he found only

twelve believers there. But ‘these twelve, few as they were, received and were filled with the Holy Spirit; and from them, what a strong church grew up!

Since taking part i n the Bible School here in Makassar, to teach and to study with the students the subject of The Semnd Coming of Jesus Christ, there has been a deep longing in my , I ! ,~

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Praise the Lord for the fact that they have been very interested P- /2. heart that these students might be like the twelve of Ephesus.

in the study of this subject. A few days ago I gave them.an examination which consisted of eight questions. One of the questions was; “How can a sinner be saved?” I asked this question because perhaps there were those- who had not, experienced the “second birth”. Nearly every one, however, mentioned.the Blood in reply. To one of the other questions; ”What must we do upon learning that Jesus is coming soon?” most of them answered that we should be holy as He is holy;

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and a large number stated that we ought to go forth and preach the gospel to the unsaved. 0 that they may be filled with'the Spirit and be used of God as soul winners!

The Gospel Tabernacle was opened before 'it was entirely completed, for the first meeting.May 15thl Why did we not

i; wait till it was completed? Because, "The Holy Spirit saith to- .' .' day; now is the accepted time: now is the day of salvation".

When we preach to the unsaved, we want them to accept the Lord .at once, because it is dangerous to wait.' How can we preachers on our part wait with such a truth in view!

We have now been preaching in the tabernacle for more than twenty-seven nights. The Spirit has been working. Please pray for the salvation of the ,precious souls who have been to the meetings, especially those wh,o have raised their hands or

pleasepray for others who have come to the enquirer's room for prayer., Please pray that they may 'truly be born again and grow in grace.

I have been very grateful to God for giving me the wonderful opportunities 'to serve Him'here for more than a month. I am ' so r ry to leave. This great work has made a deep impression upon my heart. 0 i t is truly an inspira'tion>to see God's hand in, it all! Friends,,pray on! It is your prayers that move the hand of the Almighty.

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stood to confess the Lord as their personal Savior, and also i

WILSON WANG

*Fear nol, 0 l a n d ; be 41ad and rejoice; for lhe Lord will do great lhings . . . For lke'parlures of the wilderness do spring, for Ihe tree benrelk her , h i 1 . . . Be glad /ken, ye. childreii of Zion, and i,ejoice in the Lord your God . . . lkal halh deal1 ruonderonsl!, with p r i . . . my people rhnll: never he askameda. - Joel 2:21-2fi. ' , , .

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"'While Brother Post has' not yet arrived, that disturbing.fact has not caused me to lose any sleep, 'although I h i v e beewex?. pe'cting.him~every day. 1 have now arrived a t the-conclusion that he will 'come Sunday, when we expect the Government boat. t o

"There isn't so very much difference between Malinau and Melak, so you can guess what a wonderful place i t is. TheI;ord is wonderfully prospering, my soul these days, and giving me many opportunities to present the gospel. Yesterday I became aware that some bpp&ition had been stirred' up akong ' the Moslems, so that is an indication that God is already working."

"I am glad to. say that I prefer my quarters here to the famous "ba,chelor's hall" of Samarinda. I am, 'also thanxful that I have a good cook, who makes a fine job ~Ymy'clothes - I don't mean by that that he cooks my clothes, but thaf he 'is also the chief laundryman. I understand that in ,;breadmaking a,s in baseball, there is nothing like a good batter in the hour of,

''I have noted the request for an artic1,e on t h e Sesajap and I am herewith enclosing the same. A couple of weeks ago I took a picture of the house, but have not receivgd the prints from Tarakan. Had Biother Post not been delayed, and had~finaneiai conditions been better I might have spent the last month up,the river, and would have had something more interesting for the Pioneer." , . .._j

. . come into "port". ~~

knead". Perhaps you have already foundthat out!- . ' .' ..

THE CALL AND CHALLENGE OF SESAJG Sesajap is a Malay word meaning, "one wing". This word ha?

been applied as the name for the river, village and district of this part of Bofneo, which is situated'between Brother 'Fisks. district of Boelongan on the South, and British 'North Born'eo on

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the North. Not including the Boelongan river, this Sesajap District is equal to the area of La ie Ontario, or half the size of Vancouver Island.

Topographically the country here is very similar to other parts of Borneo in that it is covered by dense jungle. There are no roads, the only mode of travel being by native craft on the rivers. Owing'to the rapids, travel in some places is quite slow; these rapids are not as large as in the Boelongau river but it seems that more lives are !ost in them.

Malinau, the name of the village which we have chosen for our headquarters, is also the Government outpost. it i s in the very centre of the field, so that if you placed one point of a great compass on it, you could draw a circle enclosing the whole field. We have rented a house suitable for our needs, and in the month-that we have been here we have made good contacts with the natives. In the near future we expect to follow up these contact?, going up the river and preaching the gospel in villages which e v e never heard the message of life. As far as we know, there is not one soul here who knows what it is to be saved. About the time this number of the Pioneer'reaches the homeland, we expect to be making a trip to the very headwaters of this river. We trust you will especially remember us in prayer at that time.

I have been reminded that there are no.easy fields for sowing the seed of the gospel. Here, I think the greatest difficulty is the language problem. No one seems t o know for certain how many languages and dialects are spoken - probably about forty or fifty, On one small tributary of this river there are no less than seven! The total population of this tributary is only fourteen hundred. Notwithstanding the fact that very few of the people understand Malay, it seems that the problem will have to be solved through that language and the help of inter- preters.

One blessed feature about the work is that many of the people seem to be hungry for the gospel, This hun'ger is not confined to the Dyaks, but is also evident among the Malay. Very

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shortly after I had arrived here, a young Dyak came to .the mission house and wanted to hear w,hat I had to teach. He became very interested, and I believe the Spirit is doing a work in his heart. He has attended the Government school of Mali- nau and is able to read and write a little, and to speak Malay well. He knows.severa1 languages and I am fully expecting that God will give him to us for a native worker. This is really the permanent solution to this language problem - native workers. Pray earnestly that God will give us many Spirit-filled natives for this harvest field.

Since coming to this field I have experienced something of the resistance which the great archenemy of souls makes when his territory has been entered and his so-called rights are called in question. Every season of prayer means a wrestle, every effort to make Christ known brings a consciousness of the reality of the conflict. For many long centuries these people have been under the bondage and fear of Satan. The bruits he"has produced 'greatly resemble himself: ignorance, superstition, witchcraft, corruption of mind, filth, disease and suffering - these follow in the pabh of the prince of the power of the air. Only the firm hand of the Dutch keeps the villagers from indulg- ing in the old orgies of headhunting and tribal warfare. .Truly hate is a very part of the being of Satan.. Nevertheless, we feel the Sun of righteousness is about to rise above this dark picture and with healing in His 'beams'.

Many of the so-called Malays of' Sesajap are.of Dyak blood. and although they are supposed to be followers of the falae prophet, they still continue to practice many of the pagan rites of their Dyak forbears. However the word of God is being sold and loaned to them and I feel m r e God is working in their midst and is going to br ingmany to Himself in a very short time. Prayer is the key that will open the reservoirs of His grace and usher in the awakening.

weeks - not merely a matter of hours as in America! Think To travel a hundred miles in the Sesajap '&wolves two or more j

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of one or two men trying to preach the gospel to three hundred villages in the homeland, of having to travel steadily, rain ur shine, for two or three weeks'to reach some of them! Now you get a libtle idea of the task that confronts us over here. If we could preach in five different villages every week f o r a year, we codd,not $ive..every village an opportunity to hear the gospel. - A year bf ceaseless toil and not cover the field! When added t o this ,difficulty we thinbk of the darkness and filth and superstition which bindelthese peopl'e, the task begins to take on the proportion of t h e impossible. You fed you must "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and look full in His wonderful face", and'realiae that the "things which are impossible with men are possible with God". The love of.Christ puts all difficulties in the background, we, press on!

It is true that in, terms of population, this district is not to be tho,ught of in the millions or even hundreds of thousands, but the command of Christ bids us preach the gospel to every tribe and nation, and from, that standpoint the task before us is very great. God estimates, every tribe and kindred of this polyglot island according t o the values of Calvary. Let us t ry to get His viewpoifit, shoulder the responsibility t o pray and help, t h a t 9 e puts upon us,,and thereby, make certain'that the work shall not be hindered nor Christ's coming delayed!

W. E. PRESSWOOD

. , ])For the Son of man I S us a man . . . who. . . gooe auihor- ' i/y lo his scruanls, and lo euci!/ man hi5 work<. llauid J,ioingsio,ie suid /hat a man is immortal until his work is done. This missionary work is lhe greolest work lhe Son 01 man has given us lo do, I]wiigh at times 11 oppeaia to; bc a n impossible ,job, !/el we know i l has been comrnilted to Us as something ihoi is to he done, and because o/ that we g l o y in lhr task, knowing lhal God .l/m[ght!] will if needs hc bring eoery force und powerin heaven and earlh to bcnr upon the cummand lo preach /he gospel lo a l l nutions uniil ihe work is done. , ' ,.. -.. ..... ." .......,,.....,... " ...............................................

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More Tidings f r o m . the Sesijab I / .

The lollowing is an extract from Brother Presswood's note to Brother Post. and a short article from the latter "specially written for the Pioneer" :

"Just a note to sendwith a Malay who is going downstream. I expect to be here until Friday morning, at which time I expect D. V. to go farther up stream. 1, I have had quite a time a t this place, if.ever there was a people bound by the devil. these are. First of all I had difficulty in getting a place to pray. After that was solved the enemy has surely given me some wrestling.

"Many of the DyakS ,are sick with dysentery. Not ha\%% anything to give them, I have been praying,for them and some are showing signs of improvement ...... The headman is quite opposed, as are some others to the message, but I feel there are some hungry hearts here as elsewhere.. . .. . Pray much for me these days.. . .. . I hope yaur money is holding out pretty good ! Now I must close, wishing you God's richest blessing as you stay by the stuff. Sincerely in Him. - 'Ernie' ".

PRESSING ON INTO THE NIGHT !

It was my third day on the river launch. The ride was getting In the first place there were no

accommodations for passengers: furthermore it was crowded, the progress was slow, and the Borneo sun scorched down on the tin roof. Several times 1 asked those on board if we still had fa r - to go, "Not far" was the reply, b u t , a far from satis- fying one to me. When we had almost reached Malin,au there was a "Bang; bang, bang!" in the engine room - a bearing had burned out! There was nothing for me to do but, "let patience have her perfect work". The damage was repaired and at last we reached our destination.

. .monotonous, and no wonder!


Picture to youpself an unimposing little village partly concealed by trees, with only one street $tretching for perhaps a mile along the river hank. Picture this street lined with typi- cally native shacks of bamboo, with here and there a more imposing semi-foreign dwelling or store, and your have a fair idea of our ':home town" in Borneo.

In accordance with the decision of our last conference, we are here "to press on". We are here to begin work in th is new held, to preach Christ t o those who have never as yet heard His name. Many of the Dyaks are dissatisfied with Oheir animistic religion, being conscious of its insufficiency. We believe the time is ripe to proclaim the Message to these anxious and hungry hearts.

Notwithstanding the many ,obstacles such as language diver- sity and difficulty in travel, the Dyaks present a great opportunity and responsibility. First of all it lies with us t o ~ r e a c h every'lamin (longhouse) and give the message of life; and then i t lies with you to hold us up in prayer and material support. These are days of sifting for the church, let us come through the testing ,"all fo r Jesus". WALTER POST

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Poi11 Lenn, missiona, 07 fhe Chinese Foreign hfisionor.y Union, and b giwrip o l o u r $yak friends. Paul would moke a good Dyak.

don'l you lhink?


An AbriJ Christmas Witthout Christ

In the Gift of 'His own dear Son God has 'shown His tender mercy to this poor world. From the wonder of the,birthday of the Son the passing centuries ,have subtracted .noth,ing; He is the same yesterday, and 'today, and forever! His love, His beauty, His power, His glory are'today what they have ever been - unchangeable. In hundreds of languages there has been offered to hid^, year after ' year,' the adoration and praise of countless millions. ' Howfhis~should eause the 'hearts of u s who love His name :to rejoice! Nevertheless it &'pathetic to' think of the many tongues of earth which have never voiced 'an anthem of 'praise to our ,Savior. And such is the sad case of many of the Dyaks 'of Borneo.


A RELIGION WITHOUT CHRIST

This past Kpril I was working among a tribe of Dyaks that had never heard the gospel. During the time of my visit, with them, they had festivities that resembled our Christmas festival, although there was no knowledge or mention of the'birth of Christ. Gifts were exchanged among friends - gifts of varie- ties of rice, food, fruit and meat, and throughout the feast there was a general feeling of goodwill. On one,of the days therewas a special observance, the significance of which I did not learn.. All that were able went in canoes to the, ,distant rice-fields in order to plant a few seeds. as a beginning to the sowing time. The sick and aged were locked indoors an< no one was allawed to loiter about the long-house the entire day. I n the evening the imprisoned were released, and the others called from the-fields by means of the loud beating of the tom-toms. , .

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:That same evening we gathered these Dyaks under"tb? cO@: nut trees in front of the long together on the ground add slow Oue'who had ,come to bk+ng peac I told them of the Christ of Ch return' upon me iq ,contiemhati Christless festival,'. giving gifts 1 enjoying' a,meksure of goodwill. o tufies hearing of the advent of the:. ior of all men! '+all t f iey'go on wi Christless ChristinaseS? ' can,. you DFk-less' place? No; thank God!,. k&ed && tongue shal1,':be those u&n His, throne. '-And that redeem i f ' we faithfully proclaim to them deliverance from their ignorance and sin. May He find'ua faithful'to that blessed trust.

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Sowing beside all waters /I i

While in Singapore, on his way home, Mr. Jaffray purchased an old seven passenger Hudson car'and had it sent to Makassar. He bought it "for a song", so he says! Though a "bad looker" this car still has many miles of life left in it, and although it has a craving for gallons of gas, we are thankful t o have it

\ 'because now we are able to get out in this southwestern part of

It took about a week to get the car in good running order. After that we wasted no time in getting it "going with the gospel''. .,,$I the two weeks that we have used the car we have made three trips and have been able with God's help to Sell 600 gospels and 1625 tracts, and in addition have given away 2000 free tracts (onJohn 3 : 16).

This literature is in the Boegis, Makassar and Malay languages. In our itineraries we have had the real privilege of selling and giving and talking the gospel to those who have nevw heard it before. The people areaurprised to see their own language in print. The majority of them do not read,and &cause of that a little salesmanship must be exercised upon them. We tell them to buy and save the portions, and that when someone who can read visits them the tracts can then be rea'd. This often persuadea them to buy, and we feel quite assured that

. they will hunt up someone who can read the "Good News" to them.

In our trips, when we approach a bamboo hut, we call "tabek"! which is equivalent to our "hello" in English. A head will be thrust out through the bars of the window, and then we either proceed to climb up the ladder into the house, or someone climbs down to us. We hold out a gospel portion and get them to hol,d it ,in their hands. You will then hear a,father or a mother call, and promptly a young lad will arrive on the scene. The parent hands the portion t o the boy who starts to read it.

Celebes with tracts and gospels. \ '

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With ill concealed pride the father wiN tell us that his boy goeS to school and can read - He does not seem ashamed of his own inab2ity however!

A morbi scene in mterior C d a h

With the help of the students from the Bible School it is our plan to literally sow this peninsula with tracts and gospels. We are covering the ground thoroughly and believe that within a year we will have reached every part.

The people are, for the greater part, Mohammedans and it is not always easy to reach them, in .fact there are places ,where we are bitterly opposed. But we stand on the. promise that God's Ward will not return unto Him void. We have already had proof of this: a young lad who received a gospel of Matthew in the Boeginese tongue from Pastor Chue last 'year,' has read it throug'h several times, and when we met him he professed t o truly believe on the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. They that go forth 'sowing' precious seed shall doubtless come again rejoicing bringing ransomed souls with them.

J. ARTHUR MOUW

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9. T h e Place is , too Strait f o r ug JI

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Which brings before us the picture of "every man taking his beam" and joining in the "building bee". It must have been a joyous occasion - i t is pleasant to expand! And who knows how Much may have been contributed by neighbors to, help t h e needy students, other than that "borrowed" ax! Just suppose, for instance, that you, were one of the neighbors living near LO t h a t School of the Prophets: you would naturally come t o take a great,^ interest in the work and in the young 'students, and when you were asked to help out by letting them use your ax you would surely amwer: "Yes, by all means, take and use my ax, and not that only but take my oxen and my cart -and shything else you, need, and if that is not.enough come and tell me and I'll come and.help y,ou myself"! I t might easily have bked, that- the neighbor who received back his "borrowed" ax, henceforth cherished it as one of the treasures of his house, for, you know, it is nut every day that ah ordinary iron ax defies all precedent and naturak, la? and.swims.- actually swims! Speak- ing personally, I would,give a great deal to own an ax like that. And how about you,?', , , ..

. , "This place~is too strait for us"; 'students are coming in from

afar tWenter OUP Bible 'School, and w& have'no place'to house them. Think of a married couple and a single man tkying to live i$ ,a, single, ropmnot "ore than twelve by t,welve! And perhaps worse than that, thidc of other students who d q n o t have a n y place whatsoever, but must rely (or sponge) upon t h e goodness of friends or fellow students. Again think of the many other $udQnts headedt$i,s)v;ly -.the ?yaks, €OF instance ,-.fo; whom no place is prepared, and consider in your own mind v&&thqr, "the place is not too strait for us".

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T H E P I O N E E R 71 . . ~ . ~ ~. .

But lest you be, wearied with over much parabolic speech let us come a t once to the point: W e must have a dormitory building as quickly as possible to house our students. Unfortunately there are very few "beams" with which to build in this country, and so every man will be required to shoulder his "brick". We can put up a suitable building for $1000, -which we will call our '?thousand dollar ax"! 'Who will lend such an. ax , to ,the work of the Lord? Never fear, if you think i twil l be 'sunk~- as'indeed it may - the^ blessed Lord will also cause it to, swim -and your "bread cast upon the waters will return to:yoqafter many days" and that- "thousand dollar- ax" will be worth a thousand blessings to you! . . . ,

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,SPECIAL .PRAYER REQ~ESTS' , ,

Ja f f r i y while he is in 'the homeland;th& his t be blessed and that ' h e ' b y return t o t% ji.&

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,, . ~ . prepared for greater things. .. Pmy 107 tke contemplated entering of Sumatra. , , . Pray for God'.? blessing on -the'work in'Bali.

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, , Pray for the new field in the Sesajjop'District. Pray that support for our students~may be provided. Pray for the much needed dormitory for our students. , . .Pray that, the Dyak- Christian8 Aay ,be strengthened md established. , ,

Pray for,a definite advamce in the'work hnthe'Celebes,Lombok; Soembowa, BaZi and. Borneo.

"Nbw thanks be unto God, which always c0uset%w.~~o &&pa.

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the · the coming of bbothep* oswald j. smith .. just a few more days and reverend oswald j. smith,...

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