UNSELFISH LABOR REWARDED
we are building on Principle. I have promised to stay here two or three months and help get established; also I have offered my services in the Reading Rooms for that length of time, so there need be no break in the work already started. Tonight we hold our first civilian services and the indications are that we will have a crowd. I know you will rejoice with me over this unfoldment. It has occurred to me that the War Relief work was the bud and the new church the flower. . . . You will be glad to know that our first Sunday morning service was full to overflowing, several people having to sit on the window sill. After the service there were expressions of joy and thankfulness on every side for the new organization. Upon seeing all the chairs occupied and people filling the window sill, I realized that we would have to make different seating arrangements in the future, and you can imagine my joy at being approached after the service by some one whom I had not met before, who told me that he had about twenty-five folding chairs that we were welcome to use. This man proved to be the local undertaker. With our ex-gambling tables, our ‘undertaking’ chairs, and an ex-saloon converted into a church and Reading Room, we feel that we have indeed ‘turned swords into ploughshares.’ ”
Of the work in Deming, New Mexico, a report says:
“The value of the work in Deming and the surrounding country has been marvelous. There had been a small band of students here who had struggled along several years and many who were looking for proofs. As a result of the activities the local congregation is now located in a store building which has been attractively decorated by the Sunday School, at small cost. The congregation bought and paid for the furnishings that were formerly in the Welfare Rooms and is now buying a piano. The attendance has increased noticeably and there has been a great demand for work.”
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