MALAYAN UNION wov6tcra"

NOTES OF PROGRESS
Vol. 12

No, 1

January and February, 1941

MISSIONARY VOLUNTEER
PROJECTS
By H. W. Jewkes
THE OLD
It's finished. Talking, singing,
and reading about it, planning and
giving for it may be considered a
closed account. Sufficient money
to buy the boat to sail up and
down the Tatau river is in hand.
Soon we will hear the joyful news
that the Sri Iban is carrying representatives of the King with the
message from the golden Book.
Boys and girls, men and women
long neglected will rejoice to see
the messengers. Sick bodies will
regain health again as the medicine, brought along, reaps results.
Darkened minds will brighten as
the light of truth pierces through
the blackness of heathenism.
Shall we rejoice too? Why not!
Every Missionary Volunteer in the
Malayan Union has done his part.
We all have shares in the boat.
It is ours. Let us stop, look, and
listen for reports from the Tatau.
THE NEW
All eyes on the land of the north.
Thailand is calling.
Missionary Volunteers, 1087
strong, we have been given a new
opportunity, a change of vision
from the south to the north, something different, something to accomplish in 1941.
What is it? Yes, a new project.
We have all heard about the new
school that is being built in Ubol,
Thailand. The plan is to open it in
May, this year. Thousands of dollars have been collected and given
for this project. Soon it will be a
reality.
From just a few students, several years ago, the student body
has increased to over 450. They
will be a happy family when school
opens again in May. A new building, tn. e w classrooms, happier
teachers, books, desks and (did I
hear you say everything) no not
quite everything, but almost.
It is planned that science will be
one of the subjects taught, and
I'm sure we all agree that in a
scientific age such a plan is commendable. But try and teach
science without equipment and you
will say that such is not wise. So
we, Volunteers, have been asked by

CHURCH CALENDAR
Mar. 1Home Missionary Day
Mar. 8-15Missionary Volunteer
Week of Prayer
(Thailand May)
Mar. 15Missionary Volunteer
Project Offering
Mar. 29-13th Sabbath Offering
Inter American Division

the Union Committee to take for

our project, this year, the buying of
equipment for the science department of the new mission school in
Ubol, Thailand.
This is our task. Are you ready?
If every Volunteer will give just
twenty cents during the year there
will be sufficient to reach the goal.
Be sc*entific, put in your personal
budget for 1941 a sizeable sum for
the M. V. project. Let us one and
all respond by doing our honest
part.

AN INGATHERING
EXPERIENCE
By Ku Hyuk Min
After greeting Mr. Poong "goodevening" the worker began his
conversation, "I have come to visit
you for two purposes, firstly, to
lend you this good book 'Thoughts
on Daniel,' secondly, to hand you
our report of philanthropic work
our society is doing throughout
the world and particularly in wartorn China. The book has been of
great help to many people and I
know that if you read it in the
right spirit it will do you good.
If you care to help us in the good
work we are doing I would be glad
to have you do so."
Thank-you for your kind visit,
but I will never give your mission
anything," replied Mr. Poong,
"You people condemn us as Babylon and as the people who worship
the Beast and receive his mark"
he continued in an angry tone.
The worker quietly answered "no
man has any right to condemn
except the Lawgiver" and thus
began a war between right and
error that lasted for an hour.
After an armistice Mr. Poong said
that he would not do anything just

then for Harvest Ingathering but

that he would read the book which
the worker had earnestly recommended.
A few weeks later the worker
met Mr. Poong's son who said that
his father had some money ready
for the mission and suggested that
the worker go and collect it. To
one of our church members whom
he had happened to meet, Mr.
Poong said that he had found
"Thoughts on Daniel" a wonderful
book. When the worker finally saw
him he started the conversation
with "here is a small gift of ten
dollars for your mission Mr. Ku
and will you please sell me your
book, "Thoughts on Daniel."
BHUKET MISSION CLINIC
By R. M. Milne
Although there remained a great
many things to be done and much
of the paint was still wet the
Bhuket Mission Clinic held its
formal opening on December, 18.
The Governor and his wife, the
Mayor, all leading Government
Officials and many of the Chinese
Towkays were preseent.
Mr. Tan Chin Hor, who has
promoted the establishment of the
Clinic so heartily, acted as chairman. Both the Governor and the
Mayor, in short addresses told of
the need of such a Clinic and
warmly welcomed Dr. Geschke and
staff to their work.
The general welcome expressed
in words and actions by the public
of Bhuket has been a great encouragement to Dr. and Mrs.
Geschke.
Surely the Lord has led us in
the establishing of this new centre of Medical work.
A NEW SABBATH SCHOOL
By L. I. Bowers
At ten o'clock sharp on the
morning of October 26 a new Sabbath school of 28 members arose
into being at the Sabah Training
School at Telebong, B. N. Borneo.
For a number of years men have
worked hard and prayed long;
committees have given study and
counsel; while others have given
of their means to make possible a
school where our future Dusun
workers can be trained for service.

Page 2

NOTES OF PROGRESS

Brother Siagiaxi, the Mission

Sabbath School secretary took
charge, and as we were singing
the opening song "0 day of rest
and gladness, 0 day of joy and
light....A day of sweet reflections, thou art a day of love," it
brought a train of thoughts with
itthoughts of reflections and I
wished that Brother and Sister
Youngberg might have been there
to share its joy.

January and February, 1941

Penang
Sunbeams
Lightbearers
and Friends

The youngest member was a

babe in arms of less than two
months while the oldest was fortyseven. And thus a new Sabbath
School with great possibilities
was registered in heaven.

Bangkok
Prospective
Sunbeams

COLPORTEUR EXPERIENCES
By C. A. Davidson
"Today well lived makes every
yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every to-morrow a vision of
hope. Look well therefore to this
day! Such is the salutation of the
.dawn."
This is my fifth year in the colporteur work. During my travels
I have come across many souls
who are longing for salvation.
Although the year 1940, was a
severe and trying one, yet I did
much better than in the previous
and search for souls. They have
bright years. The reason was
more privileges than the minister.
that I surrendered myself humbly
They are the only ones who have
for God's work. I did not labour
the chance to go into every nook
for dollars and cents, but prayed
and corner.
earnestly for God to use me to
win souls. I always carry my
The reason why many colporBible and plenty of tracts, and
teurs fail is that they work as
when I fail to get an order, I give
rowboat and sailboat colporteurs.
out tracts.
But if we work as steamboat col"THE GOAL OF ALL GOALS
porteurs, we will always have
IS SOUL WINNING." The
success. We should be steamboat
literature ministry is our medium
colporteurs, going ahead in spite
in saving souls. We need many
of difficulties.
more colporteurs. Brothers and
sisters, enter the colporteur army During my five years I have
interested many souls, given away
many hundreds of tracts, and sent
many missionary letters. More
than 70 persons have shown their
interest in our truth.

Bangkok Mission Clinic Annex

I conversed with a certain

European lady of reputation while
I was in Penang. This lady was
very pleased when I gave her some
tracts and prayed with her. After
prayer to my surprise I noticed
tears of joys flooding her face.
This lady who was in sorrow and
in the darkness of sin found peace
in the Saviour through my help.
She promised to attend our church
in Penang and got very interested
in our Truth. That God will bring
her in the truth one day is my
prayer for her.

Kuala Lumpur
Sunbeams
and Friends

FAITHFULNESS PAYS
By V. L. Kon
One of our members, who is a
professional man, was not faithful
for a number of years. Since he
opened his practice up till the middle part of last year, he hardly
made enough to cover his expenses.
Owing to depression, he wanted
for several times to give up his
business. But somehow, or rather
he didn't do so.
Some six months ago, he caught
a vision that, in order to get Gdd's

New Seminary Master Comrades

January and February, 1941 .

NOTES OF PROGRESS

Page 3

MALAYAN, UNION MISSION YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER, 1940 and 1941
IMPORT OF TITHE AND SABBATH SCHOOL OFFERINGS
Mission
B. N. Borneo
F. I. China
Malay States
Sarawak
Thailand
Totals

TITHE
1939
1940

(All items in Local Currency)

Percentage SABBATH SCHOOL
Gain
of Gain
1939
1940

2,141.32
2,056.70
13,696.07
1,040.02
-2,398.47

2,167.00
25.68
4,895.62 2,838.92
15,211.06 1,514.99
1,519.82 479.80
3,352.82 954.35

1%
13 8%
1 1%
46%
4 0%

608.36
422.61
4,774.76
500.22
914.54

593.10
398.61
5,293.11
690.70
1,066.28

21,332.58

27,146.32 5,813.74

2,7%

7,220.49

8,041.80

blessings. he must be faithful to

the Message. There is a promise
in the Bible that, it we pay a
faithful tithe to God, he will open
the windows of heaven and pour
down His blessing on us that there
shall not be room enough to receive it. Claiming the Lord's
promise, he began to pay his tithe.
he was greatly blessed both materially and spiritually. In the first
four months he was able to make
a net profit of Ts. 650.00.
A high Siamese official came to
call on him one day for treatment.
He had been suffering for some
years. He had called on many
doctors, but they could not cure
him. He had spent a large sum
of money for doctor's fees and
treatments, with no results. Finally he came to our member for
treatment. Without knowing him
to be a high official, our member
only charged Ts. 150.00 In two
weeks' time he was completely
healed. Instead of paying our
member Ts. 150.00, he actually
paid him Ts. 160.00. Besides, he
gave him his picture with his signature and a line written on it for
recommendation. How this high
official came to call on our
member, nobody knows. No doubt
it was Providence. Now, this
member, not only pays a faithful
tithe every month, but closes his
shop every Sabbath. This shows
that the Lord blesses those who
are faithful to Him. In the Bible
we find this promise: "If ye be
willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land."

tian, arriving there at about 3:30

p. m. I started at the government
offices and was surprised by the
warm reception I received. Within about fifteen minutes I secured
five orders. Before dark I secured two other orders. The following day I continued where I
left off and real surprises awaited
me. Before noon, I had used up
my receipt book and had to phone
for more from Singapore. I visited the government offices at Benut,
Batu Pahat, Muar, Malacca Town,
Segamat and Kluang. At every
one, except Benut, I spent two
days, taking at each place about
thirty orders. I can recall six
different occasions where orders
came in like "hot cakes," taking
four to six orders within a short
time. During the twelve days
that it was my privilege to take
orders, I was able to secure orders
to the value of about $700.00.
The delivery was equally pleasant with the exception of a number of cases where the men were
absent due to compulsory service.
In some towns, I even secured new
orders or sold for cash a few more
than I had orders for. Refusals
were almost neglegible.
At a certain hospital, I had a
collective order for $14.00, made
up of a $5.00 book and three $3.00
ones. When I came to deliver two
of the girls who ordered $3.00
books exchanged theirs for $5.00

Loss or
Gain
15.26L
24.00L
518.35G
190.48G
151.74G

2%L
51/2 L
11%G
38%G
16 1/2 G

821.31G
111/2 G
Leonard F. Bohner, Treasurer

ones and another took a $5.00

book for cash. So, instead of
collecting $14.00 I collected $23.00
from the head-nurse.
I planned to deliver at a certain
town on a certain date. I arrived
there after office hours. I called on
a certain place where I found the
junior clerk, who told me that the
five men who had ordered the books
had gone their several ways, with
some leaving town for the week-end.
He told me, however, that the chief
clerk had sent him to the station
to see each of the three trains of
the day to see if I had arrived.
They were very eager to get their
books. The clerk volunteered to
take the five books to the chief
clerk at his own house. The man
kindly paid for the five books and
the junior c!erk came down to my
hotel to bring me $21.00 for them.
I am deeply thankful to our
heavenly Father for His everpresent guidance all along the
whole period I spent in the field.
In a number of occasions I felt
the direct guidance of God.
At one place I started the morning in a certain police station, securing five orders within less than
an hour. Then I decided to make
my way to the government offices.
I trudged on and saw a certain
Malay gentleman coming from
the opposite direction. I approached him and inquired for the offices.

FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH

OUR NEW MEDICAL BOOK IN
JAWI (Arabic Malay)
By S. N. Siregar
One hour after the sample copy
of this excellent work by Dr.
Miller was off the Press, Pastor
Milne and I secured the first order
from an Arab gentleman who paid
for it the amount of $5.00 in cash.
The following day I went to Pon-

Percentage of
Loss or Gain

Bangkok Mission. Clinic Staff

Page 4

NOTES OF PROGRESS
Published monthly by the Malayan Union Mission of Seventhday Adventists, 399, Upper Serangoon Road, Singapore, S. S.
LEONARD F. BOHNER-EDITOR.

NOTES OF PROGRESS
a few minutes. On returning, I
switched off my light, prepared to
sleep again. Just as I was closing my door, I heard some people
talking in English. I opened the
door and saw two men who had
done much for me during the day.
They told me that they had come
to see me. One man told me that
two more midwives each desired
to have a book, and the other man
wanted one for himself. I told
them that I did not transact business on Saturday. At any rate,
they asked me to bring along three
books when I should make my deliveries about a week later. So
in the middle of the night, after
soundly sleeping for three hours,
and on Sabbath, I was informed
of three new orders!
In conclusion, I want to say that
the Malays in the government offices of Johore are extremely
friendly and affable. Dr. Miller's
book is something that will be of
real service to Malay homes. Every
Malay home needs it. If we can
but point out their need in a brief,
business-like manner, the orders
are taken and the books are delivered without arousing their prejudice. We are thankful that we
have "the right arm of the message" breaking prejudices of the
educated Malays. With the favourable comments of the "Warta
Malaya" and a highly British
qualified Malay doctor in Johore
Bahru, I believe this book will
find a ready sale and will serve
as an entering wedge to the thousands of Malays in Malaya.

He kindly pointed out the road.

I felt impressed to speak to him
about my work. He told me that
he would not be in his office for
some time, but assured me that
there would be some interest for
me there. I felt moved to skip
the first office and so started on
the second. I secured an order
from the first man, from the second and so on, leaving the first
office for the afternoon. In the
afternoon I decided to see the
gentleman that I met in the morning, and when I arrived, I found
a real welcome. "Here's the
gentleman I spoke to you about"
he said to his clerks. After
briefly explaining the book, I secured one order after another, getting in all five orders. Following
the road, I came to an office that
I did not know existed. It was
near the offices I had canvassed
in the morning, and, in less than
an hour, secured orders to the
value of $19.00. I was thankful
that God led me to meet that man.
When I came to the office that I
left untouched in the morning, I
came to the first man, the chief
in the office, and he was as cold
as ice. I then understood why I
was led to the second office to begin the day.
NEWS NOTES
Another experience that imMiss Ruth Munroe, until repressed me was just as I was going the same town. I arrived at cently Superintendent of Nurses
the station in time for the train at the Tokyo Sanitarium and for
to move. I had to wait another the last two months connected
three hours for the next train. I with the Manila Sanitarium, has
took it as God's will for me to arrived in Singapore on her way
wait. I went to canvass, and se- to the Bangkok Mission Clinic.
cured _four more orders, the last
of which gave me $5.00 cash.
A son was recently born to Mr.
I did not see God's hand in it & Mrs. B. L. Tamboenan of the
till I reached my destination. I Seminary staff.
found out on arrival that I had
only three cents in my pocket aside
from the $5.00. I would not even
Professor and Mrs. F. R.
have had enough for rickshaw to
to take me to a hotel if I had not Millard have arrived in Singapore.
been late a few minutes that morn- Professor Millard who has been
connected with our work in the
ing.
Philippines and Japan will shortly
At Kluang, I declined the kind take charge of the Seminary. For
invitation of Brother Wan, our some years he was Principal of
mission worker there, to stay with both the Boy's school and the
him, and I lodged in a hotel. That Girl's school in Japan.
Sabbath evening, before retiring
at about 9:00 o'clock, I was reading Isaiah 12 and 13. About midProfessor and Mrs. G. H.
night I was unable to sleep, and
I got up, and went down-stairs for Minchin and family will be leaving

January and February, 1941

for furlough early in May. It is
planned for Professor Minchin to
make several trips in the interests
of the Educational Department
before he sails.
A son was recently born to Mr.
& Mrs. Tan Chin Khin of the
Seminary staff.
Pastors R. M. Milne and Tan
Kia Ou are in Bhuket visiting the
public in the interests of the new
Bhuket Mission Clinic.
The Malay States Mission is
planning a real Chinese evangelistic effort for the city of Kluang.
Several of our leading workers
will be engaged in this new endeavour.
The Nerness family has returned to Kuala Lumpur and the
Jewkes family to Singapore.

The Editor regrets to have to

record the death of Mr. H. B.
Leicester on the evening of 25th
December, 1940. Many readers of
the "Notes of Progress" will remember Brother Leicester's faithfulness and courage. Coming so
soon after the death of Captain
Frederick Mugg it meant the
Singapore English Church lost
two of its oldest members within
a few weeks.
Brother Chin Kong Tai is having good success with the "Sentinel."
Two Seminary students recently
left Singapore for work at outstations, Mangara Hoetabarat for
North Borneo and Pian Tamboenan for Sarawak.
It is of course most fitting and
proper to read the Bible and other
good literature. However, there
is a place for everything and quite
possibly during Divine Service it
would be well to refrain from
reading even the Bible except as
we follow the texts given in the
sermon. Sister White has given
very explicit instruction regarding
our attitude during Church
Services. In one place she states:
"When the word is spoken, you
should remember, brethren, that
you are listening to the voice of
God through His delegated servant. Listen attentively. . . .
You may lose the very words that
you need most."