God’s grace with the satisfaction, peace and life that it brings, is avail able for the taking. Now, with in creasing numbers of the strangers, whom God commands we should “not vex him . . . [but] love him” (Lev. 19:33,34), coming to dwell among us, we have gone with the burden to the Throne of Grace in prayer. The answer is evident through a new corporation, Mission to the Migrants, whose sole purpose is to meet this challenge with ad ditional full-time workers as the Holy Spirit directs and provides. Poor neighbor on the Jericho Road —robbed, wounded, dying, helpless! He will receive no help from a priest, who only sees his duty to be in the temple at Jerusalem or at Jericho! Likewise there is no aid from an ex cuse-making Levite, who says, “He had no business here. Why didn’t he stay home?” Praise the Lord for a compassionate Samaritan who, when he saw him, went to him and helped him (Luke 10:33, 34)! We have a neighbor! Let us look upon him! Men without Christ are dying wherever they are; they are without hope eternally, no matter why they came. Oh, for more good Samaritans, who, put of concern for their neighbor, will get down in the dust of the highway and apply the shed blood to the poor wounded soul, and with a healing message of hope will help their neighbor to life eternal. Who is my neighbor? Every soul without Christ Jesus as his Saviour is our neighborly responsibility. Some of them are these migrant peo ple, waiting, waiting, for a healing touch. Most of us have overlooked them. If we let them die in their sins, their blood will be upon our souls forevermore.
A Typical Scene in a Pea Harvest Camp in the Imperial Valley.
among them; laugh and cry with them; eat and work with them; play with the children; share their bur dens and in every way possible seek to demonstrate a love for them. Thousands of garments, equipment for their comfort and gifts for chil dren, have been distributed. Many opportunities for service and thereby a means to open hearts and minds for the message of salvation, our fi nal objective, are constantly pre sented. Thus a most fruitful field of service has been created. Personal work has been of special value. Here the possibility has been unlimited and many hundreds have yielded to the Gospel plea. The chil dren, of whom there are great num bers, are our specialty. Not only do they have receptive hearts, but, through their enthusiastic response, our residence in a camp soon be comes a headquarters of activity, at tracting many of their elders to the meetings each night. Soon people begin to respond to our invitation to bring us their questions or burdens, and souls are born into newness of life. How gratifying through the years to see many of these grow strong in the Lord! Some have even gone into part or full-time service for the Lord. We now have working with us one ■ such family, who have been called of the Lord as missionaries to their own people. For this purpose, Mr. A. L. Gardner left a fine position as ranch foreman, and, with his wife and three children, has again taken up residence in a trailer in the camps. They have had many souls for their hire. Likewise others have joined us in this service and so the
Always, as we have gone forth, it has been a problem to decide where we should go—there are so many camps that must be neglected. Our hew Christians, and those on the verge of decision, should be encour aged and dealt with as they travel from camp to camp, but we are limit ed to correspondence with most of them. Our limited efforts are in adequate with so many souls hungry for something they know not what. The world has offered them nothing and they know this well. Hope through such religion, as has been offered them is like a will-o-the-wisp, always just beyond that which one may experience. Yet we know, as we are able to present the Word of Life and the way is made plain, that
work has grown. SEPTEMBER, 1947
A Migrant Mother and Her Children.
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