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was and I signed her up too.” Another Christian man said, “ For over two years I have been a member of the League but did not realize what it meant. I did not realize that it was such an incentive for personal work, and I realize now that it means to carry the Testament everywhere. While hav ing my shoes shined I signed up a sailor, who was sitting next to me, to read and carry the Book. He said that he was a Christian already. The boy shining shoes aske.d about it, and wanted a Testament.” Mr. and Mrs. Eddings in- Margarita Margarita is a small island belonging to the country of Venezuela, South America. The population of 45,000, mostly a mixture of Indian and Span ish, bave been kept ISLAND in ignorance of the OF MARGARITA Word of God by the Roman C a t h o l i c priests who have ecclesiastical rule over them. As a result of visits made during the last fifteen years by the colporteurs of the American Bible Society, there are at the present time few of the inhabi tants who can read who have not at least a portion of God’s Word, and many of them possess the entire Bible. It was our privilege to go to the Isl and in the spring of 1917 as the first resident missionaries and begin the work of preaching and teaching the Word of God. For twelve months we labored without any visible results, and then our hearts were encouraged by our first convert—a woman. Every step into the enemy’s territory was attended by strong opposition and some persecution from the natives, but the Lord gave grace, and thé tracts sent out by Rome against us, the Lord used to bring more people to the meetings. The first signs of a harvest from our seed-sowing were in a small fishing town
called El Tirano, about nine miles from our home. Pedro Mendez was the first to receive the Word arid in August, 1918j opened his house for Gospel meetings. One day he brought to me an old, faded Testament bought by his father— a sailor— in some of his travels. Pedro had read it through when a boy, and now, after so many years, it had borne fruit to the glory of God. He had a little store where he sold sugar, corn, bananas, tobacco and whiskey,Kg mostly the latter— and this was our Gospel Hall, where we held preaching services every week. Soon the Lord be gan to deal with Pedro and he and his wife confessed Jesus Christ -as their Saviour, and he gave up his business. By Christmas of this same year there was not a room in the little town large enough to hold the crowds that came to hear the preaching of God’s Word, and the need of a chapel was manifest. However, the believers were poor and there seemed little possibility , of the chapel, being built, at least for a long time, but one day when we gathered for our usual meeting we were presented with a report from a “ building commit tee” which had been appointed the Sunday before to begin work on the Chapel. One map—-just a babe in Christ— had given over a hundred dol lar’s worth of material, another had given the lot, and so on to those who had nothing else to give except their work. This was in March, 1919, at which time it became necessary for us to leave the Island and return to the States, and we must confess that when we left we were doubtful whether the work would be carried to completion, as there was much opposition from the Romish priests and many discourage ments and difficulties to be overcome. The buildings are made of mud, and it takes lots of water for a building, which water must be brought on burros three miles from the foot of the moun-
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