July, 1935
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
246
7 c _Aroundthe WORLD
withthe GOSPEL
B y OSCAR S. ZIMMERMANN Berkeley, California
saw more o f God’s manifold blessing in answer to prayer. W e had to choose among November 3, 10, and 17 as sailing dates from San Francisco, and wisdom and guidance were required. Does it make any difference which o f three dates one selects for one’s . departure on a trip o f six and a half
O N board ship,: noting the mileage covered each day is one of the pleasant pastimes. T h e “ P r e s id en t Pierce,” a steamer o f the Dollar Line, on which a world-girdling voyage was begun, was due to arrive in Honolulu on a Thursday morning at six o ’clock, and was to sail the same day at 6 p . m . Our good ship made better than the necessary mileage, and it was soon evi dent that we would reach the Islands earlier than the scheduled time; in fact, we arrived on Wednesday at 3 p . m . The splendor of Hawaii before us, song and flowers at the dock, and the prayer meeting at Kakaako Mission Wednes day night! W e knew that the speed test was necessary for United States mail contracts, but God allowed us to be on that vessel in order to let us go to that
months? We were led to sail on No vember 17, and on our way to the Or ient we learned the reason for this decision. It is unusual to find many missiqnaries crossing the Pacific so late in the season, but our ship carried a goodly number o f these workers. Among them was a man and his wife whom God wanted me to meet. The Lord had impressed this man upon me by having him call at my office in San Francisco the day before the ship sailed. Why? It developed that these two friends, Mr. and Mrs. J. V . Dawes, had been in China for some thirty years, knew conditions in North China and Manchuria, knew o f the needs in several ports, and knew men who could be used. A fund for literature having been provided before our sailing, the
Oscar S. Zimmermann
result of our contact with these missionaries on board ship was that arrangements were made for the opening o f gos pel work among seamen in four ports in China, one in Manchuria, and another in Korea— six in all. And all the preliminaries were cared for before the boat landed us in Kobe, Japan. Revival fires were burning in North China, believers were eager to go out as witnesses, many young men were ready to serve the Lord. One real lack was the desired lit erature, and here was the representative o f the Immanuel Mission to Seamen with abundant supplies, looking for co workers irt these needy ports! God brought us together on board ship, and used us to establish this new work. On the vessel, prayer meetings were held daily, and leisure hours were devoted to missionary planning, with special conferences on missions in the ports. Mr. Y . Ohba received us at the dock in Yokohama, and there we inspected the gospel work carried on along a twenty-five mile front of Yokohama Bay, from Yokohama to Tokio, by this faithful worker o f ours and four part- time helpers. Kobe was the next port, with near-by Osaka, in both of which we have full-time workers. From the former har-
prayer meeting. W e rejoiced to see again Mr. and Mrs. Guernsey Brown and Mr. and Mrs. William Oyer, and to get a glimpse of their labors as these former Bible Institute students minister in that needy field to nationals of many lands. W e enjoyed sweet fellowship with others from our vessel who came to the Mission with us, and as a result of that prayer meeting some 50,000 pieces of literature were provided for that field, our harbor work enlarged, prayer answered, and the consciousness granted that God would bless the entire trip. Thousands o f men and women were and are being reached in that field alone. W hen the L ord P lans the S ailing D ate On the journey from Hawaii to Japan and Korea, we [As founder and General Director of the Immanuel Mission to Seamen, Mr. Zimmermann, a graduate of the Bible Institute o f Los Angeles in the class o f 1913, has seen many tokens o f the Lord’s favor and direction in his endeavor to reach the shifting maritime population with the gospel o f lesus Christ. The work o f the Mission is carried on on board the ships; no mission halls are maintained on shore. Last year Mr. Zimmermann made a six- months’ tour ground the world., seeking openings fo r witness in many new ports. "On the whole trip around the world," Mr. Zim mermann declares, “ The Dollar Line vessels arrived on the minute scheduled, displaying an accuracy in planning which is one o f the marvels o f modern navigation.’’^- E ditor .]
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