OUR BIBLE INSTITUTE IN HUNAN PROVINCE, CHINA DR. FRANK A. KELLER, Superintendent ...........................................................................
were trying to buy. To our dismay we discovered that the rice fields of three other owners were all mixed up with those of Mr. Liu, the owner of the fields we were trying to purchase. This con fusion did not affect the value of the fields for raising rice, but it did make them useless for building purposes un less we could secure the rice fields of those other three owners. God That Doeth Wonders A number of Mr. Liu’s little rice fields lay beyond the stream and would be of no use to us, but they were a little larger than the fields that were mixed in with Mr. Liu’s fields on the west of the stream, and fully as valuable to the other owners, but the question was, when they learned that we needed their fields on the west of the stream would they be willing to exchange them for those on the east? On further Investi gation we learned that two of the own ers were public institutions, one a tern-, pie, the other a government school, and a number of experienced Chinese friends assured us that it would not be possible to negotiate an exchange. Would the directors of a heathen temple help to make it possible for a Bible school to erect buildings at Nanyoh to be used to propagate a religion that would destroy their trade? It seemed hopeless! It was hopeless, apart from God, but our God is “ A God that doeth wonders.” “ A God who worketh won ders for those who wait for Him.” In every Chinese city, town or village there is a body of men called “ The Gen try.” They correspond to our aider- men, or village board of trustees, and have great power in the community; many of the public affairs are managed by them direct, and in the larger af fairs that come under the personal di rection of the head official these gentry comprise a kind of advisory board. In cases of emergency caused by the sud den death or summary dismissal of the head official, the gentry take full charge of the local government until the new official arrives. Influential Men Won Over When we first went to Nanyoh the gentry opposed us bitterly and sue-
“ A GOD WHO WORKETH FOR HIM THAT WAITETH FOR HIM.”— Is. 64:4. I JIMIM1!! HAT a sublime and glorious aw Wfl fact it is that God really does BLTAjnB work for those who wait for nffliCTftM Him. Over and over He proves riVMNA lt t0 Hls children. Waiting on God, and waiting for God should al ways go hand id hand. Today I want to write to you of some of the wonderful ways in which God has been working for us out here in Hunan. How truly the Psalmist wrote: “ Thou art the God that doest wonders: Thou hast made known Thy strength among the peoples.” Ps. 77:14. Year by year as the work has grown at Nanyoh, the so-called “ Sacred Moun tain,” we have been praying for a suit able site on which to erect buildings for our Bible conferences. At last a site was found that seemed ideal. A wooded mountain background' that afforded shade, protection and quiet retreats for prayer and meditation;^a foreground of rice fields forming p large level plain of just the right size for the buildings needed; the front bounded by a lovely stream of sparkling water flowing from a mountain spring, and just beyond the stream one of the four main roads by which the hundreds of thousands of pil grims come to Nanyoh. Last, but by no means least, we learned that the owner desired to sell, and so the long, weari some negotiations were begun and con ducted by our middleman while we kept out of sight. All went well, the negotiations were nearly completed and the deed was about to be written, when, as a final precaution, we sent a trusty man to make a careful survey and map of the property to make very sure that it was suitable in every way. Have you seen pictures of rice fields in China? They look something like an old-fashioned patchwork quilt with large patches of varying shapes. Imagine this quilt be longing to a number of different owners and each owner’s patches not grouped together, but scattered about in hope less confusion, and you will have a fair mental picture of the building site we
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