Vol. I � APRIL 1929 � NUMBER 1 FORWARD IN UNITY G REETINGS from the Division family located at the headquarters in Berne to all who read these lines and through you to all our dear people scattered throughout the length and the breadth of our far-flung Division. To all we say, Be of good cheer. The1/4 task committed to us is big and the trials and perplexities may be many, but let us dwell within the borders of our field. The accom- plishment of this task calls for heroic united action. In an army success depends largely upon unity of action. A small well ordered army, where the sol- diers all move forward in unison, may easily over- come • an army many times its size which lacks har- mony and order. If unity is so essential to success From left to right,standing : W. B. Beach, A. G. Both, G. L. Lippoas, A. Mucink, B. Gerber, A. J. Girou, S. Dernetreseu, M. Raspal, 0. Meyer, V. Monnier, R. 131iler, P. A. De Forest; M. D., H. Muller, M'. D. ; sitting : J. Rey, D. N. Wall, F. Charpiot, L. L. Caviness, A. V. Olson, T. C. Raft. F. Brennwald, S. Rasmussen, P. P. Paulini. not for one single moment become disheartened. The Lord, whose servants we are, has assured us !hat He will never leave nor forsake us. Let us there- fore be strong and of good courage. To His people in the South European Division God has committed a large and important work. To us He has given the responsability of' carrying His final Message to the more than 180,000,000 people who in an army of the world, it is much more so in the army of the Lord. We can never hope to succeed unless we are working together in perfect love and sweet accord. In the opening, meeting of our first Division Council we covenanted together before God as com- mittee members to stand shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand. We adopted as our motto « Forward 2 � QUARTERLY REVIEW in Unity ». We hope that this same spirit of bro- therly love and Christian unity may be seen in every institution, every conference, every mission and every church in our vast field. Such a spirit filling the heart and controlling the life of every member will be worth far more for the future of our work than an abun- dance of gold. It, will bring power, success and joy both into our individual experiences and into the work. Just before leaving the room where He had eaten the passover supper for the last time with His disci- ples JesuS poured out His soul in earnest prayer to His Father for them and for all who should believe on Him through their word. The great burden of this His last prayer before His death was that they might he one even as He and His Father are one in order that the world might believe that He was the Sent of God. He who so longed back there to see the hearts of His children bound together in love has the same yearning desire for His children today. Shall not we, brethren and sisters, do our part with the help of God to fulfill His desire and prayer for us ? Has not the time come 'for us who profess to believe in the soon coming of our blessed Lord to put away all envy, strife and discord in order that we may arise and unitedly press forward to finish the work. Forward ! is the command of, our divine Leader. Sound the word all along the line. No matter how fierce the battle, let us move forward. This is no time for retreat. Forward then, brethren, forward in unity and soon we shall sweep triumphantly through the gates into the city of God. A. V. OLSON. The Winter Council of the, South European' Division Gland, Switzerland, January 22-30 T HE first full committee meeting of the newly created South European Division took place at Gland, Switzerland, January 22-30, 1929. It was immediately preceded by a final meeting of the committee of the old Latin Union. The territory of this union has now been reorganized. France and Belgium together form the Franco-Belgian Union French Switzerland has' joined Crerman Switzerland in the new Swiss Union ; Italy and North Africa have each been reorganized as union missions directly under the: Division., Within the territory of Our Di- vision we therefore now have three union conferen- ces : the Franco-Belgian, the Rumanian, and the Swiss ; four union missions : the Iberian, the Ita- lian, the Jugoslavian, and the North African ; and three local missions : the Mauritius, the Madagascar, and the Cameroon missions. A. V. Olson, the Division president, in his opening remarks struck the keynote of our whole committee meeting in the motto he suggested, « Forward in Unity », which was adopted by a standing vote, and which was followed by a prayer in which we all re- dedicated ourselves to the Lord and to His service for the accomplishment of great things, in our divi- sion under- the blessing of God. i he reports made by each of the union presidents were all interestin.g, but the most striking was that wade by D. N. �all, president of the Rumanian Union. It would seem that we have really come to the ti ale of the outpouring of the latter rain in that field. Here our .people in the past have gone through groat persecution, and they are still, often. in serious d.ari_er. here are six conferences in this Union, 'and in ea..h o! these there are large numbers who, are aire2oly keeping the Sabbath and paying tithe, and wai,ing for baptism: In. the Union as a whole these c ndidates for baptism number between two and three thousand. Everywhere there is a great interest to hear the truth, and when our workers speak, the halls are crowded to their capacity. Brcther Wall told of ;..t.ances where the hall was so crowded that all chairs had to be taken out, and the congregation stood and even crowded the platform, so that the speaker hardly had room ;for gesture's. 1. here is a new g,:vern- ment in Rumania, with greater liberty than ever be- fore. With the blessing of God., the hopes for the fu- ture development of the work in that country are most bright.' A part of our council most appreciated by all was- formed by the Bible studies given as each morning by J. C. Raft, our veteran field secretary. It would make this article too long to recount- all the good things he said, but it seemed that God Himself was speaking to us and giving us just the counsel we needed day by day through the mouth of His servant during the first hour of the morning session through- out our Council. Some of the topics presented were : The Soon Coming of Christ, Plans for a. Larger Inga- thering of Souls, A United Work, Our Privileges and Duties as Leaders, 1 he Spirit of Prophecy; and The Place of Prayer in Our Service. Many important actions were taken at this Council of which we can: mention only a few. This was a great missions council. There is a great task before 'us. Of the 20 mission fields belonging to our division, only 6 have yet been entered by our missionaries. Then too there rests a heavy responsibility upon us as a division to supply workers from our home base not only for the mission fields assigned to us but also for fields in other world divisions where are large colonial territories belonging to -countries within our Division borders. An action was taken looking to- wards supplying Haiti with a .departmental secre- tary. The director of the Haitian mission is, from our field, having gone out, there four years ago. M. Ras- pal, who has been director of our Madagascar Mis- sion, was transferred to Equatorial Africa as super- intendant of that field, where as yet we have only one missionary family, Brother and Sister R. L. Jones, who are ,located about 165 kilometers from Yaounde, the capital of the French Cameroon. M. J. Bureaud, now in Madagascar, was appointed su- perintendent to fill the vacancy made by the transfer of M. Raspal to Equatorial Africa: An action was taken requesting the release of two other families that they might be placed under mission appoint- ment, one to Madagascar and the other to the Ca- meroon. An action had- been taken previous to the Council, appointing A. J. Giroti superintendent of the Mauritius Mission. During the Council an action was taken transferring R. T. E. Colthurst to the North African Mission. A. Bard was appointed Field QUARTERLY REVIEW Missionary Secretary for that Union. The Swiss Union was asked to release a young man for work in North Africa. Spanish Morocco, Tangiers and the international zone were added to the territory of the North African Union. Thus this union mission now stretches from the borders of Egypt on the east to the shores of the Atlantic on the west, and from the Mediterranean Sea on the north far south across the great Sahara to the borders of French West Africa. The European home base was not forgotten. Plans were laid for the various annual meetings and for departmental institutes and conventions. Perhaps our readers would be interested to see these put together in a tabular form : Annual meetings Belgian Conference, April 2-7 German Swiss Conference, April 16-21 North African Union Mission, May 1-26 Iberian Union Mission, May 8-26 Banat Conference, June 12-17 Transylvanian Conference, June 18-23 Italian ,Union Mission, June 19-23 Rumanian Workers Meeting, June 18—July 8' East France Conference, July 23-28 North France Conference, July 30—August 4 South France Conference, August 6-11 Leman Conference, August 13-18 East Muntenian Conference, Sept. 5-8 West Muntenian Conference, Sept. 12-15 South Moldavian Conference, Sept. 19-22 North Moldavian Conference, Sept. 26-29 Winter Council of the Division, November 26--De- cember 3. Publishing Institutes and Conventions Institute, Italian Union, March 26-30 Institute at Collonges, April 3-7 Bookmen's Convention, Melon, April 8-13 Bookmen's Convention, Bucharest, April 18-23 InStitutes, Iberian Union, May ,20—June Institutes, Jugoslavian Union Mission, June 22— July 5 Institutes, Franco-Belgian Union, July 23—Aug. 11 Institutes, Rumanian Union, September 10-29 Joint Home Missionary and Sabbath School Conven- tions Franco-Belgian and Swiss Unions, Paris, June 5-11 Italian Union, Florence, June 17-19 Rumanian Union, June 26—July 2 Jugoslavian, Union, July 5-13 Plans were also made for manning the home base with workers and fcr carrying forward a more agres- sive work. A worker is to be located in Italian- speaking Switzerland, France receives back the three French departments that 'have been a part of the Leman Conference, A request was made to the Ge- neral Conference to supply a superintendent for the Portuguese Mission, and the Central European Di- vision was asked to supply another worker for Por- tugal..A request has been made to the General Con- ference for a man to act as colporteur leader for the Iberian Union Mission to take place of B. B. Aldrich who is having to return to America on ac- count of his health and that of his wife. A further request has been placed for a Spanish-speaking evan- gelist. Other actions were taken which have to be first worked out by •the respective Union and local conference committees. In closing this necessarily very brief statement of some of the principal actions taken at this important Council, I will give a list of the special days as fixed for 1929 : Missionary Volunteer Week, March 30—April Big Week, May 4-11 Self-Denial Offering, -June, 8 Educational Day, August '10 Sabbath School Rally Day, November 16 Week of Prayer, December 14-21 Let us all pray that the year 1929 may be the very best year we have ever experienced in the territory of the South European Division. 4 � A. V. OLSON. L. L. CAVINESS. OUR FIELD I N our 'European home base we have more than two million square kilometers with almost 160 million people living within this territory. France forms just a little over one fourth of this home base both in area and population .This immense area of over a half million square kilometers is now orga- nized in three local conferences, the North France Conference, the East France Conference, and the South France Conference. These three conferences together with the Belgian Conference form the Franco- Belgian Union Conference. Among the 49 million persons living within the territory of this union conference there were at the end of 1928 1,620 Ad- ventists. The dire need in this which should 'become a strong home base from which we can .send out mis- sionaries to 'all French colonies throughout the world, can be seen by a little comparison. The Inter•- American Division with fewer people living within its borders has almost thirteen thousand baptized mem- bers. When wil we .have thirteen thousand Adventists in the Franco-Belgian Union ? Spain and Portugal together have about the area of France and Belgium, but the population is less, being only about 28 million, The Iberian Union is composed of three mission fields, the Portuguese Mission, the West Spanish ,Mission, and the East Spanish Mis- sion. In this union mission we had at the end of 1928 only 495 baptized members, A little comparison will show the need of this field. In the South American can Division, with a population of a little over twice that of this union mission, we have over 19 thousand Adventists. God hasten the day when we may have eight thousand in the Iberian Union ! Though the area of Italy is a little less than that of France, its population is• more. In this field which has been organized as a union mission there live 44 million persons, all of whom must hear the, mes- sage of Jesus' return. As yet we have only 420 bap- tized members in Italy. Shall we not earnestly pray for God's blessing on the labors of the few who are engaged in taking the Message to these millions who are still in darkness. From left to right • F. Charpiot, L. L. Caviness. A. • F. Brennwald, S. Rasmussen V. Olson, J. C. Raft QUARTERLY REVIEW The prevailing religion of the people living within the borders of these three unions is the Roman Ca- tholic. Passing to the east we come to two countries where the prevailing religion is the Greek Catholic. I refer to Jugoslavia and Rumania. Each of these countries is organized as a union. Taken together they have just about the area of France, with a total population a little larger than that of Spain and Portugal. In Rumania's population of 18 million we had at the beginning of this year 8,291 baptized mem- bers ; but God is doing wonderful things in Ruma- nia, where there are between two and three thou- sand under instruction whom our workers hope to baptize during 1929. In Jugoslavia's population of 13 million we have 1,400 menibers. Here, too God is richly blessing, and hundreds are coming to the know- ledge of this truth each year. Our survey of the home base closes with Switzer- land, the only European country in our Division, that is prevalently Protestant. Even here about a third of the people are Roman Catholic. In this little moun- tainous country of about 40,000 kilometers live four million inhabitants. Switzerland was the first Euro- pean country to which our missionaries brought the Message in 1874. Our members in this country num- ber now just a little over two thousand. It was cer- tainly the providence of God that lead our workers to this field. Here is located our Division headquar- ters, and the Swiss Union is the only one in our whole Division that is wholly self-supporting. We thus have begun the year 1929 with.a consti- tuency of 14,288 in our European home base. This is a small number to face the task of bringing this Message not only to the 160 millions who live in our European territory but to train workers for the other millions who live in the ' mission territory assigned to this division and in the colonies of countries of our Division which have been assigned for admi- nistration to other divisions. But we serve the God of Gideon. Crossing the Mediterranean we come to North Africa. Here we find an immense territory more than tw i ce the size of our whole European home base. This has been organized into one union, the North African Union Mission. It includes Tripolitania, Cy- renaika,, 'Tunis, Algeria, French Morocco, Spanish Morocco, Tangiers and the international zone. As yet we have workers only in Algeria, French Mo- rocco, and Tunis ; and our total membership in a population of over 14 millions is at the beginning of this year only, 113. The prevailing religion of this field is Mohammedanism. It is a hard field, and we should remember the workers of the North African Union in our prayers. In the Atlantic Ocean there are a number of island groups where we have as yet no established work. I refer to the Azores, the Madeira, the Canary, and the Cape Verde Islands. In these four groups live more than a million people who also must have the Message. Coming to French West Africa we find Mauritania and Senegal with an area greater than that of France with a combined population of almost two million where no one has yet gone with this Message. How long shall they still wait ? Our next stop in this mission sur- vey is French Equatorial Africa. Here in the French Cameroon, the French Congo, and Spanish Guinea are over. four million who must be warned. As yet among all these millions we have, only one missionary family, R. L. Jones and wife and child. They have been out there only about a year. Though their own dwelling had not yet been finished, they have conduc- ted a school of one hundred and twenty-five students in- six classes with three teachers, all crowded toge- ther into a small, one-room building. From time to time different chiefs have come in, asking for schools in their districts. Missionary Jones plans td send out at least two teachers into the bush to open up primary schools. In March M. Raspal and wife sailed from Marseilles for this field. Brother Raspal, an experienced missionary, who has worked both in Mauritius and Madagascar, goes out to Frendh Equatorial Africa to take the super- intendency. We trust that before the year is over another missionary familiy may also be on their way to this needy field. Passing around the Cape of Good Hope, we come to Madagascar. This island with the adjacent islands of Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodriguez, and the two groups of Seychelles and Comoro, should eventually grow into a strong union mission. The population of Madagascar and these adjacent islands is about four and a half million: As yet we have done no- thing in Reunion or in the Seychelles and Comoro groups. According to our latest reports, we had 201 baptized members in Mauritius and Rodriguez, and 42 in Madagascar ; but there were more than seven hundred members in the Sabbath schools in Mauri- tius, and about four hundred in Madagascar. The work in Madagascar is especially promising and with God's blessing we can look for a rapid growth in that field. We have in our mission fields outside of Europe a population equal to three times the entire popu- lation of the Australasian Division ; but whereas there are eleven thousand Adventists within the QUARTERLY REVIEW � 5 borders of that division we have less than four hun- dred. b'aptized Members in these mission fields. Is that not a challenge to us to work, and pray, and give as never before ? � L. Li CAVINESS. An Army of Young People in our Division T HROUGH the Scriptures as well as through the Spirit of Prophecy much valuable instruction has been given regarding the responsibility of the church for its children and young people. As a deno- mination we have endeavoured to profit by this divine counsel. The work for and among our youth has been organized throughout the entire world, bringing bles- sings in its train. In Gospel Workers we are told that e youthful ta- lent, well organized is needed in our churches », p. 211. We realize to some extent the importance of this need, as we look, upon all the fields comprising the South European Division where we at present have 3200 young people enrolled in our Missionary Volunteer Societies, doing valiant service both in and outside the Church. This army of youth which is already organized constitutes e most valuable asset in our Division, an asset which must and will greatly increase in the years to come. We are persuaded that with the co- operative spirit which is manifesting itself every- where throughout our large and interesting field, we shall be able to report at least 4000 young people as members of our Missionary Volunteer Societies by the end of the present year. One of the greatest needs in all lines and depart- ments of our work, besides the power of the Holy Spirit giving life and strength to e'Veryone in his place, is the need of sanctified leadership. The solving of youth's questions and problems lies in a large degree in the question of leadership given the young people . Wherever that problem is solved as far as conditions and human ability, willingness and con- secration is concerned, we see our work for the youth grow healthy and strong. Young people are willing to follow the right kind of leadership. If we « feed the lambs », they will follow the shepherd. « A happy acquaintance with the youth » constitutes another helpful suggestion given us fn Gospel Workers. And we might add, besides a happy acquaintance, also a genuine love for, and a properly and timely placed confidence in the youth. Let us remember to have « a corner in every sermon » for them. In a recent Youth's Exposition held in one of the European capitals in the summer of 1927, was found a large and attractive poster on which was written : « 11,000 Roman Catholic priests give of their free time and strength to the youth., The church has in (name of country given) 1,400,000 young members: The church and its priests build youth's homes, secure positions for young men and women, open institu- tions to them, give financial assistance and support to the youth, help them in their homes — therefore the loyalty of the masses of Catholic ,youth to the church. D We firmly believe that our ministry is as interested in our youth, as the Catholic church is interested in those they claim as theirs. In jfact our burden for the children and young people growing up in our homes and coming to our churches should be man- ifold greater than that manifested by any other religious body in the youth generally, due to the particular counsel given us on this matter, and the specific message we are privileged and duty-bound to give to the world. Young people possess so many qualities needed in the work of God. First of all they possess the great gift of youth itself ; they have power, energy and enthousiasm, they have courage, vision and ambition, they are ready to decide and act without much ur- ging, they have faith and confidence, and further, they possess a willingness to serve and to sacrifice wherever God might call. One of the great and supreme aims of our young people's work in the South European Division shall be to see an army of more efficient, more earnest, more thorough, more studious, more spiritual, more powerful and more victorious youth grow up. To this end we shall give of our whole-hearted strength, and we feel certain that we may-count on every possible assistance for its realization from our co-labourers and comrades in service throughout the Division. What we want to put into the life and develop- ment of our work, we must put into the youth. Any ideal or principles which we desire to see dominate our denominational life must lay strong hold not only on our own hearts and minds, but on the hearts and minds of the rising generation as well, because tomorrow they will became leaders of res- ponsibility. It is wise strategy, therefore, to con- centrate some of our best thoughts and the most efficient leadership on this most plastic and poten- tial period of life : YOUTH. Then let it be remenbered that « many a lad of today, growing up as did Daniel in his Judean home, studying God's word and His works, and learning the lesson of faithful service, will yet stand in legislative assemblies, in halls of justice, or in royal courts, as a witness for the King of kings ». Educa- tion, p. 262. We are most hopeful ana greatly encouraged as we look into the very near future and think of the possibilities wrapped up in our army of youth in the South European Division. We believe they will play a very important part in bringing the message into some of the virgin soil of which we are privi- leged to possess no small amount, and to help in spreading it further in soil where it has already been sown for years. STEEN RASMUSSEN. 6 � QUARTERLY REVIEW SOUTH EUROPEAN DIVISION Sabbath School Work (Number of Sabbath School members and donations in dollars) 1926 � 1927 1928 Franco-Belgian Union 1,354 $ 3,319.26 1,414 $ 4,381.80 1,396 $ 4,639.77 Rumanian Union � 8,506 '6,021.66 9,238 8,828.34 11,178 9,565.66 Swiss Union � 1,542 8,944.61 1,612 8,745.67 1,792 9,365 60 Iberian Union Mission � 370 1,403.41 401 1,898.43 453 1,878.83 Italian Union Mission � - 303 506.65 377 795.33 459 865.28 Jugoslavian Union Mission 1,093 693.30 1,364 978.96 1,728 1,406.46 North African Union Mission 125* . � 189.55 136 296.04 126 297.78 Madagascar Mission � 15 19.66 232 115.51 391 95.50 Mauritius Mission � 687 734.52 718 545.12 , 729 573.90 13,995 $ 21,832.62 15,492 $ 26,585.20 18,252 $ 28,688.78 Our Sabbath Schools O UR whole movement rests upon Bible study. It was by faithful and earnest Bible study that our pioneers learned the teachings of God's word on the'second advent of Christ, the keep- ing of the Sabbath, and all the other doctrines that have made us a distinct people and have given us a definite Message to bring to the world in this generation. � - It is still by systematic Bible study that our indi- vidual members are established in the most holy faith and given a knowledge of God's will so that they are prepared to give to every man the reason for the faith that is in them. The main purpose of the Sabbath school is to pro- vide each member the opportunity for this systematic study of the word of God. In this school there is a place for every one from the youngest child to the oldest grandmother. One of our great objectives in the Sabbath school work is to enrol as many pupils as possible in order that the largest number of per- sons may receive the benefits of this study. God has greatly blessed the labors of the many Sabbath school workers throughout the old Euro- pean Division so that the Sabbath school membership which was 80,121 at the end of 1924 had increased to 109,228 at the close of 1928. In that part of the territory now included in the South European Divi- sion there has also been a good increase year by year. The Sabbath school membership was 13,995 in 1926, 15,492 in 1927, and 18,252 in 1928. With God's blessing we should easily reach a Sabbath school membership of 20,000 in our territory before the end of this year. Another important—part of the Sabbath school work is the support given to foreign missions by the funds collected in the Sabbath school. Here too God has blessed in the old European Division, so that our total Sabbath school offerings reached over $5Q.000 a quarter. Our church membership in Southern Eu- rope is as yet small and our members are, many of them, very poor, but the Sabbath school offerings show good increase year by year. These offerings amounted to $21,832.62 in 1926, $26,585.20 in 1927, and $28,688.78 in 1928. God's blessing on the libe- rality of our members should make it possible to reach a total of at least $20,000 in the Sabbath school offerings in 1929. If our Sabbath schools raise this amount, it will more than cover the amount voted in our 1929 budget for all our mission fields outside of Europe. Shall we not try to do this ? For purpose of comparison our readers may be interested in the accompanying table showing the Sabbath school membership and the total Sabbath school offerings fOr the various parts of our field according to the new organization for the years of 1926, 1927 and 1928: We invite a careful study of these figures which show how God has blessed, this branch of His work. � L. LA6 CxviNEss. With our Colporteurs A S we take up our work as a new Division a short survey of the work done by our faith- ful colporteurs will be of interest. For this purpose we are pleased to enclose in this first issue of our Division organ a brief comparative report of the number of our colporteurs and their sales during the past three years. Our hearts are made glad to notice that there has been a nice increase each year. All the unions showed a gain in 1928 with the exception of one union mission. .Some like Rumania have done exceptionally well. The' 1, ranco- Belgian Union has about doubled its sales in Lac space of two years. The number of colporteurs has already slightly increased, evidently not in propor- tion to the sales. This is an indication of a greater efficiency on the part of our loyal army of -workers, who are carrying the 'precious seed from house to house. We feel thankful and are greatly encouraged when we look at these many evidences of the Lord's blessing. Taking a look at the large home and mission fields comprised in the borders of the South European Di- vision with its teeming millions, very few of which have ever heard the warning message, we feel a tremendous responsibility resting upon us. How can we ever answer the call of the hour ? Thank God for the wonderful agency of the prin- ted page and the mighty part it is playing in giving «• wings to the truth, to speed it to every nation, and tongue, and people a in our Division. The Spirit of the Lord is preparing the way be- fore our dear colporteurs and leading them to ho- nest souls who are thirsting. Otter the truth. In a Rumanian city a colporteur found a widow eager to take the books as soon as she saw them. « I was waiting for you », she said. For three consecutive nights she had seen in dream the very books the colporteur was bringing. Another lady had decided to fast several days and was praying 'the Lord to shavi her the Way of Truth. On the last day of her SOUTH. EUROPEAN QUARTERLY REVIEW Organ of the South European Division of Seventh-Day Adventisti published every quarter by LES SIGNES DES TEMPS Dammarie-les-Lys (S-&-M.), France Subscription prices : France � Other countries � 4 frs. 6 frs. QUARTERLY REVIEW field. Should you prefer to write ,your article in your own mother tongue,, feel entirely free- to do sn ; we will see that it is translated. On the other hand let the editors of our church papers in the various languages of our field feel free to take any article in this division paper, translate the same, and publish it in their respective papers. Thus we can cooperate together to inform our dear people every- where of what God is doing for us. in the various parts of our difficult but very interesting division. g: Address of Editor (to whom all manuscripts should be sent) : Iiiiheweg 17, Berne, Switzerland. Brother and Sister M. Raspal sailed from Marseilles March • 2 for French Equatorial Africa, where Bro- ther Raspal is to take the superintendency of the field. It is about a three weeks' trip from Marseilles to Douala, in the French Cameroon, where these mis- sionaries landed and then took the railroad to Yaounde, the capital city. Our station, where Brother and Sis- ter R. L. Jones have now been working for more than a year, is on the automobile road from Yaounde to Bangui at a point about 165 kilometers northeast of Yaounde. While his house was being built, Bro- ther Jones has had to live with his family in a native hut. He has conducted a school for one hundred and twenty pupils in six classes with / the aid of three native teachers. Unfortunately Brother Jones, Sister Jones, and their little child, have all been very sick. God spared their lives, but they are far from well yet. Let us remember them, as well as Brother and Sister Raspal, in our prayers. Brother and Sister E. Benezech are booked to sail from Marseilles May 25. They are going to join the workers in the Madagascar Mission of which Brother M. J. Bureaud has been appointed superintendent. Brother A. � Girou and family will join this same boat at Cairo, having spent a little time in Greece visiting Mrs Girou's relatives in that country. As our readers know, Brother Girou is going out to take the superintendency of the Mauritius Mission. We began the year 1929 with 14,288 church mem- bers in our European home base and 358 baptized members in our mission fields outside of Europe, ma- king a total of 14,616 church members in the whole division. Our division has many different languages, of which the followir g are the principal ones : French, Ger- man, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Fle- mish, and Serbian. None of these languages would' serve all our field, so we are issuing our division organ in English, which most of our leaders and many of our members can read as a second language in addition to their mother tongue. We have decided to give a free subscription this year to all the wor- kers and members who read English in our Division, besides supplying the local and union offices, the schools, publishing houses and other institutions with free copies. We would appreciate any informa- tion that may help us to complete our list of those who should receive the Quarterly. In our next number the statistical report for the first quarter of 1929 will appear. We also hope to have reports from other of our union leaders. We shall also be glad for reports. from our local confe- rence and mission leaders. Kindly consider this a personal invitation to help make our division organ a success, by using it to report the work in your CONTENTS : Forward in Unity, the Division President Report of the Winter Council Our Field, the Division Secretary The Youth in Our Division, Steen Rasmussen Our Sabbath Schools, L. L. Caviness With our Corporteurs, F. Charpiot The Hand of God in Rumania, D. N. Wall (Concluded from page 7.) � • After arriving at Gland, Switzerland, to attend the South European Division Winter Council meetings, I received a letter from Brother Faurescu, President .of the East Muntenian Conference, stating that they had 251 candidates for baptism, who have already been thoroughly instructed in all parts of our faith; and 218 candidates who are still 'in the baptismal classes. Further, that they expect to organize 23 new groups and churches in his field during the current' year, making a total of 2,629 candidates for baptism in four conferences. I shall not give any definite figures concerning, candidates for baptism in the other two conferences, South Moldavia and Banat, but the presidents of those two conferences speak of a mighty awakening in that territory. They are beginning work in new villages, and organiLing new groups and churches. Brother Hermann, President of the Banat Conference, speaks of a village where he rented a hall with a seating capacity of 150. When the time for the meet- ing came, the people began to come and fill the hall until every seat was taken. Still, the people continued to come until finally they began to remove the seats and chairs, 1 he people began to stand. After a while, some even went up upon the rostrum to stand around the preacher until 564 people had crowded into that hall. We • are receiving the "Saffie story from all parts of the Union. Cur people speak of the outpouring of the latter rain. They believe that we are to-day witnessing the fulfilment of the prophecy in Jcel. We see the same thing among the various nationa- lities, and we are expecting still greater things in days to come. D. N. WALL. Le Reclacteur : L. L. CAVINESS Le Gerant : GEORGES HABEREY Imp. Les Signes des Temps, Dammarie-les-Lys (S.-&-M.), France QUARTERLY REVIEW SOUTH. EUROPEAN DIVISION Comparative Report of the Colporteur Work. (Number of colporteurs and Value in dollars) 1926 � 1927 1928 Rumanian Union � 42 9,250.17 46 15,892.78 55 23,488.34 Swiss Union � 37 34,989.05 35 44,240.97 37 45,894.43 Franco-Belgian Union � 30 11,499.60 28 20,966.54 25 21,9i&.38 Jugoslavian Union Mission 46 17,066.69 58 15,009.41 56 17,192.77 Iberian Union Mission � 24 18,451.02 18 14,274.29 14 8,000.26 Italian Union Mission � 16 5,904.18 11 6,905.69 14 8,248.99 North African Union Mission 2 1,293.39 1 1,043.35 2 1,917.92 Mauritius Mission � 1 319.02 2 430.20 2 , � 250.17 South European Division . 198 98,773.12 199 118,763.23 205.-- 126,969.26 fasting a colporteur knocked at her door and was told of her fasting and praying., This lady came rejoicing to the meetings, praising the Lord that He had answered her prayers and sent His messenger to her. Just a little while ago another* colporteur met a saloon keeper and had a long study with him. this man was convinced of the truth and asked the col- porteur what *he should do. He decided without delay to quit smoking, drinking, swearing and using un- clean food. He has given up his old business to enter the colporteur work and is now a most successful house to house worker. In North France a brother who has given up his carpentry business three years ago to join the happy hand of bookmen, does- a fine work with the health paper. 1 here is an interest and meetings are held in two towns as a result of his labors. In another part of France two sisters are doing a faithful work in out-of-the-way places in the coun- try. Last year in a village of their territory the two sons of an isolated member became interested in the message under weir influence. hey have been baptized since and one of them is now a loyal col- perteur. his splendid work is now well organized in every part of our Division, but much more ought to be done. There are wonderful possibilities for growth and unlimited: opportunities for service for a great army, of colporteur evangelists. It is one of .the prin- cipal agencies God is going to use to speed the message to the numerous , antouched parts of our field and to bring hundreds of precious souls 1p the saving light of His great message. With the help of our Great. Leader the years that are just ahead of us are going to witness a mighty development of the Publishing work in the South European Division. F. CHARPIOL The - Hand of God in Rumania O UR people have often heard about the diffi- culties and the persecutions which our workers and lay members in Rumania have had to meet. They have all ' heard about Brother Bauer, President of the West Muntenian Conference, who served a ten months' term of imprisonment. Soon after he came out of; prison, a conference was held in Bucharest in the nlonth of March. When he arose to give his report, he said, that having been in pri- son for this length of time- — which was almost the entire time of his term — he had little to report. He would have to look to the workers to give a report of the work that had been done during the year. Then worker after worker arose to tell of his wonderful experiences in the ingathering of souls. They reported ten churches that had been organized during the year. These churches were re- ceived into the conference.. At that meeting, two new Conferences were organized, so that now we have six conferences in the Rumanian Union, with 275 chur- ches. Brother Bauer reports 825 triends in his Confe- rence who are keeping the Sabbath, and attending our meetings regularly. These friends are all caned- dates fbr baptism, and will be baptized sometime during the current year. At the North Moldavian Confdence, in the month of November, five new churches were received into the sisterhood of churches of that conference. Two months after the annual meeting, I received a letter from Brother Stanescu, President of the North Mol- davian. Conference, slating that since the meeting in Jassy, three new churches had been organized, and that within the next few -weeks six ()thew new chur- ches would be organized. That makes fourteen chur- ches, which have been organized in that Conference within a short time. Brother .Stanescu reports 528 friends who are keeping Lhe Sabbath, and are awai- ting baptism. A few weeks ago, I wrote to Brother Fr. Kessel, President of the Transylvanian Confe- rence, asking him to give me some information with regard to the ingathering of souls in his field. A few days ago, while passing through Cluj, where the conference headquarters are located, Bro,her Kessel came to the station and told me that they had 807 candidates who are ready for baptism. He gave me a written statement concerning the number of groups and churches organized during 1928, and also groups and churches they expect to organize during 1929. District of Preacher Fr. Kessel V. Truppel St. Kelemen NeNcly organized groups in 1928 2 3 7 Probable Groups to be organized in 1929 5 6 9 Candidates for Baptisin in 1929 117 98 121 J. Polder 4 3 45 I. Reit 5 4 130 J. Weber 2 2 70 T. D'obre 3 5 107 P. Corman 2 2 35 B. Iliescu 1- 3 84 Totals 29 39 807 (Concluded on page -8.)