August
officials in the interests of holding in check the so-called
reform, or revision of the present world calendar. We
appreciated Elder Perez sermon, and his presence with
us at this particular meeting.
In a spirit of unity and progress the proceedings of
the conference session were carried on. The days were
filled with Bible studies, preaching, reports of the workers
from the field, and the departmental secretaries; and also
with the reports from the various sub-committees that had
been appointed for the sessions. There were also reports
from the president and the secretary-treasurer of the con-
ference.
During the two-year period just closed, 298 persons
were baptized in West Cuba, thus bringing the member-
ship at the close of 1948 up to 1,770. The book sales for the
last biennial period were very good, totaling $77,000.00.
The colporteurs numbered 31, and surely this is an excellent
record for these faithful workers.
The president reported that there had been held an aver-
age of practically eight major evangelistic efforts per year
during the last biennial period; that the tithe for the same
period reached $93,000.00, and that these figures indicate
a healthy increase over the reports of former years.
‘The Sabbath school work in West Cuba is also going
forward with real progress. In fact, this is true also of
the work of the other departments as well. By comparison
with the church membership it is interesting to observe
that we have 2,091 Sabbath school members in West Cuba,
who are organized into 56 regular Sabbath schools and 34
branch Sabbath schools.
Brother Celestino Roque reported that there are 600
members in the Missionary Volunteer Societies of West
Cuba, 16 church schools, and 19 teachers. The great evan-
gelistic possibilities of these schools are shown by the fact
that there are more students attending the church schools
from non- Adventist homes than otherwise, 346 being from
non-Adventist homes, and 139 from the homes of our
church members.
The spiritual messages which came to us from day to
day were of great encouragement to all in attendance.
Plans were laid for greatly enlarging our activities in
West Cuba during the next two years. Large plans were
laid for entering new territory, and all in all, it was a very
good meeting.
The officers and other personnel elected for the coming
two-year period ate as follows: R. J. Roy, president; Sil-
vio Sales, secretary-treasurer; Celestino Roque, secretary
of the Missionary Volunteer, Educational, and Sabbath
School Departments; R. J Roy, secretary of the Home
Missionary Department; Juan Palau, secretary of the
Publishing Department; and Miss Riener Macias, secretary-
treasurer of the Tract Society. —\W. E. MURRAY
Progress in East Cuba
The East Cuba Conference has as its territory the two
provinces of the Republic of Cuba called Camagiiey and
Oriente. This territory embraces about one-half of the is-
land. Our conference in this section has its headquarters
at Camagliey, which has become a large aviation center
during recent years.
The East Cuba session of 1949 was called to order at
Holguin, Cuba, by the president, Elder Miguel Vazquez,
on Tuesday evening, May 3. The meetings extended to the
end of the week, covering a period of about five days, and
closing on Saturday evening, May 7. The meetings were
held in the church building that was recently erected in
INTER-AMERICAN DIVISION MESSENGER 3
this prosperous city, and the entire series was characterized
by a spirit of Christian unity and understanding.
Daring the days of the East Cuba meeting a large number
of reports were presented to the assembly, most of them
of a most encouraging nature. These reports were prepared
and presented by the workers in the field, the departmental
secretaries, and the president and secretary-treasurer of
the conference. Space does not permit of our telling all of
the good things we heard while in attendance at the meet-
ings in Holguin, but we shall mention a few of the high
points of special interest.
A very active church-building campaign has been carried
on in this field during the past two years; and it was re-
ported that six or seven larger church buildings have been
financed during this time. Six of these have been completed
and dedicated, and one is still in the process of construction.
During the two-year period this conference has been
able to get together, chiefly through the two-percent fund,
the sum of $25,000.00 for the construction of these edi-
fices. The Holguin church is one of the fine examples of
this particular campaign. In East Cuba also, 222 persons
have been baptized during the past 24 months, thus bring
ing the membership up to 1,814 at the close of 1948,
In this field we have 14 church schools, and four affili-
ated private schools, with a total enrollment of 511
students, 122 from Seventh-day Adventist homes, and 389
from the homes of non-Adventists in the confetence. We
believe that this situation brings to us a great opportunity,
and constitutes a real challenge in the field of personal
evangelism in the church schools.
We were happy to learn that in this part of Cuba 30
colporteurs are carrying forward a most marvelous ministry
with our books, and other literature, they having sold
publications during the past two yeats to the amount of
$59,000.00. It is interesting to notice in passing that the
total sales for the preceding two-year period amounted
to $46,000.00, which certainly indicates a very good in-
crease in sales during the past biennial period.
In the East Cuba Conference this year the Harvest In-
gathering campaign is being pushed with greater zeal than
ever before that the goal of $10,000.00 may be reached
in due time. We learned that in former years the Ingathet-
ing receipts have reached in the neighborhood of four or
five thousand dollars only, so this feature of the work is
also very evidently on the up grade, along with the others.
Some excellent reports were given by the departmental
secretaries of the conference; and special interest was man-
ifested by the delegates in the reports concerning our
Sabbath school and lay-preaching work. At one of the
meetings there were 14 lay preachers in attendance, one
of these being a woman. These laymen will hold during
1949 at last one lay preaching effort each. Three others
decided while at the meeting that they would join the lay-
preaching forces of East Cuba, each holding an effort
during the present year. Eight of the laymen’s efforts will
be held in entirely new places. It was good to see the zeal
and enthusiasm of these consecrated workers; and we wish
them much of the blessing of the Lord in their chosen
fields of activity.
The officers and personnel elected at this meeting for
the forthcoming two-year period are as follows: Miguel
Vazquez, president; A. P. Christiansen, secretary-treasurer;
David Caveda, Home Missionary, Missionary Volunteer,
and Educational secretary, Brother Caveda will also serve
as secreraty of the Radio Deparunent. Bernardo Hernandez
was elected to serve as Publishing Department secretaty;