nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

250 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
ing Sunday ten persons of all ages rose at the afternoon service and confessed
Christ as their Saviour. When I visited that church last autumn, I was told
that the newcomers kept asking for "something to read," and I was very happy
to be able to help them out on that point. During those very difficult years,
the Valencia church seemed rather to be dying, but now it is reviving in a
wonderful way. ' .-.y
In hearly all the churches there are conversions continually. During my
thirty-four years in this country I have not seen such a movement as this. In
1945 eighty-four persons united with our churches through baptism. (This
report does not include the work of Pastor Samuel Vila.)
In Madrid the hall has been enlarged and repainted, and it looks quite
beautiful. At present it has seats for about three hundred persons, all of
which are occupied on Sundays, and on special occasions about two hundred
have to stand. Arrangement is being made now for putting in more seats.
Three of the churches are without a hall, and that is a big drawback in
the work. In one place the partitions in a private home have been pulled
down, and thus one hundred and fifty persons can be seated. In three places
the brethren are very enthusiastic about having their own building, but the
tremendous cost of everything just now makes such an undertaking impossible
at present.
On December 20, one of our oldest pastors was called to his heavenly home.
This means that three of our churches are now without pastor. This man was
a very earnest Christian and a true Baptist; his influence will be greatly missed
among us. Naturally, we need at least three new pastors to be able to attend
to the most pressing needs. Then, there are quite a number of groups of
believers who get very little help and attention because of lack of teachers.
There are some young men in the churches, willing and eager to work, but
they need guidance and help in order to study and to develop their abilities.
Especially for this work we are praying and hoping that a new missionary will
come to us as soon as possible. The work does look so promising now but,
surely, the laborers are far too few.
The cost of everything is rising continually. Just now we have to pay
higher house-rent, higher postage, and travel cost about double as much as it
used to. Some of the pastors are able to do some work along with their
pastoral duties; and thus get some extra income of which they have real need.
These problems need attention and, sooner or later, must be solved.
Still, we are very thankful to the Southern Baptists for their untiring love
and patience and material help during those trying years when so little could
be done here.
It now looks as if harvest-time were due. We ask our Southern Baptist
friends to unite with us in praying that God will send to us the help we so
greatly need—the missionaries who shall lead us as we tread the only pathway
that leads to permanent peace in individual hearts and among nations.
SPAIN AT THE CROSS-ROAD
SAMUEL VILA*
Teach them the good way wherein they should walk.—1 Kings 8:36
For Spanish Baptists, the year 1945 has been a crucial one, for in that
year we have received that for which we had been longing and praying ever
since our civil war. All our chapels have been reopened and no more hindrances
are opposing our public worship. We are sure that the victory of the united
nations has been the main factor that led our Government to that position.
We have been allowed also to publish a printed bulletin. Up to this time all
our publications were made by cyclostyle.
This has been also our best year in the number of baptisms. Even those
churches which had not observed the ordinance of baptism since the war, have
been blessed with new conversions, and the number of baptisms in the whole
mission this past year has been about one hundred and fifty.
•Rev. Samuel Vila of Tarrasa. a Spanish pastor, in presenting his report in English, has
mastered our phraseology in a fine way.—Editor.