Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1919

56 MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THEDOMESTIC MISSIONS.The board has paid the supplements to aid receiving congregationsto the amount appropriated by Synod. We havealso endeavored to meet fairly changed conditions in congregations.Receipts for the year $12,859.88Expenditures 11,592.64Balance 1,267.24In accord with the Mission Conference we request for thisMission an appropriation of $50,000.00,Indian Mission.The schools at the Mission have been' discontinued, andthe children attended the public' schools last year. They havemade good progress, and were given all the rights they couldclaim. They prefer the home life to the seclusion of the governmentschools.Public meetings were forbidden, because of the sicknesswith the influenza. Some of the mission force had it. A numberof the Indians also had it, and some died with it. Many ofthose who recovered, took a great deal of attention while theirstrength was coming back. The government sent a Doctor tohelp the Mission force, and he worked in hearty accord whilethe scourge lasted. The effective work done by the women atthe Mission, called out a letter of appreciation from the governmentagent at Anadarko. When the public meetings wereforbidden, the M''ssion force spent the Sabbath in visiting thehomes, and presenting Bible truths.A number of the young men were taken to the trainingcamps. When they returned, the friends gave a great feast,and these are usually demoralizing. Two young men of theMission force also were called.The"Superintendent writes;There his been a great revival of the peyot worship, whichis represented as the old Indian worship. In reality it is a part.of a cactus that is dried and eaten and causes a certain formof intoxication, they pray to this-cactus and claim that it takesthe place of the Holy Spirit in their worship, and that the revelsin wh'ch they eat this peyot or dried cactus correspondsto the Lord's Supper. They have a State charter as being areligious body and when action was proposed in the NationalCongress,, prohibiting the importation and traffic in this peyot,it was claimed that it was a religion and the proposed actionwas abandoned. . ... .,..,,The most serious feature of the work is the spiritual indifferenceof the people. They listen'to all Wat is-*s-Iia> to themwith perfect composure and are not aroused11 by anything that:may be put before them. It is due the workers to say thatwe all are conscious of the need of reviving in our own heartsand as well among the people here. All possible efforts weremade to arouse the people and nothing was considered too