These encouragements are due, under God, very largely to some tentative evangelistic work which we have undertaken. The results are such as lead us to pray for the privilege of enlarging this branch of our service and prosecuting it with greater vigor. We are praying—and I think with faith and unity—that God would raise up among us some one on whom we can bestow this special gift. I _look for_ an answer. I _expect_ that during this new fiscal year, upon which we have entered, the providence of God will open the way, and the Spirit of God will beckon us on to a system of evangelization which will reach to all our missions and will pass beyond them, making the wilderness to blossom as the rose.
Among the “new departures” of the year is the beginning of work among the Japanese. The first attempt to Christianize the Japanese in California was made in connection with the First Cong. Church in this city. The first Japanese baptized were received to that church; but the work was suffered to lapse, and other denominations have supplied our mortifying lack of service. A beginning has again been made, this time in Oakland. Mr. N. Kusaki, a young Japanese who was graduated last summer from the Pacific Theological Seminary, led off in the undertaking. He still assists in it, though it has now been placed in the hands of an American lady as the principal teacher. It is an experiment at present, but gives good promise of success.
Another interesting development, which, however, dates back a little more than a year, is the Foreign Missionary Society organized by our Chinese brethren. This movement was spontaneous; no urgency or even suggestion from me occasioned it. It was put into almost complete working order before I was made aware of it. Its primary object is to sustain missionary operations in South China, the provinces from which our brethren came. But its watchword is nothing less than “China for Christ.” They have already gathered nearly $250, contributed not from an abundance, but out of deep poverty.
Another point of interest is the marked change in the spiritual atmosphere of some of our missions—notably those at Stockton, Petaluma and Oroville. It seems to foretoken a “wide and effectual door” soon to open before us, which God grant that we may have the men and the means to enter for a campaign aggressive and victorious.