Adventist History in Indonesia: Youngberg Reports on Central Sumatra

(BATAKLAND) 

G. B. YOUNGBERG 

(Synopsis of report rendered during the 
Malaysian Union biennial session, Singa- 
pore, S. S., concerning mission wort: among 
the Bataks of Central Sumatra, where Pastor 
and Mrs. Dallas S. Kime have labored for 
some years ) 

WITH praise and grateful thanks 
to God, we bring to the members of 
this conference the greetings of our 
believers in Batakland. " The Lord 
hath done great things for us, Where- 
of we are glad." 

As you all know, our Brother D. 
S. Kime should be here before you 
today. We can scarcely realize 
what a pleasure it would have been 
to him to present this report; but 
because of the serious illness of Sister 
Kime, they were obliged to leave us 
for a little season. However, we 
have gleaned a few facts and inci- 
dents from the field. 

During the past seven years we 
have been hedged about in Batakland 
by restrictions and opposition of 
many kinds. We were not allowed 
to hold religious services; the ordi- 
nances of baptism and of the Lord's 
house have been forbidden. Only 
the Master of the vineyard knows 
what trials and sorrows have been 
borne by Brother and Sister Kime 
and our brethren in Batakland; how 
in fear and trembling they have held 
on to that school and medical work 
in the face of circumstances that 
would have tried the mettle of the 
strongest. In darkness often, and 
with tears, they sowed the seed and 
laid the foundations for a blessed 
harvest now waiting to be gathered. 

The efforts of our believers and 
friends to obtain religious liberty 
seemed to have the effect of Moses' 
first visits to the king of Egypt. .The 
burdens grow heavier and the way 
more difficult, and three years ago 
we were told by a very high Govern- 
ment official that, " were we to camp 
in Sipogoe till the crack of doom, we 
should never have liberty, — Never!" 

Two years ago, a petition was 
sent to the officials in Batavia asking 
that we be given religious freedom. 
This was signed by 800 persons, most 
of them being Mohammedans, and 
many of them persons of influence. 
This called down a storm of protest, 
and even caused trouble for our 
people in Europe. The middle of 
last January we received the answer 
to that same petition, granting all 
that was asked for; and the notifica- 
tion was not only sent to Brother 
Kime in Sipogoe, but also to many 
heads of villages in that secticn, as- 
suring them that our mission had 
been granted freedom to carry on 
our work of preaching the gospel, 

During the past two years, im- 
provements in the school buildings 
have been made. A very nice dor- 
mitory for girls has been erected. 
A prosperous work has been begun 
in other districts. In one new place 
we now have a Sabbath school of 
thirty members, and several are 
calling for baptism. There is also 
a growing work in the Sipirok dis- 
trict Interests are springing up in 
many other places. 

About three years ago a delega- 
tion came to us from some villages 
in the Lake Toba district. They 
came from an out-of-the-way place, 
off the regular line of travel, and 
represented a group of villages that 
had not yet been touched by Christ- 
ian influence. They begged that 
some one be sent to teach them the 
way to God. Several in those vil- 
lages have learned enough of Bible 
truth to be keeping the Sabbath. 
How the seed was sown we cannot 
guess, but a rich harvest is waiting. 

In 1927 a short but successful col- 
porteur campaign was conducted, 
$800 (gold) worth of Batak books 
being sold within a few weeks. 

The hour of God's opportunity 
has struck in Batakland. The eyes 
of the brethren there are fixed on 
their brethren of the Malayan Union. 
May God by His Holy Spirit give us 
the right answer to their insistent 
pleas for spiritual help.