Sda Missionaries

Meet In Suva

OF the fifty delegates present at

the second Quadrennial Session of the Central Pacific Union

Meeting of Seventh Day Adventists,

in Suva, in January, exactly half

were native people, representing the

ten SDA Pacific mission fields.

Also present were Pastor E. E. Roen felt, Australian-born associate secretary »f the General Conference of SDA, of Washington, DC, and Pastors F. G.

Clifford, L. C. Naden, and E. J. Johanson. president, secretary and treasurer, re spectively, of the Australasian Division, fhe session was under the chairmanship »f Pastor G. Branster, president of the Central Pacific Union Mission.

In his opening address, Pastor Branster Irew attention to the dangers threatening he world and stressed the need for the ihurch to be prepared for the tremendous ssues of these remarkable times, fhe one, and only, reason for the hurch’s existence, he said, is the up- Ifting of humanity.

Secretary-treasurer E. W. Howse re orted that church membership through ut the Territory of the Union had more ban doubled in the last six years. The otal working force of the area numbered 66. which included 36 national ordained linisters.

Said Mr. Howse: “During the quad ennium under review, many of our native 'orkers have been given added re

sponsibilities, not only in carrying administrative work, but also in develop ing the departmental interests of our local missions, and in caring for districts within the mission territory.”

Education Secretary, A. W. Martin, re ported an improving standard in Seventh day Adventist mission schools throughout the Central Pacific Union territory as more and more well-trained teachers are graduated from Fulton College.

The college principal, Pastor L. S. Wood, MA, Dip. Ed., said that courses in Theology, teaching, business, and building construction were available. The academic standard was approximately equal to that of secondary schools in Australia and New Zealand. “In ail our class work,” said Pastor Wood, “emphasis is main tained on the practical side of education.

All students who enter the secondary school and who pass through training courses are required to take some form of manual training. The boys are en rolled in woodwork classes and the girls are enrolled in domestic science classes.

Plans are under way to include a course in agricultural science. We believe this will be of great practical benefit to our Islands students.” The college staff com prises eight European teachers and 10 nationals drawn from various Islands groups.

Following the Fiji hurricane of 1952, Dorcas Societies distributed more than 6,000 articles of clothing and 1,196 baskets of food, according to Pastor R. L. Aveling’s report of the activities of the Church Missionary Society.

Reporting on the various aspects of the Young People’s Society, Pastor A. W.

Martin said that First Aid classes have been taken up in earnest in most island groups. Last year St. John’s examiner had examined classes in Aitutaki (where 100 young folk passed), and in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and New Hebrides. He was gratified with the standard attained by the young people of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Such training will pre pare them to render expert assistance in times of emergency.

During the conference the evangelical, educational and medical programme of the mission was examined and plans were adopted to strengthen this triad of church service.

When Sonoma sailed from Pago Pago for Hawaii and the United States in January she had aboard 8,200 cases of canned tuna from the local Van Camp cannery, and some 40 tons of Samoan mats and curios.

There is a keen demand in Hawaii and the States for these floor mats.