I am happy to state that I am making up all back work in the Ministerial Reading Courses, and possibly this year, or at least by the next, I shall have read everything from the inception of the plan up to the present time. So far as the 1932 course is concerned, I am much pleased with the selections. I have my books, and am studying them and getting much good out of them.
Recently in urging one of my associates to read more, I was surprised to hear him say that about all he could read in a year was the books recommended by the Ministerial Association and a few periodicals. Then he asked if I was able to cover more ground than that. I thought of how some of our busiest men read one or more books each week, an ideal toward which I have now been aiming for several years. Sermon material, an ever-increasing supply of illustrations, and a deepened incentive to thoughtful study, are some of the blessings that have come to me as I have been striving toward this ideal.
I said to this worker: "Recently when going to Ubol, I had two days on the train, and read two books. While I was there, I was, of course, rushed to the limit, but coming back I read two more books, so that on that trip I read four books." The train was very poor, and I could not do any writing, so took the opportunity to read.
We are planning to put into operation a strong ministerial department in the Malayan Union to look after our native workers and their interests. We did very little with it the first year I was in Malaya, because the whole field here was new to me then, and I had only a year to get hold of things before my furlough. I am glad to tell you that during that year we opened up five new mission stations and manned them. During the year or more of my absence from the field, the Ministerial Association work was neglected, and up to the present since my return nothing has been done with it. But I am determined, as I get back into the harness, to build up a strong ministerial force in Malaya, and plan not only for native reading courses, but to give them additional sermon material and help in general field work and the like. Some of our folks cannot read the MINISTRY, and to these we must supply something more than a few books to read.
J.G. Gjording, Singapore, Straits Settlements.
* This intimate excerpt from a personal letter from the superintendent of the Malayan Union was not written for publication, but is so illuminating and helpful that we take the liberty of placing it in this section.—Editors.
