Our sanitariums have been presented to me as most efficient mediums for the promotion of the gospel message. . . . The conversion of souls is the one great object to be sought for in our medical institutions. It is for this that these institutions are established."—Evangelism, pp. 536, 537. We are always made glad when these words are fulfilled as a result of the efforts of the staff of Washington Sanitarium.
Our business office keeps a file of letters of appreciation from former patients. Once in a while a letter of appreciation is shared with us in the chaplain's office. Here are excerpts from two or three:
"I have been in other hospitals but was never treated so well and with so much personal feeling as I was at the Washington Sanitarium. I'll never forget your kindness. God bless you all."
"In every detail of the management of your hospital I could see the guiding hand of a fine Christian administration. I would like to commend also the fine nurses so dedicated to their work. Especially helpful are your chaplains' services, and that of the nurses who join with you in prayer to seek divine blessing. This to me was the most comforting service of all. May the Lord bless your fine institution and every member connected therewith. Sincerely yours."
"While in the sanitarium I came closer to Jesus, and now I'm an Adventist. I praise God for it. I've never been so happy as I am now, since Jesus came into my heart. I can't help writing about it. Pray that my husband also will become an Adventist."
When the patients leave the sanitarium, however, that is not the termination of our contacts with them, nor is that the end of our efforts on their behalf. We use a number of methods to follow up interested patients after they leave the institution. These include:
1. Personal visits in their homes.
2. Bible studies in their homes.
3. Bible studies by appointment at the sanitarium.
4. Referring them to pastors and/or to the Bible instructor in the area where they live.
5. Correspondence courses.
6. Contact by correspondence or telephone.
7. Another active method of follow-up evangelism is by means of the literature which both the Sanitarium church and the sanitarium so generously provide.
Many of our interested patients are sent subscriptions for Life and Health, These Times, Signs of the Times, Listen, or Liberty, depending upon the degree and type of interest. At the end of the year another contact is made by sending them the Morning Watch Calendar. These are sent not only to interested patients but to those who have been baptized.
To illustrate what can be accomplished by these combined methods we mention these incidents:
A graduate nurse was a patient about ten years ago, and during the six weeks she was here she was given Bible studies. After she left she was sent the Signs of the Times and Life and Health. At the beginning of each year she was sent a Morning Watch Calendar. She was also visited a number of times, and she studied the Voice of Prophecy Bible Correspondence Course. Last November she was ill again and went to Lynchburg, Virginia, to stay with her family, hoping that she could regain her health. When she saw that she was making no improvement, she asked that she be brought to the Washington Sanitarium. While she was here she requested a review of the Bible studies she had previously received. Also she began watchin-g the It Is Written telecast. She made a good recovery, has regained her health, and is now back at work. She was referred to the minister nearest her home. He visited her, and she is now attending his church.
Another unusual experience is that of a young non-Adventist nurse who worked here for just three weeks last September. She was born in the sanitarium and lived in Takoma Park until she went to Duke University to take the nurse's course. She tells us now that she was "shielded" from Adventists all her life. While she was in training she decided that she wanted to go overseas as a Baptist missionary nurse. After she graduated she came to Takoma Park for two reasons: (1) She felt that she had to break the news of her desire to be a missionary nurse gently to her parents; and (2) she wanted to test herself to see how she would fit into an environment of another religious faith.
One of the first contacts she had at the sanitarium was with a patient who was then taking Bible studies (she has since been baptized). In their very first conversation this nurse told the patient that she was mistaken if she thought that Adventist teaching was right and that she would prove it to her from the Bible. She showed her Matthew 22:37-39, where Jesus said that the only two commandments were love to God and love to man. This type of conversation continued for several days until the nurse was contacted. Several lengthy Bible discussions ensued. After each discussion this nurse stayed up for hours studying her Bible after coming off duty. Once she studied all night trying to prove from the Bible that her beliefs were correct.
The next day she came to see the patient with an armload of books and the two of them came to the office of the Bible instructor. There the nurse brought up every objection she could think of or had read from books. Each point was carefully discussed. Before she left for her home she was given a number of our books, the address of our local church, and an enrollment card for the Voice of Prophecy Bible Correspondence Course. She went to church, took the Bible course, diligently studied her Bible by herself, wrote freely to our Bible instructor about her studies, and continued her questioning. As Bible answers were given to her questions she readily accepted them.
She was accepted into church fellowship in our Durham, North Carolina, church.
The Lord is using her in behalf of other souls. She has had to cope with great opposition in her home, but in spite of this her younger sister and her boyfriend have become interested and are regularly attending Missionary Volunteer meetings and Sabbath services.
These experiences illustrate some of the possibilities in consistently following up the interests that are created by our staff of consecrated doctors, nurses, and other workers.
