Augsburg College - Augsburgian Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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van A Letter of Appeal from the Mission Field (Part of a personal letter from China.) K arc happy and thankful to the Lord for calling us to reap the harvest in China. We arc busy from early in the morning till late at night, but what a joy to know that we are in the Master’s service! We know that we are leading souls to Christ. People who have never heard about the one true God come to attend the meetings; they listen to the Gospel, their hearts are touched and once more their souls are brought into communion with their Creator. Oh what ought we not to be willing to give in return for the privilege of seeing people turn away from their idols to worship the true God. What ought we not be willing to sacrifice when we arc permitted to share in the joy of seeing a nation brought from centuries of gloom and darkness into the bright sunshine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.....There is something captivating in meeting the starving look of these people who so long have been in darkness and shadow of death. It makes your heart burn with desire to be of some help and comfort. “Meetings were conducted in the following way: Our evangelist read a pass- age from the Bible and then the meeting was open for personal testimonies. Ten of the catechumens arose and told how they found Christ. Their sentences were not very well formed and poorly connected, but it made me rejoice in my heart and surely there was also rejoicing in heaven, 'fell your school-mates their prayers have not been in vain. Tell others that their interest and sacrifices are resulting in precious souls being brought to the cross of Christ. It touches the heart to hear how they have to struggle against their old superstitions when turn- ing to God. They are often exposed to the ridicule and hatred of their relatives. They are not seldom cursed and persecuted by their relatives and neighbors. We foreigners do not realize fully what many here have to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. ’’The magnitude of the work here can not be fully realized at home, but the need for workers is great. 'Phis has been one of the greatest trials in the work. We plead for workers, but so few are coming. We fear that the Lord of mis- sions will take part of our field and give it to others who are willing to give men and money for the work. “Friends, are you willing to come out and help us in the work or will you want us to carry on the work alone with the feeling that our friends at home do not stand by us in the evangelization of these multitudes? “Yes, there arc disappointments and difficulties also on the mission field, and there are times when we feel like giving up in despair, still such thoughts are only temptations and we have to cling closer and closer to our Lord and Savior.” PAGE SIXTY-TWO

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 ia ? Athletics Among the many different activities here at school, athletics and gymnastics are given a prominent and honored place, and rightly so. Proper physical educa- tion is, indeed, of vital importance for a successful career at any educational ' institution, and should therefore have a place in modern education corresponding to its relative importance. Ilardly any intelligent person of to-day would ever think of denying the truth embodied in Juvenal’s classic phrase, mens Sana in corpore sano (“a sound mind in a sound body”), and yet it is often maintained that athletics is over- emphasized at our higher educational institutions. This attitude towards athletics is, however, mainly due to the fact that the press places athletics in the public eye out of all proportion to the place it really occupies in our educational institu- tions. Athletics has been, and is in no immediate danger of becoming other than a simple and natural by-play in the course of American education. l'he danger of over-emphasizing athletics here at Augsburg is at least very remote and mainly so for two reasons. In the first place we do not have a very spacious campus, nor do we have any larger play-ground near by at our disposal. Secondly, our short spring term makes it rather difficult to develop a strong team for either baseball or football, though we have the most splendid material for either team. Our activities are therefore mainly confined to tennis and to indoor games, especially basket-ball, and athletic tournaments. Though our athletic activities arc rather limited, every Augsburgian seems to be keenly interested in the different games played, and we are always sure of having strong competition for a place on the different teams every year. This competition makes it more easy to select the very best material for the different teams and to develop teams of very high quality, l'he success of last year’s tennis team and of this year’s basket-ball team may be seen by taking a look at their respective records. This year’s tennis team will undoubtedly surpass the previous team, being that three of the old players arc back. l'he basket-ball team of 1914—15 has.had the reputation of being the most successful team Augsburg ever had. In the opinion of many, the team of 1917 —18 has made just as good, if not a better record than the 1914—15 team. That the 191-1—15 team had a better record than this year’s team is due to the fact that our last team played against stronger teams than the former team did. Under the successful leadership of our physical directors, Albert Hanson and Lars Kvall)cen, the work along the line of physical education has, indeed, made rapid progress here at school, and they have done considerable, not only to maintain, but also to raise our already high athletic standards. Athletic activities have therefore undoubtedly a brighter future than ever here at Augsburg. PAGE SIXTY-FOUR