Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884Eells, Myron
Religion
Ten years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884
Eells, Myron
Clallam Indians -- Missions; Missions -- Washington (State); Skokomish Indian Reservation (Wash.); Twana Indians -- Missions
“The first time I became a Christian, I found it a very hard thing
to do, but I kept asking Jesus to help me, and so he did, for I
grew stronger and stronger. So, my friends, if you will just accept
Jesus as your King, he will help you to the end of your journey.
You must trust wholly in Jesus’ strength, and yield your will, your
time, your talents, your reputation, your strength, your property,
your all, to be henceforth and forever subject to his divine
control--your hearts to love him; your tongues to speak for him;
your hands and feet to work for him, and your lives to serve him
when and where and as his Spirit may direct. Don’t be proud, but be
very good Christians; be brave and do what is right.
“Your young friend,
“---- ----”
It is but just to say now that the first two of these have been
suspended from the church for misconduct, and still stand so on our
record. The other one has done a good work, and has been one of the
leaders of religion with the older people, sometimes holding one and two
meetings a week with them and teaching the Bible class of fifty on the
Sabbath.
The Twanas and the Clallams were formerly at war with each other, and
even now the old hostile feeling, dwindled down to jealousy, will show
itself at times. A like unpleasant feeling has often been shown between
the whites and Indians, yet, on the first Sabbath in April, 1880, three
persons united with the church and received baptism, who belonged one to
each of these three classes. Another noticeable fact was the reason
which induced them to become Christians. In reply to my question on
this point, each one, unknown to the other, said that it was because
they had noticed that Christians were so much happier than other people.
Two of them had tried the wrong road with all their heart, and had found
to their sorrow that “the way of transgressors is hard.”
The following table will show the state of the church during the ten
years:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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