“By being a member of the Association for three years, I have known what their difficulties are. I will tell you a little of it; perhaps it will illustrate to you some of their principal difficulties. As the rule of our Association requires that ‘any one who desires to become a member of this Association must forsake idolatry and all bad habits, and prove himself to be a follower of Christ,’ so, when he is a member, he must do accordingly; and when he does that, his friends and relations will turn their backs on him, and will have nothing to do with him. That makes it very unpleasant, and he feels the loss of their friendship very much; because it is a general thing among our people in this country that, when a Chinaman first comes here from China, he is a dependent on his friends and relatives, who provide him food and shelter, and then find him employment until he has earned some money; then he pays them back what seems to him right. He feels it is his duty to respect and follow their advice, because of their kindness to him when he was a stranger. So, when he becomes a Christian, he not only feels he has lost those friends, but, perhaps, sometimes gets a good whipping from his relatives also. That not only prevents some from becoming Christians, but four or five of our members have turned back under these circumstances. “But we make it one of our principal duties to make each one feel that he has found some better friends in the Association than those he has lost by becoming a Christian. Not long ago a young man became a Christian, and his friends, not satisfied with abusing and jeering at him, wrote a false report to his parents in China, telling them that their son in California not only had forsaken his old religion and the worshipping of his ancestors, but also had cut off his long queue and dressed in foreigner’s clothes. When they received this news, they wept and made many inquiries, and worshipped all the gods they knew of, praying them to use their spiritual power to turn their son back to be a Chinaman again, so that, when they die, they will have some one to take care of their bones and feed their ghosts. When the young man heard of this, he wrote home to them, telling them it was true that he had become a Christian, but it was not true that he had cut his queue and wore the foreigner’s clothing, and said that he was a Chinaman still; he would honor them just the same, and perhaps more. And he has not heard from them speaking on this subject ever since. Now, friends, such things as I have said often occur, but most of our members are firm. When once they have become Christians, they will stick to it, though they have so many hardships to bear.