One of my pastors came to me during my first year in the district to ask what was to be done in the following case: A man had been baptized after having attended the classes for instruction in the ‘fundamentals of the faith’ for the appointed time. His character was good, he seemed to understand what he had learned, and was believed to be a Christian man. Some time after his baptism, as he wished to join the church, he attended the communicants’ class for further instruction, and at the end of the appointed period, there being nothing against the man, but everything in his favour, the members were about to receive him into the church; but then they were met, as they thought, by a great difficulty. His wife did not wish to join the church, was not even baptized, and had no wish to be. Their problem was this--could they receive the man alone, and so, in a sense, separate husband and wife? There was another analogous case, where the wife wished to join the church, but not the husband. ‘May we admit the husband without his wife, or the wife without her husband?’ they asked; or ‘Must we tell the husband that he must wait for his wife, and the wife for her husband?’ Of course I replied that they were not to keep a man from the Communion because of his wife, or a woman because of her husband. On my first visit to Ankàzobè, a large village about thirty miles to the north of Fìhàonana, while conducting the Communion Service I saw three small boys among the communicants, and asked who they were, and what they wanted. I was informed that they were church members, and I afterwards discovered that one of them was the son of a local preacher. I told the church that it was not the custom to take such young children into membership, as they could not understand what the ordinance meant. After the service I had a long talk with the church as to who ought, and who ought not, to be received as members with regard to years, knowledge and character. While occasional irregularities appeared in different places, there were not half so many as I expected. As a whole the churches were in a marvellous condition, considering the scanty opportunities they had enjoyed of being instructed in the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God. If they made mistakes, which of course sometimes happened, it was almost always solely from want of knowledge. If they knew what ought to be done, they generally did it. I fancy this is more than can be said of some church members at home. I may also add that grave mistakes were few--so few, indeed, that one was reminded of the words: ‘They shall be all taught of God.’