A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

e Mary left for India under the American Baptist Mis- sionary Union. The pioneering work of Abraham Friesen in establishing the mission in Nalgonda, India, in 1890 served as the base for the work of the American Mennonite Brethren in India beginning in 1899- Sixteen other Russian Mennonite Brethren missionaries followed during the years 1890 to 1914, when the First World War interrupted Russian support of the India work. Although precise demographics are difficult to establish, it is estimated that by 1910 the membership of the India church, served by missionaries from Russia, numbered 95 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH three thousand. Peter Wedel was a gifted young man who felt keenly the hand of God upon him. Sensing a call to ministry, he attend- ed the Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York, and became an effective evangelist in Mennonite Brethren circles. At one time the question in Mennonite Brethren churches as to who had been converted through the preaching of Peter Wedel, brought scores of uplifted hands. Wedel, after a career as a successful itinerant evangelist in North America, began feeling an inner burden for people in other lands who had never heard the gospel. Was it his re- sponsibility to go to them? Was he being called to become a foreign missionary? This struggle tortured him until he finally came to the conclusion, "1 must go to bring the gospel to those who have never heard." At the 1884 conference in South Dakota he shared his concern with the assembled delegates. They were shocked, Not only would they lose their most effective evangelist, but he wanted to go to Cameroon, a country known as a grave- yard for white foreigners because of its treacherous climate and raging black fever. The conference pleaded with him to reconsider. Wedel said he would weigh the matter before God, Evening came. Unable to sleep, he went out into the South Dakota cornfields seeking an answer from God. In the early morning, wet from the dew of the night, he returned to his host's home and tried to sleep a little. When he appeared before the conference lat- er that morning his decision was clear. "I have wrestled with God," he told the assembly. "Obedience supersedes all other opportunities- I cannot but go to the Cameroons," And to Cameroon he went, Wedel lost no time in starting a Bible school to prepare others to become messengers of God to their own people. But his service lasted only eight months. The severe climate took its toll on his health, and he was advised to return home for medical help* Finally he 96 EAR