A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

people. The young mission experienced severe trials. After only eighteen months of service, the Hieberts had to return to the United States because of poor health. Undaunted by this disappointing experience, the conference sent out Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Pankratz in 1902 to give leadership to the mission. After prayerful investigation, a place for a mission station was purchased at Mulkapet, a suburb of Hyderabad. With the assistance of some Telegu evangelists from Nalgonda, evangelistic campaigns were conducted at once in the suburbs of the city as well as in the villages to the south. In March, 1904, the First small M.B. church on this new field was organized. Later the mission center was transferred to Hughestown, and from there to Shamshabad. t The arrival of additional workers made a gradual expansion possible. In the late fall of 1904 the D. F. Bergtholds arrived. Two months later Mrs. Bergthold died after a short, severe illness. Bergthold found a helpmeet in Anna Epp who had been sent out by the M.B. 402 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHUHCH Church of Russia to serve on the German Baptist field in India. After some time Bergthold obtained a government permit to begin a work at Nagarkurnool, eighty miles south of the city of Hyderabad. Here the Bergtholds shared the joys and hardships of pioneering in a new field on which there was not a single Christian. In due time they established a home, a church, a school, and a hospital. With the coming of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Voth in the fall of 1908, further advance was possible. They were directed to Deverakonda, a field which the American Baptists transferred to the Mennonite Brethren in 1910. Although this field was in an area frequently visited by drought and famine, the people readily responded to the call of the gospel. Preparatory work had been done in this field by missionaries from Nalgonda and a church was organized. Through the zealous efforts of missionary Voth the Telegu church here was established and grew rapidly. The mission experienced further growth when the F. A. Janzens arrived in the fall of 1910. They subsequently established a fourth mission station at Wanaparty, the center of a tiny independent kingdom. The friendly attitude of the Rajah (king) was an important factor in the establishment of a mission here. Single ladies comprised a significant part of the missionary force in India from the beginning. Among these Katharina Schellenberg, a medical doctor, deserves special recognition. She arrived in India in the spring of 1907 and began her ministry of healing at Nagarkurnool, where the mission built its first hospital in 1912. Other single ladies who must be numbered among the pioneers were Katharina Lohrenz, who arrived in 1908 and Anna Hanneman, who came in 1915 to take the place of Miss Lohrenz who had died of typhoid in 1913. Both were involved in a teaching ministry at Mulkapet. Mary C. Wall, a trained nurse who a