Arizona republican., 1904-11-25
HE PHILIPPlNg MISSIONS.
The Difficulties Which 8eset the Pio-
 neers of Christianity.

American missions in the Philippine islands are not often housed in build ings that bear much resemblance to the churches in America, for they are in most cases built bs natives. and in tbe smaller towns ar9 villages espe- cialiv native ideas i'll nouse construc- ton prevail. This is simple and the materials used are Hslt in weight, dwelling houses. for instance. being Tn many. cases. so built that by the assist ance of number of abled-bouled friends a house holder may move his dwelling from one site to another This moving of dwellings is not infre- uuent. and Sunday is usually the day chosen for the purpose. crowd or about fifty will get under the Asnt aI- fair. will lift it bodily and Sos sinSlng down the street. It looks like Q centl- pade, pressed square with back up raised. You can only see the feet or some, all gre giving directions and ad- vt-e and such laughter and chatte~ you never heard.
 Tle method of constructing a church building recently built for a Presbyter- Ian mission at L-Ciana, in the g,on bordering on Iaguna de Bay on the island of LuzOu. is that followed in very many eases. The building Is 90 by so feet in size and is in all details a native product. The outside boards of the church are made by splitting ln- to shreds a piece of bamboo and then spreading it out fiat. These pieces are then woven i1 a sort of checkered pa-- tern and form a substantial wall that will last for some years. In place of the plaster, tU-whieh Americans are ae- cussomed for interior finish, the inside IS covered with "sauali," a sort Of bam- poo mating. and this being white washed presents a neat and tasty ap- pearance. The floor is made of fine, hard native wood, and the covering Of the roof is of "OuSong,' name for a long. native grass much used for roof ing This building is used for a mis- sion which was established about a year ago and which has already nearly two hundred native members.
 The distric. in Luzon in which Lu- ciana is situated is one most recently opened to missionary effort in the Philippines. It is about as large as the state of Massachusetts and has hundreds of towns and Villages. The people of the dis -ict are evidently more fond of sermons than are those of many sections of this country, for the Rev Mir. J. F. SuOCE, wlo is iu charge of the work in the district for the Presbyterian board of foreign mis- sions, tells of having held a service in the chapel described above and of ask ing the people at it's close to come to the chapel the next morning in O-deT that a photograph might be taken of building and congregation. The people came and the picture was duly taken but the former were not satisfied with the simple click of the camera and in- sisted on the occasion being rounded out with songs and a sermon. This was a somewhat embarrassing request for the missionary. for he was just learning to preach in the Oago,os Ian guage and had but one sermon which he felt he could satisfactorily preach in it. That sermon he vented to use the next week. But there was no help for it and the sermon had to be given then and there. Later in the day the Rev. NIT. Shook spoke to an audienc, of a thousand or more in the public square at Lukban, which is a city O.
 20,ooO situated 5000 feet above seq