LUCY POST: FIRST BIBLE INSTRUCTOR IN SOUTH AMERICA

For the information about women in leadership in the South-American Division we are indebted to information in the book Women in Leadership In the beginnings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America by Silvia C. Scholtus 

Lucy Belinda Post was born in Wisconsin, United States, on September 19, 1845.[i]There were fourteen siblings in all. Lucy was seven when her family set out and, after six weeks of traveling in three ox carts over rough and stony terrain, they settled in Nicollet County, Minnesota. So she really experienced a pioneer life, she saw and suffered many struggles with the Indians and several times escaped miraculously from the massacres.[ii] When Lucy was twelve years old, she was able to enter a formal school and finally graduated as a teacher. Lucy taught for several years in public schools and was considered a very efficient teacher.[iii] Although she had several opportunities to marry, she did not. From a young age, she was guided by a motto: “Go where duty calls you”.[iv]

Conversion, and Preparation for Mission

The year was 1880, and by the influence of the family of her brother Ezra, who had become an Adventist, Lucy learned about these Christian beliefs. She was 35 at that time. After her baptism, she attended a Christian school in Chicago, where she prepared as a Bible instructor. She participated in several evangelistic campaigns in Minnesota, Dakota, and Ohio.

Leadership and Dedication to God’s Service

Because of her leadership, she was chosen as a delegate to the General Conference Sessions that took place in Battle Creek, on March 5, 1891.[v]Since she accepted the Adventist faith, Lucy Belinda Post longed to share her new hope in Christ with the family of her brother in Uruguay. She was a descendant of one of the European immigrants who settled in the United States. Some of the descendants of the last migrations accepted the Adventist message during the last decades of the 19th century. Many went out eagerly, without considering the sacrifices, to share the precious treasure with family and friends who lived in other parts of the world.

When she once again attended the General Conference Sessions, Lucy became the first woman to volunteer her services to go to South America. Her decision was inspired by the needs of the missionary field at a time when the missionaries that came from South America gave their reports of the situation, and also because she met with Ellen G. White, who, alluding to Lucy’s surname, expressed her desire that she might be a pillar in the Lord’s house. It was also an incentive to think that she could meet with her brother Zina’s family, who lived in Uruguay. Lucy’s previous experiences in the North American frontier prepared her for the harsh life in the mission field.[vi] Thus, Lucy became the first missionary resident in Uruguay by a vote of the Tract Society of the General Conference and she was granted a missionary license. Although she was almost fifty years old, Lucy did not hesitate to accept the challenge.[vii] Lucy sailed from New York in June 1895.[viii] The long trip took them across the Atlantic to France and from there they sailed in another boat to South America. Fortunately, Lucy didn’t suffer from seasickness. They arrived in July, mid-winter.[ix] Shortly after her arrival, Lucy was allowed to spend some time with her brother Zina’s family, who lived in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. Lucy arrived there on July 26 1895 and was joyfully received by everyone. Zina was then 62 years old.[x]

As soon as she arrived, there began a rich history of witnessing, faith, and spreading the Gospel. Lucy kept alone that first Sabbath, July 27, 1895, because there were no other Adventists in Uruguay. But soon she started to study the Bible with her family. On the third Sabbath, August 1895, two members of her family already joined her to worship God and a third was added the next week.[xi] They were the first to accept the Adventist beliefs in Uruguay.

But Lucy didn’t just devote herself to her family; soon she was visiting and studying the Bible with other neighbors. Her niece helped as a translator.[xii] Lucy felt joy when saw the growing interest in the faces of those who attended the meetings or were visited and, more so, when she saw them joyfully studying and wanting to learn more and more. Five weeks later, by August 31, 1895, the group had grown to twelve members and Lucy organized the first Adventist congregation in that country: a Sabbath School.[xiii] When the Sabbath School grew to twenty members, the local priest got angry and told his congregation: “Anyone who listens to that little woman’s teachings is a fool”.[xiv] When Lucy became aware of the growing interest in studying the Bible, she asked for help. She wrote a letter to pastor Frank Westphal, who had arrived a few months before to be in charge of the work in the South American continent as the first ordained minister, to request the assistance of young Jean Vuilleumier. Her wish was that while there was an interest, it could be taken care of. Her letter received a quick reply. Jean Vuilleumier, who had recently arrived from the United States,[xv] was a Swiss evangelist around 31 years old. This young man was sent to help, because of the interest awakened in Nueva Palmira. He spent two months in the area preaching among the Swiss, the French, and the Germans, and even among the Spanish-speaking people with a translator. He then informed that a group of people had accepted with joy the Adventist beliefs in Uruguay.[xvi]

History registers that while the first church in Uruguay was being organized in Nueva Helvecia thanks to the work of colporteur Stauffer and the lectures offered later by pastor Frank Westphal, there were already Seventh-day Adventists in Nueva Palmira, as a result of the work of Lucy Post.[xvii]While she was still in Uruguay, Lucy was sorry to see one of her nieces that acted as her translator leave for Buenos Aires to study there. Nevertheless, Lucy was happy that her young niece gave herself to Jesus to be useful in His cause.[xviii] A few months later there was a general meeting at the Adventist mission in Buenos Aires. It was the first of its kind in Argentina and South America.[xix] Lucy attended with a group from Uruguay. On that occasion, she had the pleasure to see eight of her Bible students from Nueva Palmira who were baptized as the first fruits of her labors in South America.

Lucy continued working in Uruguay for two years and then left for Buenos Aires, where she devoted herself to being a Bible instructor for six years. In Buenos Aires, she joined the missionaries who lived there: the Westphals, the Towns, the McCarthy, and Ole Oppegard. They all lived in a big rented house. Lucy worked as a Bible instructor for the group and visited mostly English-speaking people.[xx]She also collaborated as a teacher of the English Sabbath School among the Adventists residing in Buenos Aires.[xxi] By the end of 1897, a new convert, Lydia Greene, remembers Lucy acting as secretary of that Sabbath School group.[xxii] In general, Lucy’s task was multiple. She visited the sick, going through the hospital bed by bed, accompanied by Sadie Town; she helped the poor, soliciting clothes from the wealthiest parts of the city; she gave cooking classes and taught simple health treatments; she distributed Christian literature; and gave Bible studies.[xxiii] When in 1903 she returned to the United States and settled in Idaho, she didn’t remain idle. There she purchased land of some 400 acres to live and work as a missionary. She went from home to home in different places. For that purpose, she bought a horse and buggy. At least forty people joined the Adventist Church as a direct result of her efforts. She spent the last nine years of her life with the Barclay couple. She passed away on February 4, 1937, in Portland, Oregon, at 92 years of age.[xxiv]

Untiring evangelist

Lucy always maintained her interest in the progress of God’s cause and the spreading of the gospel of Christ, happy to have dedicated her best years as a witness for the Lord wherever she may be. She expressed her wishes: this way “My prayer is that each Bible truth for these times may shine in my own heart so that I may be able to give it to others in all its purity. I can say that I never enjoyed my work so much as when I was in South America and I never felt God’s presence so near”.[xxv] Her dedication to God and her leadership yielded abundant fruits, not only during her brief stay in the South American continent, but everywhere she went. She became interested in attending to the spiritual, social, and health needs of the persons whom she encountered. To do so, Lucy developed various talents and abilities and received from the Lord the gifts to be an untiring evangelist and teacher.

Condensed from Chapter 5 of the book by Scholtus, Silvia: Women in leadership: In the beginnings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America (Pioneros) (S.43). Editorial de la Universidad Adventista del Plata. Kindle-Version.

 

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[i] She was a direct descendant of Stephen Post, who arrived from England to Boston, United States, in 1634, shortly after the beginnings of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (H. R. Gay, “Post”, North Pacific Union Gleaner 32, No. 14 (April 6, 1937): 7.

[ii] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 7

[iii] Ibid.; Gay, “Post”, 7

[iv] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20

[v] Ibid.; Everist, “Necrología”, 12; Gay, “Post”, 7

[vi] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20

[vii] The General Conference Bulletin 1, No. 18 extra (March 3, 1895): 446; The General Conference Bulletin 1, No. 20 extra, (March 5, 1895): 486.

[viii] W. H. Thurston, “Brazil”, Review and Herald 72, No. 49 (December 3, 1895): 779.

[ix] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20.

[x] Ibid.; Lucy Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, Review and Herald 72, No. 50, (December 10, 1895): Zina Post died December 6 1907 in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay [“Notas editoriales”, La Revista Adventista 8, No. 1, (January 1908): 8].

[xi] Sarah Hoskens-Post was born April 8, 1843 in Illinois, United States and died in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay, March 19, 1919, at age 74. For reasons of her husband’s health, in 1866 they travelled from the United States to Argentina and established in the Chaco region. In 1877, the family settled in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. She accepted the faith by the efforts of the colporteur Jean Vuilleumier and of her sister in law Lucy Post [O. Montgomery, “Necrología”, La Revista Adventista 19, No. 8 (April 10, 1919): 15].

[xii] Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, 796; Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20

[xiii] Ibid.; Luisa Post-Everist, “La Escuela Sabática” [Sabbath School], La Revista Adventista 16, Nos. 3-4 (March-April 1916): 24; Juan Carlos Viera, “Los Adventistas del Séptimo día en América Latina: sus comienzos, su crecimiento, sus desafíos [Seventh-day Adventists in Latin America: their Beginnings, their Growth, their Challenges]” (doctoral thesis in ministry, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, 1993), 146.

[xiv] Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, 796; Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20

[xv] He arrived at Río Bay, Brazil, October 3, 1895 and from there he set off for Argentina the next day (Thurston, “Brazil”, 779).

[xvi] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20.

[xvii] Walton John Brown, “A Historical Study of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Austral South America”, 4 vols. (PhD thesis, University of Southern California, California, 1953), 1:101; “Misión del Plata”, El Faro 4, No. 5 (November 1900).

[xviii] Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, 796.

[xix] Mary T. Westphal, “Buenos Ayres”, Review and Herald 73, No. 12 (March 24, 1896): 187-188.

[xx] Wearner, “Lucy Post”, 19-20.

[xxi] Gay, “Post”, 7.

[xxii] Brown, “Historical Study”, 1:88.

[xxiii] Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, 796; Jean Vuilleumier, “Argentina”, Review and Herald 73, No. 15 (April 14, 1896): 236; Westphal, “Buenos Ayres”, 187-188.

[xxiv] Ibid., 1:101-102; Gay, “Post”, 7.

[xxv] Post, “Nueva Palmyra, Uruguay”, 796.