Mr. Ronald was a Christian gentleman and a gospel pioneer. We are sure that he could have written a book about his labors in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
There are four simple, yet outstanding words that have characterized our brother’s life and labors. He had a willingnessto share and suffer for the sake of the gospel. Only those men who labored closely with him will know the full extent of this. Mr. Ronald was marked by faithfulness. This included every area of his life: he was faithful to God, to God’s Word, to his wife and family, as well as to the assembly. He was marked by lowliness. Rarely did he speak of himself but constantly had His Lord before him. He was also marked by thoroughness. This lovely trait was seen in his visitation work. Never was a house or a farm passed over as he worked large areas of the province in door to door labors.
While Mr. Ronald had a keen interest in the gospel in a general sense, he was always asking about the work of others. He took a real interest in our work by visiting us in St. Lucia. Upon hearing that God opened doors here in Manitoba with the Hutterite colonies, his words were, “Thank God.” He was often moved to tears when he learned of so many coming to the Savior and of those who had left the colonies and were now part of the assembly gatherings.
The life of this gospel pioneer has now come to an end, and he has left us a rich heritage. It is required in those of us who are younger to pick up the torch and to walk in his steps. The Lord’s own words in Luke 10:2, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest,” would have been a constant prayer of Mr. Ronald.
Would to God that with the home -call of Mr. Ronald, another gospel worker, there would be burning in our souls a desire to continue the work.
