This book, the third of a trilogy bears a unique title Arga do Bona ni Pinasa which meaningfully similar to the English
proverb "Home is Best." The title is adopted from the song which was composed by Lamsana Lumbantobing, Daniel's seconf
son-in-law. Given in Batak language this title speaks about feelings of attachment to the homeland that no matter how
far one has traveled is nothing compared to the beauty of his or her homeland. That was how Reverend Lamsana, in his
retirement days, felt about his homeland Tano Batak (Tapanuli)-having traveled to many parts of the "world".
Lamsana married Hulda, one of Nommensen's "granddaughters" from the Daniel-Maria couple, two of central figures
in Book I of this trilogy. He was serving as a native minister when he decided to leave the Batak Mission in the beginning
of the 1910's as a result of a dispute with his immediate superior in Parparean, North Sumatra.
He then served as a teacher at a seminary managed by the Methodust Episcopal Church (MEC) in Singapore, and later was transferred to Buitenzorg (now Bogor)
and then Batavia (now Jakarta)
in 1913. Later on, MEC leader promoted him to a full-fledged Reverend. Thus Lamsana Lumbantobing was then the
first Batak Methodist reverend and the second native one in their respective countries within South East Asian area.
The enthusiastic urge of the song Arga do Bona ni Pinasa was also the reason why Reverend Lamsana in his old-age
retirement in Tarutung, Silindung, was interrogated by the colonial secret police with the spirit of nationalism, disguisedly
reflected in the lyrics of the song. Indeed it was his tenderly affectionate appeal to the learned Batak migrants, especilaly
the succesful ones, not to forget to return to their homeland and to develop it for the benefit of generation to come.
