Show FROM mississippi ELDER WRITES AN INTI I 1 editor di tor THE ROUNDUP ROUND UP dear sir As some six months have passed since I 1 last wrote to your paper I 1 again take pleasure in informing your many readers that in company with the rest of my mississippi brethren I 1 am working with a strong desire to lift our fellow man from the gutter of spiritual darkness into which they have been plunged through the withdrawal of the gospel in its ful fill ness the longer I 1 stay with the people of the south the greater my respect and love for them becomes and I 1 dont believe I 1 exaggerate when I 1 say that fur for a god fearing people with strong reverence for the the people of mississippi are unsurpassed all the good people are not found in any one denomination neither do all of the good people welcome the elders into their homes it has been truly s said laid that self preservation is the first law of nature and so many base rumors have been circulated about us as a people that many feel that the only safe plan for them is to leave us strictly alone I 1 am pleased to say however that during my short stay in the south the mountains of prejudice and slander are fast disappearing before the humble but persistent efforts of the elders accompanied by the melting influence of the spirit about the ath of M may ay my companion and I 1 met elder parrish in the northwest corner of jones county his companion having left at sanders ville for home on account of sickness of his wife after holdin holding cr several meetings in jones county the three of us took passage on the mississippi grip and umbrella freight for sturges a distance of some miles where our conference was to convene on the and the weather was quite pleasant for this section of the united states the nights being cool the farmers were complaining 0 as the cool nights retarded the cotton crop we held licud meetings as opportunities occurred and had the satisfaction of leading four honest souls into the water of baptism these people previous vio us to meeting our elders had not been taught the necessity of keeping their bodies clean and pure from the narcotics so abundant in this section of the country and it was indeed gratifying to see the humility and earnestness manifested by them in taking upon themselves the name of christ and truly repenting of their former evil habits I 1 am impressed with the belief that if we have faith not nothing liln g will be impossible unto us as the greatest of all teachers expressed el it we arrived at sturges one day before conference began and passed the time lime visiting companions and friends from different parts of the lords vineyard and only those who have had the experience can appreciate the situation on saturday we held three public meetings and two on sunday the doctrines of christ being treated upon in an able manner by the elders the audience was very attentive and kept splendid order monday was occupied by the elders reporting the result of their labors they said that the methods employed were a great improvement since last conference as greater success was attending their efforts among the people elder attended from the chattanooga office the state of pros pres kimballs Kim balls health prevented him coming we were given some good instructions and our names together with those of our travelling tra velling companions read assigning us to our several fields of labor founty three elders attended conference and we were royally entertained by saints and friends tuesday found us on the road to our various fields of labor feeling that recreation was over for the present and that we must again face the stern realities of missionary life four of us spent a couple of days in a neighboring town where there were some saints and friends we organized a branch of the church but his satanic majesty showed his cloven hoof by burning down an arbor which had been erected for us to hold services in and by collecting quite a number of his followers with the expressed intention of driving us and our converts from their midst nothing however of a serious nature happened and we are in hopes that upon serious reflection the more responsible will seethe see the error of their ways elder caldrell caldw Cald Nell ell and I 1 were appointed to labor in wayne co and we met I 1 iders elders maycock and bunting near the county line maycock and I 1 myself going to the county seat to tract tile the same and make our message known to them the county seat scat is waynesboro Wayne boro a turpentine center where train loads of spirits of turpentine and rosin is shipped to different parts of the united states we were kindly received by the mayor and given the privilege of tr acting the city the officials and people seemed quite friendly receiving our literature gurewith with but one exception an old lady who hesitated in accepting the tract and then tore it up in our presence and threw the pieces over the fence saying she had enough the weather has become becom very every warm the past ten days melons are getting ripe corn tufting out roasting ears being green and nice please change address to waynesboro wayne co mississippi and accept my thanks for your lively little paper I 1 wish you success in your enterprise ter prise and with best wishes to all people of the HYRUM waynesboro Way wayne neCo co miss june 20 1897 |