Show missionary letter from achan Ari as editor clipper in iii pursuance of a call made of me I 1 left salt lake city jan ath 1898 to fill a mission in the indian territory mission now the southwestern states mission two lays days after arriving rat at st john kansas I 1 was appointed to labor in the west arkansas conference then under the direction of pros pres F 1 L copening I 1 was there appointed to travel with elder E I 1 cox of nevada while gravelin traveling 0 with him we made many friends mot met some success and also met some people who were very bitter aye who would trample under their feet every vesti vestige ae or respect which all men owe to their fellow men and who would exert themselves to say and do anything against us which no true christian would even ever think of while there are some of this class there are also many warm friends who in my opinion will never embrace the true principles which we present to them but they are our friends nevertheless th eless they know we are gentlemen we are polite and desirous of doin doing 0 ta good rood and they know it by the course of our lives they can see the fruit and can therefore judge of the tree and know it is good we have some members here and they are very earnest and sincere and I 1 have heard them testify that they have experienced the power and influence of god they love the elders and pray for them only this morning in when I 1 left the home of a family of saints as I 1 was t going 0 out in the country again the little Z girls one 9 and the other 11 cried when I 1 bado bade them goodbye oh such love I 1 felt as thou though 0 h I 1 was leavi leaving 0 home but realizing the fact that thai others must have the gospel preached to them I 1 left knowing it was my duty although I 1 boni would ld liked to have stay stayed ed with them to comfort them the gospel 1 is a work of lovo our savior manifested this spirit all throng through gh his ministry and unless an ail elder has that same love ho he had better not try to preach the gospel of christ Cl irist because it is a part of the gospel A person that has never been on a mission cant realize the love that exists between the elders ciders it is a love not of this earth not a brotherly love as the earth is concerned not one of a blood relation but one which comes only by the spirit of god that eternal spiritual heavenly angelic love experienced only by those who are livin living t in with the will of god who are lab laboring in his cause and are ills its servants in in very deed this is the kind of a feeling that exists among tho the ellers elders in the missionary field oh kind reader can this feeling exist among za our people at home in utah and her surrounding states does it exist answer it y yourselves ourselves if it does not why not what is the cause Is it because we are too busy in our worldly affairs are we too avaricious inious are we trying M to accumulate property and money to such an extent that we cant live eve as good lives home as we can out here do we seek for the spirit of god as much at home as when we are in in the world we are a blessed people surrounded with every necessary of life in the peaceful valleys of the everlasting hills surrounded with friends of our own faith then had we not ought to b be a people who are thankful thanks ua and filled with love for our fellow man the bible tells us if we dont love our brother who we have seen we cannot love god whom we have not seen who is our brother are not we all brothers and sisters of that great family I 1 say most emphatically yes then friends brothers and sisters lot let us be saints in very deed not think that if we are baptised baptized sed and have bavo our names on the church books that is all that is required of us li having avin our names on the books will not save us or do us any good it is by being a true christian that will be profitable to us by keeping 0 the command in ants of our heavenly F father and complying ca with his will in every thin thing we all should remember that if we ever expect to arrive at perfection we must labor without co ceasing asing if wo we ever expect to gain the summit 01 of four our ambitions and desires or reach the top of fames hill it will be by coilin toiling daily through 0 thick and thin by climbing 0 through n the briars of opposition and persecution by jumping over the lo 10 logs s of disappointment and stubbing 0 our toes against the rocks of strife and prejudice by a continual unceasing 11 1 1 7 libor labor of gool doings 0 of combats and warfare against error armed with the sword of truth taking tailing these things an and facts into consideration and kii owing 0 they exist it helps to buoy an elder I 1 up when things appear dark and dull the ills and evil treatment we sometimes receive act as stimulants and often prove a blessing 7 to us if we never tasted fasted the bitter wo we appreciate the sweet the western arkansas conference which was under the direction of F L copening gaor for some months past until lie he was cal called calledo to kan kansas sas about two months ago since that time it has been under the direction of the mete elders ciders A V reese and J A larson until we convened in t conference may and I 1 there have been eighteen el eli ders laboring 0 in this conference the last two months they all came into ft smith looking and feeling well full fill I 1 of the spirit of their mission wm win T jack president of this mission in company with elder richardson and aured allred also arrived here may for the purpose of holding conference with us through the prejudice existing g we were unable to procure any house or church in which to hold conference however we obtained an office in the star building in in 10 which we could transact the business of the conference there being ing r sufficient room for all the elders we had some very good g 0 od and interesting priesthood meetings in 0 s there not N ot being bein 0 g able to procure c ure a house to ace omm the public it was necessary to preach upon the streets which was done friday saturday and sunday nights t wo also held a meeting in in a grove in a suburb of ft smith sunday morning may loth in the afternoon we held a testimony meeting in which every elder and three members bore strong testimonies which ought to have been sufficient for any person to know that the work is of god mr air morledge 0 the photographer r requested eques ted the elders to go to the postoffice post office so that he could get them ona on a card which was granted him saturday evening may he took tho the whole group of of twenty one on the north side of the U S courthouse court house building C after he had taken the negative the postmaster informed him that he thought it an act of intrusion upon public property and advised him not to finish the pictures prejudice but buethe the picture is finished just jus the same and any one who desires can get a picture of the twenty one lights n as the ft F t smith record calls us at the close of the conference throe three of the elders were sent to kansas and the remainder of us under und e r the t I 1 i e direction of our new conference president J A larson were matched in pairs and leave for our respective fields of labor in good 0 spirits after being fed with that spiritual food which we needed tit at our conference elder hyrum A grce IF ft smith ark may islay 1898 |