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Show ! TEMPLE rND TftBLRNftGLE,. (MMUtll.VVVVVll At the commencement of the year, Cache Valley had 1S9 missionaries out in the field. The largest Sunday school in the church is that at Lehi, Utah County, with an enrollment of 1,257 officers, teachers and scholars; the next is that at St. George, which number 707; East Bountiful, Cedar City and Tleasaut Grove have all more than 600 attendants. attend-ants. The annual general con ferenco of the church will commence on Thursday, April the 0th, and close on Sunday, April the 9th. Saturday will be devoted de-voted to priesthood meetings. On Sunday Sun-day evening the semi-annual meeting of the Deseret Sunday School Union will be held. Elders Wood, Jeppson and Quinney, of the Samoan mission, left there on January 24, visited three islands of the Friendly group, thence proceeded to New Zealand, where they attended the. conference at KiriUiri; They left for Sydney on February 13. On February 24, they expect to leave Australia for home, traveling by way of 'Wellington, Fiji, Honolulu and Vancouver. The quarterly conference of the Salt Lake stake of Zion was opened in tbe tabernacle at 10 a, m., Sunday, March 12. Prayer was offered by William B. Preston, followed by the reading of the minutes of the last priesthood meeting. Thirty-five teachers and priests were sustained and promoted to elders. Elder Claudius V. Spencer delivered a few remarks, during the course of which he deplored a lack of fidelity , among many Latter-day Saints, in an unfavorable contrast to the condition of the church in the old days. President Angus M. Cannon delivered a discourse, taking up tho sinister influence of scandal-mongers, who, ho said, were the worst people in the world. He spoke of the existence of backbiters, and warned the poople to be careful of them. Counselor Joseph E. Ta3'lor spoke of the peace and harmony among the high, priests, and said that the general condition con-dition of the church is satisfactory, although there are many things which they wished could be otherwise. The benediction was pronounced by N. V. Jones. A very large congregation attended the afternoon session, whsch was opened at 2 o'clock with selections by the choir, followed with prayer by Apostle Golden Kimball. Elder C. W. Penrose presented tho authorities of the church, all of whom were sustained. A list of home missionaries mis-sionaries was proposed and sustained. Tho following statistical report of the Salt Lake stake for the year was received nnd ordered filed: Membership Member-ship of first presidency, 3; apostles, 0; patriarchs, 14; high priests, 531 ; seventies, seven-ties, 1,015; elders. 2,097; priests, 525; teachers, 005; deacons, 2,391; members, 29,281; children under 8, 9,278; total 38,550. Elder Penrose said that harmony existed ex-isted throughout the stake and that tho church is stronger than ever before. He said most of the Latter-day Saints are good, some are not so good, and a few are bad. He lifted a warning voico against the allurements of the city, which are leading some astray. President Joseph V. Smith delivered the discourse of the afternoon, opening with a reference to his recent trip to the Sandwicli islands, the scene of his first missionary labors. The work in the islands was never before in a better condition. In speakingof the traits of the natives, he said they were very steadfast in clinging to tho church and that they exhibited a remarkable familiarity fa-miliarity with tho Bible. Referring to home missionary work, the apostle said that some had been dropped from the list of home missionaries, mission-aries, but that they should not fc;l hurt, as they are only honorably discharged. dis-charged. The changes had been made so that all would have the experience of the work. Selections were read from the book of Doctrine and Covenants, Cove-nants, showing that the people must put God first in order to qualify them to be apostles of Jesus Christ nnd faithful faith-ful members of the churc h. Every member should enter into a covenant to honor God and love his neighbor un himself. Truth should lie placed ahead of every th inc. Obedienee to tiie laws of God is truth. Von must forgive your neighbor who trespasses against you. even three times. How inn jestic and powerful we would bo if we obeyed these laws; how despicable and mean we must appear in the f'3'es of God when we put on the contentions of the world. We cannot afford to quarrel and be angered; we must be reconciled with our brother. The man with this spirit will never be found in a saloon and among corrupt men, but he will choose, to assiyjiate with the pure and honorable. Elder Kichard T. Haag, instructor at the Weber Stake academy, expects to leave about April the 15th for Germany, where he will act as transolator, etc, at the church office at Hamburg. In six-sevenths of the stakes of Zion more than ninety percent of the children child-ren of the saints attend the church Sunday schools. In Bannock, Juarez, Kanab, Oneida, San Juan, Snowflake, Star Valley and Wayne, all the children child-ren may be said to belong to the Sunday Sun-day schools, the percentage of non-attendants being so exceedingly small. |