Show THE ITALIAN MIS star aar BAPTISMS af WORK t uit Ang rogna vallee AA d lucerne Lu serne piedmont marchi march 1854 85 i I 1 sear dear brother S W ric richards I 1 4 I 1 have e I 1 now been laboring one year among the wal densest denees during which time ato I 1 have become somewhat acquainted with their condition m anners and customs knowing yo you u are deeply interested in the work of jagod which is now assuming i i a prominent position in the world and attracting the attention atten Mom of many peo people ale I 1 forward you von the following brief sketch of roy my giai mission iain in this country the put past year has haa been a remarkable one to me as well as to the church in general the lord has been with me and has not only blessed me in mv my m ministerial in is ter ia 1 duties dutie s but ut has as vre preserved served me from those who have sought I 1 I 1 dinv inv my hurt since I 1 last wrote persecutors li have ve made strenuous but fruitless efforts to dome do me violence I 1 have bad many apparently gentl narrow escapes from the hands of my enemies enemies one day as I 1 was leaving the village where had been preaching I 1 was closely el pur pursued sued for a considerable distance by two rough f fellows who cast stones at me as thoy they ran large stones have often come hissing by me with great force but I 1 have not yet I 1 received the first blow for which I 1 feel blank thankful to my heavenly father I 1 know it has not been be by mere chance that I 1 have not fallen A victim to the rame rage of ungodly and principled men be before f 0 re I 1 had bad any idea that thai should be sent to italy the lord showed me in is a dream that I 1 bad got a foreign mission mission to perform would be as a hot furnace but I 1 wits was given to understand lahat bat the flames bames would not hurt me inasmuch ai as I 1 would be faithful the more experience I 1 get in the church I 1 the more I 1 see the goodness of th thi lord 1 manifested in my I 1 behalf which fills my heart I 1 with gratitude to god and gives give me ardent desires to serve him faithfully and I 1 to labor diligently in his vineyard I 1 h have gained much experience since I 1 came to this country which 1 sh shall all find to he be of great utility in years i to come athas it has een been with much pleasure tha hat t I 1 have labored with elder woodard from whose wise counsels I 1 and teachings I 1 have derived much benett benefit but as he is tiow now going goin up to dziob I 1 am to know that I 1 am under tbt presidency ot of elder ste Sien home A great majority of the people among 0 these mountains ara ar very verv ignorant mn orant they 1 hy are arb considerably behind ah the e umeki limea i a gi great reat portion of them can neither read nor nor write and a 1 ud many of them do not know any language they ont only speak a dialect many of hr thir dwellings have ave no glass in the windows paper Pape rind and sheep skins are used as aa a substitute s tit ut e for glass a ip P M my y travels chave I 1 have often met women going g into t 0 the fields to till the ground carrying g cradle and child with them ittem and some dimps I 1 have seen them who overtaken by a storm catch up cradle and child on their shoulder and run to seek esak a place of shelter I 1 I 1 the generality 0 of the peasants are miserably poor there are some somer rich iob people eople here but buc none of them bavei have as aa yet had g d courage to obey the gospel I 1 often think of the words of jesus how hardly shall they that have riches enter into kingdom the of god 1 I 1 have preached in m thep arbra of the rich in in the humble I 1 cottages of the peasants in schoolrooms school rooms and in stables among tile the cuttle cattle w where he i e the people assemble ashable in the eve evenings pings for the sake of the warmth I 1 have slept in in the chambers of the rich as i well as in the hovels of the poor iid and sometimes elm my entertainers have been so poor that they have baye not been able to pl provide ovide me with a ved bed in afi sequence of which I 1 have been conducted into nl barns to take rh my 7 repose E ose on bayana hay and straw where here I 1 have often fren been een awakened b by y the cold night winds as they have swept over my f face but I 1 have fielt felt thankful thania al that th at I 1 had a cover over my my head bead during the severe weather this winter I 1 have often been obliged to sleep in stables among the cattle as it has been too cold to sleep in in barns formerly the weye were driven by persecution from tase tb ese valleys and they found an I 1 asylum in switzerland bat they t ey were soon led back byone of their minis ministers on aT arriving riving in their native va villes levs they assembled in the open air and aw swore ore they would die before they would change heir religion or again quit thir th ir edu country this day is annu annually alry celebrated by the ih inhabitants 4 bit a t s of 0 f these valleys val leya they assemble on the spot where their forefathers stood and hold a sort of camp meeting 10 1 at t the he lust hist anni anniversary there were a great number assembled vo to celebrate the rahle rable day 1 tha th reverend gentlemen who ed I 1 assembly s knowing tatt th it manyin I 1 their valleys had been baptized baptised sed i imo to the march church of lesu s christ of litter diy aay Sif saints ints and fe g thit that osheia a wu would d 4 do like likewise vise seized 1 zed the opportunity iuni ty to exhort i thew their hearers hea aers not t tp change their religion mi ion but cleave to that faith which their ce fore fat feers had bad sworn to maintain nuin tahi 2 many ay of the people will not believe anything that I 1 is I 1 not believed in bj byr their heir religious leaders but still there are those w who ho are determined to use their own judgment i in relation to religion as well as other matters inspire in spite of t the difficulties against which this mission has to struggle and the opposition with whick chit it has hap to io contend the work wor k of the lord has been kad and still is onward mel I feel assured thata brighter d day sy I 1 is 13 damping upon the inhabitants of this dark and benighted jand I 1 have baptized baptised sed Abd several since I 1 last wrote and many others are are investigating in vesti gating the work tile the saints ara ar increasing in faith I 1 and knowledge and they rejoice iri in the glorious hope 1 of one day assembling sem bling with t the body of the Cha church in zion zio n b but 4 t they a are re determined aped to wait waif patiently until the day of deliverance comes during murii g the few years I 1 have had experience ex mi ene e in tra velling and preaching this I 1 have often thou thought 0 allt of the wor words adt which an angel said to the prophet joseph at the opening of this last dispensation those hose who who are 13 ot built upon the rook rock will seek io to 0 overthrow v alrow the church bu but it will increase the more opposed of posed an and spread farther I 1 and farther 1 have seen these words liter literacy aljy fulfilled both in england and i in it this country t r v aad aad 4 as rike ike causes produce like effects v expect x act to see the he church spread abroad I 1 tin until it h has as crushed beneath its unive universal asal prevalence every thin thing that opposes s for the lord I 1 will cry carry on il his wor untie all israel are saved i until peace joy and I 1 R uess bess shall abound over olvar all the garth earth ahl when superstition su oppression and misery shall be in the records of the I 1 bast that that I 1 blessed day may soon I 1 come is is the prayer of I 1 yur affectionate brother in ia the gewand new and everl asti cerv cervant tnt I 1 aj J D avron KB P PS S it is fine weaker here but bat we hive have had a severe bevere winter frost has continued the winter with but little cessation A short time ago we were visited hj by gales of hot hoi wind which came from africa and caused much 9 show now and ice to disappear I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 G D K I 1 |