Show INDIAN TERRITORY MISSION since our last report which terminated with Ver permission mission to proselyte among the seminoles Semi noles and chickasaws we have made some nome favorable developments among the latter the warm eason which followed was a vey un favorable one for the 14 eldore iders and not much was accomplished their labors were mostly confined to the old fields until sickness overcame some of them wad and notwithstanding our efforts to keep a full working force in the mission and to retain sufficient experience to pr per the work we were left with ewt one experienced elder in the gold field in october four elders were added ami aji in december three more came wow now we nave have eight in all who have in we this short period done considerable traveling besides continuing their labors as an usual in the be old melds fields cro kee and choctaw nations explorations have been made into the interior of the chickasaw cotI country unlike the cold reception received by the pioneers of the cherokee nation the elders w 0 o far have met with lo 10 a very warm welcome mostly among the better class of indiana in par r we make honorable mention of the family of ex governor harris Harria who have opened their house bouee to the elders and their hearts to the investigation of the gospel el the elders feel elated with the prospects and are very much encouraged after allowing tor for enthusiasm and the falling away of untried friends we yet have a better showing than we have hitherto bit berto had bad among other tribes our labors re different froma from those of the the gentiles where they appe 1 to the reason of the people and leave them with their testimony we must be content with fewer actual or apparent results at present and instead af f expecting them to show their faith by obedience we are obliged to reverse things from the general the works ourselves anil and establish the permanency necessary to create cosi COB fl fi dence deuce for over three quarters of a century the various denominations have been among the civilized tribes sectarian izing them the result of which we nave have to meet from the earliest period of our experience among them we have felt dissatisfaction from the fact that we were not permanently situated other denominations have mission schools on which have been expended large sums of money church bou bouses es and parsonages personages nages what other have done they think we ought to imitate many have avowed their interest in our affairs and the doctrine we teach saying that if we would build a meeting house they would contribute towards its erection and help to inake make our co gre gation prior to the last Jegl legislature slature which convened in november 1891 arrangements were made for a petition asking the C council fora for a tract of land on which to build a house of worship and establish a parsonage our petition was unavoidably detained and by the time it was presented present td chief J B mays died and our warm friend brother in law to mr hendricks Hendri As distant chief henry chambers followed As soon as the chief J C harris who was elected by the coun ell took his seat he be was confined to big bia bed and the council adjourned without developing anything in our favor As a remarkable circumstance I 1 may say that a full blooded cherokee predicted the death of two chiefs and two assistant chiefs previous to the last council session on arriving in the indian territory on january lot of last year I 1 readily observed the interest made manifest by the people in this movement and felt impressed im pressed that we ought to do a tom tern horary or preparatory work william H hendricks Hendri offered the free use of sufficient nt ground on which to build as well as to contribute liberally to the erection of our proposed meeting house we accepted the proposition and selected a beautiful spot adjoining the claim we propose asking the council for we dedicated it and have commenced work the building will necessarily be small but sufficient for the present development of affairs and a fair test of the people before we venture further it will be invaluable as a residence and part of a parsonage when we shall in the kind providence of our fether in heaven get a grant of land on which to permanently manent ly establish ourselves the former indian territory missionaries present elders and saints saint and friends will erect the present one contributions are coming ia freely and our friends for sixty miles distant are willing to assist we effected a complete organization among the EIder shaving a traveling presiding elder over tue tiie whole field two division presidents secretary assistant secretary treasurer and assistant treasurer the latter position sister hendricks occupies in ful ailment of a dream given her previous ly Jy which she related after having been set apart our first conference will be held october of this year the spirit of inquiry seems to be taking hold bold of the people in our old field littero letters have been received by our friend mr hendricks asking for information and the whereabouts of the elders desiring them to come while there is an indifference on the part of the people generally as to obeying the gompel yet when the elders absent themselves for a short abort time they begin to get anxious while we do not expect to accomplish much by way of baptism until the spirit of the lord works with the Lama we are sure that much good is being done and an inroad spade made to the hearts of the people which is ia bound to tell in our favor sooner or later besides erecting our meeting houm bouse among the cherokees cherokee and continuing about as usual we have hare commenced the labor of seeing and familiarizing ourselves with the chief life his assistant eighteen senators and doity representatives scattered over the entire cherokee nation we hope not only to got get their united sentiment in favor of our petition when presented but to lay jay before the heads of the nation the principles of the gospel we have quite a number of members in that vicinity but jack male members of whom to make leaders of an organization we can now operate from four to six elders in the cherokee nation all the time in the choctaw country we have several members we hope not only to keep up our usual labors but add a few to the fold and extend our labors considerably further we can operate tour elders there in the ahe chickasaw nation we hope besides quite extensively before hot weather t succeed in establishing a headquarters where our elders can locate and avoid those long and prostrating pro walks to and from our present home in the aou thein n part martof of the cherokee nation four elders can be used to advantage here the seminole nation will be our next field which we hope to open up before our next report the catholic minister former agent over the dosages has been removed we hope now to gain access to that nation and as far as practicable the remnants of other tribes or blanket indians we have not been able to use much of a force but carefully by degrees firmly establishing ourselves as we go have opened up and developed the MiS mission we see no reason why there should not be from five to seven elders added to the field in the fall the short mission of elder M W dalton and myself this january has and will no doubt result in good the people had bad an idea that once away all ah interest in them had ended and to see us sigal again n gave them renewed hopes and confidence in visiting our old friends and conversing with the people we talked plainly but kindly concerning their duty of obedience to the they seem to sense it but for some reason shirk the responsibility in parting we left them with tender and peculiar feelings only understood by who have passed through a similar experience realizing your anxiety for the welfare of that and other fields you do not want to see labor lost and will no doubt feel that we are not accomplishing shing much while apparent re aults evince this fact we feel greatly en encouraged cou raged judging from the cold indifference and lack of interest made manifest in the past contrasting that with the present outlook the prospects are favorable even yet to natural observation things look dull and many would become discouraged I 1 feel to continue and aad recommend that we do not relax our efforts nor retract our steps we have labored hard to get so far let us hold on and prove the promises of the elders that the people shall not be left with without out their society I 1 sincerely entreat you my brethren in behalf of those people that you bear with them with patience charity and long suffering while we are searching after and prefer to labor among the house bouse of israel the indiana we cannot loose sight night of the great and constantly increasing field among the white people aw yi I 1 herewith present a showing as taken from a report made to congress february alth 1891 1 i 0 1 aop i sa 8 ro ass as H W S P ab sa ft A an a aa 0 i S N s X g 8 9 a 0 n s Q 3 q ka H 0 I 1 M 5 a 11 1 1 0 uj mj i i 0 P g 5 t 2 I 1 art s a y E 4 ia boo ass 1 13 l h 1 2 V co iss ass 1 soa Q N 0 om s i S 4 s 0 eil J ai H 01 OI L S a 4 2 D soa aca 04 ao s a i 00 8 go 0 besides the above mentioned civilized semi bemi civilized and blanket tribes of colored and white people I 1 there Js ie the territory of oklahoma as B a part of the indian territory with an inhabitance of about sixty five thousand on an acreage of land of a little over one and a half million the cherokees have negotiated the sale male of a strip adjoining that of oklahoma containing over five million acres when confirmed by congress and thrown open for settlement at least one hundred thousand persons in the near future will avail themselves of homes in fifteen months after the oklahoma country was thrown open the ceaf census jus showed sixty two thousand there are about five and one half millions of aggressive progressive progress surging and ever changing population principally to and from the four states Ar arkansas kausas colorado kansas kaneas and texas and the territory of new mexico a large number of whom with longing eyes i turn to these theme fair lands landd for homes hitherto denied them supplement K for some sometime time I 1 have desired to re turn to the indian territory but until this his last winter it seemed almost impossible possible for me to do so depending aa I 1 do upon my employment for a livelihood the way was opened for a short mission elder M W dalton of willard who had performed two missions in that land and still filled with interest and love for the people in pre preparing parina for a visit to the east and ana europe for foi the purpose of collecting genealogical data accepted of an invitation vi to accompany me on his bis way east we accordingly left here december arriving in our old field january let we busied ourselves ours elvea visiting our old friends and in meeting with and counseling the elders and saints saint commenced the work of erecting a meeting house bouse and effected an 03 organization among the elders we accod accomplished all we expected to in the limited time we had bad time would not permit of our setting out in new fields we feel as am above stated that much good was done the mission needled needed such a visit and will no doubt prosper better from the effects of it my kind M employers players gave a leave of absence of five weeks or more it if I 1 needed it but not wishing to overreach over reach my lages to their detriment nor to detain brother dalton longer I 1 returned rf home on the slat of january 1692 and elder dalton to his visit eastward i we are feeling greatly encouraged and blessed by our trip and have the catle faction of knowing that others were likewise blessed by the same 1 I ever desiring the disposition to work for the welfare of zion MOD your brother in the gospel ANDREW KIMBALL president of the indian mission |