Show THE ANTIPODES GISBORNE poverty bay may ath pei deimit mit me to insert a few lines in the NEWS which may be ot of interest to the elders who have returned to zion and possibly to others of your many readers 1 I charles H embley left my home at gunnison sanpete county november i uth ith 1893 and arrived in auckland per steamship Mo conowal Mon owai nowal december fth was assigned by president stewart to labor in the huranga district gisborne being the headquarters where 1 I arrived december irth and nave have labored here since that time the first month wah with edgar best of salt lake city one year and three months with mith james E fisher of meadow millard county and with jacob E my present companion since his arrival i he here re from home november 1894 during my stay I 1 have made many friends both europeans and mabries Ma ories and a few converts principally amon among 9 the natives as I 1 have a maori mission I 1 have traveled tra veed thousands ot of miles since leaving home last year alone 1895 I 1 traveled miles of which was by steamer the rest on horse back and on oil foot I 1 have attended five hui tau or annual conferences three for the the part of this island and two for the northern I 1 have attended nine semiannual conferences and have seen many people good bad and indifferent among both black and white I 1 will not take up space to describe country climate animals and maori people as you have all heard but I 1 will say that the maoris laoris are a very hospitable hosoi table people and a person will not starve among them the only thing that would deprive pr i ve one irom from batin eating g would be the kind of food and the manner in which it is cooked I 1 have received fairly good treatment during the whole of my stay in order that I 1 may not be too lengthy lin in my letter to you this time I 1 will just mention a fe few w of the events from march marc h of the present year as it was the da date te of our beloved presidents arrival in in gisborne from auckland on his way f to tamaki to attend the hui tau Z fro from m the ath of march president wm win gardner and I 1 visited the greater part of the huranga anga district which is composed pa sed of tour four branches we were kept on the go holding mee meetings discussions visiting and giving general instructions in which we were very successful the lord would send just enough opposition in our gatherings to bring up sub ejects and scripture that taht otherwise would not ot have been presented thereby portraying more clearly the beauties of truth mormonism president gardner never failed to leave his good fatherly advice and to plant within the hearts ot of all who met him a welcome return or reunion all like myself are sorry to have to part with him so soon but I 1 guess others are yearning his good presence on that side of the briny deep e and I 1 think he is willing to go so we cannot deta detain in him here much longer all feel to sav god bless crottier Br gardner or I Wi rimu as the natives call him elder john johnson our mission clerk arrived here from auckland march nth and was met by elder they remain in gisborne and vicinity till the irth when the elders from the district R E scott and J A M jacobsen join us and we all go on to te muriwai where the huranga conference convened march irth at io 10 a in present from zion president william gardner secretary john johnson R E scott joseph jacobsen charles H embley and jacob E although the congregation was small seventy five natives the spirit of go god was poured out in rich abundance and we bad a good time plenty of 1 kai food and accommodation the conference lasted two days during which seven meetings were held one baptism and one child blessed the above named elders and the following na tives were the speakers te deepa ma tanoai te Wi rihana hemi Koro hine batenga Ma wi pai tarewa karewa turi dipene loach te hau hemi karova and bruera Tai tuba besides fifteen 1 l monies in a meeting tor for that purpose I 1 the instructions were varied and good I 1 to abstain from evils such as witchcraft witchery gambling and the works of the flesh such as are recorded in gala fians v 19 ai 21 to be firm and faithful to the end exhorted to cleanliness and to take care of the bodies that god had blessed us with urged as many as possible to attend the annual conference and a goodly number did attend thus the huranga conference closed with a general good fee ing and a looking forward to 10 the one to be held at te mahia the following lol lowing week I 1 could not let brother johnson son go without visiting some of my our best friends among whom is the warner family at te karaka thirty miles distance so we went and it is needless to say that we had a good time for we cannot go there without it although the warner family does not belong to the church they are christians and friends to 10 the elder eiders and we need pot not go past pasi there hungry many an enjoy aule aole evening we have spent there some times eleven of us at a time they are just such people as will wili make good latter day saints if they come into the church Chur churchard chand and I 1 hope they will when we got back to te muriwai Mur iwai president gardner and elder had gone elders scott and jacobsen were awaiting our return so on the irth we four crossed over the tae mountain to macanga Ma hanga thirty three miles mile sand and friday the aoth we arrived at the place for the mahia mabia conference and the place where the annual conference was held in 1894 from which the maori saints went to Z on saturday march aist over natives were on the ground ready for the first meeting which convened at io 10 a in they were coming in from all direction which gave it much the appearance of an annual conference in fact it was as large as the one held there two years ago other than at that were twenty four elders from zion while at this w have but eight notwithstanding we were one third the number I 1 enjoyed myself equally as well and evey everybody body felt to rejoice both saints and outsider the latter did the more tomake to make it a success they really deserve great praise for their enthusiasm in contributing to our happiness and comfort many of them were relatives of hiram Wha anga the maori chief who went to utah two years previous and they insisted on having the annual conference held there next year in commemoration of the departure of their father and chief saying that they would bear the burden of the cost and labor they even sent a delegation to tamaki to induce the saints to hold the next hui tau there but it failed I 1 hope the lord will bless them for their effort and that they may be brought into the church of christ securing for themselves eternal salvation to cut the report short we had a time of rejoicing not to be forgotten good instructions every one spoke with a vim being prompted by the he right spirit nothing was left unsaid which should have been said we had all the kai kaii of the best quality that we could eat and plenty leit tit for another such gathering wi we wire blessed abundantly throughout the whole conference of six meetings one baby was blessed the following are the names of the speakers president william gardner secretary john johnson james C allen alien and jarno james N lambert bert tic te mahia el ders R E scott and J A na M jacobsen from charles el embley and jacob E from huranga Tu rana ranga natives te Rangi tere wi te cihi catene auka Kar aitiana te Ahi wera chaka ngaro angaro poi poi hoani hoane ibaraki taua tare mete wi te Rewa rewa and te naera 0 tutu and te rahele from huranga Tu ranga besides forty one spoke in the testimony meeting of the fiert day president gardner incited them to attend the hui tau thus ended an other of the very good conferences so prevalent anong us maoris laoris in new zealand president gardner went back to gisborne in company with brother john johnsin johnsa n and some natives and on the went on steamship floa to tamaki were six elders and five na tives proceeded on horse hoase back to the same place where we arrived in due time and enjoyed ourselves together in general conference which hats been reported by the clerk of the mission john johnson let this suffice for this time yours ever praying for the welfare of zion HARIE HARE |