Show TRAVELING IN TENNESSEE decatur county tennessee nov nth 1896 while sitting in a good warm house listening to the rain beat upon the root roof my thoughts run cun back to my many friends and associates whom 1 I have left tor for the gospels sake and as time will not permit me to correspond with them all I 1 will just drop a few lines to your valuable paper as I 1 have the as aurance that all of my friends are readers thereof during the latter part of september elder wotton and myself were met by elder young our president and elder huntington in warren county where we held several well attended meetings after we had closed a series of meetings three honest souls presented themselves for or baptism after attending to this sacred ordinance we started for de kalb county the first thing we did after arriving there was to get out appointments point ments for a meeting we had very good audiences to listen to the gospel truths we taught the saints their duties and I 1 am sure that they felt much better alter after being fed with spiritual food from there we made our way into putman county and there we organized a branch of the church we also held a meeting and the spirit of god was made manifest greatly in our midst while holding meetings the spirit would rest down upon the congregation in such power that the tears would roll down the cheeks of the faithful saints and oh how good it makes a humble elder feel to see and feel such a spirit on the people he is talking to from there I 1 was called to go into henderson county a distance ot of about two hundred miles elder naylor accompanied compa nied me as far as nashville from there I 1 was to take the journey alone to perry county I 1 thought that I 1 would have to make the trip 0 on f foot of but I 1 prayed that I 1 might find a chance to ride some of the way and my prayers atre heard and answered as a lady gave me 80 80 cents and I 1 rode on the train far as it held out from the station I 1 went to shady grove and stopped over night and then started out for henderson county I 1 had walked until after dinner time and I 1 became very tired so I 1 retired to a secret place in the woods and knelt and asked the lord to guide me to a place where I 1 could ge get t dinauer and also to open up the way that I 1 might be able to get a ride also I 1 again started out with faith that my prayers would be answered I 1 had not gone far when I 1 was impressed to go to a house which I 1 did and there 1 got a good dinner after I 1 had satisfied my hunger I 1 started on my journey and a gentleman overtook me in a buggy and asked me to get in and ride which I 1 was glad to do I 1 rode with him about fifteen miles rhe next day I 1 found elder ashcroft Asb croft in perry county and we soon started out tor for henderson county we went into lexington the county seat fasting and praying and without purse or scrip crip s it wits was getting along towards evening when we arrived there and the spirit directed us to a place where we could stay over night the family being of the reorganized church they treated us very kindly the next day we went to work trying to get a building to preach in but failing in this we notified the people that we would preach on the street comer we got the protection of the sheriff and mayor so we accord ing to appointment preached at night on the street and at the close of the meeting a gentleman stepped up to us and said he would get us a room at the hotel which he did while we were going to the place of retirement another gentleman stepped up and said he would get a room the following night the mayor of the city also invited us to supper we canvassed this city without purse or scrip and never missed a meal and I 1 must say we were treated very kindly but we acknowledge lege the hand of god in this and every other blessing conferred upon us I 1 am now in decatur county doing a good work making friends on nearly every hand we are sowing seed that will bring forth orth a good harvest in the lords own due time I 1 would like to say a few words to my young companions at home in regard to this work when home I 1 often thought that the lord did it all in the mission field but on arriving here I 1 found my mistake young frit friends rids prepare yourselves for this work by attending to your meetings and studying the scriptures for useful knowledge this being a great blessing to our elders for water cannot be brought from an empty vessel do not idle your time away for this is a last fast age and all elders should and can be to a great extent prepared to cope with the wisdom of man by being in in possession ot of things pertaining to god love and best wishes to all that are engaged in this work I 1 would like to bear near from all my friends S S SANDERSON |