Show IN THE IOWA conference MARSHALL TOWN iowa feb aoth 1897 I 1 left salt lake city an august st 1896 in in com company oar ay iy with elders 1 I D and thomas waalace Wa wallace flace joseph smith john H bess and william R derr of granger and E J liddle of farmers ward after a ale pleasant amant journey of two days we arrived at kansas city where we met elders samuel G spencer eugene S hart C burton jr and willam will am F butt hile there I 1 had the pleasure of visit ing the temple lot at independence dence jackson county missouri in walking over this sacred spot I 1 felt that I 1 was on holy ground and in in my soul I 1 prayed that I 1 may be counted worthy to assist in building here the temple of the lord which in the future will proclaim the redemption demp tion of zion alter staying at kansas city two days I 1 went to hampton iowa arriving there about ii p m august ath I 1 felt rather loney lone on going into a strange city at as that was the first time I 1 ever had been away from my friends elder otto johnson our conference president with whom I 1 had been appointed to labor did not arrive until the day clay following follow ng so I 1 was the first mormon elder in hampton I 1 preached my first sermon it i it might be called in the baily opera house bouse in hampton on august to an audience of over a hundred people my labors for the first two months were with elder johnson in franklin county during that time we walked about labout lour four hundred fifty miles and visited about 1200 fa families miles we held but two meetings our opportunities being few in october I 1 went to tama county where I 1 labored with elder myron A holgate of Or derville utah for about a month we held six or seven meetings in that county but they were poorly attended the mayors of both tama and chelsea allowed us the use of the city halls at those places to meet in in november I 1 was sent with elder levi A colvin to labor in des moines this is about the size of salt lake city so there is plenty of room to work we met with very little opposition in des moine also very little interest the people seemed totally indifferent except here and there an old lady who thought we ought to be in better business since february ath I 1 have been laboring in marshalltown Marshall town a city of inhabitants with elder henry bisel ot VV woodland land utah we have not had much encouragement yet but feel like pressing on in in search of those lew few honest souls who are seeking truth I 1 find a great deal of prejudice u dice on account of false and wicked stories which have been scattered among the people leading many honest souls astray Pre prejudice iudice is being allayed where the people have become acqua acquainted iwed with the elders and have beten been willingto willing to beat truth the ministers are our worst evenue eleft 41 I 1 one told me yesterday that he bit i do all in his power against the work this city I 1 told him mormonism mormon asi come to stay and will roll until it fi the whole earth io in spite of all he can A he sneered at this but it only sho him to be of the same spirit as the jew who sneered christ this man has b j to utah but certainly not in search lmh ft truth for he be brings back many lahe orl ports one of which is that in INS 1885 85 sj i lake city and the whole terri territory t torr r utai was dominated by mormons cormons to th extent that a gentile scarcely dared dare his soul his own far fear of his ilk 1 such stories from a minister have great weight eight with the people about three fourths of the people pea where I 1 have labored outside of the cities are germans honest and hospital ho ble but terribly prie stridden the english speaking people are bund mostly among the wealthy who think it ft beneath their dignity to notice from the humble elders we are however getting a feat few honest souls to investigate and feel that the seeds we are now sowing in time jai ml bring forth fruit i DANIEL J MCRA i |