| Show PREACHING IN THE SOUTH the follows following ng communication was recently deceived ed from elder eder 1 G kimball for publication in the NEWS daviner received letters written by several elders laboring in the So southern uthera states mission irom from elder eider elias S kird gioi ball who is presiding over said mission it is desired that portions of said lette letters be made public the object being to show latter day saints that the faith enjoyed by the ancient saints and by bi U elders of the church of jesus christ or of latter day saints still exists and what can be accomplished by fasting and prayer second that friends can be made frayer for or elders who travel without purse or scrip third that the words of the et wilford woodruff are fulfilled viz vix that the bitterness and hatred is beav taken out of the hearts of the childr childred chil drep of men fourth that oung boung men ate teace teaching ing the latter day saints the value of following the counsel and beant obedient to those placed over them thern tb preside in the spring of 1894 elder elias SM SU kimball succeeded me as president 4 the southern states mission I 1 acco accod ff danied elder kimball to chattanooga to give him all information connected with the mission on reaching chattanooga received a telegram tele grm that elders beecher and camb I 1 bell had been arrested while endeavor ende avd ing to preach the gospel in the city 0 birmingham alabama and placed iba sa jail it seems the city had passed an 0 or denance that punished people for aski asking for tood and shelter all arran arrangements arrangement gemen 4 were made for elder elias kimball to go abonce at once to birmingham secure a good attorney and test the matter no sooner had these arrangements I 1 been made than word came to us that the elders bad secured motley money sufficient to pay their fines and were released I 1 desire to now show bow the people J and city ordinances have changed t through b h the softening influence of the I 1 holy ghost ho st as well as the mighty faith eab exhibited ted b by the young elders elder albert matheson president of the north alabama conference writes to elder kimball from birmingham as follows fo lows elders haight and myself are am here we tried without success tose to cure a hall or a public place in which to hold meetings however we are thank ful that teat the streets are at cur dispo disposal sail good use is being made of the streets street g for we hod two and three meetings 10 everyday every day A great many gather around us at our meetings and pay strict att tion to what is said intelligent men loth young and old have at the close of our services clasped our hands firmly and tears run rundown down their faces oThey they tell us such words are sometimes spoken by men of years but never by beardless boys we have been received very favorably have called it house we at every has been our pleasure to have extended conversations with many families and hold hol meetings witti with them birmingham nav be wicked to some extent yet we find ganv honest charitable and good keople 0 I 1 ae the schooling that elders e HP haight ba and nd are receiving might elf be envied by any young man in in zion we have not trouble in procuring todd food and lodgings either at hotels or at the homes of the people there are no special results manifest as yet but the prospects are very bright I 1 also desire the accompanying letter printed in full fall to prove to the youth of israel ismel that faith is not dead very giuly yours J G KIMBALL this letter dated at baton rouge louisiana and addressed to president elias kimball is as follows DW dear brother at your request we fed to write you of our success while in the city of baton rouge I 1 suppose it is well wa known to the elders of this state tte the difficulties that we had to meet we were forbidden by the mayor to can vass the city or distribute our literature until we should pay the license of we could not do nor did this of course we think that the servants ot of the lord should be required to pay for distributing our oar pamphlets or preaching the gospel of christ we now concluded to md lead over carefully the instructions given to in regard to work in cities having done this we proceeded to carry them out to the ibe very letter we called upon the editors first the truth a daily paper then the advocate to show the splendid effects of strictly obeying counse counsel lq to relate the following circumstance we had been given fifty cents by a friend of ours the day before so with us after we had we ift had money our conversation with the editor of ef the advocate we subscribed for his bis tape r lor two weeks thinking possibly would be the length of our stay the batt t thas bis he informed us that it an the city would be 30 cents for the two weeks leaving the office we went out as paul of old for a secret place in which to lay ais matter and what we had done be tore im the lord we did so and when our oar prayers were ov erthe spirit prompted go fis that we had made a mistake in IM ot paying tor for the paper with the money we already had and thus avoid the hH aces ot of running the lord into debt we 00 at once heeded the and retraced our steps to the office and paid for the advocate we now proceeded ceedee to the office of the truth and subscribed for that paper for two weeks this paper was to be 20 cents we had HO sooner paid cur money and got 0 the ae receipt than the editor of the art truth h stepped up and asked us who we were and aad where we were from we informed mm bun and told him we had just subscribed or ha paper whereupon he refunded to L us the ne nooney we had paid tor for his paper and aad the 30 cents we had said paid for the L advocate saying as he di did so now you u are back where you started from we had given even heed to the of odthe ibe spirit rit of the lord and had bad been r fil rilly rewarded this was a great testimony to us nor was this the only testimony we had while in the city thus far we had obeyed counsel and had clearly seen the results the papers published very pleasing articles about us which grave gave us a very favorable position in the city our next labor was to gain favor in the eyes ot of the city officers officer who at this tinie time were very much opposed to us we had already been three or four times to them but the result was very unfavorable so we determined to lay jay the matter before the lord w m ith fasting and prayer YE yes s several times we fasted for thirty six hours besides the regular sunday fasts and laid the matter in earnest prayer before the lord after each last fast we went to see the city officers till we had gone seven times and we lingered for over twenty days before the city in the meantime we were not idle idie but walked quietly about the city holding gospel conversations and making friends wherever an opportunity afforded itself the seventh time we went changed men stood before us and we were received with as much kindness as any one could expect our feeling cannot be described when we made the seventh application and the mayor kindly told us to go to and quietly canvass the city and everything would be all right was this a testimony we say yes and that the lord had worked upon their hearts and had given the increase A long story must now be made a short one the lord had delivered the city into our hands and we were to do our part our faith was greatly tested while we were canvassing this capital city from windows doors and carriages we were pointed pin ted out there go chemor mons could from all sides we quietly went about our business however ev i er canvassed the city made friends ot of the officers and though we were denied all public buildings the churches and the privilege of speaking on the streets still we held fifteen meetings gsand and sounded the Gospel in the ears ot some of the sleekly people ol of baton rouge we gained a testimony that we can proclaim proclaim to the world as well as to our grethren tr brethren ethren that god lives and that he will listen to and answer the prayers of those elders who are living up to their duties we left the city a few days after being there over forty days and making many good friends we were never without a comfortable for table bed to rest upon plenty of food and money fur for our stamps and paper when elder wood was sick with the chills a doctor was sent to him ind and the medicine that was used was paid for oy dy friends whom we made closing we teel feel to say hope on dear breth brethren tea for all is well if we will but do our duty WOOD AND CORNWALL |
