Show NORTH ILLINOIS conference chicago oct 12 1897 the north illinois conference was held in wicker park hall north ave chicago the and of september last besides president L A kelsch of the northern states mission there were present elder E M boyer president of the conference and the following brethren laboring in chicago and the conference J FF dorlus dorius charles A haacke edw G midgley jas A hulme C C steffensen charles jensen lewis mccarry 0 0 richen and daniel bodily As several elders had just arrived from utah destined for different parts in the states as missionaries they swelled the number to about twenty in all including our mission clerk elder christopher burton three meetings were held on saturday and then reports from the elders laboring in the conference ere given as also instructive remarks treating upon the principles of faith and works and other parts of the gospel the hall was not so well filled with visitors but considering it was saturday it was very satisfactory in listening to the reports of the brethren it was gratifying to learn that they had been very successful in most instances in their labors and elder burton reported that through the mission there had been several thousand tracts distributed the last few months and there were ivere about elders in the field and persons had been baptized the north illinois conference embraces quite a tract of country still i chicago is not only the largest branch i 0 but almost constitutes the conference entirely sunday the we held only two meetings one in the forenoon and one in the evening these meetings were well attended and most of the brethren had an opportunity to speak and bear their testimony to the work of god they had met friends who had administered to their wants as they had been preaching the gospel without said that the purse or scrip they feeling among the people toward the elders was quite favorable and that a mormon elder was waa better understood now than before we had in our meetings several reporters representing different newspapers and after the usual interrogations regarding our mission and work here and also about the church generally as well as to our s intentions tent ions in the future and the prospects of success they left us very politely and the next day we found articles about our conference as well as allusions to some of us personally and even the photos of president L A kelsch E M boyer midgley burton and your correspondent there was nothing stated in said articles which was calculated to misrepresent the cause in which we are engaged the missionaries in this conference chicago especially are in a healthy condition the elders here with our beloved presidents both mission and conference are working in perfect hermony harmony and love president kelsch is now making his rounds in the die mission visiting the various conferences and may not be back again before the letter latter part of next month elder C L monch who came to chicago the of may 1896 left us for his home in sale lake city the of september having been honorably released from his mission we laye held regular meetings every sunday through rh the last year of our commodious 1 aft hired hired hall and our young toy aidi air bevra ra huew haack vida ald ley and steffensen have held open air meetings by a park called walton place sometimes every evening through the week and the most part of the summer hundreds of people have been present to listen to the discourses we also held open air meetings by Him bolds park every sunday afternoon through the summer until through circumstances we had to stop we are often favored with visits from friends in Uta hand lately we have had a pleasant pleas amt visit with elder M B shipp from salt lake city who last sunday delivered a lecture upon the coming forth of the book of mormon and restoration of the gospel through the prophet joseph smith before closing I 1 wish to mention our relief society which was organized eight months ago that they have been a great help to the poor and are growing in strength they axe are fully organized and have as president sister rose smith from utah and with her experience can be a great help to this young society everything is in order for work in establishing a stake in due time yours truly JOHN F F DORIUS clerk of N ill conference |