| Show A LETTER FROM NEW ZEALAND elder mcdonald writes to wm mo donald cottonwood as follows te puke bay of plenty oct 18 1897 I 1 suppose you have heard of the hard time I 1 had coming over here on thel the ship well for my part I 1 would sooner be on the land where everything I 1 not around so much many sights were to be seen as we camo came along both on land and on sea the first place we stopped after leaving america was hawaii but I 1 did not get a chance to go on land as the people in the town had the fever and no passengers were allowed to go 90 on land except those who were going to stay so was the first place ato got a chance to step on land there are about in this group of island and they have a good climate tot for growing cocoanuts cocoa nuts and banania ba F prom rom there va went to sydneyj sydney australia sydney is a large town but is built in such a crooked shape that thaia a person would lose his way it if he did not look out where he was going wo we spent two days taking in the sights then we came on to auckland it wao waft a rough ride the waves were lika ciket mountains and many of the sailors sailor thought the ship was going to sink X Z only ate 26 25 cents worth of cakes in five days I 1 was quite sick when ar riving in new zealand I 1 spent twos two weeks with the elders at auckland and among the european sainto from there I 1 went to it did not take me long to get into their ways although they are much different from what we have at home they are a great people for having biff feasts where all gather together aad 4 have a good time and when enthey wh they are going through some of their war dances it would almost scare a newcomer to see them dance and faces I 1 have taken a great deal of oc notice of this people since comi this coun country and find they are like their old forefathers in their wava way and religious beliefs of which the book of mormon gives given an account some of them must be the pure blood of nephi many blessings ore are prom ased to this people if they will only keep the commandments of the lord many of them have joined the churda and are trying to live up to its arft chiples and are waiting patiently for the day to come when they can gather to the maori people are avery intelligent race and some of them very large those who have received the gospel seem to be advancing in fai farming clift and in every other way much faster than t h an the others some are good speaker and many of them in the southern district can repeat the ready reference from beginning to end from memmory mem eory there are in the church about four thousand we have in our district nearly two hundred but they are in a scattered condition it to is a large ds brict and keeps us on the go we haven have a better district for than any other in this land there a are warm springe spring sk geysers lakes and other t things of curiosity the work of tho the lord Is increasing in this part as well wea as others we have baptized about twenty and blessed about the same sa amount of children since my arr arrival ivaA every once in a while we find a good honest hone 8 t soul who to is willing to receive th the e gospel when we came through sydney S there were no saints but bow there are over fifty many of tta europeans are investigating the goa pel we are not doing much europe work there are three europeans la in this district one of them to Is an ow ou gentleman about seventy yea years omay q we visit him he lives alone and ana 0 A owa ys glad to see us we also have viana fathers and mothers among the I 1 laoris maoris who treat us kindly and the mord alord always raises up someone to supply our wants when we are in 14 need I 1 I 1 om am glad I 1 was numbered worthy dubone those who come forth and help carry on his work in these the latter ak arys A person gets a good experience on a trip like this we learn to know fitere ls a god in heaven who protects us iid and answers our prayers we have often atten laid hands on the sick and they have recovered instantly many testimonies I 1 have had since coming to OU athla land 1 I was down the east coast a few atko and some m of the maoris laoris were atry unfriendly bozye but I 1 got through dahout being hurt urt I 1 was all alone hd have traveled a great deal of my i time e that way I 1 st it Is in a much more wet and damp amate JOM ate here than in utah and often kr 4 biot a good wetting while riding the r roads da for the past three weeks it has rained every day A few waisa ago we felt a slight earthquake further south it shook many the one chimneys down and frightened aw W aft people so they ran out into the aleeta Ate eta 9 some of the judgments of are re visiting this part dart as ais well as others the lord is continually at awk separating epa rating the righteous from 1 ahe reeked wicked WM W mcdonald AA address dress te puke bay of plenty 13 i stew zealand |
