Show FROM THE missionary FIELDS michigan conference the first conference of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints held in michigan for upwards of sixteen years convened at saginaw may 21 22 and 23 1898 five public meetings were held during the conference and a priesthood meeting president louis A kelsch and secretary jos E cardon of the northern states mission met with us at the first meeting elder J P sorensen spoke on the mission of christ stating that it was of a twofold two fold told nature first it brought about the resurrection fou second made it possible os sible for mankind to gain eter eternal riAl life through strict to christs lawi and ordinances elder WG miller touched briefly upon faith and repentance also said the people of saginaw had heard our people misrepresented by saginaw aw ministers and asked the people to attend our several seve fral meetings and hear the other side from those who wre depre gentit ives of the mormon people three meetings were held sunday elder albert good rich occupied the time in the forenoon treating the subject of reVen repentance tance elder ellas elias nielsen spoke in the afternoon upon divine auth authority arity showing the necessity of laen being called of god before officiating in his most holy ordinances during the evening meeting elder alvin allen alien showed how the church of ch christ rist existed anciently proved from the scriptures that an apostasy from this pure religion should come and from the condition of the religious world work that it had come bore testimony of the gospel being in the earth a grain aln at our aur last meeting elder joe B D cardon showed the necessity of man complying strictly with the laws of god elder louis kilsch touched upon general principles of the gospel gospe 1 pointed out the condition of the religious world and told why it wab waa necessary for the lord to raise up lip a prophet in these the last days priesthood meeting was held at 9 am way may 23 after partaking of the emblems embler nS of the lords supper each of the ten elders reported their past labors many friends had been raised up to the elders and some were sincerely 47 investigating in ting the gospel three persons had been baptized and one more ore a lady had the elders to administer that ordinance to her at close or of i conference don rence ference all elders had been laboring ag in new alel fields d s hence could not at present see the results of their efforts president kelsch keisch gave many timely instructions to elders and encouraged grem them in their work elder E ider J P Sd rensen who had filled to an honorable mission was waa released to return home appointments are as follows foj U G miller manistee Ma manistee co kioh alvin allen alien E A Neeley Traverse cerand traverse co mich albert goodrich 1 I B whitney frankfort benzle co mich P V J Pet petersen eTsen rufus reese new aeto 0 o newaygo co mich milas liaa Nielli nielsen Tl J it stwart harrison CO mich IT 0 MILLER president of conference ALVIN ALLEN clerk in wisconsin green reen bily bay wa C nally may X 9 1898 18 div I 1 thought t perhaps the people of zion bowd uld like to know how two humble mormon elders are aj getting alon along in 1 this part of he lord vineyard i I 1 left N 4 4 aims mort fiche oe in P bogn gAAM city ty a little over 1 1 A year stir ago to take a minion to the northern states I 1 was assigned to labor in the state of wisconsin in the city of waukesha my companion and I 1 tracked the city and found a number of friends while others rejected the doctrines of christ from there we opened up the city of racine where we made our winter quarters there we found a number of friends this spring we held our conference in pon fon du lac county in the little village 16 ge of oakfield there we all enjoyed a spir spiritual feast and partook of the blessings of god it to Is a happy time when all the elders of the state meet together and relate their experiences to each other after the conference the elders were assigned to their fields of labors I 1 was as assigned to labor in the city of fond du lac A few days later one of the elders was waa called home on count account of sickness in his family then I 1 was assigned to take his place pace in the city of green bay elder G D balls is my companion he left his home in hyde park cache county three months ago the people of green bay think it is strange to see mormons cormons in this county they thought they were all killed off we have not held any meetings meeting in this city yet but we expect to hold some open air services we are enjoying good health the news Is a welcome visitor and we look forward to every tuesday morning when we receive the news of utah L T JONES G D BALLS letter from nazareth nazereth palestine may 29 1898 the day before yesterday we left haifa for a run toward Tib biberias erias and the sea of galilee the road from haifa leads up the kishon east with mount carmel on the right and the plains of kishon and akka on the left this valley is very fertile if handled properly but in its present condition it is nearly useless when the rainy season sets in it is flooded and the grain is drowned drow nied out as the land is quite level now this can largely be remedied especially higher up where the brook is more steep and the ravine deep hence the drainage is measurably easy the soil which is of a reddish loam is very rich all over and as a rule very productive what it needs is proper farming and attention at present it produces fever A practical german with whom the writer conversed upon the subject stated that all ajl grain T products were very profitable as the export was good and prices for home consumption above european markets also fruits would find a splendid market if only the people put in of the best beat qualities but he said that th eGerman colonists had suffered so much because they had tried to farm as in germany and had brought in varieties not profitable he said if the eye was open to the demand of at the market growing the right kinds I 1 and utting putting them up sa leable then it aou would 1 N pay alright and people did well but where people remained and partial to old country ways and ideas the they could not do well in a word with carefulness said be the country to Is well adapted for foi a livelihood and certainly needs measures As for the beduino or arabs on th the ewest west of jordan they were now completely subjugated by the government atwould ag and would naturally yiem t to progress at jre present sent they age are quite necessary aar y to the countz country t they e 9 arp acclimated mated asid and can so t the work better aftan oilier who to is not they should be employed empl as a rhew aal possible thle matt inart Is ft a man df vio aty 1 WA few rig tn palestine eg take bftts v beete thil the kleal of twe writer who has as now spent a good deal of time in turkey and palestine the country contains a hidden treasure of wealth not in mineral but in agriculture and fruit growing it Is in provided with afine a fine climate making it very fertile the early and the latter rains have been retained aco according to blessings pro pronounced bounced by bl the servants of the lord in this generation erene ration even so much so that in many places the water Is su perilous per flous this is not upon the hills or mountains but in the low lands the atle hills tare made just as productive pv by terracing them off and plin planting tinly olives figs almonds and W grapes we arl are told that the finest nt varieties of peaches and apricots can be be grown here now to accomplish these things it takes care and experience T tt cannot be done at once bu but the he various moves here prove that tha it ft to Is within the te possibilities and that abek they can live and do fairly well at least aswal aa well as anyone can stand it and serve serve the e lord great riches and easily acau accumulated wealth is not the best beat things in A the world to make good saints le labor bo r seasoned with such blessings ble swings and or trials IM as the lord sees see fit to bestow upon his I 1 a people usually produce all the worldly wealth necessary to the building up ot of his kingdom and for the perfection of his saints more than this his is not needed yesterday we left for Tib biberias erias while there we sailed on the sea along the west coast down to the mouth of the jordan or rather to the outlet of the sea where the river leaves and proceeds on its winding course down the jordan valley to the dead sea the COMA ly iw quite steep on either side and but tor for a small narrow strip of land along the bank of the sea the sea and the mountains would join on its shore grow oleander which is now in also other flowers being out and the mountain side being green with grass make altogether a pleasant sight the sea was quiet and the weather warm and pleasant here we were gallim on the same water the savior and his apostles had so otter sailed on and where the savior walked on the water where the miraculous draught of fishes was made and where the savior often taught the thought was impressive a and nd furnished much instructive conversation at this juncture of the jordan and the sea of galilee oui our boat halted on the east bank and soon we brother lund excepted were fixed tor for a swim salin in the sea the water was delightful soon one suggested a swim through the outlet down the river the invitation was accepted and one of our party with confidence th in ht ability to swim through all right started down smiling the other two being ahead now the water leaves the lake at a fall of about throe three or tour four feet to 0 o the hundred yards so eo the current WAS wa quite strong and at one place it flowed quite swiftly the river Is open and d as it was seen that everything was dear clear for a long way d down ow n the r river v er it no 0 danger was suspected so down went the three Yam yankees koes but an old arala boatman yelled a sit the top of his voice not to go and sue succeeded deeded in stopping tatt two who crawled out and began yelling also by that time the third was ang going down the swiftest place smiling a at ute sport saying in turkish never its all right all the time pushing ahead the old man by time war nearly wild he did not that it was intentional he believed the stream had carried our niad off bc now however a serious moment sr rr rived our man swath abam down all but when the swift point w waa parsed ad glud and he desired to land he saw a targe whirl harl pool off to the left he the iolet boint of the wading landing and Q aidy qi at dy surveying thie the 8 situation tu he 4 0 du da A move for the other side O ithier tin tithe time the calling was terrible said and for a 0 moment our man became confused and in the turn lost confidence and felt fejt as though he was sinking then he began to cry out to the ferry boat on the opposite side gel gel come come this started brother lund and now everybody except the donkey in the ferryboat were excited the donkey was perfectly cool and got an extra ride all the time treating the matter indifferently the ferryboat came on to the rescue but fortunately it was not needed for at the most critical moment our brother asked himself the question have I 1 come to drown in jordan to which the response was no na confidence and strength returned and he swam to a place of safety in the river the old gent was by this time too mad that while our man stood on the bar waist deep in water he flung a great stone at ait him not knowing just what he did an arab had by this time stripped and came out at full speed and not knowing that it was an lub intentional notional nt ional swim he insisted on dragging our swimmer on shore but he was not allowed it as our brother after a pause swam swain to another point up the stream where he was met by brother lund and one of the boatmen in our own boat and the excitement was over it would have been unwise to have bave attempted to swim back under the circumstances our brother firmly believes that had he not been confused by the yelling of the old arab be would not have been in any danger whatever as he is a fairly good swimmer for a short distance the incident furnished a good deal of at merriment and also some serious reflection for how easy is it not to lose ones life at abot such a critical crItIc aJ moment A whirl pool is not a thing to be tooled fooled with we saw in this a parable of how easy many people go down the stream of life not heeding the warning from the shores of experience and when they see the whirlpools of life they are willing enough to turn but it is often too late in the evening we arrived safely at biberias Tib erias during the day about 1800 russian pilgrims had arrived in ti barias these were taking in the sights when we left the next day many of these persons are very old and seem imbued with strong religious feelings they walk all the way from jerusalem to nazareth and biberias Tib erias and back to jaffa a distance of about miles they look poor but honest one bunch while leaving nazareth prayed and chanted and felt that they nor noi made their calling and election sure F F HINTZE from a saint in south carolina Ca E R T coleman Oo leman a member of the church whose address to la union olty south carolina writes a letter to the news dated may from which the following extracts are reproduced tto tb the editor the last elders that labored in this county were elders morris wilson from Moun mountain lain dell washington county utah and henry Bek begemann emann of richfield colo who left here on an the first day of last month for conference near society hill in chesterfield county As all the elders were sent send in the lower counties we did not have the pleasure of having any with us until about the first of april when elder T J yates of scipio willard county utah and his companion compan loin elder nelson of idaho iash vamped through on om their way from blacksburg and spartanburg down don in fairfield fall field and the lower part of the state visiting sunday schools they spent a few days with us which we joyed I 1 have been very anxious abd looking for a letter from our conference president S P oldham tor for over a month giving notice of the amyal spring conference so I 1 would have the chance to go and have a spiritual feast with elders and saints saint of tins state but it seems like now the conference will not meet this year until perhaps summer or fall as I 1 have riot not received word of it yet adt but I 1 received a letter a few days ago from elder morris wilson who is now in polk county ga stating that elder george geoerge reeder from brigham city box elder county couil ty utah and henry behrmann who has been laboring in ale ln county this state together geither to ever since last november was going to labor in union and he guessed they were with us at that time which was may but I 1 have not seen or heard of them yet though they may be down in the lower part ot of the county with friends they axe are liable to be up at any time and then wont we have a one fine time together I 1 miss the pleasure of mingling with the tale elders and saints as myself and nother in law sarah ann ami brown who lives about six or seven miles from us axe are the only saints in this county we have a good many friends but they are badly scattered in different parts of the county I 1 go down to see my mother inlaw in law once in a while and we w have a good time together talking on the gospel and about the elders and the kingdom of our heavenly father I 1 would be pleased to live to see the tabernacle and the salt lake temple also the elders in the different parts of the west who have labored in this county and with whom I 1 have enjoyed many a nappy happy hour but it Is counsel for the saints to stay here for th the e present but as soon as it is not against counsel I 1 want to come to utah letter from haifa haifa syria april |