| Show I 1 of FROM THE missionary FIELDS the work of a tract goulburn Goul bum new south wales australia sept 20 1898 ng ing letters written in the news ders d ers and saints from the various of the world I 1 thought perhaps a I 1 tines from a sister in australia bt be interesting ito Ms its many read jt had long been praying to t god to I 1 me to his right church but it pea d I 1 could not satisfy lety myself with of f the creeds surrounding g me so toyed d at home and kept keitt praying tor for it and brath one day a gentle bax called at my door and gave me a lel el tract to read he said I 1 was torn that onland he would call again give talve me others I 1 did not pay te attention to him but put the t in my bedroom shortly after ung lady caime in and picked up extract and read it and asked me I 1 got I 1 it t she it was beau doctrine doo trine my daughter hearing words took the tract and read 3 immediately said do not have hing to do with them it Is the im am young I lot at from salt lake took the tract and read it tac h before I 1 went to bed and I 1 e spirit of god working with me ed for the gent lemans coming me an another otheir one ile he came and ed I 1 his niame name he said it was m G park and he was a the latter day 99 EL inta ints he ined to me tine the principles of the el I 1 and said dd he had come to warn people ale and preach the gospel of t in n its purity ley he went I 1 fett felt condemned bee I 1 ask him in the house ita still small bodee said to me fact t la Is the doctrine you must rollow follow kept coming and edving me books fead and I 1 asked him if he B to hodd meeting in my house houe which hamed emed pleased to do he brought companion elder alma E hub S with him and I 1 could feel the of the lord attended our meet he gave me the book of Morn mormon ron d which I 1 read with a prayerful and before returning to rest one t I 1 prayed earnestly to the lord I 1 asked whether that book was true diot that night I 1 received a glorious lm and a voice said to me yes book of mormon Is true I 1 then I 1 chait ahalt I 1 would be baptized which nee ce was performed by elder ard rd on jan 7 1898 after I 1 was id d I 1 felt so happy I 1 could not so I 1 spent the night reading and the deseret news ice then I 1 have had many trials and to contend with but the of my fathers has bias so far delivered aut t of them all I 1 know the goste true and that god ddll answer ere of hig hia ch children ildrem who will le e themselves before rim him and ask th MARGARET E CREGAN yin capt tennes tennessee see conference hunting creek tenn october S 1898 doubt your table is continually cov th correspondence faour the trav who are scattered through athe e different conferences of the fl and with this in view I 1 will not of your time by forcing to read a lengthy letter pit t my home at baker city ity ore the lath of february for chal cha t ara I 1 arrived at chattanooga on b tt ind and there was assigned to lathe th east tennessee conference chattanooga on the ot of feb WC charlotte arrived on thi the bere iere tre was waa met by my conference companion elder W H carter and went with him into cabarrus Ca larrus county that was my first missionary experience but as rule we found the people kind to us that Is when we first went into the county we had it all our own way for about three weeks but just as our work began to prosper the adversary began to rear that did not stop us the mormon elders as a rule are not afraid of opposition after we got through with cabarrus county I 1 was sent to breddell Tr eddell county to labor with elder E T we finished that county and then we were sent over to maddison Madd lson we only stayed in maddison two weeks when we had to start for halftown Haft Haff town foresythe county to attend conference and we had a glorious time after conference I 1 and elder morrell morrel were assigned to labor in wilkes county we found a few saints in this county we have just finished wilkes county and have got word from our president to go into henderson county which is about two hundred miles south of wilkes some of our friends say we ought to take the train but I 1 guess we will go afoot for we travel without purse or scrip H W NIBLEY Coti conat ferenee tn in new zealand Grey town north N Z september 18 1898 it gives me joy to say that the semiannual conference of the Waira rapa district was held op the and dinst at Kahun nl nt a maori village located in the southern part of the district we had the pleasure of having with us the president of the mission ezra T stevenson and cirini Wha auga we also had with us elders david S lindsay and charles stephe s from remington idaho our conference as u usual sual opened with singing and prayer six general meetings were held and our priesthood meeting during the same the restoration of the gospel and the first principles thereof dwelt upon k many testimonies borne and in TI spirit of humility and much counsel was given owing to the bad weather there were not as many in attendance as we had anticipated yet we were thankful to our heavenly father for the good spirit which was manifested we were all feasted spiritually as well as temporarily the work of the fjord ord Is gradually progressing in this part of the vineyard ever praying for the welfare of zion we remain your brethren in the cause of truth H B JENSEN A T butterfield in wales wale abercynon south wales oot oat 7 1898 perhaps some of your readers will be interested in m a short account of missionary life in wales whose experiences are so varied as the people they may labor amongst it is a splendid position to sharpen ones we have to meet in argument when unavoidable people of all shades of religious belief and those who dovat believe in religion at all a great many manly admit that our d doc e a are all right and accord tog prig to the new testament but they that we do not teach all of it to them and say theres something back of what we teach in our public meetings in one of our dour meetings on the streets two of the elden elliers preached on some ome s of the of the gospel also on an the and restoration atlon giving a short ace of the man towner manner ner in which it was restored and bearing testimony of at the th tarth 0 of t the same A gentleman in th the Kud rece ic e who was a school master by in by asking if we held joftes smith above jus jesus christ one of the elders told him we did not mt that we believed joseph smith was VMS a and like other prophets did as commanded by the lord after we dim missed the meeting the same gefton stepped to the front and made a speech accusing the people of utah of being an ignorant rotten community ile he awve us credit of not having come ito decoy decay to utah their wives and daughters daughter 9 as he said the mormon elders formerly did he said the doctrines we gehad ima taught them were all right and that in the way we had of deceiving people and getting them to join us As we had a good orderly crowd we ve got them thein to keep their seats while one of the elders answered hla his charges one by one and we left a very good impression on mi the people and we had a goodmann good many friends in the crowd and the accuser ot of the he mormons cormons was ashamed of himself hIm seif A great many object abo our religion as they say there la Is no need meed of miracles today as it is to the laws of nature mature others accept all of it but object j eject to the banmer in whlter the th e gospel was res restored it is too admile for consideration no doubt a a great many belleve belie veto Is the gospel as taught by the latter i day saints as they see it is mor mort tea sona ble and scriptural than the man made systems of today fiut but the weh todo to do da classes will not identify themselves with so unpopular a people as that would mean their al kuln and many others lack the moral courage j to embrace a religion and cast their A with a people that is everywhere en against all can find excuse for bot obeying the principles of the true gos pel of christ and it may bake a great deal of trouble to bring some of the theto to realize thedr true position we have hate had quite a little opposition of the acha icha described above but in the shape of violence mr jarman got in his work iq good style in this part of the cobit ilk few years ago and there Is much vav audlee existing among the people 05 sr the result of that but it is gradually dying away and we find many friends who are willing to give us a fair hear ing in one instance we had the erti elege of holding ho a meeting in avelin a independent chapel near vil and we find some people who jtb r r let us hold meetings in waa vid invite their ti n neighbors in too to ifwers to bo the f gospel as believed by the lafater ay ss saints we had occasion to go to 1 deiy some time ago and andee w 0 toa ortle ortie agae the ruins of the old 14 agg st as dt was on our road ah isal A to be one of the most anacleta hd tens lve ruins la in these 11 we e called at a house relar near the castle ta fiet some same din dannov nier and when they found isgut we were from amenita they ua talk fedl quite freely about the country imfeld I 1 we spooled sp fled uie the by say ing we were from salt lake CAY ci they asked us if we knew anything about brigham and IM 9 aay of his imps were about yet we to in formed them that we were and gave them a num buah s ber orf of tracts to read and left them vath a better of utah and aind ain d the oe latter day saints than they had fo as hey had only heard mr carmar Jar 9 r mar il side of the story when we have hame tb eha k ot of o t telling the pol he t V true position of the latter s they are our friends lit is quite wr cou raging sometimes boime times when we makimot 4 listen to us while we rily jonir o balku ask effs to do themselves a kindne kindL dy by oby ing the gospel G but we hafe tha B i of the gospel bu ni ki boboras boso ims and the sails e 7 tae that OW a cald bof u to do da through his servants the people ot 0 wales as mazy many of your readers know have experienced hard time this summer by being on strike few over ever five months but nearly all uve commenced work again amid there theire te Is of brighter times we are amt brethren THOMAS W JONES arizonia arizona EDWARD THOMAS kamas utah vike thie conference christiana sept 25 1898 once more 1 I take the liti liberty erty of writ ina a few lines to the news and give a short report of the christiana conference I 1 many changes have taken place since one year ago and the gospel has had great progress in this land on off june 16 1898 1998 elder C W petersen president nt of the christiana eon con dereme and myself started on a journey together around toe the entire coast of ly noi forway Y to visit the different branches irr in tats conference perhaps a brief out of ow out trip would be interesting to yew readers elder peterson joined me at r aher I 1 had been laboring and was a walting awaiting his coming estavan gm ger in ia the fourth city in size in the equa chantry cy antry try having a population ot of about its chief industry is the preserving and canning of fish it has three rope factories A few hours on the steamer from there and we were in dersen bergen the second city in size in norway the greater part of the city 1 to adit on a peninsula at the foot of a kish butt while the remaining part lies farther litland inland and curves partly around the tb bay dirrem this butte t tiled flolene can be een n the ae entire city and surroundings which makes makas a very pretty view the air was alive with odor of beautiful flowers after a few day days a stay in this city we resumed our journey northward and after nicety six hours steady sailing we on the of june the most northerly branch of the church of jesus jeu christ of latter day saints in all the world at 11 pm on the ot of june we crossed the arctic circle the imaginary line that bounds the tem balo and frigid zones and we sailed far th first time in arctic waters it WM vms cloudy that evening so we did not sae bee what vout was our greatest anticipation at Tt oniso we welcomed by elders W israelsen lara elsen from hyrum utah and nelson nelsen from preston idaho who were vere laboring in that branch they had awaited us and were glad to see us iw wei we were also glad to see them on the hight of the of june we saw tor for tu AM time what seems to be a world the midnight sun at 12 midnight we sat doah upon a rock and wrote in our fawe SatS efi s as we saw and beheld the glow glo w rays MYS of that far off shining body everybody was asleep and the atty a was as sull and silent allent as night nights in succession success don did we see 6 same scene it seemed strange wry vry strange grange to be in a country where was no darkness no where the sun aun from day to day keeps circling around tate heavens the mountain at eside aade ot at the city was covered with S while the lower surroundings were and green the laps and their rete deer were also quite a curiosity they are very small similar in their and habits to our american inaam they dress dream in furs and skins live in wl alwan wan and small tents and cook war or abad wi oft a smal amal campfire campf lre to our threat surprise a great many of them jalc the english language we left amft 29 and started our jour our we reached waya most hintor historical leal city on fri day tire tim first ot gt july ahr we w were wem greeted at the doets and welcomed to that city by elders jens jena larsen laa sen from idaho john anderson from ogden and arent johnsen from logan utah we remained with them a week and visited all the different places of interest such as the dom kirke or cathedral which was built by the catholics 1100 A D and the monk holmen an old fortress and prison where captured kings and men of high rank have spent their lives ilves in a dark cell the city of ranks third in size having a population of inhabitants most of its streets are wide and run parallel with each other which reminded us of home of utah on july ath after eighteen hours of sailing we found ourselves ln in Aale sund where we remained a few days with the elders and saints after which we again resumed our journey and on july we reached bergen tor for the second time we visited the great fair that was represented by eight nations viz norway sweden denmark germany prance france italy england mexico and the united states the bergen fish market is also quite a remarkable place where the people are gathered bythe thousands buying and selling fish in each of the above named branches we held one or more meetings with the elders visited the saints at their homes and attended to other religious duties not forgetting the object of our trip the elders and saints manifested a good spirit wherever we came and rejoiced in the gospel they had embraced our trip was also extended out through fjord meaning bay where there is as beautiful scenery as can be found in the world here kaiser wilhelm ot of germany makes his annual trip as well as hundreds of tourists from all parts of the world from there we again continued southward and a couple of weeks afterward brought our trip to an end the nor are a very proud patriotic and talented people and not in iii the least do they stand behind the rest resit of the world they are very considerate to strangers and a more kind and polite people are not to be found anywhere in etiquette on vie the street in the parlor or elsewhere they set an example for others worth following especially the english speaking classes we often hear the expression old norway poor old norway and her ignorance etc she is looked upon as but a hali half civilized nation but let me tell my good readers it is not true she stands to the front in both civilization and education and we have many things to learn from poor old norway there to is not a better mission field for the elders in all the world than the norwegian mission the people as a general rule are quite free |
