| Show PROW FROM THE missionary FIELDS conference in lows iowa des moines iowa october 31 1898 i the conference of the elders laboring in the state of iowa was held october kh and oth at sioux city in the large auditorium auditori wn of the courthouse and was very TT pleasant and interesting as well as instructive there were present elder louis A kelsch keisch president of the western states m mission and seventeen elern elders eldero of the iowa conference eleven of 0 the elders eders of this conference are from utah vales two are from idaho two amin colorado and two from mexico during the conference the elders spoke upon the various principles of the gospel gosma tn ana a manner that demonstrated that the faith of the latter day saints is in founded in eternal truth and tet Is harmonious in all its bearings with the truths of science and reason as well as am the word of god the dally daily papers announced the conference and made friendly comment on the he labors of the elders as well as the method of preaching without purse and crip MIA the press in many portions of the state has ha changed its policy on the mormon question considerably within the past year and through the medium of written and interviews with baders ders much prejudice has been and is being ing allayed at the close of the conference elders thomas D walace and conrad J smith were honorably released to return to their homes and loved ones the assignments of the elders to fields in this conference was then made as follows faders elders E M bickmore and N han aen sioux city elders old ens W H garner and E ormond plata amle county address council bluffs wh elders erb H bisel and C H mariton Charl fon lucas county jolders john W wheadon and henry to red Montgomery Oak county elders J E anderson and parley paz ley williams Wili tum fairfield jefferson county elders david rishton to get a new companion and labor in madison county P 0 at Creist cretinon Cre titon oln elders J P F thomas a and nd E G taylor D def moines if saints ants in utah or elsewhere have bends ft pr r relatives in iowa whom they didde us ato fro visit we shall be glad to do so at the earli earliest ewt opportunity the saints should give this matter thoughtful consideration as it often paves the way y for foi opening U up the gospel in a locality wier hii prejudice prejudice has previously hedva hedged up the way utters letters nay may be sint sent to elder J P F thomas preel president dent of the iowa conference ed 1412 E court avenue des Moi modinea iowa JOSEPH F r thomas THO MAlS president Prez Ident of iowa conference THOMAS rhomas D WALLACE clerk of conference S to in the gunny bonny souta cottondale Cot ga nov 5 6 1898 after eagerly reading over your col after 1 concluded to write a few lines I 1 ant am in that porton of the lords vineyard called by spanish explorers and of flowers I 1 left my mountain tain homer home so dear in june of the present yew year when I 1 felt myself gliding away from the many a thought OC home friends and enjoyment came slid ad sped through my mind I 1 was going because god had called and I 1 wanted abed to t 0 o show my patriotism to the grandest gra and greatest cause on earth about thirty of us went together how E I wondered who and what I 1 would con coanta to hi contact with during my ab nce LOW I 1 tried to 0 o picture in tny my lm im agitation agi nation what I 1 would see and what I 1 must pass through I 1 was sent to alabama and then I 1 came to florida we have met many kind friends and some that were not so kind I 1 have instructions now to go to mobile county alabama about miles in the county that I 1 have been laboring in much sickness is noticeable ti I 1 have just begun to realize what a mormon is and what the gospel of christ requires if I 1 had one thing to say to our young people I 1 would say read our books more study the gospel read the sermons that are preached by the oracles of the living god and learn to sing the beautiful songs of zion A song in the south sung in the spirit of god is equal to a sermon it is getting cooler here now summer is gathering up her robes of glory and is slowly gliding away the ers are loosing their look of beauty and to me the birds seem to sing of the slowly dying year our conference is progressing under the leadership of elder irving L pratt of provo and the elders are interested in the cause of the great creator their desire is to honor their parents to honor the cause and to honor the lord W H BOYLE JR tn in east bast tennessee conference columbus Cb lumbus polk co N C nov 7 1898 still the little stone rolls on the east tennessee conference was held at forsyth county N C on august 1898 all the elders came into with smiling faces ready to accept the feast which they had bud been so anxiously walting waiting for at our priesthood meeting I 1 was appointed to labor with charles A berg of sandy utah on the of august we started for our new county joining south carolina As we reached the county comity we were advised by the people to stay out of certain parts as lit was very dangerous but knowing we were taking 9 gods goda message and that he would pr protect 0 us ua we did not tear fear we soon soo n reached columbus the county seat the first man we met was the editor of the polk county news newa he was stand standing log by the court house he appeared to be in deep thought I 1 introduced myself and handed him a tract oh mormons cormons Mor mons was the reply yes sit sir that Is ia what the people call us A smile ran over his face you call yourselves ministers of the gospel do you yes yee sir air well wel we have got the gospel here and you had better make tracks to utah for we have no use for you nor your doo doctrine trine 11 we assured the fhe gentleman that we were united states citizens citizen sand and as liong ton as we did not harm any one we had a perfect right to go through the country the gentleman assured us again that we were not wanted in he bhe city and that if we did not leave we could expect trouble we told him that as soona as we had done our work we would go we were told that the mormon elders had bad been driven out of the county and that we would be finally lie he told us that the he would publish our eting nt 9 in his paper and guarantee us a good crowd of people we next went to see awe the mayor of the city ot fering a silent prayer in our hearts he seemed to be a kind gentl g emain we introduced ourselves to him and gave him a tract and sold him a voice valee of V imming he showed us his house and asked US las to come and see him again he told us that we distribute our literature and the people would ba pleased to receive it we found WD ehla to be ule the case the people treated us very kindly aind asked us lid toc g call again A we next went out in the country ant r finding friends everywhere angioi us td 10 find out something about the church of latter day saints we had the drw elege of explaining the gospel to tafta 1 we met with some persecution n baat tins this did not hurt the cause of truth HARRY E SHRIVES A conference in texas jeddo nov 8 1898 fe by request I 1 report vur late con ence emee held at jeddo bastrop baltrop cou texas in the southwestern states nal airik aiom siom the elders had a fine arbor ambor pre prepare a to hold conference in elder wn SR jack met us at 5 p m on the evening W the 2nd and after a consultation x alte elders it was decided to make a a now new conference which was done and it VW called the austin conference with A J elder wm H jardine as president r at 7 p m elder wm T jack callea a meeting of the elders reporting th thew labors for the past alx lx mouths and lay 31 elder wm T jack on the evening ot 4 the 2nd and the wagons began to come in cli from the surrounding districts gom 00 coming as far as twenty miles on morning of the 3rd ard the first austin coni 4 ference convened there was a goold goosay attendance of saints and present the conference continued canti f fobs days three sessions each day with good attendance each session TT time was occupied by elder wm it 1 jack and the elders who were an preset 1 all the speakers had the influence of the spirit of god and the people f the word of the lord dord from the mpa his servants the people listened I 1 tent ively to the remarks of the elder elde all the saints prel present sent testified t they had been built up in their holy faith sunday being the general f fast s t do the saints came together fasting the afternoon session was devoted testimonies A number of the sat bore strong testimonies te to the trual ness of the work they had espo despou even little children no nio older than ea eli summers arose and te testified stifled of goodness of god toward them coq can imagine what a great work Is ing carried on in the missionary except those who have been en in tt it and taken patt part in the actual lai Is conference Conf trence adjourned and the elote el began to make preparations to start their fields of labor yours very sincerely JAMES A DUKE S HAMILTON |
