Show FROM THE missionary FIELDS A west virginia conference Go lansville caroline co va july 25 lik 1898 permit me to report the conferences just held at the lansville golansville Go branch in the latter iatter day saints church on the fhe and of july te elder thomas C romney and my in attendance ten 4 jl guelf were v of the first day found a goodaly number of the saints of afi the branch and ad nang counties a and d many friends pres sat jint we held two interesting meet csiss as each day during which we set before before Ve fore the saints their duties as the Toe ijo tOple ale of god all hearts were m made ade glad A kind tempera the elements to our good while but two days before the erm ometer stood at in tae shade gshade when the time came for our meeting le eting the temperature had greatly toen making it as pleasant as a may ay aay in the valleys of utah we were bleed blessed with a rich outpouring of the wely spirit and each elder as he stood forch to speak found an abundant flow W M words at his command the bless of the gospel were vividly por before us and all were exhort eto adorn themselves with those vir toes etues which go 90 so 80 far to make up the of the follower of the meek and westy ly jesus 7 divinity of the book of mormon r the necessity of latter day cevela tibo was clearly and forcibly set forth i 5 bv elder T C romney ROMMY on sunday f t IQ mylung Mr lung ng to a large and attentive audi two p m the largest con con gallon tion ever assem assembled bled at the church effin in attendance the spirit prompt lag to especially direct our words to f viany many friends so the first pran ta of the gospel were explained that know the true door to the beep fold fad of christ we e mut make mention of the boun B repast recast spread by the saints bo be issia meetings each day although cc but four families of saints in SW lb branch ranch an abundance was fur to feed the large gathering so 1 K hearts were made glad in partaking jtb good things of earth the spirit jave pre prevailed throughout the l walnty 1 are united and we commend As an example tor for all to follow IV ave been in the mission field tor for years and I 1 can cam truly say they r been the happiest years of my s no one can understand my joy H he has haa had a like experience for I 1 labored as a a canvassing maiss Mv iSS in the southwestern part of the afe while the remainder of the time ten t spent in visiting among the teab of the conference much of virgilla VIrgin la jr 1 familiar sod to me and doa believe the virginians might ild of their native state no bet aple e can be found than the hum am of this land they are and charitable yet ith a fixed prejudice against the y day saints many are accept le e truth and the evil efforts of our te only to our good and accusers are fast cutting the ity by which their own platform ran is fyana fy awA A i S your r brother anil JOHN E GRIFFIN y rustburg Rust burg va al isto ate southern states state mission cpr hartford ohio co ky july 18 15 1898 nay with a noble band of ft my home in salt I lake ike ke r ert eit for the southern arriving to in chattanooga tenn I 1 was appointed to labor in the state of kentucky during which time I 1 have enjoyed myself immensely and have witnessed the power of my heavenly father made manifest in my behalf many times the work of the lord is progressing very favorably in this part at the present time and we are looking forward with fond anticipations for a bright and glorious future our conference will convene on the and of august at which time we w will be favored by a visit fro from m our new president elder ben E rich praying for the success of all I 1 remain your bro brother DAVID A AFFLECK owensboro Owen daviess co ky in worth north dakota fa ago north dakota july 25 1898 the lord has seen fit to carry the gospel to this northern state no doubt but what some of the elders have been here and made their voices heard but as the mission here is carried on ape somewhat different now to what it used to be a number of years back we have come to stay as long as it is possible we have had bad some hailstorks hailstorms hail hafl storms here during the past week in this cass county and in the county north grand fork county destroying grain graan in the former county and in the latter it is a pleasing sight as one travels along the rails to see the enormous fields ot of oats and wheat A good deal of corn is also being raised here while large potato fields are just in bloom now no trees to shade the roads no fresh water streams along the streets make a very strong impression upon the mormon elder and bring very strongly to his mind the hymn there is a place in utah that I 1 remember well etc the most densely ensely portion of the state of north dakota is the eastern part along the red river the population in 1890 was this has trebled itself by this time or at least doubled its numbers the largest town in the state to is fargo fa with a population of about to fargo is a rall railroad road center and all business of the state is transacted here but to make a long story short we will put all preliminaries to one side one good brother elder kelsch has called us to north dakota to preach the gospel to the people in this region my former field was chicago and cen fral al illinois while my brother co labor er D J hammon of preston idaho has been laboring in minneapolis and the southern part of minnesota elder kelsch deemed it best to start there in earnest and therefore called two more elders to this state brother ellas elias nielson of logan whose former field of lagor was michigan and elder lorenzo day from hunter salt I 1 lake county who has just come out here but a faithful energetic laborer borer lai all four of us started for fairmont Pair mont N X D as the starting place but upon arrival we saw that it was not what we looked for so after consultation we agreed to go 90 further north we had to wait for the train this gave us the desired opportunity to seek a quiet spot where we could dedicate the state to the lord and prepare another harvest for gods kingdom the spot selected was a grove of boxelder box elder trees the only one for miles around brother nielson offering the prayer after that each expressed his fl feelings ingo which was pleasing to listen to as each one was going to put the hand to the plow and sow BOW the pr precious belous gospel seed when ume time arrived we e took train for the north elders nielson and day leaving us at at wahpeton richland county while elder hammon and myself continued to fargo after finding a place to stay we paid our usual visits to the mayor chief of police and newspapers mayor J A johnson was somewhat unfriendly and told us that he would do all that he could to hinder us in our work we told him that we came to fargo to preach on the streets and tract from house to house he told us that it if we obstructed the street he would stop us we thought that it if one religious party had the right to uhe the public street we as citizens of the union claimed the same privileges As the chief of police just then drove by in an open buggy the mayor called him his way of intro ducting us to the chief was in this ase these men are mormon missionaries now anything that I 1 can do to hinder these men in their work I 1 shall do with this he mounted his bike and off he went leav ing ng the chief alone with us the chief is s a reasonable man he told us that he ie will do right to us to which he has las proved himself true as he allowed us to speak on a place we had selected and his men preserved order we started out tr tracking acting and called on several families in the meanwhile some articles appeared in tife ti fe daily papers the papers have been friendly to is and have not published anything against us but we hope with the blessings of the lord we will be able to bring the gospel to the honest to heart as we believe that there are many honest souls here D J HAMMON CHARLES A HAACKE fargo argus blk north dakota news from georgia prom from previous reports georgia has been a field where some of at us moro more timid elders were wont to stay away but the servants of god we bellevo believe will be looked upon with more favor in the future in conference held july ath and loth we had hada a time of rejoicing dicing the spirit of love reigned supreme in the hearts of every elder present and the counsel received will be put in practice and tt it is 0 sure ure that th a t those th os e wh alio 0 axe are honest hon eat will be brought to realize their position before their maker the elders report fair treatment in all their fields after conference we were sent to paulding county where the elders had haa labored before we found our frler friends had grown warmer they can not do enough for us we have been holding a series of meetings in a church chaich and had a time of refreshing to us we were treated royally and invited to come back and explain c the rest ot of the gospel for they were anxious listeners the weather ivery warm the I 1 crops are looking fairly well but bitt were cut a little short owing to the d spring seven consecutive weeks wi out rain a very unusual thing to hi ha 4 pen in the state our hearts were ere mi maue sad when we learned that our dent elder elias kimball had meil been released from the mission MI when god has a work tc perform he will find a man to fill that place we know there was no mistake made th choosing elder pen ben E rich lie he la Is a father to us may zion arise and d shine alders C A CALL F T 13 BALAAM ALLAM ln in the georgia conference mcdonough henry co ga july 28 MO 1898 I 1 left my home on the of avab 1898 in response to 0 a call on bh al a mission to the southern A tates I 1 text left AAA salt iak city in connection with brother JB ID H R kimball IB et al on arriving in tenn I 1 was appointed ao to the georgia conference which had bad then just been opened up brother D S V kimball and I 1 being the first two new elders from home to be sent into the conference taking train at chattanooga we 1 e brother D H kimbau kimball J E brown and aad myself went to buchanan Buc banan haralson Hara Json county where we met elder T nelson after being in haralson Haral sion county for three days I 1 received word from elder albert matheson Mat beson that I 1 was to remain in haralson and labor with elder J E brown going to work in our county we found a very good feeling amon the majority of the people and our labor was very pleasant we preached to in churches and aad aa d school houses in all the settlements we visited finding little or no trouble in obtaining them elder brown and I 1 labored mostly in the eastern half of haralson canvassing about one half of the county and also holding meetings in the thicker settled neighborhoods we met two good stood hearted latter day saints in the county of haralson their names are mary williams a widow and mary addison also a widow we did not have everything our own way but in the majority of ewes cases we did leaving Hax haralson alson county on july ath M elder brown and I 1 began our journey to bo conference in campbell county a distance of forty miles which we walked in two days after con conference ferenze I 1 was assigned henry county to labor in and given elder B R M owen of salt lake city to labor with me we have now been laboring in henry county for some over a 4 week mostly in the northwestern part and find the people as a rule very cool toward the work we depre sent it has been hard to get a place to stop at over night but we realize that we have some good friends in this county and I 1 think we ff will have members of the church here before long in one settlement the people are very desirous that we should have a church built and some have expressed their willingness to donate toward erecting one god has blessed us in many ways so many I 1 could not mention all of them we stopped one night only with uncle sam my companion and I 1 are both very young men he being but 20 and 1 I 19 but we realize that the lord has said eaid that he would choose the weak things of the world to confound the wise we a are both well and feel to go on in the noble fight for truth your brethren JOHN T BARRETT BiR REMT R P M OWEN notes front west virginia morgantown Morgan town monongalia Monon galla galia co W va july 27 the work of the lord is progressing in this part of his vineyard this is practically a new field the elders have been in some few places and where they nave have been we find a warm feeling existing we have many warm friends in this county and some that are very bitter toward us some are investigating the gospel the people here axe are trying to raise means to build a house for us to preach in as we have to hold outdoor meetings now we peruse the news with much interest your brethren in the cause of truth W T MELVIN |