| Show IN THE TURKISH MISSION apostle anthon H lund writes writ es the following interesting letter to the millennial star from aleppo syria under date of march 31 1888 1898 since I 1 wrote you from haifa I 1 have had a very interesting visit with the saints at we succeeded in getting our armenian brother who iwho traveled with us landed at alexandrea ta armenians Armen ians who have left the country are not permitted to land except they have their passports in good order I 1 believe he will be able to do a good work among his friends at h home ome he seems to be a man of great faith alker and having visited abon he be will be able to refute the scandalous reports which have been circulated concerning our people you would think that in this far off land our elders would have the chance to present the gospel as we believe it without having to meet the baseless fabrications which have been the favorite weapons of our opponents in northern europe and america but not so here our missionaries are met bj b the old stories rehashed hashed re and served up a la jarman while this is not pleasant for our brethren still the lord overrules it for good and manyi many who otherwise would have been in ut different in regard to us have come to th us to find out the truth concerning on our faith and have become deeply interested in the gospel we arrived at on the first ot oi march we were made quite welcome by the saints they had not been visited by an elder for years and henc they had looked anxiously forward I 1 to the time when they should have a missionary in their midst again it warf pleasant to see their happy faces and hear their hearty hosh gel gelzinis dinis welcome there were some thirty members 6 the church in who had a priest to preside over them no one else had haa been ordained to the priesthood Ws we found five members who had been baptized but on account of there being no elder they had not been confirmed they had longed to receive the blesing of laying on of hands and rejoiced that the ordinance could now be pet pern formed it is a remarkable fact and an evidence of how the saints are abt actuated by the same spirit wherever and in whatever circumstances they are found that this little flock had h kept faithful and had a correct conception of the gospel and this notwithstanding their isolation and their not nos being beang able to read any of our publican jea eions or any of our church works A few tracts have been printed in turk ish and that is in all they have read dif our literature they are diligent students of the bible and the spirit 41 god has enlightened their minds to understand many of the glorious gl orlou truths it contains they had not hid den their thedr light under a bushel but to in season and perhaps sometimes butof out af season they had proclaimed the prin chiples of the gospel they had not forgotten howe however ver the best method of preaching the gospel namely by showing a good example A minister who was against the sins of the mormons cormons Mor mons was waa asked by the president of the brandh to point out who were guilty of W what he had charged against them ile fie ra plied oh I 1 do not mean your mft members here for they are exemplary men ma and women but I 1 refer to those to utah the brother who presides over th branch seems to have been bean raised jw by the lord specially for that place during the trials and har hardship deldo a through which the saints have 1 he has ever been staunch and true wo aass unwavering in his faith and has boap an inspiration to the saints to be baft ful they had full confidence in dha r brother hintze was the first one olie iff u preach the gospel in and fotss of the members remembered him frok that time and many outsiders hearty h in welcoming him back t our room was crowded from mori ing till night with people who eit eitnier fier wanted to learn our principles or shaw sho us that we were wrong it was an hi tt restIng te sight night to see them sit aft turkish fashion on the carpet sometimes ac many as thirty at once with brother hintze in ther middle they would biff vt him with queSt questions lonS and listen to 1 aft answers he gave them the A armenia ll 11 ne h 1 1 ans are very earnett earnest in their d ii slon and when this became ve very ry feat mated to me who did not u the language it almost sounded as if a quarrel was going on but that was not the case they would all at once become quiet and listen to a passage of scripture read to them some would adlle approvingly showing that they yere were convinced others would raise fresh objections and so it would continue for hours A missionary to be successful in turkey must be gifted with good conversational powers three or four days after our arrival seventeen enteen presented themselves as 4 candidates for baptism A friend of oed ared us the use of a courtyard in the middle idd e of which was a basin of hewn rocks some twelve feet long filled with 1417 flowing water the yard was enclosed ty a high wall so we were entirely secure from disturbers disturb ers those who wore were to be baptized covenanted before the lord to serve him and walk in newness of life after apayer y er had been offered brother t gi t stepped into the waiter and per ed the baptizing it was a joy inspiring ring scene to see so ao many men pd w women omen sealing their covenants ath rith the lord in the waters of baptism knowing that they would receive a testimony that their sins were forgiven them the evening was serene and all passed oft off peaceably sunday morning a little after sun rise ribe we met in the meeting house ant and dpn firmed twenty two members teased twenty three children and orned aia the presiding priest on an elder hn we partook of the sacrament of 19 lords supper our adversary was waa not pleased with ST she good work being done A mob selected on the outside and hun A deeds acu ecu of people could be seen on the y osof of houses trying to see us even g oo 00 the roof of our own house were a aber of persons and we were obliged E to close our meeting president may copek sock and elder andrew larson had s pome e UP from aleppo the day before 1 I leaving leavin g the meeting the latter was waa with a couple of clods or atones tone was not hurt the streets were crowded ded and we were followed to our urging ng by the mob the ministers in the different arched had preached against us aper since luce they heard of our coming biad they hey had haa succeeded in exciting W hie people ale during the week following te first of a series of papers written n at u 0 was waa sown broadcast among fofi SV t pe people I 1 a four more followed while W were at the american society have a college in V ab and one of the professors was we author of these articles he wrote series of articles articled arti clee against us while brother her hint hintie was here on his forr r mission he made extracts from books published against us ua in erica ano and england ang and the charges t re made lost nothing in passing rough ough his fertile brain being biang a man the armenians Armen lana ians are proud at him bam and his writings had a great Ss bence upon them these had the t to raise a bitter spirit against kym sla W many and in making many in veat teate te our principles sy S every night the brethren were in cited out to meet with inquiring lends and opponents opponent iL sometimes a d people were present at these the subjects treated in the referred to would be brought J Bp ward d but the brethren soon dis sed of them and then had a good importunity eunity to preach the gospel evenings we had to divide up in bree parties in order to satisfy the in different parts of the city athe irhe preachers continued to inflame veople people against us and in the en were styled wolves in sheepy sheep fc ing alie third bunday that we iwa there them our meeting was waa again dis 1 A in going fria the streets large jarga re rock hit me on the leg but it had spent its force and did not hurt me much at noon we tried to organs organ ize ze a sunday school but the mob bei came so threatening and gathered in such large numbers that our people could not meet they hurled buried large stones at the gate of the plaice where we were and handled some of the saints roughly the police were called on and several arrests were made the ministers began to realize what they had done and promised that they would leave us alone the saints insisted on out seeing the turkish commander of the troops and the city we found him a very affable gentleman and he promised us that our people should be protected in our conversation he said those who have a new message to bring unto the world have always been persecuted our meeting hall was not large enough to accommodate our people so we tried to get another but those who had places to rent did tot not dare to let the Moma oais have them A gentleman who had visited us several times when he heard we wanted a hall said come and see my place we found he had an excellent place tor for the purpose and closed the bargain at once we ot a fine hall and seven nice rooms for twelve dollars st a month our meetings last sunday passed oft off peaceably our new landlord la Is a man of great moral courage and he kept the crata in the street we had nearly a hundred strangers at each meeting we held the first conference in the turkish mission last sunday march ath the zara branch was represented by elders nishan and dikran who had made a sixteen days daya journey to attend it the branch was waa by elders maycock larson and dr hagopian Hag the report showed that the mission now numbers members and 84 children under eight bight years making a total of souls the church authorities were sustained F F hintze was sustained as 09 pastor and philip macock as president of the turkish mission A sunday school was orga organized nihed and the branch w waa thoroughly organized with M necessary officers to look atter after the saints we left there tuesday morning the saints felt well and hopeful many followed us out of town I 1 forgot to mention that eight more mom persons persona all men were baptized while we were in this addition of new members has strengthened the branch very much |
