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Show I iw m wwwywi w www i MANCHESTER CONFERENCE Elder Broadbent gives an account . T of the big attendance at Oldham . Editor Lchi Bannku, Thinking the retul.iis of your valu- nblo paper would no doubt lik? to hear of tho progr'ss of tl.o great Latter day Work in this p it of, tho vineyiml, 1 X . take tliia oppurtuiiity to pen you the .following: When I wrote to you last theuo wrte i j, only myself and 'partner laboring in 'Oldham. On Jam 7, at our council meeting held at Winchester, our presi- dent said it was the wish of tho Preai- ,'deney of the European mission that E there he a number of elders Btutioncd in OldhAiu i tltcrc 9v?H".l W .bv ft Kvl ', &J(f Opening to jn'ortri) Ilia Gospel thefe, It ''" was decided to send 8 d? 10 elders to ;f' this town and that the people be1 thor- ',-Ky onghly warned and called to reperiiance, tbut every liouse he visited and not arte missed and all be given a chancoto em- , brace tho truth, and that the cuuvas be nmde without delay and after all had J'een warned to move to the next city. , . So.ut present thoro-ui c 8 elders laboring , ( liere. Elders Mosh, Broadbent, Bl ke , ' Cook, Austin, Wild, U-eenalch, and . ' " Brown. At the January council meet- . ' j'g it was also decided to hold the next Manchester Conference in Oldham on Pel", 21st and a committee of three vit6 iippoinled to see about hiring a hall, advertising and to tnuke aP anange- ineut8. It was decided to have printed $8 5000 small hand bills and 050 large pos- tera and to put nu advertisement in the M - Oldham Chronicle announcing our con- W ference. The town was districted off m ' ad two older appointed .to each dis- rf trict. We all commenced to work some S xhreo weeks before our conference, to Ig .advertise it in every way possible. We . -engaged the laigest and most popular m halt in town known as the Unity Hall M ' -with a seating capacity of 1-100. After ' M ' .getting our largo posters printed we 'fl hired 150 of them posted up by tho Old- , il ham Bill Posting Co. Each elders took IH -liis share of the balance and went to m .' -the shops and stores and hbk permission , fl -to Jiang them up in their windows. In m ithis we -succeeded very well. Wo each fl ook our portion of the small bills and B called nt the houses giving one at each fl house and asking the family to come to m .our conferenci , We gave some to the jB inill bauds us they enmo out of the 89 mills. Wo alto had two largo signs B (size 3x7 ft) painted announcing our fl . conference and placed them in front of fl the hall. Wo hired some largo lamps i B which we used at the six open air fl meetings we held. At each of these we S had from 200 to 500 people and one B . evening we got permission to get on one fl of tho stands in the public market and fl n give notice of our conference to some . fl "" 3000 or 3000 people. Wo all worked fl with a will , early and late, to try and fl get the people out. fl Feb. 21st came and was a lovely day for England, as it 'did not rain. At fl t 10:30 wo were alius our hall. Thero fl ' " were present on the stand Pres. 'Wells fl And his counsellors McMurrin and Par-fl Par-fl . . ry and 21) Utah elders. It was a great ! , sight to see so many ciders from Utah IB piesent at one meeting. Fourteen came IB , in from other confcrecne3 to visit us as fl ib the custom. Tho conference was cal- Ifl led toonlor promptly at 10.30 by Pres. IB "Willams. The choir sang, "Earth with jfl her ten thousand llowere," etc, Prayer by Elder Wild. Singing. "Softly beams 1H the sacred dawning," etc. ' Pres. Wil-H Wil-H Hams made a few opening remarks and then Elders Salt, Goold and Bradshaw H were the speakers. Tho choir sang an anthem, "Wako tho song of jubilee," After prayer by Elder Andrew Jonson B tho conference adjourned until 2:30. fl ' . ' Arrangements having been made, all -fl the sains and some fiiends had dinner 'fl in the hall. Theie were two long tables t ' loaded with tho good things of tho earth . B v and 143 sat down and enjoyed a good fl dinner which had been prepared by the fl. - saints. This over, some took a walk fl while others sat and chatted until 2 :30, ' 9 at which tiino wo all re-iaseombled. Tho 9 choir sang, High on tho mountain top'' 9 etc. Prayer. Singing, "My God tho 9 spring of all my joys," etc. Counsellor 9 McMurrin then apoko occupying tho 9 whole of tho thno. He gave as lino n 9 . sermou on the First Principles of the 9 Gospel as I over listened to. Thero wnB m preeent some 500 elrangora who listened 9 with the greatest interest. Choir sang the anthem, "One thing have I desnod of tho Lord." Prayer by Coun. Parry. Then camo the time to enjoy ar other repast. All Biirrounded the two large tnblis once more and had what tho English Eng-lish call "tea". Alter tho close of the meeting a Mr. Itussell asked mo to goto his houso and bring with me President Wells, McMurrin, Parry and Andrew Jenson. Ho was so taken np with the discourse that ho wanted to have us o and take tea with himeelf and lamily which we did and enjoyed it cry much. Tho whole family went back with ua to tho evening meeting. Wo found the hull nearly full. It was tho largest congregation any of the eldeis or the presidency htivo ha J the pi iyilege of addressing nt a conference in England for many yertrs, so Pree. Wells told me. i The eorvicvs opened by singing "Int Direr Di-rer of the ancient seers" etc. Prayer bv Elder J. S. Broadbent. Singiug by th J choir. The president then luinoun-ced luinoun-ced that there were two-babies to bWs mid after this Was done Pres. Wells addressed ad-dressed the conference nntl Coun. Parry made a fev closing remarket The choir sang the anthem, "The Loid will comfort com-fort rAoti," Prayer by Coun. McMurrin. This closed one of the best attended and largest conferences that has been held in the European mission for n long time. It was estimated that thero were 1000 strnngera in attendance and tho presidency said they could sea. there was a good opening in Oldham at present. pre-sent. Some four weeks ago there were 12 bap-ifed and we expect inbre soon. On Monday we met in Priesthood meeting where the elders gave a report of their labors for the past six months. The presidency then gave us some good instructions. Elder Andrew Jenson, who is travelling around the world gathering Church History, etc., was present and talked to us. In the evening the ejders, saints and friondB met in the regular meeting room and had an impromptu social. Elder Andrew Jenson sang u song in tlie Maori language also one in the Hawaiin tongue. ton-gue. Songs, speeches, etc. made up tho evening's entertainment. This closed one of the best times I huvo had while travelling in this an.l. This is the second conference held in Oldham in ono year and it wns attended with increased interest. Kind friends and the paints done all they could to make the elders comfortuble. Notwithstanding Notwithstand-ing the fact that the people generally are poor they.sharo their lot with the eldeia and give us the best they have. We have made many friends while hero and feel that our labors have been fraught with success. We now have a Sunday School and everything in a progressive pro-gressive state. I feel once more to say to the young men to prepare themselves for this calling, cal-ling, to travel and preaclwthe Gospel ne onco more restored to earth in its fullness full-ness and to know for themselves that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God for tho day will soon come that all that have a testimony of the truth of tho Gospel will ho called to go and proclaim it to the nations of tho earth. With best wishes to my relotives, friends and saints in my gocd, old, mountain home. Joseph S. Broadbent. 24 Sylvan St., Oldham, England. |