A Sample of Missionary Work in the South

A SAMPLE OF MISSIONARY WORK IN THE SOUTR BY ELDER SIDNEY S. REYNOLDS. tilV

[The following interesting article is from a letter to the Editors of the Era from Elder Reynolds, and we give it the above title because the details given of missionary procedure and results are so like those experienced by scores of other Elders of the Church. —Editors.]

It frequently happens that a missionary will work in his field

of labor for some time before he receives any reward for his labors; and often he is almost discouraged in seeing no fruit at all from the seed he has sown. But the Elder who is humble and persistent in his efforts is shown some manifestation of the goodness and power of God, that his labors are not in vain. At the conference held in Plymoth, Mississippi, Elder James E. Brown, of Riter, Utah, and I were assigned to labor in Colbert County, Alabama. We entered the county, fasting and praying, beginning our house to house canvass. We started in a neighborhood where the Elders formerly had been, but owing to the intense bitterness of the people against the Elders at that time there had been no preaching done. But we had come with the intention, with the Lord's help, to search out the honest in heart of that place, and did not intend to be easily discouraged; for it invariably happens that where there is any honest in heart to be gathered out, that Satan in his wrath will stir up the people against the servants of the Lord. We tried to obtain the church house in the neighborhood to preach in, but no; "Mormonism could not be preached from that pulpit." We went to the home of a gentleman who had

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befriended the Elders before. Here we were kindly received. We got permission from him to hold services in his house. We called at each house, giving out our appointment to hold meeting next night. At the appointed time we had a fairly good congregation, most of whom had come because curiosity had brought them there; but they were surprised when they heard nothing but the pure Gospel of Christ. We continued our meetings, and the number attending continued to increase each night. Satan was we had been threatened by mobs several not quiet either, for times and warned to leave. But why be afraid when we knew God was with us? We knew we were doing some good because many had now become interested and were investigating. One lady, of whom I wish to speak, had always before been a bitter enemy to the Gospel as taught by the Latter-day Saints. She had made it her business to destroy all Mormon literature with which she came in contact. She would go from place to place telling false things she had heard and read. And when the Elders came to the place where she was stopping, she would leave at once. But when Elder Brown and I came in the neighborhood she said she believed she could talk to us. We explained to her the Gospel and testified that the stories she had heard were not true. We soon made a firm friend of her. She read the Voice of Warning and the Book of Mormon, and soon after applied for baptism. And like Paul of old, she worked as hard now for the truth as aforetime she did against it. Another old lady living in the same neighborhood who had attended our meetings became quite interested in the preaching, and at the close of our services one night, she came up, shook hands and said she would like a copy of the Voice of Warning, but was not able to purchase it. We gave her one, and "Aunt Kate,'^ as she is commonly called, did much good with her "little red book,'^ as she could go where we could not. At this time Elder Brown was called to Georgia to help reopen up that conference, and I was joined by Elder T. H. Humphreys who had just come out from Zion. Together we continued our labor of love. We thought best to leave this place for a little season. On leaving we gave the people some books to read while we were gone. In a month or so we returned again, and "Aunt

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Kate" was the first to meet to us. She said: "You have come in answer to my prayers. I had read all the books you left except Brother Roberts' New Witness for God, and I was just reading that when I prayed to God to tell me if the Gospel was true as taught by the Latter-day Saints. And as I prayed the page of my book became dark, then a beautiful light covered it, and I saw you two Elders coming." "Aunt Kate" was soon baptized and is happy that God sent We had the his servants to her with the true plan of salvation. pleasure of baptizing seven honest-hearted people in this neighborhood. In another neighborhood, some ten miles from this, we had some similar experiences. One old lady, past the eighties who— was very much opposed to her daughter being baptized, fearing — the talk of her neighbors had watched the movements of the Elders, and being struck by their humility and love for one another, came to the conclusion that God must be with them, or they would not undergo what they did. She began to ask questions. We answered them and gave her our books to read, and she was soon ready for baptism and although she came into the Kingdom of God at the "eleventh hour," of her life, she knows the Gospel is true, because she has done the will of the Father.