Messages from the Missions

MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS. Elder 0. F. Call writes from Hastings, New Zealand, October 22, 1908: "Some time ago I saw that the Era asked for any good, interesting photos from

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240 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the missions, therefore I am sending a photo of the L. D. S. native school of Korongata, Hawkts Bay conference, which I have been teaching for the past two years. The L. D. S. schools of the New Zealand mission, four in number, prove to be a grand blessing for the Maori people, and our schools are said by the governor-inspector to be the best in the island. We are looking forward to the time when our college will be completed. Elder John L. Herrick, who succeeds Elder Joseph A. McRae as president of the Western States Mission, with headquarters at Denver, was born at Ogden, June 2, 1868. His father was Hon. Lester J. Herrick, one of the early and energetic builders of Oglen. John L. graduated from the public schools when sixteen. In 1885 he began as office boy in Z C. M. I. where belabored for five years, quitting as assistant bookkeeper, to act as bookkeeper at the First National Bank, where he worked for five years, leaving there to fill a position as assistant postmaster at Ogden, serving for six years. On resigning from the postoffice, in 1901, he was made secretary and treasurer of the Boyle Furniture Company. June 1, 1903, he formed a partnership with George J. Kelly, in real estate and insurance, taking also the agency for Utah for the Des Moines Life Insurance Company. This partnership has existed up to the present. Elder Herrick was made Secretary of the Mutual Improvement Association of Weber State, under Superintendent Edward H. Anderson, in 1887, serving on the Board until 1899, at which time he was made superintendent of the stake, which position he held until this year, when the stake was divided and he was released to take up other labors. While on the M. I. A. Board he also served as president of the second ward association for several years. Ordained a high priest in 1899, he was in 1904 made a high councilor. When the stake was divided, he was given charge of the Priesthood department, and devoted most of his attention to the development of the quorum movement which was inaugurated in the Weber stake last year. At a recent reception and ball in his honor at the Weber Stake Academy, one thousand people attended, including the leading men and women of Ogden, under the direction of the officers and members of the Weber stake. Elder Herrick may be said to be a John L. Herrick.

EDITOR'S TABLE. 241 typical product of the Mutual Improvement Associations, a- man of excellent character, full of energy, integrity and the spirit of the gospel. Elder Joseph A. McRae, for more than seven years president of the Western States Mission, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on the 19th of March, 1865. With his parents, he removed to Arizona, in 1876, settling as pioneer on the Salt River. Later they removed to the southeastern part of Arizona, near Bisbee, on the San Pedro, where he continued to reside, struggling to develop the country as a pitneer of the St. David Stake, until 1885, when he came to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah, continuing his studies for upwards of two years. Among other useful acts accomplished, he and his brother drove the first artesian well in ^r^^B the St I 'avid country. Returning from ^r ^fl Salt Lake to Arizona, he taught school . -Mj for six years in St. David. In March, 1899, he was called as a missionary to the Western States, then the. Colorado Mission, where he contined to labor until the first of March, 1901, when he was appointed to preside over the mission, which position he has held until the present. He delivers the mission to his successor, Elder John L. Herrick, in a very prosperous condition. Many converts have been made during his incumbency. There are some sixty elders now laboring in that field. Elder McRae married Eunice Higbee, December, 1891. They have four living children, two boys and two girls, three have died. At a testimony meeting held in Denver some time ago, eighty-one elders were present to show their respect for him as their president, and as a man full of zeal, energy and love for the work of the Lord. They presented him with a set of Plutarch's Lives; his good wife, with a polished oak sideboard; and his daughter, with a set of furs, all of which will be delivered to him at his new residence in Independence. President McRae has written the following sentiment, and presented an engraved copy to each of the elders, with his photograph: LEST WE FORGET. Virtue is a positive and potent influence in the world's development, Tnere is an inherent power in every individual brought out by association with the courageous. May the strength we have received from each other never waver in the defense of truth. May we ever be champions of the oppressed; may we never forget that our warfare is against sin, for the triumph of right, and the betterment of Joseph A. McRae.

242 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . humanity; that a kindness shown in word or deed, not only enriches us, but is a mighty factor in the redemption of man. Elder Andrew Jenson, Assistant Church Historian, has been called by the First Fresidency of the Church to preside over the Scandinavian Mission, with headquarters at Copenhagen, Denmark. He releases Elder Soren Rasmussen, the present incumbent. He will leave to occupy this position about the 12th of January. This is the sixth mission he has to ... been called to fill. From 1873 j^^ to 1875 he was traveling elder in the Scandinavian Mission; in 1879 he was appointed translator for Skandinaviens Stjerne in which position he labored for two years. From 1895 to 1897 he made a tour of the world, visiting all the foreign mission headquarters of the Church to gather historical annals. In 1902-3 he filled a special mission to Scandinavia to revise the translation of the Book of Mormon and to publish the same. In 1905 he returned again to Denmark to publish his Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, in the Danish language. Elder Jenson was born in Denmark, December 11, 1850, and was baptized February 2, 1859. He came to Utah, October 8, 1866, locating at Pleasant Grove with his father and mother where he made his home for sixteen years. In the home service of the Church he has always been an active worker, and since the 16th of April, 1891, has held the position of Assistant Church Historian, having been set apart on that date by Elder Franklin D. Richards. In this capacity he has practically visited every ward in the Church. He has written and published the L. D. S. Biographical Encyclopedia, Church Chronology, A Tour Around the World, The Historical Record, and other works, and for many years has edited Bikuben, the Danish Church organ. Elder Jenson is a faithful toiler, and one of the most capable and experienced men that could be chosen for the position. While absent he will in all likelihood publish the Pearl of Great Price, in the Danish language, and pursue other literary labors- Elder Thomas Evans McKay, lately appointed to preside over the Swiss and German Mission, was born in Huntsville, October 29, 1876, and is a son of Patriarch David McKay, and a brother of Elder D. 0. McKay, one of the quorum of Andrew Jenson.

EDITOR'S TABLE. 243 Thomas E. McKay. Twelve Apostles. He graduated from the district schools and entered the University of Utah in 1894, teaching in Huntsville in 1895, and in the University of Utah in 1896. He was principal of the school in Huntsville, in 1899, and later became principal of the Pingree School, in Ogden. From September, 1900, to October, 1903, he filled a mission in Germany, and on his return was engaged as instructor in the Weber Stake Academy, where he served for two years, following which he occupied a similar position in the Agricultural College of Utah, for two years. On the first of July, 1907, he was made superintendent of district schools of Weber county. Be has been very active in the Sunday Schools, and was a member of the stake board of Weber from 1899 to 1906, at which time he was promoted to membership in the superintendency of the stake; and at the recent division became one of the counselors in the Presidency of the Ogden stake. He is a vigorous worker, and a man of splendid character and standing. .- .,, Elder Melvin J. Ballard, a very active Church man in the Cache stake of Zion, has accepted a call from the First Presidency of the Church to take charge of the Northwestern States Mission, with headquarters at Portland, to release Elder Nephi Pratt who has acted as president of the mission for a number of years. He will assume charge on April 1st, next. Elder Ballard is a son of Bishop Henry Ballard and is thirty-five years of age and a graduate of the Brigham Young College, 1894. He filled a mission with Elders B. H. Roberts and George D. Pyper to the large cities of the United States, and was later president of the Southern Illinois Conference. A few years ago, he assisted Elder Joseph W. McMur- Melvin J. Ballard.

244 IMPROVEMENT ERA. rin in opening the Boise Mission, in Idaho. For six and a half years he has been counselor in the Logan second ward bishopric, and for the past two years a member of the stake high council. He was one of the principal factors, as president of the tabernacle choir, in securing the installation of the large tabernacle organ at Logan. As a business man he organized the Logan Knitting Factory, became its manager, and is now its president. For two terms he was president of the Cache Commercial Club, of which he is now director. He has ever been a very useful man in the Cache stake, and is a favorite among the people, progressive, broadminded, full of the spirit of the gospel, and of the energy that makes success. Elder Henrv Lorin Hall writes under date of September 28 from Adelaide, Australia, stating that the South Australian Conference is in a prosperous condition- Some difficulty has been experienced by the elders on account of the bad actions of an elder of the Reorganized church in the city of Victoria. The people were prejudiced against the Latter-day Saints on account of his actions. He was found guilty of wife desertion and sentenced to several months' imprisonment. This incident has given the elders some trouble, and filled some of the people's minds with prejudice, thinking that he was one of our elders, because newspapers headed their account of the affair, "A Latter-day Saint Accused." The elders have had great success in disposing of Elder Ben E. Rich's book, Mr. Durant of Salt Lake, as well as the discussion between Elder Rich and Rev. Hartley, at Ogden, some years ago. The elders tract from door to door, and hold open air and indoor meetings. The people are kind and considerate. The Era is in receipt of Ka Elele Oiaio (The Messenger of Truth), volume one, number one, November, 1908, a publication issued by the Hawaiian Mission containing twenty four pages of reading matter in the Hawaiian language, with a fine frontispiece, portrait of President Samuel E. Woolley; and another full page picture of Mrs. Lahela Woolley, and five Hawaiian ladies, officers of the Primary Associations. We wish the new member of the Church literary family success and long life. President Alma 0. Taylor of the Japan Mission writes from Tokyo, Nov. 24: Please note in your magazine the removal of the headquarters of the Japan Mission from 16 Kasumigaoka Machi, Yotsuya, Tokyo, to 870 Sendagaya Machi, Tokyo Fu, Japan. The move was made on the 19th inst. We are all well and very happy over the arrival of Elders Wm. S. Ellis and JayC. Jensen who dropped in yesterday afternoon like "twin sunbeams from the upper ocean." Elder Oliver A. Hansen of Bear River City, Box Elder Co., Utah, died in a hospital in Chicago, Nov. 28, age 22. He was on his way home from a mission to Norway, having been released owing to ill health. With the elders who accompanied him he rested in Boston a few days, but on arriving in Chicago he was so ill that he passed away.