---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 12
number: 8
published: 1909-06
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Messages from the Missions," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 8 (June 1909): 674–677.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1208unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera1208unse
start_page: 674
end_page: 677
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-06)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1208unse
  publication_year: 1909
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Messages from the Missions

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.

674                            IMPR YEMEN TIER A

may God help me to be as true as they were                 !    Help me to stand as
they stood, upon the pedestal of eternal truth, that no power on
earth, nor in hell, may remove me from that foundation.                                   This is
my prayer to the Lord, for my own sake, and it is my prayer to
him for every Latter-day Saint throughout the length and breadth
of the world.          God bless you my brethren and sisters.                             May he
continue to prosper us,             and help us to increase in righteousness
and faith, in union, and in love, one for another and for God our
Father, and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom we
owe the hope and promise of redemption from death, and from the
power of endless banishment from the presence of God.   This is
my prayer for you, my brethren and sisters, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

                  MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS.

                                                        Elder Andrew Jenson, presi-
                                                   dent of          the Scandinavian            mis-
                                                   sion, writes           from Aalborg, Den-
                                                   mark, April 14,               where he was
                                                   attending conference in the new
                                                   building of the Latter-day Saints
                                                   in that city,           a cut of which          is

                                                   presented             herewith.        He    says
                                                   that the elders in that                 mission
                                                   are baptizing quite a number of
                                                   converts          and        that   they       are
                                                   hopeful for the future.                     Presi-
        I                                          dent Jenson appears to be enjoy-
                                                   ing his          labors      very   much and
                                                   states that            the    elders   in     that
                                                   mission read the Era with great
                       * m&-   -"jjaf              interest.             He promises an illus-
                                                   trated       article         shortly    for our
                                                   magazine.

                                                        President John C.                 Larson,
                                                   Jr., of the            Manchester       confer-
Latter-day   Saints'    Meetinghouse,   Aalborg,
                                                   ence,       in    a    letter dated         Hyde,
                   Denmark.
                                                   Cheshire,             England,      April      16,

says:  "I enclose a brief account of a new meetinghouse we have been building in
the city of Oldham.    We have a good, thrifty branch of the Church there, with

<!-- page:675 -->

EDITOR'S TABLE.                                             675

                                                   a good Sunday school and Mutual
                                                   Improvement Association doing
                                                   active work the year around.
                                                   They were meeting in a hired
                                                   hall,    neither a fit place to wor-
                                                   ship the Lord in nor a desirable
                                                   locality, so the elders and Saints

                                                   decided to work to get a meet-
                                                   ing house of their own.         To this
                                                   end they began holding socials
                                                   and parties to raise money, and
                                                   were very successful, for in less
                                                   than     a year they      had    raised
                                                   over thirty pounds.        A mission
                                                   room was offered for         sale very
                                                   cheap     which     they very much
                                                   wanted, but didn't have enough
                                                   money to buy,       so   they applied
                                                   to President Penrose for aid.         He
                                                   helped them       by securing from
                                                   the     First   Presidency      of   the
                                                   Church forty pounds, the pur-
                                                   chase price,      so the building was
                                                   purchased.      Four elders started
    Elders Frank B. Meads,    Charles D.
Spence, W. S. Glenn and William Glenn at           to    work removing the building
work on the Church at Oldham.                      to the    acquired site in another

  Interior of the Church in'Oldham as   it   appeared on the day of dedication.

<!-- page:676 -->

676                             IMPRO VEMENT ERA              .

                                                      part of the city.           Extra elders
                                                      were called to work from time to
                                                      time until       all   had helped.           It

                                                      elicited quite a comment to have

                                                      the elders       in    working         clothes
                                                      bustling       about early and             late
                                                      digging trenches, wheeling ce-
                                                      ment,        laying    brick,         carrying
                                                      timber from the lumber yard to
                                                      save        expense,     putting       up the
                                                      frame work, and            finally      finish-

                                                      ing     and     painting        the     house.
                                                       First the people         laughed at us,
                                                       but before it was finished, they
                                                       began to say that the "Mormon"
                                                       preachers      were      all   right,     and
                                                       treated us very nicely, especially
                                                       those with      whom we had             busi-
                                                      ness.        They loaned us           scaffold-
                                                       ing,   timber and tools, thus sav-
                                                      ing us this expense.             One lady
                                                      supplied us        with    water which
                                                      saved us tbe cost of piping water
                                                      to the       building.     Our greatest
                                                       obstacle was getting a satisfac-
     A number of Saints and Elders cleaning and tory lease for the land, but that
decorating the chapel at Oldham, England on the b att i e waa fought and won by
day before opening.
                                                President Penrose.    We reluct-
antly applied to him for more money      —reluctantly because he had already given
us more than we asked for.       He responded with the needed fifteen pounds thus
enabling us to finish the building.   On the 27th of March the Saints gave a very
successful and pleasant party, both socially and financially.   On the 28th we
held three meetings attended by many people and by President and Sister Penrose,
the conference president and twenty-two traveling elders.             At the evening meet-
in? there were present       two hundred and twenty-five people, and many were
turned away.         We had a spiritual feast, and were taught the gospel in plainness
and power.         In the afternoon President Penrose dedicated the house to the Lord

as a place of worship.       The building cost, not counting       labor,    one hundred and
ten pounds,   is   lighted with gas and contains a hot water heating plant.            The body
of the hall is twenty-four by thirty-two feet.      The stage is eight by twenty-four
feet,   and back of the stage are two class-rooms ten by twelve feet each. It is built
on a cement and brick foundation, of corrugated iron outside, and               matched lum-
ber on the inside, and is well painted."

<!-- page:677 -->

EDITOR'S TABLE.                                    677

                                                                           "-1*

                                                  ** ..*#       V *#
    Elders of the Manchester Conference in front of the new Church at Oldham.
    Top row: T. W. Duce, D. L. Pugh,   S. B. Wallace (local),   C
                                                                D. Spence, A.
A. Atkinson.
     Second row: A. Manwaring, C. A. Duke, N. F. Bullen, J. McMurdie, W. A.
Langton, C. W. Gibbs, J. L. Barrow, W. S. Glenn, Jno. E. Layne, J. E. Burns,
J. H. Bankhead.
     Front row: L. G. Taylor, N. Doane, Rob't Blaine, Frank B. Meads, Presi-
dent C. W. Penrose, Sister R. B. Penrose, Conference President J. C. Larsen,
Jr., Wm. Glenn, J. F. Evans, Jas. Walker.

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                                          Copyright, igog, by Romains Photo Co.

 Mining and Manufacturers Buildings, Alaska- Yucon Pacific Exposition, Seattle.
