The Missionary Problem

The Missionary Problem. BY EUGENE L. ROBERTS. [The author has filled a mission to Germany and Switzerland, just recently, and is at present a student at Yale University. His remarks should contribute towards making the missionary ideals for the future more definite, and it may be stimulate missionaries to greater activity. In Yale he met the New Haven elders, and was struck by their good work, which he has good reason to believe should be set up as an example. The elders, however, should remember that they have been sent out to teach the truth, to deliver a divine message, and should not permit themselves in the least to be converted to error. — Editors.] "I hate tracting, and must whip myself into it every day," is a common remark among our missionaries- There are, of course, numerous exceptions; but the writer feels certain, after heart to heart talks with scores of elders in England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and at home, that the average missionary dislikes this part of his work. Why? Various excuses are offered. A German elder justifies himself in the following words, and missionaries in different parts of the field have agreed with him: Somehow, I feel that there is nothing in the literature I am handing this people which deals with the things uppermost in their minds. There seems to be nothing that applies to the religious or social problems of their day; nothing which holds their interest because it discusses things vital to their e very-day lives. My tract would have been a powerful factor for conversion years ago, when the focus point of attention and interest was upon dogma and authority. But the world's eye is now centered upon other great questions. People no longer ask which is the true church ; but they are keenly interested in what principles must underlie social systems in order to bring about a better relation-

706 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ship between man and man, and man and God. The paramount problems are social, and my tract does not deal directly with these. My religion, however, does contain truths which would enlighten the world in all its perplexing questions. In my tracting district the big question is temperance, and a few reformers are fighting nobly to check the evil effects of drink. When nearly every household is talking of nothing else but drink, I pass from door to door with a tract on "Baptism for the Dead.'' And I am grieved because they refuse me, and I want to shake their dust from my feet. I honestly believe that if my tract were a discussion of the vital question, and incorporated the "word of wisdom," and I could devote my time, money and energy working hand in hand with these reformers for the uplifting of these people, I should love tracting, and become enthusiastic over it. In the Eastern States, at present, diet occupies the public mind. Scientists and laymen alike are intensely interested in what people should eat and how much. The high price of meats has compelled people to attend to the important question as to whether the eating of animal flesh can be dispensed with or not. Professors Chittenden and Fisher and Doctors Mendel and Anderson, of Yale, have carried on exhaustive experiments on diet, and have proved to the satisfaction of most medical men and scientists that numerous ailments and diseases which decrease the happiness and efficiency of most people are due to eating an excess of meat. Horace Fletcher, a magnificent example of the fruits of keeping the word of wisdom, is lecturing to large audiences of working and business men on the benefit of not only thorough mastication, but also of the reduction of proteid foods, and the doing away with teas, coffees and alcoholic drinks. "Mormonism" has something definite to contribute to the subject under discussion. It has a scheme of diet marvelous in its conception, and so far antedating the discoveries of these modern scientific men, as to make it peculiarly interesting to them. During a discussion on diet in the Yale gymnasium recently, the writer took occasion to quote from the "Mormon" "Word of Wisdom." This excited general surprise. Dr. Anderson, who figured prominently in the dietary experiments, was especially interested. One gentleman remarked, "Does 'Mormonism' mean

1HE MISSIONARY PROBLEM. 707 anything sensible and practical like that? I thought it nothing but polygamy and superstition." The great masses with whom our missionaries come in contact would be equally surprised to find that "Mormonism" means something real and beneficial to them. If the tracts occupied themselves with this interesting subject at this particular time, the people would begin to see that "Mormonism" is here for the practical, everyday good of mankind; that it is here to get people to live more sane and happy lives, and not merely to increase its numbers and decrease the membership of other churches. The missionaries, too, or at least the most progressive, would feel themselves more in tune with the great needs of things and would work with greater enthusiasm. Whatever the cause of the aversion to tracting may be, it is real, and is a hindrance to the progress of missionaries. Many have confessed that this one thing has caused them great worry, both while on their missions and for a long time afterward. Another question is the waste of time. There are few elders who do not regret much wasted time — time lost because their work was not systematized, nor their hours properly divided. The typical day of too many missionaries is a period made up of much sleeping; a great amount of loafing; considerable idle gossiping! some incoherent studying; a little purposeless visiting of Saints or friends some other elder made years ago; and perhaps an hour or so of almost aimless tracting, to keep the record respectable. However we . may wish to be optimistic and emphasize the bright side of things, we must be blindly so not to recognize and admit this condition and to realize its evil effects. Conditions ought to be improved. Missionary life ought to be made fuller and richer. Elders must awake to an appreciation of the importance of their time. They should become aware of the infinite possibilities all around them for development. Missionaries constantly preach that the glory of God is intelligence, and yet allow thousands of chances to acquire this intelligence slip by. They love to think and say that as God is man may become, but they fail to appreciate the significance of this marvelous truth. In New Haven, Connecticut, there are four elders who are exempt fromjthis criticism, and who represent what may be termed

708 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the ideal type of the modern "Mormon" minister. The writer had the pleasure of introducing them into Yale's religious life, and they are at present as much a part of it as the students themselves. They spend their spare time in the lecture halls or libraries; they attend the religious services and Bible classes, and take part in the discussions, giving to the students the "Mormon" interpretation of religion; they work shoulder to shoulder with the Yale boys in the missionary activities among the slums of New Haven, and are cultivating a comradeship and fellowship with the students. The Yale boys know who they are, and are coming to respect and admire both them and the great religious movement they represent. The New Haven elders are also active among the churches and the Y. M. C. A. of this city. Through attending Bible classes and assisting these societies in their efforts for good, they have made many friends, among whom are an influential Sunday school teacher and a prominent minister. The former entertains the elders at evening dinner once a week. As another example of the good results, the friends of one of the released missionaries gave him a farewell social which was attended b y some twenty of the best people of the city. A new elder from another field, after being in New Haven for a while, remarked: My missionary life never began until now. I never realized how big the world is, and how much there is to learn. These lectures and sermons at Yale have given me a different point of view, and a broader attitude toward the world. They have shown me the beauty of both "Mormon" ideals and those of the world. They have stimulated me to learn all I can and to give to the world the grand truths of "Mormonism.'' This young man is not the only one whose notion of things has been changed. There are many students of Yale and people of New Haven who look at life through different eyes since meeting the "Mormon" boys. They appreciate better the ultimate purpose of things. Many admit freely that our religion has much to contribute to the world; and they are all convinced that it is not the despicable system they had imagined it was. Some, too, are coming to believe that "Mormonism" is all we claim for it.

THE MISSIONARY PROBLEM. 709 These opportunities for real missionary work and for growth are not peculiar to this city. They can be found everywhere by the elder who is awake to what is going on around him. God speed the day when the "Mormon" missionary field will become the school it was intended to be. New Haven, Conn. In Union There is Strength. (For the Improvement Era.) In Union only is there strength, 0 man! Harmonic units form the perfect whole ! If all progression's founded on this plan, Then universal brotherhood's the goal. The glowing orb, enthroned on Zenith's height, Displays his power, nurtured from this fact, And spheres revolving 'round the heavenly light, In attuned union, rhythmic'ly must act. And all that we behold, or do, or know, Express the wisdom in this primal law; Disintegrating clay, and things that grow, Disclaim relation with discord and flaw. But recognition of a truth should bring Its useful application in each life; To contemplate and picture it, and sing, Alle7iates no pain, nor lessens strife. To correlate and build on true concepts, To learn their many phases, weight and worth, Will make the angel-seekers true adepts And bring the dreamed, regenerated birth. Idealism's fervent, growing hope, The soul's fine graph that's drawn on axes true, Shall brighten in its wide, engulfing scope, And be the welder of the old and new. J. P. May Milfokd, Utah.