--- 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: 15 number: 2 published: 1911-12 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* 15, no. 2 (December 1911): 177–180.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1502unse 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: improvementera1502unse start_page: 177 end_page: 180 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1911-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1502unse publication_year: 1911 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 1911, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Messages from the Missions Messages from the Missions. Elder Bert Barrus writing from Greenville, South Carolina, October 3, relates that during the past three months himself and Elder S. C. Hall, have been laboring in Greenville, meeting with good success especially in disposing of their literature. They have sold nineteen Books of Mormon, two hundred other books, and distributed sixteen hundred and forty- eight tracts. Six well-attended meetings were held by them the preceeding week, and they declare that a great many people are interested in the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints. The elders have a wide circle of friends and are gaining new ones every day, and they naturally feel that the Lord is blessing them greatly in their labors. Elders from left to right are: Bert Barrus, Grants - ville, Utah; S. C. Hall, Bennington, Idaho. The elders of the South Dakota Conference have been meeting with good success in their labors during the past summer. They are being received and treated with friendliness in the country districts, and much of the prejudice is being removed. The people are ready to receive and entertain them. Top row: Carl Anderson, A. F. Marchant, W. C. Oak- den, J. F. Carter, Lindsey Ovard, H. J. Crane, Bottom row: R. A. Goodey^H. M. Cardon, Conference President., W. J. Tanner, B. H. Sorensen. 178 IMPROVEMENT ERA Elder E. F. Baldwin writing from Pittsburg, Pa., September 30, says that he and Elder E. F. Birch spent a most profitable month in the coun- try. They started out without purse or scrip, and during a trip of sixteen days held seventeen meet- ings, some in halls, some in cottages, some in open air, and some in blacksmith shops. They traveled through a territory where two men, travelling ahead of them, who had plenty of money and who had offered to pay their way, had to sleep out seven nights in succession, while the elders, with not a penny in their pockets, passing the same road, were received and entertained with kindness and consid- eration, getting three meals each day and good beds to sleep in. Elders Baldwin and Birch also visited the home town of Solomon Spaulding. They visited his grave also where the people have erected a monument to his memory, believing him to be the author of the Book of Mormon. Solomon died in 1816. The elders visited the old house where he is supposed to have written the famous story, and spent one day tracting the small town of Amity, endeavoring to show and to prove that the people's idea of Mr. Spaulding is inconsistent as well as un- true. They left three or four Books of Mormon in the town. Elders L. R. Howell and S. I. Johnson, the former of Preston, Idaho, and the latter from Lovell, Wyoming, writing from Basic City, Virginia, October 10th, state that during the past three months they have baptized twenty-eight persons, held seventy-nine open-air meet- ings and cottage meetings, and during the time that they were in the field they were well pro- vided for, having to ask for enter- tainment only once. They re- joice in the blessings of the Lord and state that the longer they labor in a district the greater their harvest of souls. They have been laboring in Nelson and Augusta counties, Virginia. Elder Milton H. Love writing from Nottingham, England, October 10, states that the Nottingham Conference was held September 2 at which time the statistical report showed that during the preceeding nine months the elders distributed 184, 249 tracts, 3,934 books; visited 2,202 families, held 875 meetings, 181 of which were in the open air, and baptized 21 people. The Priesthood meeting was held by President Clawson and the MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS 179 elders, at which each elder expressed himself, bearing a testimony to the work of the Lord and stating that he was pleased he had been called on a mission. "Good progress is being made in this district where we have several thriving branches all self-sustaining. We have many friends and hundreds of Saints. The English folk here, as is the case with the English- men generally, are tolerant and lovers of fair play, so that the recent anti-"Mormon" agitation so prevalent throughout England has not effected this district to any great extent." See portrait of elders, p. 136- Elder R. M. Haddock writing from Baltimore, Maryland, October 25, encloses a picture of the three elders who were instrumental in organ- izing a branch of the Church in the western part of the Maryland conference. A group of the members of the Church is also shown in the accompanying picture. The elders are : left to right, Ambrose Call, Maben Fox, R. M. Haddock, conference president. There are about twenty-five Saints living in the section referred to. Brother Charles Knotts, under proper authority, is hold- ing meetings with the Saints there, and through his efforts, coupled with the work of the traveling elders, those living m his immediate vicinity have been taught the need of having familyprayer and many other such essential principles. Friends have been converted and are now trying to live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This branch in its organized state will serve as an anwser to the question that might be asked — What are the elders in Maryland doing? The Saints living in this branch cannot do enough for the elders. They call us their boys, and* help to make our sojourn in their country a pleasant one. They do all they can for the spread of truth, and are ready to acknowl- edge the hand of God in blessing them for so doing. It is inspiring to hear some of the little children, many of whose faces are seen in the accompanying picture, tell what their Heavenly Father has done for them, and that they know the elders are servants of a kind God. Elder James T Blake, President of the Savaii conference, Samoa, writes, September 11: "Elder Edwin Moody and I have just completed a tour of this island, visiting all the elders and branches of the Church in this conference, also nearly all the villages on the island. All is well in ^ 1 j8 I ■w\ — jr ! - m 180 IMPROVEMENT ERA the conference, and the elders are happy and contented, preaching the gospel in their respective branches and stations. We have five flourish- ing branches of the Church, and bright prospects for more, in the near future, as the people are very friendly in many of the outside villages. With the help of the Lord we hope soon to convert them to the gospel, and establish more branches. Our band of six elders are enjoying good health and we are never quite so happy as when trying to preach the gospel to the natives in their own native tongue. The elders herewith are lab- oring in East Texas, and are, back row, left to right: R. L. Telford, Randolph, Utah; J. H. Sparks, Dingle, Idaho; front row, George A. Pearce, Roosevelt; J. O. Bankhead, Paradise; and William J. Riggs, Jr. Hatch, Utah. Elders George A. Foote and Robert M. Garbett Louis, Missouri, October 23, enclose a photo of what they call "The long and short of the Missouri conference." They state that they have met many good people who are willing to listen to the message which they have to proclaim. In St. Louis they have met many honest-hearted people. Their hall meetings in that city are very well attended by Saints, friends and investigators. The street meetings are quite a success, a large number attending who are thus reached by the gospel who would never hear it otherwise. Opposition is disproved, as evidence crowds upon evidence;] and the message of "Mormonism" rises above the fog of prejudice, as the true gospel of our Lord, revealed in this dispensation, is more thoroughly understood by the people. writing from\ St. The Most Powerful American Fleet of Warships ever assembled on the Atlantic coast was reviewed from the Mayflower, by President William H. Taft on the 2nd of November, in the New York harbor. It contained more than one hundred vessels, including twenty-six battle ships, three of which are larger than any other three in the whole world.