--- 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: 32 number: 4 published: 1929-02 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* 32, no. 4 (February 1929): 328–333." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3204unse 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: improvementera3204unse start_page: 328 end_page: 333 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1929-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3204unse publication_year: 1929 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 1929, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Messages from the Missions Messages from the Missions A Friend Pays Tribute to Missionaries The Era is in receipt of the following letter from Thos. Hogarth, of High Burrows, Egton Bridge. Yorks. England: We have recently had the pleasure of entertaining two of your young men missionaries, Mr. -Nephi Cutler and Mr. Alden J. Kirkham. Now I do not want you to infer from this letter that I agree with their religious views, and I know they fully under- stood my po- sition in the matter. But I do want to say we had some very earnest talks on religious subjects, and I was struck with their sincerity and enjoyed their company very much. I read a good deal of their literature, in- cluding some parts of the Book of Mormon, and all the articles in the Improvement Era, all of which I enjoyed; but I had to admit to them that I could not accept their doctrine. However, laying all this aside, if all your young men missionaries are as full of zeal as these boys, you cer- tainly have reason to feel proud. They were with us five days, and I think every time they went out, they came in wet, but this was in my favor, as I had more of their company than I should have had otherwise. My heart was touched when they told me of their beautiful Salt Lake City and of their friends and relatives. I Left: Alden J. Kirkham RIGHT: NEPHI CUTLER took a snapshot of them as they were leaving, and if it is at all possible, I should like to have both it and this letter inserted in the Improvement Era. to let their friends know that kind- ness is not a lost art in old England. I might add that they told me of sev- eral unpleas- a n t experi- ences they had met with in England, but really I was not much surprised, as children are brought u p with an idea that "Mor- mons" are o n 1 y h a 1 f civilized, and must be kept at a distance, and, as I told those young men, that feeling will take a lot of living down. England, as a rule, is very tolerant with regard to a man's religious views. But, at the same time, they do not like their own to be interfered with, and the "Mormon" belief is so much different from anything we have heard that it is looked at with suspicion, and a visit of a couple of young men in the neighborhood does very little towards changing it. Now, if by chance this should meet the eyes of the parents of those two young men, they can rest assured that their sons are still in civilization, and are all right. Feb.. 1929 MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS 329 The Norwegian Mission By President Lorenzo W. Anderson While Svcn Larsen was on a busi- ness trip to Denmark in 1851, he be- came associated with a few people who told him of the restoration of the Gospel. This so impressed him that he felt he must call upon Elder Erastus Snow, who was in charge of the Scandinavian mission. Elder Snow explained to him the first principles of the Gospel and bore a powerful testi- mony to the di- vinity of Joseph Smith's mission. These truths fell in good soil and Sven Larsen was baptized Septem- ber 23. 1851. His soul was filled with ex- ceeding joy and it was his desire to bring the same message to his coutrymen in Norway. Elder Hans F. Peterson was appointed to accompany him on his return. When they came to Risor, Norway, Brother Larsen's home town, they found that their message could not be delivered without opposition. Neither halls nor school houses could be rented for teaching such doctrines and the min- ister instructed Elder Peterson to get out of the country as he had no pass- port. They went back to Denmark, obtained the necessary papers and re- turned with another Elder, Johan A. Ahmanson. Unable to get a place in which to hold meetings, Sven Larsen opened his home. Attending meet- ings, showing friendliness to the mis- sionaries, or accepting the Gospel, meant opposition and persecution. From that day until the present all President Lorenzo W. Anderson advancement has been made in the face of opposition. Sven Larsen trans- ported the elders from place to place in his lumber vessel, Zion's Love (Zion's Lion). Missionaries and Saints have been cast into jails and fed on bread and water for teach- ing and accepting the Gospel; women have been deprived of sup- port for them- selves and chil- dren because they would not deny the truth and many have been thrown out of work because they would not renounce their covenants. But these trials made good Saints. Then they loved each other. They were too busy getting a liveli- hood to think of each other's fail- ings. When one had sorrow they all felt it. They fasted and prayed for each other. After enduring these trials, the Lord opened the way for many to emigrate to Zion and their influence has been felt in most of the wards at home. Conditions are different now. Last winter we had the privilege of present- ing the mayor with a copy of the Book of Mormon and of holding a splendid meeting in one of the best halls in town. Until April 3, 1920, the activities of this mission were directed from Copenhagen. August S. Schow was the first president of the Norwegian mission and sixty-five missionaries have been laboring here since then. For a time we had our own magazine, 330 IMPROVEMENT ERA Feb.. 1929 Morgenstjernen was published from January 15, 1922, to December 15, 1925, when it was discontinued on ac- count of finances. Our books, tracts and St ars come from Denmark. There is considerable difference between the languages taught in the schools of these two nations, so many of our young people are not getting the good they should out of our Church works. During the last two years we have had a little opposition from the police departments in three of our cities. They objected to our elders working there, but the facts were presented to Mr. Swenson, U. S. Minister to Norway, who took the matter up with the gov- ernment officials and they gave us the privilege of continuing our efforts. So far as I know, we are permitted to work and hold meetings in every city in this nation. No one molests us. All the police ask of us is to report to the department when we arrive, if we stay over three days, and to report our departure. These visits have given us an opportunity of explaining the Gos- pel and we have made presents of some Books of Mormon to the officials. The police seem to care but little whether we are in their cities or not. We are given permission to use the cemetery chapels in which to hold services over our dead Saints. They ask us to re- spect their laws and naturally we de- sire to do so. Norway has a state church, the Lutheran. To hold office or teach school, one must belong to it. The government builds the chapels and hires and pays the ministers for their services. All the rituals are prescribed. They are performed because the law requires it and not as an appeal from the heart. At present there is contro- versy among the ministers on many essential matters. There is doubt con- cerning the Savior's birth, his miracles and his death and resurrection. Each minister preaches his own ideas and the people are not attending as they for- merly did. There is no head to which they can appeal. It was so in the early church. When the apostles were scattered and unable to come together to settle the differences which arose among the people on doctrinal points, the apostasy began. It would be the same in our day if we did not have a head. The people talk of their preacher and not the doctrine he preaches. Many have left the state church and are associating with other churches. We are baptizing a few. Many strangers come to our meetings once or twice but we do not see them again. There are hundreds who know the Gospel is true, but various causes keep them from accepting it. The government is helping us with our dead ancestors. A record is kept of those who are sprinkled in their infancy, of their marriages, the children born to them and the time of death. These records are carefully kept, gath- ered and preserved in archives and sub- ject to inspection and perusal of any- one desiring to copy from them. Dis- tricts and smaller cities are compiling records of people who have lived there. In one respect Norway has taken a step backward. They had prohibition here but much fault was found with the way the law was enforced. One could see drunken people on the streets but liquor was not easy to get hold of. Government officials held that the na- tion was being deprived of 20,000,000 kroner in revenue per year. Sixty-one ministers expressed themselves in favor of having liquor and the question was submitted to the people for a vote and the law was repealed. What a con- dition! Liquor is sold under govern- ment control in buildings rented by the government. Long before the door is opened, one can see men, women and children standing in line waiting to get in. Police must be there to pre- vent a riot. Only a few are admitted at a time. When these are served a few more are admitted. They may be seen leaving with packages contain- ing two or more bottles. Many of Feb., 1929 MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS 531 them are dressed in rags and almost barefooted. Many go about begging for food, for they must have liquor. I believe I see ten drunken persons on the streets today where I saw one while the law was in force. Bread, fuel and clothes are of less importance in the opinion of some than liquor, which never has brought joy to any home. Books of Mormon have been sent to the editors of all newspapers in the country. This has done much good. A crusade was started to keep the "Mormons" out of this land. So far as we could learn, only four of the papers would publish the articles, and they were papers with but a small circulation. We are never denied the use of press to advertise our meetings, and we are often given reduced rates. We have sent copies of the Book of Mormon to all public libraries. Three of them were returned. The one from Statelle had the following letter ac- companying it: "We regret that we are unable to accept of this book so it is returned. We have the Bible in its proper form and we prefer recom- mending it. Respectfully, Teacher Olauf Gaystdal." Much good has resulted from the suggestion made by President Tal- mage, "Let the affairs of a branch be given to the local brethren and the missionaries sent out among the strangers." We found that when elders settled in a branch, they actually did settle there. Those towns had been tracted so often that the people hated to see the elders come to their homes. Lately they have been going in groups of four or more. When they came to a city, a hall would be rented, advertisements put in the papers, the town tracted and the people told of the meeting. Many have been in at- tendance at those meetings and hun- dreds who knew nothing about the Gospel have heard it. Advertisements have also been inserted in a number of distant papers, telling of the restora- tion of the Gospel and explaining the principles necessary to salvation, that tracts could be secured free upon re- quest to the district president. Many have sent for tracts and become in- terested. During the month of May we made an extended tour through the northern part of the country and had splendid results. We found many who had never heard of the Gospel's restoration and they listened to our teachings most gladly. At the meeting we held in Vardo, there were over five hundred present and, contrary to our usual ex- perience, only about thirty were wom- en. The others were fishers from the far-off islands of Lofoten and Ves- teraalen. They took all our Books of Mormon and pamphlets. We also visited some Lapplanders. They treated us with kindness and were eager to obtain our literature. The minister asked us not to do any work among them as they were so easily in- fluenced and would make it hard for him in the future. This trip taught us that the harder we worked and the more interest we gave, the greater was the result. We were rewarded for our labors. The Lord has been very kind to us. We have seen many marvelous cases of healing, and while we are not bap- tizing many converts, we are finding those who have been members and they are renewing their interest. We have met success with our Bee-Hive, M Men, Boy Scouts and Book of Mormon class in Oslo. If conditions were such that we could carry out all instructions from the General Boards, we would advance faster. A few are interested. It would be a good thing for the mission if we had on record the in- teresting experiences of the Saints and missionaries in the establishment and progress of the mission. It would be easier to get them now than ten years hence. If any will send me such ar- ticles, they will be carefully preserved 332 IMPROVEMENT ERA Feb.. 1919 and used to promote faith among our young. We need missionaries. We have only fifteen in the mission and some of them will soon have to be released. While most of the people are indiffer- ent to our message, still there are many who would appreciate the visit of an elder. Too many think only of grati- fying their desires. Many are unem- ployed— some on account of strikes, but most of them because of financial conditions. If only the people would accept the Gospel ! "They Shall Lay Hands on the Sick and They Shall Recover" Elder Edgar T. Henderson, secre- tary of the Australian mission, sends the following to the Era: While attending funeral services for Sister Rosina Pedlar, one of the oldest converts of South Australia, Sister Teenie Crane, wife of Brother Donald Crane of Adelaide, South Australia, contracted a severe cold. In a few days this developed into pneumonia. Broth- er Crane called for the elders and they administered to her. In the adminis- tration, they were impressed to prom- ise her life, and, inasmuch as she ex- pected to become a mother in a few months, that her child would live also. Sister Crane was taken to the hospital, where little encouragement was given by the doctors for her re- covery. Two days after her administra- tion a child was born to her premature- ly. The attending nurse marveled because the child was alive as the in- dications at his birth were that he would be born dead. The nurse re- marked that she had never seen a case of its kind before. The doctors and nurses of the hospital became much interested in the case because it was so unusual. Sister Crane hovered between life and death for a few days. Her hus- band was sent for a number of times as they expected her to pass away at any moment, and on two occasions the doctor came personally for him. Their faith was tried exceedingly in the promise made by the Priesthood. Her first improvement was noticed the day that five humble "Mormon" mission- aries fasted and prayed for her. Her improvement then became quite mani- fest as time passed. Today Sister Crane is in her home with her child and the rest of her fam- ily. She is a living testimony of di- vine healing. One seeing her now after having seen her in the hospital would marvel that a person could be so completely restored. Her testi- mony, always strong, now makes a deep impression on all who hear it. Now she knows. Notable Missionary Gathering in the Danish Mission Elder Orval D. Benson sends us the following report: One of the most memorable mis- sionary gatherings ever held in the Danish mission took place from August 9 to 13, during the visit of President John A. Widtsoe of the European mission. All the elders laboring in Denmark, 31 in number, were present. With spiritual feasts, banquets, crowded meetings, etc., every moment of the time was taken up. Mission President Joseph L. Peter- sen had given all the editors in the city (twenty-one in number) an in- vitation to attend the meetings and interview our distinguished visitor. This had the desired effect, and no Feb.. 1910 MESSAGES FROM THE MISSIONS 333 sooner had President Widtsoe arrived in the city than he was besieged by reporters. Lengthy and impartial in- terviews were given in the papers, to- gether with pictures of Presidents Widtsoe and Petersen. Pictures of our chapel were likewise published. Bulletins by the hundreds were dis- played at the various news stands in the city, announcing the presence of our leader, and in the windows of the largest paper in the city an electric sign with huge letters proclaimed the arrival of "Mormonernes overste i Kobenhavn" ("Mormon" authorities in Copenhagen) . Seldom if ever be- fore has the coming of a European mission president been so widely heralded as in this case. Papers throughout the provinces also made comments upon this visit. The organizations of the Copen- hagen branch did credit to themselves in the way they decorated the meeting place with an abundance of flowers and the national colors of America. Denmark and Norway. Two splen- did banquets were also given in honor of President Widtsoe, the missionaries and visitors. Some of the latter had traveled more than one hundred miles to be present. The meetings were un- usually well attended and spirited Gos- pel talks were given by our presidents. President Widtsoe complimented our worthy leader, President Petersen, on the splendid condition of the Dan- ish mission. Missionaries of the Danish Mission First row, left to right: Anders P. Andersen; District President L. Aage Kjolby ; District President G. Philip Jensen; Ida A. Petersen, piesident mission Relief Societies: European Mission President John A. Widtsoe; Mission President Joseph L. Petersen; District President Christian Dausel; District President Ole Anderson: Minnie Anderson: Genealogist Hans N. Ogaard. Second row: Theodore C. Jacobsen, Douglas Thomsen, Clarence B. Jacobs. Gunner M. Nielsen. Richard T. Andersen, Juel L. Andreasen, Niels J. Andersen. LeRoy Larsen. Sylvester W. Muir. L. Aldrid Christensen, Nephi M. Jorgensen, Clifton E. Henrichsen. Third row: James C. Ostegar. Seth J. Larsen, Max R. Christensen, Robert L. Erickson, Albert M. Olsen. Peter M. Andersen. George H. Carlsen, Ira A. Christensen. Anders Andersen, Orval D. Benson. Ellis P. Christiansen.