Content preview - You need a premium account to view this content.

Messages From the Mission

West Maui Conference Hawaiian Mission

Baptisms performed during 1925 exceed, by 11, the previous year's record for the conference; and in all vital points, a general increase is shown over previous records. "Our labors, practically entirely among the native people heretofore, are being gradually extended, as the English language becomes more widely understood, to the English speaking people and to the different nationalities represented in Hawaii. Mutual Improvement work is being carried on in many of our branches, with a live interest characterizing the gatherings. We feel thankful for the hospitality extended us in this land, and for the reputation and respectable standing that our cause has won among the people. We extend greetings to our companions laboring throughout the various missions of the world, and wish them success.

Preaching the Gospel By Reindeer

Elder Vance O. Lind of Gefle, Sweden, reports that J. C. Berglund, of Price, Utah, has the honor of being the northernmost missionary. He is seen in the picture herewith driving a reindeer near Boden, Sweden, 1200 kilometers north of Stockholm, very close to the arctic circle. "Brother Berglund has lived in Utah for 37 years, and has been a member of the Church for four years. So after an absence of nearly forty years, he has come back to his birthplace and the associations of his youth to declare unto his relatives and acquaintances the glorious message of truth and light leading to salvation, as revealed to the earth in these latter days. We appreciate the Improvement Era, which comes to us regularly in this far northern land. We wish it were possible for our members to read it over here, so that they could share the enjoyment that the elders receive through the message of good cheer which it conveys."

A Three-Day Conference in Los Angeles

Forty regular missionaries of the Los Angeles conference, with President McMurrin and other mission officers and visitors, met at 10 o'clock, January 8, 1926, in the Matthews ward chapel, in Los Angeles, where a very instructive Priesthood meeting was enjoyed by all present. For six hours, nearly all the missionaries bore strong testimonies and related interesting and profitable experiences peculiar to missionary work. Elder John F. Bringhurst, a short-term missionary and former Bishop of Springville for twenty years, now a member of the stake presidency in that locality, was called on to speak, and in his remarks stated: "I have been a bishop for twenty years, and conducted and attended innumerable meetings of this nature, but never before have I attended one equal to this." A sumptuous banquet was served by the Matthew ward Relief Society, following the Priesthood meeting. On Saturday, regular sessions were held at 2 and 7:30 p. m., the body of the chapel being filled at each meeting. President McMurrin and the missionaries delivered impressive discourses during the time. Sunday, President Heber J. Grant was present, and during the morning and afternoon sessions, delivered two ideal missionary sermons, enlarging on some of the most vital and far-reaching points of Mormonism. Many non-members were in attendance. On Sunday night, President McMurrin related interesting experiences and added his testimony as a fitting climax to what had been termed one of the best conferences ever held in Los Angeles. A very appropriate correlation of music was woven in throughout the various sessions, furnished by the missionaries, the M Men, and the Gleaner Girls of the Los Angeles stake, led by Chorister William Salt.-L. C. Miles.