St. Joseph Sunday School Report

My brethren and sisters, in reporting the condition of the Sunday schools of the St. Joseph Stake, I desire to be prompted by the Spirit of our Heavenly Father. ¶

Up to the present time we have had no convention; but we hold our union meetings once a month, and we have a good attendance. We there conduct classes and give general instructions to the Sunday school workers. ¶

We have sixteen Sunday schools in our stake, and some of them are far removed from the headquarters of our stake, one of them being about 150 miles away. But it has been my pleasure to visit all the Sunday schools of the St. Joseph Stake in the last seven or eight months, and I have found them all in very good condition, although some of them have not as good an attendance as we would wish. ¶

Our average attendance, I think, is about 50 per cent. We have 1,890 Sunday school teachers, officers and pupils; and the teachers as a rule are trying to inform themselves on the best methods of Sunday school work. Since we have had the "Outlines," our Sunday school work has improved wonderfully, so much so that it seems to me that now we could hardly do without them. ¶

We have held most of our ward conferences this summer, and we are now holding parents' conventions, which are doing a great deal of good for the children. The stake superintendent and his assistants are united in their labor for the betterment of the Sunday school work. We also have a good Union Board that can hardly be beaten in any stake. ¶

I wish to bear my testimony to the truthfulness of the Gospel. I know that it is true, and that if we, as Latter-day Saints and Sunday school workers will live up to its precepts, we shall gain an exaltation in our Father's kingdom. And may the instructions that we have heard in our conference find lodgment in our hearts, and do us the good that it is intended they should do, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶