Report from Bro. Byington.
By John Byington
Bro. White: I have spent most of the time since our last yearly conference, to Feb. 7, 1863, in company with Bro. Loughborough, in attending quarterly meetings, visiting and organizing churches, &c. Bro. L. has given a full account of our meetings. In this time I have traveled over a thousand miles with my own team, no sleighing, and most of the time in the timbered land of Northern Mich., where there was little but muddy going, and frequently we would travel several miles a day on foot to rest our weary beast. Have in this time immersed thirty-nine; and though going into the water nearly every week, yet have not been sensible in one instance of taking cold, and health quite as good at the end of the tour as at the beginning. After leaving Bro. L. at Lowell, Feb. 8, we spent that evening with the church at Bowne. The 26th we spent at Parkville. Here, two families in the village had embraced the truth since the last quarterly meeting. A sister who was immersed at the quarterly meeting, living several miles from the village, went home, and with the consent of her husband (who, though he had kept the letter of the Sabbath, felt that he was not converted), she set up family worship. Her companion felt that he could not be left behind. He gave his heart to God, laid aside his tobacco, gave five dollars to the S. B. treasury, the expense of this poisonous weed for one year; and now I understand unites with his wife in family worship, and wishes, the first opportunity, to be baptized. We have since visited Charlotte, Convis, and Newton, and have had good meetings. Battle Creek, March 25, 1863.