St. Helena, Cal., October 13, 1902.

To the Directors of the Los Angeles County Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association--

Dear Brethren: During my stay in Southern California, I was enabled to visit places that in the past have been presented to me by the Lord as suitable for the establishment of sanitariums and schools. For years I have been given special light that we are not to establish large centers for our work in the cities. The turmoil and confusion that fills these cities, the conditions brought about by the labor unions and the strikes, would prove a great hindrance to our work. Men are seeking to bring those engaged in the different trades under certain unions. This is not God's plan, but the planning of a power that we should in no case acknowledge. God's Word is fulfilling; the wicked are binding themselves in bundles ready to be burned. {SpTB03a 6.3}

I have been instructed that the work in Southern California should have advantages that it has not yet enjoyed. I have been shown that in Southern California there are properties for sale on which buildings are already erected that could be utilized for our work, and that such properties will be offered to us at much less than their original cost. In these places, away from the din and confusion of the congested cities, we can establish sanitariums in which the sick can be cared for in the way in which God designs them to be. In our efforts to help the sick, we are to take them away from the cities, where they are continually annoyed by the noise of trains and street cars, and where there is little besides houses to see, to places where they can be surrounded by the scenes of nature, and where they can have the blessing of fresh air and sunshine. {SpTB03a 6.4}

This subject was laid out before me in Australia. Light was given me that the cities would be filled with confusion, violence, and crime, and that these things would increase till the close of this earth's history. There is much to be said on this point. Instruction is to be given line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. And our physicians and teachers should be quick to see the advantage of retired locations for our sanitariums and schools. {SpTB03a 7.1}

Properties such as those to which I have referred are being offered to us, and some of them we should purchase when it is plain that they are what we need, and when provision can be made for their acquisition without a burdensome debt. Where there are orchards on these places, so much the better; but on other properties, where the buildings are just what we need, trees can be set out. {SpTB03a 7.2}

The fact that in many cases, the owners of these properties are anxious to dispose of them, and are therefore willing to sell at a low price, is greatly in our favor. We must study economy in the outlay of means. At this stage of our work, we are not to erect large buildings in any of the cities. And we are not to follow extravagant and unduly large plans in our work in any place. We are to remember the cities which have been neglected, and which must now be worked. The people in these cities must have the light of truth. In our establishment of sanitariums, we are not to spend large sums of money in the erection of costly buildings; for there are many places to be worked. We are to be wise in securing advantages already provided that the Lord desires us to have. We are to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves in our efforts to secure country properties at a low figure, and from these outpost centers we are to work the cities. {SpTB03a 7.3}

The work in Southern California is to advance more rapidly than it has advanced in the past. The means lying in banks or hidden in the earth is now called for to strengthen the work in Southern California. Every year many thousands of tourists visit Southern California, and by various methods we should seek to reach them with the truth. {SpTB03a 8.1}

Our medical missionary work in Los Angeles should be in a much more favorable position than it is. The Lord designs that much more shall be done in this city than has been done there. But I can not speak freely about this at present, for fear that men will take advantage of what I say, and will endeavor, by my words, to vindicate wrong plans. Some of the brethren in Los Angeles have at times lacked spiritual discernment. They have not always been able to see what could be done by proper effort on their part. A large work has been done in some lines, but the methods followed have not been such as to bring glory to God in the saving of souls. {SpTB03a 8.2}

I have been instructed that the greatest work that we can do in this life is to prepare for the future immortal life and help others to prepare for it. We are to arrange our business in such a way that we and all who are connected with us shall be able to serve God with all our powers. We must allow nothing to obscure our vision of heavenly things. {SpTB03a 8.3}