Opening Remarks

Our hearts ought to be filled this morning with gratitude and thanksgiving to God our Heavenly Father, for the blessings that we enjoy at the present time, for the privilege of assembling this glorious morning in this tabernacle, in the Sixty-sixth annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If there is any man on the face of the earth who ought to be thankful who ought to have gratitude, who ought to be faithful to the God of Heaven and the Church and kingdom of God, it is myself. When we look over the field to the last sixty-six years, and see all that the Lord has done since the re-organization of this Church, the number who have passed away, and the many changes which have taken place, we ought to be thankful for the blessings of God. Our history has been a very peculiar one, and we have been called to pass through many events. We have arrived where the promises of God in the revelations in the Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants by the voice of the Prophets of God, are being fulfilled before our eyes, before the heavens, and before the earth. We stand here today with this great and mighty responsibility resting upon us as the Holy Priesthood and the Saints of the Living god, to labor, and to be true and faithful to God, to our covenants, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to those laws and principles which God has revealed concerning the last dispensation and the fulness of times. I feel thankful for these blessings, and hope that during this conference the Apostles and the Elders of Israel and the people may be filled with the inspiration of the Almighty God; that we might comprehend and understand the position we occupy today in the sight of heaven and earth, that the spirit and power of God may be with us, that we may know the mind and will of God and rejoice together and be able to perform the things required at our hands. I ask God to bless the Latter-day Saints who are assembled in this conference, that these blessings may dwell with us during these meetings, from henceforth and forever. Amen. ¶