Report on the San Juan Stake

My beloved brethren and sisters, I feel very humble in attempting to speak to you a short time, and I trust that the Spirit of the Lord may be with me, that my remarks may be appropriate to the occasion and applicable to those who may listen. ¶

I was sustained and set apart as the president of the San Juan Stake a little less than six months ago so that I am perhaps not as well acquainted with the conditions that exist there as I will be in the future. However in connection with my counselors Brother William Halls of Mancos and Brother Redd of Bluff I have visited the different wards that compose the stake. I believe all the auxiliary organizations are in good running order. The stake covers the southeast corner of the state of Utah the northwest corner of the territory of New Mexico and the southwest corner of the state of Colorado; and all we lack to make us happy is a portion of the territory of Arizona that we may raise some of those large sweet potatoes that Brother Kimball has been telling you of. We have some good county in the San Juan Stake and we have a good deal of the other kind. Inasmuch as the brethren have counseled the Saints not to move too much at the present time it would perhaps not be wise for me to tell you the advantages of that portion of the Lord's vineyard. However, if any of you are dissatisfied with your present homes and think you are not getting wealthy fast enough come down and visit us, examine our country, and you will certainly return home and feel satisfied to stay there. Some portions of our stake have been settled under peculiar conditions. One of the towns that we have there, when the first settlers went into that locality they had to take their wagons to pieces and let them down over a perpendicular cliff nearly 40 feet high. Some of them never came out again. I would like to mention briefly the history of one of our towns. For a period of years after it was settled it seemed as if it would be impossible to maintain the settlement. I believe the people once or twice asked the privilege of leaving there and going to a more favored locality. The servants of the Lord told them that those who desired to leave were at liberty to do so and they could go with their blessings but that those who remained would be doubly blessed. Quite a number of the members of that ward had faith in the promise of the Lord, and they remained there, and that promise to them has been literally fulfilled. I presume that today there is not another ward in the Church, with the same number of people, that possesses the same amount of wealth as this ward does. ¶

We are happy in that country. We are trying to keep the commandments of the Lord and to build up His Church in that part of the vineyard. I love the cause in which we are engaged. I love the Latter-day Saints, and I love the men whom God has appointed to preside over us. I bear testimony that I do know that they have been called of the Lord, and that they are inspired by His Spirit. I pray that the blessings of the Lord may accompany each one of us who have attended this conference to our homes and remain with us through life. May the Lord grant it. Amen. ¶