Missionary Diligence and the Spread of Church Literature

I am indeed happy this morning to see this large congregation at the first session of our conference. It shows that the Latter-day Saints are alive in their religion and anxious to meet in these gatherings of the Saints. They want to be built up and refreshed in their holy faith. I was pleased to look at your faces and to note the attention with which you followed the remarks of our President and Brother Winder. Like Brother Winder, I can endorse everything the President has said. We are in a position to know that it is the truth. ¶

I was pleased to follow the President in his sketch of the work being done abroad. We feel indeed interested in the missionary labors, and it is a pleasure to tell you how gladly our brethren respond to the calls made upon them to go upon missions. I do not remember more than one or two refusals during the last six months. The great majority have expressed themselves as honored in being called to go, and they say that they feel it is their duty to go and let the world know what they themselves have received. It is pleasant to read these letters from our young men, middle aged men, and even old men, who have been called to go out and bear their testimonies to the world. ¶

A great deal has been done in diffusing the printed word to the world. I believe the British mission leads in this, but, take all our missions together, the number of tracts and books that have been scattered among the people has run up into millions. Our brethren are faithful in going from house to house, leaving tracts, trying to get into conversation with the people, to let them know the glorious truth that God has again spoken unto man. The Book of Mormon is sought after. The presidents of missions in the United States have printed large editions and are circulating them everywhere, selling them as cheaply as possible, that the world may become acquainted with that sacred volume, which has been given by God unto this generation. Our French edition is gone; another must be published. The Swedish edition of the Book of Mormon is out of print, and another must be printed there. The Turkish Saints are asking that they may have this volume printed in the Turkish language. It has been translated by Brother Hintze and assistants, and we intend to have it published, and try to get it into the Ottoman empire. It is hard to get printed matter into that country, as they are afraid of books, afraid that there is something in them inimical to the government. Whenever you land at a port the custom officers are suspicious of your books, and they have them examined before they allow you to take them into the country. Hence the difficulty we will have in getting the Book of Mormon to the people there. We would print it in Constantinople and thus have it in the country, but we find that should we try to get it into the other provinces of Turkey we would have the same difficulty to pass the custom officers, whether it has the government permit stamped on it or not. They say that anyone could print that on the book, and so it is left to the custom house officers to decide. But we believe we shall yet be able to get that work into the hands of the people of that land. The work of the Lord is progressing there; still our Armenian Saints are having a hard time. It is a poor country to live in, and the Saints are not yet recognized as a religious body by the government. We have not very many Elders laboring there at present, but will try to get more. At Athens, in Greece, there are several persons inquiring about the truth. We were indeed pleased a few weeks ago to receive from them several tracts printed in Athens in the Greek language. They are "Rays of Living Light," written by Elder Penrose, and had been translated into that language. These Greeks had received copies of those tracts, and they thought them worth translating and printing, and sending out among their countrymen. They are now asking for missionaries to be sent to them to officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel. This shows that the Spirit of God is working upon the people, and that men are seeking for the truth. We are trying to get the Gospel principles sent to every nation. Our brethren who were sent to South Africa found members of the Church who received the Gospel there many years ago, when the mission was first opened, and although they have not been visited by Elders, for many years, they have kept the faith and have tried to make others understand the truth as they have received it. Our Elders have been successful in baptizing new members, and the Church there is increasing in numbers. Brother Alma O. Taylor, president of the Japanese mission is engaged in translating the Book of Mormon. He has been wonderfully blest in learning that language. Several of the Elders with him are also able to preach in Japanese and are traveling amongst the people. Brother Ensign, who has recently returned accomplished a great work in translating hymns into the Japanese language and setting them to music, so that the Japanese can sing our hymns and feel the spirit that goes with them. They have not baptized very many, though they have had many applications for baptism, but the brethren feel that before they baptize anyone he should understand the Gospel, have faith in God and in His Son Jesus Christ, and know concerning the work that God has established upon the earth. The method of preaching the Gospel to a people that do not believe in the true God is. of course, much different from the way we preach it to those who are believers in the Bible, and in Christ as the Savior of mankind. The brethren are seeking to reach the children there, and they have a large attendance at Sunday schools. The children are delighted to hear the teachings of the Elders and to sing our hymns, and in the streets of Tokio you can often hear the little ones sing our Sunday school songs. These children go home and tell their parents what they have learned in the Mormon Sunday school, and their parents get interested themselves. I consider that the Elders there are taking the right course to reach the hearts of the people of that nation. ¶

It is indeed pleasing to us to see the progress that the work is making in the different parts of the earth, and I hope to see this progress accelerated and the benign influences of the Gospel he felt more and more among the people. At home, we feel that the Saints in the different Stakes are progressing in all good works. The quarterly conferences that have been held in all of the 55 Stakes have been times of rejoicing, and spiritual feasts unto all present, and we believe that the Saints are growing in grace with God. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, I rejoice to be with you. I rejoice to be a fellow-laborer with you in building up the Church of Christ upon the earth. This work will prosper and it will not be given to any other people. The Lord has so declared it. This people will carry it on. and the Lord will crown their efforts with success. God bless you all. Amen. ¶