Report on the Central States Mission

I feel grateful, my brothers and sisters, for the blessings I have enjoyed during this conference, in meeting with you in Zion, and in listening to the words of counsel, instruction and inspiration, as they have fallen from the lips of the servants of the Lord. We, who have spent many years in the world as missionaries, separated from the body of the Church, can fully appreciate, I believe, the association of our brethren and sisters, when we come to attend these general conferences of the Church. The words that were uttered by our beloved President, Joseph F. Smith, at the beginning of this conference, certainly must have inspired the souls of everyone who loves the work of the Lord, with a determination that they will be more true, if possible, and more devoted to the eternal principles that God has revealed for the salvation of His children. I felt, this morning that I should like to read to you a few words from a revelation given to Isaiah the Prophet concerning this great latter-day work, and the joy and satisfaction that it would bring into the souls of those who would receive God's word, humble themselves before Him, and render obedience unto the sacred ordinances He has revealed from heaven. I read from the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah: "And in that day," (speaking of the time when God was to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the people of the world) "shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." ¶

Upon those who would receive the Gospel that God was to establish upon this earth, to them it was to bring joy and peace. They were to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel, their minds should be enlightened, their ears unstopped to hear, so that they might understand the principles God should reveal, and because of this, joy and peace should enter into their souls. To those who love lies rather than the truth, because their deeds are evil, it should bring hatred into their hearts, their voices and their hands should be raised against the doctrines of righteousness and against God's anointed. But He left on record the prediction that they would not prosper in their evil ways, neither should the wickedness of their hearts prevail over these eternal principles of truth, which He had revealed, nor should they prevail over those who render obedience unto those principles. ¶

Now, I want to call your attention to another promise that the Lord made through another one of His servants, who lived many hundreds of years after the time that He gave this revelation unto His servant Isaiah. I will not stop to read it to you, but will quote from the revelation given to the beloved disciple of our Lord and Master while a prisoner upon the Isle of Patmos. He says, "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." ¶

Now, my brothers and sisters, here are two promises that our Father in heaven authorized His servant to record concerning the great work that He was to do in the latter days. It was to be restored to the earth by an angel—a messenger sent from the courts of glory. When this message should come to the earth, it was to bring joy and peace unto the souls of those who would receive it. Our Father in heaven has always sent His messengers to men whom He has chosen, because of their pre-existent faithfulness, and they come to the earth in the time that God had appointed for them to be here. These messengers had to come to the chosen instruments of the Lord, to deliver their messages and bestow authority from heaven, and by this authority has this message gone forth among the nations of the earth, in these latter days. In fulfillment of these promises God has sent messengers in these days, first preceded by His own glorious appearance, and that of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. These messengers have brought the Gospel of eternal life. They appeared unto Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his fellow-servant, Oliver Cowdery, laid their hands upon the heads of those men and conferred upon them the authority of the Holy Priesthood. Thus endowed with power from on high, these men went out among the people; they taught the ways of life; they administered sacred ordinances unto those who would receive this glorious blessing, by which they were brought into the Church and became members of the kingdom of God. And others were called to the work of the ministry, and they also went out with this message of a restored Gospel; and from that day to this, the work of proclaiming the truth has never ceased. But it has not yet been fully accomplished, for He said it should go "to every nation, and kindred and tongue, and people," and the principles of eternal life should be taught to them, and they should be warned of the judgments to come. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, since I was twenty-six years of age, I have spent nine years as a missionary unto the people of this country in which we live. The Lord has seen fit to call me to preside during the past seven years, and I thought perhaps it might be of interest if I should give you statistics of some of the work we have been doing in the Central States Mission, where I am now laboring. These statistics that I shall quote cover a period of six years and a half, beginning with January 1, 1900, and ending with July 1, 1906. During this time there have been laboring in that mission 515 Elders, and nine sisters, choice spirits whom God has sent to assist in this work of the latter days. During this six years and a half the missionaries have visited 709,314 families of strangers; about 15 times the number of families that there are in the state of Utah. They have re-visited 55,226 of those families. They have paid visits to members of the Church, 65,994; have had 738,879 Gospel conversations, and distributed 1,146,848 tracts. These humble servants of God, and pure sisters assisting them, have sold 54,349 books, and loaned 14,807; and have held 43,036 meetings with an attendance of 944,798, nearly one million of people to whom they have preached the Gospel in public meetings, and in the street and cottage meetings. They have performed during this period of time 1,808 baptisms, and blessed 1,576 children. Now I want to call attention to the number of pages of literature that this represents. Of tracts we have used none of less than 16 pages. One of them was written by Apostle Charles W. Penrose, entitled, "What the Mormons Believe," of which we have distributed about 50,000. The other tracts we have used have been mostly 32 and 44 pages. Multiplying the number of tracts by the number of pages contained in each, we find a total of 35,949,000 pages of reading matter that have been distributed in this form during the period referred to. There were 24,500,000 pages of reading matter in the books that have been sold and loaned, making a grand total of sixty millions, four hundred and forty-nine thousand pages of reading matter distributed in that one mission during six years and a half. ¶

My brothers and sisters, the Lord said that this Gospel should go to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, and here is a specimen of the work that is being done by the servants of the Lord, and by our lady missionaries, in fulfilling the promise that God made when He gave a revelation to His servant John, upon the Isle of Patmos. If you will go among these missionaries and ask them what the effect of this labor has been upon themselves they will say that it has brought peace into our families, it has given us joy, it has brought satisfaction to our souls, and we do indeed rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. You see then that, through the work that your sons, husbands, and daughters are doing, the promises left on record by our Father in heaven are being fulfilled in this great latter-day work. ¶

I want to say a word about the integrity of these young brethren among whom I have labored with so much satisfaction. This will tell the whole tale that I am going to read to you now: "Of the 515 missionaries over whom I have presided during this period of time, two remained in the mission one month; one remained two months; three served three months; three others six months; two, four months; and three, ten months; all the other missionaries remained in the field from sixteen to thirty months each. Out of the whole number, there were only two who deserted the cause of the Master. They came to us and expressed their intention to abandon the mission work assigned to them, and returned home without being released. Twelve others had good cause for returning home after they had been only one to ten months time in the mission, because of sickness contracted in their mission work, or death, or extreme illness of near relatives at home, therefore they were given honorable releases, by request of the Priesthood at home or for other good reasons. Think of these missionaries serving without any hope of earthly recompense, looking only to their Father in heaven for reward, paying their own expenses, most of them traveling without purse or scrip, leaving home and business affairs, going out and cheerfully doing this arduous labor! When you consider that only two of them deserted the cause of the Master, can you find such a record anywhere on the pages of history outside the work of our Father in heaven? ¶

Another thing I want to say: not one of these young men has defiled himself; not one of them. They retained their virtue. When they came home, and the arms of beloved wives, mothers and fathers, and sisters clasped them, they knew that those husbands, sons and brothers came into their arms pure as they left the fireside at home. ¶

My brothers and sisters, the time is nearing when I shall leave that mission, and I want to say to you that there never has been a moment of time since I went into the Central States Mission, seven years ago this fall, that I have not enjoyed my labor, every day and moment has been a joy and satisfaction to me. When I leave there it will be with gratitude in my heart to my Father in heaven that He gave me the privilege of going into that mission and remaining there these many years. Death has come into my family during that time. A sweet little child, two years and a half old, died; and my dear mother laid down her worn out body while I was there. I want to say one word concerning that noble mother of mine. Though her body was racked with pain, though she would have loved to see her son ere her body was laid in the grave, yet, what was her message? "My boy, stay at your post of duty." The same sentiment has been expressed by my noble wife and each of my children. Three or four years ago, when my home was in southern Utah, my eldest boy, who had been faithful and true during this missionary work, wanted to go to school. He desired to get an education in one of the higher institutions of learning, but he said, writing to me about some of his companions who were going, "I feel badly that I cannot go with them," but, said he, "I have made up my mind that I am going to stay here at home until we have finished this mission that God has given unto us." He is now twenty-four years of age, and is still at home, faithful and true to this work that God has given us to do, and so has every child I have, and every member of my family. Inasmuch as I shall, in a few weeks, return to my home permanently, and a man of God has been chosen to take my place, I felt it was proper that I should present some of these matters to you Latter-day Saints, that you might know what has been done by your sons and daughters in that mission. ¶

Another point before I close. We have published in that mission it, 500 copies of the Book of Mormon, which have all been disposed of except about 200. We have published 20,000 of the Voice of Warning; also 6,980 Cowley's Talks, and nearly 2,000,000 of tracts. Many of these have been sent to other missions, and have been purchased by the Saints. This is a little more of the work that is being done in fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of God, left on record through the writings and utterances of His servants in former as well as in later times. ¶

May the peace of heaven be with you, my brethren and sisters. May the Holy Spirit be in your souls. May you be faithful and true unto this work of God and the Holy Priesthood. I rejoice that your sons and daughters have returned from that mission true and faithful. While there they have been instructed in the truth and encouraged to maintain virtue, and they have been admonished that they should continue true and diligent when they return home. I feel it is my desire to continue to work in the service of my Master all the days of my life. God bless you. Amen. ¶