Report on the Northern States Mission

(President of Northern States Mission.) My brethren and sisters, I certainly appreciate the privilege that I have of attending conference, and partaking of the influence that is in these general assemblies. I feel renewed in spiritual strength, and I go away from these meetings refreshed, and with a determination in my heart to labor, if possible, more diligently for the spread of truth, and for the building up of the Lord's kingdom in the earth. ¶

I can say to you that in the Northern States, where it is my privilege to labor, there is a spirit among 'the people that is much more favorable toward the truth than has been manifest in the previous four or five years that I have been there ; and there is greater diligence among the elders. Many times have I heard the elders say when they were about to be released, "Well, I am just learning how to do missionary work, and I was just converted to' the work when I was released to return home." I presume you have heard elders say that they were just getting' interested the last few months of their missionary experience. It has been my pleasure this year to see the elders favorably change in feeling, many of them, the majority, in fact, have seemed to partake of the spirit of Nephi. When his father told him of his vision concerning the future of his people, he had a desire to know likewise, first-handed, concerning the subjects of that vision, and the Lord favored him with the same vision; he then became imbued with zeal for the work of God, and followed in the footsteps of his father, not because of what his father said but because of the knowledge received by himself, directly from the Lord. ¶

We take our missionaries when they first come into the field and say to them : "Brethren, we have a good many elders here, and you do not know the policies we have adopted in our conference ; you do not know anything concerning the plans we have laid out for the accomplishment of our work this year. We do not want you to wait weeks or months to be converted to it; take our word for it, for it has been agreed to by all the elders in conference assembled, to be the plan of our missionary work in the coming summer months," (or the fall, or winter months, as the case may be). "You young men must go to the Lord, get His Spirit, and give us your sympathy and best efforts from the beginning, and when we form different plans in future you will be a party to it." And it is marvelous to see the young men, within a few days, equal in the distribution of books and tracts, and the holding of meetings, with those who have been months in the mission field. In a few weeks they are in full sympathy with every move that is made, and we receive their support from the very first. ¶

Counting those who have been released this year, we have had about two hundred elders in the mission field where I am privileged to labor, and the great majority were most true and loyal, their hearts beat in unison with the conference president, and the mission president. I believe there has never been a period during the eight years I have been there when so great an amount of missionary work has been accomplished as in the past five or six months. ¶

Where last year our elders were successful in placing copies of the Book of Mormon, they are this year welcomed by the best men in the community, and are taken to their homes. The people are glad to receive them, and pleased to learn more of the truth. They have been told: "We have not only read the Book of Mormon, but we have handed it to our neighbors ; and we are surprised that a book so full of truth and good teachings, and wonderful examples of faith in the Lord Jesus, has been printed so long and yet we have never read it, nor heard anything of it except the untruth that it was a book peculiar to you people, and not for general distribution." ¶

I am very proud to labor with so many true and loyal men. I believe that out of the 200 we have had this year, there has not been one but who has been true to the faith and true to his birthright, as true as Nephi of old was to his. They have struggled hard to maintain unsullied their Rocky Mountain honor, and the faith which brought their fathers out to these mountain valleys. In our district we have wonderful testimonies of the splendid spirit of our parents, for we meet in every state the sons of men and women who had not courage enough to join in the migration of the Saints, but who remained behind. Observing their lives, their homes and surroundings, their present spirit and stage of development, we find occasion to rejoice that our parents had the strength of faith in God to follow the pioneers across the plains. This is an incentive to us to emulate the faith and integrity of our fathers, the pioneers. Though our labor is not like theirs, as pioneers, yet our elders have a desire in their hearts to emulate the fathers in performing missionary labor among the people of the world, distributing the written word, and calling them to repent and be baptized. They courageously emulate their fathers in all the great work they are called upon to perform. ¶

I rejoice in the truth, and in the missionary work that is being accomplished. My heart burns in seeing the faith and courage that is manifested by the young men who are laboring with us. Their character is exemplified in this illustration : I wrote to a young man about four weeks ago, reminding him that he had been laboring nearly thirty months, as long as we generally keep missionaries in the Northern States, and that he could now be released to return home with a company that was returning on the 28th of September. I told him I did not know his circumstances, but I knew that he had done a good work, and that he was entitled to an honorable release, and I asked the Lord to bless him ; and in closing my letter I added this postscript: "Dear brother, I am impressed to invite you to stay another six months, if you feel like it." This was something that had never been done before in that mission field, that I know of. In about three days we received a letter back, in which he thanked us for our confidence in him, and said : "Brother Ellsworth, I am mostly impressed with the postscript to your letter, and I feel that I would like to stay another six months. I feel also that my parents would like me to stay, therefore, if you will accept my services, I desire to continue with you, for I never enjoyed any period of my life like I have the last two years, and especially this last summer. The people are yielding to our testimony, and are opening their hearts to the truth, and I would like to remain longer, if you will accept my services." That is only one of many. ¶

The testimony of all our elders is that the people are opening their hearts to the truth, they are being softened in their feelings toward the religion of the Latter-day Saints, and they are finding new truth and new beauty in the gospel that we proclaim to them, something they never dreamed of before. So, our elders are glad to remain, and have the hearts of the people turned unto them'; and they are powerful in their testimony of the truth that the Lord has given them. As you all know it is hard to battle forever and have no encouragement, but when you see the day-dawn, when you find people yielding to the truth, when good men open their hearts and homes to you, you feel encouraged in the work. So we feel to rejoice in the wonderful work the Lord is accomplishing in softening the hearts of the people; and we take delight in bearing witness that God has established His Church in this, the last time, and are encouraged in the favor with which the people are receiving our literature. ¶

Five years ago our year's record in the distribution of literature was something like 5,000 books and 109,000 tracts. In the nine months closing with September last, we have succeeded in distributing 62,000 books and 469,000 tracts. Five years ago our record was 100 Books of Mormon, this year we have disposed of 12,000 in the Northern States, and apparently we have not given as much effort to the sale of Books of Mormon this year as we did last year, but it has been more readily received. We have calls for it on every hand, both through the mails and by orders from our elders, and we greatly rejoice in this marvelous increase. People tell us, "It is wonderful how long you have stood the misrepresentation, and the misinformation that has gone abroad in the world. We received a wrong impression of you and your message. You have labored long and faithfully, and we doubt whether we could have borne what you have so patiently." ¶

May God bless the Latter-day Saints. May we emulate the men who have been true and faithful in the work of the Lord, and may we ever have such as examples before us. The men who have been true to the faith, true from the beginning, are the men whose sons and daughters today feel proud of their parentage. We feel proud today of our leaders in the church and kingdom of God ; while the names of the men who were weak in the faith in the beginning, who turned traitors, have been blotted out from our remembrance. I pray that God will give every one of us power to stand true to our brethren who are called to lead and direct this church and kingdom' in the earth. May the Spirit inspire each and every one of us to feel and know what God desires us to do, both temporally and spiritually, without being told, that we may receive in our hearts things that we do not hear spoken, and know how to walk and how to act in this church and kingdom. That we may preserve our rights and liberties, and that God may bring freedom to Israel, both spiritual and temporal, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶