Ward Teaching and Family Prayer in Bear River Stake

I am sure that the sweet influences of the Spirit of our Father in heaven which has attended the previous meetings of this great Conference of the Church has been a source of inspiration, satisfaction, and pleasure to all of the Latter-day Saints who have attended the meetings. I earnestly trust and pray that, during this service of the Conference, the blessings of the Spirit of the Lord will attend us, as asked for by the brother who opened this meeting. I am very sure that not anybody here could feel more keenly the need of the inspiration of the Lord than I particularly feel at this time, and I pray that nothing I may say will in any way detract from the blessings that we have already received during the different sessions of this Conference. ¶

The Lord has been very good to His people in placing in their midst inspired men, to direct and teach them the principles of the Gospel of Christ. I do not believe that any people in the world's history have ever been more favored with the personal ministry of men inspired of the Lord than are the Latter-day Saints. When I contemplate that truth, it is not a surprising thing to me that many thousands leave their work, semi-annually, to come up here to the center stake of Zion and partake of the influence of these teachings. I have great satisfaction in the fact that we have these men in the Church to instruct us. I hope that the teachings we receive at this Conference will be taken to heart by us. I believe that if we follow their instruction, and accept their testimony, we will become the greatest people upon the face of the whole earth ; such is our destiny. ¶

I have the honor to preside over one of the stakes of Zion, and I know that we out there in our homes appreciate the ministry and the blessings of these brethren of the General Authorities of the Church, who come to teach us from time to time. I appreciate the opportunity of standing here for a few moments this morning as the representative of near thirty-five hundred Latter-day Saints who live in the Bear River Stake of Zion. I believe that they are a good people, and that they are striving to serve the Lord. ¶

We have in our stake sought, during the last year or two, to emphasize the value of personal ministry of the ward teachers in the homes of the Latter-day Saints, and I want to bear my humble testimony to you that I believe there is no influence in the Church today that is more potent for the good of the Latter-day Saints than the regular visits of the teachers into their homes from month to month. We have found that to be true in our stake of Zion. The wards in which the homes have been properly visited by the teachers from month to month are the wards that are giving us the very best results. They are the wards that furnish the largest proportion of brethren and sisters to partake of the Sacrament regularly upon the Sabbath day. I testify to you, particularly you that are engaged in this teachers' work, that there is no greater calling in the Church today than that embracing the obligation and opportunity of entering the homes of Latter-day Saints and teaching them the principles of the everlasting Gospel. More than 85 per cent of the Latter-day Saints in my stake of Zion are visited regularly each month in their homes. We have maintained that record for a year past, and I do not believe there is a single phase of our religious activity that has not been benefited, augmented, and strengthened by the visits of these brethren in the homes of the people. ¶

President Lyman was in attendance at our conference, three or four weeks ago, and he asked what the results of this labor were in the homes and in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints. He asked if we were going to the people simply for the purpose of making a record of having so visited them ; or whether our visits were accomplishing anything that was worth while. He wanted to know if we were causing the people to pray in their families, or causing any other uplifting influences to be manifest in their lives. I promised President Lyman, when he left us, that we would inquire of the Latter-day Saints in our stake how many of them were prayerful in their homes, and I brought down to him the information, last Saturday, that of the 3,500 people in the Bear Lake Stake of Zion, more than 72 per cent had family prayers in their homes regularly. I take it, my brethren and sisters, that this is a fair average. I hope that all of the Church is observing that great law as faithfully or more faithfully than we are doing there. We went into the homes of all the people, and where we ascertained that they did not pray, the teachers are trying to get them to pray. Where they did not attend the Sacrament meetings, our brethren are inviting them to come to these meetings, and we are teaching them the obligation that rests upon Latter-day Saints to meet together often to partake of the Lord's supper, and renew their covenants with their Father in heaven. ¶

I have great pleasure in saying that this work in our stake of Zion has given us the satisfaction of feeling in our hearts that the Latter-day Saints are living today more nearly up to the principles of the Gospel of Christ than they were living yesterday. The testimony of the brethren who have spoken previously in the Conference, the testimony of President Smith at the opening of the Conference, that the Latter-day Saints were better organized, and were better disciplined today in the principles of the Gospel of Christ, in the principles of right living — for this is what I esteem the Gospel of Christ to be — that they were better prepared to cope with the adversary than they had ever been in the history of the Church, that testimony found a responsive echo in my heart. I do believe that the Latter-day Saints are living their religion today as well as they ever did before. I do believe that the young men of Israel will be faithful to the teachings and the testimony of their fathers. When I think of the trials, when I think of the hardships that my father and my mother endured, that my feet might be firmly established here in the tops of the mountains, I feel that no disgrace could come to me so distressing in its nature as to reject their testimony, and I believe that spirit and feeling very largely predominates in the hearts of the young men of Israel today. ¶

We get a testimony of the truth in the mission field, when we come in contact with conditions as they exist in the world. We then feel the need of drawing near to our Father in heaven. The army of faithful men that are coming back from the various missionary fields today are a continual source of inspiration to the Latter-day Saints who are at home. Our mothers are praying for these boys who are out in the world, and they obtain for themselves a testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I am glad, as Brother Whitney said in the Conference yesterday, that these boys are teaching the Gospel through the power of example, and through the power of their simple testimonies. I believe that it has always been preached most effectually in that way. I believe that the Prophet Joseph Smith convinced the people of his day by the power of his simple declaration and testimony. All the leaders of this Church have taught it to us more in that fashion than in any other way up to this time. Our boys are simply following the dictates and promptings of the Spirit of God, when they go into the missionary field and declare the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, without the spirit of controversy, but simply having a desire to proclaim the truths of the Gospel. ¶

I know that the Gospel is true. I know that it has been restored to the earth for the salvation of the souls of the children of men. If the young men of Israel reject this truth and turn away from the testimony of their fathers, nothing can come into their lives that would more disgrace or dishonor their name or their memory. I testify that those who lead the Church, and those who go out into the different stakes of Zion to teach the Gospel to the people, are servants of the Lord. I never feel when they come to our stake but that they have brought to us the things that we have most needed for the particular occasion, and I am sure that is the experience of the Latter-day Saints who are here this morning. The thought that is in your heart is answered, and you are filled with a spirit of rejoicing and thanksgiving when these brethren visit you in your homes in the different stakes of Zion ; that also has always been to me a strong testimony of the divinity of the work of the Lord. ¶

May God help all of us to profit by the efforts that are being put forth by the Priesthood of the Lord to direct us in the path of righteousness and truth. May we all be faithful to the testimony that we have received, and hand it down to our children untarnished and undiminished in its power to redeem the world of mankind, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶