I trust, my brethren and sisters

I trust, my brethren and sisters, that I may have the Spirit of the Lord to assist me to bear my testimony to this vast congregation. I have been truly edified and built up in that which I have heard. I have been edified and built up in my faith and strengthened by hearing the testimonies of my brethren who have spoken during the conference, and my heart has been touched ; it has been hard for me to keep back the tears, at times, as I have felt the sweet influence of the Spirit of the Lord that has prevailed throughout the conference. As Brother Talmage has just said, the very thought and the fact that we have not heard any new doctrine, but the fact that our attention has been called back to these simple principles and truths that our fathers and grandfathers stood for, and died for, has touched ¶

a tender chord in my life. I know that the work we are engaged in is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that the work that was brought forth by his instrumentality is the power of God unto salvation. ¶

I have been engaged in the missionary work, and I have carried this testimony to hundreds and thousands of people that have never heard it before, even a people that is dark and benighted, a people that we call the Lamanites ; and I wish to bear my testimony that the Gospel is doing a great work among the Lamanites, and many of them are interested in the redemption that is to be brought to them through the Gospel we are preaching. We are having success in the Mexican mission, in spite of the fact that there is war and trouble in that land. There has never been a time in the history of the Mexican mission, so far as I have been able to know, and at least during the seven years I have labored there, that the people have been more susceptible to the teachings of the Gospel than they have during this time of strife and bloodshed there. We have been able to baptize fifty-six souls this year, and they are just as honest and faithful as any other Latter-day Saints who live in accordance with the teachings of the Gospel. I have full faith in the promises of the Lord unto that people ; and I desire, my brethren and sisters, to lift my voice in defense of all the principles of the Gospel. I am thankful for the privilege I have had of going out into the world, and I desire to continue to do my duty and to labor wherever the Lord calls me to labor, as long as I am able. It is a mistaken idea that a great many of us have, my brethren and sisters, and ¶

I have come in contact with it at times at home, that there are places of preference in the Lord's work. I learned a little piece of poetry, when I first went into the mission field, that has been a great help to me, I never have even discovered who was its author, but it reads like this: ¶

"Just where you stand in the conflict, that is your place ; ¶

Just where you think that you are useless, hide not your face ; ¶

God placed you there for a purpose, whate'er it be ; ¶

Think He has chosen you for it ; work loyally." ¶

If the Lord has chosen me to go to the Lamanites, that is my place. If He chooses me next year to go to Siberia, I want to go there with the same faith and determination to carry the Gospel message to those that do not know it in that place. I trust that this is the faith all of us have, and I believe it is, my brethren and sisters, and I pray that the blessings of the Lord may continue to be with us forever, which I do in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶