Testimony

I pray that my heart beats true and that my voice will ring in accord with the Spirit of the Lord which is in the hearts of the Latter-day Saints assembled here. The mention of Arizona may warm you up, and I trust that it will warm up your souls unto salvation. Arizona is a good land to live in. ¶

At the suggestion of Elder Talmage, I might say something about our stake, if it may not be considered throwing boquets at myself and my people. There is no one present, I believe, who belongs in our stake, because there were only five persons who came in our company, and I believe they are all in the Tabernacle, and they will therefore not hear what I may say, and so perhaps I may be pardoned for saying something kindly about our own people. I want to say something about our climate, though, so that you will not be going away with a misapprehension. Snowflake, Arizona, is in the mountains of that land, and therefore is not hot. Our climate is delightful, as much so as that of Salt Lake City. The Latter-day Saints there are trying their best to keep the commandments of the Lord, as you are. We are glad, always, to compare notes with our neighbor stakes. We are delighted when the bulletin comes down there, and we can compare our ¶

record with others. We very seldom, I am sorry to say, get first rank, but we are sure that we never get at the foot of the ranks. In the matter of attendance at sacrament meetings, that is very good, above the average; and the best part of it is, our young people attend the sacrament meetings. This is due largely to the work of the Mutual Improvement Associations and our Church school. The teachers are with the young people, and they take them with them. They are all engaged in the activities of the Church. They participate in the singing of the choir; in fact, they are the choir, and I am sure you, could you hear, would bear witness with me that it is beautiful singing. We have as large a percentage as, and I think greater than, the average of the Church, of missionaries in the world, preaching the gospel. We have a large percentage of our young people in attendance at Church schools, much larger than the average. ¶

Our Mutuals have a full equipment, considering the standard of the Church schools, as to the enrollment, and more. The activities of the priesthood include nearly all the brethren. Forty-seven of our brethren who hold the higher Priesthood have been and are now on missions. ¶

In connection with our Church schools, I want to mention our religion class. We conduct an ideal religion class every morning, at 8:45. The religion class assembles for 15 minutes. The children are so interested that usually they are there on time, and for 15 minutes they are fed upon gospel truth, for five days of every week. It is a most splendid help in the education of our children. It fills a much needed want in our educational work. ¶

I want to say to the credit of our neighbors and friends in Arizona, that they are exceedingly liberal, and I have not found any who thought it was polluting the land to permit us to teach religion in the school houses, outside of school hours. The people have appreciated what we were doing, and have permitted us to go forward instead of being prohibited from the use of the school house at all, for these purposes, as has been the case in some places in our country. We have had the benefit of our school houses every day for a number of years. We have seen splendid results from this. Our boys grow up to know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ as naturally as they grow up to know the truth of arithmetic. ¶

Our people are loyal to the temple work. I believe that, of late particularly, the Latter-day Saints in our country have been very much led to contemplate temple work. That has come, I am compelled to say, very much by the work and efforts of the Relief Society; but they are doing a splendid work, and as suggested by the Prophet, they are "provoking the brethren to good works." Our attendance at priesthood meetings is very good, though not so good that I desire to make special mention of it. Our brethren and sisters are devoted to the work of the Lord. I think we stand very close to the top, in the matter of tithing, and offerings. We are not, perhaps, in a wealthy land, but ¶

our people would rank as being wealthy, if judged by their tithing per capita. It is a barometer at least of their faith in the gospel. ¶

I rejoice to be associated with my brethren and sisters, and I rejoice to bring to you the good feeling and cheer of the people of our land, and to tell you that we are engaged in the same great work, and that we are all fully expecting that the kingdom of God will be established. There must have been a tremendous amount of faith in the hearts of those men and women associated with the Church in early days, when a little handful of people declared that they were connected with the Church and kingdom of God, and that it would prevail in the world. To the world, and even to us now, it looked presumptuous. But when we see this tremendous concourse of people on this block and know of the faith of the Latter-day Saints which is manifested by the people in all of this mountain country, we can partly see the fulfilment of the prophecy of the early leaders of the Church, and it does not require the same amount of faith, it seems to me. But there is opportunity for the same amount of work, and the purposes of the Lord will be accomplished exactly in proportion to the efforts we put forth. ¶

I pray the Lord that what I have said will tend to strengthen and stimulate my brethren and sisters to more earnest and more zealous works in helping to bring about the blessings of the Almighty. May his blessings be with us, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶