Remarks by Joseph W. McMurrin

(Of the First Council of Seventy, and President of the California Mission) ¶

It is certainly a very great privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be permitted to take part in a great conference gathering such as this is. I sincerely hope that during the few moments that have been allotted to me I may he prompted by that good Spirit that has been so manifest in the remarks of the brethren who have been called to occupy this position. ¶

I am very glad to say that the work of the Lord is prospering in the California mission. You have already heard, from the opening remarks made by President Grant, and the presiding authorities recently thought it advisable to establish a stake of Zion with headquarters in Los Angeles, to be known as the Los Angeles stake of Zion. Elder George W. McCune, former president of the Eastern States mission, has been called to preside as the president of the stake, and is assisted by Elders J. Muir and George F. Harding, who are his counselors, and a company of stalwart men who have been called to assist them as members of the high council. A number of bishops, all splendid men, have been selected and ordained and have chosen their counselors ; while in other branches the bishops have not as yet been selected. The people hail with very great delight the action that has been taken by the presiding authorities, in the organization of the stake ; and of course we cannot but believe that with the increased number of men who will feel the responsibilites that have been placed upon them, there will be a greater movement forward with the work of the Lord in that section of the country than at any time in the past. The brethren who have been selected to fill places of responsibility, all seem to sense the nature of that responsibility that has been placed upon them and to be anxious to discharge their duties to the best of their power. ¶

So far as the missionary work is concerned, I am happy to say, my brethren and sisters, that the Spirit of the Lord is with the young men and women who have been assigned to the California mission. The only thing that we regret is that we do not have larger numbers of men and women sent to labor in that mission ; and yet I realize that we have no ground to complain, or to feel that we have not been considered as favorably as any other mission in the sending of men and women to operate in the crying of repentance and in expounding the doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has been and is a very great delight to me to have the companionship of the young elders and the young sisters who have been sent into that field. It is a source of never ending wonder to note the development that takes place on the part of these missionaries, for it is not an uncommon thing to find these young people sorely depressed in their feelings when they first attempt to stand up before the people, and they have but very little to say, and a good many of them do not feel that they can stand up and bear record that they know that they have been called to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and that they know the doctrines they have been sent to teach are the power of God unto salvation. It is a very great delight, nevertheless, my brethren and sisters, to note on the part of all of these young people that there is no disposition to be in any way hypocritical or untruthful or in any way to pretend that they are possessed of knowledge that has not been given to them. ¶

I would like to say to the fathers and mothers who may have sons and daughters in California, that while some of them may have come into the mission field with but little understanding of the gospel, they have come with a wonderful spirit of obedience, ready and willing ¶

to go and come as they may be directed by proper authority, and ready and anxious to do, to the very best of their power, the duties that rest upon them as preachers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. While they may manifest in the beginning a considerable degree of timidity in their missionary labors, it has always been a source of great joy to me to discover that after they have striven to the best of their power to magnify the callings whereunto they have been called, they have been touched with the mysterious power that reveals truths, that has been spoken of in these conference meetings — the power of the Holy Ghost. If there has been doubt in their minds when they came into the mission field, it is soon banished away, and in a brief time they are not only willing to bear record to the truth of the gospel but they are very anxious to have that opportunity ; and I want to say that they bear that witness under the power and inspiration of the Spirit of the living God. They bear witness in such a manner that their teachings reach the hearts of the people and bring honest hearted souls to an investigation of the message that has been committed into their hands. ¶

I regret that sometimes there seems to be too great anxiety on the part of fathers and mothers to have their missionary sons and daughters return from the mission field earlier than is desirable. The declaration has been made again and again by the presiding authorities that there is no appointed time for a missionary to> be in the mission field. President Heber J. Grant, in one of our conferences in 1921, set forth in very strong language the necessity of fathers and mothers giving their sons and daughters an opportunity to fill a well rounded out mission ; and I would like to plead with fathers and mothers that they give their sons and daughters those opportunities. I am not unmindful of the fact that we have been passing through a time of serious financial distress and that many fathers and mothers have had great difficulty in obtaining the means necessary to meet the expenses of their missionary representatives in the mission field. Let me also say, my brethren and sisters, that it is a very rare thing for a missionary ever to have the opportunity of going the second time into the mission field to lift up his voice in proclamation of the truth that has been restored, and when he is baptized with the spirit of testimony and with the spirit of understanding; when his heart is in the work and when he is anxious to cry repentance among the people, it is greatly to be regretted that ofttimes fathers and mothers, even when I fear there is no very great necessity for such action, send word to their sons and daughters that the burden is more than they can bear and that because two years, forsooth, have passed away, they should now return from the mission field. I am happy to say that these missionaries, both men and women, have no desire to return. I have seen them shed tears of sorrow when the announcement has been made that they have been honorably released to return to their homes. Their hearts are in the work of God. They are anxious to magnify their callings ; and I think no father or mother can spend money to any better advantage than to give their sons and daughters, when they are in the field, full ' opportunity to labor and to deliver the message that has been committed into their hands, and to become better and better established in the things of God. ¶

I rejoice in their companionship. I thank God for the opportunity of being with them. I rejoice in the gospel that I am seeking, with them, to promulgate in the California mission, and I know it is the power of God unto salvation ; and bear witness thereto, with joy and gladness in my soul, and with understanding and knowledge that I speak the truth, in the name of Jesus Christ.. Amen. ¶