It Will Not Be Possible, My Brethren And Sisters...

It will not be possible, my brethren and sisters, to describe my feelings in being called thus suddenly to address this vast congregation. I sincerely pray that the Lord will illuminate my mind while I occupy this position. ¶

As President Grant stated, I have returned rather recently from presiding over the Swiss and German Mission. I can report conditions in that field as being very favorable. It is true the people are not flocking to the Church in such great numbers as came during the distressing years immediately succeeding the war, but still we are making very satisfactory headway there, and the members of the Church are faithful. I think it would not be possible to find anywhere a body of saints who are more exact in the payment of their tithes and offerings than are the Swiss and German people. It would not be easy nor perhaps possible to find a people who are more willing to contribute to the missionaries. Some of the things which we see there are extremely touching. My heart has been made to rejoice, and still it has caused a feeling of humility to come over me, when I have witnessed what our members and friends are willing to do for those who come into their midst to preach the gospel. It is not an uncommon thing for members of the Church to share their last crust of bread with the missionaries. I have known of cases where men and women have sat up all night in chairs so that the elders might have a comfortable bed in which to sleep. That spirit is broadcast among the German-speaking people, both in the Swiss-German and in the German-Austrian missions ; and when we see their fidelity, their faith, their willingness to do for us, naturally it is a spur to our missionaries to do the very best they can. ¶

The elders laboring in those fields are sincerely anxious to spread the gospel truth. I have been impressed with the quality of our representatives who have come out into the world. Of course I am better acquainted with those who have come to the particular field where I presided. They proved to be a very faithful and devoted band of brethren, willing to give their all for the advancement of truth. In my opinion there is a noticeable improvement in the quality of missionaries now going into the field, and this thought has impressed me very deeply : the better educated the missionary is, speaking generally, the more faith he has. We have had quite a number of men in the field who were college graduates, men who have taken their degrees from the Universities of the State and of the Church, and those men, I can say, without an exception, were unusual missionaries. It was from their ranks very largely that district presidents were chosen. Naturally this was not always the case, because sometimes, while they had the education, they did not have the gift of handling men as did some others who had not made quite so much progress along scholastic lines. But those who had taken their college degrees were a very fine body of brethren. So I have come home prepared to recommend to all our young boys that so far as possible they should finish their university work, though not necessarily before they go on missions. Sometimes it fits into the scheme of things better if they go before they have finished, but I think our young men should have the ambition to graduate from our universities, or at least go as far in educational lines as it is possible for them to go. ¶

I am impressed, as has already been said, with the excellent quality of the men who go out, and impressed also with the sacrifice which their parents are willing to make in order to keep them in the field. I recall now a mother whose letter to her sons was shown me. It was my practice to write twice a year to the parents of the missionaries in the field. One couple had two sons there, one already a district president, the other subsequently to become one. I wrote complimenting them on the character of their sons and telling of the splendid work they were doing. I saw a letter from the mother written to her boys in which she said, "When Brother Cannon's letter came I was washing, I was tired, and felt as though I could not possibly face the duties that were upon me. But when that letter came I went into the other room and read it and re-read it and cried for pure joy." ¶

"That is a feeling which people in the world cannot understand, how a woman can cry with joy because she, in connection with her husband, has to send her sons about seventy dollars a month and be deprived of their association and the help which they could give on the farm. But she did cry and it was for pure joy. We who have had similar experiences can understand her feelings. All who are here know that her joy was genuine and real. Many cases of that kind might be related if time permitted. ¶

Our missionary boys are hedged about here at home, they are watched over with the utmost care as they grow to maturity. Then they go out into the world, many of them to countries where alcoholic beverages are almost as easy to obtain as water, and yet these boys do not drink. They are surrounded by men, and in this modern age, by women, very many of whom use tobacco, still these boys do not smoke. They come in contact with people whose moral ideals are not high, men and even women who do not look upon virtue and morality as we look upon it. They are shining marks for the dissolute, for the wicked, for those who would lead the servants of the Almighty astray; and still they remain pure and clean and come home with heads erect, able to look any man, any woman, any child in the face. That is the character of missionaries with whom it has been my privilege to labor. ¶

I should like to say a word or two about the missionary after his return. While he is in the field he is watched over by his mission president and by his district president. His parents, his bishop, perhaps the president of his stake, are writing letters to him, urging him to do right. They are praying for him. He is engaged in his Master's service. He realizes that he is no longer representing himself, but is representing a great cause, and he feels ashamed to do things which are wrong. He is careful, is humble. His whole thought is concentrated on righteousness and he learns to live it. Then at the end of his mission he is released to come home. You know what happens. The bishops, I am sure, do all they can to find a place for him. But it is often a fact that this boy who has been the biggest figure in the circle which he occupied, after his return, drops completely into the background, too frequently out of sight. I haven't any criticism to offer to the officers of the stakes and wards. I know from experience how difficult it is to find employment, either secular or in a Church capacity, for this army of men returning from the mission field. It is not always easy, sometimes not possible, to put them into positions of responsibility. But I do think they are deserving of all the thought and care and attention that we can possibly give them. There is a reaction, a relaxation, when they are released. Perhaps many of you know how it is to be engaged in active service and then all at once not have anything to do. You frequently have that experience right here at home. When you have had a difficult task to perform, a sermon to deliver perhaps, which weighed heavily upon your mind and frightened you, a spirit of relaxation came over you when that work was done. That is the situation with our missionaries. ¶

I had a young man in the field say to me once, "If I ever get into serious trouble it will be on Tuesday." I was a little surprised at the statement and asked, "Why?" He said, "Because I am keyed up the latter part of the week. Knowing I have to speak on Sunday, I am humble and prayerful ; I plead with the Lord to help me with my work, that it may be done well, and then on Sunday night after that sermon is finished I am inclined to relax. Monday finds me completely relaxed, and after Monday night or Tuesday I am the weakest that I am during the entire week. After Tuesday I begin to worry about Sunday again." ¶

This, in my judgment, illustrates the general condition of our returned missionaries. They are relaxed. They often feel, and of course improperly, that they are no longer representing a people, but are merely human individuals, simply units in the Church, and what they do will not reflect serious discredit upon the Church. That splendid and sustaining thought which was with them during their missions, that they must be true because of the Church, leaves them when they return home. ¶

I would like to suggest to parents that when your boys come home you do not feel that their feet are safely anchored to the rock of truth, but feel that they need your prayers just as much at home and perhaps more than they did in the mission field ; feel that you should watch over them, talk with them and plead with them just as much as before they went, or during the time they were absent. I may take an exaggerated view of this matter, but it seems to me that the returned missionary is one of the biggest problems the Church has before it, I would not infer that any large percentage of our missionaries go astray. That is not the case, but if we take time to consider the matter, we will see that more of them become careless after they come home, a far greater number, than do wrong in the mission field. The percentage of those who fall into serious transgression in the mission field is very small, almost insignificant. Of course it is larger than it should be, for as long as one man goes astray the number is too large, but in this particular we have little cause for concern. At home, while the number of delinquents is not extremely large it far exceeds the delinquency abroad. And so I say in behalf of the returned missionary, to bishops and ward and stake officers, to those who preside in quorums, and particularly to parents, watch the returned missionary, try to make him feel that there is a place for him, perhaps not a place where he can, preside, but that there is a place in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ here just as much as there is abroad. He comes home full of faith, bearing testimony that he knows this message is true, and he does know it. I have heard boys say that they know just as well as the Prophet Joseph knew, that he saw the Father and the Son. They do not understand the gospel as he did ; they do not comprehend its real significance as did the Prophet, but the knowledge of its divinity is theirs. So I pray for them and pray for us all, that we may understand the magnitude of this great work which is entrusted to our care, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶