My brethren and sisters, this is a blessed

My brethren and sisters, this is a blessed privilege and I am very happy to have this opportunity of briefly reporting the Northern States mission of the Church. ¶

It is a pleasure indeed to advise you that there is not a single case of sickness or illness among the brethren and sisters laboring in that mission. During the past six months the flu and kindred diseases and complications have raged almost rampant. These diseases have claimed their victims by the hundreds, and deaths have ensued in many cases. Our missionaries have not wholly escaped these illnesses, but through the providences of our kind Heavenly Father, through administration and faith, we have had no serious results; and each one, so far as I am advised, is in the enjoyment of full and perfect health and strength. ¶

We have had some wonderful manifestations of the power of God's priesthood. One of our aged brethren, a short-term missionary, who was not able to endure the rigors of the hard winter, was attacked by flu and double pneumonia. We got him placed comfortably in a hospital under good doctor's and nurses' care in the city of Milwaukee. The first and second days his condition was reported very favorable. On a Wednesday noon the mission office received a telephone message from the doctor in charge, advising me to come to Milwaukee at once, that this brother could not live the day out; and he advised me to communicate with his family and let them know how serious his condition was, or they would receive the word of his death before they knew of his illness. A son of this good brother was also a short-term missionary in one of our other states, and I communicated immediately with him, asking that he advise his folks at home in Idaho, and then hasten himself to his father's bedside, to which place I also would speed. ¶

When we came there in the afternoon the old gentleman could scarcely breathe, but his unbounded faith, united with the faith of his associates, prevailed. He was administered to two or three times in the afternoon and evening. We stayed with him until a late hour at night, and at midnight his son arrived. When the doctor came in the morning he could scarcely credit the improvement in the old gentleman's condition; and after he had given a thorough diagnosis of the case, examined him thoroughly and prescribed what he thought was necessary to be done and was ready to go, I told the doctor I would like to talk with him. ¶

We went out into another room and in a fifteen or twenty minute interview I told him who we were, why we were, and our purposes as missionaries in the nations of the earth. I told him how our elders and our sisters traveled among the nations of the earth preaching the Gospel, and I asked him if we could depend upon him giving our brother his best services. He was very much impressed, and he assured me that he would not only give the best possible attention, but that he would be considerate in presenting the bill for his services, and that in the future whenever we had occasion to trust to his care any of our elders or missionaries that we might be certain they would be given the best of service. ¶

It was a pleasure to deliver this kind of message to Dr. Gambling, one of the leading physicians and practitioners in the city of Milwaukee and in one of its fine hospitals. I also had the opportunity of delivering the same message to the superintendent of the hospital. ¶

This brother who the doctor said could not live the day out continued to regain his strength until a period of two weeks time had elapsed, when we met him as he was transferring from one train to another in the city of Chicago, homeward bound. Through the grace and providence of our Heavenly Father his life was spared. ¶

A very fine Latter-day Saint doctor, a former missionary in the Northern States, later a student and graduate, and now a practitioner of medicine and surgery in one of our great cities, recently married. He came to our office one afternoon and asked me if we would give his wife a mother's blessing preceding her confinement, and we were very pleased to assure him that we would do that. A few days afterwards he called me, very much alarmed and concerned, and said that very untoward evidences were manifest in the condition of his wife high blood pressure, temperature, body filling with dropsy and a number of things that presaged a terrible condition. He asked if we could give his wife that mother's blessing that day. In the evening Sister Pond accompanied me to his home, which was five or six miles distant from the office. He told us of the terrible condition his wife was in. He had had experience, and he said he had seen a number of his own household die under confinement cases such as was imminent with his wife, and that he and another very eminent doctor did not propose to take any chances with regard to the life of his wife, that that night they were going to perform a Caesarian operation and take the baby dead or alive, but save the life of his wife. When we gave her a blessing we promised her that her delivery should be natural and normal and that she would have the blessing and privilege of nursing her baby. He drove us to our home, and when he returned matters were moving rapidly. Labor had set in and he hurriedly secured the ambulance and took his wife to the hospital. Arriving there he was very much perturbed about not locating the other doctor. He could not get him on the telephone; so he took his car and rushed to his home and office in an endeavor to secure him. An hour and a half or two hours intervened, and when he came back after a futile search for the other doctor, his wife had been delivered of a beautiful baby and everything was natural and normal. The dropsy, the high blood pressure, and the other untoward evidences had disappeared. The baby was premature and was placed in an incubator. It is thriving beautifully. ¶

This is a typical case. Our missionaries have had wonderful experiences. One of our short-term brethren visited and was kindly received by the governor of one of our great States, who invited him to come to the Capitol and later to visit his home. A few weeks ago one of our sister missionaries was kindly received and invited into a home, and when she was properly seated the lady of the home said: ¶

"My husband is a grandson of Colonel Geddes, who as a member of the State militia drove the Mormon people out of Illinois. We have heard all about the anti-Mormon side of this history. I am so happy to meet you this afternoon. I want you to take off your things, sit down in my house, and tell me the truth from the Mormon standpoint." ¶

This sister later had the opportunity of meeting this woman's husband, and they are now interested prospective investigators of the truth of the restored Gospel, and this divine Church. ¶

I am pleased, my brethren and sisters, to know that our kind Heavenly Father never drew a geographical line of distinction with reference to his children. On the contrary, the scripture and the Gospel teach us that ¶

"God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." ¶

Paul taught the Athenians and the Romans that there was no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same God was Father over all, and would give his blessings to all those who would obey him and seek him. Paul continued by saying: ¶

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? ¶

"And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" ¶

Paul further declared, as did also Isaiah, that not all the world would receive the Gospel, but that it should be preached to them and they should have an opportunity of hearing it. As I observed, I am happy to know that our Father never drew a geographic line; he has never expressed love for one of his children simply because he was born in Great Britain, and hated one because he was born in Germany; or loved one because he was born in the United States, and disliked one because he was born in Australia. But wherever our Father's children have obeyed him and sought him he has recognized them and given them the blessings of the Gospel. ¶

I can testify to you that this Gospel is being preached to the nations of the earth in advance of the coming of our Lord and Savior. I have seen the fulfilment of that passage of scripture which says that he would take them one of a city and two of a family, and give them pastors after his own mind. In my youth I used to think that was wrong, or a misinterpretation of the scriptures, but I have seen it manifest where one single individual in a city or town or hamlet, and where two of a family, have accepted the Gospel. We glide from one State into another, as from Utah to Idaho, from Iowa to Illinois, from Illinois to Indiana, from Michigan and Wisconsin in the United States into Canada. Men and nations make the geographic line of distinction by an ocean, a sea, a river, a lake, a mountain range. But our Father draws no line of geography in the salvation of his children. ¶

I am happy to report the excellent work of your sons and daughters, your brothers and sisters, elders and lady missionaries of the Northern States. I humbly pray for our Father's choicest blessings upon his servants, the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve, and all the presiding quorums of the priesthood, you my brethren and sisters in the wards and stakes of Zion. You fathers and mothers, we are solicitous of co-operation with you in the fine working operations of your sons and daughters as missionaries. ¶

I pray for our Father's blessings upon all his children in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶