Missionary Work in the Western States

It is a very great pleasure to return and associate with friends and with Latter-day Saints in our Conference, and I sincerely trust that while I occupy this position the Lord will bless me as he has done my brethren. ¶

President McMurrin has uttered the thoughts, the hopes, and the desires of every mission president, I am sure. It has been a matter of great concern to each of us to see our missionary numbers dwindle as they have within the last eight or nine months. It has been a difficult matter to so dispose of our missionaries as to take care of the various fields of labor in which their services are required. It has been necessary and essential that we get local elders to help us, as far as we possibly can. I am aware of the fact that in securing the help of these local brethren and sisters we are merely adding to the faith and integrity of our own people, and adding to their ability to assist us at all times in the future; and perhaps in that respect the dearth of missionaries may have had a compensating effect. But there is a great need for missionaries to carry the word, to spread our literature, to bear their testimony to the people; and there are many people who seem to be willing to at least listen. ¶

The power of the Lord is manifest in the missions. I know that in the Western States Mission we have had many favors at his hands. There have been some manifestations of his power that have thrilled and delighted us. ¶

I recently mentioned, in a report to my brethren, two important happenings. I think you might enjoy hearing of them. ¶

Over in Lincoln, Nebraska, a young missionary sister was distributing tracts with her companion ; her companion on one side of the street, she on the other. She came to the door of a woman who invited her in, with the understanding that she would listen to her only while she continued her ironing. The woman said : "I am too busy to listen to you unless you talk to me while I iron." So the sister went in, took a chair and sat down. Pretty soon the ironing stopped. The woman pulled the plug out of the electric iron, stood the iron on its end, drew up a chair, and sat down in front of our missionary sister, and said to her: "What is there about you that is different from any one I ever saw before?" This sister, of course, was unable to answer her, for she was not aware of any difference. The woman said: 'Why, you are surrounded by a halo of light. I have never seen that before in my life." So our young missionary sister tried to explain to her that sometimes the Lord's blessings were manifest, and the Holy Spirit which surrounded his servants might be seen by those who had the gift of seeing. She was so interested and so astonished that after a little while, hearing in the conversation something about our Primaries, she asked Sister Goodliffe: "What is the Primary?" Sister Goodliffe explained to her what our Primaries are. The woman said: "I am the mother of nine children. Will you hold a Primary in my home?" So today, once a week, the two sisters in Lincoln, Nebraska, go to this good woman's home, and they hold a Primary with her children and the neighbors' children that are invited in. ¶

We have been so short of missionaries that it became necessary to take the sister missionaries out of Council Bluffs. We had the spectacle or the experience of a pair of elders holding six Primaries every week, in place of the sisters. One would smile, perhaps, to think of that, and yet they have been quite successful in their efforts to tell stories and entertain the children after the manner of Primary teaching. We are hoping that we may soon have two sisters that we can send back in there to continue that work. They do it so much better than the elders. ¶

Upon another occasion, speaking of the power of the Lord and the manifestation of his goodness, two elders in northern New Mexico, while going through the country for the purpose of visiting the scattered Saints, came into a community where two or three families of Saints resided, and began to administer the ordinance of baptism for their children. One little fellow who applied for baptism was nine years of age. He had been crippled from his infancy with an affliction in his knee of such a character that whenever his knee was placed in cold water he suffered excruciating pain. His mother said : "No ; no, you can't be baptized. You couldn't stand it." But the little fellow pleaded. He wanted to be baptized. The elders were asked : "Shall we baptize him?" and of course they hardly knew what to say. They naturally left the matter to the parents. Upon the earnest pleading of the boy he was permitted to enter the cold river water, for baptism, and to their astonishment there was no pain, and the little fellow came forth from the water rejoicing. Afterwards the elders laid their hands upon him, and invoked the blessings of the Lord upon him, and went their way. In three weeks time, on their way back to their quarters, they passed through this section of country, and naturally went to the home to see how the little boy was. When they arrived he was not in the house. The mother, replying to their inquiry as to his whereabouts, said : "He is out on the hill, looking for the cattle." The little fellow had been healed and was able to walk. Never before, in his life, had he been able to do so without pain or distress. ¶

One of these two elders, at a recent conference held in Alamosa, Colorado, stood before the congregation to address them, and there was a manifestation of the power of the Lord upon him, so that he was lifted up beyond himself, and I have never heard any one speak better than he did that night. We knew that the power of the Lord was with him, but only one person in the congregation was conscious of an unusual manifestation. At the close of the meeting a little girl, less than fourteen years of age, came to the presiding elder and said : "All the while that Elder Tenney spoke there was a beautiful personage clothed in white standing to the right of him, and this personage's ¶

countenance was beautiful to behold. When Elder Tenney closed his remarks, he disappeared." We were naturally delighted and happy to know that the witness of the Holy Ghost and the power of the Lord do accompany the labors of our brethren and sisters. ¶

I am sure that these manifestations are occurring everywhere, merely a sign of the favor of our Father to his servants. ¶

It is a glorious privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be within the influence of such spiritual manifestations and blessings, and I count it not only an honor, but a joy and privilege to be thus favored. I am enjoying my labors. I have pleasure in reporting to you that all the missionaries, with one exception who are laboring in the Western States Mission at the present time, are quite well, and the one who is ill is recovering. ¶

May the Lord bless you. May he bless you in your basket and in your store, that you will listen and heed the appeal that has been made to send us more missionaries, so that we can carry on the work of the Lord. This is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶