The Canadian Mission

I esteem it a great privilege, my brethren and sisters, to be permitted to come back to Salt Lake City every six months and participate in the Conference proceedings. It is a wonderful inspiration unto us who are absent in the mission field, and we can carry back that inspiration unto those with whom we are laboring. ¶

I rejoice in the testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that I obtained by listening to the teachings of the Elders many years ago. I rejoice that year by year that testimony has grown stronger and brighter ; that in all the vicissitudes of life, and the flounderings and the stumblings through which we go, and through which I have gone, I have been able to retain that testimony. I cherish that as one of the greatest, if not the greatest gift that God can give unto us. I do not know of any gift I can think of now that would be worth so much to me if I were to lose the testimony that this is the work of the Lord ; that it is divine ; that his power and authority are here upon the earth ; that he speaks through thai authority ; that we are led and guided by his Holy Spirit in all that we do ; that we are seeking in our humble way to carry on his work ; that ¶

he in reality has given unto us the privilege of being his humble assistants in carrying out the great task that he has set for himself, to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. ¶

I know of nothing more glorious than to have the privilege of working in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in high position or in low. I feel it such an honor, such a help, such an opportunity for growth and advancement, that I feel that all Latter-day Saints should hunger for the privilege of serving in some capacity in the kingdom of God. It gives us joy; it gives us happiness. ¶

I do not know that at any time in my past life I have realized as fully as I do now what that second commandment means : "Love thy neighbor as thyself." In contemplation of that so many other things that occupy our lives fade away into insignificance. The philosophy of that commandment, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," seems to me to be made clear in the Book of Mormon. I remember reading in the book of Mosiah the story of King Benjamin. As he felt age creeping upon him he desired to deliver over the kingdom to his son. He called the people together for the purpose of counseling them, to advise them, and to deliver the kingdom into the hands of his son. When they had gathered together he began to recite some of the things that had been done and accomplished. What he particularly impressed upon them was this one fact, that though he were a king and ruled over them, yet he had labored with his own hands for the accomplishment of God's purposes, that he might not be a burden unto them. "And this," he declared, "I do not desire to boast of, but I tell you these things that ye might learn wisdom ; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." ¶

This truth is impressed upon us in the mission field ; and the privilege of carrying the Gospel to those who are honest in heart, giving unto them the word of the Lord, giving unto them greater opportunity for advancement, progress, knowledge, understanding, gives us joy. Grief we feel when we find that apparently our words fall on deaf ears, when that which is so plain unto us seems as a fallacy to them. They believe in Jesus Christ but they have already been saved, they say, and, being saved, there is nothing else that they need look [forward to ; the fact that we cannot undeceive them in this thing brings us grief. In a small way it gives us a little understanding of what our Savior must have felt when he came unto his own and his own would not receive him. He gave them the opportunity for salvation and exaltation, but they looked upon him as a blasphemer. ¶

I desire to bear my testimony to the goodness of God, and to his mercy, to the j oy that has come into my heart since we heard the Gospel some 56 years ago, and the satisfaction and the happiness that are ours in doing the work of the Lord, in working in his cause, in helping to deliver unto the rest of the world that same message that has given us joy and happiness. ¶

May God help us to cherish the testimony that we have received, that we may do nothing that will mar it or cause it to fade away, because ¶

these testimonies that have come unto us by doing the will of the Lord cannot be taken from us by any power on earth, except that of our own transgression. Let us cherish it and keep it. It is a wonderful thing to know, not only that we are in the way, but to know where we are going, and that at the end of this life we still continue in the service of the Lord, with the vistas of progression and advancement outlined before us. O, that testimony! There isn't anything in the world that I can think of for which I would give that testimony. ¶

May God help us to serve him, to do his will, to be faithful, honest and loyal to his cause, not paying so much attention to the things of this world, because they fade away, but to look more for the things that are of eternal worth and that we can carry with us, that we may find stored up there for us when we go there, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶