The North Central States Mission

My brethren and sisters, I am very proud and happy to be a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which I believe to be the greatest agency ever known to man for character education and for spiritual, moral and physical development. ¶

I am happy to be here, to give brief report of the mission in which I have the honor to serve, and to bear my testimony to the truthfulness of this great latter-day work. ¶

In the North Central States Mission we have forty regular missionaries, all well and busy and happy in their work, and the Lord is magnifying' them therein. Were there time I could tell you something good about every one of them. We have sixty special missionaries giving all the way from one or two hours a day to1 nearly full time in missionary service, and the Lord is blessing their efforts. We have twenty-six hundred members, and though in our wheat-growing prairie states and provinces we feel the pinch of these hard times, our people are faithful and are to the best of their ability living the Gospel as they understand it. ¶

We have a great many friends, I am glad to say, and their number is increasing. Officers of the law; educators, and the traveling public particularly, have a growing friendliness for the Church and its people. We never meet a man or woman who has been here, and has visited this block, but has a kindly word for Utah and the people of the Church. ¶

Since the Word of Wisdom has been so forcefully emphasized at this conference, you may be interested to know that not many weeks ago an officer of the city of Minneapolis, the greatest city within our borders, having heard something about the Word of Wisdom, asked for more information concerning it, explaining that he was to appear before the men's club of his church. He was supplied liberally with charts and graphs and statistics, such as were assembled during the great Word of Wisdom exhibit a few years ago ; and he later reported having used them in his church with creditable effect. ¶

But, my brethren and sisters, while friends multiply, real converts to the divinity of this great Latter-day work are few. "We believe in God the eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ." So do many other good people ; but not in the same literal sense in which we do. ¶

Not many days ago, over in the city of Great Falls, where President Sloan's responsibilities leave off and mine begin, a sister told me of a conversation in which a friendly non-member of the Church complained : "You Mormon people seem to think and act as if you thought Jesus Christ himself might have come to the earth to organize your church." "Well," replied the good sister, "what would you say if I should tell you that is exactly what he did do ?" ¶

The difference is significant. Plenty of honest and honorable men affirm a faith correctly described, it seems to me, as "A form of Godliness without the power [or reality] thereof." Others declare with one of old, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, * * * and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Real faith in a living, personal Savior is all too rare. ¶

I have not felt the nail-prints in his hands and feet, but I believe as I believe that I live that he lives as truly and as really as when he walked in Galilee ; and I am comforted by his kindly assurance to the doubter of old : Blessed art thou Thomas, because thou hast believed having seen ; but blessed are they who believe not having seen — or words <-o that effect. ¶

We know that he lives for our prophets have seen him. He did come to earth and re-establish his church among men. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in truth, his church. His priesthood is here, and under the ministration of authorized servants, it works to the benefit and blessing of mankind. May it continue to grow, and may the honest in heart of all the earth receive a testimony of its truth and be made partakers of its blessings, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶