The Canadian Mission

I bring you greetings, my brethren and sisters, from the Saints and the missionaries in the Canadian Mission. We have a small force, but they are diligent and faithful. They love their work; they are glad to be engaged in the service of the Lord and to give of the talents he has given them, unto the blessing and the benefit of the people among whom they labor. The fathers and mothers of those sons and daughters need not worry over their children. They are doing a good work. They are measuring up to the labors and responsibilities assigned unto them. ¶

I deem it a wonderful privilege for the presidents of the missions in the United States, Canada and Mexico, to be permitted to come and enjoy these conferences every six months, a privilege that because of distance is denied to the presidents of other missions. We here receive joy, happiness, strength and vitality in the continuation of our work, and we can to some extent imbue our brethren and sisters in the mission field with that same spirit. I rejoice in it. ¶

I have been happy to listen to the things said here this morning and this afternoon upon the Word of Wisdom, the necessity of keeping our bodies clean, they being the temples of God. We should not abuse them; we should have sound bodies for the development of the spirits t-hat are within them, for their growth and development. Some say that our weaknesses are such we cannot refrain from yielding to these things. ¶

That reminds me of a brother in New Brunswick who does not hesitate to say, when any one says he cannot quit tobacco, that it is simply because he does not want to. "I was," he said, "the most inveterate user of tobacco. I cannot conceive how anybody could be more' so than I was. I smelled it; I smoked it; I chewed it; I even ate it. Not a moment of the time, except at meal times, did I deem I could do without it. I heard of the Gospel preached by the Latter-day Saints, of their Word of Wisdom. It caused me to wonder. I asked a physician to test my blood. He took a portion of it, and sent it to an institute where there was an eminent surgeon who analyzed it. When he got the analysis or report back the question was asked : 'How long since this man died ?' " The chemist did not think it possible that any one so saturated with tobacco as that blood test showed him to be could possibly live. When he accepted the Gospel he quit, and he has for many years since that time been without its use, and he declares it has given him no discomfort to leave it alone. He had the will to quit it. The very query as to his death brought that determination to him. For that reason he feels that all that is necessary is the desire to quit. But when our longings for it are greater than our desire to serve God, then of course it is difficult. ¶

It would seem to me that the very words of our Heavenly Father in the revelation read to us this morning, and spoken upon this afternoon, leave us in a peculiar position if we cannot live up to them. The counsel therein given is "adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints who are or can be called saints." When we cannot observe the Word of Wisdom we are placed in this position : Either we are weaker than "the weakest of all saints," or else we are deliberately sinning. "To him that knoweth to do good," says James, "and doeth it not, to him it is sin." And our Father declares : "I the Lord, cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance." If we can get to understand that, I do not see how it is possible for any one with any faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to belittle the statements made relative to this wonderful revelation, given unto us for our temporal salvation. ¶

I would like to say a word bearing upon this and some other things, relative to our folks at home. I cannot help but appreciate the wonderful sacrifice that fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers, even young children, indicate they are willing to make, in order to keep the father, the husband, the brother, the son, in the mission field the full time. I marvel a$, the efforts they make, the things they endure, and the sacrifices they make in order to accomplish it. When the shortage of missionaries brings the. request : "Can we keep your son, your daughter, two or three or four months longer?" how they strive to comply with it, how they dislike to say that they cannot. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, you can preach the Gospel at home by the lives that you lead more fully than they can by word of mouth. You are sacrificing these things for them, why not get your money's worth out of it ? This is what I tell our missionaries : "You know what your people are doing for you. Give them their money's worth, by the loyalty, the faithfulness, the devotion that you give unto the work of the Lord." So also at home : Get your money's worth. Why vitiate their effort and nullify it by such conduct at home that people, noticing the way you act, complain that you do not live what you preach ? ¶

We love your boys, we love your daughters, who are out in the field — neat, tidy, dignified, soft-spoken, living lives of Christians. Then we find that sometimes you do not live at home that which they preach. Let us preach by our lives that which God has given unto us, that we may bear testimony unto the world that the Gospel can really become the power of God unto our salvation, if we will abide by its precepts. Then we will grow in grace. Love for God's word will be in our hearts. Love and devotion for his work will constantly be with us. We will serve him. We will win our own reward and our own salvation. ¶

I rejoice in the work in which we are engaged. My wife and I have never been happier than we are at this moment. We finished a mission tour of three thousand miles just before I came here to conference. We have joy in our labors, and thank God for the privilege of serving. We ask his blessing upon all his people, those who are engaged in his work, that the work may prosper throughout the world and grow to be, as it were, an ensign unto the nations, to look up to, an example Jo be followed, that they might be saved temporally and spiritually, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶