Conference Address

I believe that this is the eleventh time that I have had the privilege of representing the Western States Mission before a congregation in this tabernacle, and it is the last time that I shall have that privilege, since I have been transferred into another field of labor. I have had extreme pleasure in the labor that has been assigned to me, and Sister Woodruff has enjoyed it with me. We have had a very pleasant experience. We have labored in the mission among many happy people in a delightful part of the country. Our experiences have been of great benefit and blessing to us. We are very grateful for them. ¶

I should like to take this opportunity to say a few things about that mission that I hope will be interesting to you and appropriate to this occasion. In the first place let me speak a word with reference to the city of Denver. I had no idea of the beauty of that city until I went there to live nor of the fine people who live there, and the splendid spirit of civic pride apparent in that city. On every hand we have met with courtesy, kindness and consideration at the hands of the public officials and the good people of the city. Denver is a city of beauty and a city of extreme civic pride. Her streets are beautiful and clean and lined with shade trees ; miles upon miles of beautiful streets with lovely homes. ¶

You may not know that Denver is the second federal city in America. We are told that more federal employees reside in Denver than in any other city except Washington, D. C. There are beautiful federal buildings there and of course a number of our own people who are in civil service find themselves in the city of Denver. They attend our branch, and participate in our worship and in our activities. The branch at Denver is one of the splendid little congregations that make up this Church. They do things quite on a par with some of the best wards in the stakes of Zion. The people there are ambitious to serve the Lord and to do his will as well as they can. ¶

On the other hand we have many small and remote branches where Latter-day Saints live, because their occupations take them there, some of them from the stakes of Zion. They are just as anxious as they are elsewhere, but they do not have the opportunity at times to do as well outwardly as they appear to do in better organized centers. ¶

For instance, in the city of Omaha, the moving of the Union Pacific offices took a number of our brethren there, some of them who had experience in the stakes of Zion and are well trained in the Church. And what a blessing they were to those who had already settled in Omaha. They came in with a wonderful spirit of humility and broke down the old barriers of prejudice that had so long existed there among the local converts against so-called Utah Mormons. I believe for the first time—to my knowledge at least—we have a fine spirit of harmony between the two classes of Latter-day Saints, if Latter-day Saints may be classed. ¶

Then we have remote districts, even small districts. I could refer you to a little place at Lordsburg, New Mexico, where we have four women composing a Relief Society. I remember meeting with them on a June day, when the temperature was 112. Of these four women one of them was president, two of them were counselors, and the other was the secretary of the organization. The question arose, Is it worth while to try to hold a Relief Society when there are only four women who belong to it? Well I had to prove that it was, and so I said, "If there were forty of you, would you be happy?" ¶

"Why of course we would think it was wonderful." ¶

"Well, now, if there were forty of you, you would only have onetenth the opportunity you now have to participate." ¶

"Well, maybe that is true. We will try to be happy and carry on." ¶

So you see we have every type of condition existing, and the people do carry on. We try to organize little family Sunday Schools in those remote districts, where one or two or three families come together, and the wonderful outlines that have been provided by the General Board make it possible for them to conduct lessons quite satisfactorily. And so the problem before us in the mission is to keep everybody doing ¶

something and happy in the circumstances with which they are surrounded. ¶

We have twenty-three elders in the mission and eleven sisters, or thirty-four missionaries. When I first took charge of the mission we had nearly one hundred and forty. With twenty-six organized branches there is not an elder to every branch, so the branches have to get along without them, and the elders have to be scattered over the districts as widely as we can scatter them. Two elders cover the whole area of New Mexico, trying to minister to the spiritual needs of the people, to baptize the children that arrive at the age of eight years, to bless the children who are born, to administer to the sick, and bury the dead, as far as they reach them. ¶

In the western part of the state of Colorado, another great area, only two elders are laboring. The whole state of Wyoming, outside of the stakes, and the south part of South Dakota — that is the Black Hills section — and the extreme western part of Nebraska are covered by only two elders. In east Nebraska, in Council Bluffs and Lincoln, and that great section of the country, there are four elders and two sisters. In Denver — in the whole Denver district, which means the northwest quarter of Colorado — there are two elders and two sisters. So you may understand how inadequately we are equipped so far as the help of missionaries is concerned. But the people are happy, they are trying to serve the Lord, and locally the people are willing to go out and do missionary work, but their labors are confined to the radius of their own homes, they cannot go abroad. ¶

I rejoice that my brethren have seen fit to honor me and to trust me with further responsibility. Sister Woodruff and I will leave the Western States Mission reluctantly, but grateful for our privileges, and we hope to go into the Central States Mission and labor as nearly as we can with an eye single to the glory of God. If we can do that and discharge our duty and obligation the Lord will bless us, but if we think of ourselves we shall not succeed. ¶

I bear testimony to you that this is the work of God, and I know from my experience that if I can just keep in harmony with his Holy Spirit everything will go splendidly. When I do not do that it is difficult to carry on, for no man can do the work of God except he keeps himself clean and sweet and worthy of his blessings. My testimony is that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that it is the power of God unto salvation, that if we will humbly serve the Lord we need not fear, for we shall stand in safe places, no matter what happens. If this people could believe the word of God and would believe it as it is expressed by his servants, their troubles would end and we would be happy and singing as the days go by, for the Lord has promised, through his servants, that the wicked may be destroyed, but the righteous need not fear. ¶

May God help us to put our trust in him and serve him, I humbly ask, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶