Conference Address

I feel very appreciative, my brethren and sisters, of the blessing that has come to me, but knowing myself as I do, I feel incapable and unworthy of this blessing. ¶

I have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. From my youth up I have been taught concerning the Gospel, and while I didn't understand the full import of the Gospel message when I was young, because of the teachings of my father and mother I was able to hold to the Church and gradually find out for myself about the divine work in which we are engaged at the present time. ¶

May I say this, too: I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father that he gave me such a good mother and such a good wife. Sometimes I think that we men think that we have accomplished great things because of ourselves, but I can bear testimony that the good things that I may have in my life, and the good things that I may have done, have been helped and encouraged by my mother and by my wife. Surely we are all grateful when we are thus blessed and helped in our work. ¶

My father has been dead for a number of years, and President Grant has been a father to me. He has been concerned in my life and my doings and has made it possible for me to do many things that perhaps I would not have been able to do had it not been for his encouragement and blessing. I am grateful to these men and women who have helped me. ¶

I have been very fortunate in my associations in a church way, because since my youth I have known the presidents of the Church, the apostles, and the other leaders of the Church ; and they have at all times been an inspiration and a blessing to me. The work I have been called to do in recent years, first as the field man for the Mutual Improvement Associations, then in the mission field, and later in the Missionary Home, has brought to me happiness and contentment of life, and a desire to be of service to God. I can think of nothing finer or better than to come in contact with the lives of young people, and to be a part ¶

of their life in finding out God and gaining a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

I love these my brethren and you, my brethren and sisters. I trust that God will bless me, that I may so act that I may have your confidence, your love and your blessing, that in my weakness I may be able to do some good in this the church of God. I pray for these blessings in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶