Swiss and German Mission Report

My dear brethren and sisters, only once before in my life have I beheld such a sight as I see today. I shall never forget it. I pray for ¶

your indulgence and the Spirit of the Lord to guide the few remarks that I may make today, that they may be worthy of the cause that we represent and of this great occasion. ¶

In returning from presiding over the Swiss and German Mission, having been home some three months now, I wish to bring to you the greetings of the missionaries and the saints of the Swiss and German Mission. Of the missionaries I may say that I don't think there has ever been a finer lot of young men sent out into the world at any time than the missionaries who have labored with us in that mission. ¶

I also wish to commend the fidelity and the faithfulness of those good saints who make up the Swiss and German Mission. They are surely an example to us, and I have received from them and their influence a great deal of benefit, for I have seen things there which I never beheld before. I have seen how the Gospel has taken hold of them, and the living of the Gospel has brought unto them the greatest of blessings. ¶

Yes, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power unto salvation to those who obey it and live it, and there we see those faithful saints trying with all their might to live it, and the blessings of God are showered upon them. Peace and joy and happiness are in their homes and their hearts, and they appreciate the Gospel. I wish that we also would appreciate its blessings as those saints do who are in that far-off land. ¶

There was, while we were there, what is known as a revolution, inasmuch as the government changed from a democracy to a dictatorship. We had expected perhaps to be curtailed in our rights or in our privileges, I may say, but until now we have been free to preach the Gospel. We have preached repentance and baptized people. What the future will bring of course we do not know. ¶

Brother Ballard has mentioned the religious contention over there. This perhaps is somewhat misunderstood by us here; perhaps taken much more seriously than it really is. This idea of a pagan religion, as fostered by Dr. Rosenberg, who has a following of perhaps two hundred and fifty or three hundred thousand out of sixty-five million people is of small consequence, although we can see from all this contention that the people are not satisfied with the religion which they have and are looking for something different. ¶

In the western part of Germany, which is mostly Catholic, I noticed this summer there has been a new movement started, namely, the people want a Rome-free church, devoid of pagan ceremony and rituals. They want to come back again to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the things which influence men and help them to become better and make life better for others. ¶

I wish also to relate a visit that I made to a world-known establishment there, which is called Bethel. It is located near the city of Bielefeld, and was started nearly a hundred years ago by a pastor by the name of Dr. Bodelschwink. It is an entirely benevolent institution, and is built for the purpose of taking care of epileptic patients. The day we were ¶

there, there were over five thousand patients in that institution, and I saw the most pitiable sights I have ever seen in my life. After going through the institution we talked to the guide and he told us that in every case they make a thorough study of the ancestry of the patient, to try to determine what is the cause of that condition in the patient. He said they have determined that sixty-five per cent of those unfortunates have been brought to that condition through drunkenness of the parents and grandparents; twenty-five per cent from sexual diseases; ten per cent they were unable to determine. ¶

Sometimes when I hear Latter-day Saints say: "I wish they would not talk any more about the Word of Wisdom," I say, let us cry out the Word of Wisdom to the four ends of the world, that the people may know what God says about this thing. When I looked at those thousands of unfortunates there, I felt shocked when I realized that the responsibility for their condition rested upon some one else, that their parents through drunkenness were responsible and that the suffering could have been avoided had those parents and grandparents been properly taught from their youth up. ¶

We as a church stand out in the world today as teaching the great principle, that a clean life is the one thing that will bring happiness and joy to us and to our posterity. We don't know how far-reaching this is; we don't know how many are affected by our living clean, upright, honorable lives. ¶

When I listened yesterday to Elder Hinckley giving us a eulogy on these men who are sitting here upon this stand, I thought how blessed are we to have such men as our leaders, — men experienced in almost every walk of life, who can give unto us counsel and advice, who can look ahead and show unto us the way which we should go, who can see the pitfalls ahead of us and warn us of the dangers. How thankful we should be for such leaders, and we should go home and put into practice the counsels that they give us, and by doing so we would all be blessed. ¶

Many times I have said if the Latter-day Saints were to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ they would be the greatest power in the world today. Men would come here from every corner of the world to see the accomplishments and the lives of these people. The reason why this prophecy which was read to us this morning — that men should come up to the mountain of the Lord to learn of the Lord's ways — has not been fulfilled is because we, as a people, are not living the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we should. We have a power in our hands, but as yet we haven't made use of it. ¶

A professor in one of the largest universities in Germany called upon me just a few days before I left for home. He had been here in Salt Lake City for six months, studying the economic side of Mormonism, and he said: "You people have got the greatest thing in all the world, but you don't know how to use it." ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, let us go home from this conference and disseminate the spirit of this conference among our neighbors and ¶

friends, using our influence wherever possible to build up, to raise up, and to induce our brethren and sisters to live the Gospel. By doing so we shall make a better state, a better community, and a nicer place in the world to live. ¶

May God bless you all. May the spirit of this conference emanate from here to every corner of the Church, that its influence may also be made manifest with those who are not present here, I ask in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶