California Mission Report

My brethren and sisters, last night I was visiting the home of one of my brothers, and in talking with him about the Church he said: "Not long ago the Bishop made certain proposals of things that he wished to do in the ward. I immediately stood up in that meeting and objected and made a tirade against what he was wanting to do. Apparently I made one convert, for as I took my seat another brother arose and began to berate the Bishop for his proposals, and as I listened to that brother I thought: 'What a'fool I have made of myself.' As soon as he had finished his talk against the Bishop's proposals I stood up again and said: 'Bishop, I am right back of you in anything you want to do'." ¶

I find that frequently we, as members of the Church, are not as loyal as we should be to the brethren who preside over us. It is an easy matter to criticise and find fault with what is being done, but I have learned, through my association with the brethren that they don't do things without considerable prayer and thought; and that when they are united, we can well afford to stand directly behind them and support them in every move they make. ¶

Not so very long ago, in California, a member of the high council came to me and began to complain and criticise because at the Exposition in San Diego we had placed young men and women, our missionaries, to meet the public who came from all parts of the world to visit that great Exposition. He said: "We should have more mature men to handle the crowds that gather there." For be it known that some fifteen hundred people a day have come to our little bureau at the San Diego Exposition, to hear the story that these young men and young ladies have to tell. I said to him, "I have every faith in our missionaries, young though they be, and I am sure that with our faith and prayers they will be able to do their job successfully." ¶

Just recently I visited the Fair, and in reading the diary of one of the missionaries I came to an entry that he had made which interested me and I asked permission to copy it because I thought it was really rich. This happened on September 7th. The diary was that of Elder ¶

James Shelby of Arizona, perhaps the youngest missionary we have in the California Mission. He said: ¶

September 7th. I entertained the Archbishop, W. H. Francis, and Victor James Hartman, of Bedford Village, New York, at the booth today. They came in to see the exhibit and said: "We visited your exhibit twice when in Chicago at the great Fair. It was the best exhibit there, and seeing it here on the grounds we just couldn't help coming and seeing it again. It is the best exhibit here, too. We are impressed by the zeal and enthusiasm of you young people who explain the exhibit to us. I certainly envy the wonderful program that the Mormon leaders have that holds young people so firmly rooted in the spiritual lines." I explained the model of the Tabernacle to him, and told him that we regarded it as quite an edifice, to be carved out of nothing but wood. To this the Archbishop remarked: "My boy, you carved that building out of wood, but you have carved an empire out of nothing but a wilderness." He also told me of a time when he was receiving applications for a position. One boy in particular, he said, interested him. He asked the boy if he smoked, drank liquor, cr drank tea, coffee, or any other stimulant. The boy answered in the negative. He asked the boy if he went to church, and he told him yes. He then told him that he was a Latter-day Saint. The Archbishop said he hired that boy out of a hundred and twenty-five applicants, because he stood up for his convictions and was not ashamed to stand by them. All in all he was one of the most remarkable and interesting men I have ever, had the privilege of talking with. ¶

The manager of the Standard Oil Company exhibit, just across the way from us, came over and remarked that he was surprised that such young people should be given the responsibility of putting over such an important message, and he was amazed to see how these boys and girls were standing up under such a strain, and convincing the outside people of the value of Mormonism and the teachings of the Mormon Church. ¶

So, my brethren and sisters, I feel that if we could have a little more sympathy from within perhaps we could do much more good. A lawyer came to my office not long ago. He said: "I had the grandest time of my life in Utah. I spent two hours yesterday on the Temple Block, a thrilling experience, listening to the guide as he told me of what had been accomplished. I came down to Los Angeles yesterday. As soon as I got here I remembered that in a warehouse I had a Book of Mormon that I had never looked at. I hunted it up and I was reading that book till 2:30 this morning." At 9:00 o'clock he was in my office telling me this. "What a marvelous church you have ! Why, no one can tell me that a man wrote the Book of Mormon. I have a great deal to do with detail, and there is too much detail in that book for any man to think of and write out and make it fit in so well. I want more literature." So we sold him more literature. ¶

Yet I have heard people complain about the Temple Block, that forsooth we were giving them too much religion here, just overdoing it a little bit. The people who come from the world are hungry. Thousands of them come here, and as they pass on, back into their homes, they are thrilled when these Mormon missionaries come to their doors, ¶

thrilled to hear their testimony, glad to take them in and feed them and help them. ¶

Brethren and sisters, let us be loyal to our Church, and to the men who lead us. Let us remember that our Heavenly Father is not very far from us, and his promise is very definite, for he tells us that "the obedient shall eat the good of the land." Let us therefore not feel to criticise, but feel to be obedient, that the blessings may come to our families, to our homes. That will come through obedience. ¶

God bless and keep us all in the line of our duty, loyal, constant and true to those who preside over us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶