California Mission Report

I am conscious of what is known as the "dizzy heights." I am humbled by the great responsibility that rests upon one who is called to address the Saints of the Lord, but I am grateful to bring to you a report of the California Mission, and to bring to you the greetings of the missionaries and nine thousand fine Saints in that mission. I am happy to bring you word that the call of our Prophet at the last Conference, that "the presiding officers of the Church shall be keepers of the law," has been carried out in the California mission, with the result that there has been a revival, if we may call it that, in the faith of the people. ¶

I am happy to bring to you the greetings of the missionaries, these fine young men and young women who have been sent into the field, who, with enthusiasm and earnestness, are carrying forward the work of the Lord, with the result that during the past year four hundred and twentyfive baptisms are recorded in our mission. ¶

We have fifty-one branches out there, twenty-six of them housed in their own chapels. We have organized in the mission six districts, operating as "junior stakes," and we place the responsibility of governing, developing, and building up these sections and branches on the shoulders of local brethren. We are happy to say to you that they have appreciated it and are doing a splendid work. ¶

Ten Priesthood quorums have been organized, which have given Priesthood activity to men who for years have read of Priesthood work but have had no part in it. A splendid work is being accomplished. ¶

The highlight of our mission during the past six months has been the recent visit of Elder Joseph Fielding Smith of the Council of the Twelve. He visited all parts of the mission and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people. Our people appreciated it and were thrilled at hearing the good old-fashioned Gospel preached and they were greatly instructed by Elder Smith. They will long remember his visit to the mission. ¶

I am grateful for the opportunity that has come to us to labor in this great missionary work, for, as the Prophet has said, "after all has been said, our greatest work is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ." So I am thrilled for the opportunity of laboring with these fine missionaries, young men and women who have been sent there to preach the Gospel. I am reminded of what a state official said to me recently in Sacramento : ¶

"I do not know much about your Mormon theology or what you teach, but I think you are doing one of the greatest works among the youth of America today." ¶

I asked him to explain, and he said : "It is in these young men you send on missions who go about the world. If I had a son I would want him to go on a mission for the Mormon Church." ¶

I thought that was a real tribute. He had seen and witnessed the growth and improvement that comes to these young men and young women who labor in the mission field. ¶

So, to you parents, I want to say that nothing in the world that you can do for your sons and daughters will ever measure up to the experiences, or the growth and development that will come to them, nor the possibilities for future success, as for the time they spend in the mission field. So I hope that you will regard a mission for your sons and daughters as one of the obligations that the Lord has placed upon you ; to see that they have opportunity to engage in this service that will carry them far in their lives. ¶

I am grateful to report to you the fine work of the Saints in the California Mission, and to bring you the message, you Bishops of wards, that a little branch in California whose obedience to the law of tithing during the past year gave them a $30 per capita record; and another little branch in Arizona where every member who earned during the year paid tithing ; a branch that is 100 % in keeping of that law. ¶

We have more than ten branches in the California Mission that paid tithing per capita above $14. I have labored in the stakes, and I know what it is to try to get some of our people to obey this law. We sing, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet," and "Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice," and when we hear these voices we pay little heed to them. It seems to be the spirit of people to revere the old prophets and to slay the living ones. I want to bear testimony to you that we are guided by prophets of God today, and that the work of this Church and its leadership is in the hands of men inspired of our Father in heaven, and the Latter-day Saint who listens and obeys counsel will always find his footsteps in the paths of righteousness. ¶

I bear testimony to you that this is the work of the Lord, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I bear testimony to you that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of the Lord, that we as a people should be more concerned and more familiar with the truths that are contained in these sacred records. God bless us to be a people that shall be an example to the world, that our good works may lead other good men and women throughout the world to a knowledge of the truth. I want to say to you, in harmony with what I said about our being led by prophets of God, that this recent new work that has been inaugurated in the Church — our great welfare program — -is the key that opens more doors in the mission field today than anything else. Men everywhere are interested in knowing what the Mormon Church is doing for its people, and not alone that they are being cared for, but that the Church is requiring every man to be a worker and not an idler. Intelligent men of the world are concerned with the fact that this Church requires labor from those who shall receive its gratuities. ¶

God bless us to be what we ought to be, I pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶