Report of the North Central States Mission

My brethren and sisters : If we are to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling," I made considerable progress six months ago when I sat here through six long meetings fearing and waiting for this opportunity and then did not get it. ¶

I value above all else in the world my membership in this Church. I take it that it is not expected, nor is it my privilege to preach the Gospel to the Saints at home; my appointment is to those abroad in the world. ¶

We have a fine group of men and women, your sons and daughters — eighty-two in number at present — laboring in the North Central States Mission. They are all well, they are all happy in their labors and rejoicing in the privilege that is theirs to be representatives of this great Church. ¶

As Pasteur seems to have proven definitely that "only life can produce life," I am becoming quite convinced during a period of less than two years of presiding in our mission that only effective Church training can produce effective missionaries. We have missionaries of all grades of scholastic training, but neither scholarship nor technical theological knowledge makes successful missionaries ; but almost without exception, he or she who has come up through the training of the organizations of our Church, and from homes wherein is found a testimony of the Gospel in which our youths and maidens have imbibed the spirit of the Gospel, these are ready to enter immediately into active service when they arrive in the mission field, regardless of their intellectual training. In saying this I am not unmindful of the fact that "the glory of God is intelligence" and that "a man is saved no faster than he gains knowledge," yet learning has to be made over into wisdom and we have to make ourselves sensitive to the power of the Lord. As the humble fishermen in the days of Christ proved superior to the trained Rabbi, so our missionaries, male and female, who are "born again," in spite of their lack of worldly knowledge prove to be strong expounders of the restored Gospel. These touch the hearts of men great and small as measured by the world. These touch the heart and demonstrate the scriptural truth that "No one can say that Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Ghost." ¶

I find definite and constant evidence in the mission field that those who have not been trained in our homes and in our organizations, that it takes these almost as long as though they were in a foreign field having to master a foreign language, to become real ambassadors of the truth. Unless we are "born again," and I take it that when Christ said this to Nicodemus he meant just what we find with our young men and women in the mission field, not a mere immersion in water, but a real new birth of the Spirit of this great cause of which he is the founder. Until our men and maidens are born again they are almost worthless as missionaries. And yet, the greatest miracle in the Church, as I view it, is to be seen in the growth and development of each one when he finds himself under the inspiration of his divine calling and appointment. Nothing now seems to hinder him from becoming a great and worthy representative of the Church. ¶

There is no question in my mind but that any of our youths can make good in the mission field if they have come from homes of Latter-day Saints who are keeping the commandments of God and have had the proper training in the Church organizations. Solomon did not say, "Teach a child in the way he should go," but he said "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." The training is by far greater than is the intellectual attainment that we get from mere teaching. The fishermen of old, those whom Christ selected from the shores of Galilee, were not scholarly men, but under the spirit and power of the inspiration of Almighty God they were unequaled in solving the problems of life in their day, and it is similar today. Knowledge, a great fund of information, is valuable, the more we have the better, provided we have that inspiration which comes only from a divine source; for "knowledge is power" when applied, but it cannot be applied in the mission field effectively except when used under the spirit of a testimony of the Gospel of Christ. ¶

We are often responsible for the non-conversion of those among whom we labor because we have not learned "that the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness." ¶

I rejoice in the privilege that is given me and my family and to those who are laboring joyously with us in speaking for this Church. I know it to be the Church of God as I know that I live. I will go to the ends of the earth any time, anywhere under this inspired leadership which is ours, no matter where the call may be. I know that God lives, I know that Jesus is the Christ, I know that Joseph Smith is his prophet and that he was the medium in the hands of God in restoring the everlasting Gospel. I know full well that every man who has succeeded him as President of the Church to the present time is a prophet of God. Only those who are not in tune with the spirit of this Gospel stand in criticism of the leadership that is ours today. ¶

God bless us. God give us power that we may fill our responsibilities to his name's honor and glory and for our own blessing and benefit. I have learned that every commandment of God, every injunction is for my benefit and blessing. I see even in the commandment to Adam and Eve when cast from the garden of Eden and the "earth was cursed for man's sake," that this "cursing" was in reality a great blessing. It was a privilege to work. If we do not sweat with work we shall sweat with disease. This was not a cursing of the earth for the cursing's sake, but that man should be compelled to work that he might be permitted to develop in service, that we might grow through achievement. ¶

God grant that we may see our opportunities in this great Church and lend our entire support to it, I pray through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶