Conference Address

I rejoice with you, brethren and sisters, in being here in attendance at this great Conference of our Church. I have found comfort in these words : ¶

If we work upon marble it will perish; If we work upon brass, time will efface it ; If we rear temples they will crumble into dust ; But if we work upon immortal souls, ¶

If we imbue them with principles, with a just fear of the Creator, ¶

a love of fellow men, We engrave on those tablets something which will brighten all eternity. ¶

This seems to me to be the ideal of our great missionary system, and for the past two and a half years it has been my privilege and pleasure to work as a missionary in Holland. It is a beautiful little country, just one-seventh the size of the State of Utah, and has a population sixteen times that which we have here. We have approximately three thousand members of the Church in Holland. All of our Branches are officered by capable, local people. Our Auxiliary boards are organized, and the work of our Heavenly Father is making good progress there. ¶

Lesson material was prepared for a year in advance. They are preparing now for their Spring Conferences, and from a letter which I received last week, I learn that during the month of March they baptized ten new converts into the Church. Their Fast offerings and tithes are showing a slight increase. I have no fear that the Gospel and the members of the Church will go forward together in the land of dikes and windmills. ¶

I shall never forget the words of President McKay as he set us apart for our Mission. He said : "President Murdock, your first concern is your missionaries." And how true that was ! ¶

I want to take this opportunity, my brethren and sisters, to thank you personally for the boys and girls you sent to the Dutch Mission. They are even better than the other Missions which we have heard from. (Laughter). To see those young men come from all walks of life, the farm, the mine, the factory, the banks, and the schools, inexperienced, not knowing one word of that foreign tongue ; to see them come into the Mission office for the first time, assign them, get acquainted with them, and after a short period of time, a month perhaps, go and attend a testimony meeting with them ; to sleep with them and pray with them, and Fast with them, and to see the development which they receive under the guidance of our Heavenly Father, was a marvel to me. It gave me a testimony of the truth and divinity of this work. Young men do not go seven thousand miles away from their loved ones ; they do not put up with every kind of sacrifice that is necessary to perform missionary labor ; they do not meet with all kinds of hardships, unless it is in God's work. ¶

I think the remarkable thing about our missionary system is that all of these boys and girls, coming together from all over the Church, meet together and learn to know and love one another and work as a great unit, preaching the Gospel. These young men travel all day and come to their journey's end at night and then climb into bed with a boy that they have never met before in their lives, and wake up in the morning and call each other brother, and are willing to endure all kinds of hardships. These things give me an assurance that this is God's work and not man's. ¶

I shall never forget one experience. One of our young men was taken to the hospital. It was necessary to operate upon him for appendicitis, and as the great surgeon was scrubbing his hands, making all preparations for the operation, he called me to one side and said: "President Murdock, what is there about these young men? I have never before in my life seen such clean blood, such clean flesh as you have here in this young man." And then, in a few ¶

minutes, my brethren and sisters, it was my rare privilege to present the principles of the Gospel to this great and famous surgeon. ¶

The last days of the closing of the Mission he came to my office and said : "There is something divine about Mormonism, and I am ready to investigate it because you have something that I have not found in any other group of people in all the world." ¶

To keep the young men and young women in our Church clean is the greatest work that we can be engaged in. That is the way we can brighten all eternity. ¶

I want to bear witness to the great and wonderful work that was done by our beloved President Grant in his visit with us ; to the great leadership of President and Sister Richard R. Lyman ; and in the crisis which overtook us last fall, in the guiding hands of Apostle and Sister Joseph Fielding Smith. To have these leaders in our Mission was a great stimulation to the work. I shall never forget the closing scenes of our missionary life. As our boat was sailing away, those humble people gathered on the shore and sang in unison : ¶

We thank Thee for sending the Gospel To lighten our minds with its rays. ¶

And with tear-stained faces as they left the shore and our boat went down the harbor, I could hear the strains of ¶

Come, come, ye Saints, No toil nor labor fear, But with joy wend your way. ¶

That great and brave people, the Dutch people, are a wonderful people, and they will carry on ; I have no doubt of that. ¶

Coming back home, I realize more than ever before the value of this great land and the Gospel which we have accepted, and as my closing thought let me leave this with you : ¶

To appreciate our heritage, The will and power to make our destiny, To seek, to choose, to cherish, and to work, The right to worship how and where we please, ¶

God gave that. Let us not shirk the task, the joy Of carrying on this creed To those whose strength Must serve tomorrow's need. ¶

That we may always be missionaries wherever we are, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶