Conference Address

My beloved brothers and sisters, I am sure that I feel, as do you on this occasion, gratitude and joy and thanksgiving in our hearts ¶

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CONFERENCE FELT AFAR OFF ¶

Somehow or other I feel that perhaps I am not mistaken in the thought that President Grant has been here with us. You know this world and its influences move on, and some marvelous things are coming constantly. Even today we have had a message from him, and his spirit and influence have been with us. When we gather together such a great concourse of people, such a marvelous gathering of the Priesthood as was here last night, that power, that influence, that strength and might which emanate from each individual spirit are felt by other individuals, and I feel confident President Grant "will have received this spirit and this influence, together with love, hope, faith, and strength from us. Therefore, he has been blessed and we have been blessed in receiving from him his blessedness, his tenderness, love, and felicitations. ¶

I thank God for His peaceful, sweet influence which has permeated this Conference and that all of us have been filled with the testimony of Jesus Christ, and the knowledge that God is our Father.- ¶

STAKE MISSIONARY WORK ¶

As I come to these Conferences lately I have only one thing on ¶

Third Dag ¶

my mind that I should like above everything else to mention, and that is the work which is being done by the two thousand missionaries in your midst in the Stakes of Zion. I thank you sincerely for your help and I would like you to know that during the year 1939, two thousand two hundred and twenty souls have been added to this Church through the missionary labors of those in the Stakes of Zion of this Church, and that four thousand souls have been gathered into the fold who had become somewhat indifferent and inactive. Those six thousand people engaging in activity in this Church — and they are about half the size of this audience — will add mighty strength and tremendous force to the work of God going on here on the earth today. ¶

' I sincerely trust that the early days of this missionary work, recently inaugurated, are over, and that our fine and splendid Bishops — God bless them for the help they have given — won't give us Tom, Dick, or Harry, whom they never have been able to get to do anything, and so they suggest them to the President of the Stake because if he can do anything with them in the missionary field the Bishops would like to see it done. ¶

THE TYPE OF MISSIONARIES NEEDED AT HOME ¶

God, our Heavenly Father, chose to give to you and to me the choicest soul He had — His Only Begotten- — to lead the great missionary work of the earth and be the pattern for us to follow. These men and women, our stake missionaries, are meeting up and down the highways and the byways of our own cities and towns the finer people, the better class, those who need and seek instruction, and we need that better type of missionary; not only one who is trained, but one who is willing and desires to go forth and do that which God would have him do. I am sure that our work will be made much plainer and much more happiness will result if we are given that kind of missionary. ¶

THE WORD OF THE LORD ¶

I want to read to you something that I have copied, and then ¶

close : • ¶

No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned ; * * * ¶

Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the Priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven. ¶

I am sure that we have received great blessings, great joys, and great happiness in this Conference, and I know that when we thank God for what we possess and what we are, we can do it with a better understanding and a fuller meaning, so that God Himself will know ¶

that we do those things which we have been taught and trained to do, which have been revealed by Him. May He give to us grace, peace, courage, and above everything else a desire to do that which is right, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶