The Saints of Norway

I have had a great many surprises in my life, but this tops them all. I do not remember having been so greatly surprised before in my life. ¶

I left Norway in October, in 1939, and this is the first time I have had the privilege of giving a report, and I do not know that I could give very much of an honest report now. Things have changed so much since I left over there, and yet my heart goes back to those fine people. I do not know where we will find better people in all the world than we have in Norway, and I am wondering now how those people are getting along. ¶

Missionaries Leaving Norway ¶

During my stay there, from 1936 to 1939, it seemed as though the time had come when it was necessary to evacuate the missionaries, and we were making preparations. We were informing the Saints at that time that they must be prepared to take over the work, as the missionaries would probably be called away. They could not realize such a thing, they could not understand it; it seemed foreign to them. ¶

When the day came that the missionaries were evacuated, and it seemed as though the Saints were left alone, their hearts were sad. I see, as I saw on the day that we left Norway, those poor Saints, several hundred of them standing on the pier. Their hearts were broken, their faces were sad, tears were running down their faces, and they said: "Now the missionaries are leaving us, the only hope and the only strength that we had." And so I feel sorry for those people, but I am sure that our Heavenly Father will be mindful of them, many of whom gave practically all they had for the Gospel. They did so much in research work, finding their ancestors and sending their names over to have the work done for them, and many times they went without food, some of them, in order to do this vicarious work, or to have those names sent over so this work could be done. ¶

So I say, I am grateful that I labored among those people. I am grateful that I have had the privilege of spending ten years of my life preaching the everlasting Gospel in that land, where so many of God's children are gathered. They are of Israel who are living in that peace-loving country, and I hope the day will come when they will again be liberated and have the privilege of worshiping the God whom they love, and according to the dictates of their own conscience. ¶

Interested in Youth of the Church ¶

I love the Gospel. I am interested in the young people of this Church, and I hope that those who are presiding in the wards are mindful of the great responsibilities resting upon them as fathers in the Church. I was sorry when I visited one little ward in one of the stakes of Zion shortly after I came home. I went there and saw a great number of children playing outside. I was intending to visit their Sunday School that morning, and a little girl came up and said: "There will be no Sunday School this morning." The bishop had left word that there would be no Sunday School because he and his counselors had gone out to bring in the flocks. They had gone pheasant hunting. So those children were left alone without the necessary guidance of those appointed to give them spiritual food. So I say, you who are called to labor as fathers in Israel, see to it that you do not neglect the people of this Church. I am greatly interested in them. ¶

While I was in Norway about one hundred young men, the finest people in the Church, were sent to labor under my direction, and most of them now are in the armed forces of the United States. God bless them. God bless the parents of those good boys, for they have sacrificed for them. My testimony is that there is not anything in the world that will equal this Church, or that will give you greater satisfaction in all the world than to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ, giving your time, your talents and all that you have for the Church. ¶

May God bless us and help us that we may realize our position in this Church, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶