Conference Address

My brothers and sisters, may I be excused if I am not able to express my thoughts in the way I really would like. I am very humble, standing before this vast congregation, and I pray that my Heavenly Father will be able to help me. You who have been on foreign missions know what it is to speak in a foreign tongue. I have addressed a congregation in English only a couple of times before and I hope that I may be able to express myself in a pleasing manner unto you. ¶

I bring greetings from Denmark, from President Alma L. Petersen, the missionaries and the saints. I want to tell you that as far as I am able to determine I do not think there is a better or more loyal people to the Church than are the Danish saints. They pray for the General Authorities every day, morning and night, and they are very loyal to them. You know we were separated for about four years, and the saints managed, directed their affairs in a marvelous way, but still we were very happy to receive President Ezra Taft Benson of the European Mission and his secretary, Elder Frederick Babbel, in February last year. You can imagine our happiness and our joy to receive those two servants of the Lord and they made a wonderful impression upon the saints of Denmark. We had a very fine opportunity to have them speak in several branches of the Danish Mission, and wherever they went they made our saints happy and glad, and we even had the opportunity of an interview over the radio with President Benson, so that most of the Danish people heard this man of God. ¶

I am very grateful to be here today. This is my first visit to America and you do not know what it means to be here. We who have embraced the gospel in far-off lands have always been looking forward to the day we could arrive in Zion and this has been my privilege and my family's privilege. I want to tell you that we feel right at home and we shall never forget the welcome which we have received, and to be here in this Tabernacle is an experience which I cannot express in words. ¶

I am very, very grateful that I had the opportunity to come here, and my only desire is to go forward and serve the Lord and be a better man from day to day. We all have our shortcomings, our faults, but I know if we try to live up to the standards of the Church we will be blessed so that we will be able to do the things which the Lord requires of us. You cannot understand how I feel to be in this historic building, of which I have heard so much, to be on this stand and looking into the faces of this vast congregation and into the faces of the General Authorities of the Church. I do know that they are men of God and I hope I shall always hold them in high esteem as such. I hope that they will visit frequently the missions in Europe. You do not know what it means to the people there to have one of the General Authorities visit them. People talk about it for days before the brethren arrive; they look forward to their coming with interest and with a desire to learn more from these men of God. ¶

I am very happy to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I do know that this is the work of God and I hope and pray that we all may be faithful unto the end. The Lord has said that those who are faithful to the end will be saved in the Kingdom of God. ¶

May the Lord bless this marvelous Church, this great Church. May President George Albert Smith and his counselors, the Quorum of the Twelve, the Seventies and all who have responsible positions be blessed of him is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶