Conference Address

I am grateful indeed for this opportunity to stand before you, coming so soon after my release from the Eastern States Mission. Sister Doxey and I have been here only one week. ¶

Words cannot express the gratitude of our hearts for this wonderful privilege we have enjoyed of serving in a mission of the Church. There have been many things in our lives through which blessings have been received but of all things we feel this has been the greatest blessing that has come into our lives. ¶

The missionary field is a great experience. In the mission field there is power, and there is happiness and joy in the lives of the missionaries and the membership of the Church. I should like to bring to you now the greetings of the over one hundred and sixty missionaries in that mission and also the membership of the Eastern States Mission. They are doing a very, very fine work and the Lord is blessing their efforts. ¶

Of the many experiences which come into a missionary's life, he finds his relationship to his Father in heaven, and it has been our joy to see in the lives of the missionaries the strength which comes through diligence, through prayer and through activity in this great work. ¶

The Lord blesses the missionaries in many, many ways. I am sure that their lives are greatly enriched, and when they come home they have found great happiness here in seeing the membership of the Church in Zion faithful and true. ¶

I am thinking now of the many experiences which have come to many of these missionaries as they have participated actively in the work of the Lord. I recall the power and influence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of converts to this Church as they have been brought into the faith through the efforts of these young men and women. The happiness and joy that may come to them is so great that tears have been shed on many occasions by converts in expressing their happiness in the fact that they have been found by the missionaries, and their souls have been touched by the Holy Spirit. ¶

Many expressions of joy and happiness are found in the mission field by the membership, the converts to the Church. I recall that not many months ago there came into my office a man who has served as an evangelist. He was free-lancing through this country and had spent considerable time in proselyting a message which he felt was most important. He had come into possession of a Book of Mormon and in reading it the Spirit of God had touched his soul. It had touched his soul so strongly that he had come to the conclusion that he must find more copies of the Book of Mormon to distribute to his friends in his proselyting work. Tears of joy came into his eyes as there was unfolded to him the great possibilities for increasing faith in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, through the instrumentality of this sacred record. It was his statement and belief that through the Book of Mormon there could come greater faith in the lives of people than through the other great book of scripture known as the Holy Bible. In this, of course, I concurred because of the promise which has been made manifest in the life of this man when he prayed to receive a testimony of its truthfulness. ¶

And I recall also the experience of a retired Methodist minister, who. upon hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by humble missionaries received a rejuvenation of faith, of health even, in the message which had come to him. It came into' his consciousness that God had truly spoken from the heavens, revealed anew divine truths which would make men and women happy and bring to them the assurance, the comfort, the strength, which can come only through the power of the Holy Ghost. And then this man's great joy and happiness in becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and testifying to his many friends and former parishioners of the happiness and the worth which might be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been proclaimed and is being proclaimed today in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. ¶

I rejoice with you, my brothers and sisters, in the strength which is found in this Church, in the power which is present in the stakes, in the missions of this great organization. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that this work is of God. Truly he has spoken from the heavens and committed divine authority to his people here upon the earth, and we who have this power may go forth in the majesty of our calling to proclaim these great truths to the world, give to them the happiness and joy which is available through the gospel message. ¶

I should like to say, my brethren and sisters, that I owe a great debt of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the things which have come into my life as a result of this missionary service, and I feel grateful indeed to his servants here upon the earth. I believe that you and I will be the most happy people upon the earth if we can get into our consciousness the fact that there is no safety in this life except through following the counsel of those men who constitute the General Authorities of the Church. ¶

It has been my blessing and privilege to indoctrinate this into the hearts of the missionaries of the Eastern States and I hope the membership of that mission, and in this there has been a great privilege, for it is my conviction that there is only stability in life, both temporal and spiritual, by following the counsel of those men who have the divine authority to speak in the name of God. ¶

I pray the Lord's blessings to be with each one of us, that we shall remain true and faithful to the covenants which we have made with our Father in heaven, that we shall always recognize the blessings which may come to us by true faith and devotion to this great cause. ¶

I bear testimony to the truthfulness of this work, knowing full well that God lives, that Jesus is indeed the Savior and Redeemer of the world, that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and that his successors in like manner, with President George Albert Smith, and I leave this testimony with you, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶