Conference Address

I think I now realize, my brethren and sisters, what Bishop Isaacson meant when he said at our last conference that only those who hear their names called out in this great audience know the shock that one receives. I have felt that shock and it has not left me. ¶

As I stand here in this holy spot and look over this great audience, I feel very humble indeed. All my life I have looked upon this spot as the most sacred spot in all the world, because I do not think there is another place in all the world where so many of God's anointed have stood before so many of his children and taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ. With this thought in mind, I am very humble at this time in reporting my mission to the Tongan Islands. ¶

Sister Huntsman and I will always be grateful to our Heavenly Father and to the brethren who preside over his Church, for the confidence and trust they placed in us in permitting us to go into the faraway land of Tonga to take charge of our Heavenly Father's work in that mission. ¶

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to return to that land, where I spent my first mission, and again take up my labors with those fine Tongan people who are members of God's chosen race. Only those who have had the opportunity of laboring with the Polynesian race know the love and the confidence and the faith those wonderful people have. ¶

The work of our Heavenly Father in the Tongan Mission is alive and growing, and they are enjoying the Spirit of our Heavenly Father in that mission. I know that at times when we speak of the people of the Islands of the Pacific, we sometimes think of them as cannibals, head hunters, people going around through the bush naked, but that is not the case. The Tongan Mission is one of the isolated missions of the Church. It is far away from the so-called civilization of the world, but under that condition the membership in the Tongan Mission has grown to some twenty-seven hundred members of the Church, who are very faithful in performing their duties and preaching the gospel. ¶

Our mode of living changes when we go into the far-away lands of the islands of the sea. We have a new life to live and a new language to learn, we have new living conditions, we have new food, we have new methods of transportation. Everything is new, but Sister Huntsman and I enjoyed very much our labors among the Tongan race. ¶

One of our great difficulties in the Tongan Mission is transportation, as we have to go from island to island on the small boats which are provided in those islands, either a small sailing vessel or a motor launch. I, myself, not being a good sailor, did not enjoy too much some of the trips we had to take, from island to island, to visit our branches and our districts, but we were always well paid when we arrived at our destination and found how happy our native saints were to meet us and greet us, as we came to their shores. ¶

I did receive a lot of consolation from a blessing that I received from President Smith when he set us apart to our mission. He said: "Brother Huntsman, I promise you that you will never become any more seasick than is necessary." ¶

I took that blessing out, or a copy of it, every time I went from one island to another and I read that blessing. I took a lot of consolation from it. ¶

Two great contributions or blessings came to the Tongan Mission while we were there. One of them, of course, is our mission school. Our greatest missionary in the Tongan Mission is our mission school, and when I arrived in the mission field our old mission school was rather out-dated. It was built many, many years ago for a small group of students. We were in a crowded condition. The government knew that we were. The Commissioner of Education had condemned our school, put it at the bottom of the list, and I did not blame him very much, my brethren and sisters. I do not want to say anything about the fine work that was accomplished at our own college, but the school was not a credit to the Church. ¶

I reported this to the First Presidency. They instructed me to purchase a new plantation on which they would build a school. And they have made sufficient appropriations now to erect one of the finest schools in the South Sea Islands. Much of the material had arrived before we left, and this school is now under construction, and, when completed, will be a credit to the Church, and will be the means of breaking down a lot of the opposition that we have to meet in that mission. ¶

That is a fine contribution and the saints of the Tongan Mission appreciate very much this wonderful gift from the First Presidency and the brethren who preside in the Church. ¶

Another great contribution was when the brethren saw fit to send Brother Matthew Cowley, President Cowley, as the mission president of the South Pacific Mission. ¶

In 1921 President McKay visited the Tongan Mission, I think it was 1921 or 1922, and in 1938, President Smith visited the mission. These are the only two of the General Authorities of the Church who had visited the Tongan Mission until 1947, when President Cowley came to visit our mission. ¶

In 1948 he came the second time to visit our mission, at that time accompanied by his wife, who, I understand, is the first one of the General Authorities' wives to have crossed the equator, and I know she is the first one of the General Authorities' wives to visit the Tongan Mission. No one, my brethren and sisters, will know the love and the confidence and the respect that Brother and Sister Cowley have for the Polynesian race until you see them down there among those people, blessing them and teaching them the gospel, and visiting among them. ¶

We appreciate, and the saints of the Tongan Mission appreciate very much the opportunity they now have of at least having a visit from one of the General Authorities once a year. It is a great blessing to them. ¶

Brother Cowley comes to our mission and with his splendid knowledge of the Maori language — he has picked up a little Samoan, a little Tongan, a little Tahitian, and he comes there with a language all of his own now, and he can preach the gospel to our people. I do not know what it will be when he adds to that some of the Japanese and some of the Chinese that he is able to gather here and them ¶

My brothers and sisters, I bear my testimony that I know the gospel is true. I have heard the name of the Prophet Joseph Stmith mentioned for good and evil in that part of the world, on my first mission and on my second mission. I know that these brethren who preside over the Lord's Church are men who have been ordained to preside over his Church. I bear you my testimony. I feel as President George F. Richards once said, I believe many years ago from this stand, that we are a well-taught people insomuch so that if we would only do as well as we know how, our salvation and our exaltation would be secure. ¶

May we so live and conduct our lives, my brethren and sisters, that our exaltation will be secure, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶