Report of the Australian Mission

My dear brethren, this is quite an experience. When President McKay announced my name and called me to the pulpit, I was sitting on the bottom of the baptismal font. I have been called, in the past, to various positions, but being called immediately from the baptismal font is my most unusual experience. ¶

This, Brethren, is an opportunity and a privilege, yet, it is difficult for me and I do ask for your faith and prayers. ¶

I humbly pray that you will cooperate with me tonight as I give my report. ¶

About three years ago, Sister Christensen and I were called and set apart to preside over the Australian Mission. ¶

Sister Christensen, because of illness, had to return home about five months later. I shall never forget the decision we made when President Smith sent a cable to us, after knowing her condition, and said in the cable: "Bring her Home." In the last sentence he wrote, "Use your best judgment, you and Sister Christensen. If she can come home alone, you may stay there." Sister Christensen would have nothing else but that she go home alone, and that I should stay, and I was very willing if she felt she could go home alone. ¶

So, I stayed for the rest of my mission and until I was called home a few months ago I was there and she was home. Although I needed her badly yet I appreciate what she did, through her inspiring letters and her influence otherwise, in helping the Australian Mission. Under the conditions no one could have done more to inspire me. ¶

That sickness experience was a very impressive experience to us, — to witness the faith, the prayers and the hopes of those good saints in Australia in her behalf. I have never seen the like, brethren, and I honor them and respect them for their kindness and their pleading to our Father in Heaven for her welfare. ¶

The Lord has prolonged her life, she is getting better, and we are very grateful. ¶

In our meeting in the temple yesterday with the mission presidents, I was deeply impressed with the vastness of this work. ¶

This is certainly a universal Church. ¶

Indeed it has to do with the salvation and redemption of all the souls of men throughout the duration of the earth — past, present and future. ¶

Then this morning as I listened to President McKay, and to Brother Anderson give their reports, how marvelous, I could not help but think of the words given in 1869 at this pulpit by Secretary of State Seward of the United States Government, who, when he was here on a trip to celebrate the joining of the railways at Promontory Point, made this statement: ¶

"I pray God that the great marvel which I witness here," (and by the way, he had been here a few days, and knew something of our history and our purpose, he knew something of the faith of our people and their program,) and so he said, "I pray that the great marvel which I witness here may result in establishing a good civilization in the heart of the American continent, and be a sign, a token, and an assurance to mankind in every nation of the earth that it cannot fail if it be prosecuted by industry and virtue in advancing the welfare of the whole human race." ¶

If Secretary Seward could be here today, could have heard these reports, their far-reaching and saving effects upon the human family, to listen to the report on welfare, I am sure he would understand that his broad statement then given was rather confining in the light of what is being accomplished by the Church today. ¶

I have had the joy brethren, as other mission presidents, of living close to the people in the mission, in administering to the sick, advising and counseling the brethren and sisters, talking with the investigators, listening to their prayers and praying with them; attending testimony meetings; witnessing baptismals; and then that great work of associating with the missionaries, your boys and your girls. ¶

It is marvelous how the spirit of the Lord, after the authority has been given and the assignment made by the servants of God to a boy or a girl to proclaim the truth, how it modifies, lifts and inspires, how effective they become, how manly, dignified and gloriously impressive in their labors. ¶

I should like to say this however, brethren, that you at home, you parents, have a great deal to do with the success of a mission. Here are a few statements made by some of our missionaries. ¶

One, for instance: "My sister is being married in the temple, president, and I am so happy." ¶

Another: "My father is now keeping the Word of Wisdom." ¶

Another: "I never knew my father, really, until I began to write letters and received letters from him in the mission field. My parents have never been so happy. My father and mother are preparing to enter the temple with me when I return. My mother is now a teacher in the Relief Society." ¶

I can discern from the missionaries, brethren, whether or not the parents are living as the missionaries teach. ¶

Possibly the greatest urge for those boys and girls to go forward with confidence, with joy and happiness, with a clear mind and conscience is to know that "my family members are living as I teach." ¶

May I suggest that you help the missionary cause by living as they teach. ¶

It is worthwhile, and as one elder said, "My father and mother are happier than they have ever been," and so you parents become happier by living the Gospel and at the same time you strengthen the missionary cause. ¶

In all my experiences in the mission I cannot help but feel that we had a seasoning at least of the spirit manifest by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the first Conference of the Church. I think it was in June of 1830 when he made this profound statement to the Saints and especially to the elders of the Church; "To find ourselves engaged in the very same order of things as observed by the holy Apostles of old, to realize the importance and solemnity of such proceedings, and to witness and feel with our own natural senses the like glorious manifestations of the powers of the priesthood, the gift and blessings of the Holy Ghost, and the goodness and condescension of a merciful God unto such as obey the Everlasting Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, — all these combine to create within us sensations of rapturous gratitude to inspire us with fresh zeal and energy in the cause of truth." ¶

So it does, and so we have felt it, and as the Lord sent out his Seventy to preach the Gospel, two by two before his face, into every city and place whither he himself should come, later on those Seventy returned with joy, saying, "Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name." ¶

We have had that experience, brethren, we have had a taste of this that is referred to by the Prophet, these great evidences of the value and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the joy in serving and the joy in proclaiming. ¶

At one time in the mission I felt somewhat concerned about the decreasing number of our missionaries. I felt we could use more. I recalled that stirring spirit portrayed by the Prophet Alma when he declared in substance: "O that I were an angel and had the power of speech and could declare repentance unto all the world." ¶

Then he realized his limitations and withdrew somewhat of his zeal and apologized in a way, to the Lord, and said this: "Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth, for behold the Lord doth grant unto all nations of their own nations and tongue to teach his word; yea, in wisdom all that he seeth fit that they should, have; therefore, we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom according to that which is just and true." (Alma 29:8.) I was very much impressed with the thought that people of their own nation and tongue should also be responsible to do missionary work. After receiving the approval of the First Presidency, I called forty of our Saints, to part-time missionary work, and it proved a great boon to our mission. Although it did not bring about very many immediate converts and baptisms, yet these part-time missionaries grew in testimony and developed themselves to become more effective officers in the branches, and I am sure they will be. ¶

Today we are lamenting the fact that because of the scarcity of missionaries, it becomes necessary to withdraw them from some of the small and new branches, new areas and new units. ¶

Most of these units are made up of new members and although they are faithful, yet it will be difficult for them to carry on in full without the association of the missionaries. What shall we do? We have many young men and women in Australia who could go on a full time mission. Many of them cannot finance a full time mission. Our people in Australia are not wealthy people. They are generally people of humble circumstances. They are a choice people but it is not easy for them to save and very few of them have laid by funds to finance a mission. ¶

I now recall a divine injunction given by the Prophet in this dispensation when he, in exhorting the Elders in the 84th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, makes this matter clear, — that even though we can't go ourselves, sometimes we may help provide the means and way whereby others may go, for he wrote thus: ¶

"For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment — that you remain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you. ¶

"Therefore, go ye into all the world; and unto whatsoever place ye cannot go ye shall send, that the testimony may go from you into all the world unto every creature." (D. & C. 84:61-62.) ¶

I was very pleased a short time ago after a meeting when two brethren told me: "We will be glad to finance a missionary in Australia — one of the Australian saints. How much will it cost?" ¶

I said, "It will cost about 20 to 22 pounds a month, equivalent to about $45.00." That seemed to be agreeable to them. ¶

I hope and pray that it will work out. ¶

I hope President Liljenquist will find, and I am sure he can easily find some fine young women and young men who could be sent, and thus fulfill what Alma inferred, that the people of that nation should be called into service to proclaim the word, and that possibly if we can't go ourselves, we can send. ¶

Of course, I am sure, it is not the intent of the Church that the Church should send, but is intended that the individual, or the small group should send by giving partial financial support to those who could respond. ¶

Brethren, may I mention one more thing? We try to teach our people prayer and fasting. We try to teach them observance of the various standards of the Church, but we found a strange situation, when we made a survey of our inactive members, to learn the reason for their inactivity. We found that the main reason why they were inactive was because they claimed they had been offended for some reason or other. We, therefore, developed and presented this slogan, that, "Real Latter-day Saints never become offended, and they are least likely to give offense." ¶

We proclaimed that repeatedly throughout the mission and it became favorably effective among most of the saints. ¶

We also encouraged and we should encourage the spirit of charity and love toward our fellow men to those who are down-trodden and disturbed. We should all have charity and mercy toward such. ¶

But we sometimes forget this other virtue, that of rejoicing in each other's achievements. If we would have the spirit of rejoicing in each other's successes, we would likely have charity, we would likely have forbearance, and so we asked the Saints to do what they could to make it a point to cultivate a sincere appreciation when others succeeded. ¶

It may be when another's girl graduated from school with high honors. It may be when the neighbor's boy gave an inspiring talk in Sunday School, possibly a Deacon. There are so many situations where we could sincerely rejoice in the achievements of others. ¶

Brigham Young taught that principle on the way out west, and the Indians also were taught the principle by the pioneers and they appreciated it deeply. ¶

The Indian word for that principle is "Pukachee." They found deep satisfaction in practicing that new and effective principle, pukachee. ¶

As we told stories to develop this principle with our young people in the Church in Australia, we received glorious response and when we returned to those district conferences the young people seemed delighted to remind us of pukachee and the joy they found in practicing it. ¶

It is an important virtue and works wonders. ¶

Another helpful thing we did is reflected in these lines: ¶

"For what do you live For what you get or what you give? What is the dynamo that makes you go Getting or giving? ¶

Get you must if you would give But give you must if you would live For getting without giving Is existence without living So get, give and live." ¶

We did not apply that so much in the material way, but we used it mostly with the missionaries. Missionaries can't give the Gospel unless they get it, therefore in order to get it they must be up in the morning at six; study class at seven, breakfast at eight and then a full day of proselyting and through faithfully following the missionary handbook they increased their proselyting to about seven hours per day and so the Lord blessed their efforts because they were prayerfully and humbly getting so they could inspiringly give. ¶

I am so grateful that these missionaries were willing to sustain the program, to be loyal and faithful, and to bring about many good results. ¶

In closing I would like to say a word about the Choir. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is one of the finest influences in the Australian Mission. It is a door opener to our missionaries. I have had non-members tell me that their religion is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Richard L. Evans. That is their faith. ¶

When our missionaries come to the door, and the occupants learn that these missionaries represent the same Church as our Choir and Richard L. Evans, the door is generally swung open and they are invited in. ¶

So, I certainly commend our Choir. ¶

May God bless them, and the spirit of their music, the elevating nature of it, and also Richard L. Evans' fine talks on ethics, on fundamentals that anyone can accept. They believe it, and it touches their better selves, and it is good. ¶

Now the way, I believe, is going to be opened, and I hope and pray it will be through the faithful efforts of our good friend and brother, Cyril Jenkins, that many other stations will play our records even the British Broadcasting Company, and if it does it will open the way by which many more thousands of good people in the world will hear the divine and lifting messages given by our wonderful choir and Brother Evans. ¶

Brethren, the work of the Gospel in which we are engaged is true. I am proud to be a member of the Church. ¶

I am glad that I was a Deacon, a Teacher and a Priest, an Elder and a Seventy, and I have had ward experience and stake experience, and above all, I am so happy for the great joy of regularly and daily striving to do the best I can in the Gospel. I am now a block teacher in our ward, and I am grateful for it. I am a Special Interest class teacher in the M.I.A. and it is a real joy to be close to the people, to try and put over the work of the Lord. ¶

I thank these brethren, the General Authorities, bless their hearts, for their confidence and their kindness. They are wonderful. Because of increase in members and attendance they have a building program in Australia that will involve 70 per cent of the branches. Some branches are buying lots, others remodeling, others building new chapels so there is great activity and faithfulness. ¶

I am very grateful for this, and every time we have submitted a building proposal to the General Authorities they have been kind and generous. Even though that mission in the past has been self-sustaining, as far as buildings are concerned, it is just possible in the near future they will have to ask the Brethren here for a little help. ¶

I pray the Lord to bless us all that we may be genuine in our labors, honest and faithful, for this work is of God, and this I declare in all soberness and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶