President Mckay President Moyle President Brown President...

President McKay, President Moyle, President Brown, President Smith, and my brethren and sisters, I thank my Heavenly Father from the bottom of my heart for my membership in his Church and kingdom here upon the earth, for the priesthood which I hold, and for the honor and call that has come to me, which makes it possible for me to spend my time in the service of the Lord, and to associate with our beloved President, a prophet of God, David O. McKay, and these other inspired leaders who have been chosen by him to direct the activities of the Church and to lead us in the paths of truth and righteousness. ¶

I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have of attending this outstanding conference with you, and partaking of the spirit that is here, and to be instructed and encouraged by the wonderful messages that we have heard. As I stand before you, I feel more keenly than I have words to express my inadequacy and humility and a need of, and I humbly pray for, an interest in your faith and prayers as I speak to you today. ¶

As approximately one seventh of all the full-time missionaries in the world are laboring in the West European Mission, over which I have the honor to preside, and which includes the missions of the British Isles, France, and the Netherlands, and because we have in these missions young men and young women representing families, wards, and stakes from all parts of Canada and the United States, I feel that I should make a brief report of their activities, the work that is being done, and the progress that is being made in those areas. ¶

First, I should like to congratulate those devoted stake and ward officers and the people in the five stakes in England and Holland on the fine work that they are doing and the progress that is being made. I wish to acknowledge the presence of, and welcome here today, representatives of the stake presidencies, of the bishoprics, and stake Relief Society presidents, who are here from those stakes, also President and Sister Boyer of the London Temple. I am sure that they, as the rest of us, will enjoy the spirit of this great conference and return to their wards and stakes with a keener desire and determination and ability to carry on with the heavy responsibilities placed upon them. ¶

Also, I wish to express my deep appreciation to those unselfish, dedicated mission presidents and their wives who are devoting every minute of their time and energy in directing the missionary work in their several missions. To see the love and devotion which they have for your sons and daughters who are placed under their care and direction is most encouraging indeed. They could not show a keener interest in their own children. The help and leadership which they give them will influence their lives for years and years to come. ¶

Brother Roy M. Darley, with his organ recitals in the Hyde Park Chapel in London, is making a great contribution to missionary work. ¶

Now, regarding that wonderful corps of missionaries who are serving in these different missions, I am happy indeed to be able to report that they are really doing a marvelous work and a wonder in the mission field. It is most encouraging and inspiring to go from one mission to another and hear those devoted missionaries bear their testimonies to one another and give their reports and experiences which they have had in teaching the gospel to the world. They are certainly to be congratulated on their enthusiasm, dedication, and their success as they go forward in their proselyting efforts. ¶

To see how humble they are, and yet how fearless and determined, reminds one of Paul as he stood in chains before King Agrippa. Defending himself, he replied to the accusations of Festus, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness" (Acts 26:25), always with the hope that those who hear might accept their message. The results of their efforts are evident throughout the mission. ¶

In April I reported that in the previous eighteen months the LDS membership in the British Isles had increased from approximately 10,000 to 20,000, or nearly double. Today, I am happy to report that in these islands we had 1,197 baptisms in July; 1,274 in August; and in September, at the present rate, we will have over 1,400. This means that we are baptizing in the British Isles alone enough people for four or five stakes each year. ¶

But more significant than this is the fact that the church population there is being increased at the rate of over 5 percent each month, or over 60 percent each year throughout the whole of the British Isles, while in some local areas the increase is as high as 200 to 300 percent in one year. ¶

In France and the Netherlands the number of baptisms are also greatly increased. It is not difficult to see that a tremendous fellowshipping program is necessary, and I am happy to report that in these wards and branches, though many of them are new members and though the building facilities are most inadequate, the people are accepting the responsibility of trying to make the new converts feel at home and a part of the church organization. ¶

The building program necessary to provide the facilities for this great influx of members presents a real problem. ¶

I personally wish to congratulate the building committee and those fine men who are directing the work on the ground, on the very efficient way in which they have organized their work and their staffs to go forward with the program of starting a new building every week. ¶

I also wish to congratulate the members in the stakes and missions on the very wonderful way in which they have responded to this building program and in making labor missionaries available to assist wherever new buildings are being constructed. ¶

President McKay, I am happy to tell you that the people there are responding beautifully to your call and slogan, "Every Member A Missionary," first, by striving to live lives worthy of example, and second, by opening their homes for group teaching and inviting their friends and neighbors and associates in to hear the gospel. ¶

I should like to tell you of some of the experiences and observations that Sister Tanner and I had in September as we met with the Saints in the stake and district conferences in the capitals and some of the larger cities in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium which I feel are significant and which helped to strengthen our testimonies and helped us to appreciate probably more than ever before our free agency and our membership in this great Church. ¶

First, we found that wherever we went, regardless of country or city or language, there was the same sweet spirit of devotion and willingness to accept office and give service in the Church. As we interviewed the men in these cities for office, we told them they would be required to live up to the standards of the Church, that it would require much of their time, and that the responsibilities were heavy and would require sacrifice on their part All of them, though they knew that there was no remuneration but a great deal of hard work, had only one response: "I am willing to do my best, but am I worthy?" Where in all the world, outside of this Church, can you find this kind of dedication? It is evident that the members of the Church are being prepared to accept and follow the admonition of James wherein he said, "... be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (James 1:22.) Secondly, we observed that the members, when speaking to one another and when addressing the people in meetings, referred to them, as they do all over the Church, as brothers and sisters. ¶

This too was very significant. What a grand and glorious feeling it is to know that you are really brothers and sisters, spirit children of God, who are interested in one another and enjoy the fine feeling of love and brotherhood and oneness in the Church wherever you are, regardless of whether you have known one another before or not. As the Lord has said, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." (D&C 38:27.) The third observation we made, and which is also significant and important to the members of the Church, is that all speakers concluded their reports and talks by bearing their testimonies, all of which were essentially the same. As Sister Tanner and I are unable to understand or speak the language of any of the countries on the European Continent, we have to arrange for someone not only to translate what we say to the congregation, but also to sit behind us and give us a running commentary of what is being said by the local people. ¶

While in Brussels we had an interesting experience when the district and branch presidents were giving their reports. After two or three had spoken, and another was concluding, the man who was sitting there translating for us said, "He is now bearing his testimony." ¶

And he said no more. For the speakers who followed he did the same thing. ¶

This made me very conscious of the fact that the testimonies borne by members anywhere in the Church, regardless of who they are, or where they come from, state or imply certain fundamental and significant truths, and that testimony bearing itself is peculiar to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

I should like to deal briefly with three or four of the fundamentals in the testimony of a Latter-day Saint. These testimonies include essential points of the message now being taken by the missionaries to the world. First, that the Godhead is composed of God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and it is their testimony that God the Eternal Father and his Son Jesus Christ are Living Beings of flesh and bones and spirit, in whose image we are made, and that ". . . God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16), that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world who gave his life that all mankind may be saved and by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel work out their own salvation and exaltation; that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ both appeared in person and spoke to and instructed Joseph Smith; that Joseph Smith was chosen as a Prophet of God and that the priesthood was restored by John the Baptist and by Peter, James, and John upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery; that this priesthood is the power of God delegated to man to act in his name, and that it is now in the Church and is the authority by which all ordinances are performed in the name of Jesus Christ; that the gospel has been restored, and that the true Church of Jesus Christ is established; that this Church is an organization similar in all essentials to the primitive Church set up by Christ among the Jews with apostles and prophets, pastors and teachers, evangelists, etc.; and that we have a prophet at the head of our Church today through whom the Lord speaks and directs his people. ¶

This is the testimony of these individual members of the Church throughout the world. It is their testimony also that the Book of Mormon, which was translated by the power of God, is a divinely inspired record of God's dealings with the early inhabitants of the people on the American Continent, and that it is the word of God, and as recorded on the flyleaf of the Book of Mormon, it is "Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation — ... to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations. . . ." ¶

This message is a message of peace, the plan of life and salvation, which is the message to all the world, to accept Christ as the Savior of the world and him crucified and to follow the admonition of Peter: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." ¶

(Acts 2:38.) This is the reason there are 9,000 young missionaries, ranging in ages mostly from nineteen to twenty-two years out in the world, receiving no remuneration, paying their own expenses at a cost of more than $800,000 each month, or approximately ten million dollars each year, or twenty million for the two to two and a half years they are in the mission field. While in the field they will have contributed over 18,000 missionary years. They will have sacrificed 18,000 man years of schooling or otherwise productive life to teach the restored gospel, which is the plan of life and salvation, and to bring souls unto Christ. ¶

This is a service of love, with no thought of financial gain, but with an unselfish desire on the part of these devoted young missionaries and their parents who sacrifice so much to serve God and their fellow men. ¶

The struggle in the world today and the threat of nuclear war would be averted tomorrow and peace would reign upon the earth if the people in the world would accept this message. ¶

The conflict in the world which threatens the free agency and life of every individual is a continuation of the war in heaven, where Satan was determined to take away our free agency, God's greatest gift to man. ¶

As we read in the scriptures: ". . . ¶

because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; "And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice." ¶

(Moses 4:3-4.) "Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about." (D&C 76:29.) This was so evident to me as we were in Berlin to organize a stake there. I took the opportunity of going into East Berlin, as a tourist may if he has his proper papers. Here we have an outstanding example of the contrast of conditions and the way of life in a divided city where the East is under the domination of a dictator where man has been robbed of his freedom and is now a slave of the state, and the other part of the city where he still enjoys much of his freedom. In the West, the stores, the streets with their bright lights, the cars, the hotels, and beautiful parks are all bustling with people who can go and come as they wish and who are joyously and actively engaged in building and other industrial development. While in the East under the domination of man, you see very few people on the streets, a very limited number of cars, a drab-looking city with ruins on all sides, and the people with an attitude of despondence, despair, and defeatism, knowing that they are at the beck and call of a foreign antiChrist dictator with policemen and soldiers on every side to see that they do as they are told and that they cannot escape. Why? Is it because they are so happy and prosperous and contented with conditions there? ¶

Satan is at work, my brethren and sisters. Our freedom is at stake. It is the responsibility of everyone who calls himself a Christian, and particularly for every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and more particularly for every holder of the priesthood of God, to take a firm stand and a determined stand against evil. It is my testimony to you, my brothers and sisters, wherever you may be, that God has given us the solution to our problems, the plan by which we can enjoy peace in the world and peace in our lives. ¶

I plead with you, everyone, wherever you may be, to accept Christ as the Savior of the world and to go forward as champions of our Heavenly Father and his cause and keep his commandments that we may enjoy his Spirit to be with us at all times, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶