Brass bands, welcome signs and lots of hugs from loved ones greeted the 350 members of the Tabernacle Choir upon their arrival home after a 22-day tour of Hawaii and the South Pacific nations of New Zealand and Australia.

Several hundred family members and dignitaries, including President Gordon B. Hinckley of the First Presidency, were on hand July 5 at the Salt Lake International Airport to offer congratulations for the choir's successful trip.(See story and photos of tour on pages 8-9.)

"We want to welcome you home after a wonderful and most successful tour," said President Hinckley at the crowded terminal. "You have done tremendous good for the Church, for the state of Utah, for Salt Lake City, and for the nation as you represented the United States at the 200th anniversary of the founding of Australia.

"In behalf of the First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve and the entire Church, I thank you and welcome you home.

"Our prayers have been with you, and to see you here represents an answer to our prayers. God bless you for all the good you have done."

He concluded, "God bless you and . . . `Good-dye, myte!'"

Also offering congratulations to the choir were Utah Gov. Norman H. Bangerter; Salt Lake City Council member Sydney Fonnesbeck; and Wm. James Mortimer, president of the Greater Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and publisher of the Deseret News.

Gov. Bangerter proclaimed the day "Tabernacle Choir Day" in Utah and issued a proclamation in honor of their "winning hearts Down Under."

In response, Choir president Wendell M. Smoot said, "We've been in the air for 18 hours . . . and we're still delighted [to stop for the ceremony]."

He mentioned two highlights of the extensive trip. First, in New Zealand, a small Maori chorus welcomed the choir and then sang to them. Afterward, the Maori leader commented to Jerold Ottley, the choir's conductor, "Now I can die a happy man. We have sung for the Tabernacle Choir."

Then, added Smoot, the choir sang especially for the Maoris.

Another highlight, he said, came at the choir's final concert of the tour in Brisbane, Australia. The singers were tired, and "I didn't think we could do another concert," said Smoot. Then, 130 missionaries of the Australia Brisbane Mission filed into the dining room and sang for the choir.

"You could just see the spirits of the choir soar," said Smoot. "After the concert that evening, Elder John Sonnenberg (of the First Quorum of the Seventy) said, `I have never heard the choir sing better, nor have we ever had a greater spiritual experience than tonight.'"