A call of warning sounded in 1775 on the eve of the Revolutionary War.

Paul Revere - who became a famous American patriot - arranged for a signal to be flashed from the belfry of the Old North Church here. One lantern would mean the British were coming by land, and two would mean they were coming by sea in their march to Lexington.Just as Paul Revere sounded the call of warning 216 years ago, full-time missionaries serving in Boston today sound their own call of warning as they share the gospel message with those living in one of the nation's oldest and most historic cities.

Under the direction of David L. Gillette, president of the Massachusetts Boston Mission, 208 full-time missionaries serve throughout Massachusetts with about 80 serving in Boston, the state's capital.

Founded by English Puritans in 1630, Boston - known as the Cradle of Liberty for being the birthplace of the Revolutionary War - is steeped in American history.

But there is a great deal of Church history here as well.

The first two missionaries in Boston were Samuel Smith and Orson Hyde, who organized the first congregation in Boston in 1832, only two years after the Church was organized.

In 1844, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were missionaries here and were standing at the Boston Railway Station when they heard about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Fourteen of the first 37 General Authorities of the Church were born in Massachusetts, including Joseph Smith Sr., Willard Richards, Ezra T. Benson (the great-grandfather of current prophet Ezra Taft Benson) and Franklin D. Richards. Many of the early baptisms in the area were performed in Walden Pond (made famous by Henry David Thoreau who wrote the book Walden) on the outskirts of Boston and in the icy Atlantic Ocean.

Two months before his death, Joseph Smith prophesied that stakes would be organized in the great cities of Boston and New York. That prophecy was fulfilled in 1934 when the New York Stake was created and in 1962 when the Boston Stake was organized, Pres. Gillette said.

"Boston is one of the great cities of the world," he continued. "It's a great center of learning and a foundation of the republic, starting at Plymouth Rock and coming up through the Revolutionary War.

"Today, the Boston mission is thriving and flourishing, even though many of the people are bound by traditions of the past. But Heavenly Father has directed us to find those who have a willing heart."

As a result, the mission has established six programs to reach the many diverse cultures found in the Boston area.

"We have missionaries working with Laotian, Cambodian, Portugese, Spanish, Chinese, Haitian-Creole and American Sign Language groups and branches of the Church," Pres. Gillette said.

In one meetinghouse, for instance, missionaries work with a married students ward, single students ward, and Chinese, Spanish and Portugese branches.

Of the mission's full-time missionaries, 40 are serving in these special groups and branches of the Church. Four work with American Sign Language members, four speak Haitian-Creole, eight speak Cambodian, four speak Laotian, six speak Portugese and 14 speak Spanish. The mission's five couple missionaries are assigned to work, for the most part, with the Asian branches in the area.

W. Mitt Romney, president of the Boston Massachusetts Stake, remarked: "In the urban areas of our stake we have been blessed to see the Spirit working with so many of the ethnic people of greater Boston. This has been an enormous source of growth in this area over the last three or four years.

"It has been a great challenge to local members to provide leadership and support to begin six new branches in this stake in the past several years, but it has also been a great source of joy to see so many people join the Church and see them progress in the gospel."

The stake's baptismal rate has doubled in the past five years to approximately 225 per year, "largely the result of our success with these ethnic groups," Pres. Romney said.

To help these new members feel a part of the stake, each branch has a sister ward, and members from that ward are called as stake leadership missionaries to serve in leadership callings in their sister branch.

"They share socials, trips to the temple and sometimes even invite sacrament meeting speakers to speak in both units," Pres. Romney related. "We do this so people in the smaller branches will feel a part of some of our larger units that are so distant [from the smaller branchesT."

Rosemary Fletcher, stake Relief Society president, commented: "As a stake Relief Society presidency, we visit the units individually because each unit is so far separated from the next in where they are and what they can do. We feel like our major service comes through individual attention to each unit as we visit them and let them feel of our support."

Local units in the stake vary from the very brilliant and rich to the very uneducated and poor, she related. Add to that language barriers and it can be difficult to have a homogenous atmosphere in the stake.

But each unit can learn from one other, she said. "All of us can learn by looking at what some of these members are getting by with [materiallyT," Sister Fletcher added. "It's very moving to see how they are struggling and trying. I think their spirit is beautiful and can inspire us."

In past years, the stake's units were located in the suburbs around Boston, but now branches are being created in the city among the different cultures, Pres. Romney explained.

Boston has historically been a place where emigrating populations have settled. And it continues today because of the number of openings for entry-level jobs and the extensive assistance available from the state, he added.

The success among these diverse cultures has made the Massachusetts Boston Mission one of the top baptizing missions in the North America Northeast Area for the past several years, Pres. Gillette remarked.

"We have missionaries serving here from Brazil, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Scotland, Mexico, El Salvador, Canada and many states throughout America," he continued.

"This is the strength of our mission. For instance, we have two missionaries who speak three languages - Brazilian, Portugese and English. They are powerful missionaries. One is from Brazil and one is from El Salvador."

In addition to routine street contacting and door-to-door tracting, missionaries in the Boston mission find success as they serve others and receive referrals from media programs.

Following Church guidelines, full-time missionaries spend four hours a week in service to others. "This is very fruitful in finding investigators," Pres. Gillette commented.

Missionaries serving in Boston, for example, have volunteered at the downtown Massachusetts General Hospital and have done free gift wrapping at Christmastime at Faneuil Hall, a market building and public hall used by Revolutionary patriots as a meeting place in the 1700s.

"Boston is also a wonderful area for media referrals," Pres. Gillette said. "We have had many, many baptisms as a result of people watching the media programs [commercialsT of the Church. We get 50 or 60 referrals a week."

Numerous teaching opportunities also arise each fall as students return to the many colleges in Boston.

Elder Ben Harrison, serving in the Cambridge Ward in Boston, remarked: "We have 120 universities or colleges [in the Boston areaT and so many people are incredibly educated, but there are also a lot of low income problems.

"At one appointment we may be speaking with someone who is working on a Ph.D. and then at another we may meet someone who has never read a book. It helps you learn to deal with people from all walks of life. This mission gives you a chance to experience different worlds, all in one place.

"Many of the streets are cobblestone with gas oil lamps. There is a lot of character in the people and in the city. It's a neat atmosphere and environment to work in."

Elder Keith Manley, also working in Boston, described his mission experience as "very diverse. You talk to so many people from different countries and learn so much from different people. And Boston is rich with history."

Pres. Romney concluded: "With regards to Church work, you feel humbled by the character of great men and women who walked here 150 years ago as the Church was starting. We see it starting over and over again as each brother and sister finds the truth and is baptized." - Sheridan R. Sheffield