A whirlwind 10-day trip by President Gordon B. Hinckley - covering 800 miles and including 12 speeches in England - was capped Sept. 1-2 with a leap across the Irish Sea to Dublin, as he became the first Church president to visit the Emerald Isle since President David O. McKay in August 1953.

Accompanied by his wife, Marjorie P. Hinckley, President Hinckley took a 40-minute flight from Liverpool the afternoon of Sept. 1, after spending a week meeting with Saints and missionaries in Great Britain. (See Sept. 2 Church News.) This was his first trip abroad since becoming Church president in March.He had arrived in England Aug. 25, visiting Canterbury Cathedral and the port of Sandwich east of London. The next day, he had a BBC Radio interview, spoke to missionaries in the England London South Mission and to 1,100 members in a fireside in Crawley. Sunday, Aug. 27, was a huge day for President Hinckley. He began with the Wandsworth England Stake conference, followed by the Maidstone England Stake conference, where the creation of the Canterbury England Stake took place. After the setting apart of three new stake presidencies late that afternoon, he and Sister Hinckley traveled more than an hour into the heart of London for the rededication of Hyde Park Chapel that evening, where he spoke and offered the dedicatory prayer.

On Monday, Aug. 28, the prophet visited the Missionary Training Center located at the London Temple, had two radio interviews, met with missionaries in the England London Mission and traveled two hours north of London. The next day he toured three Church-owned farms, traveled two hours west to Solihull, met in nearby Harbourne with missionaries from the England Birmingham Mission and capped the day with a fireside in Harbourne for members in the Birmingham area. On Wednesday, Aug. 30, the Hinckleys visited the Europe North Area offices in Solihull where he spoke to Church employees in two devotionals, traveled to Nottingham via the small town of Hinckley where he visited the parish church, and conducted an evening fireside at the Nottingham Stake center.

Thursday, Aug. 30, began with a two-hour drive northeast to the Preston area, where the president visited the temple site in Chorley, his first missionary apartment in Nelson, and his friend from his mission days,

86-year-old Bob Pickles. He also visited a park near the River Ribble where the first missionary baptisms took place in 1837 and then drove on to Liverpool, where a fireside for 1,000 was conducted at the Liverpool Stake Center. (See article on page 4.) The next day, Sept. 1, following a visit to the Merseyside Maritime Museum at the Albert Docks in Liverpool, the Hinckleys departed England for the Republic of Ireland.

In Ireland, he spoke twice more, once to missionaries and again in an evening fireside. The Hinckleys were accompanied in England and Ireland by Elder Graham W. Doxey of the Seventy and president of the Europe North Area, and his wife, Mary Lou Doxey. By the conclusion of their trip, 7,730 people had gathered - often traveling significant distances - to listen to a prophet's voice in 14 addresses. And they were not disappointed.

"What touched us most was the way he talked about the Irish people and the way he spoke," said Pres. Liam Gallagher of the Dublin Ireland Stake, after the visit. "He knew so much about our circumstances. It was special that he was here. He deeply touched the Irish people by the personal way he spoke to us."

About 1,100 members from the recently created Dublin stake, Cork Ireland District and Belfast Northern Ireland Stake gathered for a fireside in the RDS Concert Hall to hear President Hinckley on Friday evening, Sept. 1. Nearly 160 missionaries from the Ireland Dublin Mission, who had a meeting with the prophet just prior to the fireside, looked on in an overflow room via closed circuit.

In that meeting with the missionaries, a stirring rendition of "Danny Boy" had been offered by three elders: tenor Ryan Best, pianist Aaron Boyd and violinist Joshua Rolfe. President Hinckley noted that he had first heard the song as a missionary in 1933, whose ship docked at midnight in a port near Cork, Ireland. As the young Elder Hinckley looked down from the ship's deck, he heard the song from the lips of a street-singing Irish tenor.

"That was the first time I had ever heard it," he told the missionaries. "Somehow it went into me, and I love to hear `Danny Boy.' Thank you."

Elder Best said it was "very memorable" to sing for the prophet. "I was shaking. It will definitely go down in my journal."

As the Hinckleys entered the hall for the fireside, the congregation stood in unison and sang three emotional verses of "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet" - a scene repeated from previous firesides and missionary meetings throughout England the previous week.

Jason Collopy, a member of the Church for just over a year who serves as first counselor in the Waterford Branch of the Cork district, a couple hours south of Dublin, described how moved he was at the opportunity of singing that hymn on the historic occasion.

"It was thrilling to be able to sing `We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet' at the beginning of the meeting," he said. "I got a lot out of Friday evening, and I know everybody else there did also. I know Gordon B. Hinckley is a prophet of God."

Following the hymn, an invocation which noted the past year of peace in Ireland, and remarks from the Doxeys, Sister Hinckley spoke briefly. She bore a fervent testimony of the gospel, expressing her gratitude for being taught about the Savior as a young girl at her mother's knee, and conveyed her love and support for her husband.

"I am grateful for your kindness," she said. "I know you are kind to everyone, because it's obvious you have had a lot of practice."

A stirring choir rendition of "How Great Thou Art" preceded President Hinckley's speech, for which he expressed gratitude.

"I'm glad to be in Ireland," he said. "I didn't have to come here, but I wanted to come. . . . I said to myself, `Go bear your testimony to others who are not on the beaten path. Finish it up in Ireland. That's a good jumping off place for America. . . . I was here a long time ago, very briefly, about 18 years ago. We held a little meeting of a small branch here in Dublin. I haven't forgotten you, I want you to know that. I am glad I am here. I have a great desire in my heart to get out among the people and to express my appreciation and my love and to leave a blessing upon them."

The prophet said he was glad many Saints in Ireland are now able to get general conference proceedings via satellite, allowing them to "join hands with the Church around the world."

He continued: "I am told it has been 42 years since a president of the Church came to Ireland. Pres. McKay came to Ireland in 1953, and I am glad he did. . . . I love the Irish; I love the Irish songs; I love the spirit of this place. The Irish - a people of poetry, people of music, people of the land, people with love in their hearts. I hope I can carry with me the love I've felt."

After sharing his sentiments about the Saints and people of Ireland, President Hinckley discussed the importance of the missionary effort and of the miracle of personal testimony and growth of the Lord's work. He then referred to Sections 121 and 122 in the Doctrine and Covenants. He quoted D&C 122:1, wherein the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that "the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision."

He made note of his own patriarchal blessing, received as a boy of 11. He took it with him when he went on a mission in 1933. "I read it on the boat on my way here. . . . It said among other things that I would lift my voice in testimony of the truth in the nations of the earth. I came to Britain on a mission. I gave my testimony the Sunday before I left in our meeting hall in London. The next week we were in Berlin, and I had opportunity to bear my testimony; and then in Paris, and I had opportunity to bear my testimony; and then in Washington, D.C., and I had opportunity to bear my testimony. And I said to myself, `That part of your blessing is fulfilled. You have borne your testimony of this work in four great capitals of the world: London, Berlin, Paris, Washington.' "

He returned from his mission and told his father he didn't want to go on a family vacation to Yellowstone Park. "I never want to travel again, I'm tired of it," he told his father."

The prophet then recounted a lengthy list of nations in which he has since been permitted to bear testimony as a General Authority.

"I have heard in all those places men and women of maturity, of sound mind, stand and bear testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. . . .

"I am here to bear witness and testimony of the fulfillment of that prophecy, and it will go on being fulfilled until the winding up scene."

He continued a discussion of Section 121, quoting the Lord's admonition in verses 45-46 to "let virtue garnish thy thoughts" and the subsequent promise that "the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion." He spoke strongly about the verses that "apply to me and apply to you."

He emphatically said that Latter-day Saints must rise above filth and pornography and stand tall against it, then discussed other desirable virtues including honesty, integrity, goodness, truth, decency, brotherhood and sisterhood; of "being a good husband and a good father in your family, of being a good wife and a good mother in your home."

After a forceful doctrinal declaration and encouragement to do good, President Hinckley concluded with an expression of his love: "I don't know how to say it in Gaelic; I don't know how to say it with a little blarney, but I know how to say it in English: `We love you, and we pray for you.' "

Many members wept as the president departed during a farewell rendition of "God Be With You," again a scene repeated from the previous gatherings.

"It has been a marvelous thing to see the faces of the people who come with great expectation and just feast on everything President Hinckley says," said Elder Doxey, speaking of the meetings in both Ireland and England. "They love his humor and his being down to earth. He understands their problems, and you can just see that they are drinking in every thing that he says. It is a marvelous thing. Seeing the great dedication in the faces of these good people has been a joy wherever we have gone."

President Gallagher and his wife, Carmel, noted that the positive impact of President Hinckley's visit had been expressed in Church meetings on Sunday, Sept. 3. "Everybody said that they felt the counsel he gave was very personal, just for them," said Sister Gallagher.

"I've never in my life heard anyone speak with such power and conviction," added Martina Ryan, 19, at the Waterford Branch. "It was a blessing to return home and tell Primary children in the branch that I know he is a prophet."