The streets are busy in Brooklyn, the most heavily populated of New York City's five boroughs. Even if every car, truck and delivery van were banned from the district, the streets would still teem with foot traffic. With about 2.3 million people living in the borough's 88 square miles, there's hardly a minute of the day when any street isn't bustling.

Missionaries in this compact, populous vicinity of the New York New York South Mission seldom have trouble finding people with whom to share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nearly every day, they mingle among the crowd as residents come out of their apartments and row houses to shop, take buses or trains to and from work, go out to eat, take their dogs for walks or visit neighborhood parks.Most of the time, the missionaries blend into the press of people. However, at times they stand out, especially when one of them steps onto a milk crate and starts a modern-day version of old-fashioned street preaching while a dozen or more fellow missionaries, endeavoring to make contacts, walk alongside passersby.

The Church News recently observed missionaries in action in Brooklyn. The reception the elders and sisters received seemed to disprove the notion that New Yorkers are aloof, unfriendly people who won't make eye contact with or talk to strangers on the street. Brooklynites that day not only looked at the missionaries but also stopped to talk and listen to them. Some readily gave their names, addresses and telephone numbers and made appointments for follow-up visits. Nearly everyone who stopped to speak with the missionaries smiled as they shook hands with them before moving on down the street.

"Do these look like unfriendly people to you?" asked mission Pres. W. John Bailey III. "They don't look unfriendly to me! These people are wonderful!"

Pres. Bailey, who is from the Sydney Australia Greenwich Stake, is a seasoned observer of Brooklyn, which was in his field of labor when he was a young missionary in the Eastern States Mission from 1963-1965. He returned with his wife, Lesley, and four of their six children in July 1994 to serve as president of the New York New York South Mission.

Although most buildings - and nearly everything else along the streets - are splattered with graffiti, which gives downtown Brooklyn an uninviting appearance, Pres. Bailey said the city is much cleaner than it was when he served here 30 years ago. "People are more affable, and they will speak with you more readily," he said. "They take more pride in their homes; they're cleaning, painting and fixing up more. This is a more wholesome environment than I remember. It was very scary then. People were very introverted and skeptical. They're far more open now.

"Missionary work is so much more successful now than it ever was when I was here before. I remember when we hit 50 baptisms in a month we thought we were setting the world on fire."

Pres. Bailey said that his goal is not to have missionaries "baptize numbers," but rather to find, teach and baptize as many as they can of the people the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel. And many who have been prepared, he feels, live in Brooklyn.

"We teach the missionaries to just work by the Spirit," he said. "They can walk down a street and in the space of two or three blocks they can speak to 50 or 60 people. We rarely tract, unless the Spirit directs us to certain apartments."

He said missionaries regard just about every daily activity as an opportunity to make contacts. "If they're waiting for a bus, they talk to the people waiting with them," Pres. Bailey said. "When they get on a bus, they talk to people sitting next to them. If they're out and need to stop to get something to eat at a fast-food restaurant, they'll talk to the people in line and at the counter.

"It surprised me that people will stop and talk to missionaries on the street. We had a visitor who said, `I can't get over how willing these people are to stop and talk to you about religion. They know who you are, and what you're going to talk about. They don't try to avoid you; they stop.'

"That really sums up the people of New York," Pres. Bailey explained. "I believe it goes back to what is recorded in the Book of Mormon:

" ` . . . We have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.' (2 Ne. 1:5.)

"There are so many people trying to hide from life, or who have problems in their families, or who are in turmoil over political upheavals. They are open to religious teachings. I've been a counselor to five mission presidents; ever since my first assignment here in New York, I've been around missionaries. My father and my uncle have been counselors to mission presidents, so I've been exposed to missionary work all my life. I've never seen a more fertile and consistently interested group of people as we are finding here in New York City. Maybe that's because there are so many to choose from. We're teaching people who are really interested."

Pres. Bailey said some of the ideas implemented in his mission might not work in others missions. "Maybe some of the things we do, such as preaching in the street, shouldn't even be tried in other missions," he said. "There might be parts of the world where this would be a failure. But it appears to be successful for us because of the willingness of the people to listen. We feel this is a safe area for our missionaries to be in. There is a lot of activity on the streets and a good police presence. The missionaries are easily recognized and people seem to really like them, even to the extent of watching out for them."

In addition to the contacts missionaries make on the streets, on buses, in shops and other public places, the mission receives a substantial amount of referrals through the Church's media efforts, such as television spots that carry a toll-free number that people can call for more information.

"In July, we received in our mission 2,450 referrals through the media," Pres. Bailey said. "In August, we had 3,296. Some of the people who call just want a video or a copy of the Book of Mormon. Not all are genuinely interested in being taught the gospel, but some really great and wonderful people have been taught by our missionaries. These people might not have found the Church in any other way."

Pres. Bailey said many people have the erroneous idea that most investigators or converts in big-city areas such as Brooklyn are people who are down and out, who are just looking for a handout. "Most of the people we're teaching have jobs and are trying to improve their lives," he said. "People who just want a handout won't commit to paying tithing. The people we teach and baptize pay their tithing."

He said that while many members in Brooklyn live in crowded apartment buildings, others live in trendy, up-scale townhouses, or "brownstones."

Among Church members in Brooklyn are an attorney and his family, which includes four children, the eldest of whom is a student in college. A recent convert family includes a husband who is a bus driver and a wife who is a secretary in a bank and their four children. In this family, the man joined the Church first, and later baptized his wife and children. In another family of converts, the husband is an electrician, and the wife is a social worker who is studying for an advanced college degree.

Another recent convert is a single adult who has bachelor's degrees in economics and political economy, and master's degrees in international political economy and development and in financial economics. He also has a Ph.D. in economics and has worked for many government agencies, as well as with the European Economic Community in Belgium. He shares a business with two partners.

Pres. Bailey said some new converts are powerful and effective missionaries. He cited as examples two young women, Jessie and Karina Guzman, who are branch missionaries. "They came from the Dominican Republic about four years ago," he said. "Jessie joined the Church in December 1994, and Karina was baptized in March 1995. All in their family are now members, except the father. Jessie is completing her missionary papers, hoping to enter the Missionary Training Center at her 12-month-membership anniversary.

"Many of the people we are baptizing have come from other countries, and have good educations. But their college degrees aren't recognized here, so they have to struggle on one or two jobs, making $4.25 an hour. That rarely covers food and rent. We have doctors, pathologists, lawyers, educators - faithful and diligent people - but their educational histories aren't recognized here. They're starting over, climbing up."

The mission has much success with converts remaining active, President Bailey said. "It's one thing to baptize, to get numbers, but if the converts don't stay there's not much point to the conversion process," he noted. He said missionaries also place special emphasis on teaching those who will someday help provide a strong priesthood base for the Church to grow in the city. "Eighteen men were advanced to the Melchizedek Priesthood at a conference in Brooklyn this month," he said. "Having that number at a stake conference would be outstanding. This was at a conference in just Brooklyn. They're paying tithing. They're serving in the branches, contributing to the growth and development of the Church. Most of the branch presidents throughout the mission have been in the Church only two to five years. We keep dividing branches regularly so everyone has an opportunity to serve. This goes for the Relief Society, Young Women and Primary as well as for the quorums."

Pres. Bailey said missionaries emphasize that baptism is not the only goal. They stress the importance of going to the temple. To help new members lift their sights, missionaries and local leaders constantly speak of the plan of salvation. They encourage new converts to go to family history libraries and do research in preparation for performing temple ordinances for their ancestors.

Pres. Bailey said every day brings him new confirmation that the streets of New York's boroughs such as Brooklyn are fields ripe for the harvest. "I know these are a prepared people," he said.