Beginning a weeklong schedule that included dedicating the Preston England Temple and speaking to members in five countries on two continents, President Gordon B. Hinckley addressed a member meeting here June 2.

More than 3,000 members from the Augusta and Bangor stakes in Maine, and Exeter stake in New Hampshire assembled in the Cumberland County Civic Center in downtown Portland for the 11/2-hour member meeting."We ought to be the best people in the world," President Hinckley said. "We will be if we live the gospel."

He spoke of the blessings of the Word of Wisdom; how, as a group, non-smokers live 10 years longer than smokers. "What a glorious thing that revelation is."

Tobacco companies never made 5 cents from him in his whole life, he said.

"I will be 88 soon," he explained. "I read the obituaries every day. If I'm not there, I get up and go to work," he humorously said.

President Hinckley also spoke of the need for reverence in meetings, and shared his testimony of the Savior, the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He recounted his recent trip to Palmyra, N.Y., to dedicate the replica log home of Joseph Smith and how he visualized Joseph reading and pondering the Bible, and then going the short distance to the Sacred Grove.

"He saw the Father and the Son. This was the greatest revelation ever received in the history of the world," he said.

Members from the three stakes live within a several-hour drive of the meeting. "We are blessed to be here," said Jose Dominguez, of the Spanish-speaking Lawrence Massachusetts Branch, Exeter New Hampshire Stake, who joined the Church nine years ago and drove a van full of branch members to the meeting.

"It is an honor being here," added the Lawrence Branch Pres. Jaime Rivera, who traveled to Puerto Rico in January with the hope that he might see President Hinckley there. "Now President Hinckley is here. It is a privilege from the Lord for us to be here with this sacred man of God."

J. Karl Franson, patriarch in the Bangor Maine Stake, said, "Language cannot capture what is felt by the heart and spirit in the presence of the Lord's prophet."

"What a great blessing to have the prophet in our area," said Pres. Michael Pouliot of the Exeter New Hampshire Stake, echoing the sentiments of Pres. Mark Earnshaw of the Augusta Maine Stake, whose stake hosted the meeting, and Pres. William Lawler of the Bangor Maine Stake.

President Hinckley was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie, and Elder Marlin K. Jensen, of the Seventy and president of the North America Northeast Area.