Looking about from the summit of the years
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Speaking during the Saturday morning session, President Gordon B. Hinckley noted that 172 years ago to the day, Joseph Smith and his associates met on the Peter Whitmer farm and organized the Church.
"From that modest beginning something truly remarkable has happened," President Hinckley said. "Great has been the history of this work. Our people have endured every kind of suffering. Indescribable have been their sacrifices. Immense beyond belief have been their labors. But out of all of this fiery crucible has come something glorious. Today we stand on the summit of the years and look about us."
The Church, continued President Hinckley, has grown from the original six members to 11 million in 160 nations of the earth. "Within its vast embrace are members from many nations who speak many tongues. It is a phenomenon without precedent. As the tapestry of its past has unrolled, a beautiful pattern has come to view. It finds expression in the lives of a happy and wonderful people. It portends marvelous things yet to come."
The headquarters of the Church are in the city that recently hosted the 19th Winter Olympic Games, President Hinckley said. "We made a deliberate decision that we would not use this as a time or place to proselytize, but we were confident that out of this significant event would come a wonderful thing for the Church. . . .
"The visitors came by the hundreds of thousands. Some came with suspicion and hesitancy, old and false images persisting in their minds. They came feeling they might get trapped in some unwanted situation by religious zealots. But they found something they never expected. They discovered not only the scenic wonder of this area, with its magnificent mountains and valleys, they found not only the wonderful spirit of the international Games at their best, but they found beauty in this city. They found hosts who were gracious and accommodating and anxious to assist them."
Noting that such hospitality was not limited to Church members, President Hinckley explained that the entire community joined together in a great expression of hospitality.
"But out of all this came something wonderful for this Church. Representatives of the media, so often a tough and calloused group, with very few exceptions spoke and wrote in language both complimentary and accurately descriptive of a unique culture they found here, of the people they met, and dealt with, of the spirit of hospitality which they felt.
"Television carried the pictures to billions of people across the earth. Newspapers and magazines ran story after story."
President Hinckley said during the Games thousands walked Temple Square, admired the Salt Lake Temple and listened to the Tabernacle Choir. They visited the Family History Center and the Conference Center to watch a Church production. The media were hosted in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
"We were interviewed for television, radio, and the press by correspondents from many parts of this nation and from across the world. I am told that nearly 4,000 stories about the Church appeared in the German press alone."
Quoting a syndicated column by Georgie Anne Geyer, President Hinckley read of Salt Lake City: "It is simply the mix of a serious and upright religion, of families who foster and insist upon providing the highest levels of culture right along with the highest modern technology, and of generally sensible organizing and governing. In short, it is a modern mix of the old America."
If there were time, President Hinckley said he could quote from other seasoned journalists of the world, who wrote in a most laudatory fashion.
"Was there anything negative? Of course. But it was minimal. We had private interviews with presidents of nations, with ambassadors, with leaders in business, and other fields."
President Hinckley then spoke of a prophecy made in 1849, two years after Church members first entered the Salt Lake Valley and after gold was discovered in California.
"They had struggled to wrest a living from the arid soil. Crickets had devoured their crops. The winters were cold. Many thought that they would go to California and get rich. President [Brigham] Young stood before them and encouraged them to remain, promising that 'God will temper the climate and we shall build a city and a temple to the Most High God in this place. We will extend our settlements to the east and west, to the north and south and we will build towns and cities by the hundreds, and thousands of the saints will gather in from the nations of the earth. This will become the great highway of the nations. Kings and emperors and the noble and wise of the earth will visit us here.'
"We have witnessed the fulfillment of that prophecy in these recent days," concluded President Hinckley. "Needless to say, I am happy with what has happened."
"Those visitors," he said, "tasted the distinctive culture of this community. We believe that culture is worth preserving. I compliment and thank our people who participated in such number and so generously and I compliment and thank all others who worked together to make [the Olympics] a wonderful and significant event."
President Hinckley spoke of the Perpetual Education Fund, which was announced a year ago at general conference, and said that the contributions of generous Latter-day Saints have come in to assure that the endeavor is now on a solid foundation. (More of President Hinckley's comments about the fund.)
