The rolling forth of the gospel is a miracle in every sense of the word, said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve, "and not the least of the miracle is that a significant portion of it rolls forward on the shoulders of 19-year-olds!"

Intellectual Reserve

Women from Salt Lake Valley sing during Saturday afternoon session of conference, under the direction of Vanja Watkins.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Speaking Saturday afternoon, Elder Holland, who is serving as president of the Chile Area, said: "As we have seen your sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters — and in some cases your parents and grandparents — faithfully laboring in Chile, I have pictured the tens of thousands of others like them we have met all over the world. Clean, clear, bright-eyed missionaries, laboring two-by-two, have become a living symbol of this Church everywhere."

Continuing, Elder Holland related the faithfulness of such missionaries as a young woman called from Argentina who sold her prized violin to serve a mission and the young man who donated his mission money for his mother's surgery and arrived in the mission field with no matching clothes and shoes three sizes too large.

"And so they come, from your homes, all over this world. Included in such a long list of dedicated servants of the Lord is an increasing number of senior couples who make an indispensable contribution to the work. How we love and need couples in virtually every mission of the Church. Those of you who can, put away your golf clubs, don't worry about the stock market, realize that your grandchildren will still be your grandchildren when you return — and go! We promise you the experience of a lifetime."

Elder Holland then spoke of "the marvelous members of the Church themselves." He spoke of a man called to a stake presidency in a far-flung stake in Chile. Elder Holland was concerned because the man had no car and some travel would be required of him. He replied, "I do not have a car, but I do have feet and I do have faith." He then told Elder Holland that he could ride the bus, ride his bicycle or walk, como los misioneros, "like the missionaries." Elder Holland spoke with him in what he called his "terminally ill Spanish."

Continuing, Elder Holland spoke of the Punta Arenas Chile Stake, from where the saints make a 4,200-mile round-trip bus ride to the Santiago Chile Temple. For a husband and wife, it can take up to 20 percent of annual income just for the transportation. "Only 50 people can be accommodated on the bus, but for every excursion 250 others come out to hold a brief service with them the morning of their departure," Elder Holland said.

"While we are teaching the principle of tithing to, praying with and building ever more temples for just such distant Latter-day Saints, perhaps the rest of us can do more to enjoy the blessings and wonder of the temple regularly when so many temples are increasingly within our reach.

"And that leads me to my final point," the apostle said, explaining that along with the many things associated with the visionary ministry of President Gordon B. Hinckley, "it is likely that we will remember him at least as emphatically for his determination to retain in permanent activity the converts who join this Church."

Speaking of coming full circle, linking the conversion the missionaries are striving to bring with the devotion of members, Elder Holland quoted John 15, including the phrase from verse 4, "Abide in me."

"In Spanish, that familiar phrase is rendered permanecer en mi. Like the English verb 'abide,' permanecer means 'to remain, to stay.' But even gringos like me can hear the root cognate there of 'permanence.' The sense of this then is 'stay — but stay forever.'

"That is the call of the gospel message to Chileans and everyone else in the world. Come, but come to remain. Come with conviction and endurance. Come permanently, for your sake and the sake of all the generations who must follow you, and we will help each other be strong to the very end."