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PROVO, Utah — "For us to partake of the sacrament is most appropriate when our message as missionaries is to declare and testify to the reality and the divinity of the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ," said President Gordon B. Hinckley in addressing new mission presidents and their wives during a sacrament meeting Sunday morning, June 25.
The gathering was unusual in the fact that in past years mission presidents and their wives haven't been at the Missionary Training Center in Provo on a Sunday; they usually check in on a Monday and depart for their assigned missions before the week ends.
Through June 29, 112 new mission leaders and their wives received counsel, instructions and inspiration from President Hinckley and his counselors, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust; President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder M. Russell Ballard, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Richard G. Scott, Elder Robert D. Hales, Elder Henry B. Eyring and Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve; Elder Earl C. Tingey and Elder Charles Didier of the Presidency of the Seventy; Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Seventy, and Bishop Richard C. Edgley, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. (Reports on President Monson's and President Faust's addresses are on pages 6 and 7 of this issue; further reports on the seminar will be published in the issue of July 8.)
President Hinckley recalled that when he was a missionary in England some 72 years ago he attended a district conference at which the mission president asked, "What are we here for? What is our message to these people of the British Isles?"
President Hinckley noted, "Someone said, 'We are here to tell the people that a new and final dispensation has been introduced.' Another said, 'Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son.' A third said, 'The Book of Mormon has come to earth.' And so the answers came.
"The president then said, 'What you have said is true. But when all is said and done our most important obligation is to bear witness to these people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that through His great atoning sacrifice all of us have the opportunity of immortality and eternal life.'
"And so it is with us in this day," President Hinckley declared. "Our greatest opportunity, and our greatest challenge, is to bear witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and that He gave His life for the sins of each of us."
President Hinckley thanked the mission presidents and their wives for their "ready response" to the calls they had received, and assured them that the Lord will not forsake them.
"Missionary work is hard. It has never been easy. I suppose it never will be easy," he observed.
He read from a letter from a mission president who has been in the field for a year: "We are growing in this work and are learning to love it. As you predicted at our setting apart, the first six months were somewhat difficult, but I am pleased to report that these latest six months have been sweet, filled with a tremendous joy, as we have come to know somewhat of the responsibilities which are now ours. We are better able to shoulder that responsibility with greater courage and faith."
The mission president then listed some challenges and hardships endured by missionaries, and added, "The miracle of it all, however, is that each morning these young men and women . . . rise up with a smile on their faces. With courage, faith, and testimony in their hearts they return to their purpose and go out to find someone to teach."
President Hinckley read from a letter by a mission president who is about to be released: "You told us that what we were about to experience would be both the hardest thing we had ever done and the crowning experience of our lives. You were completely right on both counts.
"I have marveled over the fatigue we have felt at the conclusion of the day, on many occasions, and the sense of renewal we always experienced as we arose the next day to continue our service. . . ."
President Hinckley said, "This work, as we all know, is a basic and fundamental part of the Church. It is older than the Church itself, and, we may assume, will continue right into the millennium." He further said, "The final words of the resurrected Lord are still binding upon us: 'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' " (Matthew 28:19).
President Hinckley spoke of the retention of converts, saying, "Your missionaries should teach them so effectively and be certain of their conversions at the time they are baptized, that they will never fall away. What a wonderful thing it will be if in five or ten years you find the converts of your administration active and happy, full of faith. But what a tragedy if you should discover that the fruits of your work have all come to naught.
"Alma the Book of Mormon prophet said: 'And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them — yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away' (Alma 23:6).
"Think of that," President Hinckley said. "Every convert saved and active.
"All of us are the fruit of missionary work, and our very presence is an indication of the effectiveness of those who are our forebears."
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