Forty years ago, when the conflict in Vietnam was raging, the anxious mother of a U.S. Marine Corps soldier telephoned Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, to ask if there was a branch of the Church in South Vietnam. Elder Hinckley told how her son could find the servicemen's branch nearest to his base.

Days later, she called back, eager to share a letter from her son, who had written: "Mother, don't worry about me anymore. I've found the Church. Your prayers have been answered. This morning seven of us found a place where we could be off by ourselves. We sang the hymns we sing at home, but they had new meaning for us. We administered the sacrament, and I have never appreciated it so much. We read together the Book of Mormon, and we bore testimony one to another. Don't worry about me. The Church is here, and I'm in the Church" (Conference Report, Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 1966, p. 63).

Like the young corpsman in the above incident, many a Latter-day Saint in a new and strange environment has received comfort and security when locating a unit of the Church to attend. Just as a person is in a greater position to enjoy and appreciate a nutritious and well-prepared meal when in a state of hunger, when we are in unfamiliar surroundings, lonely and anxiously concerned for our own well-being, we find deeper meaning at Church. The hymns we sing, the classes we attend, the talks we hear, the sacrament emblems we receive have added dimension. We find needed warmth in the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in the gospel, though we may not yet have formally met them individually.

At such times, we are apt to exclaim in our hearts like the Marine in the above incident, "The Church is here, and I'm in the Church!"

Under such circumstances we perhaps gain a greater understanding of why the Lord promised that He would build His Church upon the rock of divine revelation through the foundation of apostles and prophets holding priesthood keys (see Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 2:19-20). The Church blesses us through such functions as these:

• It provides a framework for the administration of priesthood ordinances essential for our salvation, including the sacrament of the Lord's supper.

• It serves as "the household of God" (see Ephesians 2:19), a haven in the midst of a turbulent world, where His covenant people may succor and strengthen one another (see Mosiah 18:8-9) and firm up flagging faith.

• It preserves the purity of the doctrine of Christ against Satan's nefarious weapons: corruption, confusion and contamination.

Nephi saw in vision the latter days when the church of the devil, with dominion over all the earth, would be in conflict with the church of Christ.

"I beheld," Nephi wrote, "the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few;... nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small" (1 Nephi 14:12).

Latter-day Saints today are witnessing the ongoing fulfillment of this prophecy. There are more than 12 million members of the Church today. That is many, but it seems miniscule when compared to the world population of 6.5 billion. Indeed, the dominion of the Church is small, just as Nephi foresaw.

And yet, the portion of the prophecy about the Church being "upon all the face of the earth" is also being fulfilled. The Church has an ever-expanding global presence and influence such that, more than ever before, the inhabitants of the earth may access stakes of Zion or be taught the gospel by missionaries sent forth for this purpose. These emissaries gather in the elect of God, who receive the gospel through baptism and confirmation and eventually qualify for further blessings to be received in one of scores of temples that are dotting the earth as prophets have predicted.

Thus fully endowed with the ordinances of salvation, these sons and daughters of God exclaim with joy, wherever they live in the world, "The Church is here, and I'm in the Church!"