Great progress in missionary work
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"We have made great progress in our missionary work in recent years," President Gordon B. Hinckley said. "We have more missionaries and more effective missionaries. It is interesting to note that nearly 400,000 missionaries, or 40 percent of all missionaries who have served in this dispensation, have entered the mission field since March 12, 1995, the day I became president of the Church."
President Hinckley addressed the 118 mission presidents and their wives during the annual New Mission Presidents Seminar held in the Provo Missionary Training Center on Sunday, June 24.
Acknowledging the work of Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve in his assignment as chairman of the Missionary Executive Council, and his work in the creation of "Preach My Gospel," the missionary study guide, President Hinckley said "missionaries do not speak memorized dialogue as they once did, but rather rely on the Spirit, and the results have become evident.
"It is reliably estimated that a million missionaries have served since the organization of the Church. The Church membership has now reached 13 million residing all across the world. It is only the beginning."
President Hinckley recounted the experience of Joseph Smith as a 17-year-old boy who was visited by the Angel Moroni on the night of September 21.
Reading from Joseph Smith History 1:30-33, emphasizing the details of that glorious experience, President Hinckley said, "Imagine, if you will, the tremendous impact of that statement. Joseph was a farm boy, the son of a farmer. He had very little education. He had no wealth. He lived in a rural community. Nothing could be less promising than his circumstances at that time and the future of which Moroni spoke, and yet it has all come to pass and continues to do so. It is truly a miraculous thing. You and I are witnesses to this constantly unfolding drama."
Speaking in a "personal vein," which, he said, "is an old man's privilege," President Hinckley noted his 97th birthday observance the day before and said, "I have been around a long time. I have seen and experienced much. The wonderful thing is that all that is good that has happened to me has resulted from my service as a missionary."
Recounting events that led to serving a mission, he described his life as a young man during the Great Depression, how it affected countries across the earth, and how unemployment in the state of Utah reached about 35 percent. "Those who had employment worked for reduced incomes," he said.
President Hinckley had earned a bachelor's degree in 1932 and had a little job, "scrupulously" saving money with the hope of going to graduate school. "Then something happened to change my plans," he said. "I received a call to serve as a missionary in the British Isles. Very few missionaries were called at the time because they could not afford to go. The British Mission was then the most expensive in the world at $45 per month."
About this time of the year, 74 years ago, he boarded the train for New York. Not able to afford a Pullman, he and his companions sat up in the coach all the way to New York, where they boarded a ship. After six days of travel, they landed late that night at Cork, Ireland, where a street singer on the dock sang, "Danny Boy." His voice rang through the fog. "It has become one of my favorites," he said.
They continued to Plymouth where they disembarked and took the boat train into London. "No one met us," he said. "We found a hotel and went to bed for the night.
"The next day we somehow found our way to the mission office at 43 Tavistock Square. Here we met the mission president," he said.
His companions were assigned to stay in London, while he was assigned to go to Preston. "I confess," President Hinckley said, "that I was a bit homesick as I made that lonely journey."
Arriving in Preston, he was met by the missionary district president, Elder Kent S. Bramwell. They went to their "digs" at 15 Wadham Road. "My companion said that after supper we would hold a street meeting. I was terrified.
"We took our little stand down to the marketplace and set it up. We sang a hymn. My companion then introduced me, saying that I would pray and be the first speaker. What an experience that was, as I looked into the faces of the rough crowd that had gathered around me."
For five months, President Hinckley labored in Lancashire, walking in the footsteps of earlier great missionaries like Heber C. Kimball and his associates, who, in 1837, carried the gospel to the British Isles, "first laboring in this identical area."
"Vauxhall Chapel, the Cockpit, and Temperance Hall were still standing at the time," he said. "They had many converts in those days, who, when converted, desired to come to Zion. For the most part, they were men and women of faith and testimony.
"I was not well when I arrived in Preston," he continued. "I had terrible hay fever. I could not understand the Lancashire brogue which the people spoke. I was somewhat discouraged.... I wrote to my father and said, 'I am not doing any good here. I think I had better come home and save your money.'
"He replied, 'Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion — forget yourself and go to work.'
"The morning his letter came I read in the New Testament, 'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" (Mark 8:35).
"I went upstairs in the bedroom, got on my knees, and told the Lord that I would try to forget myself and go to work.
"That was the major decision of my life," he continued. "I went to work. Everything changed. The grass covered hills of Lancashire became beautiful to me. I learned to love the people."
Elder Hinckley was transferred after five months to London to work in the European Mission office under the direction of Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve and president of the European Mission.
"London became my favorite city in all the world," he said. "I loved it. I enjoyed the work. Each Sunday morning we would take the bus to Hyde Park and set up our little stand and there speak. Later in the day we would do the same at Regents Park. I even learned to enjoy the hecklers who tried to make life miserable for us."
At the conclusion of his mission, President Hinckley made an appointment with the First Presidency to give a report of the European Mission as requested by mission president, Elder Merrill.
"President (Heber J.) Grant said they would give 15 minutes. I started talking. They asked questions. I was there for more than an hour. Incidentally," continued President Hinckley, "President Grant's journal makes reference to this occasion.
"Two days later, President (David O.) McKay called me and said they wished to employ me. I discovered that my salary would be $65 a month. With that, I had to furnish my own desk and typewriter," he said.
He was also asked to teach seminary for $35 a month. "A committee of six members of the Council of the Twelve, with Stephen L. Richards as chairman, were my supervisors," he said. "Brother Widtsoe referred to me as 'the slave,"' he said.
At one point, President Hinckley asked for a ream of paper. The office manager "asked me if I knew how many sheets were in a ream. I told him 500. He grudgingly gave me the paper."
"Well, you know the remainder of the story from there," he said, noting how he served on the Sunday School general board and as counselor, and then president, of his stake.
He was subsequently called as an Assistant to the Twelve, then the Council of the Twelve, as it was known in those days, until called in 1981 by President Spencer W. Kimball to serve as counselor in the First Presidency.
Returning his thoughts to his mission, he said, "I point to my mission as the great directing influence of my entire life. My marriage,... my service in the Church, my activity in a number of business affairs, all have become rich and wonderful blessings.... I feel that no one has had greater opportunities than I have had. They have all been blessings from the Lord; they have all stemmed from the decision I made when I got on my knees in the bedroom of 15 Wadham Road in Preston, Lancashire, and pledged to the Lord that I would forget myself and go to work.
"I have lived to see the day when a million missionaries have served this Church, and its membership has increased to 13 million. And that, as I said, is only the beginning....
"It is the Lord's work. I knew this long ago and have never had any serious doubt about it anytime since.... If it is a fraud, we are engaged in a fraud. If it is true, it is the most precious thing on earth.
"I testify that it is true and most precious...."
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