Hi. How are y'all doing? I like to call it a seminal call for missionaries

because it really did have an impact.

We have 22 areas across the world and 18 of them will have more missions. This is a day to be celebrated by the Church, by the members of the Church, by all of us, because it shows this rising generation is not in such a crisis as

as some would make us believe.

They are responding to the call of Jesus Christ through their prophet, and that makes me very happy. In April 2022, our beloved prophet extended a prophetic invitation to serve a mission, particularly to the rising generation. And they accepted that call. They answered that call in abundance. It really did have an impact. Every single month the number of missionaries went up. This, to me, is an outcropping of President Nelson's keen interest in our rising generation to be a part of what he calls the most important work of our day is to gather Israel on both sides of the veil and they're doing it. They’re putting in their applications, they’re going out and serving. He said in his April 2022 conference address that

the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only enduring solution for peace.

Now we hear that statement and we think, oh yeah, there are a lot of wars.

Well, yeah, I think it does speak to worldwide peace in that sense.

But I think it also means that a very deep personal level,

that He brings healing and peace to the individual son or daughter of God. When you look at our pre-pandemic numbers, we were at about 67,000, just over 67,000 missionaries. As of today, we’re at 72,721. So that is a significant increase considering all that’s been going on in the world. And so necessity demanded that we open new missions. We’re all heartbroken with what happened during Covid and the pandemic,

and it stalled a lot of things, not just in the Church, in the world and with mankind.

And so to see this particular area in the Church of missionary service rebounding and even exceeding where we were prior to the pandemic is joyful. It's happy.

We're hoping that as these missions are created, the ratio of missionaries and mission leaders can be such that these mission leaders can have an ever-developing and growing relationship with those missionaries as they lead and direct and comfort and strengthen the missionaries as they move forward. I think it'll make the missionary experience so much more profound. You know, our desire, our hope, our prayer for every single one of these missionaries is that when they look back upon their missionary experience, that they will see that they experienced great joy, and not only the joy that comes from living the gospel, but also the joy that comes from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know how you can put a bad spin on this to see our young people who are faced with so much in their lives, choosing to serve Jesus Christ and go on these missions. They want to serve. I think there’s a love of the Savior that is very deep.

I think that they look forward to these missions, and they feel it a great privilege to serve, and they’re having great success. We have surveys and studies saying that Gen Z is turning away from God,

and instead our segment of Gen Z, members of the Church, this rising generation, are stepping forward against countervailing winds and trends of the world. Bucking those trends, they’re stepping forward to serve God with a desire to serve Him

and helping others come unto Him. And to me, that is a thrill. They’re remarkably good at talking to people. Some of them are just amazing

with social media and technology. We've never had a generation that did better with that.

Getting visas has become a little more challenging throughout the world,

and as we extend that period, that gives us more time for them to get started and applying for the visa, and we think that'll help them be able to leave without much delay. It just gives more flexibility to a family, to a mom and a dad and a young person who's considering a mission. I’m grateful for our prophet and the inspiration he received

to express to the rising generation worldwide that the Lord needs every one of them to serve as a missionary.

And I’m grateful that our missionaries, as I already expressed, listened to the call, are coming forward to serve. And to me, it's a joy. The implications of this will be generational.