A Deep Commitment to the Principles of Welfare Service

President Spencer W. Kimball

My beloved brothers and sisters, I have enjoyed this meeting very much, and I endorse all that has been presented by the various speakers.

I express deep appreciation to each of you for what you are doing in this wonderful welfare work. We are grateful for the progress that has been made. Notwithstanding there is much service yet to be given, I feel the Lord is pleased with the service that has been rendered by the Saints.

I sense a deep commitment on the part of our leaders to apply in the wards and stakes the principles of welfare service we have heard preached from this pulpit for many years. Surely there never has been a time when we needed to be more anxiously engaged in such an important cause.

I am pleased with the reports we receive regarding family gardens. I hope all of you plan to put in your garden whenever spring comes in your area, and that where possible you are canning and preserving food. I note, too, the increased emphasis on procuring welfare projects, as well as improving the ones we already have.

Nearly every family in the Church is feeling the effects of worldwide inflation in one way or another. May I remind all of us that if we will live the gospel and follow the counsel of the leaders of the Church, we will be blessed to avoid many of the problems that plague the world. The Lord knows the challenges we face. If we keep his commandments, we will be entitled to the wisdom and blessings of heaven in solving them.

Brothers and sisters, I know the gospel is true. It contains the answers to all of life’s questions and to all of life’s problems. May the Lord bless us all in this great welfare program, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.