New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction from Church Leaders

You will look upon this experience as the sweetest, the richest, the most rewarding of your lives,” President Gordon B. Hinckley, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, told seventy-four mission presidents and their wives at the keynote session of the annual Mission Presidents Seminar in June.

He was one of a number of speakers during the four days of seminars; others included all of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve (except Elder David B. Haight, who was excused because of schedule conflicts); all members of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy; two members of the First Quorum of the Seventy; and some of the wives of the General Authorities.

President Hinckley thanked the new presidents and their wives for the willing response to their calls, even though they did not know at the time of their calls where they would be serving.

He also explained the function of the new system of Area Presidencies (See August 1984 Ensign, “News of the Church.”) Every mission president, he said, would have an Area Presidency to whom he could look for direction and guidance in the details of the work. “We can’t make every decision in Salt Lake City. We have to do something about decentralizing authority,” he told the new leaders.

In his keynote address, President Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve testified that “we have the answers to the problems of the world,” and we in the Church have a responsibility in acting as ambassadors for Jesus Christ to share that knowledge.

The greatest help mission presidents and their wives will have in this new stewardship, he said, is their own spirituality.

He cautioned them that “it was never intended for this Church to be popular with the worldly.” But “to the honest in heart, the Church is the most attractive religious body in the world. There are tens of millions of these honest in heart who are awaiting our message.”

President Benson then gave four suggestions for effective missionary work. First, he said, obtain the Spirit through personal worthiness, the prayer of faith, and a daily searching of the scriptures. Then acquire humility, which is not timidity or weakness, but is an essential ingredient of success. Next, love the people. “Point them up to a higher, finer life and, eventually, to exaltation.” And finally, work diligently. “If a missionary works,” he said, “he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. Work, work, work: there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”

Leaving his blessing on the mission presidents and their wives, he said: “God bless us that we may serve so that we will never have any serious regrets, that we will know we have been magnified even beyond our natural talents.”

The other General Authorities addressed a wide variety of subjects, many emphasizing the need to develop spirituality, bear testimony of the Savior, seek out those who will accept the gospel, and work hard.