President Hinckley Encourages Texas Saints

The world has been given the Book of Mormon so that all may read it and gain an unshakable conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, President Gordon B. Hinckley told members gathered January 7 for a regional conference in southern Texas.

“That is the purpose of this remarkable and wonderful book,” said President Hinckley, holding up the Book of Mormon as he spoke. He urged the estimated 3,600 attending the conference at the University of Texas-Pan American field house in Edinburg, Texas, to read the Book of Mormon this year. “There is no other book like it,” he said.

President Hinckley said a thorough study of the Book of Mormon, its references to Jesus Christ, and its teachings about the Savior will bring readers a conviction that the book, as its title page states, is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Seventy, a member of the North America Southwest Area presidency, also spoke at the conference. President Hinckley and Elders Holland and Busche were accompanied by their wives, who spoke as well.

Elders Holland and Busche testified of the gospel’s truthfulness and joined President Hinckley in stressing the importance of reading and studying the Book of Mormon. Elder Holland, noting the presence at the conference of members of other faiths, testified of the truthfulness of the restored Church and its divine guidance.

“This is the Church of Jesus Christ. This is the truth,” he said. Elder Holland testified that the gospel of Jesus Christ can lift people out of gloom and despondency with its message of faith and hope.

President Hinckley and Elders Holland and Busche began their two-day visit to the Rio Grande Valley of southern Texas on January 6 by meeting with priesthood leaders from the Laredo Texas District and the McAllen Texas, Corpus Christi Texas, and Harlingen Texas Stakes at a leadership meeting in the McAllen Texas Stake Center.

In his conference remarks, President Hinckley told those filling the university field house, some of whom had traveled more than 150 miles to attend, that the gospel of Jesus Christ generates a common bond of brotherhood and sisterhood. He cited examples of the gospel’s power in the lives of Heavenly Father’s children, adding that the gospel increases our willingness to “forget ourselves and serve others. I feel it here this morning among you wonderful people.”

Speaking through an interpreter to the predominantly Spanish-speaking audience, many from northern Mexico, President Hinckley said Spanish has become for the present the Church’s second language. He noted the great faith of many Spanish-speaking people and discussed recently announced plans to construct a temple in Monterrey, Mexico, about 150 miles south of the Texas-Mexico border’s southernmost tip. The temple nearest to Church members living in the tri-stake area of southern Texas is the Dallas Texas Temple, 600 miles to the north.

President Hinckley related the challenges in finding five acres for a temple site in the middle of Monterrey but added that a site has been secured and architects are at work.

President Gordon B. Hinckley encouraged Latter-day Saints attending a regional conference in southern Texas to read the Book of Mormon this year. (Photo by Jim Brunson.)

Choir members from three Texas stakes and one district provided music during the January 7 regional conference.