President Hinckley Visits Canada and Texas

During a journey from 31 July to 8 August 1998, President Gordon B. Hinckley traveled across Canada and spoke to tens of thousands of members gathered in 12 meetings in 6 provinces. He was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie Hinckley; President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and his wife, Donna Packer.

During September, President Hinckley gave an hour-long interview on CNN’s Larry King Live program; addressed the General Society of Mayflower Descendants in Salt Lake City; visited members in Houston, Texas; and spoke to a conference of United States mayors held in Salt Lake City.

British Columbia, Canada

President Hinckley began his Canadian visit by meeting with about 2,400 members gathered on Friday, 31 July, in Victoria, a city at the southern end of Vancouver Island off Canada’s western coast. Also in attendance were Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy, then serving as President of the North America Northwest Area, and his wife, Jolene Pace.

“These are the last days, and this is the time to so live that we stand blameless before God,” President Hinckley said in Vancouver. “My heart is filled with gratitude … for this glorious work and what’s happening to it.”

After hearing President Hinckley speak, Joan Clark of the Victoria First Ward said: “I drew closer to my Father in Heaven as I absorbed the smile of President Hinckley. I felt the loving kindness of my Heavenly Father.”

The next day, Saturday, 1 August, President Hinckley addressed members in two additional British Columbia cities. In the mainland city of Vancouver, about 8,000 members from 6 stakes in Canada and Washington gathered. The Lord “expects us to be neighborly, to be kind, to be friendly, to be virtuous and a good people,” President Hinckley said. “He expects us to be men and women of faith who have a knowledge of Him, the God of the universe, our own Father of our spirits. He—the great Elohim, if you please—governs the entire universe, and yet He is my Father and your Father, and I can go to Him and speak with Him in prayer with the expectation of an answer.”

That afternoon, President Hinckley traveled 300 miles north to Prince George, where about 1,600 members assembled. Speaking of the Prince George stake’s wide distances and remoteness, President Hinckley said: “Wherever you live, you have the Book of Mormon as well as the Bible to read and give you comfort and build your faith. You have the sermons of the Brethren spoken in general conference. You have the Church magazines and all the great good that they contain. … And though it seems you are scattered all over British Columbia, you are a member of a ward or a branch or a stake, and the officers of that ward or branch or stake have an interest in you and a love for you and a great appreciation for you and great respect for you as members of the Church.”

Alberta, Canada

Joined by Elder Kenneth Johnson of the Seventy, First Counselor in the North America Central Area Presidency, and his wife, Pamela Johnson, President Hinckley spoke on Sunday, 2 August, in the Alberta cities of Lethbridge and Edmonton.

About 7,500 people filled the Lethbridge Sportsplex, and nearly 2,000 more watched the conference via closed-circuit television in a nearby stake center. Speaking about the law of tithing, President Hinckley said: “Everywhere I go, and possibly everywhere you go across the world, as you see these marvelous meetinghouses, these temples, and all of the other things which come of the tithing funds of the Church, you can stand and say, ‘I did my part in building the kingdom of God in the earth.’ I think you can stand also and say, ‘I have never missed a penny which I have given—not one dime. In fact, the Lord has blessed me beyond my just deserts. How blessed I have been.’”

On Sunday afternoon, President Hinckley addressed an overflow crowd of about 10,000 people in a downtown Edmonton conference center. Talking of retaining new converts, President Hinckley said: “Be kind to them. Be generous. Welcome them. Some of them don’t know what it is all about. You can’t expect to learn all about the gospel in six lessons—of course not. Nobody knows all there is to know about the gospel—none of us. We are constantly learning. We are constantly adding to our knowledge, and these dear converts particularly need to be nurtured by the good word of God. I believe the Lord will hold us responsible if we fail to look after them and care for them.”

After the conference, Karin Jaffray of the Sherwood Park Second Ward, Edmonton Alberta Bonnie Doon Stake, said, “My children have always seen President Hinckley on TV, but they were thrilled to see him right here and know that he is real.”

Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada

Continuing his journey eastward across Canada, President Hinckley met with full-time missionaries and later with about 1,500 members in Regina, Saskatchewan, on Monday, 3 August. “You are good people,” President Hinckley said. “You get on your knees and pray to God. That is a wonderful thing, when all is said and done. … Many years ago, generations ago, family prayer was a very common phenomenon in Canada and the United States. There isn’t much of it anymore.”

Doug Archer, mayor of Regina, attended the conference. “As a guest at this very special meeting, I was struck by both the strength and simplicity of the message from President Gordon B. Hinckley—get a good education, be truthful, and live a clean life,” said Mayor Archer. “Those are good words for a good life.”

The next day, Tuesday, 4 August, President Hinckley traveled to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he addressed full-time missionaries and about 1,500 members from the Winnipeg Manitoba Stake and the Fort Francis Ontario District, which together cover about 400,000 square miles. Seats in the stake center were full three hours before the conference began, and members watched a video about President Hinckley’s life while they waited. Music during the conference was provided by a choir of 177 youth, some of whom had traveled for many hours to attend rehearsals.

“People ask me what my favorite scripture is,” President Hinckley said in Winnipeg. “I say, ‘Well, I have several of them.’ One of them is this: ‘Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers’ (D&C 112:10). There is no room for arrogance in our lives. There is no room for conceit in our lives. There is no room for egotism in our lives. We must be humble before the Lord. He has so declared, and if we will do it He will hear our prayers and answer them with a blessing upon our heads.”

Ontario, Canada

About 850 members gathered in a university auditorium to hear President Hinckley in Sudbury, Ontario, on Wednesday, 5 August. President Hinckley recalled being questioned about man’s potential. He replied: “There is before us a great model of the Redeemer of the world, whose life and precepts and teachings we try to follow. And that will lead to growth and opportunity and exaltation. He expects that of us. He has opened the way. And we, His grateful sons and daughters, ought to be working at it constantly.”

President Hinckley also said: “Every temple that we build becomes a memorial to the truth that we believe in the immortality of the human soul. Everything that occurs in those temples is concerned with the eternities, with everlasting life. We wouldn’t need a temple if we were just getting married for this life. We wouldn’t need a temple if all of our efforts were centered in this life. The temple becomes the great bridge from this life to the next and finds expression in the most unselfish kind of service of any service of which I am aware.”

Later that day, President Hinckley flew to Canada’s capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, where 3,000 members gathered. Speaking of “the challenges of a polluted society,” President Hinckley said: “Every young man and every young woman in the Church faces it. Every adult in the Church faces it. There is pollution in our society. It is all about us. It is sweeping across the world like a flood, destroying people. My beloved brothers and sisters, stay away from it. Stay away from this sleazy pollution. Stay away from pornography of any kind. Stay away from anything which tears you down and makes you less than what you ought to be. I don’t care where you go these days: it’s on television, it’s in our theaters, it’s in the literature which we have, it’s everywhere.”

Karen McDonald, a convert of two months in the Ottawa Second Ward, said: “I’ve always been kind of shocked over the things on television and how society seems to be more accepting of the unacceptable. Hearing President Hinckley say how wrong these things are really meant a lot to me.”

Ottawa Citizen religion and ethics editor Bob Harvey attended the conference to hear President Hinckley’s words. “This evening was like entering a different culture,” he said. “I was mildly surprised at the emphasis he placed on practical things, things like getting married in the Church, getting an education, and staying away from pornography.”

Quebec, Canada

Nearing the end of his journey, President Hinckley arrived in Montreal, Quebec, on Thursday, 6 August, to meet with full-time missionaries and later with about 3,000 members gathered in the Place des Arts. He said: “Well, it has been a very long and a very tiring trip but a truly remarkable journey where we have looked into the faces of thousands of the best people on earth, wonderful Latter-day Saints, men and women of great faith and integrity and kindness and goodness, men and women who love the Lord and seek to do His will. We have had a wonderful experience for which I feel so tremendously grateful.”

Speaking in Quebec City the next day to about 550 members gathered in the Grand Theatre, President Hinckley said: “This is a great nation of which you are a part. I believe that this nation is included in the promises of the Lord as set forth in the Book of Mormon, that as long as the nations of North America worship the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, that no other powers will prevail over them, that they shall enjoy freedom if they will live together in righteousness. I believe that same promise applies to Canada as it does to the United States. I believe that that imposes upon us a tremendous responsibility to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be faithful unto the Lord in every respect.”

Later in his remarks, President Hinckley said: “We don’t worry about the Nicene Creed. We don’t worry about the Athanasian Creed. We have direct, revealed knowledge of the Father and the Son. If Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son, then everything else which follows—the Book of Mormon; the restoration of the priesthood; the restoration of the great and eternal authority, the keys of salvation for the dead—if the First Vision is true, then all these others are true also.”

President Hinckley completed his Canadian tour on Saturday, 8 August, by returning to Ontario to meet with full-time missionaries and to address about 12,000 members gathered in Hamilton. Also in attendance were Elder Gary J. Coleman of the Seventy, now serving as Second Counselor in the North America Northeast Area Presidency, and his wife, Judy Coleman.

In words of farewell, President Hinckley said: “I would like to throw my arms around every one of you, but that would take all day today and all day tomorrow. We have other appointments to keep. Please know, if we can’t shake your hands, if we can’t throw our arms around you, that we still love you. We are all together in this thing. God bless you temporally and spiritually. May you have food on your tables, clothing on your backs, a shelter over your heads, and above all the sweet, wonderful Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit to bless you, the Holy Ghost to prompt you and lead you.”

Larry King Live

On 8 September President Hinckley appeared on CNN’s cable-TV talk show Larry King Live, which is viewed worldwide. In an hour-long interview involving questions not only from host Larry King but from several telephone callers, President Hinckley talked about numerous topics relating to the Church, such as the Word of Wisdom, missionary work, Church growth, the Book of Mormon, and humanitarian aid.

“We stand solid and strong for something,” President Hinckley responded when asked why people are attracted to the Church. “We don’t equivocate. People are looking for something in this world of shifting values, of anchors that are slipping. Many people are looking for something they can hang onto, an anchor to which they can attach their lives.” President Hinckley also said: “It isn’t always easy to be a member of this Church. It is demanding, but it is wonderfully fruitful and has a tremendous effect upon people.”

Speaking about the scriptures, President Hinckley said: “The Bible is a testament of the Old World. The Book of Mormon is a testament of the New World. They go hand in hand in testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He described how the law of tithing helps fund the Church’s efforts worldwide: “As this Church grows, we have to accommodate our people. We will finish or dedicate 600 new buildings this year. This is a tremendous undertaking.” He also said, “My goal is to move [the Church] as fast and as solidly across the world as we can.”

At the end of the interview, President Hinckley was asked to describe his responsibilities as President of the Church. “My role is to declare doctrine,” he said. “My role is to stand as an example before the people. My role is to be a voice in defense of the truth. My role is to stand as a conservator of those values which are important in our civilization and our society. My role is to lead people.”

Mayflower Descendants

“I look back to our forebears and then to the present and ask, What has happened to your America?” said President Hinckley during his keynote address at a banquet of the board of assistants of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, held 12 September in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City. President Hinckley is an 11th-generation Mayflower descendant and a member of the society.

After lamenting some widespread social and moral ills, such as gambling, drug abuse, single motherhood, and pornography, President Hinckley said: “Our forebears knew nothing of these things. Marriage was sacred, to be endured and made the very best of. But it was usually a very happy adventure. Children and families were regarded as a gift from God, with a responsibility to nurture them and bring them up in understanding and light and truth. Work was a thing to be enthroned as the enhancement of human dignity. Worship, worship of God, worship of the Almighty, worship of Jesus Christ—for these people were Christians—was as fundamental to our forebears as was eating and drinking and sleeping after the tiring labors of the day.”

Houston, Texas

Addressing some 22,000 members gathered in the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, on Sunday, 20 September, President Hinckley said: “My brothers and sisters, we are sons and daughters of God, and it becomes us to live with respect toward one another, with integrity, with goodness in our lives, with honesty and righteousness before the Lord.”

Discussing a broad range of gospel subjects, President Hinckley directed many of his remarks toward parents and spouses: “There is no man in this Church who holds the priesthood of God who deserves to exercise that priesthood, including eligibility to enter the temple, who carries in his heart an abusive attitude toward his wife, toward his children. And if there be any women who carry in their hearts an attitude of abusiveness, you have no place until you repent of any such actions.”

Also speaking at the 12-stake regional conference were President Hinckley’s wife, Marjorie; Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Elder Angel Abrea of the Seventy, First Counselor in the North America Southwest Area Presidency, and his wife, Maria Abrea. President Hinckley met Houston mayor Lee Brown at a reception prior to the conference, and Mayor Brown and other officials attended the conference. The day before the conference, the Houston Chronicle published a favorable article titled “Mormons on the Move: New President Adept with Media and General Public.”

U.S. Conference of Mayors

On 25 September President Hinckley addressed about 100 mayors and other public officials from cities throughout the United States, who were gathered in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City for a conference about youth violence.

“To you men and women of great influence, you who preside in the cities of the nation, to you I say that it will cost far less to reform our schools, to teach the virtues of good citizenship, than it will to go on building and maintaining costly jails and prisons in which to warehouse the many who violate the law,” said President Hinckley. “But there is another institution of even greater importance than the schools. It is the home. I believe that no nation can rise higher than the strength of its families.”

He also said, “There is no adequate substitute for husband and wife, father and mother, working together to strengthen each other and guide the destinies of their children.”