Brethren and sisters, we have had a glorious conference. I do not know when I have been more thrilled with the messages than I have been by those given at this conference, which began on the sixth and has continued through Saturday and Sunday.

Response to calls of duty

One thing has stood out in my mind as most significant. It is the response of brethren and sisters to calls to duty, either in the Church locally or away on calls that require absence from the town in which they live. I have been impressed with the responsiveness of men, women, and children to a call of the Church to duty that they need to perform at home or abroad.

Peace Corps

The government has a great plan for calling the youth of the country to perform service, not for themselves but a mission for the country itself. They are not succeeding so well as they had anticipated in getting the young men of the United States to fill the calls made. But you do not find a responsiveness to duty unheeded by the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Calls to serve in the Church

I have had occasion to be thrilled with the willingness of the church membership to respond to the call of missionary work, whether it is local or foreign. Every man, almost without exception, and particularly every woman says he or she is ready to respond to any call that the Church makes. I don't know of anything more impressive in this Church than this response to a call to service by these faithful members. When you think of the thousands of missionaries, most of them men, but many of them women, who are giving their time, their means, in response to calls of bishops, stake presidents, and others in the service of this great Church, it is wonderful. Many have said, "I will sell my home, I will make any sacrifice in order to fulfill the call to duty."

As I stand here before you, I think I cannot refer to one refusal to a call to duty. I have in mind a postponement for a year, or for six months and sometimes more, but I cannot think of one person who has said, "I cannot accept a call." One of them might say, "Give me six months, a year, two years, and I will fulfill the call, the duty, that you now give me."

Yes, I can think of one, a young man, who said, "No, I think I can't fulfill that call." He is thinking of it now and worrying. He will accept it, I am sure; if he is given a few months, maybe six months, he will come back and say, "I will take that call and do the best I can."

Now, when you multiply the calls in the missionary area alone, it is wonderful that the membership of the Church is so responsive to any duty, any responsibility that the Church desires of them. It is apparent to all the Church, this responsiveness of the membership to the call to duty; it is an outstanding feature of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Young men, young women, older men, and older women, stand ready to respond to a call of the Church and to make any sacrifice necessary in order to give the call of the Church preference in preaching the gospel, not only a missionary call that requires a sacrifice to duty, but the rendering of finances, sometimes reaching millions of dollars, in order to make the call more successful as a service to the Church.

What I am saying is this: that every man and every woman with the Spirit of the Lord in his or her heart will deny himself or herself in order to make the calls to the work of the Lord successful. It is not only a half-dozen persons that I am referring to, but thousands in this Church will give an affirmative response to the call to an office in a ward or a stake.

Brethren, I am saying to you with appreciation, God bless you for your ready response to the calls that come to you either in your ward or stake or area. And the Lord is mindful of your willingness to make a ready response and to do what you can to extend the work of the Lord at home and abroad.

Some of you may feel as though the General Authorities are unappreciative, but I want you to know that we appreciate more than ever before in the history of this Church the willingness of men and women to respond to the service which the Church needs in the furtherance of the establishment of the gospel.

God bless you! Don't feel discouraged. ". . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness," and all else will be added  Matt. 6:33 You are showing your willingness thus to do your best and give your all if necessary.

I have in mind men who say, "Well, if you need us in this area, if you need more help, if you need money, just let us know." It is the spirit of willingness and the response to the call of duty that overwhelms us sometimes. I am saying at the end of this glorious conference that never before in the history of the Church has there been manifest such willingness to give financially or intellectually anything the Lord wants of you as is manifest throughout the Church today.

Blessings for willingness to serve

May the Lord bless you for your willingness to deny yourselves physically, intellectually, and temporally for the good of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I should like to say this in better terms, but I cannot express it as I should like to. Not only are my legs defiant, but my tongue gets twisted.

The Lord bless you in your homes, in your church appointments, whether at home or abroad. God bless you, you young men and girls, in living the honorable life your parents would have you live, and God will make you happy by being true to the ideals of virtue and purity and will bring happiness to your parents, happiness to your wards, happiness to the membership of the kingdom of God.

I ask that you uphold and sustain your authorities in the wards and the stakes. Be true to the standards of right as taught by your fathers and mothers. Be true to your individual selves by upholding the ideals of righteousness, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.