The Force of Example

The Test of Efficiency* By Nephi Anderson, Member General Board Y. M. M. I. A., and Author of "Added Upon," etc.

The true test of efficiency of any Mutual is the type of boy or man it is instrumental in making. The test of efficiency in a machine is the manner in which it does the work planned for it to do, or the finished product

which it was designed to make. The test of efficiency in a business is the legitimate profit it brings to the investor. The test of efficiency of a school is the kind of students it graduates. The test of efficiency in a mutual improvement association is the kind of Latter-day Saints its members become by the training received through its organizations. There is a close relationship between means and end. If the machinery of a factory is not working well, the product will be defective; if the business concern is poorly organized and managed, there will be little profit; if the means which the Lord has placed as helps and governments in his Church are not properly used, the perfecting of the Saints will be greatly retarded. The means which the M. I. A. uses to accomplish its ends are found in general, stake, and ward organizations, in conferences, conventions, meetings, and classes, in committees, manuals, etc. These constitute the machinery. If the product is to — — be what the Lord and we all desire, the machinery must function properly and well in all its details. I use the figure of a machine. Let it be clearly understood that no matter how finely adjusted the parts are, it would be dead and useless without motive power. So in all this Mutual Improvement machinery, the Spirit of the Lord is the moving force which generates life in and throughout it all. An efficient Mutual is completely organized, with willing, capable, and energetic officers. It has well planned and interesting programs and lessons, and a comfortable and cheerful place of meeting; it provides clean, attractive, and elevating social environments for the young people. If these means are secured, the end to be attained is practically assured. An efficient Mutual will produce young men who are clean in thought and word and deed, who are free from the effects of tobacco and alcohol; who will not allow any evil thought

*Delivered at the annual M. I. A. Conference June, 1919.

898 IMPROVEMENT ERA

which might come, to remain; who will not tell smutty stories to stain the clean, fresh sweetness of the young spirit, and to mar their own and others' memory. An efficient Mutual will make its members strong, physically — and mentally if possible, spiritually and morally always, with a strength to resist temptation and to do every duty, the simple and irksome as well as the more pleasant and public. An efficient Mutual will make the young men brave to with- — stand the sneers of the evil-minded not afraid to be called — "good boys, or Sunday School kids" young men who understand that the better part of bravery is the fear of evil. An efficient Mutual will create in the young men a taste for and a delight in all good literature, will make them studious. An efficient Mutual will bring a spirit of true dignity to its members. Knowing that they are in the lineage of the Gods, they will not stoop to demean themselves by doing anything unworthy of their royal ancestry. The knowledge that they are on the way to become like the the Great Master is an anchor to their soul. For "Every man who hath this hope in him purifieth himself as He is pure." An efficient Mutual will develop faith in the gospel and the Church and their divine mission to save. It will make its members loyal to the leaders of the Church, and not ashamed to bear testimony to the divine mission of Joseph Smith and his successors, even to our own, present-day prophet, president, and M. I. A. worker, President Heber J. Grant. An efficient mutual for the coming year will increase the attendance at the sacrament meetings of the Church. Mutual members should be active in the priesthood and be in their proper places each Sabbath, and this applies to every officer as well as to every member, from the members of the General Boards down to the "last and least." An efficient Mutual will make of its members stalwart soldiers for the right and the truth, valiant servants whom God can use in putting to rights a world upset by sin and strife. The test of efficiency of any mutual is, therefore, whether or not it is doing what its founder planned it to do: namely, to develop the gifts within the young men of the Church and to establish within them an individual testimony of the truth and the magnitude of the great Latter-day work. Here and now, as never before, we are confronted with this need. Let us make of the Mutual Improvement Associations an efficient army of defenders of the faith who shall say to the forces of the evil one, "Thou shalt not pass." "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."