--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Unknown collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 27 number: 3 published: 1924-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "“Priesthood Quorums,” *Improvement Era 27, no. 3 (January 1924)*: 263–264." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2703unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2703unse start_page: 263 end_page: 264 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1924-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2703unse publication_year: 1924 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1924, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Priesthood Quorums ^Priesthood Quorums Native Tongan Worker Advanced in Priesthood Tupou Martin Het- tig, exemplary young man of the Tongan mission, who was re- cently advanced to the office of teacher, hav- ing been a deacon for some length of time. President Mark V. Coombs of the Ton- gan mission writes: "We are very proud of this self-made man. He has never been out of Tonga, yet, by tak- ing advantage of spare moments he has ac- quired an enviable edu- cation, and but fifteen years of age now, he is self-supporting and his father's right hand man. His father 're- cently said, 'I like my boy to associate with you young men, (speaking of the elders of the mission), for you are clean and wholesome and I would like my son to be like you.' It might be mentioned in pass- ing that Tupou's fath- er, Mr. Hettig, is not a member of the Church, but he acknowledges the super- iority of our young elders over the usual run of youth." Why I am a Deacon At the Lesser Priesthood convention held in the Salt Lake Stake on Mon- day, November 26, 1923, Carl Huhl, a son of Bishop Charles W. Huhl, of the Nineteenth ward, gave a short and pertinent paper on this topic, which may be taken as a sample of hundreds that are uttered in conventions and meetings jthe Church over. He said, among other things, "I am a deacon because I am a Latter-day Saint. I thank God for the privilege of being born in this time in which Christ, our Savior, has again restored his gospel and his holy Priesthood and organized his Church for the salvation of all men, whosoever will believe in Christ and obey his gospel. I am thankful I am born of Latter-day Saint parents. Through their teachings and the teachings I have received 264 IMPROVEMENT ERA in Sunday School, Primary, and Religion Class, I have received an under- standing of God our heavenly Father, and of Jesus Christ, his Son, our Re- deemer and Savior, and of his gospel restored again through Joseph Smith, the prophet of God. * * * Every boy who lives in faith and obedience to the gospel receives the office of deacon at the age of twelve years when called by proper authority. This is an office of the Aaronic or Lesser Priest- hood which is conferred by the laying on of hands by those in authority. I am thankful that I am a deacon in the Church, for the Priesthood is the power of God vested in man by which man becomes an agent of God to officiate in his name in the ordinances of the gospel. * * * I enjoy our weekly quorum meetings. * * * The deacons in our ward assist in passing the sacrament, and on Fast days, every deacon present in Sunday school receives one or two fast-offering cards on which are eight to twelve names of families living in the ward which we visit and solicit for their fast offerings. The amount which we receive from each name is recorded on the cards. These fast offerings and names we take and deliver to him who takes care of the fast offerings in the fast meeting. I enjoy the duties of the work of a deacon, and pray that I may be faithful and worthy of receiving the blessings pertaining to eternal life." Patriarch William Jex of Spanish Fork, ninety-three year old Indian war veteran, in opening his address to the student body of the Brigham Young university, in November, said, "There is one thing I know that some of you may not know. I know that God lives!" The declaration, coming as it did from a man of Patriarch Jex's experience, was thrilling in its intensity, and undoubtedly left a last- ing impression upon the minds who heard him. Ac- cording to President Emeritus George H. Brimhall, who in- troduced the speaker, Mr. Jex has been closely connected with seventy-four weddings, is the father of fifteen chil- dren, has 166 grandchildren, 196 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchil- dren. He numbers among his posterity 300 living per- sons and 84 persons who have died. Mr. Jex, a veter- an of the Indian wars, is a survivor of the Diamond Creek battle which oc- curred June 20, 1866, "in Diamond Creek, an offshoot of Spanish Fork canyon. The photograph shows Patriarch Jex beside the stone monument that has been placed to mark the battle ground. H. R Merrill. William Jex, age past 92 years, in June, 1923, one of the Indian war veterans who took part in the Diamond Creeli battle, standing by the side of the monunvnt with a flag in his hand.