The Mission of the M. I. A.

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A.* By Elder Melvin J. Ballard, of the Council of the Twelve and Assistant Supt. Y. M. M. I. A. I feel sure that, in the history of the Mutual Improvement As- sociations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the position occupied by these great organizations in the Church of Christ has never before been more clearly understood, more definitely estab- lished and more urgently needed than at present. We have had in the past to shift our program, since to the priesthood quorums and the Sabbath schools has been given the task of treating, more essentially, the study of theological questions. Added Responsibilities Placed upon the M. I. A. Still, unto us is left the right and privilege to study the prac- tical application of our glorious religion to the lives of the boys and girls; and the essential aim established in the early organization, through the direction of President Young, is still reserved, viz. "the establishment in the youth of individual testimony of the truth and magnitude of the great Latter-day work." There have come to us added responsibilities, and it is necessary that those who are engaged in this important work should understand something of the nature of this assignment, what it means and the facilities that are provided to accomplish the glorious ends. I would not wish to draw unfavorable comparisons nor to magnify unduly the importance of the M. I. A. in the Church, because we recognize that each organization has its place, its field, and its importance, desiring only that we shall magnify in the minds of the Mutual Im- provement workers the importance of our assignments, and a vision of how we are going to carry it forward. This is the object I have in my own mind, I desire in my heart that the Lord will help me to bring forward to you such things as are important and necessary that we may clearly understand our mission and know how to perform it. The Relationship of the M. I. A. to Other Organizations To help me to illustrate what I feel with reference to our organzation and its place, in its relationship to other auxiliary organ- izations of the Church, I am reminded of an incident I read about a long time ago. On one of the trails leading to the Alps, the journey was very safe in the earlier part of the trip, and then there *A theme discussed in the M. I. A. officers meeting, Sunday morning, June 3. 19 24. at the annual conference.

932 IMPROVEMENT ERA was encountered a very difficult passage. The road was a narrow ledge on an overhanging cliff, with a wall of rock rising above the traveler. It was always covered with ice and was consequently not only narrow but slippery, and many a traveler lost his life there. It was very short, but it was part of the journey. If one could suc- cessfully get over that difficult part of the journey, the road was com- paratively safe. Now, some very thoughtful and wise man con- cluded to make that dangerous part of the journey more safe, and so he drilled holes in the rocks overhead, and beaded pipes in the rock and brought them down at intervals, and on the longer end of these placed another rod, so that the traveler might take hold of this as a means of protection, and to save himself from falling; and if he should fall, save himself from going over the cliff to his death. It is said that since that provision was made, not a single life has been lost at that point, and the journey can now be made with comparative safety. I can see the Mutual Imporvement Associations of this Church occupying the same place in the lives of boys and girls. It is very safe for them when they are little boys and little girls in mother's home, under her care, while in the Primary and in the early periods of their study in the Sunday school. It is quite safe for them until they reach the period that we call adolescence. Then they begin to want to wander away from home, they reach the slippery part of life's journey, and there is danger all about them, though they feel that they are perfectly safe and able to take care of themselves. Numbers of them make failures and become wrecks, while traveling over that period in which they are assigned to the Mutual Improvement Associations of the Church. The Growth of the Church Depends Upon Our Holding and Saving Our Young People Taking the girls from fourteen upward, and the boys from twelve upward, they come into our care during that slippery and dangerous part of life's progress, and it is our task to provide for them the protection, the guidance, the safety, to conduct them over life's dangerous period, and bring them in safety to manhood's and woman- hood's estate. It is the period of time when all the organizations find it exceedingly difficult to get them; and to win them is our greatest task. I remind you that while our baptisms last year were possibly the largest in our history for years, since excellent results are coming from the missionary fields, yet more than three times as many children were born to Latter-day Saint parents as all our baptisms numbered in the missionary field. With these facts before us, we may well believe that the future strength and growth of this Church depends upon our ability to save and hold our own. We have been given this assign- ment and have been given the means of performing this task, as none of the other organizations of the Church have been provided with.

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 933 The M. I. A. the Rescue Mission of the Church It is recognized that we are not only to take care of those who willingly or voluntarily come to us, but we are to be, may I say? the rescue mission of the Church for young men and young women. A New Requirement of the Officers We are asking today a new thing of the Mutual Improvement workers, for in this conference, in the department of Organization and Membership, we have asked that you go home and not only en- deavor to secure ten percent of the membership of your ward and stake in the Mutual Improvement Associations, but that you shall account for every boy and every girl in your ward of Mutual age, that you shall list them, that you shall keep a record of them and work on that record until you have won them by some of these means and facilities that have been given to us. Until you have done this, your task is not fully performed. We have asked that we shall have the best men and women possible to do this work in the wards and stakes, because we are trying to win those whom nobody else has been able to get. We are not trying to win them for ourselves only, but we are getting them for the Sunday school, for the priesthood quorums and the other organizations of the Church. And so we are to serve and labor for all of these institutions, and that is why undoubtedly we have been given means and facilities such as none of the other organ- izations have. The Means Provided for this Work Let us look at the means that have been provided us. We have courses of study in the practical application of the gospel. What an opportunity we have in the nature of our work to make the word of wisdom appeal to the boy and to the girl! And so, each and every principle, we seek to apply in a practical way in the lives of the boys and girls. But not all, particularly those who have not yet been touched, will be interested in even a study of the practical application of the gospel principles, nor in a consideration of our courses of study, no matter how interesting they may be. Recreation, Music, Activities — The End in View There are therefore means offered us by the assignment given to us through the decision of the Presidency of the Church to try to get hold of these boys and girls with other methods, so that to this great organization has come the assignment to use recreation in all its forms and in all its departments. . It is but a means to an end. Always, in these several activities, I hope that you Mutual Improve- ment workers will not look upon either recreation, M Men's work, the Bee-Hive Girls' work, Boy Scout work, or the Gleaners' work as the end. These are but the means to another and higher and a more

934 IMPROVEMENT ERA glorious end. There is not a field of human endeavor that boys or girls could possibly be interested in, but that we have been given the opportunity to employ these various means for the accomplishment of our desirable end. Music, with all its advantages, its appeal to the boy and to the girl, is offered to us; and we are asking that in the stakes and in the wards you shall follow the example of the General Board and appoint a music director and an assistant, if you can pro- vide such, but at least there should be a music director who shall take advantage of the natural inclination of many to express themselves in song, some of whom do it at unseasonable hours of the night, and very much to the annoyance of their neighbors and friends. But all this may be guided and directed into proper channels, and opportu- nities of expressing themselves and bringing them within the influ- ence and the circle of the Mutual Improvement Associations. We Give Opportunity for Expression We are asking also that in the use of the drama, and we have been given the opportunity to express ourselves in drama, that we shall employ this as a means of reaching others who do not willingly come from other appeals. Let us not reserve these things exclusively for those who come on their own account. But let us use these means as an opportunity to go out and enlist the boy or girl who never has yet come with us, and induce them by a study of their natural talents and ability to take some part in music, in drama, in athletics or Boy Scout work, or whatever may probably appeal to that boy or girl; and we have the whole field. Employ these means of reaching that boy or that girl who never yet has been brought within our circles. And so I might say with reference, not only to drama, but to debates, where, within legitimate bounds we may proceed to interest the boy who has in him natural ability and a desire to take care of himself, has a definite and strong opinion, generally, upon questions. Give him the opportunity to express himself under guidance. This will appeal to a boy or a girl, probably, when nothing else will reach him. The Supervision of Recreation The great assignment that has come to us in the supervision of recreation for the Church, in the fixing of standards, if we had nothing else but this alone, it would justify the perpetuity and exist- ence of the great M. I. A. cause. But we had enough to live for before that, and now there are more reasons than ever for these great organ- izations to be permanently established and to go forward. We accept this assignment, with humility, and yet with an earnest desire to do our part, not only to the group that we serve, but to all groups, to unify the recreation of the Church, to establish standards, to rescue recreation from commercialism, and to restore it to the place it once occupied in the Church, a time when it was given so sacredly for the

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 935 benefit and blessing of the people as religious instruction, and not for money-making. And we are asking all our workers to look upon recreation, as but a means to an end, and not the end itself, and that recreation shall be employed to reach groups of individuals who could probably not be reached through the study of religion; and to give to all the opportunity to engage in the spirit of relaxation during their leisure time, and guide them towards wholesome, clean recreation, and to curtail it where needed. It is not our desire to multiply it, but to give it in sufficient quantities to satisfy our boys and girls and to keep them from going elsewhere, and to keep our crowds together; for we have in mind the opportunity that will come for them to make proper selections in companionship by keeping them in groups together. Recreation Should Carry its Own Burdens, but not Finance Wards While we recognize that recreation must carry its own burdens, it should not, however, be burdened with the responsibility of fin- ancing wards or stakes in their financial programs. We have suggested that, in the year-round program, a portion of all profits that may come from recreation shall go into a common fund to be used by the consent of the group, the bishop and his counselors, and the executive officers of all the auxiliaries, to better improve our recrea- tional facilities. But all these are, as I have said, but a means towards an end. We .recognize that we can serve young men and young women in this field as perhaps none of the other organizations can, because our work is not limited to the Sabbath day. We do our work on the week day, and can properly engage in these activities and in athletics in our M Men's organizations, where we bring forward the development of the boy's physical power; in contest work, where, in his play moments, as we heard last night, he may develop the finest physical strength it is possible for men to obtain. We do all that to keep him clean and safe while he treads the dangerous path of life, and to hold him within the circles of the Church. We have been criticized by other denominations because, in the early days of this Church, in the West, we allowed the boys and girls to dance in the meeting houses. Men have been shocked at the thought. Yet we have said it is but providing for boys and girls what they naturally want, and what they ought to have, with approval and guidance, so that they will not steal away as young people of many churches do in violation of the counsels given by their leaders, and secretly and privately engage, in undesirable places, in these identical amusements. Trailing behind us now comes the acknowledgement of most of these Christian denominations, that we were right. We knew we were right in the beginning, because God guided and directed those who were providing for the youth of Israel. He let them know that this was not a narrow-minded nor bigoted Church, but that it recognizes everything that is wholesome, every-

936 IMPROVEMENT ERA thing that is good and everything that is desirable and proper in the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we are moving forward to establish upon a more firm basis, and, as I observe, to rescue recreation from commercialism, into the spirit of real service, of mutual helpfulness and benefit, and to make our boys and girls feel that they need go nowhere else. The M. I. A. Provides for Natural Wants and Human Needs I tell you that the natural inclination in the hearts of both men and women, is for these things and if the Church does not provide them the lodges and societies and institutions that have grown up outside the Church will. And to supply that natural want and human need, our institutions were established to be, if you please, the boys' club, although we do not like that word, but it answers all those yearnings of the heart, for association in organizations such as I have indicated. And there is nothing that these institutions provide that is proper and right and wholesome but that can be had within the Mutual Improvement Association. The Boy Scout program is a means, so far as we are concerned, and a very efficient means, — we recognize it as one of the best programs that has ever been devised to interest boys just as they are coming to the threshold of thai dangerous period of life — to interest them in the things that are worth while. We have adopted it, and use it as a part of our program, but only, again, as a means to an end. Likewise the girls' organizations, the Bee-Hive and the Gleaner girls — these institutions provide facilities and means of interesting those who would not respond probably, to the appeals to come and study the gospel. The gospel of good health, the gospel of clean life, such as these organizations teach, is a part of the good gospel, and if they become interested in these things, we may gently lead them step by step, having found a point of interest — and I want to say, you can make no progress or headway with any human being unless you can find the point of contact, the point of interest. So comprehensive is our plan that there is probably not a human being who could not be interested in some part of our program. We will use that part which will interest, and then gently lead them forward until we in- terest them in the whole pragram. A Year-Round Program We have come also to feel that our task cannot be properly performed by merely devoting ourselves to our work from October to April. We have been urging more permanent establishment of the year-round program, recognizing that probably the safest period for the boy and girl during the year is this period, from October until April, and the most dangerous period, the time when he runs off alone, or with small groups seeking his pleasure away from home

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 937 in canyons, in resorts, and in the out-door life; he may then be in far greater danger than when he is indoors, in association with groups in the home, in Church, in school. And so we feel, young men and young women leaders in the Mutual Improvement Association, that we must get a new vision of our responsibility, and that every worker shall be a worker all the year around. There are many of our organizations holding their meetings on Sunday evening during the year. Certainly every one of them should continue during the summer. We have provided a change in the program for the sum- mer work, on Sabbath evening, during the summer, or, it you choose, and can hold your meetings on Tuesday evening, during the summer, the program will suit you. Again, we feel that perhaps the period of time when the committee on recreation of the M. I. A. can most effectively operate, and is needed perhaps more than at any other time, is this summer period. I should like to suggest to you workers that not only the ones assigned to the task of supervising recreation shall be active, but that when the vacation period comes, and you do not hold your weekly meetings, there be a new assignment of every officer. If they have nothing specific to do during the summer, let them come in and help to carry forward this great recreational guid- ance, in supervision, out in the field, supervision of parties who go to dances in the neighboring town, supervision of canyon parties, supervision of swimming parties. These activities ought to be chaper- oned, and it ought to be a matter of regret, and I was going to say shame, to ward Mutual workers, should groups of boys and girls, groups that we are charged with the responsibility of taking care of, ever go anywhere unchaperoned during their summer activities. And our workers could well be enlisted in helping to supervise and care for this work. What Is the End of All This? Now the end of all this: What is it? I said these are but the means, and I want to confess to you that there has never been de- vised, by inspired men, a program so complete and so perfect to ac- complish the end desired, as the program given to us in the assign- ments that come to us in the Mutual Improvement Associations of the Church. The end of it all is the end that President Young held up in the beginning — to establish faith in God in the hearts of the boys and the girls, belief in him, testimony of him, that he lives; and respect for those who are leading and directing his great work in the earth. Faith in him, that when the call comes they shall respond and render that service, either in the missionary field, or in the other auxiliary organizations, or in the Priesthood quorums, for we are but feeders for all these other organizations. We recognize our assign- ment to be such, that we are in a way ministering and serving other organizations as well as takinc care of that group that leally belongs

93 8 IMPROVEMENT ERA to us, or does naturally come to us. We are, as I said in the beginning, the rescue workers for those indolent, careless, indiffeient boys or girls, every one of whom, however, can be reached with this program. And then, if, with faith in God, with love for the souls of the chil- dren of men, and with determination and persistence, we shall go forward, we may win them. And I say, in the language of one of our own revelations, that if you shall labor all your life using this wonder- ful program, using your time, though it may take you all your life to accomplish it, and yet save but one soul, you will have greater joy than if you had gained the wealth of the world; because, one redeemed, sanctified soul, worthy to come into the presence of God, into the highest degree of celestial glory, is of greater intrinsic value and worth than all the material things of the earth, because that redeemed, sanctified soul, in time to come, may rise to such heights that he, too, may speak, and matter shall be organized, and all material wealth be brought into being and existence, such as obtains in a world like this, and that the product in time of one of these boys. The object created is not as great as he who has created it, and so, one of these is of greater value than all the world besides. I said the first end was to establish in their hearts faith in God, belief and confidence that he lives, as expressed this morning in the testimonies that were borne. More of these our brethren and sisters, have re- ceived their testimonies upon their feet than upon their knees. If there is one thing that Mutual Improvement work provides more than an- other, it is the opportunity for individual expression. Provide Larger Opportunity for Testimony Bearing and Expression Our program plans for it, and I feel to commend to you brethren and sisters larger opportunity for testimony bearing in the Mutual Improvement Associations of the Church, and also more op- portunity for the boy to express himself, for he is to be put in training that he may be able to express himself when he goes into the mission field, or when he is called to responsibility in the priesthood quorums or other organizations. Our whole program provides the opportunity to develop, as President Young said, the natural talents that are in us, and so this great field gives them the opportunity, whatever their talent may be, whether it is in public speaking, in singing, in athletics, or in acting, whatever their talents may be, here is a field that provides opportunity to express themselves. We Are the Children of Ephraim — The Children of Promise I recognize, as I said a moment ago, also that one of the great obligations that is upon us in giving this guidance through this dif- ficult and dangerous period of the life of the boy and the girl, is to keep them clean, that they may preserve their natural birthright, to be the chosen people of God. I read with keen interest a short time

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 939 ago an article appearing in Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent, in which the author of the article was discussing the question, "Are the Jews the chosen people of God?" And then he told the story of the House of Israel, and recited the blessings pronounced upon the heads of each one of the sons of Jacob, and gave all credit to the house of Judah for all blessings that they had a right to claim, but denied them the right to claim the blessings pronounced upon all the sons of Jacob, which many desire to look for and to claim. But he limited them, however, to the blessings which belong to them, and then he traced the greater blessings that came upon the head of Joseph to his son Ephraim, and said: "If we could find these chil- dren of Ephraim, we would find the chosen people of God." I wonder if there is a greater thing we could do for the young men and young women of this Church than to make them feel and know that they are the children of Ephraim, the children of promise? Marry in Your Own Faith Not to build them up in a spirit of pride, nor boastfulness, but to establish in their hearts a spirit of thankfulness, a regard for their birthright, their privilege, and with resolve and determination that shall not sell it for a mess of pottage, but that they shall hold it sacred, that they are of the royal branch. of the House of Israel, and that they must look to the preserving of their privileges by marrying in their own faith. I say to you that there is no conservation that this people could possibly practice to better advantage than in having Latter-day Saint boys marry Latter-day Saint girls; for whenever they marry out of their faith they vitiate their promises and impair in their children the rights to these eternal blessings and privileges which God, long before-hand, promised should come through this branch of the house of Israel. Despised? Yes, now, and have been in the past. One of a family, cast out of their own home, could no longer abide there, had to flee from their home as outcasts, and exiles, like their forefather Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. Wasn't that the feeling of the world when this people were driven from pillar to post, and went off into the wilderness? By many it was thought they would either be absorbed or lose their lives through contact with savages in human form, or wild beasts, or famine. But lo, and behold! as of old, when God preserved the outcast Joseph, built him up and estab- lished him and sent him forth to become the savior of all his father's house, so God is doing the very same identical thing in these Latter- days, for the descendants of that Joseph. Outcasts from the world, they have found the place where God is establishing in them those saving qualities and principles not only to feed men the bread that shall sustain physical life, but, greater than that, to prepare the bread of life in examples of living that shall not only make this people the saviors of the whole house of Israel in the Latter-days, for God

940 IMPROVEMENT ERA has decreed it, but become the light of the nations, the salt of the earth. Keep Bright Before us the Vision of Things to Come We want to keep before the eyes, therefore, of the young men and the young women of this Church, this vision of the glorious things that are to come, and induce them to preserve all they have inherited, and the most precious thing they have inherited is their birthright that they are the sons and daughters of these men and women whom God has brought from the ends of the earth, respond- ing to that call: Come out of her; oh, ye my people, that ye be not partakers of her plagues, when her judgments shall come. Honor Father and Mother by Clean Lives And that we shall in the spirit of the slogan which we have adopted this year, recognize that we owe to these worthy fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, a great debt, and that, as we have inherited from them clean bodies, without taint of the things that God has forbidden, and have obtained bodies uncontaminated with the poisons of tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor, that we shall cause our boys and girls to catch the vision of the value of such an inheritance, as it has taken two or three generations of struggle to bring to us. And we ought to make them feel the folly it would be to sell that birthright and throw it away to turn again to wallow in the mire and resort to the practices that our parents forsook. It is an insult to any father and mother for a boy to disobey that father's or mother's counsel and example and smoke tobacco. And so our slogan as fitting and appropriate, that we should have more honor and respect for our parents whom we owe so' much for this our glorious heritage. Honor Father and Mother by Right Marriage We desire also that proper standards shall be maintained that ultimately the sacred blessings of marriage in the house of God shall come. One of our brethren said that it is an insult to any girl for a boy to propose marriage to her for time, just as great an insult as if he proposed marriage to her for five years or for ten years; for what is time but a brief period of eternity? And any boy who proposes marriage for time only is offering insult to a Latter-day Saint girl. What we want is to have these boys and girls live clean and worthy to go into the house of God, and receive their eternal blessings, and then to keep the first great commandment that God has given to man. And it is our task to teach them to look forward to the fulfilment of that obligation in multiplying and replenishing the earth that we shall be in this respect, as well as in all others, a distinguished people, and different from anyone else, for we are not

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 941 only to bring to pass the establishment of these standards for ourselves, but the Lord himself has said, "Arise, and shine that ye may be the light of the nations." And that day must come, and it will, when the east and the west, and the north, and the south shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that we may learn to walk in his paths. God has Called us to be in but not of the World When I listened last night to the very earnest appeal made by our last speaker in the Assembly Hall, stating the problems that are vexing the world today with reference to our social standards, it did seem to me as he intimated, that if all the world caters after low standards it will be exceedingly difficult to bring forward great things in music, in art, in literature or in government. But do you know that God has called this people to be in the world but not of the world? If there is anything lovely, virtuous or praisworthy, we seek after these things, but we do not satisfy ourselves merely with the good, which comes from the world. We expect to build upon it, we expect to go farther than they go, we expect to see more than they see. Out for World Leadership It is our right, it is our privilege to excel, and we are out for world leadership, not only for ourselves, but for the world. The Lord has enjoined it upon us, and we desire therefore to be strong enough to stand by our standards of morality, our standards in social life, in dress, in living, our standards, in all things must be above the standards of the world; and yet demonstrate, they are workable stand- ards. It has been said that the "Mormon" Church is the most wonderful organization in all the world. But the most wonderful part about it is that it works, and if we can show the world a gen- eration of young men and young women who can live and enjoy life, and yet be above the standards of the world, we shall become the light of the world. We Do Not Doubt the Young People of Zion So far as the future of this work is concerned, we have no doubt about it, neither do we doubt the young men and the young women of Zion. I confess to you that it is my belief that there never has come to the earth a generation of boys and girls so noble, so pure and so good, as the generation of boys and girls that we are called to deal with, and yet I acknowledge that they are face to face with problems such as their fathers and mothers never met, more difficult to solve; and I want to tell you with all praise to fathers and mothers who built the bridges, who traveled the plains and who subdued the deserts. All honor to them- but I sav to you that it will take iireater

942 IMPROVEMENT ERA faith, greater determination and stability on the part of the youth of this generation, to solve their problems and to come out clean, unscathed, and uncontaminated with the sins of the world, than it did for our fathers to subdue the desert! But I have faith in them that they will succeed by our help, by the application of this program. I have faith that we shall save the great majority of them, for God's holy and righteous purposes. Oh how I love the future. I would rather live to see the future than any day that has passed, glorious as the past has been. I say I would rather see the glorious future that is coming for the youth of Israel, than any day that is past; the great majority of them will come forth clean and worthy to enter into their inheritance, these sacred blessings that have been promised to them. I can see them in the visions of the future, multiplying by tens and hundreds of thousands, a mighty army that God will recognize, and that the world will come and pay attention to. No glory, no ambition that ever thrilled the heart of any boy or girl, to attain, shall be denied our young men and women, if only they shall keep themselves clean and undefiled from the sins of this generation. Their praises shall be heralded, they shall be recognized and praised more than their fathers were. I can see every promise coming naturally to us. The great architect has given us the plan, God the eternal Father, revealed it in all its specifications, and if we shall but follow those specifications, — and I am glad that we have still with us and always shall have a consulting engineer in an inspired prophet of God, who shall clear up from time to time any problems that may arise in the proper understanding of God's specifications for the establishment of this his great and mighty work. And if we shall listen to those whom he has appointed to interpret his plan, it shall be unfolded, and we shall build upon it, and see rise here the mightiest structure that has ever graced this footstool of God, and in due time shall bring to us, as the Lord has promised, his own divine Son to live with such a people. And the great Mutual Improvement cause is charged now with the task and responsibility of. building in the lives of this generation of boys and girls, this program for their own salvation, for their own jov of life, and pass on to our posterity all that we have inherited, with a little added to it, and thus not many generations shall pass away until we shall produce the best race of men and women that have ever lived. A Prayer and a Promise for Success I thank God with all my heart that I am associated with such a work. I rejoice to be counted worthy to be one of the workers in the Mutual Improvement cause. We have a sacred and a holy mission. God help us to see it, and to use these means sacredly as a means to these glorious ends, and may we live \o see, as I am sure we shall,

THE MISSION OF THE M. I. A. 943 fruits of our labors now; and I know we shall sec the fruits of our labors in eternity. Though you may labor long and seem to make no progress, be not discouraged, fight for these precious souls, they are worth fighting for. They are worth your time, they are ivorth your effort. Follow this program, and in the spirit of the Gospel, and I promise you, as you live, you shall succeed. And may God grant it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Let Me Be a Friend to You O let me be a friend to you, A real friend, kind and true, At times, when life seems dark and drear And everything seems blue. Just let me come and hold your hand When you are sick and sad, And let me tell you things that won't Make life seem quite so bad. O let me come and share your load And help you on your way, And try and scatter sunshine bright Before you every day; And when death's angel hovers near, Let me be at your side To comfort you and cheer your heart, That hope may there abide. And when the wound has all been healed, And life goes on the same, Let me be there to help you win The fight in life's hard game. And so the fleeting years will pass, Alas, we will grow old; But still I'll be a friend to you, My heart will ne'er turn cold. And if I pass beyond the veil Before your journey's through, I'll promise you that as a friend I'll wait and watch for you. And when you come at last to me Into that wondrous land, We'll reach those heights together, friend. As children, hand in hand. Salt Lake City BESSIE STEWART LINDSAY