Dear Missionaries:
In thinking back with regard to the highlights in the April Conference, I will give you some of the things that stand out in my mind now after a month has gone by. The outstanding thing that I remember about the Conference was the loyalty displayed by the brethren.
The General Authorities all have an individual testimony of the divinity of the latter-day work. They are all loyal to the President of the Church, his counselors, and they are all loyal to one another. They are all individuals with their different personalities, in many cases different tendencies, and they have different backgrounds to some extent.
But they all know the Gospel is true, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that he was an instrument in the hands of God to restore the everlasting Gospel to the earth in this the dispensation of the fullness of times, and that they undoubtedly have the power and authority necessary to preach this Gospel to the world.
Each one of the brethren has a different approach perhaps to some of the doctrine of the Church, and they treat the different subjects of the Gospel from a different point of view. But they are all united as far as the salient points of the Gospel are concerned. This to me is a great testimony of the divinity of the latter-day work.
The other thing that impressed me while at Conference was the faith and devotion of the parents of the missionaries to whom we talked. It was a great privilege to visit with some of the parents and to find out how thrilled they are to have their sons and daughters in the Mission Field doing the Lord's work.
In many instances, it is not easy to maintain missionaries in the field, and, at times, the parents, friends and relatives who are furnishing the financial aid are hard-pressed to come up with enough money to keep the missionaries going. This is a sacrifice.
Great blessings come through sacrifices, and I am sure that most of the families, if not all of them, are greatly blessed by having missionaries in the field. Now let's look at this from our point of view as missionaries in the Spanish-American mission.
You should ask yourself a question from time to time. "Have I been one hundred percent honest with my parents? Have I employed my time and talents properly in taking advantage of the great opportunities that I have here in the Mission Field to preach and teach the gospel to the Lamanite people? Am I filling the measure of my creation, and am I filling my mission to the best of my ability?"
I think if we will do that, it will help us to realize how important it is to employ our time while we are missionaries in such a manner that we will be able to leave the mission someday when the time rolls around with a deep satisfaction of knowing that we have answered the missionary call like valiant young men and women of the Church should.