Harold B. Lee on Missionary Work

Missionary work is but home teaching to those who are not now members of the Church, and home teaching is nothing more or less than missionary work to Church members.
Improvment Era, Dec 1964, 1078

Joseph Fielding Smith on Missionary Work

We have heard that we are all missionaries. Every member . . . is or ought to be a missionary. . . as members of the Church, having pledged ourselves to the advancement of the gospel of Jesus Christ we become missionaries. This is part of the responsibility of every member of the Church
Take Heed to Yourselves, 27-28

David O. McKay on Missionary Work

Every member . . . a missionary.
CR Apr 1959, 122

True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work.
Gospel Ideals, 129.

George Albert Smith on Missionary Work

That is your mission, my brethren and sisters of the Church, that is your responsibility. Freely you have received and our Heavenly  Father will expect you freely to share with His other sons and daughters these glorious truths.
Sharing the Gospel with Others, 213

Heber J. Grant on Missionary Work

We as a people have one supreme thing to do, and this is to call upon the world to repent of sin, to come to God. And it is our duty above all others to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration again to the earth of the plan of life and salvation . . . We have in very deed the pearl of great price. We have that which is of more value than all the wealth and the scientific information which the world possesses. We have the plan of life and salvation . . . The best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ of which he has given us an absolute knowledge concerning its divinity.
CR Apr, 1927,  175-76

Joseph F. Smith on Missionary Work

We have a mission in the world: each man, each woman, each child who has grown to understanding or to the years of accountability, ought . . . to be qualified to preach the truth, to bear testimony of the truth.
Gospel Doctrine, 251-52

Lorenzo Snow on Missionary Work

There is no mortal man that is so much interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the gospel as the Lord that sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children.
Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, 70

Wilford Woodruff on Missionary Work

We have come to this earth upon a mission . . . that we may have power to go forth and warn the nations of the earth . . . As elders of Israel, very few of us fully comprehend our position, our calling, or relationship to God, our responsibility, our work the Lord requires at our hands.
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, 124

John Taylor on Missionary Work

Our duty is to preach the gospel to all men . . . This is what God expects of us.
The Gospel Kingdom, 234-5

Brigham Young on Missionary Work

There is neither man or woman in the Church who is not on a mission.  That mission will last as long as they live, and it is to do good, to promote righteousness, to teach the principles of truth, and to prevail upon themselves and everybody around them to live those principles that they may obtain eternal life.
Discourses of BY, 322

Joseph Smith on Missionary Work

After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.
Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, JS, 327

Let the Saints remember that great things depend on their individual exertion, and that they are called to be co-workers with us and the Holy Spirit in accomplishing the great work of the last days.
TPJS 178-9

Covenants

 

Heber C. Kimball

When I went into the water [of] baptism I made [a] covenant I would forsake the world with all [that] pertains to it, and cleave unto the Lord God with all my heart all my days. This is the covenant that I made, to turn away from the world. That is the covenant you made, or the one you should have made. Now, will you fulfill it?” (Oct. 7, 1853).

Dec. Ensign, 57.

Revelation

John Taylor was a prayerful man from his youth.

 

John Taylor

Wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ exists, there exists revelation; and where there is no revelation there is no gospel” (Oct. 30, 1859).

Dec. Ensign, 57.

Book of Mormon Testimony

 

Parley P. Pratt

I will tell [you] my brethren, when I was a lad just out of my teens—about 1830—I read a book that was but little known in the world, although now, probably, it is in half [a] dozen [of the] principal languages of the earth, and it was entitled the Book of Mormon, and had many predictions in it that are plain and easy to be understood, and the spirit and power of God bore witness to my heart of their truth. … Well now, these prophecies interested me I assure you. They made an impression upon my mind [that] never has been effaced. … I knew in me [in a way] that [would have] been no stronger if I had seen Jesus Christ in his glorified body and heard [the] same words from his own lips” (Oct. 31, 1852).

Dec. Ensign, 57.

Guardian Angels

Here is a great quote by Brigham Young at Mary Fielding Smith's funeral. What a treasure.

Brigham Young

The Lord watches over you. You need not suppose for a moment [that] the Lord’s eye [is] not upon you. The angels [are] round about you and they will take care of you, and you may be peaceful and contented. … Every good man and woman … [is] in the hands of [the] Lord. They are before him, his eye upon them, his angels round about them that they might endure afflictions, suffer pain [and] buffeting by Satan, pass through scenes of afflictions enough to wring their natural hearts out of them, comparatively. Yet God [will] take care of them” (Sept. 23, 1852, Mary Fielding Smith’s funeral).

December Ensign, 57.

Brigham Young's Beard Napkin

Brigham Young was a backwoods boy from upstate New York. He tried to keep himself neat and tidy at meals so he wore a beard napkin to keep from spilling his dinner.

Our granddaughter when to a birthday party at the Lion House, Brigham Young's former home and they were given a beard napkin for a gift.

John Taylor, Missionary

John Taylor had preached in some of the largest churches in Europe. During his mission to England and later to France, he spoke from any pulpit were the minister was agreeable. His courage was undaunted as he preached the gospel and converted many.

He had the privilege of dedicating the first working temple in northern Utah. He felt humbled and blessed to have that opportunity. Still thinking of missionary work, he said in his dedicatory prayer, "We dedicate [this house] that Thy servants may go forth to the nations of the earth endowed with power from on high . . . according to Thy word . . . that thy servants . . . may be saviors upon Mount Zion."

This servant of the Lord wore himself out in his service to his God.

An Angel Flying Through the Midst of Heaven

When John Taylor was a young boy, he saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven, taking a message to all the earth. Of course this was when he was a child before he joined the Church, so he didn't understand who the angel was or what the message was. But he never forgot the dream, and years later after he became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he knew the message was everlasting gospel found in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The Angel Moroni brought the message of The Book of Mormon back to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Image of the angel found on the original Nauvoo Temple.

Stealing Watermelons

One of the reasons Aurelia Spencer Rogers wanted to start the first Primary was because many of the young boys in Farmington, Utah were caught stealing watermelons from farmers' fields. The girls were hitching rides on the back of wagons.

Sister Rogers was concerned that the young people were not as righteous as they should be. She and Bishop John W. Hess contacted Eliza R. Snow who discussed the matter with President John Taylor. From these humble beginnings today's LDS Primary organization was born.

Pioneer Swim Suits

Swim suits in Brigham Young's day consisted of overalls for the boys and linsey woolsey dresses for the girls. The dresses were made out of heavy cotton and wool with pantaloons under the dresses.

Brigham used to take his kids out to the Great Salt Lake swimming. There is a big black rock out there and the boys used to change on one side and the girls on the other.

Try swimming in salt water in the heavy bathing suits they wore--quite an experience.