 It was an unusual general conference. The weather had turned cold with a steady rain falling. On Wednesday, the rain turned to snow, wrapping Temple Square in the veil of white. It was the first general conference in a year, a flu epidemic having castled October conference the year before. And now, a record crowd braved the last snowfall of the season to be in the tabernacle with their leaders. On Sunday afternoon, a new leader was sustained. A 48-year-old stake president from East Mill Creek was named an assistant to the 12. His name was Gordon B. Hinckley. I'm reminded of a statement made by my first missionary companion when I received a letter of transfer to the European Mission Office. After I'd read it, I turned it over to him, and he read it, and he said, Well, you must have helped an old lady across the street in the pre-existence. It isn't anything you've done here. Humbly, I seek the blessing of the Lord. I am overwhelmed with a sense of inadequacy. I feel shaken. I'd like to express my appreciation to my father, who lies very critically ill in the hospital. No son ever had a better father. I'd like to express appreciation to my mother. I say these things because I'd like to make the point that all of us in our various situations are the result largely of the lives that touch ours. And today I feel profoundly grateful for all who have touched mine. President's Office, Great Salt Lake City, April 12th, 1867. Elder Ira Hinckley. Dear brother, we wish to get a good and suitable person to settle on and take charge of the church ranch at Colt Creek Millard County. Your name has been suggested for this position. As it is some distance from any other settlement, a man of sound practical judgment and experience is needed to fill the place. If you think you can take this mission, you should endeavor to go a week from next Monday. Your brother in the Gospel, Brigham Young. In 1867, Ira and Nathaniel Hinckley left his home and built this fort on a lonely prairie in southern Utah. Unlike most of Frontier America's wooden forts, which are now largely gone, Ira Hinckley built his co-fort of volcanic rock laid in lime mortar. The walls at the base were four feet thick. After 125 years, it still stands. That feels very strongly about his ancestors. Ira Hinckley, of course, and who was his grandfather, Brian S. Hinckley, his father, his maternal grandparents, the Bittners are very much a part of him and part of his life. It feels a great debt of gratitude to all of them. He's solid. There's nothing small about him. He's been firm in the faith all these days. He takes after his father and his grandfather who were likewise solid. In a way, he's a lot like co-fort. In 1922, Brian Hinckley was serving in the presidency of Liberty Steak, the largest stake in the church with a membership of over 15,000. One evening, shortly after Gordon was ordained a deacon, his father took him to a stake priesthood meeting at the Old Tenth Ward. It was here that an unusual event occurred that would remain with him the rest of his life. My father went to the stand and I sat on the back row. The meeting was called to order, and the opening song was praise to the man who communed with Jehovah. All of the men stood to sing. The hall was filled with men. Many who had come as converts from Europe, and they lifted their voices in unison in that great hymn. Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah. Jesus anointed that prophet and seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, King shall extol him and nations revere. It touched my heart. It gave me a feeling that was difficult to describe. I'd never had it previously in terms of any church experience. It came into my heart a conviction that the man of whom they sang was really a prophet of God. And I'm grateful to be able to say that that conviction which came, I believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit has never left me. Life was full and happy for the English. Then in 1930, while Gordon's mother was traveling in Europe, she began to feel an unusual pain. Upon returning, the doctors gave a grim diagnosis. Cancer. Six months later, she was gone. I recall the gray November day of her funeral, Gordon said. We put on a front of bravery and fought back the tears. But inside, the wounds were deep and painful. From that day, he would carry a deepened understanding for all who lose a loved one in death. The little family tried to return to normal living. Gordon threw himself into his university studies and in 1932, he graduated with a degree in English and a minor in ancient languages. The class of 1932 entered a world struggling in the depths of the Great Depression. Nearly half the nation's banks had failed. Unemployment was over 30%. It was a time of soup lines and suicides. Only those who lived through it would ever really understand the depth of the economic catastrophe that hit the nation and spread across the world. It was a time of terrible discouragement and it was felt strongly on the campus of the university. And I'm frank to say that I felt some of that myself. I began to question some things including, perhaps in a slight measure, the faith of my parents and some of those things. That isn't unusual for university students, but the atmosphere was particularly acute at that time. But I'm grateful to say that with all of that, the testimony which had come to me as a boy remained with me and became as a bulwark to which I could cling through those very difficult years. Gordon continued to work at the gym as he carefully saved his money. He had a goal to enroll the following year at Columbia University and earn a graduate degree in journalism. Then on a Sunday afternoon, Bishop Duncan called him into his office. A mission was discussed. Gordon was shocked. Very few missionaries were being called because of the depression. But he responded affirmatively. When the call came from church headquarters, it was to the European mission with headquarters in London. Because of an unfavorable exchange rate in Britain, it was the costliest mission in the world. Meanwhile, the bank in which Gordon had been keeping his money failed, taking with it his entire savings. At that time, the Bishop spoke to my father, presumably, and my father said, yes, we'll do all we can to see that your needs are met. And he did so. And my brother, who was working, augmented that with some of his own resources. And a little more was needed. And we discovered that my mother had established a little savings account from the coins she received in change when she bought groceries and did other shopping. And that filled whatever gap there was. And I always considered that money, which she had saved so meticulously as sacred and so regarded it. On June 20th, 1933, Gordon Hinckley left Salt Lake City for New York. After a three-day rail journey, he arrived in New York City. Then he boarded the SS Manhattan bound for England. After arriving at the mission home in London, Gordon was assigned to Preston, 200 miles to the north in Lancashire. I felt very lonely on the train ride to Preston, he recalled. His companion, Kent Bramwell, met him at the station and took him to their living quarters. He then announced that they would go into town and hold a street meeting. I was terrified. I stepped up on that little stand and looked at that crowd of people who'd gathered. They were dreadfully poor at that time in the bottom of the Depression. They looked rather menacing and mean. But I somehow stumbled through whatever I had to say. When I arrived there, I was not well. I felt I wasn't getting anywhere in the missionary work. And I became discouraged. I wrote a letter to my father and said, I'm wasting my time and your money. I don't see any point in my staying here. And in due time, a letter came back from him in which he simply said, Dear Gordon, I have your letter of such and such a date. I have only one suggestion. Forget yourself and go to work. Love with love your father. I pondered that, and the next morning in our scripture class, we read that great statement of the Lord. He that saveth his life shall lose it. He that looseth his life for my sake and the gospel shall find it. It touched me. That statement, that promise in conjunction with my father's letter prompted me to go upstairs in the little bedroom at 15 Water Road Preston Lancashire where we lived and get on my knees and make a covenant with the Lord that I would try to forget myself and go to work. I count that as the day of decision in my life. Everything good that's happened to me since then, I can trace back to the decision I made at that time. In June of 1935, Elder Hinckley's mission began drawing to a close. He would leave England a different young man when he came. He had come to know the beauty and culture of Britain and had grown to love its people. More importantly, the doubts and questions of his college days had been replaced by a firm testimony. I came to know my father in heaven and my savior, he said, to a degree unrealized before. Returning to New York, he took a bus to 116th Street and stepped through the gates at Columbia University. Thoughtfully, Gordon walked across campus just to see what I had missed, he recalled. He traveled by rail to Detroit where, according to arrangement, he picked up a new car for his father, a 1935 Plymouth for $740. Then he and a friend from his mission, G. Homer Durham, drove the 1600 miles to Salt Lake. Gordon recalls, I arrived home worn out, weighing 126 pounds and said that I had no desire ever to travel again. His mission president had asked him to meet with the first presidency and report on needs and conditions in the missions of Europe. On the appointed morning, he went to the administration building and met with President Heber J. Grant and his counselors, J. Reuben Clark and David O. McKay. President Grant told me that I could take 15 minutes, he recalled. Then they began to ask questions and I was there for over an hour. Several days later, President McKay called and offered Gordon a position with the church. He was asked to serve as producer and secretary of the newly organized Radio Publicity and Mission Literature Committee. The committee was comprised of six members of the 12, with Elder Stephen L. Richards as chairman. There was an empty office available, but no furniture. He went downstairs and asked for a ream of paper. A whole ream, he was asked. Did he know how many pages were in a ream? He did. Next, he went to a former missionary companion whose father dealt in office furniture and came away with a reject table. One leg was short. He fixed that with a block of wood. The top was warped and split. He would ignore that. He brought his typewriter from home, set up shop, and went to work. From this office would come hundreds of scripts for radio, film strips and motion pictures, and the pioneering of the use of media in the church. We lived in a very large ward of more than 1,500 people. Among the girls who lived in that ward was one named Marjorie Pay. I saw her first when she was in primary and gave a reading. I don't know what it did to me, but I never forgot it. Then she grew older into a beautiful young woman and we continued our association. After a long time, we were married. When I first met him, I thought he was a very unusual man. He was different. Everything he did, he did with a little flair that was typical of him and no one else. He was a lot of fun, but he had wonderful integrity. He never had to worry about what he said or what he did. Marge and I were married April 29, 1937 in the Salt Lake Temple. Stephen L. Richards of the Council of the Twelve officiated at our ceiling. It was a very impressive ceremony. We moved to the little summer home which my father had and we fixed it up, put a furnace in, some insulation, made it tight and comfortable and there we lived for the first two or three years of our marriage. Well, his sense of humor got us through all the crises in our lives because he never took himself too seriously or anything else too seriously except things that should be taken seriously, of course, but he was not a worrier. Humor is a very important element in life. It's wonderful to be able to laugh. To laugh at ourselves, particularly. Not to have fun at the expense of others, but to see the bright side of things. There's a little streak of humor in almost every situation and it's the thing that gives sparkle and makes life tolerable really. What a great thing is a little humor. I remember the Saturday of April conference, 1958, very well. The phone rang, I answered it. It was President McKay on the phone. I recognized his voice. He did not identify himself and I ran out in the yard where Dad was working and got him and followed him in and watched his reaction. He said, in essence, yes, sir, I'll be right there. And silently went immediately to his room, showered, changed his clothes and was gone and the next time I recall seeing him was on the stand at General Conference the next day he was sustained as a general authority and assistant to the 12. One of Elder Hinckley's first assignments was to work with President Henry D. Moyle in dividing the missions of the world into areas under the direction of the 12. Although at the time he was an assistant to the 12, Elder Hinckley was given responsibility for the work in Asia. Over the next eight years, he would travel to the Orient 21 times. The church was small and weak in that part of the world. We had no buildings. We met in small rented homes but it's been my great and satisfying experience to see the miracle of what's happened in Asia and out of that number have come strong leaders, men and women who through all of these years have kept the faith and grown in their capacity and filled great responsibilities in that wonderful part of the earth, an area which I greatly love. President Gordon B. Hinckley is without question the father of the church in Asia. I can still see President Hinckley situated in some dark, unheeded, partially unlighted meeting hall where people were crouched in discomfort sometimes. With a wonderful, peaceful, happy look on his face, expressing courage, expressing love, expressing faith, inspiring the people to think that this was paradise if they could have the spirit of the Lord in their lives. I've cramped over that part of the earth a great deal. I've worked with the missionaries and loved the people and they will always have. I love them. I'm so grateful for the people of this church. I thank the Lord every morning for the faithful people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Three and a half years after his call as an assistant to the Twelve, another change. Perhaps the most significant came into Elder Hinckley's life. It was early Saturday morning on the last day of September 1961 when Marjorie answered the telephone. It was President David O. McKay. 45 minutes later, President McKay invited Elder Hinckley to be seated in his office. He spoke of my grandfather who came from Nauvoo to this valley, who responded to a call from Brigham Young to go down and build co-fort. He spoke of my good father for whom President McKay had great affection and then he indicated to me that he wished to extend a call for me to serve as a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. I was overwhelmed by that statement and that call. I hope I have kept the trust that was imposed in me by that sacred call from the President's Church. When this call to the Twelve came, we knew that he felt very humbled by it, but we knew that he could do a wonderful work for the Lord and he did. He was blessed. Shortly after his call, Elder Hinckley joined President Henry D. Moyle in Europe where they visited its 21 missions in 23 days, holding day-long seminars in each. He continued to supervise the work in Asia, dedicating Thailand and South Vietnam for the preaching of the Gospel. He traversed war-torn Vietnam several times during the war, strengthening local members and servicemen. In 1967, he was given responsibility for the work in South America, organizing numerous stakes and opening missions for the first time in Ecuador and Colombia. After three years of supervising the work in South America, he was given responsibility for the work in Europe, then was reassigned supervision of Asia for an additional three years. Wherever he went, he carried a tangible love for the people and a faith that left them strengthened. In September 1972, the newly ordained President of the Church, Harold B. Lee, asked Elder Hinckley to accompany him on a historic trip to Europe and the Middle East. It would be the first visit by a President of the Church to the Holy Land in 2,000 years. We visited the garden too and President Lee was very quiet and then he expressed the view that this was the place where the body of the crucified Lord was laid and that it was here that the first glorious Easter morning occurred when the stone was rolled away. It was a wonderful experience to hear the present of the Church, the prophet of the Lord speak those words with the certitude with which he expressed himself. In May 1980, Elder and Sister Hinckley accompanied the BYU young ambassadors on an historic trip to China where one billion people, nearly one fourth of the earth's population, resides. Here they found crowds of friendly and intelligent people eager to learn. Each of us recognized, he wrote, that somehow under the power of the Almighty this land will eventually be open to the teaching of the restored gospel. A year later, he accompanied the young ambassadors on an extensive performing tour of Yugoslavia, Romania and Russia. As the world and the Church moved into the 1980s it appeared there were few places Gordon B. Hinckley had not been and few things he had not done. But on July 23rd, 1981 a new level of responsibility came upon him. Now a new assignment has come. I appreciate the confidence of President Kimball, of President Stanner and Romney as well as that of my brethren of the 12th, the 70th and the Bishopric. My only desire is to serve with loyalty wherever I am called. Whether this assignment be lengthier brief I pledge my best effort given with love and faith. His would be the steady and reassuring voice in the first presidency and whoever's worldwide would grow to appreciate and love. Shortly after his call into the first presidency President Kimball's health began to deteriorate. Then N. Elden Tanner passed away and the health of President Romney failed. By the end of January 1983 the day-to-day responsibility of the office of the first presidency had largely fallen upon him. It was a very heavy overwhelming responsibility. It was an almost terrifying load at times. We consulted with our brethren of the 12th constantly and frequently but with all of that there were times when I felt overwhelmed and I recall on one particular occasion getting on my knees before the Lord and asking for help in the midst of a very difficult situation and there came into my mind those reassuring words be still and know that I am God. I knew then that this was his work that he would not let it fail that all we had to do was work at it and do our very best and that the work would move forward without let or hindrance of any kind. The decade of the 80s saw a substantial increase in the construction of new temples throughout the world. During a three-year period alone from 1983 to 1986 President Hinckley dedicated 18 temples around the world in locations from South Africa to Chicago. It's interesting to note that of the 47 temples that we have in operation in the church President Hinckley has been involved in the dedication of all but five of those temples. I returned only yesterday from Santiago, Chile after flying all night. We there dedicated a new building. It was a marvelous experience. Preceding that were similar experiences in Atlanta, Samoa, Tonga, and other parts of the world. I think I've spoken to 15 different congregations in the last 10 days scattered from California to Santiago, Chile to Detroit, Michigan. Just ahead is the general conference for which much of preparation is needed. I do not have a speechwriter. I have only the opportunity to pray and work. When I've concluded today you may conclude that I should have prayed more and written less. In 1985, he was called as first counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson. And in 1994, first counselor to President Howard W. Hunter. On June 12, 1994, President Hinckley returned to his beloved Preston where he had labored as a missionary 61 years earlier. There as a member of the first presidency, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for a temple of the Lord. This is an emotional experience for me. Never back in those years what I have dreamed that here in Lancashire there would someday stand a house of the Lord and that I would have a part in breaking ground for his construction. When he learned that one of his dear friends of years ago when he was a young man as a missionary was in the audience he came off of the stand and worked his way through the audience with emotion seeking to find Robert Pickles. When he found him sitting in a wheelchair he took hold of his hand they embraced one another tears streamed down both of their cheeks and it was a great reunion. That is so typical of President Gordon B. Hinckley his great love for the Saints. Our purpose inviting you here this morning is to announce that a new president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Gordon Bittner Hinckley was ordained and set apart in the Salt Lake Temple yesterday, Sunday, March 12, 1995. President Hinckley becomes the 15th president of the Church. I have appreciated his great spiritual depth his knowledge of the scriptures his knowledge of the revelation his knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ which he has always emphasized in his ministry. President Hinckley has been prepared in a marvelous way he has been schooled and he has been carefully honed we might say for this wonderful marvelous call has come to him to be God's prophet here upon the earth. I don't know of any single man who's come to the presidency of this Church who has been so well prepared he's been taught by all of the great leaders of our time one on one. I'm sure that no man in the history of the Church has traveled so far to so many places in the world with a single purpose in mind that is to preach the gospel to bless and lift up the saints and to foster the redemption of the dead. Brother Hinckley has a compassionate heart and he's quick to forgive and he's ready to welcome home any traveler who has perhaps strayed from the path of full activity and now has those quickenings in his heart that yearning for home and President Hinckley will say welcome home without stretched arms. I know that God our eternal Father lives and that he stands at the head of this work I know that Jesus is the Christ the Redeemer and the Savior of the world and that he is the living head of this Church whose name it bears I know that the conversation which took place between the Father and the Son and the boy Joseph was as intimate and as real as is my conversation with you that the Book of Mormon is true that the priesthood is upon the earth that this is the work of the Almighty and that it's great challenge and destiny lies ahead of it and that it will continue to move forth until it has accomplished the mission for which the Almighty has outlined for it I'm grateful for that testimony I love the work I love the faithful people of this Church and I leave my blessing with them in the name of Jesus Christ Our Redeemer Amen