Welfare Program, a Wonderful Thing
President George Albert Smith
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📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the wickedness in the world and how nations have been wiped out due to their refusal to heed God's teachings.
The world is sick. It is not the first time it has been sick. It has had a good many different experiences of that kind. Sometimes nations have had to be wiped out because of the wickedness of the people who live in them. The Lord, all down through the ages, has spoken to his leaders and teachers who are inspired, but when the world refuses to heed after it has been properly taught, it places itself in a position of saying to our Heavenly Father who owns this world—he is our landlord†... (continued)
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Welfare Program, a Wonderful Thing
President George Albert Smith
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📖 general conference
The speaker tells a story of a generous man who offered to pay for a child's polio treatment when there was no other way to obtain the needed funds.
We have in the Church many wonderful individuals—and out of the Church many wonderful individuals. I heard of a case here just a few days ago of a man who had been informed that a child had polio and had to go to the hospital. The probability was it would recover but would remain ill for months or years. I am speaking of a man who is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He lives in this part of the world, however. He was told of the situation, and that there wa ... (continued)
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Welfare Responsibilities of the Priesthood Quorums
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
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📖 general conference
A stake president recounts how a bishop reported a couple in his ward seeking a divorce due to financial stress and constant arguments over money. The couple was overwhelmed by debt from imprudent installment buying, facing wage garnishment, bill collector harassment, and foreclosure on their home.
I should like to tell you of an experience I had many years ago while serving as a stake president. I received a telephone call from a bishop who reported that a husband and wife in his ward were seeking a divorce. Having gone beyond all limits of prudence in installment buying, they now argued endlessly over money matters.
The husband in his employment faced the constant threat of garnishment of wages, and the wife refused to remain at home because of the harassment of bill collectors. Furtherm ... (continued)
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Welfare Responsibilities of the Priesthood Quorums
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
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📖 general conference
The bishop had counseled the couple and met their immediate needs, but felt he had done all he could. The stake president then involved the priesthood quorum, which formed a committee including a lawyer, a credit manager, and an accountant to help the couple manage their finances.
The bishop reported that he had taken care of their emergency needs, and that he had counseled with them at length in an effort to restore the love and respect they once had known. He had reached the point where he felt he had done all he could to help them.
I asked whether the man belonged to a priesthood quorum. The bishop replied that he was an elder. That evening the quorum presidency responded to a call to meet with the bishop. On a confidential basis the problem was outlined. Then the quor ... (continued)
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Welfare Responsibilities of the Priesthood Quorums
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
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📖 general conference
The couple agreed to let the committee manage their finances, which led to the restructuring of their debts, selling off unnecessary assets, and learning financial responsibility. Over time, their financial situation improved, they saved their home, and their relationship was restored.
The couple was then called in and asked whether they would be willing to put their financial affairs in the hands of these brethren. They broke into tears at this sign of help with the burden they had found too heavy to bear themselves.
The men nominated for the committee were then approached and each agreed to serve. What they discovered was a dismal picture indeed. Obligated monthly payments totaled almost twice the monthly income. But these men were accustomed to dealing with problems of this ... (continued)
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Welfare Responsibilities of the Priesthood Quorums
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
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📖 general conference
The stake president recalls a quorum officer who, despite being an employee, assigned his own employer, the quorum president, to work at the stake farm. This demonstrated mutual respect and the brotherhood within the quorum.
I recall a quorum officer in our stake who was an employee of a businessman who was a member of that quorum. The businessman was the quorum president"™s employer for forty hours a week. It was this same quorum president who called on and assigned the businessman, his boss, to go to the stake farm at five o"™clock in the morning to hoe beets. And be it said to the credit of both that each respected the other in his position. They were working brothers in a great fraternity.
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Welfare Responsibilities of the Priesthood Quorums
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley
- Of the Council of the Twelve
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📖 general conference
The quorum operated an employment program that not only found jobs for the unemployed but also improved employment for those underutilized, showing the quorum's role in providing temporal assistance.
I should like to add that this businessman had others of the quorum working for him. The quorum of which they were members operated, as an arm of the Ward Welfare Services Committee, an effective employment program under which job opportunities were found not only for those who were unemployed, but also improvement in the employment of some who in terms of latent ability had been underemployed.
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Welfare Services
President Marion G. Romney
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
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📖 general conference
The speaker shares his memory of attending a conference 39 years ago when the welfare program was announced, and how his ward took immediate action to implement it.
I was, at that time, a bishop, and I was in attendance at that conference, thirty-nine years ago, when this message was read. I well remember that immediately thereafter"”pursuant to this counsel"”we built, in the basement of our ward meetinghouse, some storage closets and gathered clothing and basic food needs.
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Welfare Services
President Marion G. Romney
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
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📖 general conference
The speaker recounts an experience where General Authorities were asked to speak on a specific subject at stake conferences, leading to a humorous remark by President George F. Richards about a chorus hearing the same subject twice without realizing it.
Brethren and sisters, after what I"™ve heard here today"”certainly a full coverage of the subject"”I am reminded of an experience I had some years ago. I believe it was one of the few times, if not the only time, that we General Authorities were asked by the Brethren to treat a certain subject at a stake conference. That week I went to Richfield, and Brother Clifford Young went over to Monroe. They had a chorus of young folks from the school sing at Richfield while I was there in the morni ... (continued)
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Welfare Services
President Marion G. Romney
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
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📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the early years of the welfare program, his assignments to teach the program, and the call for every ward to acquire a production project.
During the first five years"”from 1936 to 1941"”Elder Melvin J. Ballard and President Lee (then a stake president) went throughout the stakes of the Church organizing welfare regions and teaching the program. Thereafter, each year for fifteen years, I was assigned by the Brethren to meet with stake and ward leadership of all stakes in the United States and Canada. This, with my traveling companions, I did. Our responsibility was to teach the program, assign a production budget for the ensuin ... (continued)
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Welfare Services
President Marion G. Romney
- Second Counselor in the First Presidency
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📖 general conference
The speaker calls for experienced priesthood leaders and their wives to serve as Welfare Services missionaries, providing qualifications and the need for their service.
We, therefore, request the assistance of you stake presidents and bishops in identifying mature, experienced priesthood leaders and their wives who may be called on full-time missions as Welfare Services missionaries. These couples will assist priesthood leaders, in developing areas of the Church, by teaching basic Welfare Services principles and by supervising health and agriculture missionaries. The Welfare Services missionary couples should meet the following qualifications: The brother shoul ... (continued)
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker recounts an experience in South America where they observed a sloth hanging upside down in a tree, moving very slowly, which reminded them of scriptural references to slothfulness as a negative trait.
One day in South America we had the interesting experience of seeing in a hot jungle area a small brownish gray animal hanging upside down in a tree. It had rather long front paws and short back legs. Its movements were so slow that it was hard to know whether it was alive or dead. We were told that it was a sloth. I was intrigued because reference to the sloth appears in scripture. The Lord used it with disdain, referring to those who were slow to act.
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker reflects on the origins of the welfare program in the 1930s, its goals to combat idleness and promote self-respect, and how it has evolved to prepare for greater needs over time.
When the welfare program was begun in the 1930s, it aimed to eliminate the curse of idleness, reestablish self-respect, and help people to help themselves. The basic principles of the Lord"™s economic system had earlier been revealed to the Prophet Joseph. Nearly everything that has happened since then has been to prepare us for the time when this program would be needed to a far greater extent. In the intervening years, many great principles have been declared. I shall review these briefly.
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker emphasizes the importance of the welfare program in the Church, including preventive aspects and rehabilitation, and the role of priesthood quorums and Aaronic Priesthood leaders in teaching and implementing welfare principles.
The preventive aspects of the welfare program can and must be accomplished by you quorum leaders learning, teaching, and implementing these principles. Besides the preventive work, there is the work of rehabilitation. The individual who is in need of sustenant help should be built back into a self-supporting member of the Church. This is the work of the priesthood quorums as Elder Hinckley illustrated so beautifully six months ago. The quorum must help its weakened members.
Likewise, on you Aaro ... (continued)
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker describes various activities and projects that youth can participate in to engage with Welfare Services, emphasizing the practical and educational benefits of such involvement.
Often we hear youth say: "What is there todo?" In addition to the collection of fast offerings by the deacons, some of the finest opportunities lie in the area of Welfare Services. Brethren, build into your programs the excellent activities suggested in theAaronic Priesthood Quorum GuidebookandThe Activity Book.Here is a sampling of the useful and interesting ways in which youth can participate in home storage and Welfare Services activities: store and preserve food and water, store firewood a ... (continued)
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
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📖 general conference
The speaker shares various quotes from past Church leaders, including Presidents Grant, Clark, Lee, and Romney, who provided guidance on principles of self-reliance, work, and the importance of the welfare program.
President Grant declared: "The Church needs blessings, and the only way we can receive "¦ them "¦ is by keeping the laws on which these blessings are predicated. The fundamental law pertaining to thewelfareof our people is fast offering. The reason we want to stress the paying of fast offerings is because we need blessings that come from paying fast offerings."
President Clark counseled: "Live within your means. Get out of debt. Keep out of debt. Lay by for a rainy day which has always come ... (continued)
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Welfare Services Begins with You
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
- Of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy
📅 0
📖 general conference
The speaker concludes by warning against slothfulness, using the earlier sloth anecdote to illustrate the importance of acting promptly and diligently in living the principles of the welfare program.
Brothers and sisters, I have reviewed briefly these principles. They are true. You can live them. Now I give a word of caution, even warning. The wordslothorslothfulnessappears in scripture twenty-five times, generally to condemn those who were slow to act. As we watched that sloth hanging in the tree, it reached out ever so slowly to pull off a leaf, then slower still brought it back and put it into its mouth. As we watched it we could understand the wordsimpatient, irritated, exasperated.The S ... (continued)
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Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action
President Spencer W. Kimball
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📖 general conference
The speaker recalls how their mother used to hum the hymn 'Improve the Shining Moments' while doing household chores, which makes the song dear to them.
Singing this song ["Improve the Shining Moments"] takes me back some generations. My beloved mother, who died early in my life, used to hum this song as she went about the house preparing the meals and taking care of our home. So it"™s very dear to me.
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Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action
President Spencer W. Kimball
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📖 general conference
President Romney expressed concern that new generations of Church leaders may not have been taught welfare principles as thoroughly as their predecessors.
I am constrained to agree with President Romney"™s assessment of this, when in an instructional session of General Authorities several years ago he stated: "As "˜There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph"™Ex. 1:8so there has arisen in the Church a new generation of bishops and stake presidents who have not been taught and trained as were their predecessors." (Marion G. Romney,The Basics of Church Welfare,March 6, 1974.)
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Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action
President Spencer W. Kimball
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📖 general conference
The speaker shares a personal reflection on the importance of welfare work and the spiritual heritage associated with it, hoping to intensify commitment in the current generation.
Because of the overriding significance of this great welfare plan, I thought it appropriate to restate the fundamental truths of this work and to emphasize how we should apply these in this generation. My hope is that we may intensify, if possible, our spiritual heritage in this work and, building on their foundation, lengthen our stride in its present implementation.
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