OCR Text |
Show rf! -77. " : 3 IDS Missionary Program Answer To Hippie-Beatnik Antics group of delegates at a national convention stood on (fee steps of Salt Lake City's 51 Hotel Utah waiting for the Ft airport limousine. As they I loitered there a group of 50 i d"r more Mormon missionary 1 trainees , clean-cut, sharp-: sharp-: Hooking, and meticulously 1 groomed in dark suits and Uties with their little black 'books of scripture in their ' hands filed by on the way I to their nearby quarters, rtet! '-"Now, there is a sight I'll Moi venture you never saw be-larti be-larti fore," said one bystander to Thil his companion. "What is this, 1 fi a college glee club or some-tice! some-tice! thing?" qui "I do not know," replied the other observer, "but it - looks to me like the Mor--: mons' answer to the beat- niks and hippies." Could very well be. While the beatniks and hippies, by their undignified appearance, recalcitrant attitudes and annoying disturbances protest the world society, seeking to usnap the bands of intellectual "rand social convention, these Mormon youth, more than ' 1 6,000 annually, between their X first year of college and the f, 4 military service, devote two '1 1 years at their own expense to promulgate the gospel of their church. 'The Mormon missionary system is a spiritual peace prps of unequalled influence "and power. Its emissaries alter al-ter the lives of thousands of people throughout the world each year, from cold, worldly p,.1 indifference even bitter op-Position op-Position to deep devotion "!V2'cf the principals of their "-43 religion. . Their reward? It comes fy-'from seeing what the gospel '",' es for people. They can ar-'gue ar-'gue against a passage of scripture but not against a revivified life. A young family fam-ily recently was about to break un because the wife was a slovenly housekeeper, spent her time reading trash-y trash-y literature, smoking and watching television, neglecting neglect-ing her husband and children. chil-dren. Two young lady missionaries missionar-ies called one day, aroused ' her interest and taught her to keep a neat house, cook and sew, and gave her the gospel study lessons. Now, . as a devoted and enthusiastic enthusias-tic member of the LDS church, chur-ch, happiness abounds in her orderly household as she serves her family and the church. A business executive in Germany, called upon in a meeting to tell what the gospel gos-pel meant to him, said, '"I think I can say it best if I tell you that I am actually only five years old. It does not seem that I lived at all until I received the gospel from two very devoted and persuasive young missionaries." missionar-ies." Stories like these are repeated re-peated around the world. While the gospel is doin all this for people, it is blessing the missionaries as well. They are a devoted lot who would rather teach the gospel than do anything else in the world because they ' can see. as the late Apostle Adam S. Bennion observed, "how it humbles a man, mellows, motivates, sustains, redeems and exalts him." The Mormon missionary, as the convention delegate suggested, is the answer to the "beatnik and hippie. He joins in protest against the world's ills, but offers by precept and example positive, posi-tive, workable plan for action. |