I want to very briefly give a report on the church — "It is stronger than it has ever been. It is not only larger in numbers, but I believe there is a greater faithfulness among the Saints generally."
"We are experiencing slow but steady improvement in most of our fields of activity."
"We are well on our way to enlarging the educational opportunity for our youth. We have announced that Ricks College will become a four-year school to be known as BYU-Idaho."
There has also been a marvelous increase in the growth of temple activity.
"One of the bellwether marks of the growth and vitality of the church is the construction of temples."
We have just dedicated a temple in Uruguay, the 103rd working temple of the church. Eighteen other new temples are under construction or have been announced.
"In addition, we have visited and are giving consideration to a significant number of potential temple sites in the United States, Central and South America, Europe and the isles of the sea. I will not mention their names, because this would only create excitement when we do not yet have the ground on which to build them.
"We are not without critics, some of whom are mean and vicious. We have always had them, but we should go forward, returning good for evil, being helpful, kind and generous. Let us be good people, friendly people, neighborly people.
"Let us be what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ought to be."