Since those simple beginnings when Samuel Smith slept under an apple tree his first night as the first missionary in this dispensation, "it is reliably estimated," said President Gordon B. Hinckley, "that a million missionaries have since served" — the millionth having entered missionary service sometime in early June.
And this "is only the beginning," he said during sacrament meeting of the New Mission Presidents Seminar June 24.
The legacy of missionary work is rich in history and colorful in faith. Each who has accepted a call to serve has added something of faith and talent to the missionary mosaic. Each has grown in discipleship.
The Lord's command to take the gospel to all the world must have stunned an infant Church of about 680 members when uttered in February 1831. (Doctrine and Covenants 42:56,58.)
Six months later on Aug. 1, 1831, the Lord reiterated His charge. "The sound must go forth from this place into all the world and unto the uttermost parts of the earth — the gospel must be preached unto every creature." (Doctrine and Covenants 58:64.)
Twice more in November of that year, the Prophet Joseph Smith heard the Lord's call to preach the gospel throughout the world; begging the question: Why did the Lord repeat, again and again, this daunting charge if it could not be accomplished? (Doctrine and Covenants 68:8, 133:7-8.)
The message is clear; the gospel is vitally important and the Lord will provide a way.
Missionary work began in earnest when Samuel Smith, the Prophet Joseph Smith's younger brother, loaded a knapsack with 25 copies of the newly published Book of Mormon in June 1830 and traveled some 25 miles sharing the gospel as the first ordained missionary.
During his lifetime, the Prophet sent 35 missionaries around the world to places such as England, Canada, Jerusalem, Russia, French Polynesia in the Pacific and Australia.
Now 177 years later, to the very month of the first missionary, the 1 millionth missionary to be called in this dispensation has entered the doors of a Missionary Training Center.
Like the stone carved without hands seen in dream by Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted by Daniel, the missionary effort continues to pick up momentum and rolls forth with yet greater intensity.
Approximately 40,000 missionaries had served from 1830 to the time President Gordon B. Hinckley departed for his mission to the British Isles in 1933.
Another 40,000 served in the 25 intervening years before President Hinckley was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve on April 6, 1958.
By 1963, 100,000 missionaries had been called. By 1975, the 200,000 missionary milestone was reached. By 1983, the 300,000th missionary was serving. By 1987, the 400,000th missionary began serving.
In the next eight years until 1995, another 200,000 missionaries were called, tallying 600,000 missionaries in the 165 years following the organization of the Church.
Since President Hinckley was called as the 15th president of the Church on March 12, 1995, another 400,000 missionaries have been called.
Nearly 40 percent of all missionaries called during this dispensation have been called during President Hinckley's 12 years as Church president.
Of those missionaries, nearly one-third come from outside the United States.
The long and storied history of missionary work in this dispensation reflects the Church's commitment to the Lord's charge, and underscores how inspired leaders have directed the Church's missionary efforts to adapt to the world's shifting conditions.
Rejection came often to Samuel, then, as well as to missionaries now. Four doors where closed on him the first day. That evening he was thrown out of an inn by an irate innkeeper for proclaiming the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. Samuel spent the first night of his missionary effort sleeping on the damp ground beneath an apple tree.
But he endured and one evening, while making his way home, he stopped at the Tomlinson Inn where stagecoach travelers and other guests would rest and dine.
He strode across the wood floor of the dining area, and while holding out a copy of the Book of Mormon to a stranger conversing at the dining table, he simply said, "There is a book, sir, I wish you to read."
That copy of the Book of Mormon eventually made its way into the hands of Brigham Young and played a role in his conversion.
From countless simple acts of testifying, the Church has now grown to 13 million members.
A few years later, in Kirtland in 1837, a season of economic depression, when a spirit of criticism and evil-speaking threatened the Church, Joseph Smith said to Heber C. Kimball, "Brother Heber, the Spirit of the Lord has whispered to me, 'Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my gospel, and open the door of salvation to that nation."'
"It is difficult for us to comprehend the enormity of that call," said President Gordon B. Hinckley, then first counselor in the First Presidency in the April 1987 general conference.
"Such a request from one ordinary man to another would have been incredible. It meant leaving a family destitute. It meant traveling to New York and crossing the sea when he had no money. It meant that a man with very little schooling ... would go to the great cities of the British Isles among a people known for their education.
"Suffice it to say that Heber C. Kimball and his six associates, at the call of Joseph Smith, left their homes, traveled over land and sea, and laid the foundation of a mighty work in the British Isles," continued President Hinckley, detailing how they baptized many hundreds.
The faith to leave home and family is a test for each missionary. Brigham Young wrote in his journal from Nauvoo, "I started from Montrose on my mission to England. My health was so poor I was unable to go thirty rods to the river without assistance. After I had crossed the river I got Israel Barlow to carry me on his horse behind him to Heber C. Kimball's, where I remained sick till the 18th. I left my wife sick with a babe only ten days old, and all my children sick and unable to wait upon each other."
Through times of persecution and hardship such as world wars, missionary service has continued uninterrupted. Records show that missionaries were called every year since 1830, except 1858. Numbers gradually grew over the decades from several dozen missionaries to sometimes more than 1,000 per year.
In 1933, when President Hinckley was called to serve in England, 524 others were called. The next year in 1934, another 843 were called.
By 1961, the First Presidency mandated the curriculum for training missionaries. For the first time, a plan of six lessons was adopted by every mission.
Missionary work advanced during these years as President David O. McKay's directive, "Every member a missionary," was emphasized.
In 1961, the Language Training Institute at Brigham Young University began preparing missionaries to speak foreign languages. The name was changed to Language Training Mission. In 1978, the LTM was changed to the Missionary Training Center and established in modern facilities near the BYU campus. There are now 17 such Missionary Training Centers around the world.
Missionary efforts took a great stride forward when President Spencer W. Kimball, shortly after being ordained president of the Church in December 1973, called for more and better trained missionaries. He called on members to pray to the Lord to soften hearts and open doors to countries long closed to the gospel. He called on members to prepare themselves in language and service.
Many responded and in the next years, the number of missionaries jumped from 9,811 in 1974 to 14,446 in 1975. Numbers have continued to grow over the decades, with 54,000 missionaries now serving in 347 missions organized in 145 of the world's 239 nations and territories. Missionaries teach in 164 languages.
The next great step forward in missionary work came in December 2004 when a new missionary approach was introduced in "Preach My Gospel," which came as the inspired result of President Hinckley's desire to help missionaries teach by the Spirit and less by "wooden" recitation.
The program is sweeping in its scope and emboldens missionaries with the spiritual tools and knowledge necessary to perform a spiritual work, said Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council.
In 13 chapters, "Preach My Gospel" outlines every aspect of missionary life and brings the worldwide effort of preaching the gospel under one unified approach.
Raising the bar on the quality of missionaries and introducing "Preach My Gospel," a new guide to missionary service, are improving missionary effectiveness.
"After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel," said the Prophet Joseph Smith.
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