‘We are instruments in His hands,’ Elder Quentin L. Cook tells missionaries serving in 4 Buenos Aires missions

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — A hundred years ago, Elder Melvin J. Ballard, an early 20th-century apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, traveled to South America to preach the gospel and open missions.

Elder Ballard — sent by President Heber J. Grant, the Church president at the time — “knew that there might be little success at the beginning,” Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles told missionaries from four missions in two meetings.

“It is the Lord who is hastening the work,” Elder Cook said, adding, “We are instruments in His hands.”

Elder Cook met with the Argentina Buenos Aires North and Argentina Buenos Aires East missions on Monday, Aug. 18, and the Argentina Buenos Aires South and Argentina Buenos Aires West missions on Saturday, Aug. 23.

Church leaders had long known of the need of sending missionaries to South America, said Elder Cook, who chairs the Church’s Missionary Executive Council.

Joseph Smith at a priesthood meeting in 1834 said: “You don’t comprehend it. … This Church will fill North and South America — it will fill the world.”

In December 1925, Elder Ballard offered a prayer in Buenos Aires dedicating South America for the preaching of the gospel. The following year, when Elder Ballard was again in Argentina, he used an analogy of an acorn growing slowly into an oak tree, Elder Cook said.

Elder Ballard said: “The work of the Lord will grow slowly for a time here just as an oak grows slowly from an acorn. It will not shoot up in a day as does the sunflower that grows quickly and then dies. But thousands will join the Church here. It will be divided into more than one mission and will be one of the strongest in the Church.”

Elder Cook told the missionaries: “It has been just exactly like that. That acorn has become a mighty oak tree.”

About 4.1 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live in South America, said Elder Cook. In Argentina, there are more than 500,000 Church members, some 80 stakes, 500-plus wards, 14 missions and four operating temples.

Elder Cook, who was accompanied by his wife, Sister Mary Cook, ministered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square’s “Songs of Hope” tour stop in the city Aug. 18-24. The tour stop celebrated 100 years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South America.

Sister Cook led the missionaries in a rousing rendition of “Hark All Ye Nations.”

‘Work going forward’

Elder Cook was invited in 2003 by President Gordon B. Hinckley, with then-Elder Russell M. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, to bring forth “Preach My Gospel,” a guide for missionaries. President Hinckley had a few instructions for them, including that a chapter would have the doctrine “that is necessary for somebody to go forward and be baptized and converted in this church.”

Elder Cook recalled President Hinckley instructing them to make sure “missionaries could easily learn and understand it” so when the missionaries returned home, they could be leaders in the Church and in their homes.

In 2023, “Preach My Gospel” was updated to include current technology and other chapters were also revised.

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“We see this work going forward in a wonderful way, and we are grateful for that,” Elder Cook said.

Elder Cook told the missionaries in both meetings that he had met with President Russell M. Nelson prior to coming to Argentina. Elder Cook spoke of President Nelson’s love for the missionaries, and the Apostle shared his witness of having a living Prophet and President Nelson’s prophetic leadership.

Elder Cook also testified of the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection.

“Because of the Atonement, all that is unfair about life is resolved,” he said.

On Monday, Aug. 18, with the Buenos Aires North and East missions, the Cooks were accompanied by Elder Joaquin E. Costa, General Authority Seventy and president of the South America South Area, and his wife, Sister Renee Costa, who both spoke.

Also sharing their testimonies were Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission leaders President David A. Jackson, and his wife, Sister Rebecca T. Jackson, and Argentina Buenos Aires East Mission leaders President Chris Doughty and his wife, Sister Leslie Doughty.

On Saturday, Aug. 23, with the Buenos Aires South and West missions, Elder Alan R. Walker, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the South America South Area, and his wife, Sister Inez Walker, both spoke. The four mission leaders — President Tim Fewkes, and his wife, Sister Karen Fewkes of the Buenos Aires South mission, and President Richard G. Holley, and his wife, Sister MaryAnn Holley, of the Buenos Aires West mission — shared their testimonies.

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