Two new Temples are now being erected, one in Alberta, Canada, and another at Laie, on the island of Oahu, Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands.  Work on the Canadian Temple was begun in 1913, and the one at Hawaii was commenced in the summer of 1915.  The building of these Temples indicate that the great work for the dead is being energetically carried out by the Church.

In the summer of 1914, the great European war broke out, which has caused the death and crippling of millions, and brought misery untold to the nations engaged in it.  Very likely this war is the greatest the world has ever known.  Nearly all our missionaries have had to be withdrawn from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and France, and very few have been left in Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries.  We sympathize with all these nations, and can only hope that the Lord will make it possible, after the war, that the missionaries will be better able to reach the people with the gospel of peace and salvation.

At this writing (December, 1916) there are seventy-three stakes of Zion in the Church, and over eight hundred wards.  The quorums of the Priesthood have been more thoroughly organized, and have regular courses of study in their classes.  The helping organizations of the Church, such as the Sunday Schools, the Mutual Improvement Associations, and others are doing a splendid work.  The Church has recently completed a beautiful Church office building in Salt Lake City.  The first and second floors of this building are occupied by the First Presidency and other Church officials.  The third floor is devoted to the Historian’s work, and the large collection of books and Church records.  The fourth floor is used by the Genealogical Society, an organization whose purpose is to help people with their records, and gather a library of genealogical books, which will help them do the work in the Temples for their dead.

[Illustration:  CHURCH OFFICE BUILDING]

* * * * *

Here ends our history for the present.  The little tree (mentioned in Chapter I) planted by God and nurtured by his servants, has in the space of eighty-six years grown to a large, beautiful tree, whose branches, as it were, protect thousands of people, and whose fruit nourishes a multitude.  The enemy has striven hard to uproot and destroy it, but every effort has only made it cling more firmly to the nourishing earth.

The Church is growing in strength and power to save the human family.  That is its mission.  It will never be overcome, or left to other people.  “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing,” said the Prophet Joseph, “persecution may rage; mobs may combine; armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independently till it has penetrated every continent; visited every clime, swept every country; and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”