We sometimes get a glimpse from General Conference talks of the missionary efforts of General Authorities in the more casual moments of their lives – chatting with someone in an airport, maybe, ((This is the obligatory reference to a supposed conversation with Mick Jaggar; please don’t let that bog us down here.)) or with a dinner partner at some civic event. As I read papers of past Church leaders, I see the same casual, low-key willingness to share the gospel one-on-one, not limiting their work to large-scale, formal settings.

George Albert Smith was adept at that sort of thing. He maintained a large and frequent correspondence with all kinds of people he had met through his life, and I’m struck by the simple, natural way he spoke of religious matters. In 1933, for instance, in a letter to a London lecturer he had met while serving as the European Mission President just after World War I, then-Elder Smith repeatedly but inoffensively and interestingly referred to Church affairs. As you read the letter, note how he did it:

1. Most of his references arose from his own recent activities. He was busily engaged directly in Church work and in related projects, and he simply shared the news of his life.

2. When he wrote of Church history that would likely be unfamiliar to his correspondent, he briefly – briefly – provided the minimum details his reader would need to understand the context.

3. He didn’t shy away from statements – many of them – that are plainly in the nature of a testimony, but again he kept those statements brief and not preachy.

4. He acknowledged his correspondent’s religious work as having the same value as his own.

5. He sent Church literature – the 1933 equivalent of the Ensign Conference issue — but oh-so-casually: “I’m sending this to our mutual friend because he requested it, and thought you might like to read it, too.” (paraphrased)

6. He tied religion firmly to its effects in this world : honoring faithful Saints of the past, bettering the lives of Mormon youth, rather than writing solely of doctrine.

Do you see other ways in which George Albert Smith speaks of Mormonism in an attractive, unselfconscious, non-preachy manner?

My esteemed Friend and Brother:

Your letter of June 13 arrived while I was making a pilgrimage over the old pioneer trail from here to Independence Rock, four hundred miles east. We went out to place monuments and markers along the road that was traveled by the early pioneers.

Two years ago we placed a beautiful marker on Independence Rock in honor of the pioneers, many of whom inscribed their names on that great register of the desert n the years 1847-48. Independence Rock stands in the wilderness sixty miles from any town.

This year we erected a monument and placed a marker at a place called Martin’s Cove. At this point and between there and the Platte River more than one hundred people, many of them from England, lost their lives as they pushed their handcarts with all their earthly possessions across the great plains from the Missouri river to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. They were overtaken by deep snows and cold and starvation claimed a terrible toll. They were finally rescued by men who forced their way through the snow from the Salt Lake Valley.

We also placed a marker at Rock Creek where a handcart company under the direction of a man named Willey was overtaken by the same snowstorm; nearly one hundred perished in that company, fifteen being buried in one grave. This place is about one hundred miles from civilization and is located up in the tops of the mountains at an altitude of about seven thousand feet.

The people in whose honor these markers were placed were men and women who desired to serve the Lord. They left the comforts of their homelands and faced the desert wilderness of America, believing that they were doing what the Lord would have them do, remembering as they did the suggestion of the Savior – that he who is not willing to forsake father and mother, etc., for me is not worthy of me. Those who arrived at the valley in most cases lived to see this desert land blossom as the rose and their descendants have been blessed as few people on the earth have been through the mercy of our Heavenly Father.

After writing you my last letter I crossed the continent to New York and Boston in the interest of the National movement of Boy Scouts. Then again in May I went to St. Louis and other eastern cities visiting the Central States Mission.

Returning I enjoyed the great June Convention that is held annually here in Salt Lake city at which thousands of young people assemble to be instructed in matters of recreation. At this time they are always encouraged to give only such time to recreation as will be beneficial to them and to enjoy only such kinds of recreation as the Lord would approve of.

We have a wonderful group of young people in this land. We are grateful for them and proud of them and exceedingly anxious that their lives be filled with the richness of righteousness and that we may warn them if possible in time that they may avoid the pitfalls of the adversary.

I am just in receipt of a letter from Tom Peck in which he informs me that he had just heard from you and that you and yours were well. Tom doesn’t write very long letters but he always says encouraging things and is a ray of sunshine in any presence that he happens to be in. Today I am sending him a copy of the annual conference report as he has indicated that he would like to read it. I am also, under separate cover, sending you a copy. It will give you an idea of the character of sermons that are preached in the great Tabernacle here at Salt Lake city at Conference time. I don’t remember whether I ever sent you one before or not but this is the latest and I think you will find something of interest as you read it.

With reference to the book, “Finding God in Millerville” it is like many other books. There are some things in it that are very fine and others that are not so good. Prayer is one of the great forces. It is the one means our Heavenly Father has offered to all men to approach Him and have communion with His holy spirit. It is like faith – without works it will not get us very far.

Upon one occasion my grandfather was crossing the Atlantic Ocean. A terrible storm arose. Some of the passengers came to grandfather and said, “Why don’t you get down on your knees and pray?” His reply was, “I have already done my praying; now I am ready for work.” Prayer and works enrich the soul and will bring to us the blessings of our Heavenly Father.

The Deseret News is the oldest paper in the Rocky Mountains, in fact the oldest newspaper in the United States between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. it is owned and published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I am glad to know that your health is improving and that you have had a vacation. I have been at Bolton many times. Did you go by way of Darby, your old stopping ground, when you went to Bolton? If you did I am sure you enjoyed seeing that part of the country again. It must have given you great joy to find your daughter comfortably located and to turn over the soil in preparation for planting. If gardening will make you a one hundred per cent man surely you ought to pass that on to a lot of people who have been too tired to work for a long, long time.

You appear to be greatly uplifted when you are preaching the Gospel. It must be a source of satisfaction to you to have the opportunity to encourage many people to ally themselves in the Master’s service. I would like to have heard your sermon on Babylon. the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning Babylon has been of interest to me for many years and to realize that t is still in course of fulfilment – that the Arabian dare not pitch his tent there, that the shepherd will not make his fold there and that the wild beasts of the island still howl in their desolate houses as the prophet of the Lord said they would.

The great world conference is now in progress. ((He refers here not to LDS General Conference, but to the London Economic Conference, with representatives from many nations, meeting to find ways to end the Depression and spur international trade.)) If it succeeds it will be because the men who are there divest themselves of unselfishness and seek to do what the Lord would have them do. I hope and pray that the outcome may be successful.

I hope that it will not be necessary for you to change your abiding place if it is one that is pleasing to you now but that you will be able to remain in your comfortable home. If you do move I trust it may be to more comfortable quarters and to greater happiness.

Praying the Lord to abundantly bless you and your dear ones, I am, with much appreciation of your brotherly affection,

Faithfully yours,