Conditions in Europe

This is an excerpt from a letter to the First Presidency regarding the condition of the European Saints after WWII by Ezra Taft Benson:

“The general condition of the Saints is improving daily. Spiritually it has been good throughout the war and was perhaps never better than it is now. Mission leaders everywhere report that in their experience the Saints have never so completely lived the law of tithing and kept the Word of Wisdom and otherwise maintained the standards of the Church. While the Saints have been called upon to endure hardships almost beyond description, in many cases, yet they have remained hopeful and optimistic, even during occupation of their countries by a foreign enemy when at times they feared for their very lives.

“During the past two or three weeks we have ridden in unheated trains, trucks, and airplanes in order to visit the various missions, but in every instance we were greeted upon arrival with such love and warmth of spirit that any hardships encountered in our travels were soon forgotten. Probably the gospel has never been so fully appreciated by the Saints in Europe as during the recent war period. Already we have come to love them deeply and I am sure we cannot say enough in praise of their devotion to the truth and their love of the General Authorities of the Church” (On Wings of Faith, 25–26).