"HE SHALL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS"
In the spring of 1949, M. Russell Ballard, at that time a young missionary in England, was called as president of the Nottingham District. Elder Ballard had been on his mission less than a year, but already he was serving as the leader of thirty-four full-time missionaries.
The work was hard, and the missionaries were constantly searching for new ways to preach the gospel. Like many missionaries, the new district president wanted to do something dramatic. But when the opportunity came, it turned out to be a little more than he had bargained for.
The Midland Debating Society was an old and respected organization in England. A member of the society contacted Elder Ballard and asked whether an authority from the LDS church could make a presentation. Elder Ballard was sure that his mission president, Selvoy J. Boyer, would jump at the chance to present the message of the restored gospel to such a large and important group of people. The plan was for President Boyer to speak for forty-five minutes on the doctrines of the Church. Following his speech, those who wished to disagree would be allowed five minutes each. Then a question-and-answer period would follow.
Elder Ballard agreed to the format, set a date, and called the mission president. With great excitement he explained the opportunity. No Mormon missionary had spoken to this society since John A. Widtsoe--a powerful, even legendary missionary-had addressed the group twenty-five years before. Elder Ballard knew that President Boyer was a gospel scholar and a fine speaker. He would make a wonderful impression on the audience.
President Boyer listened to all this and then simply said, "Good luck, my boy."
Elder Ballard was taken back for a moment. The mission president had obviously misunderstood. So Elder Ballard started over. Once again he explained the arrangements, and this time he was very clear that it was the president who was to do the speaking.
President Boyer listened again, and this time he said, "The Lord bless you, my boy." Then he hung up the phone.
President Boyer, of course, recognized the importance of this experience to his young district president, but Elder Ballard wasn't looking that far ahead. More than anything else, Elder Ballard was scared. He didn't want to make a fool of himself. The audience would be full of older, experienced British debaters. He was a twenty-year-old American. Who would even take him seriously!
But Elder Ballard couldn't turn his back on the agreement with the debating society, nor on his mission president's charge to take the responsibility. And so he began to get ready. It was too late to do very much new preparation, but he certainly could fast and pray and he asked his missionaries to do the same. He knew he would need the Lord's Spirit more than he ever had before.
On the day of the presentation, he asked all thirty-four missionaries in the district to come to the great hall in Nottingham where he would speak. When they arrived, he asked them to scatter themselves through the audience. The fact was, Elder Ballard was not even sure that he and the other missionaries were safe. A debate of this kind could create great emotion.
Over twelve hundred people came to hear what the Mormon missionary would have to say for himself. Elder Ballard stood before them, feeling very much alone. He gave a presentation that was simple yet profound. He explained that Christ had established a church during his time on earth, but that after Christ died, the church changed and the priesthood power disappeared. He explained how the doctrines had become confused after Christ's death, and he told about the Nicene Council, where early Christians had met and agreed to teachings that were not inspired. He then quoted scriptures showing that Christ had known this would happen. Finally he explained how the true teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
When Elder Ballard was finished, members of the debating society--mature, educated men and women--rose one after another to disagree with him. They accused Mormons of false teachings. They attacked the Book of Mormon. They challenged the very idea that a restoration had been necessary. Elder Ballard listened and waited for his chance to defend the truth.
When the time was opened up for questions, Elder Ballard was nervous but eager to set the record straight. He had less than an hour to leave a lasting final impression on his listeners. But as the questions began, the missionary's anxiety turned into joy as he was filled with the power of the Holy Ghost.
Elder Ballard understood each question before it was finished, and the answer came to him immediately. He felt the Lord's Spirit, like a flood, filling him and guiding his responses. Sometimes he would actually quote scriptures by heart--verses he had read once or twice but certainly had never memorized. He spoke with clarity and yet with warmth and good will, and the audience was moved.
Time and again the questioners were impressed by Elder Ballard's answers as they heard his sound reasoning and felt the spirit with which he spoke. When the meeting finally ended, the crowd stood and gave him a standing ovation! Members of the debating society conversed with the many missionaries and congratulated Elder Ballard for his brilliant presentation.
But Elder Ballard knew better. Brilliance had nothing to do with it. He remembered the promise that the Savior had given to his apostles as he was preparing them for the time when he would no longer be with them. He told them that they would be able to teach the gospel because the Holy Ghost would guide them: "The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26.) Elder Ballard had felt alone as he had faced the great crowd, but he had not been alone. The Holy Ghost had been with him, ready to help him, and Elder Ballard's study of the gospel had prepared him. He had planted truths in his mind through his scripture study, and when he had needed those truths, the Holy Ghost had brought them to his remembrance--according to the promise.
That Sunday afternoon Elder Ballard had his first real experience with the power of the Holy Ghost, and he learned that he had nothing to fear when he was defending the gospel. Later in his mission he became a counselor to President Boyer, and then he extended his mission an extra five months to serve as counselor to President Boyer's replacement, Stayner Richards.
After his mission, he served in many callings in the Church. Eventually he was called to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, just as his grandfather Melvin J. Ballard had done.
Throughout his ministry as a Church leader, he has trusted in the experience his mission president offered him--however much he feared it at the time. When speaking at press conferences or representing the Church in televised interviews, or in any other setting, he has taken comfort that the Lord would give him the answers he would need. Time and again he has seen how the Lord has fulfilled his promise "that the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers." (D&C 1:23.) Elder Ballard has never forgotten the lessons he learned that day in England. Nor has he forgotten the lessons he taught. The importance of understanding the Apostasy and the Restoration has been a central theme in his ministry as an apostle of the Lord.