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The Mountain Top Mission
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The Mountain Top Mountain

This is Mount Assiniboine in the BC Rockies.

The following is from Presidents Preece's history on how the mission became the Mountain Top Mission

CHOOSING A MISSION SYMBOL REMEMBERED

Soon after getting settled in the mission field, I felt the need to discover and adopt a mission symbol suitable for us to rally around-one that would build unity within the mission and foster esprit d'corps with the missionaries. I made the quest a matter of prayer. While reading section 112 of the Doctrine and Covenants as I flew back to Vancouver from Cranbrook following a Kootenay District Conference, I came to verses 7 and 8 which read: "I, the Lord have a great work for thee to do, in publishing my name among the children of men. Therefore, gird up thy loins for the work. Let thy feet be shod also, for thou are chosen, and thy path lieth among the mountains." As I gazed out of the plane window at the rugged towering mountains below, so characteristic of British Columbia, I felt a warm spirit confirm this scripture as our motto and that we should use mountains as the symbol for the mission.

I enthusastically presented the idea to my assistants, Elders Jackson and Deaton, who endorsed the concept wholeheartedly, as did eventually the entire mission. By choosing lofty Mt. Assiniboine, an 11,870 foot peak located in the eastern part of the province, as the specific mountain to feature, we took on the name of the Mountain Top Mission. We related to a sentiment expressed by James Outran, the first man to climb Mount Assiniboine. Said he, "there is a wonderful fascination about mountains. Their massive grandeur, mystery of lofty height, splendor of striking outline-craig, pinnacle and precipice-seem to appeal both to the intellect and to the immortal soul of man and to compel a mingling of reverence and love."

Soon most everything we did in the mission reflected the symbolism of mountains. Our elders and sisters proudly became known as Mountain Top missionaries; We also renamed the districts with names of local mountains and all letters and publications bore the new symbol. Soon the elders and sisters could be heard singing the newly composed mountain top mission song "The Mountains" at district and zone meetings or while walking the street tracting. Missionaries learned how to teach naturally and convincingly by a process termed "Conquest Teaching." We also devised a plan called "Trail to the Top" to assist missionaries to honorably conclude their mission experience. Our mission secretary Brian Wight's artistic mother in Los Angeles, oil painted a large picture of Mt. Assiniboine, donating it to the mission. When completed, she and her dentist husband flew up to Vancouver from L.A. to attend the special unveiling ceremony before hanging it in a prominent place in the mission home. Incidentally, before leaving California, Sister Wight had the painting appraised at $7,800.

In the monthly mission bulletin, now called The Mountain Top, announcement of the new symbolism to the elders and sisters began with these words; "most people feel something vibrant and inspiring about mountains! Since the beginning of history, mountains have been used as symbols of the great qualities of human personalities at their best. Samuel Walter Foss had this in mind when he wrote, 'Bring me men to match my mountains; Bring me men to match my plains; Men with empires in their purpose and new eras in their brains.' In the welcome letter sent to new missionaries soon to arrive in the great Canada Vancouver Mission, the concluding paragraph read: "With excitement we anticipate your arrival! We urgently need missionaries who will match the mountains of missionary work and who will master the challenges of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people who live beneath the lofty peaks of our beautiful British Columbia. Come now, and join our valiant band of Mountain-top Missionaries!"

 

 

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