It is a marvelous and wonderful thing that thousands are touched by the miracle of the Holy Spirit, that they believe and accept and become members. They are baptized. Their lives are forever touched for good. This precious and marvelous gift of faith, this gift from God our Eternal Father, is still the strength of this work and the quiet vibrancy of its message. Faith underlies it all.
Faith is the substance of it all.
Whether it be going into the mission field, living the Word of Wisdom, paying one s tithing, it is all the same. It is the faith within us that is evidenced in all we do. As the Prophet Joseph Smith once said, You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is because the Holy Ghost is a permanent witness and higher endowment than the ordinary manifestation of the Holy Spirit.