Here, though, is a statement by Elder Marion Hanks, in an article published in the Ensign shortly after Elder Evans’s death:

To millions he was the image of the Church. To multitudes of persons who were not well acquainted with the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he was the only church they knew and the only religion they formally experienced.

And here’s another from a story about the choir broadcast in the July 2004 Ensign:

“I belong to the Richard L. Evans church,” one elderly gentleman told missionaries who knocked on his door.

In our ward, we’ve seen a recent number of baptisms of professional middle-aged people. I haven’t met all of them yet, but one new sister joined the church for a number of reasons, a major one being the new mormon.org website, which I guess is a similar sort of effort on the part of the church as the one in this story.

And, not to comment at too great a length, but Sarah Rand’s third paragraph from the end reminds me of a comment from one of my ancestors about joining the church:

When my husband told me that the angel had come and there were apostles in the Church, it charmed me. I believed it. But, we do not always have the good spirit. No, I felt after that to oppose it. I had opposition on every side, but the good spirit would wake me up in the night and whisper, “If today, thou wouldst hear my voice, harden not thy heart.”… My husband believed, and I was certain of the truth of it. I shall never forget the feeling I had the first time I went to meeting to be confirmed a member. They sang: “Come all ye sons of Zion and let us praise the Lord.” I have never heard it since without thinking of the feeling I had when I first heard it…