To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,
This past week we observed the 24th of July. This is an important day in the history of the church as we commemorate the Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley for the first time on July 24th, 1847 after traveling through nearly impossible circumstances. We inherit this legacy as we become members of this great church whether we were raised in the church or not. It is a legacy of miracles and faith. Sister Mortensen and I both have ancestors that made great sacrifices to travel across the plains because of their faith and we feel a great duty to carry it on. This is a duty we all inherit.
The Willie and Martin handcart companies are often written about because of the remarkably difficult circumstances they endured in crossing the plains. The movie 17 Miracles is based on their story. Much of what we know about these companies, interestingly enough, is because of the records that were kept by Sister Mortensen's third great grandfather James G. Bleak. As an example of the cruel and freezing circumstances the members of these companies endured, James G. Bleak lost both of his heels on his feet and walked on the balls of his feet the rest of his life.
One of the best-known and best-loved stories of the Mormon pioneers is the testimony of Francis Webster, a member of the Martin Handcart Company. As it is told, the scene is in an adult Sunday School class of over fifty men and women in about 1904. Nathan T. Porter was the teacher and the subject under discussion was the ill-fated handcart company [Martin Handcart Company] that suffered so terribly in the snow of 1856. Some sharp criticism of the Church and its leaders was being indulged for permitting any company of converts to venture across the plains with no more supplies or protection than a handcart caravan afforded. One old man (Brother Webster) in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget.
His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity. He said in substance, "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and my wife was in it... We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!
"I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. "Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."
When he sat down there was not a dry eye in the room. We were a subdued and chastened lot. Charles Mabey who latter became Governor of Utah, arose and voiced the sentiment of all when he said, "I would gladly pay the same price to personally know God the way Brother Webster has."
May we all live worthy of the great legacy of faith we have inherited by pushing through every difficult circumstance in faith knowing that the Lord will sustain us, that He has sent angels round about us to bear us up (D&C 84:88) and bless us as we serve Him and those of His children who are still out on the "plains."
Blessed, honored Pioneers.
Love,
President and Sister Mortensen
 |
| I caught these cute hermanas greeting people at church a few weeks ago. |
