Matters of a Pioneering Heart

Our choir sang "A Pioneering Heart" by Janice Kapp Perry today. It was especially fitting following the week that our ward's youth had spent on Trek. All of today's meetings were emotional as speakers and teachers recalled the sacrifices of the Pioneers of the Martin-Willey Handcart Company. Jim and I had spent a day this summer at Martin's Cove and listened to a book about the women of the company, Sandra Dallas' TRUE SISTERS. It reminds me of the Primary song that says, "You don't have to push a handcart, leave your family dear, or walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer!" We all have to do hard things. A man in our Sunday-School class (as we studied Alma 38) suggested that "troubles" we bring on ourselves, while trials are "divine tutorials." The brother is new to our ward, newly married, and has a brain injury that causes speech and physical problems. I am not sure I would have made a very faithful pioneer of the 1800s, but I pray that I may face my own troubles and trials with their same kind of faith, commitment, and perseverance. I am thankful for the pioneeers of the past and the present who inspire me.

Heritage Matters

Today is Pioneer Day, and again I marvel at the faith and fortitude of those early Saints who were chased from their homes under order of extermination or mobs of injustice and hatred to found a beautiful home in this mountain desert. I cannot even imagine the life of a farmer, let alone the trek leading up to the plowing and the planting and the plucking up of that which was planted. I wonder at my own faith as I think of them, burying their loved ones along the way and singing "And should we die, before our journey's through, All is well; all is well!" One thing kept them moving--FAITH that it was the Lord's will. The pioneer faith and fortitude is celebrated this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, and around the world. We can be told how we are today's pioneers, but I think little can compare with families and converts who sold or gave away all that they had and marched across the Plains to this salty mountain desert. I honor my own progenitors who were numbered among the faithful who came--mothers who buried their children under sea and under rocks, fathers who left their lands, language, and loved ones. "Blessed, honored Pioneer!"

The picture is from the beautiful Yosemite Park where we vacationed earlier this month.