Pioneer Spotlight edited by LuAnne Reese

The following is taken from remarks made by President Gordon B. Hinckley on the examples of our ancestors. “Every man and women in this Church knows something of the price paid by our forebears for their faith. I have been reminded of this whenever I read the narrative of Mary Goble Pay, my wife’s grandmother. She tells of her childhood in Brighton. It was here that her family was baptized. Their conversion came naturally because the Spirit whispered in their hearts that it was true. But there were critical relatives and neighbors and even mobs to deride and inflame others against them. It took courage, that rare quality described as moral courage, to stand up and be counted, to be baptized and recognized as a Mormon. The family traveled to Liverpool, where with some 900 others they boarded the sailing vessel Horizon. After six weeks they landed at Boston and traveled by steam train to Iowa City. There they purchased two yoke of oxen, one yoke of cows, a wagon, and a tent. They were then assigned to one of the handcart companies. In Iowa City their first tragedy occurred, their youngest child died from exposure. ‘... we traveled from 15 to 25 miles a day, until we caught up with the hand cart companies that day. We watched them cross the river. There were great lumps of ice floating down the river. It was bitter cold. . . . I wondered what made my mother cry. The next morning my little sister was born. She lived six weeks and was buried at the last crossing of [the] Sweetwater. We ran into heavy snow, my feet and legs were frozen. The men rubbed me with snow. They put my feet in a bucket of water. The pain was terrible. [My} brother James died at Devils Gate. My feet were frozen; also my brother Edwin and sister Caroline. My mother never got well, and died between little and big mountains; she was 43 years old. We arrived in the Salt Lake City on the 11th of December 1856. Three out of four that were living were frozen. My mother was dead in the wagon.’” President Hinckley concludes with this question: “Should we be surprised if we are called upon to endure a little sacrifice for our faith when our forebears paid so great a price for theirs? Without contention, without argument, without offense, let us pursue a steady course, moving forward to build the kingdom of God. If there is trouble, let us face it calmly. Let us overcome evil with good. This is God’s work. It will continue to strengthen over the earth, touching for good the lives of countless thousands whose hearts will respond to the message of truth. No power under heaven can stop it. This is my faith and my testimony.”

From the Heart by Lesa Wells

Lately it seems that many of our dear sisters have been struggling with either heartache, tragedy, illness, financial worry, divorce, or depression. I ask myself every day, "Why them?" I know my turn will come and I understand what the Lord says in D&C 136:31, “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them.” We all will struggle at one point or another in this life. Elder Gene R. Cook said, "Jesus taught that we pass through all these trials to refine us 'in the furnace of affliction' (1 Ne. 20:10), and that we should not bear them unaided, but 'in [the] Redeemer’s name' (D&C 138:13). The grace of the Lord through the Atonement can both cleanse us of sin and assist us in perfecting ourselves through our trials, sicknesses, and even 'character defects.' We are both sanctified and justified through the grace of the Lord." Elder L. Lionel Kendrick tells us, "Without trials we cannot be prepared for the great blessings the Lord wishes to give us. Struggles are a part of the sacred sanctification process…Sanctification prepares us to live in the presence of the Savior.” The Lord told the prophet Joseph, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment…And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high" (D&C121:1,7-8). The prophet did 'endure it well' and we can too. I recently read the following words, "Rather than simply passing through trials, we must allow trials to pass through us in ways that sanctify us." My prayer is that we can look at our trials as blessings that allow us to draw even closer to Christ, keeping our eyes and hearts centered upon Him, allowing Him to sanctify our souls.