Pioneer Day

Happy Pioneer Day!! July 24, 1847 was the day the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley. I have always loved this "holiday" (at least for those of us who are LDS it is), even though most of my life I have not lived where it is celebrated. I love the oppotunity to reflect on the sacrifices of those early pioneers. Like President Uchtdorf , "I have no ancestors among the 19th-century pioneers. However, since the first days of my Church membership, I have felt a close kinship to those early pioneers who crossed the plains. They are my spiritual ancestry, as they are for each and every member of the Church, regardless of nationality, language, or culture. They established not only a safe place in the West but also a spiritual foundation for the building of the kingdom of God in all the nations of the world."

I found a really cool link on the Church website that I haven't explored completely. Mostly because I could spend hours reading the journal accounts and histories of the trek West. If you'd like to check it out yourself, here's the link: http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pioneer/pioneerstory.htm

"We must never allow recognition of their trials, of their sacrifices, of their tenacity, of their faith and their prayers in establishing this great community to lapse or be forgotten."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

I don't know if it is possible for those early Saints to know what is written on a blog in 2008, but if it is, I want to say Thank you. Thank you for all that you endured, and for your faith so that I can have what I have today. When I ponder on the efforts of the early pioneers I wonder why I ever complain. When I am feeling lonely because Rick is gone or busy serving as Bishop, I often think of Mary Fielding Smith who crossed the plains with her children, without a husband, because he had been murdered by the same people who were now driving her from her home. I think of her, and think, I can do it, and I can do it with a smile, because this is the Lord's work. "shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!" D &C 128:22

Thank you, Pioneers!