On Pioneers, A Sunday Talk Given July 26, 2009
We worship here in the shadow of the This Is The Place monument, the quintessential symbol of the Mormon Pioneer trek. I must say that this has been perhaps the hardest talk I’ve had to compose, and for a number of reasons. For one, out of all the topics in Mormon history, the overland migration to Utah has been the one topic that has never interested me. And when it’s in my face on occasions like on the 24th of July in Utah, it becomes clear that though there are a few token nods in the Mormon Times or on the blogs to the notion that we are all pioneers wherever we go, and wherever we are or that there are pioneers in other countries, at the end of the day we don’t know or tell their stories. Pioneer Day is about Utah and Pioneers are Mormons that crossed the plains from 1847 to 1869. Some can even trace it to a day: if you gathered to Zion after May 10, 1869, you would not qualify as a Utah pioneer since the completion of the transcontinental railroad on that day meant that those gathering to Utah could now travel in the relative comfort of a train [Sons of the Utah Pioneers Website].
Overwhelmingly, white Americans, white Northern Europeans, and yes, a few slaves ( though we don’t talk about the slaves) answered the call to gather and came to Utah. But these were not the only pioneers, even by that definition. From 1841, about 6 years before the Mormons struck out West, to about 1870, about ½ a million people made the arduous journey to California and Oregon. The Mormon contingent made up an estimated 14% of all migrants in this period (depending on what numbers you use, here: 70,000 of 500,000), with roughly comparable rates of casualties. It is somewhat ironic that in the act of fleeing the United States, the Mormon pioneers participated in a larger movement that bound them to the cultural fabric of a burgeoning American nation. And if we were to peek for just a moment through the American curtain, we would find that pilgrims and pioneers are hardly an American phenomenon. In space and time, pioneering has taken many forms and is part of the heritage of humanity. That having been said, a myopic definition of pioneer like the one cited above places an exclusionary asterisk by the word “pioneer” and, disturbingly, shifted the focus from gathering with and becoming numbered with the Saints (whether by train or handcart, or 747 for that matter) to suffering as validation and confirmation of chosenness and exceptionalism.
Case in point, though only about 4% (about 3,000 of 70,000) of Mormon migrants made the journey by handcart, the image of the handcart pioneer has taken on a disproportionate and to me, quite baffling place in Pioneer memory. I say baffling because I have always been of the mind that there is no virtue in unnecessary suffering. It didn’t occur to me until recently that many people that celebrate them really seem to have little context for the handcart situation. Many who I’ve encountered seem to think that the intense suffering of the “ill fated” companies was unavoidable, that they suffered this because of their determination to come to Zion. Well, yes and no. In 1856, there were five handcart companies. We really only hear of two of them, the Martin and Willie companies, and may thus get the idea that the Martin and Willie experience was representative of all handcarters, or by extension, of all companies. This is not the case. What we don’t often hear is that the first three companies began their journey within the reasonable period of time and though suffering privations, their mortality rate was comparable to other, more conventional means of travel, losing about 30 out of about 800 or less than 4%.
Conservative estimates place the number dead among the Martin and Willie companies at about 250 of almost 1100 or close to a whopping 23%. The five companies that followed in 1857, 1859 and 1860 reported 25 deaths in about the same number of people or just over 2%. The 10th and last handcart company to arrive reported no deaths in a company of 126. So if mortality rates were from 2-4%, how did these two, Martin and Willie, spiral out into the horrific 20+% range? Even before Willie and Martin were dragged into town, after a two month rescue venture, fingers of blame were flying. Most blamed mismanagement, some placing the blame on Apostle Franklin D. Richards for allowing the handcarters to depart much too late in the season. Levi Savage, objected to starting so late in the season, “He declared positively that to his certain knowledge we could not cross the mountains with a mixed company of aged people, women, and little children, so late in the season without much suffering, sickness, and death.” Savage, however, was told by some that he lacked faith. His words, though, rather than those of others proved prophetic. Savage went with the handcarters as Elder Richards sped past them, traveling in his own wagon, arriving in Salt Lake close to two months before the last of the handcarters would limp into town. Hanna Lapish, a member of the last handcart company later wrote that “Our company was one of the last companies to make the journey in that pathetic way, we handcart people will never outlive the memory of those experiences.” And, apparently neither will we modern Mormons, though often for different reasons, devising handcart reenactments and the like. Perhaps it’s our way of making sense out of the senseless.
So what’s the point? The point is that these types of thoughts swirled through my mind as I listened to news coverage this past Friday of Pioneer Day. I scoured online sources, print, and tv for some wider vision of what we were celebrating; a way to link myself more meaningfully to what we were doing here. Having been born and raised in South Texas with all of my ancestors coming out of Mexico, I understood and appreciated the trek West as part of Church history, but never felt deep connection with it. As important as that heritage is, I asked myself, where are MY pioneers in all this? I shouldn’t just have to look to Salt Lake for my pioneer heritage.
Recently I’ve been able to delve into the beginnings of the Church in San Benito, Texas where my dad and grandma lived for many years. In the process, I’ve located and interviewed over the phone a number of the missionaries who were involved in the establishment of the Church in San Benito and this past May I traveled there to interview some of the first members. The results of this pilgrimage have brought joy to my heart.
The first two Spanish-speaking missionaries to set up a Spanish branch of the church in San Benito were Elders Merrell and Trujillo.
According to Merrell, upon arriving in San Benito, the English-speaking members in the area referred them to Maria Linares, a Spanish-speaking woman who lived behind the chapel where the English members met. She would go on to be the first Spanish-speaking person baptized in San Benito. Very soon after, the elders devised a strategy to tract out the town. They would start on the outskirts on the west side and move east. Having been rejected at a catholic home, the second door they knocked on was my grandmother’s. She invited them in and Elder Trujillo began teaching the lesson. When they left, Elder Merrell, who had just begun his mission and didn’t understand Spanish very well yet, asked his companion how the lesson went. “Oh, said Trujillo, “it’s like she’s a member already.”
My grandma referred the elders to some neighbors she had, the Garzas. Sister Garza’s son recounted that when the elders came knocking she sent one of her daughters to answer the door while she hid behind it. The daughter told the elders that her mom was in town. One of the perceptive elders saw Sister Garza’s legs through the crack of the door and said, “Next time she goes into town, tell her to take her legs with her.” Having been discovered, Sister Garza, quite embarrassed, came out from behind the door to talk with the elders. Just five days after arriving, the Elders held their first branch meeting, 4 elders and 1 investigator. By the third meeting, the minutes show that 10 investigators attended. Though not explicitly stated, it is very likely that my grandmother, my dad, and the Garzas were there. Despite my dad and grandma’s activity in the fledgling branch, my grandfather would not consent to their being baptized. However, on December 28, 1957, Sister Garza and four of her children were baptized including Fermin Garza, who was ordained a deacon on January 12, 1958, the first Spanish-speaking priesthood holder in San Benito’s little branch. Two days later, on January 14, the Relief Society was organized at the home of Sister Garza and Sister Garza was made its president. The relief society served as the core of this branch for a number of years. By February 1, 1858, just four months after San Benito was opened for missionary work, eight of nine converts were women, the one male only of deacon age. Shortly after its formation, the sisters identified pressing needs and decided to go to work to address them. Relief society meetings were on Tuesday nights then, and the sisters had “work nights” in which they sewed aprons and quilts by hand that they would then sell to raise funds. Most famously, the sisters gathered to make tamales, which sold for 50c/dozen. Through those sales, the sisters were able to purchase chairs for the chapel. This goal having been reached, they turned to something more ambitious, selling tamales twice a month to buy a piano for the chapel.
There are minutes of these early relief society, primary and Sunday school meetings in the Church archives. My grandma was a stalwart attendee of these early meetings, participating fully in Relief Society activities, bearing her testimony and praying as the occasion required. Though not a member in fact, she was a member in spirit. She would not have to wait for too much longer as my grandpa finally relented and gave his permission for them to be baptized. On May 3, 1959, about a year and seven months, and having been the second person to receive the missionaries in San Benito, my grandma was baptized. Along with her, my dad, only 8 years old. When I read the report of their baptism in the mission history, I wept. I had never known anything of their baptism or early days in the Church. Here was my beginning in the Church and these were my pioneers. Together these early members built a community of the faithful. That summer, on July 24, the missionaries wrote the following into their branch report:
One of the most important events in the history of the San Benito branch was their first Primary parade to commemorate the arrival of the Mormon Pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. All the children in the Primary and those of the neighborhood decorated their wagons like covered wagons, the Boy Scouts decorated their bicicles [sic] with crepe paper and streamers and even some tricycles were decorated and used. The San Benito City Police gave protection. The parade ended at the chapel by parking the wagons in a very big circle on the lawn and we all joined hands and had a good old pioneer square dance, to music furnished by 2 missionaries on the guitar and accordion which added to the authenticity of the occasion. Many memories of the pioneer trek were renewed and appreciation of their hardships was felt by all. After everyone was tired of dancing in the hot July sun, we sat in the shade and enjoyed ice cold watermelon. About 60 persons participated, 20 members and 40 investigators.
It would sadden me to think that as my father and grandmother, as Sister Garza, her children, and others decorated their wagons and bicycles and danced in that hot South Texas sun, that the missionaries might have neglected to tell them that they themselves were performing a feat just as heroic as the one they were commemorating. Yet, it was only when I shared this entry with my dad that he remembered that he had been there and decorated his bike and eaten the watermelon. As I talked to members of the Church in South Texas, they were much more likely to know about Martin and Willie than of their own heritage. As I interviewed him, Bro. Garza expressed: “These pioneers are being forgotten, I just don’t want them to be forgotten.”
It is my hope that the steps of these early members in San Benito, as they walked to church, as they visited the sick, as they sold tamales, might echo as loudly through time as any step taken by Martin or Willie. And perhaps as you own my pioneers in the same way that my pioneers were taught to own your pioneers, maybe we will be able to celebrate together the acts of our pioneers and shift the focus back from suffering and exceptionalism to gathering and being numbered with the Saints, and in the process, perhaps I and others may feel, finally, a more meaningful connection to Pioneer Day.
So was it not “One of the most important events in the history of the San Benito branch”? We historians know that public commemorations tend to be distorted. I think it’s interesting to study what people find meaningful and why.
Thanks for sharing.
Comment by Steve Fleming — July 27, 2009 @ 1:58 am
Which Garza kindred? Any relation to the LDS Garzas of Del Rio? Nice story.
Comment by smb — July 27, 2009 @ 7:19 am
Why did you think you needed the first five paragraphs in order to give a talk of appreciation for pioneers in your ancestry hailing from South Texas and Mexico? There’s no need to poke a finger in SLC Mormons’ eye just because you want to talk about pioneers that you view as relevant to yourself — they would have liked the talk just as much anyway without such an abrasive intro.
Also, do you really think that most Mormons think about the handcart pioneers in the way you attribute to them in the first five paragraphs? Because it sounded kind of condescending and high-and-mighty: Mr. Jared T., the history student, knows more about the “real” story of the pioneers and how unglorious it all is than the members of his East Bench SLC ward. (This is how the first five paragraphs come off.)
Comment by john f. — July 27, 2009 @ 8:16 am
Steve, I’m sure for the missionaries it probably was in their estimation. It was probably the largest Church activity since Christmas, likely the most public, and culturally normalizing. Perhaps the members caught some of that vision. I asked my dad just a few days ago how much he remembered about Pioneer Day through the years and he said he didn’t remember any except for when he was a boy (and that only because I showed him this reference). I neglected to ask people about this when I was down there, but I will be making it a point next time as well as the missionaries. For me and my generation, Pioneer Day was just another Church Activity which we may or may not go to.
Smb, Not sure. Garza is like Smith down there
Comment by Jared T — July 27, 2009 @ 8:23 am
John, thanks for the comment. I was expecting one like it at least. You should know that when I got the assignment I immediately determined that I would not mention Martin or Willie or any Utah pioneer. Then as I prayed through the week for inspiration about what to talk about, it became clear that that idea had come from my own mind and not the Spirit.
In the end, I probably got more positive comments after this talk than any I’ve given. And I felt no small measure of satisfaction when a member of a prominent Utah family who taught Sunday School told of his handcart pioneer ancestry and then said that he hoped everyone had paid close attention to the talk.
Comment by Jared T — July 27, 2009 @ 9:16 am
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Jared.
John F., I would like to offer you a challenge. Try commenting just once on this blog without criticizing the post. Was there really nothing redeemable in Jared’s post that you could compliment or acknowledge? The role you assume around the bloggernacle as the self-appointed defender of the faith even when it is not being attacked is, from what I hear, not at all who you are in real life. So I’m curious as to why you feel the need to adopt that persona here?
Go re-read your own comments. The condescension you so regularly condemn in others is often quite strong in your comments.
Comment by Christopher — July 27, 2009 @ 9:26 am
I take it that you disagree with me then that the first five paragraphs weren’t needed to give a talk on South Texas pioneers.
It kind of seemed to me like those paragraphs were included to show the SLC Mormons’ their wrong-headedness in commemorating the handcart pioneers in their Pioneer Day celebrations — but Jared T. has stated that this is not the case so it’s moot.
As for the post, it has no need for redemption because it is a wonderful celebration of Jared T.’s pioneer ancestors, except for the part where he essentially tells people like me (descendants of Mormon Trail pioneers) that he doesn’t want to hear any more about my pioneer ancestors.
As for the criticism, I know how uncomfortable it is — sorry for dishing it out. It’s just that I thought this blog welcomed criticism and questioned why there couldn’t be more criticism in the Church (see the first five paragraphs of this post, for example, which criticize the historical trajectory of Mormon Pioneer Day celebrations). But your point is well taken that no-one likes a self-appointed defender of the faith, so I’ll work on toning that down around the Bloggernacle.
Comment by john f. — July 27, 2009 @ 9:54 am
Thanks for the thoughtful response, John. I don’t want to threadjack Jared’s post anymore than I already have, but let me just share that I, too, am a descendant of those Jared takes on in his first 5 paragraphs, but was not the least bit offended by his words. Jared’s post, if nothing else, highlights the need for more inclusive narratives of our collective pioneer heritage and the related need for many Mormons to be more sensitive to the fact that most LDS simply do not have the same connection to handcart pioneers that those who are 6th and 7th generation LDS might.
Comment by Christopher — July 27, 2009 @ 10:04 am
In more direct response to your post, Jared, let me add that I think that your efforts (and the efforts of others doing similar research in other regions) will go a long way to rescuing the stories of these other pioneers. Have you ever considered seeing if the stake in the area where you come from would be interested in helping pay for the publication of a regional history of the church? It would take some effort on your part to write such a narrative, of course, but might help those South Texas Saints to become more aware of their own pioneer heritage.
Comment by Christopher — July 27, 2009 @ 10:09 am
John, really, I’m surprised at your response to this and I think you’re very much misconstruing that first portion. Nowhere do I say that I don’t want to hear any more of your pioneer ancestors. That’s just crazy.
See #8. Where you see two parts of the talk, I see a cohesive whole. The first part tries to communicate that pioneering is something that we share with the world, but when we focus undue attention on what is, in the end, a horribly tragic and anomalous event and connect that type of intense suffering with pioneering, then it can lead us to discount the pioneering efforts of others and this in spite of the lip service to the fact that we are all pioneers. In the end I call for us all to learn each others stories and focus on how these pasts gather us in and make us a community of the faithful.
I do perceive from hearing and talking to people that the handcart rhetoric is not well contextualized, and that it’s important to add some context. I think we probably all take things that are meaningful and make then larger than life and decontextualize them as a way to honor them. I think that context can add to our respect for these events.
Comment by Jared T — July 27, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Chris, thanks for #8.
To #9, I have thought of something along the lines of some funding, but I haven’t thought it through too far. I have felt a real “calling” if you will to do this, and I do think it will turn into a book-length project that will involve gathering photos and journals and interviews from not only the members but the missionaries. I think I’m in a unique position to do it being very familiar with these people and also being here near the Church archives where we have (as David pointed out elsewhere) an embarrasment of riches. But if I weren’t motivated to do it, probably no one else would.
Something that came to me as I was sitting there waiting for my turn to speak was something that one of the people I interviewed expressed, that their children were not following them in their faith and activity in the Church. It came to me that having some sort of institutional focus on gathering and commemorating local history would help a great deal in retention efforts everywhere. It’s so hard to relate to the Utah Pioneer story in S. Texas, but I’ve seen some S. Texan people’s hearts touched in some serious ways as I’ve showed them some of what I’ve researched. The power of the Utah pioneer experiene is real and important, and a similar focus locally on local history could have the same impact. However, as is, it’s hit and miss.
Comment by Jared T — July 27, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Good job, Jared. I was educated and enlightened after reading this. As one who has not studied much of the migration, the stats in the first 4 paragraphs were amazing to me. I had no idea only 4% of pioneers used handcarts (did I read that right?).
This citation I thought excellent:
“Our company was one of the last companies to make the journey in that pathetic way, we handcart people will never outlive the memory of those experiences.”
I contrast that with the other quote that is most often heard about the handcart companies,
“I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts … 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 … too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but … we became acquainted with [God] in our extrem[i]ties”,
and wonder why both are not used when studying this event. Great history here, and a wonderful story of your pioneers.
I can understand John’s point above, though. The first paragraph does come off a bit abrasive, and may have turned some in the chapel against you. That is a shame, as there were great things to be heard here, but perhaps a less hostile intro may have garnered even more of a receptive congregation.
Comment by Bret — July 27, 2009 @ 11:03 am
Weird. I had exactly the same finger-in-the-eye sensation that John F had, on first reading, possibly because there seems to be such current emphasis on recognizing everybody as a pioneer that *my* pioneer ancestors are increasingly ignored as irrelevant or even condemned for having hogged the spotlight too long. But after reading Jared’s comments, I reread the first part and saw in it exactly what he claims were his intentions. It was like reading two completely different posts.
There’s no question, though, that the story of Jared’s family and their neighbors is a jewel, one I’m as proud to claim in my heritage as any other. My mental image of history — whether family, church, or broader — is a river increasing in volume as new creeks and tributaries run into the main stream. This stream from south Texas entered a little later than the one from western New York, but it had to come farther. It’s just as welcome and adds just as much as any other.
I’m so glad you started working on this, Jared, when so many of the participants are still around to share their memories.
Comment by Ardis Parshall — July 27, 2009 @ 11:20 am
Jared, you’ve got some great material here, but your post is, for a Sunday talk, a bit of a mess. You set up a contrast between demythologizing handcart pioneers : affirming San Benito pioneers that you never resolve. Your statement that you “don’t want to look to Salt Lake for [your] pioneer heritage” remains the state of play as the talk ends. This leaves us with the ironic image of your San Benito pioneer ancestors embracing their role as stakeholders in 1847 and all that, while your engagement with your ancestors and family pioneer heritage can’t or won’t include that part of their history and faith.
If I had been in the congregation, I would have said “Amen!” and congratulated you on a fine talk, but I would have preferred you to wrap things up a bit more neatly.
Comment by Jonathan Green — July 27, 2009 @ 11:36 am
Nice talk, Jared. I think you’re right that the very framework we use to commemorate the pioneers too often obscures far more than it reveals, sometimes with important consequences. We try to get around it be redefining what pioneers are to the of point making everyone pioneers, which I think presents interpret problems as well (that Jonathan points out above). Have you read Eric Eliason’s dissertation on Pioneer Day commemorations? I think it would help flesh out some of the theoretical implications of what you’re trying to do in the first few paragraphs.
As for the rest of the post, love it and keep feeding us updates on your research.
Comment by David G. — July 27, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Good comments by all.
Jonathan, I realized that when I actually gave the talk I changed the “I don’t want to look” to I shouldn’t just have to look”, which I think changes things a bit. The first I think would reflect some of my feelings, which I would say the Spirit helped temper. I can see how that could come off as saying that I didn’t want to hear any more about it, when that wasn’t the case at all. I’m going to go ahead and adjust that in the post. I have it struck out in the original and written in between the lines as I sat waiting to give it.
As I do mention, I worked all week ruminating about this, and it was only at about 10 pm Saturday night that the outline and the flow came to me, so I have no doubt that if I had been able to bring things together sooner, it would have been able to deal with more in a better way.
David, thanks for the Eliason reference. I thought I remembered something had been written about that.
For the record, the comment about not being interested in the migration ever drew chuckles. I have no doubt that had the delivery been heard it would have sounded different than it reads.
Comment by Jared T. — July 27, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
Thanks for this post, Jared. As a descendant of quite a number of Utah overland pioneers 1847-1850s, I was brought up fully steeped in the drama of the handcarts. Because of the ages of my ancestors, I am the first generation not to have been acquainted personally with our family’s pioneers – so the connection is still fairly sensitive and strong. My point? I approve of and celebrate your warnings and comments with which you opened your talk. They justified and matured a narration of your own ancestors’ experiences in Texas, and they also helped in some measure to remove a lot of triteness, tribal dynamics, pointless defensiveness, and other non-useful stuff which can never truly validate or adequately honor the real stories and the real context of our many and varied pioneers. [I was going for 100 words in the last sentence, but I guess 55 will have to do . . .]
Comment by Rick Grunder — July 27, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
Jared: I think I felt some of what you felt as a I read this. Thanks for sharing it. Do you have any thoughts on where this kind of story fits into the larger narrative of Mormon history in the postwar era?
Comment by Sterling Fluharty — July 27, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
I liked the intro…it rings true to many of us beyond Utah who have ZERO connection with the great mormon migration. I can recognize it for what it was, but don’t feel the need to celebrate the day in July.
Tho, I did buy a couple of crates of the “Faith in Every Footstep” root beer a few years ago. Does that count?
Comment by hayes — July 27, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
Tonight my mom gave a family night lesson on our pioneer ancestry (my kids had been asking her about it). She started with my wife (a convert). She then talked about my dad’s grandmother, an early convert in Atlanta. Then she went through the various over-the-plains ancestors. I thought it was a nice lesson.
Comment by Steve Fleming — July 27, 2009 @ 11:06 pm
Rick, thank you.
Sterling, thank you, and as to how they fit, I’ll need to think that through more, but I’ve read now another book on Texas Mormon history (in North Texas) which I’ll be reviewing here soon, and the similarities between that area and this S. Texas area were striking.
Hayes, good investment
Well, unless you drank them already…that’s the collector in me talking.
Steve, I think that’s awesome that the over-the-plains ancestors shared the stage with your wife. Sounds like a great lesson.
Comment by Jared T — July 28, 2009 @ 9:45 am
I would just like to register myself among those who felt the take-that-Utards feeling from paragraphs 1-5. I totally get where you were going with it, and it’s a wonderful insight. Without taking away from those who sacrificed, and especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice we can understand that for the vast majority of the pioneers, they were just following the prophet. Who knows that maybe a hundred years from now youth conference kids will dress up like us and pretend to go to early morning seminary or on missions!
Comment by Mephibosheth — July 28, 2009 @ 11:10 am
Mephi, thanks for the thoughts.
“pretend to go to early morning seminary or on missions”
Isn’t that called High School? : ) just kidding…
I don’t want to loose sight of the point of that portion which was not to stickittotheUtahns but to hopefully refocus devotion of the Utah pioneers and thus enable a better appreciation both for them and for non-Utah pioneers.
Comment by Jared T — July 28, 2009 @ 11:34 am
My understanding is of the 70,000 pre-1870 ‘pioneers’…only about 12,000 came from Nauvoo? Does that sound about right?
Comment by Bob — July 28, 2009 @ 3:17 pm
Jared: thanks for posting your talk.
Hayes: I, too, have felt the chill of the my-ancestors-crossed-the-plains shoulder, but I don’t understand what you mean by “ZERO connection with the great mormon migration.”
To my mind, every member has a direct connection to the exodus via the missionaries and leaders and fellowshippers that originally brought our families into the fold and have helped them stay there ever since (or return, or whatever). I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure all extant priesthood lines of authority go through individuals who crossed the plains.
I think part of the value of “public history” pioneer stories is to unify the church across space and time. It is because we are all connected that all our stories need to be known and told.
Comment by Edje Jeter — July 28, 2009 @ 3:25 pm
Edje, thanks. I agree with you that the Utah pioneer story is part of our institutional history and therefore is part of all of our history, and that in addition, all our stories need to be told.
Bob, not sure on the numbers there, sorry. As noted, this is not my best subject.
Comment by Jared T — July 28, 2009 @ 11:44 pm
#26: I guess what I am asking is who were the Utah Pioneers in 1847-1870? Mostly people from the East, or more from Europe?
#25:”…individuals who crossed the plains”. You forgot the ones who came by ship around the Cape.
Comment by Bob — July 29, 2009 @ 12:31 am
Bob, I think a lot of us do, and that’s part of the point. We need reminders like yours. Thanks.
Comment by Jared T — July 29, 2009 @ 12:42 am
I think the excellent point here is that the Church is not just about Utah Mormons experiences, and it is sometimes painfully hard on members outside of that inner circle to feel equal when their stories are not publicly remembered and celebrated. I had a cultural shock when I came to BYU from a southern state, full of faith and love for the gospel, yet so unfamiliar with the Utah culture, I was a foreigner. I felt completely misunderstood and disrespected, an outsider, though my family had contributed significantly in faith and means to influence pioneering the church in the South. Of course no one could understand who had not lived in the South, or ever heard any of these stories from the general conference pulpit, which could broaden everyone’s perspective. How could they know how hard it is to stay strong in the faith when there is no other LDS person in your high school of 2000? How could anyone in Utah who had not lived with missionaries coming weekly to ask for referrals, putting great emphasis on our lives to be gatherers to the faith. That was my life, and now raising children in Utah, I know they don’t get to experience such a spirit of faith and testimony and gathering in their daily lives. In more remote areas of the world, there is a wonderful pioneering spirit to honor and celebrate. And yes, from the top, our church leaders should be mindful of these valiant efforts of pioneers everywhere, to allow those members to feel the joy of oneness with the whole of the church. That’s how I see it.
Comment by Judy R. — August 2, 2009 @ 12:34 pm