Me Thinks

Today in Sunday School we talked about the saints who came into the Salt Lake Valley.  The first couple of years were terribly hard for them and they almost starved, but they persevered.  They searched the valley and surrounding areas for natural resources,  plowed and planted,  built structures,  fought off crickets and welcomed seagulls, interacted with Indians, and donated money to other people who wanted to travel to join the body of the Church.  They were extremely industrious and worked together to build up the community.  Missionaries were called to leave behind their families and unfinished tasks.  Other families were called to leave the main body and colonize a distant area.  These faithful saints obeyed the prophet and heeded the calls to serve.  Charles Lowell Walker, who was called to settle in Southern Utah wrote,

"Here I learned a principle that I shall not forget in awhile.  It showed to me that obedience was a great principle in heaven and on earth.  Well, here I have worked for the last seven years through heat and cold, hunger and adverse circumstances, and at last have got me a home, a lot with fruit trees just beginning to bear and look pretty.  Well, I must leave it and go and do the will of my Father in Heaven, who overrules all for the good of them that love and fear him.  I pray God to give me strength to accomplish that which is required of me in an acceptable manner before him."

I stand in awe of these marvelous people.