A Sunday talk on:
PioneersTo me the word pioneer usually means “a long time ago” and “doing extremely hard things” without modern technology like cars or cell phones and having “done those things well”. All of us inherit the pioneers as ancestors and their heritage as members of the church and some of us happen to be descendants of the pioneers. The pioneers were very much like us. Maybe because they are so far removed from today that we don't realize they were real people. It reminds me of when I first arrived in Hungary for my mission and seeing for myself that the Hungarians were basically just like me. But I could only speak with them in a limited fashion. Like the Hungarians were to me, the pioneers are people who we may not know very well.
Just like Brigham Young and those pioneers who went before us, many may qualify as pioneers: those who go before us showing us the way.
If we start with those a little closer to us I think we will see the connections to Pioneers much better. Some of the most important pioneers we know are our very own Mothers and Fathers, our Grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They don’t seem like pioneers until you remember that pioneers are those who go before to show the way.
President Monson teaches that “Latter-day Saints can be modern-day pioneers by being aware of the needs of others and . . . show them the way to Christ.”
For example, our parents, did things that are difficult. Raising you and me for example. This is something they have never done before and so parents do the best that they know how and look to their own Mothers and Fathers for answers and help. Even after the raising the first child when they think they have it finally figured out the next child is so different that things are again difficult. They weren’t parents before and did not understand what it means to be a Mother and a Father until we as their children were born. Each generation has looked to the previous one to know what to expect when raising a family.
I think Heavenly Father knew it would be difficult and that we would be more likely to call upon Him for help in rearing a family which is truly following a pioneering path. You are blazing new trails forward trying to lead your family to Christ.
Here is a story from one of my own relatives as related by one cousin to another, not too long ago:
Merle Brinkerhoff said, "You know, I understand why some people might envy me.' (Tears sprang to her eyes & she gasped - "What? Envy Uncle Merle? Loye, he was the poorest man I ever knew!) Loye: "He went on; 'I've had so many prayers answered. I'll tell you about a couple of times in particular. There was no money & all I had was one scrawny cow. I got down on my knees & prayed to Heavenly Father to help me get enough money to take care of my debts (feed my family?), then I took that old cow to the Greybull auction. That was the sorriest old cow there; finally the auctioneer started the bidding for this cow; one person then another bid, higher & higher & on & on; pretty soon it was obvious that the auctioneer was almost in shock that people were bidding on this sorry cow! The look on his face was something! Anyway, when it was all over I had the money I needed. I knew my prayer would be answered. And another time food was scarce & it was time to plant potatoes; our seed potatoes were pretty sorry looking & we didn't have many. Before we planted them, I prayed that we might have enough at harvest time to see us through the winter; we carefully planted those seed potatoes; when it came time to dig them up - the first shovel full of potatoes was pretty disheartening, but we kept on & pretty soon the potatoes just got bigger & bigger; we had so many potatoes that we were able to share them with our neighbors!
I've been so blessed; I can see why people might envy me."
Let us turn now to those pioneers who made the trek from Nauvoo to what is now Salt Lake City. Many of these pioneers took out their endowments in the Temple before moving out to the West. Joseph Smith had taught, “The endowment will bring you out of darkness into marvelous light.”
After Joseph Smith’s martyrdom and “sustained by their fellow Saints, President Young and the Twelve . . .had two main priorities: (1) complete the Nauvoo Temple so the Saints could receive their endowments; and (2) plan the western exodus. By December 1845 the temple was sufficiently completed that ordinance work could begin. All together, nearly 6,000 Saints gratefully participated in endowment services before commencing their western journey.”
It did not matter if anything else happened to them on their journey. The one thing they knew for sure was that they needed to receive the blessings of the Temple. This small step of faith, which they took, gave them the necessary strength to move through their many trials along their way.
The importance of attending the temple as often as possible and being a pioneer in that regard came to me strongly while we recently attended the St. Louis temple. This is one way we can bring the blessings of heaven down to our own families and be modern-day pioneers to them.
the Queen and I had agreed that we needed to return to the temple again this year, but we did not make a plan and follow through with it until just recently. It was almost like we were letting it “happen by chance”—if it fell in our path. It took us great effort to believe we could find time and get back to the temple. It took even more effort to actually back up our faith with works and arrive.
The blessings of peace and revelation flowed easily inside the temple and the questions I had in my mind were answered. Matthew 6:8
“…for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
Attending the Temple seems to give us a grander perspective on life’s purpose, one that's more complete than what we usually focus on in a single day. I felt good having gone and served others in the temple and I have faith that other blessings will also follow. Blessings both seen and unseen are passed onto our children from temple attendance.
Nephi said: 2 Nephi 25:26
26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
It is truly only through repentance and faith on the Lord, Jesus Christ that we can activate His atonement in our lives and receive a remission of our sins. This is what pioneers do for themselves--make the necessary changes in their lives to be an example to their children.
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Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me.”
The pioneers did not see their everyday life stories as something that would help point us to Christ or be called a pioneer story. They were just living life each day, and trying to do their best. I don't believe the pioneers thought that what was happening to them at the time would become so very important. They were just trying to write down the experiences which strengthened their faith and testimonies and share that with their descendants.
So, right now each of us is creating our own pioneering life story, the things for which we will be remembered. The experiences which we work through are forming and shaping us, just as the pioneers had experiences which shaped them. We are connected.
Remember, those who will be found in heaven are not those, who have never sinned or only a little, but those who have recognized their mistakes and have repented, and then have used the Atonement of Christ in their daily lives.
The things that I'm doing now are being written down in my children’s hearts, as it were, as my pioneer stories for them to use and pass on to their children. My children are being taught and are learning from my example. I am a Pioneer. When I think of my life in terms of me being the pioneer and how I am forging through life and leaving a legacy, I become a bit afraid. Because, what I am doing does matter like the pioneers of old and will affect my children. However, because I am turning my heart to my Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ along with my ancestors, I will receive the strength and means necessary to be successful as a modern-day pioneer.
What my life contains or does not contain is a part of my history. The things I sacrifice to follow Christ then is being a pioneer, or in other words “breaking new ground” in making a better me than I previously have been and showing others (my children) the way to Christ.
Using the pioneer stories of the past and now pointing ourselves more towards Christ in the future, WE all can qualify as modern-day pioneers. Those who are “aware of the needs of others[, like our children] and . . . show them the way to Christ.”
