Here is the talk I gave yesterday in Church, but without all the sniffling.

Beloved Pioneers
Meg Stout
July 23, 2017

While the choir was preparing to sing Faith in Every Footstep, we learned how this song came about. K. Newell Dayley had a son going on a mission. So Newell said they should both memorize a scripture each day.

They did this for about two weeks. Then on a Saturday morning, the words to this song started flooding into Brother Dayley’s mind. He completed the words and tune that very morning. [ref]”The Story Behind Faith in Every Footstep,” online 7/22/2017 at http://quantumleap42.blogspot.com/2009/07/story-behind-faith-in-every-footstep.html.[/ref]

Sometimes we don’t even know we are laying the foundation of a great work. Brother Dayley had no idea his scripture memorization would do anything more than help his son be more ready for a mission. Yet how many thousands and millions of people have heard this anthem and been lifted by its message.

What is a pioneer?

The term pioneer comes from Latin, and originally meant a foot soldier, one sent ahead to prepare the field for the army. [ref]pioneer (n.), “foot soldier who prepares the way for the army,” from Middle French pionnier “foot-soldier, pioneer,” from Old French paonier “foot-soldier” (11c.), from peon (see pawn, as in the pawns in a game of chess (n.2)). Figurative sense of “person who goes first or does something first” is from c. 1600. Related: Pioneers, online 7/22/2017 at http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pioneer. Fun thought – in a game of chess, the pawns are the first, but are relatively weak. But as they “endure” to reach the other side of the board, they gain strength to move like the most powerful player, which in chess is the queen.[/ref]

The first ones we call pioneers were the Mormons who had been driven from Missouri. They had endured the deaths of Joseph and his brother, Hyrum. When it was clear that the courts would not punish anyone for murder, mobs began attacking again. I have ancestors who died during these so-called Wolf Hunts.[ref]Mary Amanda Bunnell and Ralph Henry Delong. According to the oral histories, the family was given “blueberries” that fall by neighbors and all who ate the pie made from the berries died. Most died within a day of eating the pie. Mary went into premature labor and then she and the infant died, consistent with how a deadly poison would have affected a pregant woman and her unborn child.[/ref]

Despite attack, the Saints completed the temple and decorated it in the dead of winter with green plants, to symbolize paradise. They sealed themselves together as families. [ref]Cook, Lyndon, Nauvoo Marriages Proxy Sealings, Grandin Book Company, 2004, available at https://www.amazon.com/Nauvoo-Marriages-Proxy-Sealings-1843-1846/dp/B000RAHCCM.[/ref] Then they turned west.

Brigham Young knew it would take at least a year to reach safety. So he told each family to gather a year’s supply, because no crops could be grown while the people were fleeing.

Wagons started crossing the frozen river on February 4th. By September only the poorest of Saints remained. But these were forced to leave Nauvoo by a mob in September.

When Brigham Young learned of the attack, he said “…Go straightway and bring a load of the poor from Nauvoo.” [ref]Bennett, Mormons at the Missouri, 82–83, cited by Hartley in “The Pioneer Trek: Nauvoo to Winter Quarters,” Ensign, Jul 1997, online 7/22/17 at https://www.lds.org/ensign/1997/06/the-pioneer-trek-nauvoo-to-winter-quarters?lang=eng.[/ref]

The resuers tried to buy supplies, but few non-Mormons were willing to help. Then a miracle occurred. Large flocks of exhausted quail flopped into the camp, landing on and under wagons and in tents. “Every man, woman and child had quails to eat for… dinner.”

Winter Quarters

Brigham hoped to reach refuge in a year. But by fall 1846, the main body of Saints had only reached the Missouri River.

The Saints would have to live for two years off of what they had prepared for only one year. And not everyone had been able to prepare even for that one year.

Rather than fight about the little food there was, the Saints organized. Those who had more took care of those who had less. But they didn’t have fresh vegetables. They developed scurvy, or black canker.

The first to die was a young son of the Brinkerhoff family. By winter’s end hundreds were dead. My own ancestor lost a baby daughter, [ref]Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes lost her first-born child, Lucy Elvira Holmes.[/ref] and was comforted by a friend [ref]Emily Partridge describes going with Elvira to the graves in her journal. Her own child had died a few months earlier and is buried near Elvira’s daughter.[/ref] who herself was mourning. If you go to Winter Quarters and stand in front of the angel plaque, you are standing in front of the grave of that little baby girl.

While the mobs were forcing the Saints from Nauvoo, missionaries were still preaching the gospel here in the East. One man who believed was John Neff, ancestor to Kate Thurgood and Amy Sowa who you may remember.

John Neff sold his eastern properties and took his hundreds of cattle west. When he got to Nauvoo, everyone was gone. So John Neff continued on to Winter Quarters, where his cattle no doubt helped save many lives. Then John Neff followed those who had left for Salt Lake, arriving in the first months of 1848. [ref]History learned from the father of my friends circa 2009, deatils regarding John Neff’s arrival from “12 Historic Homes to Open Doors for Tour,” Deseret News, May 14, 1995, online 7/22/2017 at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/420766/12-HISTORIC-HOMES-TO-OPEN-DOORS-FOR-TOUR.html.[/ref]

The First Winter in Salt Lake Valley

The first Saints to reach Salt Lake immediately began to plant crops. But when Parley Pratt and John Taylor arrived at harvest time, the cornfields hadn’t produced ears. The vegetables hadn’t matured. The fields of buckwheat had never produced seed. And early frost had blackened the potato patch. When they dug for potatoes, the tiny potatoes looked like a collection of marbles. These tiny potatoes were the only food harvested from the eighty-four acres the Saints had planted that summer. [ref]Taylor, Samuel W., The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet, Signature Books, 1999, pp. 135-136.[/ref]

North in the Valley, the Gosiutes became ill with measles, caught from Europeans in the valley. The chief’s son was dying, and nothing the Indians had done had helped.

The Indians came to the Mormons, and asked them to bless the child. Some said if the boy died, the Indians would attack. But John Taylor decided to go and give the boy a blessing.

A few days later, the Indians approached. The boy was getting better, and the Indians brought gifts of thistle root, sego lily bulbs, honey, pine nuts, and a mash that tasted like fried bacon.

Soon the mash ran out. Without the protein in the mash, people started getting weak and sick. So John Taylor again went to the Indians, hoping even though it was winter, the Indians might have some supplies they would be willing to share.

The Indians welcomed John Taylor, and gave him more of the mash, and showed John how it was made. John did not tell his fellow pioneers they had been eating roasted crickets. [ref]Taylor, Samuel W., The Last Pioneer: John Taylor, a Mormon Prophet, Signature Books, 1999, pp. 138-139.[/ref]

It’s a good thing John Neff arrived with his cattle shortly after that. Because once John Taylor knew what that mash was, he just wasn’t able to eat it.

Poverty and Handcarts

Back east, the US government thought Mormons were plotting to attack the United States. My ancestor, Joseph Leland Heywood, was the US Marshall for Utah Territory, and had been asked to return to Washington DC.

When Heywood reached Washington DC, he was fired for being a Mormon. And the government said it would not pay for the law enforcement work Heywood had deputized people to do, work worth many millions of dollars today. Heywood had to petition for decades before the government finally agreed to pay the money. [ref]Ipsen, Ever Faithful: Joseph Leland Heywood.[/ref]

Poverty inspired Brigham Young to suggest Saints could use handcarts, which would be less expensive than wagons.

Most handcart companies made the trip just fine. I had an ancestor who traveled in that first handcart company. [ref]Job Welling traveled in the Ellsworth Company with his wife, Frances Yeoman, and their son, Job Welling. Baby Job died on the plains of Iowa during the trip.[/ref] But there were a couple of groups that started late. [ref]The late companies were the Willie and Martin handcart companies and the Hodgett, and Hunt wagon companies. For a concise history, see LaRene Porter Gaunt and Linda Dekker, “Go and Bring Them In,” Ensign, Dec 2006, online 7/24/2017 at https://www.lds.org/ensign/2006/12/go-and-bring-them-in?lang=eng.[/ref]

The US was talking about waging war on Utah, and the twisted beliefs people had about Mormons made it dangerous to stay in the east. So they didn’t really have a choice.

Brigham Young learned of the late companies right before General Conference, and he told the people his sermon was for them to travel to those late companies and bring them to safety.

Most of you know what happened to those companies. The food wasn’t sufficient, so they were weak from malnutrition. And the snows came early that year, before the rescue parties could reach the handcarts. Many were saved, but hundreds died.

Brigham didn’t know Heywood was attempting to reach Salt Lake that winter. Heywood and his company reached Devil’s Gate on Christmas Day, where they were snowed in.

When Heywood returned to Salt Lake, Brigham Young was horrified to learn they’d nearly starved. Brigham said he would have rescued them, even if it had taken half the men in the valley. [ref]Ipsen, Ever Faithful.[/ref]

That’s one of the things you learn, when you read about the early pioneers. They would do anything to help one another.

The Down and Back Companies

Things got worse. The US sent an army to attack Utah. In the paranoia of the moment, a group of Mormons attacked a wagon train. [ref]See Massacre at Mountain Meadows, by Walker, Turley, and Leonard, Oxford University Press, 2011, available at amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Massacre-Mountain-Meadows-Ronald-Walker/dp/0199747563.[/ref]

To prevent further disaster, Brigham Young sent 30,000 Saints south. Outlying communities were abandoned. Some of these settlements were never restored.

Meanwhile Brigham Young knew tensions in the States were increasing over slavery. Nearly three decades earlier, Joseph Smith had prophesied:

Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina… behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States… [ref]D&C 87:1-3.[/ref]

In February 1861, Brigham Young called for every congregation to donate wagons and teams. [ref]Hartley, William G., “‘Down and Back’ Wagon Trains: Bringing the Saints to Utah in 1861,” Ensign, Sep 1985, online 7/22/2017 at https://www.lds.org/ensign/1985/09/down-and-back-wagon-trains-bringing-the-saints-to-utah-in-1861?lang=eng.[/ref]

News of the war reached Salt Lake ten days after the bombing of Fort Sumter. Congregations donated wagons, oxen, young men and tons of flour to feed the Saints attempting to gather in the face of the war. The war was disrupting river traffic, so panicked “people piled in endways, sideways, crossings and every way all as thick as hops,” according to one riverboat owner. [ref]George Ottinger journal, 18 June 1861, cited by Hartley in “‘Down and Back’ Wagon Trains: Bringing the Saints to Utah in 1861,” Ensign, Sep 1985, online 7/22/2017 at https://www.lds.org/ensign/1985/09/down-and-back-wagon-trains-bringing-the-saints-to-utah-in-1861?lang=eng.[/ref]

The Saints in the Eastern branches made it to Florence just days before enemy soldiers began destroyed the train tracks.

Church leaders thought a thousand Saints might have traveled to Florence in the face of pending war. Instead there were nearly 4000 Saints, Germans, Swiss, Italians, Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Scots, Welsh, English, Irish, and Canadians. [ref]The Church expected half of the 2,500 individuals they found in Florence when leaders arrived. By the time the last wagon train left, 3,900 individuals traveled west to Salt Lake Valley. See Hartley, “‘Down and Back’ Wagon Trains.”[/ref]

12 wagon trains with over 600 wagons left Florence in the days before the Battle of Bull Run.

In recent talks, the down and back trains have been described as somewhat of a lark, with the young men having a chance to “drive” and meet the new young ladies. But that first summer of the ‘down and back’ wagon trains, the Saints were terrified for their lives, and only barely escaped disaster.

Modern Pioneers

Let me tell you two modern stories.

Paul Pieper [ref]Paul Pieper is now a General Authority Seventy, see Paul B. Pieper biography, online 7/24/2017 at https://www.lds.org/church/leader/paul-b-pieper?lang=eng.[/ref] lived in Annandale Ward before his job took him to Kazakhstan, the ninth largest nation in the world by area.

When the Piepers arrived in the capital city of Almaty, there was only one other Mormon family in the city. There was also a young Mormon couple living in the city of Astana. [ref]Story related at Annandale Ward fireside by Paul and Lisa Pieper. Details later confirmed by Paul’s son, Chris Pieper.[/ref]

The Church sent Brother Pieper information on people who had asked about Mormonism. Brother Pieper and his family prayed and found these individuals.

Every person they contacted ended up joining the Church.

Once they had ten members, Brother Pieper applied for formal recognition in Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, the young couple in Astana was struggling.

Brother Pieper urged the young couple move to Almaty, to find housing and jobs. But the couple felt they should remain in Astana.

Then the government called Brother Pieper wanting him to answer a few questions.

The last question the official asked was, “Are all your members here in the capital?” Brother Pieper’s heart sank, certain that if he admitted two of the members were in Astana, the application would be denied.

But Brother Pieper told the truth, admitting a young couple lived in Astana.

The official pursed his lips and made a mark on the sheet. Then he explained that if all the members of the Church had lived in the capital, Kazakhstan would have recognized the Church in the city. But since there were members also in Astana, the official had approved recognition of the Church in all of Kazakhstan.

That one unemployed couple heeded the prompting of the Spirit, and remained in Astana when it didn’t make any sense to do so. And because of that, the Church is now officially recognized in one of the largest countries in the world.

Now the next story.

My father fled to Taiwan as a child to escape the communists. [ref]My grandfather, Ho-yee, fled mainland China the day before Mao Tzu-Tung closed Fuzhou Harbor. As Ho-yee was a Nationalist Genereal, Ho-yee and his family would have been killed had they remained.[/ref]

When Dad was a teenager, he met some young Americans playing basketball. They taught him about Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith, and Dad was baptized.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned the full story. [ref]Story related on CD put together for a Taiwan Mission reunion circa 2011.[/ref]

The Church decided to send missionaries to Taiwan in 1956. But they just sent four missionaries. [ref]LDS Statistics and Facts: Taiwain, online 7/22/2017 at http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/taiwan.[/ref]

Then one of the missionaries was killed in an accident.

The mission president demanded that the other missionaries leave Taiwan and return to the mission home.

But the young missionaries begged to stay in Taiwan.

The mission president relented a bit. He would give them one month. If no one had been baptized by the end of the month, then the missionaries would have to leave Taiwan.

I had known Dad was baptized at the first service held in Taiwan. But I hadn’t known Dad was the missionaries’ first convert and the reason the Taiwan mission stayed open. There are now nearly 60,000 members of the Church in Taiwan, and that doesn’t include my father’s family, who lives in America.

___________

When you look back on the stories I’ve told, none of these people thought in the moment, “Hey, look at me, aren’t I cool, I’m a pioneer.” Each of them was just putting one foot in front of the other, striving to do the best they could. Sometimes they made terrible mistakes. Sometimes they had to make sacrifices. Other times they were terrified. But mostly they just lived life day to day, doing good.

I promise you that as you live a life devoted to God, you will find He has worked through you to bless those around you. You will have become the miraculous person bringing needed aid when all hope was lost. You will come to know that your service was treasured more than you knew.