Blessed, Honored Pioneer

July 24th is celebrated in Utah as a state holiday to commemorate when the LDS pioneers reached the Salt Lake valley. All through the church there are usually activities to remember. Our area had a breakfast at the Poway lake with a variety of fun runs (5K, mile, etc) around the lake and then games for all ages.

By coincidence, an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, was in town with his family on vacation. I'm not sure how it worked out, but he agreed to speak to our stake and the craziness began.

This doesn't do the choir justice. It was a hurried picture just before the doors opened.


With two months preparation, a complete concert with a 90 person choir, orchestra, solos, slideshow, and narration was put together. Brian and I decided to join the choir. It was guaranteed to be very challenging, but with the music being so fun it was worth it. After the very first rehearsal, the choir director pulled me aside and asked if I would be willing to help with production management. I wasn't sure what all that entailed, but I'm always willing to help so I agreed. It was so much fun!!! (No, that wasn't sarcasm!) I learned so much about lighting, mic placement, who in the stake and surrounding areas to call on for assistance, etc. With non-stop email, meetings, phone calls, and trials (including the death of one of the director's father), it all culminated into one terrific evening.


Here is the children's choir. Aubrey was asked to participate. She's the pioneer girl with the white bonnet. She did a fantastic job and learned a lot about what it means to sing in a choir.

Elder Holland spoke after the performance. He didn't have anything really prepared, just went with his heart. Let me share what I got out of his talk.

Brian's family comes from solid pioneer stock. They are related to John Taylor (3rd President of the church) and Willard Richards (a counselor under Brigham Young). When I go to family reunions I often hear the praises and apparent brags of this long legacy in the church. It often makes me think of the Asian tradition of ancestor worship. For a long time it kinda creeped me out.

Elder Holland shared a story of a man in his college years that was a convert to the church complaining about how this pioneer history wasn't his. He didn't have family that crossed the plains, why doesn't the church realize that it has gone beyond the borders of the United States and that most people can't relate to that past? Move on and grow up!

At that point Elder Holland stood up (he was also a college aged guy at the time) and told the man boldly that the pioneer heritage belongs to each of us. When we are baptized (no matter from what past, or which country we live in), we sign on to the whole package and automatically join in the family with the same legacy. We all have some gratitude that needs to be extended to those brave and faithful saints that sacrificed so much for us to have what we have today. There were 2,600 people (men, women and children) who died along that trail. They did it because they had faith that God had a place prepared for them to worship and live in peace, and they knew that they were led by a living prophet. The example of those families is a great source of strength to me.

Elder Holland reminded us that with all the weeks of work we all went through to prepare the concert, it all ended in 50 minutes to commemorate what these people sacrificed for us. To each of us. It changed my perspective of how Brian's family talks about their ancestry. It makes me grateful for the legacy my children have.