Sunday, November 05, 2006

Pioneer Stripling Warriors

This week as I was preparing to teach a song in Singing Time, I was trying to find some pictures in my gospel art kit that would help expound upon the words and the teachings found in the song "Can a Little Child Like Me?". One of the pictures that I chose for one of the lines in the song was the picture of the three boys that were part of the rescue team for the Martin Handcart Company. I am sure you are all familiar with the story but just as a reminder...when the rescue team that had been sent by Brigham Young met up with the Martin Handcart Company, they found them at the banks of Sweet Water (I think that was the river). The men and women in the company were full of discouragement and tears as they realized that they had to cross another icy cold river which would cause more death, illness, and exposure. There were three 18 year old boys who decided that they were going to carry each one of them across the river. Due to the large amount of exposure in that icy cold river, each one of those boys ended up dying from the effects of that single heroic act. When Brigham Young was speaking of these boys, he said that singular event would guarantee them a spot in the celestial kingdom.

As I was reading this story on the back of the picture, I became overcome with emotion as I realized that the event that I just read about took place exactly 150 years ago to the day (November 3, 1856). For just a moment, I felt like I could feel the overwhelming amount of gratitude and love that those pioneers of the Martin Handcart Company must have felt for those incredible "Pioneer Stripling Warriors". Those boys truly understood what the gospel is all about. They understood what the Savior meant when He said to love thy neighbor and to lose yourself in the service of others.

I wonder in my own life if I have stayed close enough to the Spirit to know when the Lord has needed me to help carry someone across any "icy river" in their life. No wonder the Lord has set up His church so that we have an incredible support system in our families, wards, and stakes. As we learn to "carry" each other through life's tribulations and trials, I know that retrospectively we will see that as we were carrying another it was the Lord himself who was carrying most, if not all, of the weight and making it easier for us to bear.

2 comments:

becky said...

That is very cool that you read that story on the exact anniversary date. That story was used in conference by President Hinckley and later referred to in another talk by Jeffery Holland saying we should help rescue those today who have lost their way or don't have the gospel in their lives. Dad used it during his talk in sacrament meeting two weeks ago. He used the story to emphasis what Jeffery Holland had said. It seems to be on everyone's mind. What a great reminder for us to use to apply to our lives now.

Katie Bear said...

I love that story. It's my favorite pioneer story. Such an amazing example to all of us to anxiously engage ourselves in the work of the Lord.

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