Grateful for Pioneers...

Many of the Mormon Pioneers converted to the church in Europe. They joined the body of the saints in New York, in Missouri, in Nauvoo. In each place they built a beautiful community, in each place they were misunderstood, hated and finally persecuted and brutally driven out.
Leaving their beautiful and tidy little homes, they crossed the great plains in covered wagons if they had means and handcarts if they did not. They took each step with great courage and faith in their convictions. They suffered greatly along the way. They buried their husbands, brothers, sisters, wives and mothers. They left their children in frozen, shallow graves as they listened to the wolves howl in the distance. But with faith in the goodness of their God, in his eternal plan of happiness, and in reunion they came into the Salt Lake Valley and built the glorious Salt Lake Temple in order to worship; a place where they could be sealed forever to those precious ones who were left behind.
I am forever grateful for my connections to these valiant saints and for the city they built with courage, industry and faith ... all in reverence and honor to God.
Hope you had a wonderful Pioneer Day.. July 24, 2009 marked 162nd anniversary of the day the Mormon Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.