History........

Spring soccer season is upon us. Dustin was anxious to sign up again and since he’s not involved in anything else we were happy to let him. I must say that while it was “fun” watching him play last year, it is more enjoyable watching him play this year. With the kids a year older, they show more control of their bodies and a better understanding of what they are doing. Dustin by design came into this world with some natural athletic abilities. This for me has always been interesting to watch since I have very little athletic coordination. The last two games have been quite suspenseful and full of constant action. Amazing for 6 year olds. We are enjoying it.

Daria isn’t to impressed to go watch her brother play (most likely because she’s like me and watching sports has never been our number one interest, add to that the whole “playing with friends” factor that she thinks about 24 hours a day. When you are watching your brother play soccer, you are not playing with friends. But it’s our family rule that we support each other by watching various events that family members participate in. I’m sure we’ve all read that family support at events makes a difference, but I often wondered if it’s not until they are older. Until this one specific Saturday. While watching Dustin’s game, Daria wanted to stand near the goal end as we were sitting in the middle of the field. Somewhere during the game I noticed Dustin briefly look over at me and from the look on his face must have wondered where Daria was. His eyes quickly panned around until he saw her at the goal to which he gave himself the thumbs up sign and continued playing. Hhhmmm, I thought, even at 6 kids are looking for their families out there in the crowd, to see if they are watching them.

Amazingly I’m still on the book reading kick and I’m quite enjoying myself. I finished reading a book titled “The Price We Paid”, by Andrew Olsen. The book, taken directly from journals (my favorite types of books, real experiences from real people), recounts the detailed, and riveting experiences of the Willie & Martin Handcart Pioneers, in a way that is so thought provoking and intense I thought to myself that I wished every Latter Day Saint would read it. Many of us have heard snippets of stories in church lessons, magazines or general conference. They pale in comparison to the details in this book as it takes you into the personal lives of the pioneers before they even converted, the leaders, missionaries, the trek itself, and then wraps it up with what happened to each individual after the trek, all in one amazing book. While I did not have any ancestors in the handcart companies, I did have an ancestor, David Evans, who was the captain over 50 wagons in the 10th wagon company crossing the plains in 1850. I assume that some might read this book and feel guilty about “not doing enough”, but for me I found it completely inspiring and echo the words of President Hinckley who said “Their stories need to be told again and again and again.” The book left me amazed at the type of people that lived before the 20th and 21st centuries. Amazed at how quickly the saints organized themselves wherever they were in the world, and they didn’t even have telephone, e-mail, fax machines, or church handbooks to help them! While serving with the youth of the church I sometimes heard worries that the youth would not relate to lessons that included pioneer stories, as they might seem “out of date”, but I totally disagree. If that were the case then we wouldn’t be able to relate to the lessons in the scriptures. I think to myself if we can’t learn something from a people who were walking 1000+ miles, down to 4 oz. of flour a day per person (2 oz for kids) while pulling handcarts in freezing snowy weather, family members dying daily, and later being thankful for the experience, then I don’t know what else would. If anything I came away reading the book taking a look at myself and re-assessing where I’m at in life, how and what decisions I make and really ultimately how strong is my faith? A good read and I recommended to anyone in or out of the church. The reviews at Amazon probably do it more justice than I could articulate.


I had to include the all famous quote from Francis Webster (one of the pioneers):

"I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there. "Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company."


Phenominal reminder that we often come closer to the Lord during our trials than we do in times of “plenty”.