Our heritage!

“Having a perfect brightness of hope!” Part of which is contained in 2 Nephi 32:20 I think our pioneer ancestors had that in mind. There hope was centered in Christ and a new beginning in the Salt Lake Valley. It kept them going through all the hardships that they endured. One that tears at my heart strings is the account of the Willey and Martin handcart companies.

Several years ago one freezing winter morning I headed out of Casper Wyoming towards home in Utah. It was snowing heavily, the wind was blowing but I kept pressing forward. As I passed the Martin’s Cove turn off I pondered how it must have been. I had on a light hoodie, no hat, or beanie,or scarf wrapped around my head no heavy gloves, with possible holes. (Yet in the back seat I had all the heavy winter items I needed including blankets) I had controlled heat at my fingertips, warm enough, yet cool enough so I wouldn’t get drowsy! I had faith that my truck would keep running that the fuel would not gel up that if I encountered any snow drifts I could put it into four-wheel-drive and continue my journey. Now some might say I was crazy, why didn’t you wait till the storm ended, leaving the next day? My thought was I wanted to get home to my family! Many said those pioneers were crazy why didn’t they wait till spring! I guess what I’m trying to say is that we all have our journeys in life. We put our faith and hope in our Savior Jesus Christ and we press forward. We don’t always know how the journey will end. But we continue on never the less Our attitude of hope is centered in everything we do. Here in Michigan we hope we will make a difference, We hope we will make a difference in Allegan , we hope we will make a difference in our little Branch and all those we come in contact with. We hope every person we meet will be receptive to the message of the restored gospel. When they are we are overjoyed with gladness, but when they don’t we have hope and faith to continue on and go to the next door, and the next person, and declare again the gospel message It reminds me of the song Hope of Israel. “Hope of Israel on to battle now the victory we must win. Hope of Israel rise in might, with the sword of truth and right. Sound the war cry, watch and pray, vanquish every foe today. The Chieftain, Jesus Christ leads the way, with our attitude of hope, now we have a perfect knowledge and because of that we can do all things!

On a boat ride with President and Sister Ensign, with Brother and Sister Randall. The Ensigns live along the Grand Haven River which empties into Lake Michigan.