Pioneer Day

On Sunday, Ben Blair and I spoke in church. Our topic was pioneers. Ben Blair managed to work in the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. I talked about St. George and how hot it is — how growing up, my favorite places in St. George were the one where the pioneers had planted trees. That I benefited from the work of the pioneers in real ways.

Why the topic of pioneers? This Friday, July 24th, my church celebrates Pioneer Day. A day to remember the 70,000 church members who walked 1300 miles from Illinois to the Great Basin of Utah with covered wagons and handcarts. And who handed down their legacy of hardwork, self-sacrifice, and deep faith to all members of the Mormon church. Their stories are fantastic. And sometimes harrowing. One short funny one recorded by Priscilla Merriman Evans:

"Some Indians came to our camp and my husband in a joking way told one of the Indians, that he would trade me for a pony; he thought no more of it, but the Indian came with the pony and it was no joke to him. There was no place to hide and the captain was called to help settle it".

I can just imagine her blushing and trying to hide as the Indian approaches ready to make the trade. I like wearing my little pioneer themed necklace this week. You can read more about the pioneers here.