Mormon Musings

On 28 July 1847, four days after his arrival in that valley, Brigham Young stood upon the spot where now rises the magnificent Salt Lake Temple and exclaimed to his companions: "Here [we will build] the Temple of our God!" (James H. Anderson, "The Salt Lake Temple,"  Contributor  [The Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations of Zion], no. 6, April 1893, p. 243). Its grounds would cover an eighth of a square mile, and it would be built to stand through eternity. Who cares about the money or stone or timber or glass or gold they don't have? So what that seeds are not even planted and the Saints are yet without homes? Why worry that crickets will soon be coming--and so will the United States Army? They just marched forth and broke ground for the most massive, permanent, inspiring edifice they could conceive. And they would spend forty years of their lives trying to complete it. The work seemed ill-fated from the start. The excavation for the basement require...

"We need to commit to serve the Lord and our communities with the same diligence and faith that the pioneers had. We must ever be on our guard that we do not become casual in keeping God's commandments, in abiding by His laws, and in being honest and trustworthy in all that we do." —M. Russell Ballard, " Pioneer Faith and Fortitude—Then and Now "

"The last day of February, 1849, I commenced sowing my wheat.  I sowed 5 bushels, from which I raised 200 bushels-reared a small crop of corn.  The crickets commenced to devour us about the 1st of May, on which I had continual warfare with them until the 1st of September.  They damaged my corn continually and probably would have used up every vestige of grain that there was growing in the Valley had not the gulls assisted us.   They came when nearly every ray of hope was gone.  They would eat until they filled their craw, and throw them up and fill it again.  Thus they labored almost incessantly from day to day ." The Life and Record of Anson Call, page 40 (emphasis added)