Pioneer Story Quilt- Lucy Mack Smith

Children,

Lucy Mack Smith is the mother of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  She was a woman of great faith and courage.  One time she was responsible to lead 80 members by riverboat to join with the larger body of saints.  It was cold, and tensions were high when they were told that the ice was blocking the way forward.  In her own words in "History of Joseph Smith" she records:

‘Now brethren and sisters, if you will all of you raise your desires to heaven, that the ice may be broken up, and we be set at liberty, as sure as the Lord lives, it will be done.’ At that instant a noise was heard, like bursting thunder. The captain cried, ‘Every man to his post.’ The ice parted, leaving barely a passage for the boat, and so narrow that as the boat passed through the buckets of the waterwheel were torn off with a crash, which, joined to the word of command from the captain, the hoarse answering of the sailors, the noise of the ice, and the cries and confusion of the spectators, presented a scene truly terrible. We had barely passed through the avenue when the ice closed together again, and the Colesville brethren were left in Buffalo, unable to follow us.”

I made this quilt square to remind you of the water wheels on the back of the boat and of God's power to help you when you come up against walls of ice in your own lives.  Lucy Mack Smith knew God would help them. I want you to know that God will help you too. 

"Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and our shield."   

-Psalms 33:20

Pioneer Story Quilt- The Power of our Covenants

Darlings,

Your fourth Great Grandmother (Grandpa Bob's Great-Grandmother) was named Mary Daybell.  She and her husband Finity Daybell heard the gospel from early missionaries in England. Here is part of the record kept by her son William Daybell:

The Mormon elders came through that part of the country and they listened to the gospel as it was taught by those elders.  My father was the first one to believe in their teachings; my mother couldn't believe the gospel for a long time... The elders taught that they must gather to Zion and she had great dread of crossing the ocean.  

But they finally received the gospel at the time when they had one child, the year of 1844 they embraced the gospel.  The testimony that was given to my mother when she was baptized caused them to have a desire to emigrate to Zion.  When she came up from the waters of baptism fear of the ocean and of leaving her home had left her.  She, from that time, had a desire to go to Zion.

Mary Daybell was given power when she was baptized to do the important things God was asking her to do.  Making covenants with God always strengthens us.

When you see this quilt square I hope you will think of Mary Daybell crossing the ocean.  She was able to do this because of the power of her covenants.  You will have the opportunity to make covenants with God too- at your baptism, taking the sacrament, and in God's temples.  Each time you do I hope you will be aware of the power God is giving you- power to overcome your fears and do the work God will give you.

I love you.  God does too.

Mom

Mary and Finity Daybell: Charleston Cemetery, UT

Pioneer Story Quilt- Heading Out and Bringing Home

Dear Children,

Late in the fall of 1856 Brigham Young was informed that hundreds of saints, pulling handcarts and traveling slowly, were scattered across the plains.  He knew that without the help of the saints in the Salt Lake Valley most of them would die when winter hit.

The next day in church he got up and addressed the saints:

“I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the plains”

Do you know how hard this must have been?  The saints in the Salt Lake Valley were still getting their own farms and homes ready for winter.  He was asking for the food they were storing for their own families.  Their husbands and fathers would be away for weeks in increasingly cold weather.

Of course it was hard.  But they did it anyways, because our Father in Heaven loves all of His children.  Hundreds of cold, starving saints were picked up by the men who left the comfort of their homes to follow God's command.  They were warmed, fed, and carried by wagon into the Salt Lake Valley.

Credit

In your lives God will call you to help others- to serve missions, to be a visiting or home teacher, to share your talents with the church, to sacrifice to raise a family.  There will be work only you can do.  It will be inconvenient.  It will require that you walk away from other good things you are doing.  It will be hard, but God will be with you as you do the work He asks you to do.

Can you see how the triangles in this quilt block look like they are pointing out and then back in again?  I hope you'll remember that God needs you to go out and bring others back into the safety of the gospel, even when it's inconvenient and difficult.  God and His angels will walk out and back with you.

Love you forever- Mom