Today I was assigned to speak in one of the Wards in our Stake on the topic of our Mormon pioneer heritage. This is the text of the talk that I prepared:

I should like to tell you a love story.

15-year-old Jane Sant was in love. Love at first sight, actually. She had looked into the sparkling black eyes of a young westerner carrying a bull whip over his shoulders, clad in a full buckskin suit, fringe down each side of the pants and a beaded design on the front of the waist coat, his dark hair, a bit long as the westerners then wore it, curled back over his ears, and a broad smile on his face.

Jane turned to her older sister Margaret and said, “That’s the man I’m going to marry.”

“But Jane, he may already be married and have a dozen wives!” Margaret replied.

“I don’t care. I’ll find him again and win his love.” Jane declared.

John and Mary Sant had lived on the Mercy River outside of Liverpool where John was a riverboat captain carrying merchandise up river from Liverpool. They met the missionaries and were baptized. A year later they sent their oldest son George to Utah to prepare the way for the rest of the family.

John, Mary, and the rest of their family set sail from Liverpool in June 1860 for Zion. They sailed to New Orleans, took a riverboat to St. Louis, the train to Omaha, and joined a wagon train company for the remainder of the journey to Utah.

The wagon train company was about three days east of Ft. Bridger in Wyoming when Jane first laid eyes on her future husband.

Nathan Smith was the oldest son of William P and Mary Grimshaw Smith. William and Mary had joined the Church in 1840 while they were living near Manchester, England. In 1842 they left England for Nauvoo and arrived in early spring of 1843. They, along with the other saints, were forced out of Nauvoo and went to Winter Quarters where William P operated a ferry across the Missouri River for several years. They travelled to Utah by horse and buggy, making the trip in less than a month where William P settled in Ft. Union and set up medical practice.

Nathan’s younger sister Alice trained as a midwife and as a doctor and married George Done. They settled in Smithfield, Utah where Alice worked as a midwife and a doctor for the rest of her life.

Meanwhile, Nathan had been called on a temple mission. He and a number of other young men would load wagons full of provisions, take the mail, and head east to St. Louis, resupplying wagon train companies in Wyoming as needed. When they reached St. Louis, they purchased needed items for the Temple and for the settlements in the west and made the return journey. From Omaha they would lead a wagon train across the plains to Utah.

On his last trip to St. Louis, three days east of Ft. Bridger, Nathan met the Sant wagon company and delivered a letter to John Sant from his son George in Smithfield. George had come to Utah, married, and built a small cabin in Smithfield, Utah. He was waiting there for them to arrive.

Jane Sant was in love.

Upon completion of his mission, Nathan went to Smithfield to spend a few weeks with his sister … and, as he said, to do a little dancing.

On their arrival in Smithfield, the Sant family immediately set to work at whatever work was available. Alice Smith Done needed an assistant in her medical practice and hired sixteen-year-old Jane Sant.

Nathan arrived in Smithfield to visit his sister Alice the same week that Jane Sant began to work for Alice.

Jane said that as soon as she heard his voice, she knew who it was. She wasn’t dressed to be meeting her husband-to-be! She ran and hid … and Alice had to find her and coax her out to meet Nathan.

It must have been love at 2^nd sight for Nathan! Bishop John Sant, Jane’s father, married them on October 3, 1861. They then went by wagon to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City where they were sealed for time and all eternity that evening.

Speaking of our pioneer heritage, Elder Dallin H. Oaks in a conference address in October, 1997 said:

A few years ago I showed one of my senior brethren a talk I had prepared for future delivery. He returned it with a stimulating two-word comment: “Therefore, what?” The talk was incomplete because it omitted a vital element: what a listener should do. I had failed to follow the example of King Benjamin, who concluded an important message by saying, “And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).

For many months we have studied the lives and accomplishments of our pioneers, early and modern. We have thrilled to some modern reenactments, in which many have been blessed to participate. I was humbled to walk in the footsteps and wagon trails of my 31 pioneer ancestors for 13 miles over the Wyoming heights called Rocky Ridge, and for 5 miles on the trail 3 of them later followed down El Cajon Pass to settle what is now San Bernardino, California.

Now after all these studies and activities, it is appropriate to ask ourselves, “Therefore, what?” Are these pioneer celebrations academic, merely increasing our fund of experiences and knowledge? Or will they have a profound impact on how we live our lives?

This question applies to all of us. As President Hinckley reminded us last April, “Whether you are among the posterity of the pioneers or whether you were baptized only yesterday, each is the beneficiary of their great undertaking.” All of us enjoy the blessings of their efforts, and all of us have the responsibilities which go with that heritage.

The foremost quality of our pioneers was faith. With faith in God, they did what every pioneer does—they stepped forward into the unknown: a new religion, a new land, a new way of doing things. With faith in their leaders and in one another, they stood fast against formidable opposition. When their leader said, “This is the right place,” they trusted, and they stayed. When other leaders said, “Do it this way,” they followed in faith.

Two companion qualities evident in the lives of our pioneers, early and modern, are unselfishness and sacrifice. Our Utah pioneers excelled at putting “the general welfare and community goals over individual gain and personal ambition.” That same quality is evident in the conversion stories of modern pioneers. Upon receiving a testimony of the truth of the restored gospel, they have unhesitatingly sacrificed all that was required to assure that its blessings will be available to their children and to generations unborn. Some have sold all their property to travel to a temple. Some have lost employment. Many have lost friends. Some have even lost parents and extended family, and others as new converts have been disowned for their faith.

(Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Following the Pioneers, Ensign, Nov. 1997)

I’m blessed to count a number of Mormon pioneers in my ancestry. What does that heritage mean to me?

My wife Nina, however, is a convert and was the first in her family to join the Church. What does the Mormon pioneer heritage mean to her?

What should it mean to all of us … and, as Elder Oaks said, “Therefore, What?”

We stand on the shoulders of stalwart church members who stand on the shoulders of others before them.

I want my children and grandchildren to know about John and Mary Sant, William P and Mary Smith, and Nathan and Jane Sant. I also want them to know about Nina Nettleton, a 20^th century pioneer from Hamden, Connecticut who exercised great faith and stepped into the font in March, 1964 to be baptized by her future husband and thus inherited the title of Pioneer.

But, it’s not enough to tell the stories to our children and grandchildren.

We also have the obligation to “pay it forward.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his 1841 essay Compensation, wrote: “In the order of nature we cannot render benefits to those from whom we receive them, or only seldom. But the benefit we receive must be rendered again, line for line, deed for deed, cent for cent, to somebody.”

I once overheard a conversation that went something like this:

“Why should I have to be paying taxes for the schools. I don’t have any kids in the schools. Let those who have kids pay for the schools!”

The other party replied, “Well, you went to school, didn’t you? You’re educated, can read and write, and can do arithmetic. Who do you think paid for those school buildings and classrooms and teachers? Taxpayers who didn’t have any children in school, either. You were the beneficiary of their sweat, just like generations to come will benefit from your work.”

That’s the concept of paying it forward.

Just as we stand on the shoulders of those who went before, we want the future generations to be able to stand on our shoulders.

1. Our pioneers were faithful. Do we follow the counsel and instruction of our leaders? Are we faithful Sunday School teachers, Primary teachers, Home and Visiting teachers? Do our children, grandchildren, and those around us know that we can be counted upon to do our duty, regardless?
2. Our pioneers were unselfish. Do we give freely of or time, talents, and resources? Do we pay a full and honest tithe? Do we make a regular, generous fast offering contribution? Have we taught by example those who will follow in our footsteps and helped them to understand that it isn’t “all about me”, but rather, “all about us?”
3. Our pioneer heritage is a legacy of inclusion. At a conference in 1845, they covenanted to “bring all the saints with them.” By commandment each company was to “bear an equal proportion … in taking the poor, the widows, the fatherless, and the families of those who have gone into the army” (D&C 136:8). Are we caring for the poor, lifting up the downtrodden, even making sacrifices that all may come to Zion? Are we known as being inclusive and unselfish? Are we demonstrating these qualities in our families, occupations, and social circles?

I could cite many other qualities demonstrated by our pioneer forefathers. However, each of us need to decide for ourselves how we will “pay it forward” and follow King Benjamin’s counsel:

“And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).

It’s so easy to get out of the habit! I got real tired of the Project365 application on my iPhone. About half the time it wouldn’t upload the picture to Facebook. I tried different methods, none of which were nearly as successful. Then the creator came up with a “pro” application which would upload the pictures to a website (his server, though). So, I bit and bought ($0.99) and found it has a MAJOR bug … you can’t sign in. He’s been promising an update Real Soon Now for a couple of weeks. I’m beginning to become a bit skeptical.

Today I got up with intentions of doing some things outside. Then I turned on my ham radio.

About a week ago I was tuning across one of the Ham Radio bands (the 20 meter band 14.225 – 14.350 mhz) and heard a station out east announcing that he was a Special Events Station. I gave him a call on my radio, and by golly, he answered! Over the next few days I found several other special events stations and was able to contact them. I’ve sent off QSL Cards (confirmation of contact information) and hopefully will be getting some in return. Special Events Stations usually have very fancy and nice QSL cards that ham radio guys like to collect.

Then, I heard a station in Pennsylvania that said he was part of the Original 13 Colonies Special Event and that there would be one or two stations in each of the 13 colony states on the air between July 1st and July 6th. That sounded like a real challenge. While these stations were going to be available on a variety of radio bands using a variety of operating modes (morse code, single sideband, RTTY, PSK31, satellite, and others), I only had one antenna available for one band only … my trusty 20 meter hamstick dipole in the back yard. I also had a number of other things to do, such as visit mother in Soda Springs and go to Church, which would increase the challenge. By the end of the period, I had contacted 8 of the 13 colony stations. In addition, I had also made contact with stations in Cuba, Russia, Hawaii, and Brazil.

Generally the process is to put my QSL card into an envelope with a self-addressed stamped return envelope and send that to the other station. They’ll use the return envelope to send a card back. For stations overseas, instead of a stamped return envelope, I put in an envelope without a stamp and buy an International Reply Coupon (IRC) from the post office, which costs $2.10, and put that in the envelope. The receiving party can then exchange the IRC for postage back to the US. So, I made up all the envelopes and went to the post office.

The lady at the counter knew where the IRC’s were located, but couldn’t figure out how to charge me for them. She’d never sold one in her 13 years working at the post office. The fellow at the neighboring counter had never sold one, either. So, she had to go back into the office and find a manager, who brought out a book of instructions. After several attempts, they finally managed to get me charged for the three IRC’s I needed. I decided if it was that much work, I’d buy 5 more so I would have them on hand. They only had 3 more available. So, I bought the post office out of IRC’s. They think they’ll have more in next week. According to the manager, they haven’t sold an IRC in more than a year. Interesting!

So, this morning I turned on my radio … and heard a station calling for contacts for the contest going on this weekend. I looked up the contest on the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League … the US amateur radio association) website and found that it was a full blown, world-wide contest on the shortwave frequencies. My radio and antenna work in the sweet spot of shortwave! So, I returned his call, along with several dozen other people. In ham-radio-speak, this is called a “pile up”. That first contact was in Texas. It took about 5 minutes, but I eventually got through.

Making a contact in this contest is a very brief conversation … He calls for contacts. I answer. He gives me a signal report and a location code. I return with a signal report and a location code. He calls for contacts. The whole exchange went something like this:

CQ CQ CQ Kilo Charlie 5 Hotel November Hotel CQ Contest…. (He’s asking for contacts using his call sign KC5HNH spelled phonetically)

Kilo 7 Oscar Juliet Lima…. (I answer with my call sign, K7OJL spelled phonetically)

Kilo 7 Oscar Juliet Lima … Five by Nine Zero Seven… (my signal good and strong and he’s in zone 7)

QSL QSL Five Nine Zero Six… (Acknowledged the report, his signal is good and strong, I’m in zone 6)

Kilo Charlie 5 Hotel November Hotel QRZ… (He’s asking for contacts and going on to the next person)

I wrote him down in the log and started tuning around the band. Lots of people looking for contacts. So far today I’ve made 25 contacts. Some in the United States, but others in Germany, Sweden, Croatia, Brazil, Italy, Northern Ireland, Russia, and Latvia.

So, I’m going to post this and turn the radio back on. I should be hearing folks from Asia….

This is fun!

I really like air shows. I like airplane museums. I like just about anything having to do with airplanes. Consequently, when the decision was made about six months ago to put together a Pocatello Airport Appreciation Day evening, I wanted to somehow be part of that activity. Planning meetings were being held monthly up through May and are now being held weekly and I’m in attendance for the meetings. My contribution will be to arrange for the printing of some signs to help people find their way around the displays at the event.

One of the most exciting activities will be incredibly inexpensive airplane and helicopter rides … including free rides for young people 8 – 18 years of age. I’l hoping that a lot of people take advantage of this opportunity.

TTFN!

I had my weekly Veterans Administration weight management class today. The process is that I check in at the front desk and then wait for someone to call the class participants. The past two weeks I’ve been the only participant here in Pocatello. We go through the magic door (that separates the workers from the waiters) and get weighed. The fellow handling the class setup records the weight and then we (actually, I) go into a conference room where the facilitator sets up a video conference call with the VA conference room in Salt Lake City. There are three sites participating in the video conference, Salt Lake, Orem, and Pocatello.

The meeting lasts for an hour. Today’s topic was reading food labels and how to use the information on the label. So far I haven’t really learned anything new from these meetings, just reinforcement of what I already knew. Today there was a new participant (even though this was week 4 of the six, or is it eight?, week session). He had to comment on *everything* which caused the instructor not to be able to get through all the material she had planned.

There’s lots of things I don’t like about this whole setup, including that observation above on the new guy. However, it is causing me to do some things that will probably be helpful, such as keeping a food record and looking at how many calories I’m actually eating.

However, at the weigh-in today, I gained weight from last week. Definitely didn’t expect that! I had an appointment yesterday with my primary car doctor and according to their scale I had lost 10 pounds since the previous weigh-in at the VA clinic. So, these scales are definitely weighing differently! I think I’ll need to drag out our scales and use them once a week to see how I’m progressing.

TTFN!

My favorite brother Perry and I went in on a bid to buy some used computers from the community college in Rock Springs a few years ago. One of those computers we set up for Mother to use. It’s given her some pretty good service but lately has had a number of problems. Most of these problems are associated with power outages. Even though there’s a battery backup, it doesn’t take a very long outage before the battery is drained and the computer crashes. That happened again last week and the computer would not restart.

After some discussion, we decided to get a new laptop computer. I bought it at Costco where we had a 90 day return, no questions asked, and a two year warranty. The HP laptop has a nice, large screen and a full keyboard, including a number pad.

We took it over on Sunday evening after our Church meetings and I set it up for her. She’s very happy with the new computer and currently has it on the island in the kitchen. On our next trip over I’ll take out the old computer and move her back to her desk as I think she likes that setup better.

She’s very happy, at 86 years of age, to be connected again!

TTFN!

We actually had two sunny days in a row. That meant it was time to get the garden beds ready. So, our Saturday started with a trip to the Farmers Market in downtown Pocatello. That was an interesting surprise. Last year I spent several Saturdays (very cold Saturdays) at the Farmers Market trying to sell some raised garden beds (not very successfully).

The market that year was quite large and divided into two sections, one being the actual farmers market and the other being the flea market (my activity was in the flea market). It seemed to be well attended and quite active.

This year, however, the flea market is gone and the Farmers Market was incredibly small. I’ve no idea what happened, but there is not much reason this year to go down there. Somebody did something wrong, as a new market sponsored by the City of Chubbuck opened this year on Tuesday evenings out at the mall parking lot.

The reason for going to the market was to buy some tomato plants. That was successful. Then we went to Lowes and bought several bags of gardening soil to top off some existing garden beds and to fill up some new ones. Nina picked up several plants there as well. Then it was home to get the bags of dirt to the right place so Nina could get ready to start planting. The garden is going in late this year, but it’s been so cold and wet that we just had to wait until the weather turned nicer.

We capped off the day by going out to dinner. It’s been a good 46 years and the 47th year is now underway.

Nina wrote a nice blog entry about our 46 year journey that is far from being finished. I’d do it over again! Thanks sweetheart for a great life!

TTFN!

We had our usual morning at the Idaho Falls Temple and finished our shift about noon. The nice thing about this time of the year is that we actually have some daylight when we arrive at the Temple. It doesn’t last very many weeks, though, as the Summer Equinox is almost upon us.

Nina has decided to do some “lasagna gardening” this year. So we spent the afternoon gathering some of the material she needs for this new activity. The weather was nice and we were both pretty tired by the end of the day. Fridays are very often very long days after getting up at about 3:45 am and going to bed around 10:30 pm that evening.

TTFN!

I finished up all of the assigned work from my client this afternoon, so for the next while I’ll not have any “work” to do, at least not that I’ll be paid for.

The Pocatello Amateur Radio Club has its monthly meeting on the 2nd Thursday of each month. The meetings usually last for an hour or so plus time to socialize before and after. This month’s meeting had to do with antennas. Specifically, antennas to be used in the Field Day activities on June 26-27.

Field Day is when all of the amateur radio clubs move out of their comfortable radio shacks in their comfortable homes and spend 24 hours operating somewhere out in the field. In our case, we’ll be setting up radio operations at OK Ward Park in Pocatello. The radios will be powered by batteries. The antennas will be put up specifically for this event. The purpose is to exercise our skills at operating without power from the power company and in a place where we would not normally be. I’m looking forward to the activity and hope to learn some things.

TTFN!