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).