Martin's Cove

Today's blog features the fourteen dedicated and hard working Elders who were recently serving in the Wyoming Zone. These rough and tumble mountain men tangled with danger and the wild, wild west every day. They put their lives on the line as they battled with mountain lions and buffalo stampedes. They had to ride in covered wagons and shoot jack-rabbits if they wanted dinner at night. They caught rattlesnakes with their bare hands for fun. Let me introduce them to you:

Zone Leaders of the Wyoming Zone

Elder Torres from Mexico and Elder Salisbury from Ohio

Elder Astle from Washington and Elder Matthews from Pennsylvania

Elder Peiffer from Pennsylvania and Elder Wightman from Virginia

Elder Maughan from Michigan and Elder Dyer from California

Elder Diaz from Florida and Elder Avery from Tennessee

Elder Taylor from Virginia and Elder Agular from Florida

Elder Bosley from North Carolina and Elder Johnson from North Carolina

Actually, these Wyoming missionaries live in cities and drive around in cars or ride bikes just like all the other missionaries in the Salt Lake City Mission. In Wyoming, it's just farther between the cities.

Not too far from our eastern-most missionaries in Wyoming, there is a significant historical site honoring the early Mormon pioneers who walked across America in search of a place where they could live and practice their religion unhindered. This place is called Martin's Cove. On Wednesday (because Wednesdays are those beloved P-Days, or preparation days) September 15th, President Winn and I, along with the Assistants, drove out to Wyoming. We picked up missionaries along our way until we had collected them all. Then we headed east to Martin's Cove for a day of exploration - about our religious heritage, our ancestors, and ourselves. It was a crystal clear, beautiful Indian-Summer day, just perfect for being outside and enjoying our world!

Although most early pioneers traveled west using a covered wagon and team of oxen, there were many who couldn't afford such travel accommodations. The less expensive handcart, much like a large shallow wheelbarrow, allowed the poorer pioneers to afford the journey west. Because travel was more difficult with a handcart, it became a familiar symbol of dedication and duty to God. In November, 1856, about 500 Mormon emigrants in the Martin Handcart Company were halted for five days in the Cove by snow and cold while on their way to Salt Lake City. The Martin Handcart Company had begun its journey on July 28, which was dangerously late in the season. Although the number who died in the Cove is unknown, more than 145 members of the Martin Handcart Company died before reaching Salt Lake City. A few days prior to their arrival in Martin's Cove, the company was met by a small rescue party with food, supplies and wagons that Brigham Young had sent from Salt Lake. On November 4th, the company and rescuers forded the bitterly cold Sweetwater River and sought shelter in the cove. That night, a powerful north wind blew the tents to the ground. The tents were set up again, but a blizzard brought heavy snow. When the weather warmed on November 9th, the company was able to move on toward Utah. With assistance from the original rescue party and from additional rescue parties that met them along the way, the survivors finally reached Salt Lake City on November 30th.

It was a spiritual experience for us to walk where those early pioneers walked. Every pioneer was committed to faith, to obedience, to the gospel. Each was committed to follow the Savior, and the prophet, and to do so no matter the cost.

One of the greatest examples of this faith was demonstrated in a Sunday School class, many years after the saints had arrived in the valley. During a discussion in the class, there was sharp criticism of the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company, which met with tragedy because of their late start on the trek to the Salt Lake Valley. An elderly man arose and said, "I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts...give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to sent the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company, and my wife...too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but we became acquainted with God in our extremities. I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go that far, and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it...I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the angels of God were there. Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then or any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company"

As we spent our day in Martin's Cove, we felt it a privilege to be there as well.

When it came time to ford the Sweetwater River, the young strong Elders had to carry the aged, the sick and the weary across the water.