It Still Takes Faith | Brent L. Top | 1997

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Brent L. Top shares inspiring pioneer stories. Though our trials may not be as dramatic as theirs, it still takes faith for us to follow God each day.

This speech was given on July 22, 1997.

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"My brothers and sisters, I am honored to have been invited to address you in this devotional setting today. As you well know, this year we are celebrating the sesquicentennial of the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley. The high point of this yearlong commemoration will be witnessed this week not only in Salt Lake City and here in Provo, but throughout the Church all over the world. In conjunction with that commemoration, I have been asked to pay tribute today to those faithful pioneers.

I feel grossly inadequate to pay proper homage to the pioneers, for I am not a very good historian, nor do I have much pioneer ancestry. I’m quite sure there were no Tops among those pioneer companies of the last century. I do, however, have enormous feelings of reverence and respect for their faith, sacrifice, dedication, and perseverance. It is in that spirit of reverence that I desire to speak to you today in their honor, and I pray that the Spirit of the Lord will attend my words and that we may feel, through a thin veil, a special closeness to those faithful Saints of yesteryear.

Growing up in Idaho I often viewed the 24th of July as merely a Utah holiday. In addition, my father was a convert to the Church, and so I felt little kinship to the pioneers who crossed the plains. It wasn’t until I started to study Church history in depth that I learned that Pioneer Day is not just a Utah holiday and that even I as an Idahoan share a pioneer heritage.

One hundred and fifty years ago this very day—July 22, not July 24—the advance party of pioneers led by Elder Orson Pratt entered the Salt Lake Valley to make preparations for the rest, who would enter the valley two days later. They dammed a stream and planted the first crops in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of that landmark event—an event often overshadowed by the events of the 24th of July. Today I stand before you to honor that first group—the July 22 advance party. As a proud Idahoan I am eternally grateful that the first crop those pioneers planted in the soil of the Salt Lake Valley was potatoes. Yes, that’s right—potatoes. Now I have a special kinship to those pioneers and a very important reason to celebrate this significant sesquicentennial—July 22—the 150th anniversary of the planting of potatoes by those Mormon pioneers. July 22 should be an Idaho state holiday!

I stand in awe of the faith and fortitude of those early pioneers. I am truly humbled as I read of their sacrifices and sorrows, and I am inspired by their examples of commitment and consecration. But it actually dishonors them to celebrate their accomplishments and yet fail to learn from them.

After the death of the Prophet Joseph, the Saints were directed by President Brigham Young to redouble their efforts in working on the temple so they could receive the saving ordinances of the gospel therein. These covenants and blessings would be a guiding influence and a strengthening and sustaining power to the Saints as they faced the hardships of their journey. “Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of the Lord burn in your hearts,” President Brigham Young urged the pioneers (“Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” 28 September 1846, p. 5). Those pioneers we honor this sesquicentennial year had a “fire of faith” and a commitment to covenants that led them across the plains to a promised land just as surely as the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night led the ancient Israelites on their journey.

One such pioneer who was guided by the “fire of the covenant” was Stillman Pond. He and his family were among the last to leave Nauvoo in September 1846. Having already endured much persecution and harassment from the enemies of the Church, the Pond family was ultimately driven from their Nauvoo home at the point of a bayonet. Without adequate preparation for their trek, they were left without proper food, clothing, and shelter. Their trek across Iowa to Winter Quarters was fraught with almost unimaginable suffering and heartache..."